[TheClimate.Vote] August 14, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Tue Aug 14 10:23:41 EDT 2018

/August 14, 2018/

[lightning strike]
*VIDEO: Bridge collapses in Italy amid violent storm, killing at least 
20 <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-45182675>*
GENOA, Italy -- Video shows a bridge collapse in northern Italy in the 
midst of a violent storm on Tuesday that has left at least 20 dead, 
according to Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-45182675

[follow the money]
*Summer's record-high temperatures threaten to scorch the economy 
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-this-summers-record-high-temperatures-scorch-the-broader-economy/>*
Extremely hot summers and brutally cold winters-widely understood to be 
effects of climate change-are likely to have a huge impact on the U.S. 
economy in the coming decades, according to a new analysis from the 
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond that overturns previous thinking on the 
topic.
"[It] has generally been assumed that the economic effects of global 
warming for the United States would be relatively small," the Fed paper 
says. "[However,] rising temperatures could reduce overall growth of 
U.S. economic output by as much as one-third by 2100."
To put that in perspective, the hundreds of billions in tariffs 
currently being imposed by the U.S., China and the European Union are 
estimated to reduce the U.S. economic product somewhere between 0.06 and 
0.25 percent...
- - -
The Fed's paper came to a similar conclusion as research published 
earlier this year in Science, which estimated that climate change could 
erase as much as 6 points off U.S. GDP by the end of the century. 
Climate change will also redistribute wealth as workers flee from 
hard-hit areas to more resilient ones...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-this-summers-record-high-temperatures-scorch-the-broader-economy/

[Photos before and after]
*California Wildfires: Before And After Images Capture Terrifying 
Destruction 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/before-and-after-california-wildfire-destruction_us_5b71b885e4b0ae32af9a5d9b>*
HuffPost has created some before and after images that show the 
extensive damage to once-standing homes and neighborhoods. The images 
show destruction from the Carr Fire and recent images from the Mendocino 
Complex Fire near Redding, California.
Use the sliders... to move between the before and after images.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/before-and-after-california-wildfire-destruction_us_5b71b885e4b0ae32af9a5d9b

[rescue Rover]
*Race against time for dogs in wildfires 
<https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-45174894/race-against-time-for-dogs-in-wildfires>*
Dramatic scenes unfolded in Vacaville, California, as police raced to 
rescue 60 cats and dogs from an animal shelter threatened by a wildfire.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-45174894/race-against-time-for-dogs-in-wildfires

*The US' hidden methane problem 
<http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/08/13/us-methane-problem/>*
Published on 8/13/2018
Unregulated, unnoticed coal mines across the US are leaking a potent 
greenhouse gas with the same greenhouse effect as 13 million cars
By Mark Olalde
Across the US, a major, uncontrolled leak of a potent greenhouse gas is 
going unregulated and largely unnoticed.
Climate Home News analysis of government data has identified roughly 300 
active and 200 abandoned coal mines, which are the source of almost 
one-tenth of US methane pollution.
Methane has 34 times the long-term warming effect of carbon dioxide and 
accounts for 10% of US greenhouse gas emissions. Its emissions from the 
oil and gas industry and the efforts of the Trump administration to roll 
back regulations on them have been widely publicised.
Meanwhile, US coal mines released 60.5 MMTCO2e of methane in 2016, with 
roughly the same warming impact as 13 million cars. Efforts to control 
the problem are being hampered despite those with the technical 
expertise claiming a whole industry could be built on capturing these 
emissions and turning them into electricity.
- - - -
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/08/13/us-methane-problem/

[Lesson today]
video lecture 16:30
*An Introduction to Nitrogen and Climate Change 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrJ3n_8ZI4o>*
Climate State
Published on Mar 14, 2018
In this 2015 talk, David Reay from the University of Edinburgh talks 
about nitrogen, and how it effects climate change.
Watch the full lecture https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_w5t832ln
Nitrogen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen
*Inaugural Lecture. Professor David Reay. The School of GeoSciences. 
<https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_w5t832ln>*
THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH.
The School of GeoSciences Inaugural Lecture by Professor David Reay. 
Professor of Carbon Management.
Wonder Stuff. The Global Challenge of Nitrogen and Climate Change
Thursday, 19th November 2015 - ECCI  Conference  Room, High  School 
Yards. Edinburgh  EH1 1LZ.
https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_w5t832ln

[Analysis]
*IPCC's political fix on 1.5C will undermine its credibility 
<http://www.climatecodered.org/2018/08/ipccs-political-fix-on-15c-will.html>*
by David Spratt
The forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special 
report on 1.5C will suggest a significant "carbon budget" for the 1.5C 
climate warming target, in a political fix that will further undermine 
the organisation's credibility.
The report will use unwisely low assumptions about the Earth's climate 
sensitivity to pull a rabbit out of a hat: a carbon budget that from any 
sensible risk-management perspective simply does not exist. The 
political effect will be to say that the climate crisis is less bad than 
it is, and that we can "allow" more fossil fuel emissions.
In fact, recent research shows that climate sensitivity is higher that 
the median used in recent IPCC reports, but now the 1.5C report will go 
in the opposite direction. The final report will likely have an even 
higher 1.5C "carbon budget" figure than in the drafts leaked in recent 
months.
- - - - -
*The 1.5C report*
In October this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
(IPCC) will release a special report on the impacts of global warming of 
1.5C and emission pathways to achieve this goal.

