[TheClimate.Vote] September 3, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

Sun Sep 3 10:01:21 EDT 2017

/September 3, 2017/

*Raging wildfire north of downtown Los Angeles grows to one of the 
largest blazes in city history 
<http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2017/09/raging-wildfire-north-of-downtown-los.html>
*By Ruben Vives, Andrea Castillo, and Alene Tchekmedyian    2 September 2017
(The Los Angeles Times) – A brush fire in the Verdugo Mountains north of 
downtown Los Angeles has burned more than 5,000 acres, making it one of 
the largest fires in the city's history and one that officials warn 
could grow larger if erratic weather conditions continue.
Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze overnight and into the 
morning, and at `one point, the flames were spreading in four directions 
amid intense heat and wild winds. Three homes have burned, but no 
injuries have been reported, officials said Saturday.
Firefighters faced another day of triple-digit temperatures in some 
inland areas of Southern California as a heat wave that has gripped the 
state continues.... 
http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2017/09/raging-wildfire-north-of-downtown-los.html*
Three homes burned as wildfire torches more than 5,000 acres 
<http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-tuna-fire-wildfire-20170902-story.html>
*More than 700 homes in the area are under evacuation, including 300 in 
Burbank, 250 in Glendale and 180 in Los Angeles, officials said.*
*http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-tuna-fire-wildfire-20170902-story.html*

As flood waters rise, is urban sprawl as much to blame as climate 
change? 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/flood-waters-rising-urban-development-climate-change>*
Global warming may have intensified Hurricane Harvey and storms in Asia 
and Africa but the real problem may be our sprawling cities
others argue that urban development is as much to blame for the floods 
as climate change. "Houston, Bangalore and many other cities share the 
same problem," says T V Ramachandra, coordinator of the energy and 
wetlands research group at the Indian Institute of Science. "These 
floods are mostly manmade. They are not natural disasters. They are very 
similar and largely because of concretisation."
In the rush to economic development in India, China and elsewhere, 
ecological sense has been ditched in favour of explosive growth across 
the world, he says...
Flooding is already one of the world's greatest causes of illness and 
death. According to the Dartmouth Flood Observatory, between 1985 and 
2014 floods worldwide killed more than 500,000 people, displaced over 
650 million people and caused damage in excess of $800bn. Between 2003 
and 2008 large-scale floods that displaced at least 100,000 people 
occurred in more than 1,800 cities in 40 countries...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/flood-waters-rising-urban-development-climate-change
.
*(video ) As flooding lingers, Houston begins clean-up 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkjXtpAcmA>*
PBS NewsHour  Published on Sep 2, 2017
More than a week after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, Houston is shifting 
to recovery mode and surveying the damage. The Federal Emergency 
Management Administration has already granted $83 million in aid to 
survivors of the storm, including funding for housing and other critical 
needs, as thousands of people remain in shelters. NewsHour Weekend 
Special Correspondent Marcia Biggs reports from Houston.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkjXtpAcmA
.
*$ We Don't Deny Harvey, So Why Deny Climate Change? 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/hurricane-harvey-climate-change.html>*
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/hurricane-harvey-climate-change.html
.
*(video) Why Did Houston Flood? <https://youtu.be/ePC7R3maJsw>*
NOVA PBS Official    Published on Sep 1, 2017
Hurricane Harvey's rainfall broke continental U.S. records. Here's how 
cities like Houston can better prepare.
https://youtu.be/ePC7R3maJsw

