[TheClimate.Vote] October 29, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

[Richard Pauli]

/October 29 , 2017

/*Why Isn't the Bond Market More Worried About Climate Change? 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/10/the_bond_industry_isn_t_worried_about_climate_change.html>
*Coastal towns destroyed by Sandy still have perfect credit scores. Why?
Business leaders are excited about the timing of the vote in part 
because Miami currently has a double-A bond rating, meaning that the 
city can borrow money at low rates. Amidst the dire predictions and the 
full moon floods, that rating is a bulwark. It signifies that the 
financial industry doesn't think sea level rise and storm risk will 
prevent Miami from paying off its debts. In December, a report issued by 
President Obama's budget office outlined a potential virtuous cycle: 
Borrow money to build seawalls and the like while your credit is good, 
and your credit will still be good when you need to borrow in the future.
The alternative: Flood-prone jurisdictions go into the financial 
tailspin we recognize from cities like Detroit, unable to borrow enough 
to protect the assets whose declining value makes it harder to borrow.
But there's another element that helps cement the bargain: investors' 
confidence that coastal towns will pay back the money they borrow. 
Homebuyers are irrational. Politicians are self-interested. But lenders 
- and the ratings agencies that help direct their investments - ought to 
have a more clinical view. Evaluating long-term risk is exactly their 
business model. If they thought environmental conditions threatened 
investments, they would sound the alarm - or just vote with their 
wallets. They've done it before - cities like New Orleans, Galveston, 
Texas, and Seaside Heights, New Jersey were all downgraded by rating 
agencies after damage from Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, and Sandy. But all 
have since rebounded. There does not appear to be a single jurisdiction 
in the United States that has suffered a credit downgrade related to sea 
level rise or storm risk. Yet.
...disasters tend to be good for credit, thanks to cash infusions from 
FEMA's generous Disaster Relief Fund...
...people still want to live on the shore. ...
...Most jurisdictions are large. New Jersey's coastal counties also 
contain thousands of inland homes whose risk exposure is much, much 
lower. ...
Generally, though, if you are looking for financial markets to start 
enforcing the risks of climate change, don't look at towns on the 
rebound. Those places - whether they're building seawalls or simply 
enforcing building codes on reconstructed properties - are better 
prepared. "The places you're going to see the biggest disasters," 
Muir-Wood predicts, "are the ones that haven't been hit."
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/10/the_bond_industry_isn_t_worried_about_climate_change.html
*

Microgrid Kept Power On Even as the California Wildfires Caused Outages 
<https://microgridknowledge.com/islanded-microgrid-fires/>
*When the islanded microgrid at Stone Edge Farm near Sonoma, Calif., 
kept operating for 10 days in spite of the fires that caused outages 
nearby, the operators seized the opportunity to learn as much as 
possible from the surprises they encountered.
The first surprise, of course, were the fires that struck suddenly, 
stoked by high winds and dry conditions. While the fires didn't burn the 
farm's property, they came within about five miles.
"At 5 am I got a phone call from an employee who couldn't get into work 
because everything was burning," said Craig Wooster, general contractor 
for the microgrid project. "I reached for the light and there was no 
light at my place, which instantly told me we needed to get the 
microgrid into island mode."
His son and an intern working at Stone Edge Farm put the microgrid in 
island mode to ensure the farm's irrigation system continued operating 
in case the power at the farm went out. The microgrid powers pumps that 
run water from wells, explained Wooster.
The microgrid, which includes a mix of solar, eight different types of 
batteries, 10 different kinds of inverters, and a natural gas 
microturbine, operated even though the power went out and officials 
called for evacuations. In fact, after being evacuated, Wooster and his 
associates operated the islanded microgrid remotely - for the first time.
This work makes Stone Edge Farm owner Mac McQuown happy, said Wooster. 
"We move microgrids forward and do it around the school district, and 
the long-term social and political good," he said.*
*https://microgridknowledge.com/islanded-microgrid-fires*
*- video
*The UCSD Microgrid - Showing the Future of Electricity ... Today* 
<https://youtu.be/TEx4gm3523I>
Rocky Mountain Institute visited the University of California, San Diego 
to study and document the "microgrid" that controls and integrates 
electricity supply and demand on the campus. UCSD's microgrid is one of 
the best examples of an electricity network that provides local control 
yet is interconnected with the larger electricity grid.
At UCSD, the microgrid provides the ability to manage 42 megawatts of 
generating capacity, including a central cogeneration plant, an array of 
solar photovoltaic installations and a fuel cell that operates on 
natural gas reclaimed from a landfill site. The central microgrid 
control allows operators to manage the diverse portfolio of energy 
generation and storage resources on the campus to minimize costs. In 
addition, the campus can "island" from the larger grid to maintain power 
supply in an emergency, as in the case of the power blackout that struck 
parts of Southern California, Arizona and Mexico in September 2011.
The microgrid at UCSD provides a living laboratory to experiment with 
integration and management of local resources and to optimize the use of 
these resources in interaction with market signals from the larger grid.
Learn how RMI is seeking to identify and amplify the kinds of solutions 
that have the potential to transform the electricity system by visiting 
http://www.rmi.org/electricity <https://youtu.be/TEx4gm3523I>*


