[TheClimate.Vote] September 23, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

[Richard Pauli]

/September 23, 2017/

*One of the most bizarre ideas about climate change just found more 
evidence in its favor 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/22/one-of-the-most-bizarre-ideas-about-climate-change-just-got-more-support/?utm_term=.3fc73cdea4e5>
*...scientists havepointed out for a number of years 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/26/global-warming-could-make-blizzards-worse/?utm_term=.135facfd8b41> 
that warmer seas, and a wetter atmosphere, can actually fuel more 
snowfall in massive nor'easters affecting the U.S. East Coast.
More controversial still is an idea called "Warm Arctic, Cold Continents 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/23/the-arctic-is-behaving-so-bizarrely-and-these-scientists-think-they-know-why/>." 
This is the notion that as the Arctic warms up faster than the middle 
latitudes, it may sometimes cause a displacement of the region's still 
quite frigid air to places that aren't so used to it. In other words, 
even as the planet warms, masses of cold air could also become more 
mobile and deliver quite a shock at times when outbreaks occur in more 
southerly latitudes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/22/one-of-the-most-bizarre-ideas-about-climate-change-just-got-more-support/?utm_term=.3fc73cdea4e5*


Is there really still a chance for staying below 1.5 degreesC global 
warming? 
<http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2017/09/is-there-really-still-a-chance-for-staying-below-1-5-c-global-warming/>*
Filed under: Climate Science - stefan @ 22 September 2017
There has been a bit of excitement and confusion this week about a new 
paper in Nature Geoscience, claiming that we can still limit global 
warming to below 1.5 degreesC above preindustrial temperatures, whilst 
emitting another ~800 Gigatons of carbon dioxide. That's much more than 
previously thought, so how come? And while that sounds like very welcome 
good news, is it true? ...
Does it all matter?
We still live in a world on a path to 3 or 4 degreesC global warming, 
waiting to finally turn the tide of rising emissions. At this point, 
debating whether we have 0.2 degreesC more or less to go until we reach 
1.5 degreesC is an academic discussion at best, a distraction at worst. 
The big issue is that we need to see falling emissions globally very 
very soon if we even want to stay well below 2 degreesC. That was agreed 
as the weaker goal in Paris in a consensus by 195 nations. It is high 
time that everyone backs this up with actions, not just words...
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2017/09/is-there-really-still-a-chance-for-staying-below-1-5-c-global-warming/


*Climate optimism has been a disaster. We need a new language - 
desperately 
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/climate-optimism-disaster-extreme-weather-catastrophe>*
Ellie Mae O'Hagan
The extreme weather of the past months is a game-changer: surely now the 
world is ready to talk about climate change as a civilisation-collapsing 
catastrophe.
It is also too massive. The truth is if we don't take action on climate 
change now, the food shortages, mass migration and political turmoil it 
will cause could see the collapse of civilisation in our lifetimes. 
Which of us can live with that knowledge?
It's not surprising, then, that some years ago climate activists 
switched to a message of optimism. They listened to studies that showed 
optimism was more galvanising than despair, and they began to talk about 
hope, empowerment, and success stories. They waited for some grand 
extreme weather event to make the final pieces fall into place. Maybe 
the submerging of New Orleans would be it; maybe some of the rich white 
people who were battered by Hurricane Sandy would use their privilege to 
demand action. Maybe Harvey or Irma - or now Maria - would cause us to 
snap out of our stupor. It hasn't happened.
Could the language of emergency work? It has never been tried with as 
much meteorological evidence as we have now, and we've never had a 
target as clear and unanimous as the one agreed in Paris. The one thing 
I know is that the events of the last few months have changed the game, 
and this is the moment to start debating a new way to talk about climate 
change. It may be that if the time for a mass movement is not now, there 
won't be one.
Ellie Mae O'Hagan is an editor at openDemocracy, and a freelance journalist
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/climate-optimism-disaster-extreme-weather-catastrophe


*(opinion) When will humans be horrified by climate change? When the 
media give it the coverage it deserves 
<http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-climate-change-brains-media-20170922-story.html>*
Against all the forces that encourage confusion, indecision, and delay, 
one institution bears the ultimate responsibility for educating the 
public and sounding the alarm: the media. However, reporting on climate 
remains lamentably uneven and incomplete.
Every reputable news venue should be providing ongoing coverage of 
climate science, its implications for our way of life, and a thorough 
discussion of the pathways out of our predicament.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-climate-change-brains-media-20170922-story.html


*Mathematics, Mass Extinction, Climate Change, and The Threshold Of 
Catastrophe 
<https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/21/mathematics-mass-extinction-climate-change-threshold-catastrophe/>*
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/21/mathematics-mass-extinction-climate-change-threshold-catastrophe/


