[TheClimate.Vote] May 19, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Fri May 19 09:23:35 EDT 2017


/May 19, 2017/

http://*climatenewsnetwork.net*/warming-exceed-1-5c-limit-2026/
*Warming could exceed 1.5°C limit by 2026 
<http://climatenewsnetwork.net/warming-exceed-1-5c-limit-2026/>*

    The planet is on course to breach the internationally agreed warming
    limit of 1.5°C within 10 years, according to new research from
    Australia.   By Tim Radford
    LONDON, 18 May, 2017 - Australian scientists have warned that
    planetary average temperatures could breach the internationally
    agreed target barrier of a 1.5°C rise
    <http://climatenewsnetwork.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=6e13c74c17ec527c4be72d64f&id=47619228ab&e=30dc80e2f6>
    as early as 2026.
    Although global warming is driven by human behaviour - and in
    particular the prodigal burning of fossil fuels at an
    ever-accelerating rate to dump ever-greater quantities of carbon
    dioxide in the atmosphere - it is also influenced by natural climate
    rhythms.
    And, say scientists from Australia's Centre of Excellence for
    Climate System Science, one of these is a slow-moving oceanic and
    atmospheric cycle called the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO),
    which blows hot and cold and then hot again, every decade or so. The
    latest hot phase could be about to push the global thermometer
    beyond the ideal limit set by the UN climate conference in Paris in
    2015
    <http://climatenewsnetwork.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e13c74c17ec527c4be72d64f&id=63edec5d07&e=30dc80e2f6>.
    They write in Geophysical Research Letters
    <http://climatenewsnetwork.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6e13c74c17ec527c4be72d64f&id=12ac17713e&e=30dc80e2f6>
    that since 1999 the IPO has been perhaps keeping the world cooler
    than it might have been, as therate of increase in global warming
    appeared to slow
    <rate%20of%20increase%20in%20global%20warming%20appeared%20to%20slow>
    between 1998 and 2012.


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39961992


    Trump 'can't escape*climate change*' impacts says Fiji PM
    <http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39961992>

Fiji's Prime Minister has issued a coded warning to Donald Trump about 
the dangers of climate change. The US leader is due to decide on future 
US participation in the Paris climate agreement after next week's G7 
meeting in Italy.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/earth/depoliticizing-climate-change/


    Taking Politics Out of*Climate Change*
    <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/earth/depoliticizing-climate-change/>

The issue of climate change has become a political football in 
Washington, D.C., and in statehouses across the U.S. While 70% of 
Americans agree that global temperatures are rising, once you dive into 
the specifics, agreement tends to evaporate ...

http://www.*washingtonexaminer.com*/franken-blasts-trump-nominee-bernhardt-over-climate-change/article/2623504


    Franken blasts Trump nominee Bernhardt over*climate change*
    <http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/franken-blasts-trump-nominee-bernhardt-over-climate-change/article/2623504>

Democratic Sen. Al Franken said Thursday that it's short-sighted for the 
Trump administration to promote fossil fuel jobs at the expense of the 
East Coast's ability to avoid being under water.
"What about the jobs we are going to have dealing with climate 
dislocation and refugees? What about the jobs we're going to have when 
the East Coast is flooded? What about those jobs?" Franken asked of 
David Bernhardt, President Trump's nominee for Interior deputy 
secretary, at an energy committee confirmation hearing.
"I think it's very short-sighted to talk about the extra jobs you get by 
drilling for fossil fuels," Franken said.
He added that the science says that by the end of the century, the 
temperature of the Earth would be four degrees hotter, leading to more 
flooding. "The science is in," Franken said.
Here's the back-and-forth at the hearing that led up to Franken's 
pointed questioning:

    Bernhardt: I believe we need to take the science as it comes.
    Whatever that is.
    Franken: I think the science is pretty decided on this.
    Bernhardt: I know. And we talked about that in your office.
    Franken: And in my office you seem to agree.
    Bernhardt: I certainly agree that we take the science as we find it,
    whatever it is. And I personally believe that the contribution is
    significant, very significant. Now that's different than what we do
    with it. And here's where people will disagree. My task will be to
    take the science as we find it, put it in the paradigm of the
    administration's policy perspective, which is we're not going to
    sacrifice jobs for this. And then look at the legal rubric and say,
    'How do we apply the law there?'
    Franken: When you say 'sacrifice jobs.' We know there are a lot more
    jobs in clean energy. And we've seen a lot more jobs in solar, and
    we've seen a lot more jobs in wind. Sen. Manchin [of West Virginia]
    sits to my right. I know that he likes coal jobs, but they're not
    coming back, and that's partly due to natural gas. What about the
    jobs we are going to have dealing with climate dislocation and
    refugees? What about the jobs we're going to have when the East
    Coast is flooded. What about those jobs?
    I think it's very short-sighted to talk about the extra jobs you get
    by drilling for fossil fuels when the science is telling us that by
    the end of the century ... [the temperature of the Earth would be 4
    degrees hotter.] The science is in.
    Bernhardt: Would you like me to respond?
    Franken: That's what the long pause was for.
    Bernhardt: This president won on particular policy perspective. That
    perspective is not going to change to the extent we have the
    discretion under the law to follow it. In some instances, we might
    not. But in those that we do, we are absolutely going to follow the
    policy perspective of the president. Here's why: That's the way our
    republic works, and he is the president.


