[TheClimate.Vote] December 3, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/December 3, 2018/

[UN Climate Change Conference 2018 is now]
*Climate change: 'World at crossroads' warning as key talks begin 
<https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46398057>*
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, Katowice
Four senior figures behind efforts to limit climate change have warned 
that the planet "is at a crossroads" as key talks opened a day early in 
Poland.
In a rare move, four former presidents of the United Nations-sponsored 
talks called for decisive action.
The meeting in Katowice is the most critical on climate change since the 
2015 Paris agreement.
Experts say that drastic cuts in emissions will be needed if the world 
is to reach targets agreed in Paris.
Negotiators at the COP24 conference convened a day early because they 
are under pressure to make progress.
What's so different about this meeting?
This Conference of the Parties (COP) is the first to be held since the 
landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on 
limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C came out in October.
The IPCC stated that to keep to the 1.5C goal, governments would have to 
slash emissions of greenhouse gases by 45% by 2030.
But a recent study showed that CO2 emissions are on the rise again after 
stalling for four years.
In an unprecedented move, four former UN climate talks presidents issued 
a statement on Sunday, calling for urgent action.
They say "decisive action in the next two years will be crucial".
"What ministers and other leaders say and do in Katowice at COP24 will 
help determine efforts for years to come and either bring the world 
closer to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement - including 
protecting those most vulnerable to climate change - or push action 
further down the road.
"Any delay will only make it harder and more expensive to respond to 
climate change."...
- - - -
Will President Trump and the US feature at all?
Although the US has withdrawn from the Paris agreement, it cannot leave 
until 2020, so its negotiators have been taking part in meetings and 
have not obstructed the process. America is expected to participate in 
COP24.
However, given the President's well known love of coal, it has been 
reported that the White House will once again organise a side event 
promoting fossil fuels. A similar event at the last COP provoked outrage 
from many delegates.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46398057


[24 hours of TV reality "Protect our planet, protect ourselves"]
*HOUR 1 UNITED STATES - MOMENTUM IN THE FACE OF CHALLENGE 
<https://www.climaterealityproject.org/>*
Showtime December 3 2018 9PM ET
With Washington turning away from climate action, cities, states and 
businesses have charged ahead. Featuring a live introduction and slide 
show by Vice President Al Gore, interviews with former EPA head Gina 
McCarthy and Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson, and an in-depth look 
at the health threat posed by active oil rigs in communities - as well 
as the growing activism from those who refuse to accept the risk.
DECEMBER 3RD & 4TH, 2018
LIVE FROM LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
We'll travel across the Earth for 24 hours to learn more about how 
fossil fuels and climate change are creating unique health risks that 
threaten the wellness of families and communities all over the world.
https://www.climaterealityproject.org/


[Everything, everywhere]
*Scientists: Climate change has "dire implications for every aspect of 
human life" 
<https://www.salon.com/2018/11/29/scientists-climate-change-has-dire-implications-for-every-aspect-of-human-life/>*
 From infectious diseases to natural disasters, humanity is venturing 
into uncharted territory, scientists warn
NICOLE KARLIS - NOVEMBER 30, 2018
Many of us fear climate change for its potential to disrupt ecosystems 
and fuel natural disasters, yet it is perhaps equally fearsome as a 
threat to global human health.
In an unprecedented study, which examined the research of 24 academic 
institutions and United Nations agencies, researchers issued a stark 
warning: Climate change will severely impact the health of millions of 
people, rich and poor, around the world.
The report, published Wednesday in the public health journal The Lancet, 
casts blame on a lack of initiative taken to cut carbon emissions and 
explains it will have an unknown impact on human health which will put a 
strain on already strapped public health resources.
https://www.salon.com/2018/11/29/scientists-climate-change-has-dire-implications-for-every-aspect-of-human-life/


