[TheClimate.Vote] September 15, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Sep 15 10:10:49 EDT 2017
/September 15, 2017/
*(video) Trump dismisses climate change question by contradicting
himself on hurricanes
<http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/14/politics/trump-climate-change-hurricanes/index.html>
*http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/14/politics/trump-climate-change-hurricanes/index.html*
**Harvey, Irma and global warming. We have to talk.
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/13/hurricanes-harvey-irma-global-warming-editorials-debates/658353001/>*
EPA chief and other leaders burying their heads in the sand, now that's
'insensitive' to hurricane victims: Our view
Now is the time to talk about climate disruption, adapt to it, mitigate
it, and take steps to keep it from getting worse. It's not the time for
leaders to stick their heads in the sand.
USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board,
separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an
opposing view - a unique USA TODAY feature.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/13/hurricanes-harvey-irma-global-warming-editorials-debates/658353001/
*Of course we should discuss climate change in the wake of Harvey and
Irma
<http://grist.org/article/of-course-we-should-discuss-climate-change-in-the-wake-of-harvey-and-irma/>*
http://grist.org/article/of-course-we-should-discuss-climate-change-in-the-wake-of-harvey-and-irma/
Satellite generated *before/after image of power outages in #Florida*
9/12/17. <https://twitter.com/NOAASatellitePA/status/907631288001187842>
https://twitter.com/NOAASatellitePA/status/907631288001187842
*Monster Storms Change Coastlines, Not Minds on Climate Change
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-14/monster-storms-change-coastlines-not-minds-on-climate-change>*
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-14/monster-storms-change-coastlines-not-minds-on-climate-change
*"I'm a woman who fought wildfires for 7 years. Climate change is
absolutely making them worse".
<https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/14/16301876/wildfires-california-firefighters-los-angeles-west>*
Climate change and wildfires are a vicious cycle of worsening conditions
Last week's La Tuna Fire in Los Angeles was, I'm sure, one of those
fires that seemed uncontainable. In a speech, Ralph Terrazas, the LAFD
fire chief, said, "We can handle everything. We have to. We don't have
an option." He sounded exhausted and less hopeful than his words.
Luckily temperatures lowered. But Southern California's real fire season
hasn't even started yet. Hot, strong winds called the Santa Ana blow
through in late September and October, often resulting in unruly fires.
I witnessed this. Fires often started on roadsides, ignited by discarded
cigarette butts or even a spark from a motorcycle. The La Tuna Fire
doesn't bode well for this year's Southern California fire season.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/14/16301876/wildfires-california-firefighters-los-angeles-west
*Irma Won't "Wake Up" Climate Change-Denying Republicans. Their Whole
Ideology Is on the Line.
<https://theintercept.com/2017/09/11/irma-donald-trump-tax-cuts-climate-change-republican-ideology-capitalism/>*
Naomi Klein
September 11 2017, 7:31 a.m.
Because if climate change is driving the kinds of catastrophes we are
seeing right now - and it is - then it doesn't just mean Trump has to
apologize and admit he was wrong when he called it a Chinese hoax. It
means that he also needs to junk his whole tax plan, because we're going
to need that tax money (and more) to pay for a rapid transition away
from fossil fuels. And it also means he's going to have to junk his
deregulatory plan, because if we are going to change how we power our
lives, we're going to need all kinds of regulations to manage and
enforce it. And, of course, this is not just about Trump - it's about
all the climate-denying Republican governors whose states are currently
being pounded. All of them would have to junk an entire twisted
worldview holding that the market is always right, regulation is always
wrong, private is good and public is bad, and taxes that support public
services are the worst of all.
Here is what we need to understand in a hurry: Climate change,
especially at this late date, can only be dealt with through collective
action that sharply curtails the behavior of corporations, such as Exxon
Mobil and Goldman Sachs (both so lavishly represented at Trump's cabinet
meeting). Climate action demands investments in the public sphere - in
new energy grids, public transit and light rail, and energy efficiency -
on a scale not seen since World War II. And that can only happen by
raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, the very people Trump
is determined to shower with the most generous tax cuts, loopholes, and
regulatory breaks...
n short, climate change detonates the ideological scaffolding on which
contemporary conservatism rests. To admit that the climate crisis is
real is to admit the end of their political and economic project. ..
