[TheClimate.Vote] April 24, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Apr 24 10:32:33 EDT 2018
/April 24, 2018/
[major attitude change]
*Minn. court sides with climate change activists in pipeline case
<https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/04/23/appeals-court-ruling-pipeline-protest-necessity-defense>*
Environment Elizabeth Dunbar - St. Paul - Apr 23, 2018
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on the side of climate change
activists Monday in a case over an oil pipeline protest.
The four activists - one from New York and three from Washington - admit
they broke into Enbridge Energy property in northwestern Minnesota in an
effort to stop oil from flowing through a pipeline.
The activists' case is headed to trial in Clearwater County later this
year. They've asked the court if they can use what's known as a
"necessity defense" to argue they needed to shut off the flow of oil in
order to address climate change.
The judge on their case granted the request. But state prosecutors
challenged the decision and the Minnesota Court of Appeals heard oral
arguments in February. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which
represents business interests in the state, filed a friend-of-the-court
brief supporting the prosecutors' argument.
But the state appeals court dismissed the challenge in their ruling
Monday, making way for the activists to call experts on global warming
to testify during their trial...
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/04/23/appeals-court-ruling-pipeline-protest-necessity-defense
- - --
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
Contact: Stephen Kent, skent at kentcom.com , 914-589-5988
*Minnesota Court of Appeals Upholds "Necessity Defense" in Upcoming
Climate Activist Trial
<http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Minnesota-appeals-court-upholds-climate-necessity-defense.html?soid=1128500696266&aid=rBnJgAfk3Uo>*
"I'm very happy about this decision," said Johnston. "If we get to
present a necessity defense trial, and the jury has to grapple with
full knowledge of our shared reality, the jig is up for the fossil
fuel industry, and the end of their devastating business model comes
into much clearer view. I think they'll do everything they can to
prevent that. But we're doing our best to stand up for a lot of
vulnerable people, and we need our day in court."
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Minnesota-appeals-court-upholds-climate-necessity-defense.html?soid=1128500696266&aid=rBnJgAfk3Uo
[Worry cured by exploration and action]
*One of the most worrisome predictions about climate change may be
coming true
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/23/one-of-the-most-worrisome-predictions-about-climate-change-may-be-coming-true/?utm_term=.c4d946f9c25e>*
By Chris Mooney April 23
Thenew research, <http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/4/eaap9467>
based on ocean measurements off the coast of East Antarctica, shows that
melting Antarctic glaciers are indeed freshening the ocean around them.
And this, in turn, is blocking a process in which cold and salty ocean
water sinks below the sea surface in winter, forming "the densest water
on the Earth," in the words of study lead author Alessandro Silvano, a
researcher with the University of Tasmania in Hobart.
This Antarctic bottom water has stopped forming in two key regions of
Antarctica, the research shows - the West Antarctic coast and the coast
around the enormous Totten glacier in East Antarctica.
- - - - -
The fact that we see consistent warming and freshening indicates that
the processes we expect to play out over the next century are already
underway," Long said. "Indeed, this study is part of a growing body of
evidence suggesting that the world's oceans are changing - and that the
pace of change is beginning to accelerate."
If the process of Antarctic bottom water formation is being impaired, at
least in some regions, then it would be a Southern Hemisphere analogue
of a process that has already caused great worry and drawn considerably
more attention - a potential slowdown of the overturning circulation in
the North Atlantic Ocean, thanks to freshening of the ocean from the
melting of Greenland....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/23/one-of-the-most-worrisome-predictions-about-climate-change-may-be-coming-true/?utm_term=.c4d946f9c25e
[Private money steps up]
*Michael Bloomberg pledges $4.5m to cover US Paris climate commitment*
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/22/michael-bloomberg-paris-climate-pact>
The former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, has said he will pay
$4.5m (£3.2m) to cover this year's lapsed US commitment to the Paris
climate agreement. The US president Donald Trump announced that he was
withdrawing the US from the deal last year, saying it was a "terrible
deal" which would "undermine" the economy and put the US at a "permanent
disadvantage", the Independent reports. Bloomberg, whose net worth is
approximately $50bn, made the pledge on Earth Day, to the network CBS.
In his announcement to the channel, quoted by the BBC, he said: "America
made a commitment and, as an American, if the government's not going to
do it then we all have a responsibility...I'm able to do it. So, yes,
I'm going to send them a cheque for the monies that America had promised
to the organisation as though they got it from the federal government."