https://*climateandsecurity.org*/2017/05/18/senator-graham-on-climate-change-national-security-and-the-military-perspective/
*Senator Graham on Climate Change, National Security and the Military 
Perspective 
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2017/05/18/senator-graham-on-climate-change-national-security-and-the-military-perspective/>*
by Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia

    At an event on Capitol Hill Wednesday sponsored by the Center for
    Climate and Security and its partners,... Senator Lindsey Graham
    (R-SC) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) highlighted the
    opportunity for a bipartisan approach to climate change and clean
    energy policy in the weeks, months and years ahead. Specifically
    focusing in on the national security and military perspective, ...
    General Keys later participated in a panel discussion featuring
    perspectives from the military, business, faith and conservative
    policy worlds,...In describing the path forward for policy-makers
    trying to address climate-driven vulnerabilities across the United
    States, General Keys noted:
    *"We ain't gonna make it *[addressing climate change]*fun. But what
    we can do is make it less painful."*
    The event emphasized a simple point: There is no credible reason for
    climate change, and its impacts on security (both as that relates to
    the military and civilian population in the United States) to be a
    partisan issue. There is nothing ideological about the nature of the
    threat, and there are a range of practical solutions to addressing
    it that all parties can get behind, if the will is there.


https://phys.org/news/2017-05-climate-visual.html


    Climate researchers must provide better visual communication on
    *climate change* <https://phys.org/news/2017-05-climate-visual.html>

Climate researchers should give more consideration to ways in which they 
can make the message about climate change clear to the public at large.
more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-11-guidelines-aim-scientific.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/18/climate/antarctica-ice-melt-climate-change.html 

*Antarctic Dispatches **
MILES OF ICE COLLAPSING INTO THE SEA**
**LOOMING FLOODS, CITIES THREATENED 
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/18/climate/antarctica-ice-melt-climate-change-flood.html>**
**RACING TO FIND ANSWERS IN THE ICE 
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/18/climate/antarctica-ice-melt-climate-change-science.html>*
May 18, 2017

    We went to Antarctica to understand how changes to its vast ice
    sheet might affect the world. Flowing lines on these maps show how
    the ice is moving.
    More than 60 percent of the freshwater on Earth is locked in
    Antarctica's ice sheets.
    Parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet are rapidly losing ice into
    the sea. Red areas have lost 10 feet or more of ice since 2010. Blue
    areas have gained ice.
    And because much of West Antarctica's ice sits below sea level, it
    is especially vulnerable to ocean heat.
    To predict how quickly this vulnerable ice could raise sea levels,
    scientists need better data than they have now.
    Some scientists point out that during the last ice age, ice sheets
    similar to West Antarctica's formed in other ocean basins. But as
    the ice age ended and the oceans warmed, all of them collapsed.
    These experts have started to think that West Antarctica, as a
    fragile holdover, is basically a disaster waiting to happen — and
    that if human-caused global warming has not already set the calamity
    in motion, it may soon do so.
    "We could have a substantial retreat on a time scale of 10 years,"
    said Robert A. Bindschadler, a retired NASA climate scientist who
    spent decades working in Antarctica. "It would not surprise me at all."
    Scientists at McMurdo Station are working to understand the
    continent's history and to predict its future. The scale of the task
    is enormous.
    This flat expanse of white is the Ross Ice Shelf, a floating chunk
    of ice nearly as large as Texas.
    more:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/science/global-warming-antarctica-ice-sheet-sea-level-rise.html
    Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly
    <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/science/global-warming-antarctica-ice-sheet-sea-level-rise.html>


https://www.*washingtonpost.com*/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/18/thanks-to-global-warming-antarctica-is-starting-to-turn-green/


    Thanks to global warming, Antarctica is beginning to turn green
    <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/18/thanks-to-global-warming-antarctica-is-starting-to-turn-green/>