[Military concerns]
*U.S. General talks Challenge of Sea Level Rise, Climate and Security 
Nexus <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv-9SkZhFNU>*
Climate State
Published on Dec 1, 2018
In this episode of The Climate and Security Podcast, host Dr. Sweta 
Chakraborty talks to General Gerald "Gerry" Galloway, USA (Ret) about 
the delicate relationship between "natural" and "national" security, how 
lessons and solutions from the Mississippi River Basin can inform the 
Mekong Delta and vice versa, examples of nation-wide community reliance, 
solar power for dams, and so much more!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv-9SkZhFNU


[Opinion from Great Britain]
Climate change
*The ticking bomb of climate change is America's biggest threat 
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/ticking-bomb-climate-change-america-threat>*
Michael H Fuchs
It's time for the United States to treat climate change as the national 
security challenge it is
Thu 29 Nov 2018
US-FIRE-WEATHER-AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2018 -- AFP PICTURES OF THE 
YEAR 2018 -- A store burns as the Camp fire tears through Paradise, 
California on November 8, 2018. - A rapidly spreading, late-season 
wildfire in northern California has burned 20,000 acres of land and 
prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders for thousands of people. 
(Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP)JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images
  'It's time for the US to treat climate change as the national security 
challenge it is' Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Imagine that US leaders were told that hundreds of nuclear weapons were 
set on a timer to detonate across the planet, progressively and in 
increasing numbers, over the coming years and decades. The lives of 
millions would be upended, if not made nearly impossible to survive, by 
transformed weather patterns and resource scarcity. Tens of millions 
would become migrants as regions became uninhabitable. Millions would 
die, more and more as time went on. If this science fiction were 
reality, US leaders would lead an international effort to immediately 
disarm and dismantle the weapons.

But this isn't science fiction. Climate change is a ticking time bomb, 
literally threatening to end human life on earth over the coming 
centuries. As climate journalist Peter Brannen describes it, Earth faced 
a similar crisis hundreds of millions of years ago during the "Great 
Dying" when volcanoes spewed so much carbon dioxide into the air - 
including magma that blanketed an area as large as the lower 48 US 
states, 1km deep - that it almost killed all life. Today, Brannen says, 
"we're shooting carbon dioxide up into the atmosphere 10 times faster 
than the ancient volcanoes".
Even in the shorter term, climate change will make the world far more 
dangerous. A World Bank Group report estimates that climate change could 
drive 140 million people to move within their countries' borders by 
2050. A report by the Trump administration finds climate change could 
reduce the size of the US economy by 10% - more than twice as bad as the 
worst part of the Great Recession - by 2100. Growing resource scarcity 
could cause more wars. Deadly and destructive extreme weather events 
such as Hurricanes Harvey and Maria and California's Camp fire are mild 
symptoms of the plague to come.

There is no greater national security threat than climate change. Even 
the specter of nuclear war between great powers - the only thing that 
could remotely mimic the effects of climate change over time - is a much 
lower risk than climate change, which is already happening.

Every year we fail to act the problem grows, and the solution becomes 
more difficult. As America dithers, climate change is sparking a 
slow-motion nuclear-scale holocaust. If the world fails to urgently 
mitigate climate change, no other challenge - not the rise of China, 
Russian aggression, terrorism, nor some other future geopolitical peril 
- will matter because humans won't survive to be the cause of these 
threats or suffer from them...
America's failure is not for lack of capacity to safeguard against 
future threats - the US invests hundreds of billions of dollars every 
year in defense to deter adversaries such as Russia and China, and tens 
of billions more in intelligence capabilities to monitor threats. 
Instead, America is paralyzed by a lack of political will. Donald Trump 
and his allies in Congress - many of whom deny the existence of climate 
change - are making the problem worse. The president announced his 
intent to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement and is 
rolling back regulations that would have cut emissions.

Despite this dark reality, there is reason for hope. In 2015, the world 
came together to negotiate the Paris agreement, which set the goal of 
limiting global temperature increases to well below 2C. Despite a 
hostile Trump administration, many US governors, mayors, businesses and 
private citizens are already leading the way. So are other countries as 
they seize the economic and public health opportunity that comes with a 
clean energy future.

