[TheClimate.Vote] Jan 29, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News for citizens, voters and officials
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sun Jan 29 08:34:34 EST 2017
/"The most important issue of all time" -/ /Stay well-informed about
global warming, Please f//orward this email. January 29, 2017 /
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/wests-largest-coal-plant-may-close-21117
*The West's Largest Coal Plant May Close. It’s a Big Deal
<http://www.climatecentral.org/news/wests-largest-coal-plant-may-close-21117>*
The largest coal-fired power plant in the West — one of the biggest
climate polluters in the nation — could close later this year, a
major symbolic blow to the future of coal as the backbone of
America’s electric power grid...
The owners of Arizona's Navajo Generating Station northeast of the
Grand Canyon announced in early January that low natural gas prices
and the rising costs of generating electricity using coal make it
too expensive to operate the plant. A decision on the plant’s fate
is expected this spring...
It is America's seventh-largest single source of the carbon dioxide
emissions driving climate change. Its closure would relieve Arizona
of a source of pollution long targeted by federal regulators for
contributing to regional haze and poor air quality over the Grand
Canyon...
"It's going to be difficult for Trump to be both pro-natural gas and
pro-coal at the same time, unless he intends to directly subsidize
coal plants or find other markets for U.S. coal," Regan said.
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/251284279/eu-economy-suffering-the-worst-ever-impact-due-to-global-warming
*EU economy suffering the worst ever impact due to/global warming/
<http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/251284279/eu-economy-suffering-the-worst-ever-impact-due-to-global-warming>*
Big News Network.com-11 hours ago
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The impact of extreme weather on Europe's
economy has risen sharply since the 1980s. According to a new
report, it is further set to worsen as the impact of global warming
comes to the fore.
According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the extreme
weather has caused 85,000 deaths, which nearly amounts to 393
billion euros between 1980 and 2016.
The findings were revealed in a report titled ‘Climate Change,
impacts and vulnerability in Europe.’
The report places annual damages at nearly 7.6 billion euros in the
1980s - with the figure witnessing a steep rise of 80 percent,
reaching 13.7 billion euros by the 2000s..
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/01/28/the-weekend-wonk-trump-war-on-science-sparks-backlash/
*The Weekend Wonk: Trump War on Science Sparks Backlash
<https://climatecrocks.com/2017/01/28/the-weekend-wonk-trump-war-on-science-sparks-backlash/>*
The events of the past week have been worrying to advocates of
government action on climate change, with the removal of climate
priorities from the White House website, the order to freeze all
Environmental Protection Agency contracts and the inauguration of a
president who said he is "not a big believer" in the fact that
humans have played a role in changing Earth's climate...
But these events have also been very good for website traffic...
According to data from analytics.usa.gov, which tracks Web traffic
on all .gov websites, several pages related to climate change have
been extremely popular in the week since President Trump's inauguration.
http://www.libdemvoice.org/why-politicians-cant-solve-climate-change-53099.html
(opinion)*Why politicians can't solve climate change*
...effective democracy does presume that people understand the
implications of the policies that their governments pursue. A
successful society needs an electorate that is informed, critical
and motivated to participate in the political process....
The political process works less well when a country is led by
popularist politicians offering sound-bite policies to an electorate
that is poorly informed...
Do people believe that the current trajectory of climate change
could pass a tipping point within fifteen years, beyond which, the
impact of climate change could become irreversible? Probably not,
because if they did, then we would expect them to be demanding
governments do something about it....
There are three more questions we should ask ourselves: Could global
warming cause the collapse of human civilization? If yes, can it be
avoided? And finally, the tricky one, do we have confidence that our
political leaders will take the brave decisions needed to avert
catastrophe? The answers to these questions are: Yes. Maybe. Only
if the electorate understand the issues and demand that government
take action...
Climate change is a reality, the major causes are man-made and
preventing a global catastrophe is not simply a technological
problem but a social engagement problem. Governments urgently need
to initiate a process of 'participative change', enabling the
electorate to understand the issues, support the transition to a low
carbon future and become advocates for change. Unfortunately, many
governments are either ignoring the issue – or actively promoting
policies that deny climate change. Neither of these two options are
sustainable political strategies....
So, here we are in 2017. The UN has overseen twenty years of talks,
prevarication and empty promises until finally we are offered the
"breakthrough" of a voluntary target that is guaranteed to exceed
the critical threshold. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that even
these inadequate targets will be met, primarily because most
governments are reluctant to implement the necessary action to
reduce carbon emissions as this would risk upsetting various vested
interests...
Preventing further increases in global temperatures is not
primarily a technical problem – we have the capability to
dramatically cut carbon emissions – it is a social engagement
problem. Our task now is to build the capability to engage the
electorate in a complex debate that touches on all aspects of our
society, our values and our relationship with the natural environment.
http://portside.org/2017-01-28/war-and-warming-can-we-save-planet-without-taking-pentagon
*(essay) War and Warming: Can We Save the Planet Without Taking on the
Pentagon?
