[TheClimate.Vote] August 8, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/August 8, 2018/

[bright, distinct]
*See the dramatic video of a 'fire tornado' after massive blaze at 
Woodville factory 
<https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/woodville-fire-dramatic-video-1871267>*
The fire could be seen 26 miles away
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/woodville-fire-dramatic-video-1871267

[report biggest Calif fire ever]
*Crews make progress against wildfires burning in Mendocino County 
<https://www.kcra.com/article/crews-make-progress-against-wildfires-burning-in-mendocino-county/22582051>*
Mendocino Complex is largest wildfire in California history
https://www.kcra.com/article/crews-make-progress-against-wildfires-burning-in-mendocino-county/22582051
- - - -
[google crisis maps]
*California Wildfires 
<http://google.org/crisismap/google.com/2018-carr-fire>*
Published by Google Crisis Response 
<http://google.org/crisismap/google.com/2018-carr-fire>
http://google.org/crisismap/google.com/2018-carr-fire


[BBC radio report]
*Domino-effect as Earth moves to 'hothouse' state 
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bd6y5p#play>*
from about 1:50 for 7 mins or so. [even prayer at 1:48]
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bd6y5p#play
- - - - -
[TheGuardian]*
Domino-effect of climate events could push Earth into a 'hothouse' state 
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state>*
Leading scientists warn that passing such a point would make efforts to 
reduce emissions increasingly futile
Jonathan Watts - Mon 6 Aug 2018
A domino-like cascade of melting ice, warming seas, shifting currents 
and dying forests could tilt the Earth into a "hothouse" state beyond 
which human efforts to reduce emissions will be increasingly futile, a 
group of leading climate scientists has warned.

This grim prospect is sketched out in a journal paper that considers the 
combined consequences of 10 climate change processes, including the 
release of methane trapped in Siberian permafrost and the impact of 
melting ice in Greenland on the Antarctic.

The authors of the essay, published in Proceedings of the National 
Academy of Sciences, stress their analysis is not conclusive, but warn 
the Paris commitment to keep warming at 2C above pre-industrial levels 
may not be enough to "park" the planet's climate at a stable temperature.

They warn that the hothouse trajectory "would almost certainly flood 
deltaic environments, increase the risk of damage from coastal storms, 
and eliminate coral reefs (and all of the benefits that they provide for 
societies) by the end of this century or earlier."

Johan Rockstrom, executive ​director, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Fifty years ago, this would be dismissed as alarmist, but now scientists 
have become really worried

"I do hope we are wrong, but as scientists we have a responsibility to 
explore whether this is real," said Johan Rockstrom, executive director 
of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. "We need to know now. It's so 
urgent. This is one of the most existential questions in science."

Rockstrom and his co-authors are among the world's leading authorities 
on positive feedback loops, by which warming temperatures release new 
sources of greenhouse gases or destroy the Earth's ability to absorb 
carbon or reflect heat.
Their new paper asks whether the planet's temperature can stabilise at 
2C or whether it will gravitate towards a more extreme state. The 
authors attempt to assess whether warming can be halted or whether it 
will tip towards a "hothouse" world that is 4C warmer than 
pre-industrial times and far less supportive of human life.

Katherine Richardson from the University of Copenhagen, one of the 
authors, said the paper showed that climate action was not just a case 
of turning the knob on emissions, but of understanding how various 
factors interact at a global level.

"We note that the Earth has never in its history had a quasi-stable 
state that is around 2C warmer than the preindustrial and suggest that 
there is substantial risk that the system, itself, will 'want' to 
continue warming because of all of these other processes - even if we 
stop emissions," she said. "This implies not only reducing emissions but 
much more."

New feedback loops are still being discovered. A separate paper 
published in PNAS reveals that increased rainfall - a symptom of climate 
change in some regions - is making it harder for forest soils to trap 
greenhouse gases such as methane.

Previous studies have shown that weakening carbon sinks will add 0.25C, 
forest dieback will add 0.11C, permafrost thaw will add 0.9C and 
increased bacterial respiration will add 0.02C. The authors of the new 
paper also look at the loss of methane hydrates from the ocean floor and 
the reduction of snow and ice cover at the poles.

