[TheClimate.Vote] July 4 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

Tue Jul 4 10:49:50 EDT 2017

/July 4, 2017
/*
Stephen Hawking says Trump's climate policies are pushing Earth toward 
an irreversible "tipping point" 
<https://qz.com/1020528/stephen-hawking-donald-trumps-climate-change-policies-spell-disaster-for-the-planet/>*
Famed physicist Stephen Hawking spent part of his 75th birthday 
celebration warning the public of the potentially catastrophic 
consequences of US president Donald Trump's climate change policy.
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes 
irreversible," he said yesterday (July 2) in an interview with BBC News. 
"Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like 
Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining 
sulphuric acid."
Hawking's comments come as the head of the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, who has already been cited by critics for 
dismantling the department from within, has recently launched a formal 
plan to challenge mainstream climate science.
Pruitt's move to discredit the scientific consensus on global climate 
change is part of a pattern of actions the EPA has taken since Trump 
became president. As Quartz wrote in May:
Days after Trump's inauguration, EPA employees were told to stop 
publicizing taxpayer-funded science. After Pruitt took over, he removed 
"science" from the mission statement of the agency's Office of Science 
and Technology. He scrubbed a climate-science site from public view 
after two decades of the EPA hosting it online. Pruitt also dismisses 
more than 100 years of science when he says that he doesn't believe that 
carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming. As attorney 
general of Oklahoma, Pruitt was a fierce critic of the EPA and a 
reliable ally of oil companies lobbying for looser emissions rules...
https://qz.com/1020528/stephen-hawking-donald-trumps-climate-change-policies-spell-disaster-for-the-planet/
*Hawking says Trump's climate stance could damage Earth 
<http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40461726>*

    Stephen Hawking says that US President Donald Trump's decision to
    pull out of the Paris climate agreement could lead to irreversible
    climate change.
    Prof Hawking said the action could put Earth onto a path that turns
    it into a hothouse planet like Venus.
    He also feared aggression was "inbuilt" in humans and that our best
    hope of survival was to live on other planets.
    The Cambridge professor spoke exclusively to BBC News to coincide
    with his 75th birthday celebrations.
    Arguably the world's most famous scientist, Prof Hawking has had
    motor neurone disease for most of his adult life. It has impaired
    his movement and ability to speak.
    Yet through it all, he emerged as one of the greatest minds of our
    time. His theories on black holes and the origin of the Universe
    have transformed our understanding of the cosmos.
    Prof Hawking has also inspired generations to study science. But
    through his media appearances what has been most impressive of all
    has been his humanity.
    'Great danger'
    His main concern during his latest interview was the future of our
    species. A particular worry was President Trump's decision to
    withdraw from the Paris climate agreement to reduce CO2 levels.
    What is climate change?
    What is in the Paris climate agreement?
    "We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes
    irreversible. Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to
    become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty
    degrees, and raining sulphuric acid," he told BBC News.
    "Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one we
    can prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate
    change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump
    will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet,
    endangering the natural world, for us and our children."
    The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also
    highlights the potential risk of hitting climate tipping points as
    temperatures increase - though there are gaps in our knowledge of
    this topic.
    In its Fifth Assessment Report, the IPCC authors wrote: "The precise
    levels of climate change sufficient to trigger tipping points
    (thresholds for abrupt and irreversible change) remain uncertain,
    but the risk associated with crossing multiple tipping points in the
    Earth system or in interlinked human and natural systems increases
    with rising temperature."
    When asked whether he felt we would ever solve our environmental
    problems and resolve human conflicts, Prof Hawking was pessimistic,
    saying that he thought our days on Earth were numbered.
    "I fear evolution has inbuilt greed and aggression to the human
    genome. There is no sign of conflict lessening, and the development
    of militarised technology and weapons of mass destruction could make
    that disastrous. The best hope for the survival of the human race
    might be independent colonies in space."
    And on Brexit, he feared UK research would be irreparably damaged.
    "Science is a cooperative effort, so the impact will be wholly bad,
    and will leave British science isolated and inward looking".
    I asked him what he would like his legacy to be.
    "I never expected to reach 75, so I feel very fortunate to be able
    to reflect on my legacy. I think my greatest achievement, will be my
    discovery that black holes are not entirely black."
    "Quantum effects cause them to glow like hot bodies with a
    temperature that is lower, the larger the black hole. This result
    was completely unexpected, and showed there is a deep relationship
    between gravity and thermodynamics. I think this will be key, to
    understanding how paradoxes between quantum mechanics and general
    relativity can be resolved."
    When asked if money or practicality were no object, what his dream
    present would be, he said it would be a cure for motor neurone
    disease - or at least a treatment that halted its progression.
    "When I was diagnosed at 21, I was told it would kill me in two or
    three years. Now, 54 years later, albeit weaker and in a wheelchair,
    I'm still working and producing scientific papers. But it's been a
    great struggle, which I have got through only with a lot of help
    from my family, colleagues, and friends."
    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40461726

*Here's the Real Reason Republicans Don't Give a Damn About Climate 
Change 
<http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/heres-the-real-reason-republicans-dont-give-a-damn-about-climate-change/>*
"The largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in the 
country's history."
  They found that states that are already hotter, and already poorer on 
average, will lose the most. These states tend to be located in the 
South and lower Midwest. Meanwhile, states to the north and west will 
see increased economic opportunity, with "colder and richer" counties 
across the northern border and in the Rockies standing to benefit the 
most as health, agriculture, and energy costs are likely to improve.
  The study is the first to price warming by analyzing decades-worth of 
data and evidence. The researchers estimate that for each one degree 
Fahrenheit (0.55°C) increase in global temperatures, the U.S. economy 
loses about 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product, with each new degree of 
warming costing more than the last.
  "If we continue on the current path, our analysis indicates it may 
result in the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in 
the country's history."
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/heres-the-real-reason-republicans-dont-give-a-damn-about-climate-change/

*This Day in Climate History July 4, 2011, 2014 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.html><http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.html>-  
from D.R. Tucker*

    *July 4, 2011: **The Fox News Channel* celebrates its independence
    from reality by bringing on infamous climate-change denier Joe
    Bastardi to attack those concerned about carbon pollution.
    http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/07/06/fox-celebrates-july-4-by-trying-to-debunk-globa/180569

    *July 4, 2014 The New York Times reports:*
    "Speaking to a friendly audience of environmental advocates last
    week, President Obama mocked members of Congress who 'duck the
    question,' as he put it, of whether climate change is real by saying
    that they are not scientists.
    "'I mean, I’m not a scientist either,' the president told the League
    of Conservation Voters in Washington. 'But I’ve got this guy, John
    Holdren. He’s a scientist.'
    "The line got a laugh, in part because Mr. Holdren, a physicist and
    the White House science adviser since the beginning of the
    administration, is hardly just a 'guy'— he has had one of the more
    prominent careers in academia and policy making of any scientist in
    the land.
    "But it also acknowledged a truth: Mr. Holdren has this president’s
    ear, perhaps more than any White House science adviser in recent
    memory, at a time when climate change has been thrust to the
    forefront of national politics and could help shape Mr. Obama’s legacy."
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.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/20170704/2b3f0e5e/attachment.html>