[TheClimate.Vote] Feb 19, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News for All -
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sun Feb 19 09:14:36 EST 2017
/Information to help you stay well-informed about global warming -
Please forward this email. February 19, 2017/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/17/federal-highway-administration-changes-mentions-of-climate-change-to-resilience-in-transportation-program/
Federal Highway Administration changes mentions of '*climate
change*' to 'resilience' in transportation program
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/17/federal-highway-administration-changes-mentions-of-climate-change-to-resilience-in-transportation-program/>
Washington Post -17 hours ago
After Donald Trump won the presidency, the Federal Highway
Administration switched the reference to "Climate Change" to
"Resilience" in the name of a program aimed at coping with climate
impacts, agency officials confirmed Friday.
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-climate_1.html
It's more than just*climate change*
<https://phys.org/news/2017-02-climate_1.html>
Phys.Org -5 hours ago
A new scientific paper by a University of Maryland-led international
team of distinguished scientists, including five members of the
National Academies, argues that there are critical two-way feedbacks
missing from current climate models that are used...
... evidence of the need for a new paradigm of modeling that
incorporates the feedbacks that the Earth System has on humans, and
propose a framework for future modeling that would serve as a more
realistic guide for policymaking and sustainable development.
The study explains that the Earth System (e.g., atmosphere, ocean,
land, and biosphere) provides the Human System (e.g., humans and
their production, distribution, and consumption) not only the
sources of its inputs (e.g., water, energy, biomass, and materials)
but also the sinks (e.g., atmosphere, oceans, rivers, lakes, and
lands) that absorb and process its outputs (e.g., emissions,
pollution, and other wastes).
Titled "Modeling Sustainability: Population, Inequality,
Consumption, and Bidirectional Coupling of the Earth and Human
Systems", the paper describes how the rapid growth in resource use,
land-use change, emissions, and pollution has made humanity the
dominant driver of change in most of the Earth's natural systems,
and how these changes, in turn, have critical feedback effects on
humans with costly and serious consequences, including on human
health and well-being, economic growth and development, and even
human migration and societal conflict. However, the paper argues
that these two-way interactions ("bidirectional coupling") are not
included in the current models.
"the rate of change of atmospheric concentrations of CO2, CH4, and
N2O [the primary greenhouse gases] increased by over 700, 1000, and
300 times (respectively) in the period after the Green Revolution
when compared to pre-industrial rates."
"The paper correctly highlights that other human stressors, not only
the climate ones, are very important for long-term sustainability,
including the need to reduce inequality'', said Carlos Nobre (not a
co-author), one of the world's leading Earth System scientists, who
recently won the prestigious Volvo Environment Prize in
Sustainability for his role in understanding and protecting the
Amazon. "Social and economic equality empowers societies to engage
in sustainable pathways, which includes, by the way, not only the
sustainable use of natural resources but also slowing down
population growth, to actively diminish the human footprint on the
environment."
Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Earth
System Science Center at Penn State University, who was not a
co-author of the paper, commented: "We cannot separate the issues of
population growth, resource consumption, the burning of fossil
fuels, and climate risk. They are part of a coupled dynamical
system, and, as the authors show, this has dire potential
consequences for societal collapse. The implications couldn't be
more profound."
More information: National Science Review (2016). DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nww081
https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/nsr/nww081
*Modeling sustainability: population, inequality, consumption, and
bidirectional coupling of the Earth and Human Systems
<https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/nsr/nww081>*
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Safa Motesharrei et al,
The Human System has become strongly dominant within the Earth
System in many different ways. However, in current models that
explore the future of humanity and environment, and guide policy,
key Human System variables, such as demographics, inequality,
economic growth, and migration, are not coupled with the Earth
System but are instead driven by exogenous estimates such as United
Nations (UN) population projections. This makes the models likely to
miss important feedbacks in the real Earth–Human system that may
result in unexpected outcomes requiring very different policy
interventions. The importance of humanity's sustainability
challenges calls for collaboration of natural and social scientists
to develop coupled Earth–Human system models for devising effective
science-based policies and measures.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Human System has become strongly dominant within the Earth
System in many different ways.