Rockstrom says there are huge gaps in data and knowledge about how one 
process might amplify another. Contrary to the Gaia theory, which 
suggests the Earth has a self-righting tendency, he says the feedbacks 
could push the planet to a more extreme state.

As an example, the authors say the loss of Greenland ice could disrupt 
the Gulf Stream ocean current, which would raise sea levels and 
accumulate heat in the Southern Ocean, which would in turn accelerate 
ice loss from the east Antarctic. Concerns about this possibility were 
heightened earlier this year by reports that the Gulf Stream was at its 
weakest level in 1,600 years.

Currently, global average temperatures are just over 1C above 
pre-industrial levels and rising at 0.17C per decade. The Paris climate 
agreement set actions to keep warming limited to 1.5C-2C by the end of 
the century, but the authors warn more drastic action may be necessary.

"The heatwave we now have in Europe is not something that was expected 
with just 1C of warming," Rockstrom said. "Several positive feedback 
loops are already in operation, but they are still weak. We need studies 
to show when they might cause a runaway effect.

Another climate scientist - who was not involved in the paper - 
emphasised the document aimed to raise questions rather than prove a 
theory. "It's rather selective, but not outlandish," said Prof Martin 
Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute. "Threshold and tipping 
points have been discussed previously, but to state that 2C is a 
threshold we can't pull back from is new, I think. I'm not sure what 
'evidence' there is for this - or indeed whether there can be until we 
experience it."

Rockstrom said the question needed asking. "We could end up delivering 
the Paris agreement and keep to 2C of warming, but then face an ugly 
surprise if the system starts to slip away," he said. "We don't say this 
will definitely happen. We just list all the disruptive events and come 
up with plausible occurrences … 50 years ago, this would be dismissed as 
alarmist, but now scientists have become really worried."
"In the context of the summer of 2018, this is definitely not a case of 
crying wolf, raising a false alarm: the wolves are now in sight," said 
Dr Phil Williamson, a climate researcher at the University of East 
Anglia. "The authors argue that we need to be much more proactive in 
that regard, not just ending greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as 
possible, but also building resilience in the context of complex Earth 
system processes that we might not fully understand until it is too late."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state


MAP · Aug 7, 2018
*Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2018 
<http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2018/>*
These maps show how Americans' climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, 
and policy support vary at the state, congressional district, metro 
area, and county levels.
Estimated % of adults who think global warming is happening, 2018 = 71%
http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2018/


[Out of control]
*Runaway warming could push the world into a 'hothouse Earth' state and 
cause sea levels to rise by almost 200 FEET in just a matter of decades, 
study warns 
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6032581/Runaway-global-warming-just-decades-away-say-scientists.html>*
'Hothouse Earth' will stabilize at a average of 4C-5C above 
pre-industrial levels
If it happens, swathes of planet around the equator will become 
uninhabitable
Sea levels would rise up to 60m (197ft) higher than they are today, 
study says
Earth may be decades away from a climatic tipping point that triggers 
runaway global warming and threatens the future of humanity, scientists 
have warned.
The threshold will be reached when average global temperatures are only 
around 2C higher than they were in pre-industrial times, new research 
suggests. They are already 1C higher, and rising.
Feedback mechanisms acting 'like a row of dominoes' will then spin the 
world into a 'Hothouse Earth' state of uncontrollable climate change.
Long term, the Hothouse Earth climate will stabilize at a global average 
of 4C-5C above pre-industrial levels, the study shows...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6032581/Runaway-global-warming-just-decades-away-say-scientists.html


[photos from NASA]
*In Photos: The 2018 California Wildfires as Seen from Space 
<https://www.space.com/41403-california-wildfires-2018-photos-from-space.html>*
Here are some dramatic views of these blazes from high above as seen by 
astronauts and cosmonauts in space.
https://www.space.com/41403-california-wildfires-2018-photos-from-space.html
- - - -
[photo checked by Snopes = false]
Fact Check Fauxtography
*Does This Photograph Show Clouds Over the California Wildfires? 
<https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes-production/uploads/2018/08/clouds-.jpg>*
A spectacular image of red-tinted clouds at sunset was repurposed to 
falsely connect it with 2018 wildfires in California.
CLAIM
A photograph shows red-tinted clouds over a large wildfire in California.
Wildfires do create unique-looking clouds, but they wouldn't resemble 
the ones shown in the viral photograph. CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller 
explained that pyrocumulus clouds often form over wildfires, as the 
extreme heat of those blazes forces air to rise rapidly:
YouTube video similar <https://youtu.be/7a6KvlpR7d4> 
https://youtu.be/7a6KvlpR7d4
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clouds-over-california-wildfires/