And this isn't only about the right - it's also about the center. What
mainstream liberals have been saying about climate change for decades is
that we simply need to tweak the existing system here and there and
everything will be fine. You can have Goldman Sachs capitalism plus
solar panels. But at this stage, the challenge we are up against is much
deeper than that....
https://theintercept.com/2017/09/11/irma-donald-trump-tax-cuts-climate-change-republican-ideology-capitalism/
*
(video) Special Report: How Decentralized Mutual Aid Networks Are
Helping Houston Recover from Harvey
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i55vkA1kLE0>
***We end today's show in Houston, Texas, two weeks after Hurricane
Harvey caused historic flooding and left residents to coordinate with
each other to rescue thousands of people who were left stranded when
officials were overwhelmed. Now that volunteer spirit of mutual aid has
continued in the storm's aftermath. We air a report from Renée Feltz on
how many Houstonians have formed decentralized networks to clean out
flooded homes, feed thousands who lost everything, and offer much-needed
counseling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i55vkA1kLE0
*Scripps Institution of Oceanography
New Climate Risk Classification Created to Account for Potential
"Existential" Threats
<https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/new-climate-risk-classification-created-account-potential-existential-threats>
*Scripps Oceanography News
"Dangerous" global warming includes consequences such as increased risk
of extreme weather and climate events ...
A new study evaluating models of future climate scenarios has led to the
creation of the new risk categories "catastrophic" and "unknown" to
characterize the range of threats posed by rapid global warming.
Researchers propose that unknown risks imply existential threats to the
survival of humanity...
The risk assessment stems from the objective stated in the 2015 Paris
Agreement regarding climate change that society keep average global
temperatures "well below" a 2degreesC (3.6degreesF) increase from what
they were before the Industrial Revolution.
Even if that objective is met, a global temperature increase of
1.5degreesC (2.7degreesF) is still categorized as "dangerous," meaning
it could create substantial damage to human and natural systems. A
temperature increase greater than 3degreesC (5.4degreesF) could lead to
what the researchers term "catastrophic" effects, and an increase
greater than 5degreesC (9degreesF) could lead to "unknown" consequences
which they describe as beyond catastrophic including potentially
existential threats. The specter of existential threats is raised to
reflect the grave risks to human health and species extinction from
warming beyond 5degreesC, which has not been experienced for at least
the past 20 million years.
The scientists term warming probability of five percent or less as a
"low-probability high-impact" scenario ...
*... three strategies for preventing the gravest threats from taking place.*
"When we say 5 percent-probability high-impact event, people may dismiss
it as small but it is equivalent to a one-in-20 chance the plane you are
about to board will crash," said Ramanathan. "We would never get on that
plane with a one-in-20 chance of it coming down but we are willing to
send our children and grandchildren on that plane."
The researchers defined the risk categories based on guidelines
established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and
previous independent studies. "Dangerous" global warming includes
consequences such as increased risk of extreme weather and climate
events ranging from more intense heat waves, hurricanes, and floods, to
prolonged droughts. Planetary warming between 3degreesC and 5degreesC
could trigger what scientists term "tipping points" such as the collapse
of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and subsequent global sea-level rise,
and the dieback of the Amazon rainforest. In human systems, catastrophic
climate change is marked by deadly heat waves becoming commonplace,
exposing over 7 billion people to heat related mortalities and famine
becoming widespread....
Risk assessments of global temperature rise greater than 5degreesC have
not been undertaken by the IPCC...and...named this category "unknown??"
with the question marks acknowledging the "subjective nature of our
deduction." The existential threats could include species extinctions
and major threats to human water and food supplies in addition to the
health risks posed by exposing over 7 billion people worldwide to deadly
heat.
With these scenarios in mind, the researchers identified what measures
can be taken to slow the rate of global warming to avoid the worst
consequences, particularly the low-probability high-impact events.
Aggressive measures to curtail the use of fossil fuels and emissions of
so-called short-lived climate pollutants such as soot, methane and HFCs
would need to be accompanied by active efforts to extract CO2 from the
air and sequester it before it can be emitted...
Scientists have many ideas about how to reduce emissions, but they all
agree on the urgency of strong and decisive action
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/new-climate-risk-classification-created-account-potential-existential-threats
*Climate change challenges the survival of fish across the world
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170913192938.htm>
*September 13, 2017 Source: University of WashingtonSummary:
Researchers have published the first analysis looking at how vulnerable
the world's freshwater and marine fishes are to climate change. Their
study used physiological data to predict how nearly 3,000 fish species
living in oceans and rivers will respond to warming water temperatures
in different regions.
Using years of data -- and relying on the fact that many fish species
are taxonomically related and tend to share the same thermal limits --
the researchers were able to predict the breaking-point temperature for
close to 3,000 species. Regional patterns then emerged when those data
were paired with climate-model data predicting temperature increases
under climate change.
For example, fish in the tropical oceans are already living in water
that is approaching the upper range of their tolerance. They might not
have much wiggle room when temperatures increase slightly. By contrast,
in freshwater streams in the far north, fish are accustomed to cooler
water temperatures but have much less tolerance for warming waters.