*Hurricanes: A perfect storm of chance and climate change? 
<http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41347527>*
The succession of intense and deadly tropical cyclones that have 
barrelled across the Atlantic in recent weeks have left many people 
wondering if a threshold of some sort has been crossed. Is this chain of 
hurricanes evidence of some significant new frontier in our changing 
climate?
The answer is mostly no, but with worrying undertones of yes.
The first thing to note about this season is that it shows the power of 
science and weather forecasting.
Every year, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(Noaa) puts out a hurricane forecast for the season that runs from 1 
June to 30 November for the north Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of 
Mexico.
In August, Noaa updated its predictions, stating that there would be 
14-19 named storms and of these, 5-9 would become hurricanes.
To date, we've had seven cyclones that have gained category three status 
or stronger. So this season is unusual but not unprecedented. The bigger 
picture shows that between 1981 and 2010 the average was six hurricanes 
per season.
What has happened this year is that a number of natural variable factors 
have come together and helped boost the number and power of these 
cyclones. In the background, climate change has loaded the dice.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41347527


*Paillard: 'You'd have to be as stupid as Trump to deny global warming' 
<https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/09/paillard-youd-have-to-be-as-stupid-as-trump-to-deny-global-warming/>*
The Drinks Business
Champagne producer Bruno Paillard has said that anyone in the wine 
industry who denies the effects of global warming is "as stupid as 
Donald Trump"
Speaking to the drinks business during the launch of the 2002 vintage of 
his prestige cuvée Nec Plus Ultra (meaning the perfect example of its 
kind), at Mark's Club in Mayfair, Paillard said:
"Global warming is happening for sure and you'd have to be as stupid as 
Donald Trump to say that it isn't. It's frightening for the next 
generation as the weather is getting harder and harder to predict.
"I'm making wine differently today than the way I was 30 years ago - we 
used to always pick in October back then. But I like the variety of the 
vintages - it would be very boring if we were making the same wines 
every year."
But while variety brings interest, it also brings challenges and 
Paillard admitted that he wont be making Nec Plus Ultra from 2017 as the 
Pinot Noir wasn't good enough.
"This year began too warm and then we had the spring frosts so it 
started with reduced hopes of around 25%, but frost has no effect on 
quality, only quantity," he told db, comparing 2017 to 2003 due to its 
similarly hot summer.
Inconsistencies with the weather is also putting him off investing in 
England.
"I've been offered the chance to buy land in England to make English 
sparkling wine but I'm not so sure about the climate - the big problem 
is humidity and I wouldn't know how to answer that question without 
chemicals," Paillard said.
One of his most passionate plights is for a fixed resting time after 
disgorgement to become mandatory in Champagne.
"I was mocked and criticised by wineries about my insistence to put 
disgorgement dates on my labels by people who think it doesn't mean 
anything to customers, but it's very important to me.
"Wine needs time to rest after disgorgement. I'd like to make it 
mandatory in Champagne. Cellar workers describe disgorgement as 'an 
operation', and in a sense it is, as the bottles are alive and full of 
life," Paillard said.
"You have to cut them open, remove the sediment and close them up again 
- it's like an operation and you need time to rest after surgery.
"The older the wine the longer time it needs to rest after disgorgement 
- bottles need six months, magnums 10, vintage wines need a year and 
prestige cuvées three years. I really think this would improve the 
overall quality of Champagne," he added...
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/09/paillard-youd-have-to-be-as-stupid-as-trump-to-deny-global-warming/


*Learning to Live in the Dark: Reading Arendt in the Time of Climate 
Change 
<https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/learning-to-live-in-the-dark-reading-arendt-in-the-time-of-climate-change/#%21>*
By Wen Stephenson
With nothing to fall back on, no recognizable standards by which to 
comprehend and judge, anything can happen, anything might be justified, 
in the future. All bets are off. What comprehensible motive could there 
be for poisoning the well from which one’s own children must drink, much 
less the atmosphere itself? What kind of mindset makes one’s own 
children and grandchildren, and everyone else’s, indeed all future 
generations, superfluous?
The terrifying threat of the totalitarian systems for present and future 
generations, Arendt warns at the conclusion of Origins, “is that today, 
with populations and homelessness everywhere on the increase, masses of 
people are continuously rendered superfluous if we continue to think of 
our world in utilitarian terms.” In other words, she writes with 
trademark bluntness, in this starkest of conclusions, “Totalitarian 
solutions may well survive the fall of totalitarian regimes.”
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/learning-to-live-in-the-dark-reading-arendt-in-the-time-of-climate-change/
Writer Wen Stephenson: 
<https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/learning-to-live-in-the-dark-reading-arendt-in-the-time-of-climate-change/#%21> 
"So here's my first lengthy essay in two years (since my cover feature 
on the pope and climate justice for The Nation). I wrote it back in the 
spring, after mulling it for more than a year, as the jumping-off point 
for a new book project.
At 6500 words, it's not a quick read, bit if you find it of any value, I 
hope you'll share it. This is the kind of piece that needs all the help 
it can get finding its audience, and can all too easily get buried in 
the media crush.
Thanks as always."
-Wen
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/learning-to-live-in-the-dark-reading-arendt-in-the-time-of-climate-change/#!

