[TheClimate.Vote] Jan 17, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News for voters, candidates and officials
Richard Pauli
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Tue Jan 17 09:58:57 EST 2017
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http://e360.yale.edu/feature/obama_top_scientist_words_of_caution_climate_john_holdren/3061/
From Obama's Top Scientist, Words of Caution on*Climate*- by
Elizabeth Kolbert
<http://e360.yale.edu/feature/obama_top_scientist_words_of_caution_climate_john_holdren/3061/>
AlterNet -7 hours ago
A physicist by training, Holdren is among the chief architects of
the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan...
This makes him one of the more controversial science advisers, as
well. ..(His) plan has been lauded by environmentalists, but is
loathed by conservative politicians, some of whom have filed suit
against it. The future of the plan, which rests almost entirely on
executive authority, is now very much in doubt.
Holdren spoke to Yale Environment 360 (Elizabeth Kolbert) about the
difference between “dangerous” and “catastrophic” warming, the
incoming Trump administration, and how to talk to people who deny
the existence of*climate change*.e360:
e360:: You’ve said that the goal of avoiding dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system is gone. We're already
experiencing that, and the question is can we avoid catastrophe?
Where do we draw the line between dangerous and catastrophic?
Holdren: I’ve likened the current situation with respect to climate
change to driving a car toward a cliff in the fog and the car has
bad brakes. *...
Holdren: Scientists, number one, should keep talking about the
science and what it's telling us, what the implications are. That
includes the implications of delay. How much more damage are we
buying into if we say, "Let's deal with this later,” rather than
dealing with it now. It's becoming possible to talk about that. The
other thing that is becoming possible is to talk about impacts in a
much more regional way. The third U.S. National Climate Assessment,
which was released in 2014, succeeded in disaggregating things
regionally and sectorally to a much greater extent than any previous
assessment had done.
*..http://e360.yale.edu/feature/obama_top_scientist_words_of_caution_climate_john_holdren/3061/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f9NToKsiCA
*(video) NASA’s Gavin Schmidt on why 2016 was a Record Warm year
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f9NToKsiCA>*
On Wednesday, the world’s three major meteorological organizations
will reveal how global temperature in 2016 stacked up against
previous years. Given exceptional warmth in most months, it is all
but guaranteed that scientists will confirm 2016 as the hottest year
on record.
Dr Gavin Schmidt is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space
Studies. Carbon Brief caught up with him at the University of
Southampton, on 12 Jan 2017.
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/01/16/nasas-gavin-schmidt-on-2016-record-warmth/
6:21 minutes
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/16/509878778/cabinet-nominees-will-face-scrutiny-on-climate-and-education-policy-this-week
Cabinet Nominees Will Face Scrutiny On*Climate*And Education Policy
This Week
<http://www.npr.org/2017/01/16/509878778/cabinet-nominees-will-face-scrutiny-on-climate-and-education-policy-this-week>
NPR -3 hours ago
...a few could be hot-button affairs, including hearings for
Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos and Scott Pruitt, Trump's
nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Pruitt is also a*climate change*skeptic, writing in National Review
last year that: "Scientists continue to disagree about the degree
and extent of*global warming*and its connection to the actions of
mankind. That debate should be encouraged - in*.
*Tuesday confirmation hearings: DeVos and Zinke*- Earlier on
Tuesday, at 10 a.m., Interior Secretary-designate Ryan Zinke will
have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee...he's a supporter of coal, oil and gas
exploration, and has backed building the Keystone XL pipeline.
Wednesday confirmation hearings: Haley, Price, Pruitt and Ross
The confirmation for Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general
tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, is sure to
attract plenty of attention as he testifies before the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee. He's been a leading critic
of the very agency he's seeking to lead. Pruitt has been a leading
opponent of President Obama's environmental and climate regulations,
His official biography calls him "a leading advocate against the
EPA's activist agenda." He has repeatedly challenged the agency's
rules in court, and he has even sued the EPA for an allegedly cozy
"sue and settle" relationship with environmentalists. One profile
noted that Pruitt would sue the federal government "every chance he
can get."...
Pruitt is also a climate change skeptic, writing in National Review
last year that: "Scientists continue to disagree about the degree
and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of
mankind. That debate should be encouraged — in classrooms, public
forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with
threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime."
Thursday confirmation hearings: Mnuchin and Ydstie*....