    Researchers in Antarctica have discovered rapidly growing banks of
    mosses on the ice continent's northern peninsula, providing striking
    evidence of climate change in the coldest and most remote parts of
    the planet.
    Amid the warming of the last 50 years, the scientists found two
    different species of mosses undergoing the equivalent of growth
    spurts, with mosses that once grew less than a millimeter per year
    now growing over 3 millimeters per year on average.
    "People will think of Antarctica quite rightly as a very icy place,
    but our work shows that parts of it are green, and are likely to be
    getting greener," said Matthew Amesbury, a researcher with the
    University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and lead author of the
    new study. "Even these relatively remote ecosystems, that people
    might think are relatively untouched by human kind, are showing the
    effects of human induced climate change."
    http://www.*cell.com*/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30478-5
    *Widespread Biological Response to Rapid Warming on the Antarctic
    Peninsula
    <http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2817%2930478-5>*
    •First Peninsula-wide assessment of biological sensitivity to recent
    warming
    •Analyze moss bank plant and microbial proxy data over 150 years and
    600-km gradient
    •Fundamental and widespread changes in terrestrial biosphere in
    response to warming
    •Terrestrial ecosystems likely to alter rapidly under future warming
    scenarios


https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/18/15601016/trump-climate-change-mar-a-lago-sea-level-rise


    Trump doesn't believe in*climate change*, but it's going to drown
    Mar-a-Lago
    <https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/18/15601016/trump-climate-change-mar-a-lago-sea-level-rise>

President Donald Trump has called climate change a "hoax" and a very 
expensive "tax" on American businesses that make the US less competitive.

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15655518/new-york-2140-climate-fiction-photo-essay


    (photo essay
    <https://ny.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15655518/new-york-2140-climate-fiction-photo-essay>)
    Imagining a New York City ravaged by*climate change*
    <https://ny.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15655518/new-york-2140-climate-fiction-photo-essay>

    The latest genre to focus on New York City's destruction at the
    hands of Mother Nature is the newly emerging field of "cli-fi," or
    climate fiction.
    To fully investigate the future of sea-level rise in New York City,
    you have to leave Manhattan. Yet in New York 2140, the outer
    boroughs are mostly just handled with a glance towards the coastline
    of Queens, a quick glimpse into the ruins of the South Bronx, a
    dinner in Brooklyn Heights, a boat trip out to Coney Island to view
    a beach reclamation project, and no interest whatsoever in exploring
    Staten Island.
    Of course, the future destruction of New York City is never a given,
    and many visions of its demise have failed to come to pass. Perhaps
    there is some as-yet-unknown way that sea-level rise can be abated,
    or that glacial melt can be halted. Perhaps we can ward off
    catastrophic storms and flooding through new technology or better
    walls. In the interim, as we wait for the next storm to pass,
    climate fiction can help us consider our deeper concerns about the
    future.
    "Each era in New York's modern history has produced its own
    apocalyptic imagery that explores, exploits, and seeks to resolve
    contemporary cultural tensions and fears," writes Max Page in The
    City's End. "We destroy New York on film and paper to escape the
    sense of inevitable and incomprehensible economic transformations,
    by telling stories of clear and present dangers, with causes and
    effects, villains and heroes, to make our world more comprehensible
    than it has become."


https://www.wunderground.com/news/california-coastline-beaches-rising-seas-global-warming 

*California's Iconic Coastline Is Being Snatched Up By Rising Sea Levels 
Faster Than Previously Thought 
<https://www.wunderground.com/news/california-coastline-beaches-rising-seas-global-warming>*
Wunderground.com (blog)

    California risks losing thousands of miles of its iconic coastline
    as climate-driven sea levels rise faster than anyone anticipated, a
    new report says.
    The state-commissioned report
    <https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/rising-seas-in-california-an-update-on-sea-level-rise-science-1.pdf?x35230https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/rising-seas-in-california-an-update-on-sea-level-rise-science-1.pdf?x35230>
    conducted by the California Ocean Protection Council Science
    Advisory Team determined that if nothing changes, California's
    coastal waters will rise at a rate 30 to 40 times faster than in the
    previous century. The news came on the heels of a U.S. Geological
    Survey report released in March that estimates that as much as 67
    percent of Southern California's beaches could be lost to rising
    seas by the end of the century if nothing is done to curb the carbon
    emissions that lead to global warming.
    The impacts on the state that already has some of the most stringent
    carbon emissions regulations in the country would be far-reaching
    and devastating, researchers note.