He did not commit to provide funds beyond 2018 and said he hoped that by
next year Trump would have changed his mind. The president, he said,
should be able to: "listen to others and change his mind. A person that
doesn't change their mind isn't very smart … And he's been known to
change his mind". The Hill, the New York Post and Reuters also cover the
story. Martin Pengelly, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/22/michael-bloomberg-paris-climate-pact
[Wait, please stop]
*Pruitt promised polluters EPA will value their profits over American
lives
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/apr/23/pruitt-promised-polluters-epa-will-value-their-profits-over-american-lives>*
Pruitt is one of TIME's 100 most influential people for his efforts to
maximize polluters' profits
TIME magazine announced last week that Trump's EPA administrator Scott
Pruitt is among their 100 most influential people of 2018. George W.
Bush's former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman delivered the
scathing explanation
<http://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217586/scott-pruitt/?utm_campaign=time&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&xid=time_socialflow_twitter>:
If his actions continue in the same direction, during Pruitt's term at
the EPA the environment will be threatened instead of protected, and
human health endangered instead of preserved, all with no long-term
benefit to the economy.
As a perfect example of those actions, the Daily Caller recently
reported
<http://dailycaller.com/2018/04/12/sources-pruitt-epa-obama-tactics/>
that at a gathering at the fossil fuel-funded Heritage Institute
<https://www.desmogblog.com/heritage-foundation>, Pruitt announced that
the EPA and federal government will soon end two important science-based
practices in evaluating the costs and benefits of regulations...
- - -
It's worth remembering that "The mission of EPA
<https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/our-mission-and-what-we-do> is to protect
human health and the environment." The mission of the Pruitt EPA seems
to be maximizing polluting industry profits at the expense of human
health and the environment.
It's also important not to let Pruitt's rank corruption and scandals
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-investigations-guide.html>
distract from the damage he's doing to EPA's mission. As Christine Todd
Whitman noted, the whole world is worse for Trump having nominated and
the Senate GOP having confirmed
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/17/us/politics/live-congress-votes-scott-pruitt-epa.html>
Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA into a new era of maximizing industry
profits and pollution at the expense of public and environmental health.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/apr/23/pruitt-promised-polluters-epa-will-value-their-profits-over-american-lives
[A different kind of migration]
*The Latest Climate Threat for Coastal Cities: More Rich People
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-23/the-latest-climate-threat-for-coastal-cities-more-rich-people>*
By Christopher Flavelle
Building codes, insurance premiums push middle class inland
'Climate gentrification' starving tourism economies of workers
"I'm just like a ship with no rudder," said Terry Baron.
Residents, researchers and housing advocates say global warming is
beginning to shift not just the physical characteristics of coastal
cities, but their economic and demographic makeup as well. And local
officials are starting to worry about it...
- - - -
"The demographics have changed somewhat dramatically," said Stafford
Township Mayor John Spodofora. "I'm seeing $750,000 homes going up where
there was a $200,000 or $300,000 home in the past."
That's good news for the tax base. Spodofora estimated that Stafford
Township has rebuilt just 70 percent of the homes it lost, yet because
of their higher value the town's property tax revenue has almost
returned to was before Sandy. But it's also pushed less wealthy people
away from the shore.
"They're moving further inland," Spodofora said. The effect of Sandy, he
said, "kind of weeds out people who can't afford to live on those
waterfront properties."
- - - -
"We see climate as a really important issue that intersects with poverty
and financial security," Beesing said. "For some families, this may feel
like an opportunity to get cash for their house. But the problem is
then, where do they go?"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-23/the-latest-climate-threat-for-coastal-cities-more-rich-people
[drought - fire - flood - repeat]
*Climate change will make California's drought-flood cycle more
volatile, study finds
<http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-drought-flood-20180423-story.html>*
Californians should expect more dramatic swings between dry and wet
years as the climate warms, according to a new study that found it
likely that the state will be hit by devastating, widespread flooding in
coming decades.
UC researchers in essence found that California's highly volatile
climate will become even more volatile as human-caused climate change
tinkers with atmospheric patterns over the eastern Pacific Ocean...
- - - -
"Increasingly wide swings between dry and wet conditions will threaten
to upset the already precarious balance between competing flood-control
and water-storage imperatives in California," the researchers wrote...
- - -
"Climate change is creating a water-storage problem for California,"
said UCLA atmospheric sciences professor Alex Hall, a co-author of the
paper.
"We need to think more carefully about how we capture water and how we
store it," he added, advocating greater efforts to recharge groundwater
basins with storm flows...