The 2015 Paris climate policymaking conference (COP21) set a goal of 
limiting the global average temperature increase to "well below 2C above 
pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 
1.5C". The 1.5C was included as a COP outcome for the first time to 
pacify growing anger from the small-island states and least-developed 
countries about the low ambition of the international policymaking 
process. COP21 requested the IPCC to report on how to achieve the goal.

The Paris Agreement was a political fix in which grand words masked 
inadequate deeds. The UN Environment Program says that current pledges 
from governments represent only about half of what would be required to 
avoid a 2˚C temperature rise, and just a third of what's required to 
limit warming to 1.5˚C.

The voluntary emission reduction commitments made by nations since Paris 
put the world on a path of more than 3C of warming by 2100, and up to 5C 
if high-end risks including carbon-cycle feedbacks are taken into 
account. Warming in the zone of 3–5C is an existential risk to human 
civilisation. ..
- - - -
There are many ways to reduce the amount of carbon in the air, including 
better farming techniques, regenerative agriculture, soil carbon and 
biochar, and technologies that can directly capture CO2 from the air. 
The most cost-effective, large-scale drawdown action is the restoration 
of carbon-dense and biologically rich natural forests.
Isn't this academic if in reality we are heading for 3C or more of warming?
Absolutely not! Sustained political failure means we are heading towards 
a disaster, but we have the economic and technological capacity to get 
out of this huge mess. We need to be clear about exactly what would be 
safe and how we can get there.
What needs to be done?
The big questions are what is necessary to avoid a climate catastrophe 
and return to a safe climate, and how to achieve emergency-speed 
national and sub-national actions to make it happen. A campaign in the 
USA, "Well under 2C: Fast action policies to protect people and the 
planet from extreme climate change", led by respected scientists, 
advocates the "three levers" approach:
The carbon neutral lever to achieve zero net emissions of CO2 with 
renewables and energy efficiency;

The super pollutant lever to cut short-lived climate pollutants such as 
methane, black carbon, tropospheric ozone and HFCs to maximum extent 
possible; and 

Atmospheric carbon extraction lever to thin the atmospheric CO2 blanket.

They also emphasise sub-national and city-scale climate action plans, 
the Kigali HFC amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and action on 
shipping and aircraft emissions which are not included in the Paris 
Agreement.
Is that enough?
Zero emissions and carbon drawdown cannot be completed fast enough to 
prevent or reverse the significant tipping points currently crossed, and 
others close at hand...
http://www.climatecodered.org/2018/08/ipccs-political-fix-on-15c-will.html

[it just amplifies injustice]
*The Racism of Climate Denial 
<http://www.publicseminar.org/2018/04/the-racism-of-climate-denial/>*
Creating uncertainty about evidence is an injustice
Genevieve Guenther - April 24, 2018
Climate justice demands we acknowledge that the fossil-fuel economy 
distributes its costs unequally across racial lines. For example, race, 
not poverty, is correlated with exposure to PM 2.5, a health-damaging 
particle produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Climate change itself, 
the planetary effect of fossil-fuel consumption, also affects people 
unequally across racial lines. When droughts, floods, and storms hit 
African-American and Latinx communities the government does not help 
them rebuild, but rather withholds resources and aid by "privatizing 
recovery." Yet climate injustice and systemic racism intersect not only 
in the stark miseries of climate-change disasters. They also overlap in 
the normalized, complacent climate denial that sustains the fossil-fuel 
economy.
http://www.publicseminar.org/2018/04/the-racism-of-climate-denial/

[Applies to climate activism]
*Astroturfing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmh4RdIwswE>*
LastWeekTonight
Published on Aug 12, 2018
Organizations can hire fake advocates who create the illusion of real 
support for their message. It's a shady practice called astroturfing 
that can warp the public perception of anything...even astroturfing.
Connect with Last Week Tonight online...
Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel for more almost news 
as it almost happens: www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmh4RdIwswE

