[TheClimate.Vote] May 13, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sat May 13 10:27:14 EDT 2017
/May 13, 2017/
https://youtu.be/bVUi_CBFUfg from the Nebraska Chapter of the Sierra Club
*(video) Berkshire Hathaway Divestment Testimony (all speakers) 18 mins
<https://youtu.be/bVUi_CBFUfg>*
/Since 2010, members of Nebraskans for Peace (NFP), oldest statewide
peace organization in the US, have been working to arrange a meeting
between Warren Buffett and Jim Hansen. ... Last year .. Warren Buffet
responded to Hansen's strong statement by investing even more in fossil
fuels. This year we came back with three climate scientist - Michael
Mann, Richard Somerville, and Admiral David Titley. -Richard W. Miller/
*Warren Buffet, Chairman presides: * <https://youtu.be/bVUi_CBFUfg>
Dr. Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science
and Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center, is
internationally renowned for his ground-breaking research on climate
change-including the famed "hockey stick curve."
Dr. Richard C. J. Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and
Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University of California, San Diego. An authority on the prospects
for climate change in coming decades...
Retired Rear Admiral David W. Titley is a Professor of Practice in
Meteorology and a Professor of International Affairs at Penn State
where he directs the "Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate
Risk." The former commander of the Naval Meteorology and
Oceanography Command...
Frank D. LaMere is a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. A
nationally prominent spokesperson on Native American issues,..
Richard W. Miller is Associate Professor of Systematic and
Philosophical Theology and Associate Professor of Sustainability
Studies at Creighton University. more at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvMKVYJJ6J2Sr_79h3G8MIw
https://*thinkprogress.org/*the-trump-administration-just-actually-admitted-that-climate-change-is-a-problem-3d97d5d5547d
The Trump administration just actually admitted that*climate change
*is a problem
<https://thinkprogress.org/the-trump-administration-just-actually-admitted-that-climate-change-is-a-problem-3d97d5d5547d>
Sec. Tillerson wouldn't comment on U.S. policies, but signed onto an
Arctic agreement to address climate change.
Under U.S. leadership, the council has made significant strides in
addressing pollution, particularly heavy fuel oil (HFO) and black
carbon, which have outsized impacts on climate change, and in
improving relations with indigenous communities.
In his remarks at the close of the conference, Tillerson noted that
the administration is "reviewing" a variety of U.S. policies,
including on climate change. "We are not going to rush to make a
decision," he said. "We are going to work to make the right decision
for the United States."
http://www.*medscape.com*/viewarticle/879974
*Climate Change*a Major Mental Health Threat, Experts Warn
<http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/879974>
Climate change is a major threat to mental health, the American
Psychiatric Association (APA), warns. The association has joined the
growing ranks of physician groups that are sounding the alarm about the
multifactorial effects that rising seas ...
https://www.*psychologytoday.com*/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201704/how-climate-change-affects-mental-health
*How Climate Change Affects Mental Health
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201704/how-climate-change-affects-mental-health>*
New report <http://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/03/30/document_cw_01.pdf>
shows global warming affects our psyches just as much as our earth.
Natural disasters alone aren't the only causes of climate
change-related mental health problems. "Changes in climate affect
agriculture, infrastructure and livability," the authors explain,
"which in turn affect occupations and quality of life and can force
people to migrate. These effects may lead to loss of personal and
professional identity, loss of social support structures, loss of a
sense of control and autonomy and other mental health impacts such
as feelings of helplessness, fear and fatalism."
The stress of worrying about climate change's impacts may also lead
to maladaptive coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse, while
heightening people's risk for depression and anxiety (Simpson et
al., 2011).
Extreme temperatures in their own right have a unique influence on
behavior and wellbeing. As research by Craig Anderson (2001) and
Simister & Cooper (2005) has shown, aggression increases as
temperatures rise. Thus as summers get hotter, so might our tempers
- likely due, the researchers explain, "to the impacts of heat on
arousal, which results in decreases in attention and
self-regulation, as well as an increase in the availability of
negative and hostile thoughts." Heat can also impact our ability to
think clearly, they add, "which may reduce the ability to resolve a
conflict without violence (Pilcher, Nadler, & Busch, 2002)." Higher
temperatures have also been found in other research to increase the
risk of suicide (Lee et al., 2006).