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-drought-flood-20180423-story.html
[Lessons, not learned, will be repeated]
*Canary in the coal pond
<https://www.propublica.org/article/canary-in-the-coal-pond>*
propublica.org | Apr. 20
New reports provide an unprecedented look at contaminants leaking from
coal ash ponds and landfills. But the chasm between information and ...
-- - - - -
"What's important for the public to know is that we take this seriously
and are committed to the environment," Brooks said. "These initial
results do not mean that there are confirmed interactions with
groundwater and coal ash or TVA operations. It also doesn't mean there
are any levels of concern beyond TVA property. Decades of monitoring at
all our sites confirm that there are no impacts to drinking water sources."
Hillman is watching the EPA's proposal to amend the coal-ash rule
intently, from a different home in nearby Oak Ridge, Tenn.
"It's very frustrating because I know that my personal opinion is that
this all comes down to making it easy for business and industry to make
more money by loosening rules that protect the general public," she
said. "I guess the government doesn't care what we breathe or absorb
into our bodies."
https://www.propublica.org/article/canary-in-the-coal-pond
[video explains the changes]
*Why Atlantic fish are invading the Arctic <https://youtu.be/-3h4Xt9No9o>*
Vox
Published on Apr 23, 2018
Southern species are flooding into the far north.
Scientists are witnessing the upending of large parts of the Arctic
ocean. As the sea ice recedes and temperatures rise, the warmer waters
of the Atlantic are moving north and bringing with them new competitors
that vie for the same rich resources. Journalist Eli Kintisch explores
an ecosystem undergoing profound change.
This video is part 3 of a three-part series on the changing Arctic.
Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msD4agiRTxM
Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQliow4ghtU
https://youtu.be/-3h4Xt9No9o
[New creatures appearing around there]
*Arctic Dispatches, part 2: As the Arctic heats up, residents of
Utqiagvik are experiencing first contact with unusual species that are
making their way polewards*
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/22/utqiagvik-alaska-weird-wildlife-environment?CMP=share_btn_link>
Last July, Nagruk Harcharek was savouring a bucolic visit to a cabin
that sits on the lip of the Chipp river, deep in the Alaskan Arctic,
when something caught his eye. Shimmering on a rack where he hangs his
caught whitefish to dry was, astonishingly, a dragonfly.
"I'd been going to camp there for 30 years and I'd never seen one, I
couldn't freaking believe it," said Harcharek. "I was amazed. I just
thought, 'Wow'."
- - - -
Last summer, a child was stung by a wasp, the first time anyone could
remember this happening in Utqiaġvik, a coastal town formerly known as
Barrow that is the most northerly settlement in the US.
A sphinx moth, a species with a wingspan as much as 5in across, was
reported by a baffled resident as being some sort of bird. An actual
bird, a kestrel, which has gone from rare to almost commonplace in just
a few years, was tended to by George after it sought refuge in his
workplace, the North Slope Borough. Arctic squirrels, previously little
seen, have also taken up residence around town.
- - - - -
Earlier this year, scientists at the University of California calculated
that for every 10 degrees north from the 32nd parallel you move, spring
now arrives four days earlier than it did a decade ago. For the Arctic,
this daunting equation means that spring has hastened by more than two
weeks in just the time it took for Barack Obama to run for the
presidency and be replaced by Donald Trump.
This warping of timescales is causing the complex web of interactions
between predator and prey, pollinator and plant, mate and mate to
unravel. Another looming issue is the creeping advance of new and exotic
diseases into the Arctic, with unknown ramifications.
A recent study of connected species around the world - such as sand eels
that are devoured by guillemots, caribou and their favoured diet of
vegetation - found that, on average, these interactions have shifted
four days earlier per decade since 1981.
- - - - - -
Not all change is bad, either.
"We caught red salmon up here in the past summer, which never used to
happen before," said Harcharek. "We normally got chum salmon, which is
basically dog food. So everyone is pumped."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/22/utqiagvik-alaska-weird-wildlife-environment?CMP=share_btn_link
*This Day in Climate History - April 24, 2007
<http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2007/04/26/hot-politicspbs-frontline-program-and-extended-interviews-online/>
- from D.R. Tucker*
April 24, 2007: PBS airs "Hot Politics," a "Frontline" special about the
extensive efforts of the fossil fuel lobby to frustrate efforts to
combat carbon pollution.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2007/04/26/hot-politicspbs-frontline-program-and-extended-interviews-online/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/interviews/
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