*
**The Energy 202: Climate change terms altered in another corner of 
EPA's website* 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2017/09/22/the-energy-202-climate-change-terms-altered-in-another-corner-of-epa-s-website/59c42c3b30fb0468cea81a77/?utm_term=.f03c28a8953f>
*Numerous mentions of "climate change," "greenhouse gasses" and other 
phrases related to global warming have been found to be altered or 
deleted from another portion of the Environmental Protection Agency's 
website,* according to a new environmental watchdog report.
At the beginning of President Trump's term, the EPA's SmartWay 
<https://www.epa.gov/smartway>program, designed to help businesses 
looking to lower their impact on the environment find ways of doing so 
when shipping goods, told visitors that *"many companies monitor their 
carbon emissions and establish inventories or overall 'carbon footprint' 
to help decision makers identify the best strategies for reducing 
climate impacts."*
But by May, those descriptions had been replaced by more generalized 
terms. Instead of tracking carbon emissions, firms could monitor *"fuel 
consumption." *Instead of shrinking their carbon footprint, companies 
could address their *"environmental footprint."* Instead of reducing 
climate impacts, they were told they could *"improve sustainability."
* ....In one instance, the sentence *"The science is clear - greenhouse 
gas emissions from all sources must decrease" *was struck entirely from 
the website. *
*The changes were detailed in a report released Friday 
<https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/WM-CCR-18-EPA-Smartway-Program-170919.pdf>by 
the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative 
<https://envirodatagov.org/>, a group of nonprofits and academics who 
among other activities have monitored changes to federal government 
websites during the Trump administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2017/09/22/the-energy-202-climate-change-terms-altered-in-another-corner-of-epa-s-website/59c42c3b30fb0468cea81a77/?utm_term=.f03c28a8953f
.
*EPA's SmartWay program <https://www.epa.gov/smartway>*helps companies 
advance supply chain sustainability by measuring, benchmarking, and 
improve freight transportation efficiency.
https://www.epa.gov/smartway
*.
The First 100 Days and Counting Part 2: Pursuing a Toxic Agenda 
<https://envirodatagov.org/>*
An examination of how the Trump administration's actions increase toxic 
burdens on vulnerable communities.
PURSUING A TOXIC AGENDA
ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE IN THE EARLY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION 
<http://100days.envirodatagov.org/pursuing-toxic-agenda/>
"Pursuing a Toxic Agenda" is the second part of a multipart series on 
the early days of the Trump administration. In this series, EDGI authors 
systematically investigate historical precedents for Trump's attack on 
the EPA, consequences for toxic regulation and environmental justice, 
and changes to the public presentation of climate 
change...https://envirodatagov.org/
.
*THE EPA UNDER SIEGE (Part 1) 
<http://100days.envirodatagov.org/epa-under-siege/>*
The EPA Under Siege is the first part of a multipart series on the early 
days of the Trump administration. In this series, EDGI authors 
systematically investigate historical precedents for Trump's attack on 
the EPA, consequences for toxic regulation and environmental justice, 
the influence of the fossil fuel industry on the new administration, 
changes to the public presentation of climate change, and the new 
administration's hostility to scientific research and evidence.
http://100days.envirodatagov.org/epa-under-siege/


*(The Onion) New Climate Change Report Just List Of Years Each Country 
Becomes Uninhabitable 
<http://www.theonion.com/article/new-climate-change-report-just-list-years-each-cou-57007>**[Satire 
?] 
<http://www.theonion.com/article/new-climate-change-report-just-list-years-each-cou-57007>*
GENEVA-Stating that the data published within its pages represented the 
scientific consensus of top researchers around the world, the U.N. 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its annual report 
this week, which consists solely of an alphabetized list of every 
country on earth and the years each of them will become uninhabitable. 
"Albania, 2035; Algeria, 2027; American Samoa, 2024," read the two-page 
report, divided into two columns containing no text other than the names 
of the more than 200 countries and sovereign territories on the planet 
alongside the date by which that location's inhabitants will no longer 
be able to survive the conditions brought on by global warming. 
"Cameroon, 2029; Canada, 2049... Japan, 2041... United States of 
America, 2033." When reached for comment, the committee expressed its 
hope that the report would be used by governments around the globe to 
help them make forward-thinking, evidence-based decisions about how and 
when to euthanize their populations.
http://www.theonion.com/article/new-climate-change-report-just-list-years-each-cou-57007


*This Day in Climate History September 23, 1976 
<https://youtu.be/qAqIKybNO38?t=29m45s> -  from D.R. Tucker*
September 23, 1976: President Gerald Ford and Democratic challenger 
Jimmy Carter discuss energy policy in the first of three presidential 
debates; both men express support for "cleaner" coal.
(29:35--36:57) https://youtu.be/qAqIKybNO38?t=29m45s

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