Add to this mounting fear and anxiety derived from watching the
world around us change in irreversible ways - coupled with the
helplessness of feeling as if we cannot stop or reverse global
warming - and you have another effect of climate change on mental
health: "Watching the slow and seemingly irrevocable impacts of
climate change unfold, and worrying about the future for oneself,
children, and later generations, may be an additional source
of
stress (Searle & Gow, 2010)," the authors write. "Albrecht (2011)
and others have termed this anxiety ecoanxiety. Qualitative research
provides evidence that some people are deeply affected by feelings
of loss, helplessness, and frustration due to their inability to
feel like they are making a difference in stopping climate change
(Moser, 2013)."
see also http://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/03/30/document_cw_01.pdf
https://*newrepublic.com*/article/142660/media-failing-miserably-challenge-trump-climate-change
The Media Is Failing Miserably to Challenge Trump on*Climate Change*
<https://newrepublic.com/article/142660/media-failing-miserably-challenge-trump-climate-change>
He's appointed climate-change deniers to cabinet positions, and
scrubbed scientifically accurate information about climate change
from EPA websites.
By sheer number of actions, Trump has done more on the environment
than in any other area since becoming president.
Two more examples of this media failure surfaced on Thursday, when
The Economist and Time each published separate, wide-ranging
interviews with Trump—and neither featured a single question about
the administration's environmental agenda.
There's no shortage of environmental questions to pose to Trump.
Here's what I'd ask him, if given the chance:
"President Trump, you ordered the EPA to roll back regulations on
coal....But even coal industry executives admit the industry isn't
coming back, so why do you keep insisting it will? What evidence do
you have for these claims?"
Are you downgrading science in government policy in favor of
corporate influence? Isn't that contrary to your campaign promises?"
..."You recently signed an executive order rescinding a requirement
to include climate change in environmental reviews of large
projects, and you're scaling back programs that link climate change
to national security. And yet, hundreds of large U.S. companies
believe climate change is a risk to the U.S. economy. You're a
businessman. What would you tell them?"
... the U.S. is extremely vulnerable to further (sea level) rises
within the next century. How are you going to address this problem?"
The media's neglect of environmental policy is hardly unique to the
Trump presidency.
In 2014, for example, major media outlets like the New York Times
and NPR cut their environment reporting staff significantly.
/Emily Atkin is a staff writer at the New Republic/
https://*climatecrocks.com*/2017/05/12/the-weekend-wonk-good-antarctic-synopsis-from-rolling-stone/
*The Weekend Wonk: Good Antarctic Synopsis from Rolling Stone
<https://climatecrocks.com/2017/05/12/the-weekend-wonk-good-antarctic-synopsis-from-rolling-stone/>*
/Peter Sinclair: / If you're interested in a good synopsis of what keeps
glaciologists awake at night, this is worth your time this weekend. Add
the videos I've plugged in here, and you'll be well informed.
Jeff Goodell in Rolling Stone:
There are many differences between the Jakobshavn Glacier and
Thwaites. For one thing, Thwaites is many times larger. The calving
face of Jakobshavn is only about 10 miles long, versus 90 miles at
Thwaites. Also, Thwaites is not constrained in a valley the way that
Jakobshavn is, which means there is little friction on the sides to
slow it down. If it really gets going, it could collapse much faster
than Jakobshavn. More important, Jakobshavn does not sit on the edge
of a reverse-slope basin the way Thwaites does. It can calve fast,
but it is not what scientists call a threshold system. Thwaites is.
But one thing they do have in common is that their structural
integrity – and possible future collapse – is dictated by the basic
physics of ice.
*(video) Scientists' Concerns Challenge Conservative Sea-Level Rise
Projections <https://youtu.be/RaD3ax2j3Ks>* https://youtu.be/RaD3ax2j3Ks
Standing 300 feet tall, the ice cliffs on the calving face of
Jakobshavn are the highest anywhere on the planet. As it happens,
there's good reason for that. Alley and other scientists found that
ice cliffs on marine-terminating glaciers like Jakobshavn or
Thwaites have a structural limit of about 300 feet – after that,
they collapse because of stress and weight. So, even if there are
sections on Thwaites that are 6,000 feet deep, Alley realized, the
structural integrity of ice would never allow a glacier's face to
stand that tall. In other words, glaciers with a face up to 300 feet
can be relatively stable; after that, forget it. As Alley puts it to
me, "It's just collapse, collapse, collapse."
*(video) The AGU Interviews: Eric Rignot, Part 3
<https://youtu.be/ANBHZfH4l6M>*** https://youtu.be/ANBHZfH4l6M
One way that scientists test how well a model might predict the
future is by seeing how well it recreates the past. If you can run a
model backward and it gets things right, then you can run it forward
and trust that the results might be accurate. For years, DeConto and
Pollard have been trying to get their model to re-create the
Pliocene, the era 3 million years ago when the CO2 levels in the
atmosphere were very close to what they are today, except the seas
were 20 feet higher. But no matter what knobs they turned, they
couldn't get their model to melt the ice sheets fast enough to
replicate what the geological record told them had happened. "We
knew something was missing from the dynamics of our model," DeConto
tells me.