*Ethics and Climate:  The Enormous Potential of Cities to Reduce GHG 
Emissions, 571 Strategies Adopted by 44 Cities Around the World* 
<https://ethicsandclimate.org/2017/09/01/the-enormous-potential-of-local-governments-to-reduce-ghg-emissions-a-paper-that-identifies-571-strategies-adopted-by-44-cities-around-the-world/>
571 Strategies To Reduce GHG Emissions Adopted by 44 Cities
This site has previously focused primarily on the obligations of 
nations, organizations, and citizens around the world to respond to 
climate change at levels consistent with their ethical and moral 
obligations as well as with the ethical and moral problems with most 
arguments made by opponents of  climate change policies.  While national 
responses to climate change for the most part remain frighteningly 
inadequate, many local governments around the world have started to step 
up to reduce GHG emissions sometimes at surprisingly ambitious levels. 
The following paper identifies 571 strategies that 44 cities have 
adopted to achieve their emissions reduction commitments. Many cities 
are reducing GHG emissions while claiming they are saving money and 
often improving the  quality of life and sometimes creating jobs.
(2) Identification of strategies adopted by these cities arranged in the 
following categories:
15 strategies for building green buildings,
55 strategies for reducing energy use in buildings,
19 other strategies for reducing energy use in general,
37 strategies for increasing renewable energy,
16 strategies to increase energy efficiency,
10 energy ordinance strategies,
143 strategies to reduce GHG emissions from transportation,
18 lighting transformation strategies,
32 strategies for managing waste disposal,
51 land use planning strategies,
19 miscellaneous tactics for reducing GHG emissions,
71 strategies for educating citizens,
38 strategies for incentivizing private sector GHG emissions reductions,
22 funding strategies to reduce GHG reduction emissions,
25 cooperative government climate strategies; and.
https://ethicsandclimate.org/2017/09/01/the-enormous-potential-of-local-governments-to-reduce-ghg-emissions-a-paper-that-identifies-571-strategies-adopted-by-44-cities-around-the-world/

*If You Think the Government Will Do Something About Chemical Explosions 
in the Wake of Houston, Think Again 
<http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/if-you-think-the-government-will-do-something-about-chemical-explosions-in-the-wake-of-houston-think-again/>*
They say it's because of concerns about terrorism.
REBECCA LEBER    Sept. 1, 2017 5:23 PM
The most important information to have should you live near a chemical 
plant explosion-or inhale the fumes as 15 police officers have-is what 
kinds of chemicals are at risk of leeching into the air and water. Yet 
more than 24 hours after explosions at its plant 25 miles northeast of 
Houston, the global chemical manufacturer Arkema Inc. will not release a 
full inventory of its chemicals and where they are stored. Texas 
officials won't either. The reason? Concerns about terrorism.
In July 2016, Pruitt and 10 other attorneys general asked then-EPA 
administrator Gina McCarthy to withdraw the proposed version of the rule:
"Your proposed rule seeks to make readily-available to the public 
information that you believe might be useful to the public in the event 
of an accidental release of chemicals. As the federal agencies 
responsible for national security have warned you, compiling that 
information and making it easily accessible also aids those who might 
seek to cause an intentional release for nefarious purposes, by 
providing those bad actors with information that would help them both 
select a target and exploit any security vulnerabilities their target 
might have."
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/if-you-think-the-government-will-do-something-about-chemical-explosions-in-the-wake-of-houston-think-again/
.
*After West disaster, News study finds U.S. chemical safety data about 
90 percent wrong 
<https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2013/08/24/after-west-disaster-news-study-finds-u.s.-chemical-safety-data-about-90-percent-wrong>*
Even the best national data on chemical accidents is wrong nine times 
out of 10.
A Dallas Morning News analysis of more than 750,000 federal records 
found pervasive inaccuracies and holes in data on chemical accidents, 
such as the one in West that killed 15 people and injured more than 300.
In fact, no one at any level of government knows how often serious 
chemical accidents occur each year in the United States. And there is no 
plan in place for federal agencies to gather more accurate information...
A total of 174 reports were made of serious chemical accidents in 
California, with only 10 percent confirmed in the other data sets.
The News concluded that there was no systematic way to identify serious 
accidents among the hundreds of thousands of records in the four 
datasets. The only way forward was to loosen the matching criteria and 
read through more than 500 individual accident narratives to identify 
serious chemical accidents. Doing that, The News was able to confirm at 
least 24 serious or potentially serious chemical accidents in Texas 
between 2008 and 2011.
On rough average, that's one every two months - a lot more than make 
headlines.
"Why would a company or organization do data checking? They might do it 
because there is a liability risk. They might do it because they feel 
it's the right thing to do," Podgurski said in an interview. "But even 
in an honest organization, deadline financial pressures will mitigate 
those efforts."
investigate at dallasnews.com
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2013/08/24/after-west-disaster-news-study-finds-u.s.-chemical-safety-data-about-90-percent-wrong

