[TheClimate.Vote] August 29, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

Tue Aug 29 11:19:00 EDT 2017

/August 29, 2017/

*(video) ABC News Greater Houston remains paralyzed as Harvey rages 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsIVxY6YoCw>*
ABC News  Published on Aug 28, 2017
Neighbors and strangers are pitching in to help rescue those still 
stranded and trapped due to the storm's torrential rain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsIVxY6YoCw*
.*
*(video) As Catastrophic Flooding Hits Houston, Fears Grow of Pollution 
from Oil Refineries & Superfund Sites* <https://youtu.be/biXHG4RLn8s>*
*A catastrophic storm has hit Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city 
and home to the largest refining and petrochemical complex in the United 
States. The crisis began on Friday when Hurricane Harvey made landfall 
in Rockport, Texas. It was the most powerful hurricane to strike the 
state in more than 50 years. Much of the damage has been caused by the 
massive rainfall, with parts of Texas already receiving 30 inches of 
rain. That could top 50 inches in the coming days. Entire highways in 
Houston are now underwater. The storm has caused five reported deaths, 
but the death toll is expected to rise. Thousands of people are still 
stranded in their homes, waiting to be rescued. Meanwhile, the city of 
Dallas prepares to turn its convention center into a mega-shelter to 
host 5,000 evacuees. The National Weather Service released a statement 
on Sunday saying, "This event is unprecedented and all impacts are 
unknown and beyond anything experienced." We speak with Bryan Parras, an 
organizer for the "Beyond Dirty Fuels" campaign with the Sierra Club in 
Houston, Texas. He helped found the environmental justice group t.e.j.a.s.*
*Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 
nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our 
livestream 8-9AM ET: https://democracynow.org*
*https://youtu.be/p6TG3bB4wvg <https://youtu.be/biXHG4RLn8s>*
.
***(video) "This Is the New Normal": How Climate Change Is Fueling 
Massive Storms like Harvey <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik5R5stYC6c>
**Hurricane Harvey has already dumped more than 9 trillion gallons of 
water on Texas - enough water to fill the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake 
City twice. Meteorologists project another 5 to 10 trillion gallons of 
water could be dumped on the region in coming days, potentially making 
this the worst flooding disaster in U.S. history. We speak with David 
Helvarg, executive director of Blue Frontier, an ocean conservation 
organization, about how climate change is fueling massive storms like 
Hurricane Harvey.*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik5R5stYC6c*
*.*
*(video) Climate & Extreme Weather News #59 (Hurricane Harvey & Houston 
Flood Update) <https://youtu.be/tR1uU804PZo>*
Climate & Extreme Weather News #59 (Hurricane Harvey & Houston Flood Update)
https://youtu.be/tR1uU804PZo
*.*
*Hurricane Harvey: Climate Change's Staggering Human and Economic Toll 
on Display 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/08/28/hurricane-harvey-climate-change-impacts/>*
"So Harvey was almost certainly more intense than it would have been in 
the absence of human- caused warming, which means stronger winds, more 
wind damage, and a larger storm surge," said [Dr Michael] Mann.
Dr. Gabriel Vecchi, a professor of geosciences at Princeton 
University.... said these factors all need to be addressed when 
assessing future risk.
"We need to consider that as we evaluate how exposed we are to natural 
events," said Vecchi. "It may be that the records over the last hundred 
years aren't a reliable estimate of what our true risk is going forward. 
We need to have an accurate assessment of what our true risk going 
forward is in order to make good decisions."
Burger said the threat of liability could prompt better decisions.
"Hopefully advances in attribution science will persuade reluctant 
politicians and regulators to move forward with climate mitigation and 
adaptation efforts," said Burger. "But if they don't believe in the 
basic science of climate change it's hard to believe they'll put their 
faith in the more complex, and more contentious, science of attribution."
Vecchi said we have a rare opportunity to protect the planet for future 
generations - if we act now.
He said that while over the next 20 years or so climate change is "baked 
into the system" by the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, what 
we do today will determine what happens after that.
"What we can change is how much warming is going to happen after that 
point," he said, adding that our actions today have the potential to 
provide the generation being born into right now and subsequent 
generations with a livable planet.
"It's rare when such an obvious heritage to a future generation is 
possible," he said.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/08/28/hurricane-harvey-climate-change-impacts/