*(video) Back to the Pliocene with Dr. Julie Brigham Grette
<https://youtu.be/G9GWAv3en7A>*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=G9GWAv3en7A
<https://youtu.be/G9GWAv3en7A>
Alley suggested they plug in his new understanding of ice physics,
including the structural integrity of the ice itself (or lack
thereof), and "see what happens." They did, and lo, their model
worked. They were able to get the Pliocene melt just about right. In
effect, they found the missing mechanism. Their model was now
road-tested for accuracy.
*Ars Technica:
<https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/01/updated-ice-sheet-model-matches-wild-swings-in-past-sea-levels/>*
https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/01/updated-ice-sheet-model-matches-wild-swings-in-past-sea-levels/
The results were dramatic. The new processes combined to have a huge
impact. Instead of about 2 meters of sea level rise, Antarctica lost
enough ice to raise global sea level 17 meters over several thousand
years. The fragile West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses in a matter of
decades, rather than centuries or millennia. There's 5 meters of sea
level rise in the first two centuries, after which retreat in
portions of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet really get going.
*(video) Trouble at Totten Glacier*
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDB_C-jwkU>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDB_C-jwkU
Eastern Antarctica, and in particular the enormous Totten Glacier,
has escaped much public awareness. This video points to similarities
between glacier melt in eastern and western Antarctica, as
scientists explore a potentially concerning future for the vast glacier.
http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2017/05/05/color-your-way-to-climate-reality/
*Color Your Way to Climate Reality
<http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2017/05/05/color-your-way-to-climate-reality/>*
By: Michelle Nijhuis | May 5, 2017
I wanted to go back to where I started as an artist, with physical
art and physically drawn art, and I also wanted to pursue something
that was a little more active for the participants-where they could
help produce the data visualization themselves.
Coloring books for adults are a bit of a nostalgic exercise, but I
think they're popular because they give people a moment to reflect
or meditate while still doing something active, producing something
rather than simply consuming it.
So I was interested in seeing how I could juxtapose data-in
particular data that might be a little more urgent and anxiety
producing-with a practice that's associated with reflection. The
goal is to try to get the person who's coloring to take time to
think about the underlying issues-not only do they get the
information, but hopefully they also think about what the data
represents and who will be affected by it.
It's changed the way I approach information, too-now, whenever I
read an article, I try to seek out the source of the statements and
find out where the data came from. I think that mentality is
important for anyone, of any age, who's trying to make sense of the
world.
Climate Change Coloring Book, <http://www.coloringclimate.com/>
http://www.coloringclimate.com/
https://www.*theatlantic.com*/science/archive/2017/05/did-global-warming-really-pause-during-the-2000s/525645/
Did Global Warming Really 'Pause' During the 2000s? - The Atlantic
<https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/did-global-warming-really-pause-during-the-2000s/525645/>
A new study explains why the controversial hiatus doesn't amount to
much.
Global warming does not obsess most Americans, but it frightens the
scientists who study it. Just before the new president took office,
an unprecedented and monstrous El Niño, the largest ever recorded,
set a new annual global temperature record-"the hottest year ever
measured," as the newspapers put it. Ocean temperatures surged
around the world, bleaching the Great Barrier Reef and inducing a
mass coral die-off . Great cracks are even appearing in ancient
Antarctic ice shelves. Climate change seems to be already under way.
In other words, you can "tune" the models to make them better mimic
a certain span of years, but that tuning doesn't seem to teach them
anything essential about the underlying Earth system.
Climate scientists who were not connected to the study says the
paper "closes the book" on the hiatus period, summarizing the best
science and allowing researchers to move on. They also noted that
the hiatus has ended now by any measure. "It's 2014, 2015, and 2016
that killed the hiatus, and not any adjustment to the data. And the
same thing is true if you look at the raw data without any fixes,"
Hausfather, the Stanford economist, told me last week.
"In fact, if you look at 1998 to 2016-which is more of a fair
comparison, because you start and end with an El Niño-you see that
the warming continues at the same trend. That's why, as climate
scientists, we tend to focus on 30-year trends," he said.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2176971/how-talk-climate-skeptic-or-denier-your-life
*How to Reason with the Climate Change Denier in Your Life*
<https://www.outsideonline.com/2176971/how-talk-climate-skeptic-or-denier-your-life>
A new book by two philosophy scholars imagines conversations with
skeptics and deniers. Here are four lessons we learned from it.
Philip Kitcher, an MIT professor of philosophy, and Evelyn Fox
Keller, an MIT professor emerita of history and philosophy of
science, have co-written a book that imagines six of those very
conversations. The Seasons Alter: How to Save the Planet in Six Acts
(W.W. Norton; $25) reads like six screenplays set in different
locations and with two different people in each act. The
dialogue-well, it probably won't pass your sniff test. The authors
describe the conversations in the book as "constructive, careful,
and amicable," but they mostly sound stiff.
