[TheClimate.Vote] June 7, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

Wed Jun 7 10:06:23 EDT 2017

/June 7, 2017/

    Scientists just linked another record-breaking weather event to
    climate change
    <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/06/scientists-just-linked-another-record-breaking-weather-event-to-climate-change/>

Because of the strong connection between April temperatures and El Nino, 
the authors suggest that scientists may be able to better predict 
extreme events in advance through closer monitoring of factors, such as 
sea surface temperatures, which can help them see strong El Nino events 
coming. But Otto, the University of Oxford scientist, cautioned that 
this method might become less reliable as the planet continues to heat 
up and the influence of global warming on extreme Southeast Asian 
temperatures catches up to that of El Nino.
"In the past, you needed El Nino to have extreme events like this," she 
said. "In the future, this is not necessarily true."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/06/scientists-just-linked-another-record-breaking-weather-event-to-climate-change/

    EPA chief accused of 'promoting*global warming*' with unwavering
    support for fossil fuels
    <https://thinkprogress.org/epa-chief-attacked-for-fossil-fuel-support-db69dce64dc3>

Nation's top environmental protection official keeps touting coal 
industry jobs.
https://thinkprogress.org/epa-chief-attacked-for-fossil-fuel-support-db69dce64dc3

    The terrible risk management of*climate change*'moderates'
    <http://theweek.com/articles/703451/terrible-risk-management-climate-change-moderates>

Can conservative intellectuals think straight about climate change? Back 
in 2014, I argued that their fixation with the so-called global warming 
"pause" demonstrated most of them could not. After 2014, 2015, and 2016 
all came in as the hottest years ever recorded, each one breaking the 
previous record (and the last by a huge margin), I checked back in to 
see whether such people - like The New York Times' Ross Douthat - had 
recanted and admitted their previous error. As of a few weeks ago, he 
had not.
Finally, Douthat has returned to the subject and admitted fault on the 
since-vanished pause. But he has made no change to his underlying view 
on climate change, still subscribing to what he calls "lukewarmism," a 
belief that climate change is real, humans are causing it, but it won't 
be as bad as the greens say. He's still wrong - and he unintentionally 
offers a good demonstration of why this sort of fake moderation on 
climate is untenable.
Like his colleague Bret Stephens, most of Douthat's column makes 
meta-discourse points, though at least in this instance he both admits 
to errors on his own part and the fact that the Republican Party is 
saturated with full-blown denial. But he outsources the meat of his 
lukewarmer case to two articles by Oren Cass....
More fundamentally, if we are talking risk assessment, any future 
economic projections are on much shakier epistemological grounds than 
climactic ones. (If you think climate models are off, check out the IMF 
sometime 
<https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/10/07/the-imf-fesses-up-to-big-growth-prediction-misses-biggest-of-all-brazil-india/>.) 
Whereas one could in principle figure out more or less for sure what is 
going to happen to Greenland given better data, better models, and 
better science, there's no way to get such certainty when it comes to 
political economy. Nordhaus' prediction of 2.3 percent world growth 
relies on continuous improvements in total factor productivity in line 
with earlier observations. But it could be that we'll simply hit an 
insurmountable technological bottleneck in a decade or two and be stuck 
there forever.
http://theweek.com/articles/703451/terrible-risk-management-climate-change-moderates

    Xi Jinping and Jerry Brown of California Meet to Discuss*Climate
    Change*
    <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/world/asia/xi-jinping-china-jerry-brown-california-climate.html>

It is unusual for Mr. Xi to meet with governor-level officials from 
other countries. His meeting with Mr. Brown was covered extensively by 
the government-controlled news media and featured as one of the top 
stories on evening news programs.
The United States energy secretary, Rick Perry, also attended the energy 
conference in Beijing on Tuesday, but there were no reports that he had 
met with Mr. Xi.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/world/asia/xi-jinping-china-jerry-brown-california-climate.html

    (opinion) Liberals have a responsibility too: make *climate change*
    a top issue
    <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2017/jun/06/liberals-climate-change-trump-paris-accord>

