RIP, JohnnyRook.
Posted by mofembot Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:01:00 GMT
Per my post below, “Real life and death in the virtual world,” I expected that JohnnyRook, aka Steven Kimball, would die soon, but it was still a blow to learn about his passing this morning via a most eloquent obituary/tribute (followed by many eloquent comments) on DailyKos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/5/23559/31946/555/705253).
Although I have greatly cut down on commenting on LTEs in the Salt Lake Tribune, I deliberately looked there today for a climate change-related thread in which to post the following:I am very sad this morning, having just learned that this past Monday the Earth lost a great champion: Steven Kimball, aka JohnnyRook. After learning that he had acute myeloid leukemia some two years ago, he devoted the rest of his life to providing meticulously-documented evidence of what he called “climaticide.” I encourage people who love and are concerned about the biosphere to read and ponder the information that he spent the last of his energies on: http://www.climatechronicles.org [The Climaticide Chronicles] The hard-core naysayers and deniers will eat their words only after it is far too late to do anything to turn back the human-caused and accelerating changes that threaten us all. JohnnyRook worked to try to open the eyes and minds of those who prefer short-term convenience and profit to humanity’s long-time survival for the sake of his own teenaged son, and for us all.
A previous DailyKos diary had paid homage to Steven Kimball’s work while he was still alive, and induced me to send my thanks directly to JohnnyRook’s Climaticide site in hopes that he would see the impact he has had on me:
Thanks for opening my eyes so much wider. Thanks for your enormous efforts to get all of us to open our eyes and see the impact we’ve had on the biosphere. Thanks for giving us the facts and ammunition we need to counter the willfully blind, often profit-driven nay-sayers who hem and haw and do their best to stop or delay the difficult steps we must take to save ourselves (and them along with us — such irony!). I hope you will rally again and stay with us longer. Obviously I am one of many of the faceless, pseudonymous people who wish you well and who selfishly grieve at the thought of your voice silenced. My sincere best wishes to you for renewed strength, my sincere best wishes to your family and “in person” friends for comfort and solace in the days ahead.
The good die young, “but time and chance happeneth to [us] all.” JohnnyRook was only slightly older than I am, and he firmly believed that his cancer was due to exposure to carcinogenic material in the environment. I think of my 15-year-old nephew who died in early 2007 of a type of cancer that appears only in heavy smokers over age 40… and I wonder about the provenance of his disease. “Time and chance,” indeed.
Climate change (as JohnnyRook so carefully documented) is very real, and weather extremes and unpredictability will continue to spread and increase unless we stop virtually all activities that pour CO2 and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. The odds of this happening on a global scale is zero. This fact, coupled with the continuing economic downturn, does not make me (ever the catastrophist) feel especially happy today, especially given the loss of yet another voice for needed change.
Rest in peace, Steven Kimball. You will be missed.