<http://portside.org/2017-01-28/war-and-warming-can-we-save-planet-without-taking-pentagon>*
*Author: H Patricia Hynes*
Oil is indispensable for war and militarism. Think of it as the
lifeblood coursing through our foreign policy, a policy based on
maintaining superpower status and confronting those whom we perceive
as challenging us.
....Climate change is inevitably an issue of peace because the
Pentagon is the single largest contributor of climate change
emissions in the world. And as the Pentagon goes, so go the military
budgets of other major powers. ..
War for oil has come home. Militarized North Dakota police attacked
non-violent water protectors protesting the Dakota Access oil
pipeline with rubber bullets, tear gas, concussion grenades, and
water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures. One medic treating
injuries described it as a "low grade war."...
What's clear from US spending priorities is that access to oil and
military dominance has governed US policy in the world. Add to this
a thin-skinned bully as president surrounding himself with generals
and we will likely get into deeper displays of male dominance.
Foreign policy advisor to both Presidents Bush, Philip Zelikow, put
it bluntly. With President Trump's "ambient prickliness, we could
end up picking a fight with three quarters of the world."...
Between 2003 and 2007, the Iraq war generated more carbon dioxide
equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions each year of the war than 139
of the world's countries release annually. Re-building Iraqi (and
Syrian and Yemeni) schools, homes, businesses, bridges, roads, and
hospitals pulverized by the war will require millions of tons of
cement, the most fossil fuel intensive of all manufacturing
industries....
... assume that the rest of world's military spending, weapons
manufacturing, military exercises, and conflict combine to bring
military-related fossil fuel emissions to near 15 percent of global
climate change pollution? Intensifying military tensions will drive
it higher and could vitiate country commitments to the Paris climate
agreement.
...The Syrian scholar Suzanne Saleeby notes that "escalating
pressures on urban areas due to internal migration, increasing food
insecurity, and resultant high rates of unemployment have spurred
many Syrians to make their political grievances publicly known. in
popular uprisings..."
..... The entire Middle East inexorably faces a hotter, drier
climate from climate change that will further stress water
resources, agriculture, food prices and existing conflicts. Thus,
the seeds of future conflicts in authoritarian and unequal societies
may also include scarce water resources as farmers and thirsty
people, opportunistic politicians and powerful corporations contend
for that diminishing resource....
The US habit and competence for war, with its origins in the past
annihilation of Native Americans, may be our society's nemesis
unless we do critical soul-searching about our cultural and personal
values and actively engage in transforming them. ...
[This piece originated in talks given to 350.org CT and Promoting
Enduring Peace, New Haven; Women's International League for Peace
and Justice, Boston branch; and the Women's Pentagon Action 2016 Forum.]
https://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/csb/index.php?section=234
*Current State of the Sea Ice Cover -- NASA Cryosphere
<https://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/csb/index.php?section=234>*
The sea ice cover is one of the key components of the polar climate
system. It has been a focus of attention in recent years, largely
because of a strong decrease in the Arctic sea ice cover and
modeling results that indicate that global warming could be
amplified in the Arctic on account of ice-albedo feedback. This
results from the high reflectivity (albedo) of the sea ice compared
to ice-free waters. (see the)...The plots and color-coded maps
<https://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/csb/index.php?section=234>
Sea ice extent is the integral sum of the areas of all grid cells
with at least 15% ice concentration, while sea ice area is the
integral sum of the product of ice concentration and area of all
grid cells with at least 15% ice concentration.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/go-bag-prepare-natural-disaster-apocalypse/
*Be ready for a natural disaster (or the apocalypse) with a go
bag
<https://www.cnet.com/how-to/go-bag-prepare-natural-disaster-apocalypse/>*
CNET-10 hours ago
/Global warming/has made weather patterns unpredictable and
dangerous. Mix that with the current civil unrest around the world
and you could have all the...reasons why you may need to flee your
home to find new shelter at a moment's notice:
Earthquake
Tornado or hurricane
Flash flood
Wild fire
Mud slide
Ice storm
Zombie apocalypse (just kidding... maybe)
What kind of bag is best?
The City of Chicago recommends that each member of your household
have their own go bag. If you're the parent of small children,
however, you can use one big bag to hold everything you and your
children need.
Remember, the best kind of bag is the kind you can carry. Don't get
a huge duffle bag unless you're very strong and can heft it. Also,
you want a bag that will fit easily in your transport. You don't
want one that's so big you'll have to leave one of the kids behind
to take it with you....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/business/energy-environment/navigating-climate-change-in-americas-heartland.html
*In America's Heartland, Discussing/Climate Change/Without Saying
Climate Change
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/business/energy-environment/navigating-climate-change-in-americas-heartland.html>*
New York Times-13 hours ago
In short, he is a/climate change/realist. Just don't expect him to
utter the words "/climate change/." "If politicians want to exhaust
themselves debating the climate,...