[ice melts]
*Underwater melting of Antarctic ice far greater than thought, study 
finds 
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/02/underwater-melting-of-antarctic-ice-far-greater-than-thought-study-finds>*
Another climate scientist - who was not involved in the paper - 
emphasised the document aimed to raise questions rather than prove a 
theory. "It's rather selective, but not outlandish," said Prof Martin 
Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute. "Threshold and tipping 
points have been discussed previously, but to state that 2C is a 
threshold we can't pull back from is new, I think. I'm not sure what 
'evidence' there is for this - or indeed whether there can be until we 
experience it."
Rockstrom said the question needed asking. "We could end up delivering 
the Paris agreement and keep to 2C of warming, but then face an ugly 
surprise if the system starts to slip away," he said. "We don't say this 
will definitely happen. We just list all the disruptive events and come 
up with plausible occurrences … 50 years ago, this would be dismissed as 
alarmist, but now scientists have become really worried."
"In the context of the summer of 2018, this is definitely not a case of 
crying wolf, raising a false alarm: the wolves are now in sight," said 
Dr Phil Williamson, a climate researcher at the University of East 
Anglia. "The authors argue that we need to be much more proactive in 
that regard, not just ending greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as 
possible, but also building resilience in the context of complex Earth 
system processes that we might not fully understand until it is too 
late."...
- - - - -
The study's lead author, Hannes Konrad, said there was now clear 
evidence that the underwater glacial retreat is happening across the ice 
sheet.
"This retreat has had a huge impact on inland glaciers," he said, 
"because releasing them from the sea bed removes friction, causing them 
to speed up and contribute to global sea level rise."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/02/underwater-melting-of-antarctic-ice-far-greater-than-thought-study-finds


[The Economist says]
In the line of fire
*The world is losing the war against climate change 
<https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/02/the-world-is-losing-the-war-against-climate-change>*
Rising energy demand means use of fossil fuels is heading in the wrong 
direction
EARTH is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have 
consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere. One of 18 wildfires 
sweeping through California, among the worst in the state's history, is 
generating such heat that it created its own weather. Fires that raged 
through a coastal area near Athens last week killed 91 (see article). 
Elsewhere people are suffocating in the heat. Roughly 125 have died in 
Japan as the result of a heatwave that pushed temperatures in Tokyo 
above 40C for the first time.

Such calamities, once considered freakish, are now commonplace. 
Scientists have long cautioned that, as the planet warms - it is roughly 
1C hotter today than before the industrial age's first furnaces were lit 
- weather patterns will go berserk. An early analysis has found that 
this sweltering European summer would have been less than half as likely 
were it not for human-induced global warming.

Yet as the impact of climate change becomes more evident, so too does 
the scale of the challenge ahead. Three years after countries vowed in 
Paris to keep warming "well below" 2C relative to pre-industrial levels, 
greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and 
gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. 
Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling in 
many places and investment has stalled; climate-friendly nuclear power 
is expensive and unpopular. It is tempting to think these are temporary 
setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will 
muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing 
the war.
*Living in a fuel's paradise*
Insufficient progress is not to say no progress at all. As solar panels, 
wind turbines and other low-carbon technologies become cheaper and more 
efficient, their use has surged. Last year the number of electric cars 
sold around the world passed 1m. In some sunny and blustery places 
renewable power now costs less than coal.

Public concern is picking up. A poll last year of 38 countries found 
that 61% of people see climate change as a big threat; only the 
terrorists of Islamic State inspired more fear. In the West campaigning 
investors talk of divesting from companies that make their living from 
coal and oil. Despite President Donald Trump's decision to yank America 
out of the Paris deal, many American cities and states have reaffirmed 
their commitment to it. Even some of the sceptic-in-chief's fellow 
Republicans appear less averse to tackling the problem (see article) 
<https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/08/02/republicans-inch-towards-action-on-global-warming>. 
In smog-shrouded China and India, citizens choking on fumes are 
prompting governments to rethink plans to rely heavily on coal to 
electrify their countries.