Consumption, inequality, and population have increased extremely
fast, especially since ∼1950.
The collective impact of these changes threatens to overwhelm the
viability of natural systems and the many critical functions that
the Earth System provides.
Changes in the Earth System, in turn, have important feedback
effects on the Human System, with costly and serious consequences.
However, current models, such as the Integrated Assessment Models
(IAMs), that explore the future of humanity and environment, and
guide policy, do not incorporate these critical feedbacks.
--Key Human System variables, such as demographics, inequality,
economic growth, and migration, are instead driven by exogenous
projections, such as the UN population tables.
Furthermore, such projections are shown to be unreliable.
-- Unless models incorporate such two-way couplings, they are likely
to miss important dynamics in the real Earth–Human system that may
result in unexpected outcomes requiring very different policy
interventions.
-- Therefore, Earth System Models (ESMs) must be bidirectionally
coupled with Human System Models.
-- Critical challenges to sustainability call for a strong
collaboration of both earth and social scientists to develop coupled
--- Earth–Human System models for devising effective science-based
policies and measures.
We suggest using Dynamic Modeling, Input–Output (IO) models, and
Data Assimilation to build and calibrate such coupled models.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-17/climate-change-could-threaten-entire-financial-system-apra/8281436
*(Australia) Climate change*could threaten entire financial system,
APRA warns
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-17/climate-change-could-threaten-entire-financial-system-apra/8281436>
ABC Local -Feb 16, 2017
*Climate change*could threaten the stability of the entire financial
system, the prudential regulator has warned, as it prepares to
apply*climate change*"stress tests" to the nation's financial
institutions. In its first major speech on*climate change**...*
http://time.com/4673742/climate-change-white-house/
Climate Change: The Donald Trump's Cabinet Fails America | Time
<http://time.com/4673742/climate-change-white-house/>
TIME -11 hours ago
The President has put together a Cabinet that starkly differs from
public opinion on global warming.
There are no diverse policy perspectives. There is no dedication to
representing American public interest.
Trump picked only his allies — ones who do not represent popular
opinion. EPA pick Scott Pruitt, who was just confirmed, is a
climate-science denier and has a record of suing the EPA, a position
that contradicts the opinion of the majority of Americans, which has
consistently exhibited serious and sustained concern about global
warming. Trump's Secretary of State and former ExxonMobil CEO Rex
Tillerson similarly noted in his confirmation hearing that he
doesn’t see climate change as a serious national security threat,
despite the Pentagon’s and military leaders’ clear prioritization of
the threat...
...The majority of Americans are on our side. The bad news is that
this same majority hasn't actively and aggressively voiced their
climate concerns to their elected officials, radically changed their
consumer or consumption habits or wrote for and communicated to
their local news outlet. That’s got to change. The Trump Cabinet’s
abdication of responsibility to protect America must now inspire the
often-silent majority on climate change to stand up and fill this
void. And it must do so before another hottest year wreaks havoc in
America. -- Rep. Yvette Clarke and Michael Shank
https://ecocidealert.com/?p=23636
Why ecocide crimes are crimes of recklessness
<https://ecocidealert.com/?p=23636>
Knowledge of the risk of serious harm can be a collective
responsibility; the ultimate responsibility lies however with the
directing mind. In the case of a corporation, the directing mind is
the senior person (or persons) whose authority is derived from the
company's board of directors to perform of the company as directed
and for benefit of the company.
Very rarely does a corporation stop its industrial activities when
sued in a civil court; current law protects business first, not the
communities most at risk. Human rights advocates and environmental
defenders who speak out against the harm are branded as criminals.
Law without protection for communities ensures trade and commerce
trump every time. Essentially this is an issue regarding justice,
not economics. As matters stand just now in law, commerce takes
precedence. Look to *climate ecocide*: the Paris Climate talks of
2015 were sponsored by some of France's biggest contributors to
climate change....