US winter has shrunk by more than one month in 100 years 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/28/us-winter-has-shrunk-by-more-than-one-month-in-100-years>
*The length of the US winter is shortening, with the first frost of the 
year arriving more than one later than it did 100 years ago, according 
to more than a century of measurements from weather stations nationwide.
The trend of ever later first freezes appears to have started around 
1980, according to data from 700 weather stations across the US going 
back to 1895 and compiled by Ken Kunkel, a meteorologist at the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for 
Environmental Information.
Sea levels to rise 1.3m unless coal power ends by 2050, report says
Kunkel compared the first freeze from each of the 700 stations to the 
station's average for the 20th Century. Some parts of the country 
experience earlier or later freezes every year, but on average freezes 
are coming later.
The average first freeze over the last 10 years, from 2007 to 2016, is a 
week later than the average from 1971 to 1980.
This year, about 40% of the Lower 48 states have had a freeze as of 23 
October, compared to 65% in a normal year, according to Jeff Masters, 
meteorology director of the private service Weather Underground....
Overall the United States freeze season of 2016 was more than a month 
shorter than the freeze season of 1916. It was most extreme in the 
Pacific Northwest. Oregon's freeze season was 61 days – two months – 
shorter than normal...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/28/us-winter-has-shrunk-by-more-than-one-month-in-100-years*


A Nonviolent Strategy to End Violence and Avert Human Extinction. The 
Teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King 
<https://www.globalresearch.ca/a-nonviolent-strategy-to-end-violence-and-avert-human-extinction-the-teachings-of-gandhi-and-martin-luther-king/5615391>
*https://www.globalresearch.ca/a-nonviolent-strategy-to-end-violence-and-avert-human-extinction-the-teachings-of-gandhi-and-martin-luther-king/5615391*


Maritimes' softwood trees in decline due to global warming, study warns 
<https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/27/maritimes-softwood-trees-in-decline-due-to-global-warming-study-warns.html>*
HALIFAX - A new federal study says climate change in the Maritimes may 
lead to a gradual reduction in the growth of softwood trees, which are 
crucial to the region's pulp industry.
Using computer models, the Natural Resources Canada study marks the 
first regionwide assessment of the composition and growth of the Acadian 
Forest to the end of this century.
The forest is carefully watched in forestry circles, as it is a unique 
mix temperate forests, with warmer weather trees like red maples, and 
boreal forests that include fir and spruce....
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/27/maritimes-softwood-trees-in-decline-due-to-global-warming-study-warns.html*