**Rick Perry will testify before the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee at 10 a.m. as well on his nomination to be
Secretary of Energy. The former Texas governor also briefly ran for
president before withdrawing early on in the 2016 campaign; he, too,
was initially critical of Trump before endorsing him last May. The
Austin American-Statesman reports that Perry has cut ties with
several oil and gas companies ahead of his hearing.*
http://www.npr.org/2017/01/16/509878778/cabinet-nominees-will-face-scrutiny-on-climate-and-education-policy-this-week..*
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/cutting-carbon-will-not-prevent-sea-level-rise/
*Carbon cuts will not prevent sea level rise
<http://climatenewsnetwork.net/cutting-carbon-will-not-prevent-sea-level-rise/>*
* ". . . you don't just get to stop emitting and have everything go
back to a pre-industrial state. You are going to live with this for
a very long time"*
“It's all the more reason why it's important to understand how long
climate changes will last, and how much more sea-level rise is
already locked in.”
Sea levels are rising as glaciers the world over retreat and Arctic
icecaps melt, in response to rising carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere, as humans burn fossil fuels.
But this time the MIT team applied their climate model not to carbon
dioxide, but to the other greenhouse gases, among them methane and
the chlorofluorocarbons. They then fed into the simulation the
effect of heat on water, which expands with temperature.
And the short-lived gases are potent: the finding says that even if
the production of these ceased entirely, at the end of 100 years
three-fourths of the thermally-driven sea level rise would still be
there, washing over low-lying coasts, drowning estuaries and river
deltas, and seeping into the coral bedrock of islands too small even
to register on the global climate maps.
“It's all the more reason why it's important to understand how long
climate changes will last, and how much more sea-level rise is
already locked in.”
Sea levels are rising as glaciers the world over retreat and Arctic
icecaps melt, in response to rising carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere, as humans burn fossil fuels.
But this time the MIT team applied their climate model not to carbon
dioxide, but to the other greenhouse gases, among them methane and
the chlorofluorocarbons. They then fed into the simulation the
effect of heat on water, which expands with temperature.
And the short-lived gases are potent: the finding says that even if
the production of these ceased entirely, at the end of 100 years
three-fourths of the thermally-driven sea level rise would still be
there, washing over low-lying coasts, drowning estuaries and river
deltas, and seeping into the coral bedrock of islands too small even
to register on the global climate maps.
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/cutting-carbon-will-not-prevent-sea-level-rise/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/jan/16/new-studies-show-rex-tillerson-is-wrong-about-climate-risks
New studies show Rex Tillerson is wrong about climate risks | Dana
Nuccitelli
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/jan/16/new-studies-show-rex-tillerson-is-wrong-about-climate-risks>
The Guardian -7 hours ago
Dana Nuccitelli: The remaining climate change uncertainties point
toward higher risks and greater urgency for action..
Rex Tillerson was given a confirmation hearing by the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee last week. In his testimony, Tillerson
accepted the reality of human-caused global warming and that “The
risk of climate change does exist and the consequences of it could
be serious enough that action should be taken.”
While he accepted the problem exists, Tillerson nevertheless
proceeded to downplay its risks, saying:
"The increase in the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere
are having an effect, our ability to predict that effect is very
limited."
Many climate scientists took issue with that statement, and for good
reason. Climate models have been very accurate in their projections
about many consequences of human carbon pollution. It’s true that
there’s uncertainty in just how quickly some of those consequences
will be triggered. The bad news is that recent studies have shown
that many of those consequences are happening more quickly than
climate scientists anticipated. Greater climate uncertainty
translates into more urgency to tackle the problem, not less.
*Tillerson might undermine international climate negotiations*
Senator Jeff Merkley’s (D-OR) questioning in the hearing revealed
that Tillerson is not very concerned about climate change and
doesn’t think America should be a leader on the issue. He wouldn’t
pull the US out of international climate negotiations, but he might
very well undermine them...
That should normally be enough to disqualify Tillerson from being
Secretary of State and in charge of America’s role in those
negotiations. The problem is that if the Senate rejects Tillerson,
Trump might very well nominate an outright science denier to the
position. However, Tillerson would likely support lifting sanctions
against Russia, which would allow ExxonMobil to extract tremendous
reserves of oil from the country. ...While Tillerson does accept the
reality of climate change and that it poses some risks, he denies
that those risks are serious. Functionally he might not be very
different than a Secretary of State who outright denies climate
change. Such are the choices we face under a President Trump.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/jan/16/new-studies-show-rex-tillerson-is-wrong-about-climate-risks..
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/national/19warming.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0*
This Day in Climate History January 17, 2006
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/national/19warming.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0>
- from D.R. Tucker
*
**January 17, 2006: The Fred Barnes book "Rebel-in-Chief: Inside the
Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush" is released. In
the book, Barnes notes that in 2005, Bush had a private meeting with
overrated novelist and climate-change denier Michael Crichton,
during which Bush and Crichton "were in near-total agreement" about
the supposed alarmism of climate activists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/national/19warming.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0
http://scienceblogs.com/intersection/2006/02/16/the-full-barnes-treatment-of-b/
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2008/11/07/michael-crichton-author-of-state-of-fear-leaves-global-warming-disinformation-legacy/
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