*Don't Ignore Uncertainty*
The book contains a long conversation between an activist from an
environmental organization and a person with a terminal illness who
is deciding where to donate his money. His conundrum is whether to
support environmental initiatives, based on the predictions that
climate change will harm large populations, or give to groups
addressing things such as malnutrition. "Sometimes I think the real
catastrophes [from climate change] aren't that likely, and the
likely effects aren't that bad," he says.
Climate change is likely to undergird an uptick in pandemics, for
example, but there's no blueprint for preventing those. Some impacts
are episodic (heat waves, increasingly severe storms) while others
are constant (sea level creeps up), but all are costly. Still,
proponents of inaction often use those uncertainties as talking points.
*Try to Make a Connection*
Managers and people who click on articles about productivity love
talking about emotional intelligence. But Renee Lertzman says we
need more of it in the climate debate as well. Lertzman, who calls
herself a "psychosocial strategist focusing on climate and
environment," coaches NGOs, universities, and corporations on how to
communicate issues related to climate change. Her bailiwick is the
intersection of psychology and climate change, and Lertzman says we
need to be emotionally literate in order to understand the
relationship others have with climate change. A Midwest farmer, for
instance, might be "concerned with staying afloat and keeping their
way of life viable-there is an emotional charge there, and their
response to climate change is different than an urbanite in, say,
the Bay Area," she says.
Neurology shows that compassion soothes the nervous system, while
confrontation excites it. "If our limbic system-the survival part of
our minds-is activated, it's game over. If I'm feeling uneasy or
anxious, I'm not even going to hear what you have to say."
*Advance the War on Atmospheric Carbon, Not on People*
President Trump and others who share his dubious views on climate
change have painted the climate activist movement as oppositional to
American values. They cast the war on coal as a war on coal miners.
While Trump is trying to roll back the Clean Power Plan, coal's loss
of competitiveness against natural gas and renewables is what really
dooms the coal industry.
*Know How to Navigate an Impasse*
Carla Wise, a conservation biologist turned climate change activist,
says the most important thing to do is to just keep having
conversations about climate change, because the more we talk about
it, the less it becomes a taboo issue that makes everyone
uncomfortable. That's not to say these conversations will always be
easy or pleasant.
When things get dicey, Lertzman says, "I use a martial arts move,
where you don't engage directly with the opposition, you don't
argue. I might say, 'I hear you're saying XYZ, and I won't challenge
that, but can you help me understand? Let's just say,
hypothetically, that climate change is happening and will have this
effect, what would that mean for you? Could you imagine a scenario
where you are involved?'
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12052017/coffee-risk-climate-change-study-forests-puerto-rico
Coffee's Fate Is Getting Jittery as*Climate Change*Puts Growing
Areas at Risk
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12052017/coffee-risk-climate-change-study-forests-puerto-rico>
InsideClimate News -17 hours ago
Along with other countries in the "bean belt"-the latitudes between the
tropics of Cancer and Capricorn where coffee thrives in the mild
climate-Puerto Rico is projected to get hotter and drier with*climate
change*. Under current warming trajectories*...*
http://www.*ctvnews.ca*/canada/how-climate-change-changed-the-way-people-cook-in-developing-countries-1.3409472
How*climate change*changed the way people cook in developing
countries
<http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/how-climate-change-changed-the-way-people-cook-in-developing-countries-1.3409472>
In developing countries with limited agricultural and technological
resources, climate change has reduced the availability of many staple crops.
http://www.*nytimes.com*/2014/05/13/science/looks-like-rain-again-and-again.html
*This Day in Climate History May 13,
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20998-2004Dec22.html> -
from D.R. Tucker*
In the New York Times, Justin Gillis reports on the perilously perfect
accuracy of climate science predictions.
*Looks Like Rain Again. And Again.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/looks-like-rain-again-and-again.html>*
In the National Climate Assessment, the experts reported huge
increases since the mid-20th century in the amount of precipitation
falling in very heavy rainstorms: up 71 percent in the Northeast, 37
percent in the Midwest and 27 percent in the Southeast. The effect
was seen on a smaller scale west of the Mississippi River, too, even
in parts of the country where the climate is drying out over all.
Two leading scientists, Kevin E. Trenberth at the National Center
for Atmospheric Research and David R. Easterling at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ran some calculations and
agreed that the warming has, on average, put more than a trillion
gallons of extra water into the air over the contiguous 48 states,
probably closer to two trillion.
That extra water has to fall as rain or snow. But from the
elementary physics, it was long unclear whether this would mean more
rainy days over all, or more intense rains, or both.
...scientists...expect it to get much, much warmer as this century
progresses, and that can only mean that the rains will fall harder
still.
So if you are still a little amazed at what these heavy downpours
have been doing to communities around the country, the message from
science is pretty blunt: Get used to it.
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