And I want to yell: "Yes, again! Again and again and again! Of course, 
again. Don't you get that this is a crisis of civilization? Don't you 
understand that all your other concerns will be swallowed by this one?" 
But I'm a polite Midwesterner, so after spouting my two-minute climate 
piece, haltingly and in eloquently, I let the topic shift to something 
everyone is more comfortable with like civil rights, health care, or 
crippling student debt.
You see, the GOP has made it too easy for liberals in the US to simply 
shrug their shoulders and say: it's their fault we can't get anything 
done. And, of course, this is true. In part. Of course, the GOP is 
world's only major party that still denies climate change. Of course, 
the GOP has been corrupted by fossil fuel industries to the extent that 
they willfully ignore the world's greatest national security threat.
But Obama's 2010 climate legislation in the US didn't just fail because 
the GOP refused to support it. It also failed because Democrats didn't 
support it enough, some of the them even openly opposed it. The 
Democratic Party has been in general timid, conservative, and coy on 
climate change. Oh, at times their rhetoric has been inspiring, but 
their actions have no-where near measured up to the what the science 
demands. They include it in their platform, but rarely prioritize it. 
Yes, Obama got more done than any other president before - but even 
during the administration best moments it never felt like the planetary 
emergency it is.
Liberals: climate change belongs on it's own tier above all others, 
shared perhaps with nuclear war - only climate change is already here 
and inevitable, future nuclear wars are not....
Climate change is the great aggravator. Let me say that again, because 
it so important: climate change is the great aggravator. Every single 
issue that liberals care particular about - whether it is economic 
inequality, racism, sexism, injustice, war - is going to be made worse 
by climate change. Climate change will hit people of color, the poor, 
indigenous, and marginalized communities hardest and first, whether they 
live on eroding islands or high-rises in the middle of Brooklyn. And, 
yes, climate change will disproportionately injure women over men. Of 
course, climate change will also strike what conservatives care about 
most. The global economy will be absolutely shattered by climate change 
and national security threats will popup like overheated groundhogs - 
even the most rich and powerful will not get away unscathed....
What happens when a society becomes overstressed? It's not pretty. 
Historian Christopher Wickham, has described the period following the 
end of the Roman Empire as "extreme material simplification": population 
declined, technology stagnated, conflicts erupted, the standard of 
living plummeted and the written record vanished - hence the popular 
term 'Dark Ages.' It's not just centuries ago: the unimaginable horror 
and stress of World War I allowed the rise of totalitarianism in both 
Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia....
The worst thing about climate change won't be its physical impacts; it 
will be what it makes us do to each other.
So, what can liberals do? First off, if your understanding of climate 
change is only passing, educate yourself. Some good places to start: 
here, here and here. Learn too about off-shoots like ocean 
acidification, deforestation, mass extinction. Next take action: march, 
protest, divest your money from fossil fuel companies, use public 
transit, eat less meat (especially beef), trade in for an electric car, 
put solar panels on your house, buy carbon credits, do something, do 
many things.
So, yes, good on you liberals: you're on the right side of history and 
science when it comes to climate change. Pat yourself on the back. But 
here's the thing: your kids aren't really going to care that you 
believed in climate change, if we don't stop climate change. They aren't 
going to listen to excuses like 'but it's the Republicans' fault' or 
'but Trump, Trump'.*If you continue to view climate change as a lower 
tier issue, liberals, I guarantee you it will be the only issue for your 
children and grandchildren. And all those other things you cared so much 
about will be subsumed in a planet of storms, heat, floods, fires, 
extremism, xenophobia, injustice, violence, war, death, and suffering. 
This issue will burn away all the others. **. *
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2017/jun/06/liberals-climate-change-trump-paris-accord

*(audio) Can Juliana beat TigerSwan? The Climate Minute Podcast 
<http://massclimateaction.podbean.com/e/can-juliana-beat-tigerswan-the-climate-minute-podcast/>*
Jun 5th, 2017 by massclimateaction
DAPL activists were the target of military style counter-terrorism 
methods at Standing Rock and elsewhere, conducted by the TigerSwan 
security company. Is this even legal? (And why are these organizations 
obsessed with Secret-Agent-007-James-Bondian names for their sad little 
enterprises?) On a happier note, a young woman named Juliana has 
frightened three big oil groups. At first they asked to be named 
*defendants in the "Our Children's Trust" lawsuit, but now that they 
might have to answer questions before God and the internet they've 
developed cold feet. Listen in about 14:35*
The Climate Minute examines current news on global warming, climate 
change, renewable energy and the prospects for progress on international 
negotiations, carbon taxes and clean energy policy.
http://massclimateaction.podbean.com/e/can-juliana-beat-tigerswan-the-climate-minute-podcast/