****IN ANTARCTICA, TWO CRUCIAL GLACIERS ACCELERATE TOWARD THE SEA... 
<http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/in_antarctica_two_crucial_glaciers_accelerate_toward_the_sea>*
Two of the frozen continent's fastest-moving glaciers are shedding an 
increasing amount of ice into the Amundsen Sea each year...
The Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are among the most critical in the 
world. They are currently holding back ice that, if melted, would raise 
the world's oceans by nearly four feet over centuries, an amount that 
would put many coastal cities underwater.
Glaciers are essentially long rivers of ice. Just as a river collects 
water that drains from a specific area, Antarctica's glaciers collect 
ice from parts of the great ice sheets that cover the continent. The 
amount of ice that could flow into the Pine Island glacier and then into 
the sea would eventually raise the world's sea level by over a foot and 
a half.
*(video) Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica Retreating Time Lapse 
<https://youtu.be/SZc5U9saIHI>* https://youtu.be/SZc5U9saIHI
The Pine Island's flow is accelerating rapidly. Its ice shelf, an 
expanse of ice that floats on water where the glacier meets the sea, has 
increased its speed by 75 percent from 1973 to 2010.
"This is a result of the warmer waters in front of them," said Eric 
Rignot, a climate scientist at the University of California, Irvine, who 
has done extensive research on polar ice.
"In some relatively colder years, we know the melt rate slowed down and 
the glaciers slowed down. On warm ocean years, the glacier moves really 
fast."
About 100 miles southwest of Pine Island, Thwaites glacier is also 
shedding more and more ice into the ocean.
The amount of ice that could flow into it and then into the sea would 
increase global sea level by more than two feet.
*(video) Thwaites Glacier Mass Balance History (1986-2016) 
<https://youtu.be/_5vT4SYPLd0>* https://youtu.be/_5vT4SYPLd0
"There isn't a glacier in Antarctica that comes close to the ice 
discharge to Pine Island and Thwaites," Dr. Rignot said. "They are the 
largest discharger of ice in the Antarctic right now."
http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/in_antarctica_two_crucial_glaciers_accelerate_toward_the_sea
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/26/climate/antarctica-glaciers-melt.html

*
**(Video) Al Gore 2017, 10 yrs After An Inconvenient Truth 
<https://youtu.be/tr1vp23guOE>*
Former Vice President, Al Gore joins Climate One, along with filmmakers, 
Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk to discuss An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to 
Power. The film is a follow-up on the popular An Inconvenient Truth 
which was release 10 years ago. The trio will discuss the challenges the 
world still faces when it comes to climate change.
https://youtu.be/tr1vp23guOE


