[TheClimate.Vote] December 2, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/December 2, 2018/

[Youth activism - poignant, praiseworthy news video]*
**Australian students defy PM with climate protests 
<https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-students-defy-pm-with-climate-protests>*
Thousands of school children have skipped class to demand the federal 
government act on climate change in coordinated rallies in almost 30 
cities and towns across Australia.
But the federal resources minister says the students should be in school 
learning about science and mining rather than learning about "how to 
join the dole queue".
The 'Strike 4 Climate Action' - inspired by a 15-year-old Swedish school 
girl's activism - involved children in all capital cities and 20 
regional centres.
In Sydney, more than 1000 children - most in school uniform - chanted 
"climate action now" and "ScoMo sucks" while similar numbers blocked 
streets outside the Victorian parliament in Melbourne.
A further 1000 students from 100 Queensland schools surrounded the 
state's parliament in Brisbane, while 20 regional rallies, including at 
Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay in NSW, saw thousands more take 
to the streets in protest...

    *[**popular video available on Facebook
    <https://www.facebook.com/sbsnews/videos/286008742027155/>**]*
    https://www.facebook.com/sbsnews/videos/286008742027155/

"Our prime minister thinks we should be in school right now, and maybe 
we should," the Chifley College Senior Campus student told the Sydney 
protest.
"But how can I just sit by and not do anything to protect the future of 
this planet and as my family on the islands worry about the rising sea 
level?"
Forest Lodge Primary school captain Lucie Atkin Bolton said she'd 
learned in class that leaders need to take responsibility when things go 
wrong.
"I wish I lived in a country where our adults, especially our 
politicians, actually cared about my future," the 11-year-old said...

"But none of that will matter if the earth ends up drowned, the 
temperatures rise and there are no humans," she told AAP.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan, who says he's on the side of science 
and wants Australia to develop all energy sources, including solar and 
coal, said he'd rather the students learn about mining and science.
"These are the type of things that excite young children and we should 
be great at as a nation," he told 2GB on Friday.
"The best thing you'll learn about going to a protest is how to join the 
dole queue."
The series of rallies was inspired by Greta Thunberg, who strikes every 
Friday outside Sweden's national parliament, demanding the country's 
leader do something about climate change.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-students-defy-pm-with-climate-protests


[CBC Radio]
*Fears around climate change are causing some people to seek out support 
groups 
<https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/fears-around-climate-change-are-causing-some-people-to-seek-out-support-groups-1.4924367>*
Eco-anxiety is a 'sense of heightened anxiety' about environmental 
changes, says expert
CBC Radio · November 29  [Read Story Transcript 
<https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-november-29-2018-1.4922409/thursday-november-29-2018-full-transcript-1.4926411#segment3>]
After the birth of her daughter, Dana Snell began worrying more and more 
about the changing climate in which she was raising her child.
Snell says she developed "eco-anxiety", a term she uses to describe her 
specific anxiety around climate change.
"If it was above 30C I would really feel my heart sink, and it wasn't 
just about: 'Oh this is going to be an uncomfortable day'. This was: 
'What's going to happen? What does this mean? What's going to happen for 
the future?'" Snell explained.
Her anxiety worsened as she felt Toronto summers grow warmer in 2016 and 
2017.
"I was very concerned about my young daughter's future," she told The 
Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.
The physical and mental health effects of climate change are examined in 
a report published today called The Lancet Countdown 2018 Report: 
Briefing for Canadian Policy Makers. It was launched in tandem with an 
annual international report tracking global public health and climate 
change, called The Lancet Countdown.
Both reports analyze the measurable effects that wildfires, landslides, 
floods, storms and heat waves are having on the physical and mental 
health of the public. It looks at phenomena such as solastalgia -- a 
feeling of being homesick because your home now looks and feels 
different because of a changed climate.
Memorial University professor Ashlee Cunsolo researches culture, health 
and environment. She said she sees eco-anxiety in the Inuit population 
she has worked with, defining it as a "sense of heightened anxiety," 
about environmental changes, and "compassion for other people."
UN report on global warming carries life-or-death warning
To combat her fears, Snell found help through an online support group. 
They meet weekly through an online meeting app and structure their 
discussions around an Alcoholics Anonymous-type 10 step program. They 
talk through the different steps and discuss how they are coping.
"I've kind of moved past feeling like my daughter's safety... my 
daughter's life is in danger," added Snell.
To discuss the physical and mental impact of climate change on the 
public, Tremonti spoke to
Dr. Courtney Howard, physician and lead author of The Lancet Countdown 
2018 Report: Briefing for Canadian Policy Makers.
Annita Mcphee, B.C. wildfire evacuee.
Dana Snell, member of online support group for people worried about 
climate change.
Check out this news (radio) story that features Dana and name drops Good 
Grief:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/fears-around-climate-change-are-causing-some-people-to-seek-out-support-groups-1.4924367