*
**(text and videos) Katharine Hayhoe Successful in Raising Evangelical 
Climate Awareness 
<https://climatecrocks.com/2017/08/28/katharine-hayhoe-successful-in-raising-evangelical-climate-awareness/>*
Approximately one-quarter of Americans identify as evangelical 
Christians, and that group also tends to be more resistant to the 
reality of human-caused global warming. As a new paper by Brian Webb and 
Doug Hayhoe notes:
/a 2008 study found that just 44% of evangelicals believed global 
warming to be caused mostly by human activities, compared to 64% of 
nonevangelicals (Smith and Leiserowitz, 2013) while, a 2011 survey found 
that only 27% of white evangelicals believed there to be a scientific 
consensus on climate change, compared to 40% of the American public 
(Public Religion Research Institute, 2011)./
Katharine Hayhoe Interview on Christian Broadcasting Network Raises a 
Ruckus <https://youtu.be/btiMY9cLVwE>
https://youtu.be/btiMY9cLVwE
Katharine Hayhoe on Climate Science and Faith <https://youtu.be/eRbPHpc5Xhc>
https://youtu.be/eRbPHpc5Xhc
Katharine Hayhoe on Climate and the Choices we Make 
<https://youtu.be/fgiS8aUPbBc>
https://youtu.be/fgiS8aUPbBc
Facts matter – especially when they come from trusted sources
There's been some debate among social scientists about how much facts 
matter in today's politically polarized society. Some have warned about 
the "smart idiots" effect, in which people who are more knowledgeable 
are often less persuadable, essentially because they have more tools 
with which to reject information they find inconvenient. However, other 
research has shown that climate-specific knowledge does increase 
peoples' acceptance of human-caused global warming. The question then 
becomes how to arm people with that climate-specific knowledge.
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/08/28/katharine-hayhoe-successful-in-raising-evangelical-climate-awareness/

*50 Ways to Censor Science* <http://climatenexus.org/>
There are a lot of ways that former presidents have allegedly censored 
science or the public in the past. Usually, though, they spread it out a 
little so as not to be obvious. Not Trump. You can explore the different 
shades of censorship during his eight-month tenure using just examples 
from last week.
Last Sunday, we learned 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=6f29e7de62&e=95b355344d> 
that Trump disbanded an advisory group charged with helping policymakers 
and the private sector incorporate the findings of the National Climate 
Assessment. The group pledged to keep meeting without official White 
House blessing, giving us hope that the public won't be cut off from 
vital climate info. This is the third scientific advisory board 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=90139dc330&e=95b355344d> 
to be disbanded by the Trump administration.
The next day, it was reported that Trump halted funding 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=a21b8a6041&e=95b355344d> 
for a study on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining, killing 
an attempt to understand the threats facing those coal miners he loves 
so much.
On Wednesday, the Bay Journal announced 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=f559cee221&e=95b355344d> 
that it was losing its EPA funding, putting the future of the 27 year 
old Chesapeake Bay-focused paper in jeopardy. Pruitt has made assurances 
that the EPA still cares about cleaning up the Bay, but apparently it 
doesn't care about keeping the public informed. Also on Wednesday, it 
was reported 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=9199b05955&e=95b355344d> 
that the National Institute of Health scrubbed the term "climate change" 
from its site.
Then on Thursday came a triple-whammy. As explained by Vox 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=97814bf307&e=95b355344d>, 
Energy Secretary Rick Perry's grid study showed how political editing 
can censor out inconvenient facts, and how politicians can ignore the 
findings and say whatever they want about the study.
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's "sham review 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=501b9da0d9&e=95b355344d>" 
of national monuments showed how easy this administration finds 
censoring the public. There were literally millions of comments that 
were opposed to the administration's plan of shrinking or eliminating 
monuments, but Zinke wrote them off as part of a "well-organized 
national campaign. 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=542ef1457c&e=95b355344d>" 
Instead of listening to the public, Zinke chose to do what he wanted in 
the first place, and used a handful of pro-industry comments as 
justification for shrinking protected lands.
Thursday's third example came in a simple tweet: "This is what 
censorship looks like 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=4c5a60249e&e=95b355344d>". 
It looks like that in order to meet the president's budget language 
restrictions, some scientists are being asked to remove the words 
"climate change" from the abstracts of grant proposals.
Then Friday, in addition to Vice publishing the FOIA'd details 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=4db47656c7&e=95b355344d> 
about the climate scientists who weren't allowed to meet with Mark 
Zuckerberg, a small blurb in Politico's Morning Energy 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7d4a98e643&e=95b355344d> 
reported that EPA leadership has decided employees can't use social 
media except for a specific business purpose.
We'd put an ask out on Facebook and Twitter about how staff members feel 
about this, but apparently only Trump is allowed to use social media 
while at work.
http://climatenexus.org/

