Well, I’ll be up in Petaluma at my daughter’s today to celebrate Thanksgiving. This is the first time I’m not hosting in years and it feels just great not to have all that pressure.
The big news in my neck of the woods is that Saturday I fostered a three-year-old Aussie mix from the Stanislaus Animal Center. She’s absolute love, very affectionate, loves other dogs and everyone she meets. She comes with a set of problems, however. For starters, she’s been too anxious to go to the bathroom anywhere except this one park which is a few blocks away from my house. Which means she goes first thing in the morning and at around 4 in the afternoon. Other outings include a a 45 minute walk at Blackie’s Pasture at 1, a walk in the hood at 8pm and a trip into the backyard at 10:30. No dice so far.
The other problem we are encountering is separation anxiety. So far, I’ve been leaving her for very short stints and coming home to her sleeping by the door. That all changed yesterday when I could hear her howling after being gone for an hour! I talked to my upstairs neighbor who was wonderful about it and said she didn’t bark continuously and that it really didn’t bother her,that I should feel free to ask them for help if I need it because she is such a lovely dog and they’re so glad I found her.
Any tips on dealing with separation anxiety or any other issues with new rescues would be appreciated. Right now, I have her on a foster to adopt status. I really don’t want to give up on her. She’s so happy and settling in quite well.
The Guardian reports on a weak agreement ironed out in theclosing hours of COP30 Saturday in Brazil.
With the “Belém political package”, the world took another small step towards the phaseout of fossil fuels – a faltering, inadequate step, and one that will barely interrupt the climate’s steady march towards catastrophe. But a significant departure from total inaction nonetheless.
Alongside the oblique commitment in the legally agreed text of the deal, countries will begin work on a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, but this will be largely a voluntary initiative, led by Brazil, that will report back next year. Addressing the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed in order for the world to stay within the 1.5C limit was also put off to next year. Developing countries secured a tripling to $120bn of annual finance to help them adapt to the impacts of extreme weather, but that sum will not be delivered in full until 2035. Workers will benefit from a “just transition mechanism” to help people working in high-carbon industries to shift to the clean economy, but commitments to include “critical minerals” – needed for renewable energy components, but whose extraction has been dogged by human rights abuses – were excised, at the behest of China and Russia.
-snip-
This flawed deal might have been all that was possible, given the geopolitical headwinds – a US president who shunned the talks and is wedded to oil and coal, the rising tide of rightwing populism, conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, intolerable levels of inequality, and global economic uncertainty.
“The climate arsonists – the fossil fuel giants – were finally in the crosshairs at Cop30,” says Louise Hutchins, convener at the Make Polluters Pay coalition. “There is no turning back on that. The political space is open. Now we must turn it into a real fire escape to a safer world.”
Thought I’d just share some social media this evening…. Hope your Thanksgiving went well.