[moving and emotional]
[A most important video about fear, anger and grief - must see]
Textbook Trauma: The Emotions of Climate Change
YaleClimateConnections
Published on Sep 17, 2018
Scientists Sara Myhre and Jeffrey Kiehl discuss the emotional impacts of 
climate change.
https://youtu.be/MYFlRxJ5Sh0


[video - the burden of disease]
*Hugh Montgomery: Are Humans Like a Virus on Planet Earth? 
<https://youtu.be/9UP_-Bvf5fU>*
Climate State
Published on Nov 8, 2018
The EPA, as part of the National Dialogue on Climate Action, hosted a 
public lecture on health and climate change presented by Prof. Hugh 
Montgomery. The EPA's Climate Change lecture series has been running 
since late 2007, bringing a range of Irish and international speakers to 
The Mansion House in Dublin to update Irish audiences on the science of 
climate change, and possible responses to it.
Watch the full event recording with all speakers 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOIf6yb7q5A
https://youtu.be/9UP_-Bvf5fU


[Forbes magazine]
*A Simple Guide To All The Scary And Depressing Climate Change News At 
The Moment 
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelmarshalleurope/2018/11/29/a-simple-guide-to-all-the-scary-and-depressing-climate-change-news-at-the-moment/#11556b56776a>*
Michael Marshall - Contributor Science
I write about evolutionary biology, earth science and the environment
So much news about climate change has come out in the last few weeks, it 
is hard to keep track of it all. Here is a summary of all the new 
findings and what they mean.

Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached a new record, 
according to the World Meteorological Organization. The concentration of 
carbon dioxide hit 405.5 parts per million in 2017, "up from 403.3 ppm 
in 2016 and 400.1 ppm in 2015". This is exactly what we could expect as 
we haven't stopped releasing them.

"The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 
was 3-5 million years ago, when the temperature was 2-3C warmer and sea 
level was 10-20 meters higher than now," said WMO Secretary-General 
Petteri Taalas.

Not only have we not stopped releasing greenhouse gases, we are putting 
them out faster than before. According to the UN Environment Programme, 
CO2 emissions rose in 2017, for the first time in four years. That is 
disappointing, because the pause in emissions growth happened while the 
global economy kept growing, suggesting that we were starting to 
"decouple" economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions. Evidently, we 
weren't.

One contributor will be the rise in Amazon deforestation, which hit its 
highest level in a decade between August 2017 and July 2018. The rate of 
Amazon deforestation is still far slower than it was in the 1980s and 
1990s, but it is concerning that it has started accelerating again.

The rise in emissions was included in UNEP's "emissions gap" report, 
which comes out every year. The report looks at how much we need to cut 
our emissions to limit climate change to the "safe" level of 2C - and 
then how big the gap is between the promises made so far and what's 
actually necessary. "This year's report records the largest gap yet 
between where we are and where we need to be," wrote Matt McGrath of BBC 
News. To limit warming to 2C, nations will need to triple their efforts.

The consequences of the warming climate look set to be severe. The UK's 
Met Office released its first big update on climate change in a decade, 
the UK Climate Projections 2018. It warns that UK summers could be 5.4C 
warmer by 2070 than they were in 1981-2000. That means the chances of 
another summer as warm as 2018's (which was, by British standards, 
ludicrously hot and the joint hottest on record) will be about 50 per 
cent by 2050.

That's in line with trends so far. According to another Met Office 
report, "the hottest day of each year over the most recent decade 
(2008-2017) in the UK has been on average 0.8C warmer than the hottest 
day of each year over the period 1961-1990."

The US government has released its Fourth National Climate Assessment, 
exploring the risks to American society. "With continued growth in 
emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are 
projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the 
century--more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many U.S. 
states," the report said. However, US President Donald Trump dismissed 
the report, saying "I don't believe it".

The warming will be bad for our health, according to a new study in The 
Lancet. Researchers found that the proportion of the global population 
vulnerable to heat-related death and disease is on the rise. The main 
cause is rising temperatures, but the growing number of people living in 
cities (which tend to be warmer than the countryside), and of older 
people, are also factors. In 2017, 157 million vulnerable people were 
exposed to heatwaves globally, and 153 billion hours of labour were lost 
due to heat exposure.