Optimists say that decarbonisation is within reach. Yet, even allowing 
for the familiar complexities of agreeing on and enforcing global 
targets, it is proving extraordinarily difficult.

One reason is soaring energy demand, especially in developing Asia. In 
2006-16, as Asia's emerging economies forged ahead, their energy 
consumption rose by 40%. The use of coal, easily the dirtiest fossil 
fuel, grew at an annual rate of 3.1%. Use of cleaner natural gas grew by 
5.2% and of oil by 2.9%. Fossil fuels are easier to hook up to today's 
grids than renewables that depend on the sun shining and the wind 
blowing. Even as green fund managers threaten to pull back from oil 
companies, state-owned behemoths in the Middle East and Russia see Asian 
demand as a compelling reason to invest.

The second reason is economic and political inertia. The more fossil 
fuels a country consumes, the harder it is to wean itself off them. 
Powerful lobbies, and the voters who back them, entrench coal in the 
energy mix. Reshaping existing ways of doing things can take years. In 
2017 Britain enjoyed its first coal-free day since igniting the 
Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. Coal generates not merely 80% of 
India's electricity, but also underpins the economies of some of its 
poorest states (see Briefing). Panjandrums in Delhi are not keen to 
countenance the end of coal, lest that cripple the banking system, which 
lent it too much money, and the railways, which depend on it.

Last is the technical challenge of stripping carbon out of industries 
beyond power generation. Steel, cement, farming, transport and other 
forms of economic activity account for over half of global carbon 
emissions. They are technically harder to clean up than power generation 
and are protected by vested industrial interests. Successes can turn out 
to be illusory. Because China's 1m-plus electric cars draw their oomph 
from an electricity grid that draws two-thirds of its power from coal, 
they produce more carbon dioxide than some fuel-efficient petrol-driven 
models. Meanwhile, scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere, which climate 
models imply is needed on a vast scale to meet the Paris target, 
attracts even less attention.

The world is not short of ideas to realise the Paris goal. Around 70 
countries or regions, responsible for one-fifth of all emissions, now 
price carbon. Technologists beaver away on sturdier grids, zero-carbon 
steel, even carbon-negative cement, whose production absorbs more CO2 
than it releases. All these efforts and more - including research into 
"solar geoengineering" to reflect sunlight back into space - should be 
redoubled.
*Blood, sweat and geoengineers*
Yet none of these fixes will come to much unless climate listlessness is 
tackled head on. Western countries grew wealthy on a carbon-heavy diet 
of industrial development. They must honour their commitment in the 
Paris agreement to help poorer places both adapt to a warmer Earth and 
also abate future emissions without sacrificing the growth needed to 
leave poverty behind.
Averting climate change will come at a short-term financial cost - 
although the shift from carbon may eventually enrich the economy, as the 
move to carbon-burning cars, lorries and electricity did in the 20th 
century. Politicians have an essential role to play in making the case 
for reform and in ensuring that the most vulnerable do not bear the 
brunt of the change. Perhaps global warming will help them fire up the 
collective will. Sadly, the world looks poised to get a lot hotter first.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under 
the headline "In the line of fire"
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/02/the-world-is-losing-the-war-against-climate-change