*7 Reasons Why /US //Senator/ Jeff Flake Is Awful on Climate Change and 
Energy Justice 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/10/25/jeff-flake-retires-climate-change-energy?>*
By Steve Horn • Wednesday, October 25, 2017
This week, U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) made national headlines by 
dramatically announcing his retirement on the U.S. Senate floor. Flake 
focused his speech on the erratic behavior of President Donald Trump and 
the nationalistic, anti-immigration turn taken by some Republican Party 
politicians in recent years.
Yet lost in the conversation, thus far, has been almost any discussion 
of some of the major issues of our time: climate change, energy, and the 
environment. And on that count, Flake has made a career out of doing the 
bidding of his fossil fuel and mining industry corporate campaign donors.
Here are seven reasons why Jeff Flake has been awful on the issues 
which, for humanity in the long run, arguably count the most.
*1. Climate Change Denier*
Perhaps superseding all else, Flake is a climate change science denier, 
claiming that no one "can say definitely" what has caused global 
temperature increases.
"Certainly, nobody can deny that we've had several years of warmer 
temperatures. If that signals routine change that is manmade or not, I 
don't think anybody can say definitely,"Flake said in 2014 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn0AG36ef-s>.
In 2015,Flake also voted "nay" 
<https://www.wired.com/2015/01/senators-dont-believe-human-caused-climate-change/>on 
an amendment proposed by Democrats for aGOP-proposed bill in favor of 
the KeystoneXLpipeline which asked if human activities led to climate 
change. Flake introduced his own amendment during the voting process,one 
which supported 
<https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/senate-amendment/103> 
"the evaluation and consolidation of duplicative green building programs."
For insight into his motivations, look to Flake's campaign backers in 
the fossil fuel industry.According to OpenSecrets.org 
<https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/industries?cid=N00009573&cycle=CAREER>, 
Flake has taken $312,260 from the oil and gas industry and 
another $226,721 from the electric utilities industry since his 
congressional career began in 2000.
In the 2012 Senate race to represent Arizona, Flake took $96,000 
<https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/pacs?cat=E01&catlong=Oil+%26+Gas&cid=N00009573&cycle=2012&seclong=Energy+%26+Natural+Resources&sector=E>from 
the oil and gas industry, $32,500 
<https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/pacs?cat=E08&catlong=Electric+Utilities&cid=N00009573&cycle=2012&seclong=Energy+%26+Natural+Resources&sector=E>from 
electric utilities, and $39,000 from the coal industry. That included 
taking money from funders of climate change denial, such asKoch 
Industries <https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-inc>,Peabody 
Energy 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/06/13/court-documents-show-peabody-energy-funded-dozens-climate-change-denying-groups>,ExxonMobil 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/exxonmobil-funding-climate-science-denial>, 
and theAmerican Petroleum Institute 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institute>.
On the same day he gave his retirement speech, Flake was one of 17 
Senators to vote against 
<https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/jeff-flake/>a disaster 
relief aid package for Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria.
*2.) Opponent of Public Lands*
Flake has also long been a proponent of "states' rights" forU.S.federal 
lands, a colloquialism often used by conservatives and 
corporate-financed groups to argue for transferring ownership of federal 
lands to the states in order to make it easier for drilling and mining 
companies to access public land for extractive purposes...
...The Center for American Progress has pigeonholed Flake as part of the 
"Anti-Parks Caucus 
<https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2016/04/11/135044/the-rise-to-power-of-the-congressional-anti-parks-caucus/>" 
due to his anti-public lands politicking. Likewise, the Center for 
Biological Diversity put Flake on itstop 15 list of "public 
land enemies." 
<https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/pdfs/Public_Lands_Enemies.pdf>
*3.) Rubberstamp for Trump Nominees*
Flake has voted "yes" on 23 out of 24 Trump federal agency nominees, 
with the exception being a vote in which he didn't participate. He voted 
"yes" for all of Trump's energy and environmental nominees, including 
Secetary of the InteriorRyan Zinke 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/ryan-zinke>, Secretary of EnergyRick Perry 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/rick-perry>, Secretary of StateRex Tillerson 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/rex-tillerson>, and Environmental Protection 
Agency AdministratorScott Pruitt <https://www.desmogblog.com/scott-pruitt>.
"EPA's litany of overreaching regulations have strained Arizona's 
economic competitiveness,"Flake said in a statement 
<https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/2/flake-statement-on-the-confirmation-of-scott-pruitt-for-epa-administrator>in 
response to Pruitt's successful nomination to head theEPA. "I was 
pleased to vote to confirm Scott Pruitt asEPAAdministrator so together 
we can get to work eliminating unnecessary economic barriers and 
restoring regulatory certainty."
Pruitt, like Flake, is a climate change denier.
*4.) Cheerleader for Fracking and Coal*
Flake has been supportive of the Pruitt-ledEPAand its deregulatory 
efforts, including the rollback of President Obama's Clean Power Plan, 
which would have regulated greenhouse gas emissions of coal-fired 
power plants. ..
... Additionally,Flake voted "yes" 
<http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll249.xml>for a bill, the Energy Tax 
Prevention Act of 2011 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/00910>, which 
would block theEPA's ability to use the Clean Air Act to regulate 
greenhouse gases to address climate change. It waslobbied for 
<https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/billsum.php?id=s482-112>by Koch 
Industries, ExxonMobil, Chevron, America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), 
Peabody Energy, Edison Electric Institute, and a litany of other major 
fossil fuel industry players.