Since the effects of climate change are acutely felt in high latitudes,
this doesn't bode well for fish in those streams that have a small
window for survivable temperatures.
Fish will either migrate, adapt or die off as temperatures continue to
warm, the researchers explained. Given past evolutionary rates of
critical thermal limits, it's unlikely that fish will be able to keep up
with the rate at which temperatures are increasing, Olden said. The
ability to move, then, is imperative for fish that live in the most
critical areas identified in this analysis.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170913192938.htm*
***
Ocean temperature as a vital sign revealing Earth's warming
<https://phys.org/news/2017-09-ocean-temperature-vital-revealing-earth.html>**According
to the most up-to-date estimates, the top 10 warmest years of the ocean
(indicated by OHC change at upper 2000m) are all in the most recent
decade after 2006, with 2015-2016 the warmest period among the past 77
years. The heat storage in the ocean amounts to an increase of 30.4×1022
Joules (J) since 1960, equal to a heating rate of 0.33 Watts per square
meter (W m-2) averaged over the entire Earth's surface- and 0.61 W m-2
after 1992. For comparison, the increase in ocean heat content observed
since 1992 in the upper 2000 meters is about 2000 times the total net
generation of electricity by U.S. utility companies in 2015.
It is evident that scientists and modelers who seek global warming
signals should track how much heat the ocean stores at any given time,
i.e. ocean heat content, as well as sea level rise. Locally, in the deep
tropics, ocean heat content directly relates to hurricane activity.
Ocean heat content is a vital sign of our planet and informs societal
decisions about adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-ocean-temperature-vital-revealing-earth.html**
***
****Pentagon is still preparing for global warming even though Trump
said to stop
<http://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2017/09/12/pentagon-is-still-preparing-for-global-warming-even-though-trump-said-to-stop/>**
*WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon has continued to take steps to defend its
military bases against extreme weather despite direction from President
Donald Trump to stop preparing for climate change.
In March, President Donald Trump rescinded all climate-related federal
agency actions directed by President Barack Obama. The Obama-era
initiatives that were killed included one that directed the Pentagon to
plan for a future where storms, like this week's Hurricane Irma, are a
frequent factor in the Pentagon's operations.
To meet Obama's order, the Defense Department published a "climate
change roadmap" in 2014 and launched a defensewide review of its
installations to identify vulnerabilities.
"A changing climate will have real impacts on our military and the way
it executes its missions," the Defense Department concluded in the 2014
report. "The military could be called upon more often to support civil
authorities … in the face of more frequent and more intense natural
disasters."
... members of Trump's cabinet ... understand something that is
fundamentally true: To avert climate chaos, we need to challenge the
free-market fundamentalism that has conquered the world since the 1980s.
As the reality of climate disruption shows its menacing face, more and
more people will come to understand its obvious political and economic
implications. In the meantime, we need to stop waiting for disasters to
"wake up" hardcore deniers. The dream they are in is just too damn good,
too comfortable, and too profitable. But as Trump uses overlapping
disasters of Harvey, Irma, North Korea, and whatever other hell he can
exploit to smuggle through his cruel economic agenda, the rest of us
should be wide awake to the reality that stopping him, and the worldview
he represents, is a matter of humanity's collective survival.
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2017/09/12/pentagon-is-still-preparing-for-global-warming-even-though-trump-said-to-stop/
**Is the current effort to combat climate change a utopian project?
<https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/is-the-current-effort-to-combat-climate-change-a-utopian-project-1.3220923>*
*Why the changes to human behaviour necessary to ease climate change
will have to be directed by government
A fascinating article
<https://www.mercatornet.com/mobile/view/utopian-aspirations-in-the-fight-against-climate-change-a-call-for-moderati/20037>
by professor of political science Carson Holloway, explains this tardy
progress by proposing that the battle to combat climate change, in its
current form, is a utopian project and therefore climate activists must
learn to moderate their expectations.
Holloway argues as follows: human beings must change their behaviour in
order to combat climate change, but these behavioural changes are
bothersome and call for sacrifices to be made. However, all political
experience tells us that people will not voluntarily change behaviours
they believe to be in their short-term interest or to which they are
long accustomed. The changes to human behaviour necessary to combat
climate change will therefore have to be directed by government.
But action to tackle climate change must be effected on a global scale
and there is no world government with authority to command change.