*'We All Live in Fear': How Climate Change Is Devastating to Refugees 
<https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/j5em4b/we-all-live-in-fear-how-climate-change-is-devastating-to-refugees>*
By Alice Rowsome - Apr 7 2017
In Somaliland, a crippling drought has driven many women and children 
from their rural villages and into dangerous and overcrowded refugee camps.
However, she adds, no humanitarian agencies operate in this camp. In 
fact, women are expected to pay rent to their so-called landlords. "This 
land is privately owned, so we have to pay. When we don't pay, they [the 
landlords] grab the land back from us and we are forced to move again," 
says Hussein. "See the stones we are standing on? We pick them up and go 
sell them at the market. We make about 60,000 SOS [approximately $8] per 
ton."
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/j5em4b/we-all-live-in-fear-how-climate-change-is-devastating-to-refugees

[On the Road - passing nearby]
*Driving The Climate Change Conversation To A Neighborhood Near You 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-road-trip_us_5b6b9129e4b0530743c6d538>*
A scientist and a teacher are on a road trip across America to talk 
about global warming.
headshot
By Yvette Cabrera
Armed with a tent, sleeping bags, a hammock and a donated drone, the 
couple will sleep outdoors or stay with friends, family members and 
strangers who have offered their homes (and will make hotel stops when 
necessary).
"What we want to do is get this conversation going and try to make 
people feel that it's OK to talk about climate change, even if we're not 
coming at it from the same perspective," said Simolaris, who recently 
became certified to teach Spanish.
Both are putting their careers on hold at a crossroads. Simolaris, 28, 
earned her master's degree this year and normally would be applying for 
teaching jobs to pay off her school loans. Masri also has school debt 
and should be researching and publishing papers ― the prescribed path to 
tenure in academia...
- - - -
He often finds that when he speaks to people about climate change, they 
express a sense of defeat. They point out that the polar bears are dying 
and ask if they can really make a difference at this point.
Masri just published a book, "Beyond Debate," to address common climate 
change misconceptions and to remind the public that there is still time 
to act.
"It's not a foregone conclusion," he said. "There are climate 
projections and many different scenarios. Whether we take the worst-case 
scenario or best-case scenario, that's still entirely dependent on how 
we act today."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-road-trip_us_5b6b9129e4b0530743c6d538

[New book publication]
*A Climate Vocabulary of the Future 
<http://www.herbsimmens.com/a-climate-vocabulary-of-the-future/>*
Just Released!
A Climate Vocabulary of the Future is the first book to focus on 
creating a new vocabulary encompassing all aspects of climate change – 
political, economic, moral, behavioral as well as technological and 
scientific. The vocabulary presented is broad based and far reaching 
because climate change is and will affect every aspect of life for most 
everyone on the planet.
With some 265 new words and terms, and over 165 currently used terms 
this book explains many of key concepts in climate change with a 
combination of wit, simplicity, brevity and clarity.
- - - -
Some entries are straightforward words or phrase like dark snow or 
negative emissions, others are playful terms like frozen chicken 
syndrome or robin carbon hood tax or sharply drawn phrases like carbon 
war criminal or the no solutions coalition.
The need for urgent action is reflected in the descriptions of many of 
these terms. Some 75 new words and terms present ideas for action – most 
eminently practical, others aspirational or inspirational.
Use it as a reference or as a creative way to learn the many dimensions 
of climate change. And above all help acquire the words, images, ideas 
and actions necessary to thrive in a world that will be increasingly be 
dominated by climate chaos.
http://www.herbsimmens.com/a-climate-vocabulary-of-the-future/

[Hard work on Friday]
*FERC halts Atlantic Coast, clears 3 other pipeline projects in busy 
Friday 
<https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-halts-atlantic-coast-clears-3-other-pipeline-projects-in-busy-friday/529963/>*
Gavin Bade - August 13, 2018
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday halted the 
construction of one major natural gas pipeline and declined to revisit 
decisions approving three others in the final hours before Republicans 
lost their one-vote majority at the agency.
- FERC voted 3-2 to deny rehearing on the PennEast Pipeline, Eastern 
Market Access Project and the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project, 
allowing work to move forward. - FERC also unanimously ordered a stop to 
construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, saying a court ruling last 
week could mean it will need to be rerouted.
The flurry of activity came on the last day at work for Republican 
Commissioner Robert Powelson, who retired early to head a water company 
trade group. The resulting 2-2 partisan split on the commission allows 
Democrats to deadlock votes until a replacement is confirmed.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-halts-atlantic-coast-clears-3-other-pipeline-projects-in-busy-friday/529963/

*This Day in Climate History - August 14, 2008 
<http://youtu.be/BqqZzY0fjC0> - from D.R. Tucker*
August 14, 2008: GOP presidential candidate John McCain discusses his 
views on energy and climate change in Aspen, Colorado.
http://youtu.be/BqqZzY0fjC0

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