(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing: About Those Kitchen Table Issues [1] ['Distracted Expansionist'] Date: 2026-06-18 I’m frightened. I’m frightened and it’s about an issue we all should be talking about around the kitchen table. First, some background. Back in 2009, I was on the advisory board of Paul Hawken’s WiserEarth, an ambitious years long endeavor to collate the digital footprint of the world’s nonprofit sector whose work pursued the principles of social justice, environmental justice, sustainable development, and other lofty ambitions. 2009 was the year of the UNFCCC’s COP15 in Copenhagen and a few of us who worked actively and voluntarily on WiserEarth collaborated to create a group we called WiserCopenhagen. For two weeks, with people reporting in from the conference, we covered the news daily, reporting on the Copenhagen Accord, a historic document which laid the groundwork which called upon both developed and developing nations to pledge carbon emission reductions which would limit global warming to less than 2 degrees C. While not legally binding, the Accord outlined the framework for the 2015 Paris Agreement six years later. It was the first time developed nations were called upon to compensate less developed countries for loss and damages. Sixteen years ago there was a plan in place to protect nature and keep the planet habitable, to restore damaged ecosystems. Imagine if we had acted then. Today, 11 years after the Paris Agreement, which was signed by 198 countries, only 8 have implemented policies that align with limiting global warming to 1.5°C using a fair-share approach. This approach mandates that each country’s contribution “should be equitable, based on its historical responsibility for emissions, its capability to act, and its right to sustainable development.” (AI, citing Friends of the Earth International) That same year (2009) we created another group at WiserEarth – “Report on Climate Change Where You Live.” The group stayed active for some time and received no reports. How things have changed. This past week I’ve been acutely aware of how climate change is impacting people everywhere and how we just don’t talk about it. Case in point. I met a newcomer at the dogpark Saturday. He and his wife were from South Carolina and for the past two years they have left home for three months during the summer heat because it is just unbearable. They’re retired and drove out both years, last year to Santa Cruz and this year to Sausalito. Another case. A friend of mine moved last year up to Ashland, Oregon. She drove down to visit this past week and we talked about the fire season up there. She said that many people in Ashland leave during the fire season because the air quality is so bad. They just budget this into their yearly projections now. Its the norm. One more. I was reading Nextdoor the other night and a woman posted how she was driving on Miller Avenue in Mill Valley headed downtown late Sunday night when she drove right into a flooded out road. She had no way out and had to drive through water that was a few feet deep. There had been no warning or road closures in effect, despite the fact that it was a King Tide. There were almost 100 comments on her post, many from people who were caught unaware, some who were out later when roads were closed, causing them to find detours home. Got me to thinking that this has got to become an issue we talk about over our kitchen tables. Because we are all impacted now, we are all frightened, dreading what tomorrow will bring. And we live with this existential dread every day Grist reported Tuesday on the beginning of the strongest El Niño this century which will usher in worldwide temperature increases, extreme weather, severe droughts, and heavy rains. This will undoubtedly result in significant disruptions in agriculture and food security. Weather variability fueled by El Niño will add to growers’ woes. India, where the majority of the world’s rice comes from, is projected to have a weaker monsoon season, which could reduce yields. Drier, hotter conditions could lead to diminished maize production in southern Africa. The southern U.S. states, from California all the way to the eastern seaboard, will experience a wetter year than normal, which could lead to flooding and upend crop production. But the exact way that this El Niño will unfurl is yet unknown. As El Niño interacts with the additional warming and moisture currently in our atmosphere caused by climate change, “there is likely to be a change in which regions are likely to be affected” by extreme weather, said Singh. Still, she added, we can expect “the severity, extent, and likelihood” of extreme weather events like droughts “to be higher” in today’s warmer climate. Sitting around our kitchen tables this year, the meals we eat will cost more due to tarrifs, the Iran war, and an El Nino supercharged by climate change. Perhaps some of us, maybe many of us, will experience food shortages. And so, in closing, I am curious. How has climate change impacted your world? 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