The Arctic ecosystem is also being drastically changed, because it is 
warming faster than the rest of the planet and the crucial sea ice is 
retreating. The UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee has 
published a report entitled The Changing Arctic, which summarises what 
is happening. "The Arctic is undergoing profound environmental change 
from warming surface and ocean temperatures," the committee writes. 
"Multiyear sea ice has been reducing for decades, and melting has 
accelerated since the early 2000s. It is now at its lowest level since 
records began and the Arctic Ocean may be ice free in the summer as soon 
as the 2050s, unless emissions are reduced. The acidification and 
Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean are causes for significant concern 
as they threaten marine wildlife and global climate patterns. 
Additionally, one trillion plastic particles frozen into Arctic sea ice 
could be released into the ocean through accelerated melting."

Now for the good news. Every tonne of carbon dioxide we refrain from 
emitting will mean slightly less warming, slightly gentler effects. As 
I've said before, forget about claims like "only 12 years and then it's 
too late" and focus on the simple fact that every move we make to reduce 
climate change will be beneficial, both to our health and to the economy.

The UK could become carbon-neutral by 2045, meaning any carbon dioxide 
it emitted would be balanced by carbon dioxide that was newly locked up, 
for instance in newly-planted trees, according to a recent WWF report. 
And in fact the European Union has announced that it will try to become 
climate-neutral by 2050. That will be a challenge, but the very fact the 
EU is shooting for it is good news. The EU may also try to clamp down on 
emissions from aviation, which are particularly tricky to cut.

What's more, the UK seems to have finally bitten the bullet on carbon 
capture and storage (CCS). This is a technology to trap carbon dioxide 
as it escapes from power plants and other sources, then bury it 
underground in rock formations that will lock it away for millennia. The 
UK has dithered about implementing CCS for years, and in 2015 the 
government abandoned a £1 billion competition intended to develop the 
technology. But now, ahead of a summit in Edinburgh, ministers have 
promised to set up a working CCS plant at a site in Scotland.

None of this is enough to limit warming to 2C, let alone the more 
ambitious target of 1.5C. But they are positive steps.

I am a freelance science journalist and have been covering life sciences 
and the environment since 2007. I have a BA and MPhil from the 
University of Cambridge and an MSc in Science Communication from 
Imperial College London.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelmarshalleurope/2018/11/29/a-simple-guide-to-all-the-scary-and-depressing-climate-change-news-at-the-moment/#11556b56776a


[2 Paul Beckwith videos explain newest academic papers]
*A Plethora of Dire Climate Reports: parts 1 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fK3Uv55oU>* and *Part 2 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8IhPFFX3o>*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Nov 30, 2018
For ages, I’ve been screaming from rooftops, clad in sandwich-boards, on 
the urgency of declaring a global climate emergency. Some city’s and 
groups are now doing the same. Governments, scientists, and main-stream 
media are not there yet (or even close) but judging by the plethora of 
recent reports and press they are inching forward. I chat, top-level, to 
you, on IPCC SR1.5, World Meteorological Organization GHG levels, UN 
Emissions Gap,  US Fourth National Climate Assessment, and Lancet Human 
Health; all major reports.
https://twitter.com/PaulHBeckwith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fK3Uv55oU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8IhPFFX3o


[just call it a little of everything]
*10 facts you probably missed in the government’s climate report 
<https://thinkprogress.org/national-climate-assessment-facts-predictions-23d6c153b222/>*
Climate change will alter everything.
KYLA MANDEL - NOV 30, 2018
Perusing the approximately 1,600 pages of the National Climate 
Assessment, one thing quickly becomes clear: climate change is here and 
it is impacting literally every aspect of our lives. Its impacts are 
varied, simultaneous, and cascading.

The report was released a week ago on November 23. It details the costly 
and accelerating consequences of increased global temperatures on the 
United States. The congressionally-mandated assessment is authored by 
hundreds of scientists, many from 13 different federal departments and 
agencies.

In it, scientists warn that without significant climate action and fewer 
fossil fuels, annual average global temperatures could increase by a 
staggering 9 degrees Fahrenheit -- 5 degrees Celsius -- or more by the 
end of this century compared to pre-industrial temperatures.
But what about the report’s other findings? Here are 10 facts about how 
climate change will impact various aspects of our lives, according to 
the National Climate Assessment.

    *1. Firefighting will cost billions*
    At the front of many people’s minds are the California wildfires
    this year. According to the NCA, climate change is estimated to be
    responsible for doubling the amount of forest area burned by
    wildfires between 1984 and 2015. And that number is only going to
    increase...

    *2. Allergies will increase*
    Higher temperatures mean longer growing seasons in some areas, and
    with this comes longer pollen and allergy seasons. In fact, the
    average length of the growing season has increased by two weeks
    since the start of the 20th century, becoming slightly longer in the
    West than the East....

    *3. Playgrounds will get hotte*r
    The science is clear that children are incredibly vulnerable to the
    impacts of climate change -- and part of that danger stems from
    their playgrounds...