Flake and McCain also denounced the Clean Power Plan when proposed in 
2015 in a letter to then-EPAAdministrator Gina McCarthy. The two of 
themdescribed the plan 
<https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2015/7/senators-mccain-flake-urge-obama-administration-to-address-harmful-effects-of-proposed-clean-power-plan-regulations-on-arizona>as 
an "attempt to bypass Congress and commandeer the state regulatory 
process to impose unduly burdensome carbon-emissions regulations at 
existing power plants." Flake even referred to Obama's regulatory plans 
as a "war on coal."
"There is a war on coal at theEPA. Let's call it for what it is,"Flake 
told an audience in 2012 
<https://www.nhonews.com/news/2012/sep/11/jeff-flake-tells-page-residents-he-supports-navaj/>. 
"And they're going to use anything they can, it seems, to push forward 
that war on coal."...
*5.) Opponent of Indigenous Rights*
Perhaps most prominently in recent years, Flake and McCain also 
co-sponsored and pushed a bill which was eventually inserted into the 
National Defense Authorization Act of 2016 (NDAA) calling for thousands 
of acres of national parks land to be handed over to Rio Tinto and 
BHPBilliton for copper mining purposes. The catch: It was located on 
land considered holy by the San Carlos Apache tribe.
"The land grab was sneakily anti-democratic even by congressional 
standards,"explained a New York Times op-ed 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/selling-off-apache-holy-land.html?_r=1> 
in May 2015. "[T]he giveaway language was slipped onto the defense bill 
by Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona at the 11th hour. The 
tactic was successful only because, like most last-minute riders, it 
bypassed public scrutiny … The deal is an impressive new low in 
congressional corruption, unworthy of our country's ideals no matter 
what side of the aisle you're on. It's exactly the kind of cynical 
maneuvering that has taught the electorate to disrespect politicians  -  
a disdain for government that hurts everyone."...
*6.) Right-Wing Machine, Apartheid Ties*
Flake's rise to Congress started by many acounts during his time spent 
as executive director of theGoldwater Institute 
<https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldwater_Institute>, which is 
part of the right-wingState Policy Network 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/state-policy-network>, itselffounded as an 
offshoot 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2013/12/09/stink-tanks-historical-records-reveal-state-policy-network-created-alec>of 
theAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/american-legislative-exchange-council>. In 
his recently released book /Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of 
Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle/, Flake's book shares a 
title with that of the late Senator Barry Goldwater 
<https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barry_Goldwater>'s famous 1960 
book,/The Conscience of a Conservative/. Among other things, 
Goldwatervoted against 
<https://thinkprogress.org/goldwater-and-civil-rights-f776ce938115/>the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
As Phoenix New Times reported back in 1999, Flake cut his teeth at the 
Institute asan avid opponent of public schools 
<http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/think-tank-warfare-6420757>and 
proponent of a voucher, school-choice system.
Before running the Goldwater Institute, Flake served as a lobbyist for 
the mining company Rossing Uranium in Namibia, 68 percent owned by 
mining giant Rio Tinto. Flake's official biography only mentions his 
work abroad there as executive director of the Foundation for Democracy, 
helping the country "usher in freedom and democracy 
<https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/about-jeff>." At the 
time, Namibia was run by the South African government, which imposed 
apartheid in the country until it gained independence in 1990.
*7.) Koch Brothers Servant*
In his 2012 Senate race, Flake's biggest donor by far wasClub for Growth 
<https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Club_for_Growth>, a group 
co-founded byStephen Moore <https://www.desmogblog.com/stephen-moore>, 
who was a senior economic adviser for the Trump presidential campaign. 
Moore co-authored a book steeped in climate change denial, /Fueling 
Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy,/alongsideKathleen Hartnett 
White <https://www.desmogblog.com/kathleen-hartnett-white>, who 
wasrecently named chair 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/10/13/trump-kathleen-hartnett-white-ceq>of 
the Trump White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
That year Flake receivedjust over $1 million 
<https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00009573&cycle=2012&type=I>from 
the Club, whichreceives funding 
<https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Club_for_Growth>from the Koch 
network and other wealthy conservatives, and he was the biggest 
recipient of its donations for that electoral cycle. Flake also served 
as a signatory forAmericans for Prosperity' 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity>s (AFP) "No Climate 
Tax" pledge <http://noclimatetax.com/the-pledge/>.AFPis a front group 
founded and created by theKoch Family Foundations 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-family-foundations>.
Flake also received a$2,000 campaign contribution 
<http://conservativetransparency.org/donor/koch-industries-pac/page/35/?order_by=year%20DESC&page=5> from 
Koch Industries for his 2012 Senate race. In return, Flake has received 
a 98 percent scorecard rating fromAFPand a 97 percent rating from Club 
for Growth,which he touts 
<https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/about-jeff>on his 
official Senate biography page.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/10/25/jeff-flake-retires-climate-change-energy?


*This Day in Climate History October 29, 2012 
<http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid>  
-  from D.R. Tucker*
October 29, 2012: Superstorm Sandy assaults the East Coast, killing at
least 117 people, leaving millions without power and causing at least
$65 billion in damage. Several days later, Bloomberg Businessweek
publishes the now-famous cover story: "It's Global Warming, Stupid."
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid
http://youtu.be/z8Z-omE7578
/
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