[Propublica Levees video on models]
*How "levee wars" are making floods worse 
<https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/levees>*
Vox video *https://youtu.be/LTv6RkFnelM*
Published on Aug 6, 2018
Explained with a giant, scientific model.
To See How Levees Increase Flooding, We Built Our Own 
<https://youtu.be/LTv6RkFnelM>
In our latest Vox+ProPublica collaboration, we dive into how a structure 
that's designed to protect us from floods, may actually be making them 
worse. High levees come at a high cost, often pushing water into 
communities that can't afford the same protection. To demonstrate, we 
built a giant, scientific model of a river with levees - complete with 
adorable tiny houses.
Levees - massive earthen or concrete structures that keep rivers 
confined to their channels - tame the flow of rivers and make life 
possible for the millions of people who live behind them. But they come 
with often-unexamined risks, as they can make floods worse for the 
communities across the river or upstream from them.
Related story: Flood Thy Neighbor: Who stays dry and who decides?
This is well-known to scientists and supported by basic physics, but we 
wanted to see it for ourselves. So, instead of waiting for a huge flood, 
we built our own.
ProPublica and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting hired 
engineers at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of 
Minnesota in Minneapolis to build a physical model of four levee 
scenarios to see how levee height and placement choices can put 
surrounding communities on the floodplain - the low-lying land near 
river channels - at greater risk of flooding.
https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/levees
https://youtu.be/LTv6RkFnelM
- - - -
*Flood Thy Neighbor: Who Stays Dry and Who Decides? 
<https://www.propublica.org/article/levee-valley-park-flood-thy-neighbor-who-stays-dry-and-who-decides>*
One Missouri town's levee saga captures what's wrong with America's 
approach to controlling rivers.
https://www.propublica.org/article/levee-valley-park-flood-thy-neighbor-who-stays-dry-and-who-decides


[Electro-Opining]
*We've been talking about a national grid for years. It might be time to 
do it. 
<https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/8/3/17638246/national-energy-grid-renewables-transmission>*
A massive new study confirms a national energy grid would pay for itself.
By David Roberts
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/8/3/17638246/national-energy-grid-renewables-transmission


[Mothers of Invention - a feminist podcast]
*EPISODE 2: DIVESTMENT 
<https://www.mothersofinvention.online/thewhitemanstoletheweather>*
The White Man Stole the Weather 
<https://soundcloud.com/user-716066709/episode-2-the-white-man-stole-the-weather>
Mary and Maeve are talking about money, money. Fighting climate change 
might be a moral necessity but women are learning to hit vested 
interests where it hurts the most, in the pocket. They hear from South 
Africa where the anti-apartheid movement demonstrated the power of the 
boycott in the 80s before flipping the same tactics to the climate 
fight. In the US, a wave of organised student campaigning on campuses is 
helping popularise the divestment movement but it was Standing Rock when 
indigenous women's leadership took divestment into the big time, with 
billions of dollars now moving out of fossil fuels.
Podcast audio 
<https://soundcloud.com/user-716066709/episode-2-the-white-man-stole-the-weather> 
https://soundcloud.com/user-716066709/episode-2-the-white-man-stole-the-weather
https://www.mothersofinvention.online/thewhitemanstoletheweather


[Classic culture]*
Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind - Hearing the Voices o 
<https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/08/06/out-of-sight-not-out-of-mind-hearing-the-voices-of-the-future/>f 
the Future 
<https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/08/06/out-of-sight-not-out-of-mind-hearing-the-voices-of-the-future/>*
Marte Royeng
When I was little and heard the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, I 
imagined hearing ghosts - muted wailing from hidden voices. I wondered 
about the children lured away by the Pied Piper into the depths of a 
mountain: Wouldn't they still be alive, only out of sight? Who would 
care for them?
It's an unsettling story. It ends with an entire town's children 
disappearing. Their parents refuse to pay the Piper for ridding the town 
of rats, and for this they receive the worst possible punishment - sons 
and daughters are taken away in the night, never to return.

Hardly a nice ending for a family musical.
But it is a great story for a family musical addressing sustainability. 
By taking away the children, the Pied Piper essentially robs the town of 
its entire future.

In the spring of 2012, the Oslo-based group Scenelusa Productions 
premiered a brand new musical, Rottefangeren (The Rat Catcher). It 
explores how a community responds to difficult changes, eventually 
overcomes greed, and realizes what's truly valuable.
- - - -
There's a need for those who can dig deeply to find the root of the problem.
Limper and the Pied Piper show the town that the solution is not simply 
to get rid of rats, but to become more generous. For their future to be 
sustainable, people will need to look further than their doorstep. They 
have to consider the voices of the invisible, counting those who are far 
away and out of sight.
Limper's morality makes him set out to rescue the other children, 
regardless of how badly they treated him. They are part of his world, 
and so what hurts them hurts him too.
The musical does get a nice, happy ending. The Pied Piper returns the 
children when the town finally realizes what matters most.
But for the young people on stage, what was important about all of this? 
What holds value to them, in their reality?
My guess: To have someone pay attention. And listen.
This article was originally published on HowlRound, a knowledge commons 
by and for the theatre community, on April 25, 2015.
https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/08/06/out-of-sight-not-out-of-mind-hearing-the-voices-of-the-future/