The path ahead, to say the least, is daunting. Even if the US were not 
to leave the Paris climate agreement, the action required to realize its 
potential is enormous. US policymakers will need to use every policy 
tool in their toolbox to drive unprecedented deployment of clean energy 
and build out zero-carbon transportation infrastructure. When the US 
leads by example, domestic emissions will fall, and new diplomatic doors 
to more ambitious climate action will open.

Climate activist Bill McKibben says that "global warming … is a world 
war aimed at us all" and recommends that, like the national effort 
forged during the second world war to defeat the Axis powers, the US 
must "mobilize" American industry and citizens to transform to a clean 
energy economy.

Everybody will need to pitch in. For example, when the Obama 
administration was negotiating the bilateral climate deal with China in 
2014 that made the Paris agreement possible, my colleagues and I in the 
east Asia bureau at the state department worked with the US climate 
negotiators on a statement with the 10 nations of Asean committing to 
cut emissions - a statement only made possible by the US-China deal. The 
painstaking negotiations for this relatively symbolic statement were 
indicative of how much work the US needs to put into the climate effort 
in every corner of the world - and the ripple effects it can have elsewhere.

It's time for the US to treat climate change as the national security 
challenge it is. Diplomats are ready to negotiate new agreements. 
Development experts can support sustainable solutions for countries 
facing resource scarcity and in need of resilient infrastructure and 
community designs that can withstand more intense and damaging extreme 
weather events. The military can help respond to extreme weather 
disasters. National security experts around the world already recognize 
climate change as a serious threat to global stability and are ready to 
answer a global call to action.

Without success in tackling climate change, eventually none of the other 
threats we face will matter.

Michael H Fuchs is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, 
a former deputy assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific 
affairs and a Guardian US contributing opinion writer
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/ticking-bomb-climate-change-america-threat


[radio classic on why the Pacific NW is strategically important]
*Climate Change & Sacrifice Zones 
<https://www.radioproject.org/2018/09/climate-change-sacrifice-zones-encore/>*
Since 2003 a rash of proposals have surfaced in communities throughout 
the Northwest to export vast amounts of fossil fuels to Asian markets 
via Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. If these plans go through 
the Northwest would become home to the largest oil terminal in North 
America, the largest coal export facility in North America, and the 
largest methanol refinery in the world.
This week we present Part One of Sacrifice Zones by Barbara Bernstein. 
It's the first in a two-part series on the pressure to transform a 
region of iconic landscapes and environmental stewardship into a global 
center for shipping fossil fuels. Bernstein investigates how proposals 
for petrochemical development in the Pacific Northwest threatens the 
region's core cultural, social, and environmental values.
Special thanks to Dan Serres, Eric de Place, Carol Newman, Peter Seigel, 
Steve Early, KMUN Coast Community Radio, Melissa Marsland, Jerry Mayer, 
Jan Zuckerman and Bill Bigelow.
https://www.radioproject.org/2018/09/climate-change-sacrifice-zones-encore/
Hear the audio 
https://soundcloud.com/makingcontact/climate-change-sacrifice-zones-encore


[New Yorker sensation, a 24 min glam show and lecture]
[Yes, a transsexual philosopher, drama queen, YouTube cultural 
commentator speaks out and gets her facts straight (so to speak)]
*The Apocalypse | ContraPoints 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6GodWn4XMM>*
*ContraPoints* - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvsIonJdJ5E4EXMa65VYpA
Published on Dec 1, 2018
Is it hot in here or is the world just like this now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6GodWn4XMM


*This Day in Climate History - December 3, 2009 
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/olbermann-names-fox-frien_n_380473> 
- from D.R. Tucker*
December 3, 2009: MSNBC host Keith Olbermann calls out the hosts of the 
Fox News Channel program "Fox and Friends" for selectively editing a 
segment of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" to imply that host Jon 
Stewart rejected the evidence of human-caused climate change.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/olbermann-names-fox-frien_n_380473
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