    How*climate change* helped Lyme disease invade America
    <https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/6/15728498/lyme-disease-symptoms-rash-ticks-global-warming>

Cases of the tick-borne illness have exploded since the 1990s.
Lyme cases have more than doubled since the 1990s, and the number of 
counties that are now deemed high-risk for Lyme has increased by more 
than 320 percent in the same period. 2017 is also shaping up to be a 
particularly bad year for Lyme.
New York state is an epicenter for Lyme. More than 90 percent of cases 
in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and mid-Atlantic. And it's why New York 
Sen. Chuck Schumer has been calling on the federal government to more 
aggressively tackle Lyme.
But Trump's policies on climate change, Walter said, will likely do the 
opposite, and make climate-sensitive infectious diseases like Lyme even 
more common. Here are four things to know as we enter the season for the 
disease.
*1) Lyme disease spreads to people through tick bites - but the disease 
can be really hard to diagnose*
Lyme is the most common vector-borne disease in the US, ... Lyme reaches 
people through tick bites after circulating through a chain of other 
species.
The bacteria typically live in mice, chipmunks, birds, and deer in 
wooded areas. And these are all animals that ticks feast on.
Ticks like humans too. They're attracted to the warmth and carbon 
dioxide we give off. .. while outdoors - walking through tall grass, 
playing in fields.  If they're carrying the Borrelia burgdorferi 
bacteria, they can infect us when they bite. (In most cases, the tick 
needs to be attached to the skin for more than 36 hours before the Lyme 
bacteria can be transmitted.)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, common Lyme 
symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle and joint aches. 
There's also that telltale skin rash,...
*2) Lyme disease has become increasingly common**
*In the US, the incidence of Lyme disease has doubled since 1991, from 
about four cases per 100,000 people to eight per 100,000 people. About 
30,000 people are known to get sick with the disease each year, and the 
CDC thinks the real number of cases is about 10 times that. It's also 
spread to a wider area of the country.
*3) A major reason for the uptick in Lyme incidence: global warming*
The Environmental Protection Agency tracks the number of Lyme cases, 
along with heat-related deaths and severe weather events, as an 
indicator of global warming.
That's because researchers think climate change is another major driver 
of the trend - and they expect the situation to get much worse during 
the 21st century.
One of the most important determinants of where ticks can live is 
temperature, because they can't survive in very cold climates. Now that 
we are experiencing warmer winters, ticks are able to live further and 
further north.
*4) 2017 is expected to be a very bad year for Lyme*
There are other factors that influence how far Lyme can spread: 
plentiful acorn seasons. It may sound weird, but it's another 
fascinating aspect of the ecology that helps Lyme proliferate - and why 
2017 is shaping up to be a very bad year for the disease.
Tick-carrying mice feast on acorns, and there's been a bumper crop for 
acorns in the US over the past two years. More acorns means there's more 
food for mice, helping rodent populations grow and increasing the number 
of hosts that carry Lyme-infected ticks.
To protect yourself, the CDC suggests avoiding areas with lots of mice 
and deer, and checking your body for ticks after you've been in wooded 
areas where you might have gotten bitten. If you find a tick on your 
body, the CDC recommends using tweezers to carefully remove it. Wearing 
insect repellent and clothing that covers your body can help keep ticks 
away, too.
At a broader level, there are more impactful things policymakers can do 
to help drive down the risk of Lyme infection, Walter said, and tackling 
climate change is one of them.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/6/15728498/lyme-disease-symptoms-rash-ticks-global-warming

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/world/europe/07prexy.html>*This Day 
in Climate History June 7, 2007 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/world/europe/07prexy.html>-  from 
D.R. Tucker*
  The New York Times reports:
"As leaders of wealthy nations converged Wednesday on a Baltic Sea 
resort for their annual meeting, the White House effectively derailed a 
climate change initiative backed by one of President Bush*'*s strongest 
European allies, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.
"The White House said it would hold firm against concrete long-term 
targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a major priority for Mrs. 
Merkel, the host of the Group of 8 meeting."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/world/europe/07prexy.html/
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