[famous cartoonist]
*Stop pretending. Yes, we know about climate change, and it turns out 
we've ALWAYS known. 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/08/07/stop-pretending-yes-we-know-about-climate-change-and-it-turns-out-weve-always-known/?utm_term=.362da09b4d04>*
By Tom Toles - August 7
The infuriating part of the climate-change debate has been … well, 
everything. The first thing is that it has been a debate at all. The 
science is clear. It's actually, at its core, amazingly simple: Carbon 
dioxide traps heat. Who knew? Everybody.

Consequences? We could start with the largest wildfire in California's 
history.  But we don't need to stop there. And the climate isn't going 
to. Record fires, record drought, record storms, record flooding. We 
have already baked ourselves into this cake. And what have we been doing 
about the recipe? Being monumentally stupid, is what. There's no other 
word for it. Actually, there are lots more words. Arrogant. Suicidal. 
Greedy. Dishonest. Selfish. Lazy.

For those who have spent their energies over the past 30 years 
deliberately spreading dishonest uncertainty about this subject, may you 
live long enough to see the damage you have wrought (meaning: still be 
alive right now). May you sit back contentedly and watch people's homes 
and lives be destroyed as a result of your efforts. Congratulations! A 
life well-lived. Because what you have tried so hard to sell has been a 
lie from the beginning. Because the science was clear enough a half 
century ago. And we could have begun to solve the problem then, and 
according to a lengthy article in the New York Times, we almost did.
The only problem with this heartbreaking account is that it sounds a lot 
like "too late." Oh, if only those people had acted back then! But this 
would suit the interests of fossil-fuel profiteers just fine. They have 
been smoothing our feathers all this time by cooing, "It's too SOON to 
act on climate; let's wait till the science is settled." How convenient 
for them to be able to now ruefully shake their heads and tell us, "Oh, 
sorry, actually now it's too LATE."

It may indeed be too late to avoid some of the calamity we have 
blundered and burned our way into, but it's not too late to stop 
amplifying the disaster to unimaginable levels. People, meaning you, 
could reasonably plead ignorance at one time, but that time is over. The 
story of missed opportunity is a story we are still writing today. Now 
that we know beyond a doubt, now that we can see it, now that we can 
feel it, what is our excuse today? What is your excuse? Time to speak 
up. Time to demand. Time to act. Right now.
Tom Toles is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for The 
Post and writes the Tom Toles blog. His latest book is "The Madhouse 
Effect," a book about climate and climate-change denial co-authored with 
climate scientist Michael Mann. Follow
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/08/07/stop-pretending-yes-we-know-about-climate-change-and-it-turns-out-weve-always-known/?utm_term=.362da09b4d04


*This Day in Climate History - August 8, 2018 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/us/california-fires-mendocino.html> 
[today] - from D.R. Tucker*
  August 8, 2018: The New York Times reports:

    "Inside the state's emergency command center here, the numbers on a
    large screen show the scope and reach of California's record-setting
    wildfire season glowing in red, blue and yellow: nearly 600,000
    acres burned. More than 13,000 firefighters battling blazes. More
    than 2,300 members of the National Guard pulled into the fight.

    "The numbers, though, do not begin to tell the story of the
    challenge and complexity of the firefighting effort, with
    temperatures still soaring. Fires are moving faster than anyone has
    ever seen, and barriers that in years past contained fires -
    bulldozer lines, highways, rivers - are now no match. By midday
    Tuesday the numbers had already climbed, as more acres burned and
    more personnel had been rushed to the fires.

    "All of this comes as California is fighting approximately 17 large
    fires simultaneously, including the largest in the state's recorded
    history. The fire season that has already scorched nearly three
    times the number of acres over the same period last year has tested
    the state's firefighting resources like never before."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/us/california-fires-mendocino.html

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