Holloway concludes therefore that the battle as currently waged to
effectively combat climate change is a utopian project, i.e. it cannot
succeed in the real world.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/is-the-current-effort-to-combat-climate-change-a-utopian-project-1.3220923*
Utopian aspirations in the fight against climate change: a call for
moderation
<https://www.mercatornet.com/mobile/view/utopian-aspirations-in-the-fight-against-climate-change-a-call-for-moderati/20037>
*https://www.mercatornet.com/mobile/view/utopian-aspirations-in-the-fight-against-climate-change-a-call-for-moderati/20037*
//*/[ In searching for the phrase: "Carson Holloway, utopian project" -
///a google search/ yields different results than will a search at
duckduckgo.com for the same phrase]/
*(music) Gary Numan: How Trump's 'Stupidity' on Climate Change Became My
Twisted Inspiration
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/gary-numan-how-trumps-stupidity-on-climate-change-became-my-twisted-inspiration>*
English musician Gary Numan explains the dark inspiration behind his new
album Savage (Songs from a Broken World), out September 15
GARY NUMAN
Usually when I write songs, I use whatever recent turmoil there has been
in my life as the source of inspiration. I'm the first to admit I have
no talent for happy or uplifting songs, but I can turn out tunes to
darker things with little problem. Luckily, or unluckily perhaps, life
seems to throw more than enough rubbish in my direction for me to be
rather prolific in these dark arts. So, it was quite a surprise to find,
when it came time to start work on my new album Savage, that I had no
turmoil to call upon. As a fairly recent immigrant arrival to California
from the distant damp of England, life was actually rather good. So,
what to do?
I decided to lift ideas from a novel I've been working on for some time.
To be honest, "novel" is a rather grand term for what really amounts to
little more than a collection of chaotic ideas I've been adding to for
many years without ever really giving any form to a storyline. But, as a
starting point for a collection of new songs, it would do.
*Gary Numan - My Name Is Ruin (Official Video)*
<https://youtu.be/lHomCiPFknY>
video https://youtu.be/lHomCiPFknY
Set in a distant future, the Earth has been devastated by global warming
and is, for the most part, dry and desert-like. Water is so scarce it
has become the only meaningful currency. The Eastern and Western
cultural differences that we have today are long gone, or vaguely merged
perhaps. Merged not through any new age of tolerance or understanding,
but because simply surviving is difficult enough. No one has cared for a
very long time about whose God is best, or has any memory of a book, any
book, that would claim to guide us in how we should live, love and die.
This is a savage, hostile world, filled with tribal societies and brutal
characters, themselves as savage and hostile as the world they live in.
Trust is not something given lightly. Treachery and cruelty are the way
of the world and each day is a desperate fight to simply make it to the
next. Not so unlike the world of today perhaps, but it's all a question
of degree.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/gary-numan-how-trumps-stupidity-on-climate-change-became-my-twisted-inspiration
*
*
/(from VICE; //historically noteworthy, //unintentional Satire) /
*Exec says not to worry about climate change because the fossil fuel
industry has it handled
<https://news.vice.com/story/exec-says-not-to-worry-about-climate-change-because-the-fossil-fuel-industry-has-it-handled>*
American Petroleum Institute president and CEO Jack Gerard said
Wednesday he takes climate change "seriously," and that there's nothing
to worry about because the fossil fuel industry has everything under
control.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill this morning, Gerard said that
despite the devastating hurricanes that have hit the U.S. in the last
couple of weeks - storms that scientists think are stronger because the
earth is warmer - President Donald Trump should continue his
deregulatory agenda. Instead, he said, a "public debate" is necessary to
understand the "trade-offs" of imposing "excessive costs on an industry"
through "unnecessary regulation," according to E&E News.
"It wasn't the regulatory process that drove the United States where it
is today," said Gerard, the head of the largest fossil fuel industry
trade organization in the U.S. "The free market, and technological
advances, brought the world where it is today in leading the world in
carbon reduction."
https://news.vice.com/story/exec-says-not-to-worry-about-climate-change-because-the-fossil-fuel-industry-has-it-handled
*This Day in Climate History September 15, 2014 - from D.R. Tucker*
September 15, 2014: USA Today reports:
"At least 150 major companies worldwide - including ExxonMobil,
Google, Microsoft and 26 others in the United States - are already
making business plans that assume they will be taxed on their carbon
pollution, a report today says.
"The U.S. has yet to impose a price on heat-trapping carbon dioxide
emissions, but other nations are starting to do so as a way to address
global warming so U.S.-based companies are factoring an eventual one
into their plans, says the international non-profit CDP, formerly
known as the Carbon Disclosure Project. The report is the group's
first one to look at corporate carbon pricing on a global scale."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/15/us-companies-plan-for-climate-change-with-carbon-price/15526831/#_=_
/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
////Subscribe <a%20href=%22mailto:contact at theClimate.Vote%22> to this
daily 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/20170915/6c26ce85/attachment.html>
More information about the TheClimate.Vote
mailing list