NASA scientist, Kimberley Miner, reveals how she sobbed from 'CLIMATE GRIEF' after learning blue...
A climate scientist has embarked on an emotion-laden rant about how she is suffering from so-called 'climate grief' - due to droughts in her native . Aired in an article for , the assertion comes from Dr. Kimberley R. Miner, a Climate Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. One of the world's foremost science publications, Nature billed the op-ed as coming from an educated expert - though the language used was predominantly emotional. Instead of a serious look at data pertaining to the Earth's atmosphere, readers were offered an anecdote where Miner recalled crying after realizing a drought would mean the death of hundreds of California's endemic blue oak trees. Attempting to evoke sympathy, the co-chair of the NASA Interagency Forum on Climate Change Risks claimed both she and her colleagues were still suffering 'severe, emergent health challenges' as a result, nearly a year later. The article's opening passage reads as follows: 'Last September, before the rains came, my field team learnt that it was probably too late for half the blue oaks affected by California's drought in the region in which we were working. Miner, also a Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security in DC, goes on to claim: 'Because of years of ongoing drought, many of the trees would not recover from the long-term water loss and would die. 'The next morning, I sat outside our science team meeting and cried.' The account from the accredited Climate Change Institute Research Assistant Professor - who had been referring to the state's current 20-year megadrought - did not address other droughts in the region throughout history, many of which None of those instances, which experts have confirmed through the analysis of oceanic currents and other practices like carbon dating, can be connected to humans, nor could they have been prevented with any human intervention. Seemingly undeterred by those facts, Miner continued to pedal how she copes with the stress - along with warning that researchers must find personal ways to cope with further impending losses. 'I also started talking frankly to my colleagues about the emotional turmoil that is often sparked by working as a climate scientist today, and many others had similar stories,' the scientist wrote, citing studies that show California's old-growth blue oak woodlands are in danger of dying off. 'I am in my mid-thirties, working at NASA as a scientist, and I already have five scientist friends with severe, emergent health challenges,' she continued. 'They are all affected by overwork, exhaustion and extreme stress. The only other thing they all have in common is that they study climate change.' Miner continued: 'Climate scientists have advocated for recognition of the destabilization of Earth's ecosystems for four decades. 'Even within my lifetime, the climate system has changed noticeably, with hotter summers, longer dry periods and more frequent and severe storms,' she claimed. 'Some climate scientists have left the field, some have died and some have retired, but even more are just starting their careers.' She went on to claim that the solution lies in taking small solutions-oriented actions to lessen humans' carbon footprint on the world, and that younger scientists such as herself are responsible for educating the masses. A passage preaching what many would perceive as misinformation ensued, blaming the alleged, slow demise of the blue oak on permafrost wrought by climate change. 'Whether in the shape of increased glacier flow rates, rainstorms that become atmospheric rivers, or abrupt permafrost thawing that disrupts sections of highway, these unforeseen risks are emerging increasingly,' the fear-laden excerpt reads. 'Scientists with decades of experience in one field location might find themselves confronted with a new atmospheric or hydrologic circulation pattern, an unseasonal storm or freeze, or literally shaky ground. 'Although we have a responsibility to track how certain sites are changing in a climate that's getting hotter and more extreme, that can put scientists at considerable risk.' Miner went on to conclude that she is suffering from 'climate grief' as a result of California's - and the world's - current climate conditions, specifically the decline in blue oak in California. Once prevalent throughout the state's diverse countryside, the majestic conifers are dying off, recent studies have shown - though most of the decline can be traced from an earlier drought to 1985 to 2016. One recent study revealed a high loss of more than 1,000 square kilometers of blue oak tree cover from fire and non-fire causes during the drought. This has lessened considerably this year after the state got months of incessant rain and some of the heaviest snowfall in history. The biologically diverse blue oak woodlands are endemic to the state, and valued for their old growth stands. Many, like Miner, believe the effects of climate change, such as frequent drought, may threaten their range. Conservation efforts for the trees - still rife in the foothills of the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada - are currently underway.