    *4. Dairy cows will feel the heat too*
    The symptoms of heat stress are well known in humans, but as the
    report notes, this extends to animals as well. This has consequences
    for their health and safety as well as the food they produce...

    *5. Public and private property will be underwater*
    There are 49.4 million housing units along America’s shorelines --
    and a whopping $1.4 trillion-worth of homes and business are located
    within just an eighth of a mile from the coast. The risk to coastal
    properties of sea level rise, coastal erosion, and strong storms has
    been well documented...

    *6. Transport will get worse*
    Water -- from the sea and from the air -- will disrupt transport
    networks.
    In the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, intense precipitation will cause
    air travel to be delayed, and cargo shipments by rail and truck to
    be impacted too. In Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, more intense
    tropical cyclones will interrupt shipments to the region "more
    frequently and for longer periods" the report states.
    Certain areas will also be affected by a lack of precipitation. In
    the Mississippi River and Great Lakes, for instance, shifting
    between high and low extremes in water levels limits boat traffic.
    This subsequently impacts jobs and the ability to get goods from one
    place to another, both domestically and internationally.Road damages
    are expected to cost up to $20 billion by 2090 under the
    high-emissions scenario. And inland flooding will leave some 2,500
    to 4,600 bridges across the country at risk, costing between $1.2
    billion and $1.4 billion in damages each year by 2050...

    *7. Megadroughts will last a decade*
    The water cycle in the Southwest has already been altered by climate
    change, the report states. This includes changes to the snowpack,
    which, come spring, is a vital resource when it starts to melt. With
    warmer temperatures, snow may fall as rain instead, which while
    useful in the moment, doesn’t collect in a future stockpile of
    frozen water.
    Less snow means less water. And with earlier arrival of spring,
    there is less snow to last into the summer season. "These changes,"
    the assessment states, "attributed mainly to climate change,
    exacerbate hydrological drought."...

    *8. Tropical fisheries will decline*
    As ocean waters warm, species will shift to new areas where they’re
    better suited to specific temperatures. For example, a fish
    population could move northward as its original habitat zone gets
    too warm. But there won’t be many species adapted to the extreme
    temperatures the other fish are abandoning. This not only hurts the
    fish populations but also those dependent on them for food."Because
    tropical regions are already some of the warmest, there are few
    species available to replace species that move to cooler water," the
    report explains. "This means that fishing communities in Hawaii and
    the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico are
    particularly vulnerable to climate-driven changes in fish
    populations."...

    *9. Hospitals will be hit by storm surges*
    We know that climate change will make hurricanes stronger and
    wetter, and that sea level rise will bring with it bigger storm
    surges and more frequent flooding. As a result, more people will
    likely be hurt, turning to hospitals for help. But what happens when
    the hospitals are also impacted by the storm?
    As the assessment notes, hospitals along the mid-Atlantic and
    Southeast are increasingly at risk from storm surges. It maps out
    which hospitals in these areas will likely be impacted by different
    levels of storm...

    *10. Agricultural regions will need more weather stations*
    Climate change will undoubtedly impact crop yields in America’s
    agricultural regions. For some, this might mean more bountiful
    harvests (such as for wheat, hay, and barley); others, like fruit,
    nut, vegetable, and nursery growers, will be hurt by the shift. This
    will especially be the case when higher temperatures coincide with
    "critical periods of reproductive development," the report states.

Due to the amount of variability depending on the type of crop and where 
it’s being grown, "climate-smart agriculture can reduce the impacts of 
climate change," on crop yield, the assessment explains. However, in 
order to do this, producers need to have accurate climate forecasts, as 
well as adopt new management strategies for dealing with the changing 
weather conditions.
https://thinkprogress.org/national-climate-assessment-facts-predictions-23d6c153b222/ 



*This Day in Climate History - December 2, 2013 
<http://fair.org/home/weather-without-climate/> - from D.R. Tucker*
December 2, 2013:
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting releases a study noting how 
infrequently mainstream media entities connect the dots between extreme 
weather and human-caused climate change...
If news reports are failing to consistently discuss climate change in 
the context of extreme weather, that’s not to say the public does not 
make such links. Polling from the Yale Project on Climate Change 
Communication (4/20/13) has shown that a majority of the American public 
sees a link between extreme weather and climate change. More reporting 
that connected these dots could bolster public support for policies to 
address climate change.

"Our climate is in the news tonight," NBC Nightly News anchor Brian 
Williams (1/8/13) announced at the opening of a segment about a new 
scientific report on warming. But our study demonstrates that when 
weather is the news, the climate is seldom mentioned. It’s almost as if 
the climate and the weather were happening on two different planets.
http://fair.org/home/weather-without-climate/

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