(threnody) 
<https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/>*Exit, 
Pursued by a Crab 
<https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/>*    
AUGUST 28, 2017 BY ANDY SKUCE
*Climate change and me*
It may seem a little odd to end this disclosure about my looming demise 
with a technical commentary on climate change. However, concern about 
what happens to the planet after my death-whenever that date might 
be-has been important to me over the past few years. Having the fatal 
moment moved forward doesn't change anything.
For the past ten years, I've become obsessive about learning and writing 
about climate change. I've done my best to provide my own perspective as 
an ex-oilman and geoscientist. Most of my contributions are recorded on 
this blog. I've lately found it hard to apply the sustained effort to 
research and write in-depth pieces that add anything coherent and novel 
enough to be worth publishing. I would love, for example, to dig deeper 
into the means and benefits of mitigation technologies and the costs of 
inaction.
I have become reluctantly pessimistic about our ability to avoid 
dangerous global change. If the best mitigation efforts are made and we 
get lucky with climate sensitivity and carbon-cycle feedbacks, we might 
succeed in limiting surface warming to 2-3 degrees C. If we are 
mitigation laggards and the response of the Earth System to the abrupt 
chemical changes we are delivering to the atmosphere turns out to be 
severe, the consequences could be dire. Even in the best imaginable 
case, we are in for some nasty, disruptive shocks, unfairly focussed on 
the poorest people: those who have done the least to cause the problem....
https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/

*How To Build A DIY Disaster Kit 
<https://www.bustle.com/p/what-to-put-in-a-disaster-kit-why-you-need-one-80608>*
If you want to make your own disaster kit, it's pretty easy to DIY. The 
Red Cross considers these items essential to any basic disaster kit. If 
you're going the DIY route, grab a backpack and add:
- Water: You'll need one gallon per person for three days. Water is 
heavy, so consider getting some emergency drinking water in bags.
- Food: Three days worth of non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items. Cans 
are heavy, so consider lightweight items, like dehydrated foods and 
protein bars. If you have pets, make sure to pack food for them too.
- A flashlight and extra batteries, first-aid kit, lightweight emergency 
blankets, and extra cash.
- Battery-powered or hand-crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible) 
because your cellphone likely won't work.
- Medications, pack a seven-day supply, and sanitation and personal 
hygiene items.
- A multi-purpose tool, like a deluxe pocket knife.
- Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical 
information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth 
certificates, insurance policies).
- Cellphone with chargers just in case, and family and emergency contact 
information.
- Map(s) of the area because your maps apps probably won't do you any good.
You can get most of these items on Amazon, or at any local surplus store.
https://www.bustle.com/p/what-to-put-in-a-disaster-kit-why-you-need-one-80608
.
*Be Prepared for an Emergency. Be Red Cross Ready!*
<http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/get-a-kit>http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/get-a-kit
.
*How to Pack an Emergency Kit for Any Disaster 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/smarter-living/packing-emergency-kit-disaster.html>*
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/smarter-living/packing-emergency-kit-disaster.html

*This Day in Climate History September 3, 2008 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic><http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic>- 
from D.R. Tucker*
September 3, 2008: In his address to the Republican National
Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, former Maryland Lieutenant Governor 
Michael Steele blows off concerns about climate change by proclaiming:
"Drill, baby, drill!"
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/03/steele-gives-gop-delegates-new-cheer-drill-baby-drill/tab/article/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic

/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
////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/20170903/cad13872/attachment.html>