A review of an unexpected (extremely good, insightful, sort-of 
terrifying in implications) CliFi book: 
http://getenergysmartnow.com/2017/05/18/energy-bookshelf-powerful-clifi-from-a-leading-american-national-security-expert/ 
Share: https://twitter.com/A_Siegel/status/865216493700689920


http://www.*csmonitor.com*/Books/chapter-and-verse/2017/0518/Why-Michael-Bloomberg-says-he-s-optimistic-about-climate-change


    Why Michael Bloomberg says he's 'optimistic' about*climate change*
    <http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2017/0518/Why-Michael-Bloomberg-says-he-s-optimistic-about-climate-change>

May 18, 2017 —In their new book Climate of Hope, former New York City 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Sierra Club executive director Carl 
Pope write about climate change - and why they're both ultimately 
optimistic about solutions. They discuss the ...

http://*abcnews.go.com*/International/wireStory/canada-pm-washington-governor-discuss-trade-climate-change-47493518


    Canada PM, Washington governor discuss trade,*climate change*
    <http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canada-pm-washington-governor-discuss-trade-climate-change-47493518>

"We're both strongly engaged on issues of climate change, issues of 
openness to trade, leadership on refugees as well, and an understanding 
that diversity can be a real source of strength," he said.

https://*insideclimatenews.org*/news/18052017/arctic-council-climate-change-rex-tillerson-donald-trump


    6 Ways the U.S. Weakened*Climate Change*Language in Arctic
    Declaration
    <https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18052017/arctic-council-climate-change-rex-tillerson-donald-trump>

    The U.S.-edited draft, obtained by InsideClimate News, shows how the
    Trump administration targeted climate actions. It's a strategy we
    could see in future meetings.
    "There was a great deal of debate as to whether or not climate would
    even be addressed in the declaration," Sen. Lisa Murkowski
    (R-Alaska) said at a public event on Wednesday. "It is significant
    to note that not only was it addressed, it was acknowledged in the
    Fairbanks declaration that climate change is happening, that we're
    seeing impacts in the Arctic at twice the rate as in other places,
    and it is attributable to emissions."
    ...on May 9, the negotiators received a new version of the
    declaration from the United States that asked for six changes—all
    downplaying climate risks, the need for the Paris treaty or
    ambitious renewable energy goals. Negotiators spent a long morning
    huddled around a table, working line-by-line through the document
    projected on a screen. The other nations challenged the U.S. on
    every point, often joined by the indigenous groups.
    -The first change that the United States proposed fell near the end
    of the preamble and had to do with the great elephant in the room at
    any climate-related talks the U.S. is now involved in: the Paris
    climate agreement. Trump's policies would all but ensure the U.S.
    would miss its Paris pledges, and the president's advisers have been
    caught up in an internal struggle over whether to leave the treaty
    or simply backslide on the country's commitments.


https://*ncse.com*/library-resource/climate-change-denial-supplementary-materials
*Climate Change Denial Supplementary Materials 
<https://ncse.com/library-resource/climate-change-denial-supplementary-materials>*
National Center for Science Education, Inc.

    Teachers often feel the need to use supplementary materials when
    covering climate change, particularly because the topic is often
    left unaddressed in state science standards, curricula, and
    textbooks. Unfortunately, climate change deniers have developed and
    are distributing supplementary materials (such as lesson plans and
    DVDs) that foster confusion about the occurrence, causes, and
    consequences of climate change.
    Such climate change denial supplementary materials may be used by
    teachers who are themselves climate change deniers, who lack the
    scientific competence to recognize the materials as flawed, or who
    misguidedly seek to provide "both sides" of a supposed scientific
    controversy. Teachers may also be pressured by parents, colleagues,
    or administrators to use such materials in their classrooms.
    If you know of a teacher who is using climate change denial
    supplementary materials in his or her classroom, or if you are being
    pressured to use such materials in your own classroom, get in touch
    with NCSE and we can help you stand up for accurate climate education.
    Climate change denial supplementary materials typically manifest two
    of the pillars of climate change denial: that climate change is bad
    science and that acceptance of climate change is driven by radical
    ideological motivations and leads to undesirable social
    consequences. And the argument for their use in the classroom
    typically involves appeal to the third pillar: that it is only fair
    to acknowledge a scientific controversy over climate change.

http://huff.to/bJZ8Fw
*This Day in Climate History May 19, 2009 <http://huff.to/bJZ8Fw> -  
from D.R. Tucker*

    The Huffington Post reports:
    "Sen. John McCain now appears to oppose climate-change legislation,
    an abrupt switch that could seriously threaten any movement on such
    a bill."
      http://huff.to/bJZ8Fw

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