*
****How climate change is a 'death sentence' in Afghanistan's highlands 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/28/how-climate-change-is-death-sentence-afghanistan-highlands-global-warming>**
***Global warming should be taken as seriously as fighting insurgents, 
say those witnessing the savage impact first-hand
On a recent visit, the Guardian trekked from freshwater lakes surrounded 
by jagged massifs at 4,500 metres down to villages at the receiving end 
of erratic weather, a common result of global warming. Warmer 
temperatures melt the mountain snow earlier, resulting in an increased 
flow of water before farmers need it.
These are irregularities that farmers living at the margins of economic 
sustainability cannot afford. "People are surviving," says Andrew 
Scanlon, country director for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 
"[But] their ability to bounce back is almost zilch."
Farmers say unanimously that temperatures have risen over the past 
decades. Rain is scarcer and more unpredictable. "People know about 
climate change even if they don't call it that," says Fatima Akbari, the 
UNEP's country assistant. "They know all about change in water and weather."
Despite 15 years as one of the world's biggest receivers of 
international aid, much of it to agriculture, Afghanistan remains 
woefully underdeveloped and largely defenceless against jolts from 
nature. Western donors primarily poured money into short-sighted 
programmes such as heavy engineering and cash-for-work schemes, designed 
for "quick impact", Scanlon says.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/28/how-climate-change-is-death-sentence-afghanistan-highlands-global-warming
*
*
(Department of Musical Irony/- (thnx EH)/
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Death: 27 Years Ago Today 
<http://www.wlup.com/2017/08/27/stevie-ray-vaughans-death-27-years-ago-today/>
http://www.wlup.com/2017/08/27/stevie-ray-vaughans-death-27-years-ago-today/
*(music video) Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood - A Celebration of Blues 
and Soul <https://youtu.be/UtLwuPCUEdg>**
*Stevie Ray Vaughan performs "Texas Flood" live with Double Trouble and 
Jimmie Vaughan at the Washington Convention Center for the Presidential 
Inaugural Concert in 1989.
https://youtu.be/UtLwuPCUEdg*
*

*This Day in Climate History August 29, 2005 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/for-they-that-sow-the-win_b_6396.html> 
-  from D.R. Tucker*
August 29, 2005: In a Huffington Post piece, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notes 
the irony of Hurricane Katrina assaulting the Gulf Coast just a few 
years after the Bush administration decided to give preferential 
treatment to the fossil fuel industry with regard to energy policy.
"For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/for-they-that-sow-the-win_b_6396.html 

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
////You are encouraged to forward this email /

        . *** Privacy and Security: * This is a text-only mailing that
        carries no images which may originate from remote servers.
        Text-only messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and
        sender.
        By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for
        democratic and election purposes and cannot be used for
        commercial purposes.
        To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote with subject: 
        subscribe,  To Unsubscribe, subject: unsubscribe
        Also youmay subscribe/unsubscribe at
        https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
        Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Paulifor
        http://TheClimate.Vote delivering succinct information for
        citizens and responsible governments of all levels.   List
        membership is confidential and records are scrupulously
        restricted to this mailing list.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20170829/8f5df092/attachment.html>