Carl Priesendorf, a science teacher at Metropolitan Community
College in Kansas City, Mo., has learned strategies to talk about
climate change without completely alienating climate skeptics. He
teaches geology and meteorology. Those subjects would usually be
innocuous, but not here....
“I’d show the CO2 data — how we’d had the hottest year on record,”
Mr. Priesendorf said. “But I get students who basically say what I’m
teaching is nonsense. My car’s been keyed. I get notes from students
saying they’re praying for my soul.” One such note that he shared
reads, “Know that God’s love surpasses knowledge.”
..
Koch political network to spend $300M to $400M over 2 years
<https://www.yahoo.com/news/koch-political-network-spend-300m-400m-over-2-001528120--election.html>
Yahoo News -2 hours ago
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- The conservative Koch network plans to
spend between $300 million and $400 million to influence politics
and public policy over the next two years, intensifying its
nationwide efforts in the initial years of Donald Trump's ...
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/28/no-one-size-fits-all-solution-food-security-looks-very-different-depending-on-where-you-are-sitting_partner/
*No one-size-fits-all solution: Food security looks very different
depending on where you are sitting.
<http://www.salon.com/2017/01/28/no-one-size-fits-all-solution-food-security-looks-very-different-depending-on-where-you-are-sitting_partner/>*
Salon-7 hours ago
The only definite is that the West needs to learn to consume — and
waste — less
*Climate change*: Our ability to provide food for this growing
population will be seriously affected by the changing climate.
Current predictions for/global//warming/ are for an increase in
temperature ranging from 0.6℃ to 4℃ use sy by 2099. The Paris
climate agreement sets out a global action plan to limit global
warming this century to 2℃. This will be a difficult target to
achieve ...
Population growth: The current global population is 7.4 billion and
it is growing rapidly. We are expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030,
9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.
Malnutrition: Today the world faces a double burden of malnutrition
that includes both under-nutrition and obesity. In 2015, more than
1.9 billion adults worldwide were overweight while 462m were
underweight.
Solutions..Given these issues, different countries will need
different solutions....One technological solution is to develop
drought-resistant crops, although the efficacy of this is debated.
The issue here is not the technology but how to distribute it...
*Activists gather for/climate change/meeting in Northampton
<http://www.westernmassnews.com/story/34370619/activists-gather-for-climate-change-meeting-in-northampton>*
WESTERNMASSNEWS.com-36 minutes ago
Activists in Northampton gathered at the First Churches to voice
their concerns over the future of our planet. "We're getting moving,
and we're getting active," said ...
http://www.uniindia.com/ancient-indus-civilization-s-adaptation-to-climate-change/science-technology/news/763638.html
Ancient Indus civilization's adaptation to/climate change/
<http://www.uniindia.com/ancient-indus-civilization-s-adaptation-to-climate-change/science-technology/news/763638.html>
United News of India-7 hours ago
With/climate change/in our own era becoming increasingly evident,
it's natural to wonder how our ancestors may have dealt with similar
environmental ...
http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-trump-could-make-deadly-flesh-eating-bacteria-spread-again-video
(scapegoating) How Trump Could Make a Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Spread, Again (video)
<http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-trump-could-make-deadly-flesh-eating-bacteria-spread-again-video>
AlterNet-Jan 27, 2017
For starters, the goal to keep a global temperature rise this
century well below 2° ... in/global warming/refugees, and more
droughts, wildfires and heatwaves...
...it's frighteningly real—and thanks to climate change, the
occurrence of the menacing microbe, Vibrio vulnificus, is expected
to rise.
Climate change isn't the only culprit in the expected rise in cases
of deadly bacterial infections. Raw oysters also play a role. The
editorial board of the Salisbury, Maryland Daily Times (the
newspaper that reported on the Funk case) offered readers a simple
warning: "Avoid brackish, stagnant water and don't eat raw oysters."
For centuries humans have known that climatic conditions affect
epidemic infections—since well before the basic notion of infectious
agents was under- stood late in the nineteenth century. The Roman
aristocracy took refuge in their hill resorts each summer to avoid
...More recently, scientists at the World Health Organization
suggest that climate change aided the spread of the Zika virus.
*This Day in Climate History January 29, 2006
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/earth/29climate.html> - from
D.R. Tucker*
The New York Times reports on the extensive effort by the George W.
Bush administration to muzzle NASA scientist James Hansen. (The
controversy would also be covered by Air America's "EcoTalk with
Betsy Rosenberg" and the CBS program "60 Minutes.")
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/earth/29climate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/ecotalkblog/2006/02/ecotalk_82.html
http://youtu.be/x0i4Sx1edJE
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/nasa-scientist-muzzled/
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