<http://eradicatingecocide.cmail20.com/t/r-l-ykhutrlt-djjydiiihy-s/>
...Every crime is defined by its elements – what lawyers call Mens
Rea and Actus Reus (the state of mind and the act). Since the Paris
Agreement, we have a situation where the Mens Rea in ecocide crime
is that of recklessness – in layman’s terms, of disregarding
available information. We know that in very few cases of ecocide is
there an actual intent to harm. However no decision-maker can now
claim ignorance of the potential harm resulting from dangerous
industrial activity or failure to prevent it. This will be a key
factor in international acceptance of ecocide as a crime.
...There is a paradox to address here, one that those wishing to
protect the earth will already be familiar with. When it comes to
serious harm, corporate and State action (or non-action) is often
regulated only at the lowest of levels – by voluntary agreements or
limited-penalty regulations. George Monbiot calls it the pollution
paradox:
<http://eradicatingecocide.createsend1.com/t/r-l-ykhutrlt-dydddkxlt-g/>
the dirtiest companies must spend the most on politics if they are
not to be regulated out of existence, so politics comes to be
dominated by the dirtiest companies. The small clean companies
suffer, and so do we. This paradox creates an escalating cycle of
harm and decreasing protection for environment and communities. It
also makes it harder for justice to prevail.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2017/02/16/based-on-a-theory-about-global-warming-republicans-are-risking-their-majority/
(opinion) Based On A Theory About*Global Warming*, Republicans Are
Risking Their Majority
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2017/02/16/based-on-a-theory-about-global-warming-republicans-are-risking-their-majority/>
Forbes -Feb 16, 2017
If the Republican Party has an economic policy "brand," it's
historically been one defined by tax cuts. At least in modern times.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Nicaragua-Backs-Climate-Change-Resistant-Coffee-20170217-0026.html
Nicaragua Backs*Climate*-*Change*Resistant Coffee
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Nicaragua-Backs-Climate-Change-Resistant-Coffee-20170217-0026.html>
teleSUR English -3 hours ago
The country is increasing production of the robusta coffee bean, a
variety known for its sturdiness, resistance to disease and high
caffeine content.
http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/atlanta-gore-warns-climate-change-dangers/6wKBlDVwH9unNnVYSP44dI/
In Atlanta, Al Gore warns of *climate change* dangers
<http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/atlanta-gore-warns-climate-change-dangers/6wKBlDVwH9unNnVYSP44dI/>
Atlanta Journal Constitution -14 hours ago
Atlanta - Former vice president Al Gore is greeted by participants
during Climate & Health Meeting at the Carter Center on Thursday,
February 16, 2017.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0217/Coders-volunteer-to-capture-NASA-climate-data-as-scientists-rally-for-anti-Trump-protests
Coders volunteer to capture NASA climate data as scientists rally
for anti-Trump protests
<http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0217/Coders-volunteer-to-capture-NASA-climate-data-as-scientists-rally-for-anti-Trump-protests>
Christian Science Monitor -8 hours ago
Climate scientists and other researchers are increasingly speaking up
against what they see as the anti-science views of the Trump administration.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-global-warning/
*This Day in Climate History February 19, 2006
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-global-warning/> - from D.R. Tucker*
The CBS program "60 Minutes" reports on the effects of human-caused
climate change in the Arctic.
...all that water will push sea levels three feet higher all around
the world in 100 years.
"You and I sit here, another foot. Your children, another foot. Your
grandchildren, another foot. And it won't take long for sea level to
inundate,"...
"Sea level will be inundating the low lands of virtually every
country of the world, ours included," Corell predicts.
To find the sights and sounds of the arctic melting, there are few
places better than a fjord in Greenland, with a glacier just a short
distance away.
For week day climate change news from Climate Nexus:
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=b3293202d4&e=95b355344d
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