[TheClimate.Vote] December 14, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Dec 14 09:42:07 EST 2018
/December 14, 2018/
[Gentle rant - wisdom of 15 yr old school-girl]
School strike for climate - save the world by changing the rules
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmmUIEsN9A>
Greta Thunberg - TEDxStockholm
TEDx Talks Published on Dec 12, 2018
Greta Thunberg realized at a young age the lapse in what several climate
experts were saying and in the actions that were being taken in society.
The difference was so drastic in her opinion that she decided to take
matters into her own hands. Greta is a 15-year-old Stockholm native who
lives at home with her parents and sister Beata. She’s a 9th grader in
Stockholm who enjoys spending her spare time riding Icelandic horses,
spending time with her families two dogs, Moses and Roxy. She love
animals and has a passion for books and science. At a young age, she
became interested in the environment and convinced her family to adopt a
sustainable lifestyle. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED
conference format but independently organized by a local community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmmUIEsN9A
[Major fire info for Western US - 40 min video]
*2018 Fall Meeting Press Conference: 2018 wildfires (Media Availability)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYULM7s_Zew>*
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Published on Dec 12, 2018
Fire experts in the areas of smoke, health, climate change, weather
forecasting and post-fire debris flows will be available to answer
questions about the deadly 2018 U.S. wildfire season.
Participants:
Ravan Ahmadov, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental
Sciences and NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.;
Robert Field, Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, U.S.A.;
Mark Jackson, NOAA, Oxnard, California, U.S.A.;
Christine Wiedinmyer, Cooperative Institute for Research in
Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYULM7s_Zew
[Opinion]
*John Kerry: Forget Trump. We All Must Act on Climate Change.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/opinion/kerry-climate-change-trump.html>*
If we fail, it won't be just the president's fault.
By John Kerry
Mr. Kerry was the secretary of state from 2013 to 2017.
Dec. 13, 2018
Scientists tell us we must act now to avoid the ravages of climate
change. The collision of facts and alternative facts has hurt America's
efforts to confront this existential crisis. Ever since Mr. Trump
announced that he would pull America out of the Paris accord, those of
us in the fight have worked to demonstrate that the American people are
still in.
But the test is not whether the nation's cities and states can make up
for Mr. Trump's rejection of reality. They can. The test is whether the
nations of the world will pull out of the mutual suicide pact that we've
all passively joined through an inadequate response to this crisis...
- -
Future generations will measure us by whether we acted on facts, not
just debated or denied them. The verdict will hang on whether we put in
place policies that will drive the development and deployment of clean
technologies, re-energize our economies, and tackle global climate
change. Every day that goes by that we're paralyzed by the Luddite in
the White House is a day in the future that our grandchildren will
suffer. That's not hyperbole -- that's science.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/opinion/kerry-climate-change-trump.html
[ video - how we measure methane on Dec 11th]
*Comparing Methane Levels from Copernicus, MetOps, and Ground Data: 1 of
2 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVK8nAQP88k>*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Dec 12, 2018
Methane levels are rapidly increasing globally. Methane release in the
Arctic from thawing terrestrial and marine permafrost, and from methane
clathrates on shallow continental shelves are a huge and ever increasing
risk. I compare and contrast methane observations from satellites
(Copernicus and MetOp1) and from ground flask measurements to see what
is happening now. I chat about the colour legend change for the
Copernicus data, which was offset by 100 ppb, and what that means, and why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVK8nAQP88k
- - -
{Part 2}
*Global Methane Rise Literally Off-the-Charts: 2 of 2
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLEKWaZnvC8>*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Dec 12, 2018
The unrelenting increase in global levels of atmospheric methane went
literally off-the-charts used to display methane for the Copernicus
Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). Methane levels were so high that
they swamped out the colour scheme used in the map legend, causing
saturation in large red blobs with little detail. The colour legend was
shifted by 100 ppb to more clearly show the detailed structure of where
methane was being emitted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLEKWaZnvC8
[A tree grows in Jersey]
*Old trees on the brink*
How sea-level rise threatens 500-year-old blackgums in a primeval New
Jersey forest.
<http://www2.philly.com/science/climate/a/climate-change-sea-level-rise-nj-natural-lands-glades-wildlife-refuge-sourgum-trees-20181211.html>by
Frank Kummer - December 12, 2018
Dark water formed an eddy around Steve Eisenhauer's boots as they sank
into the muck at the base of a 90-foot blackgum tree so old its roots
were deep in this ground when the Pilgrims landed...
http://www2.philly.com/science/climate/a/climate-change-sea-level-rise-nj-natural-lands-glades-wildlife-refuge-sourgum-trees-20181211.html
[no geo engineero]
*Warning of Solar Geoengineering's Dangers, Group Recommends a Global
Ban
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/12/09/warning-dangers-solar-radiation-management-geoengineering-global-ban>*
By Justin Mikulka - December 9, 2018
A Harvard research team recently announced plans to perform early tests
to shoot sunlight-reflecting particles into the high atmosphere to slow
or reverse global warming.
These research efforts, which could take shape as soon as the first half
of 2019, fall under the banner of a geoengineering technology known as
solar radiation management, which is sometimes called "sun dimming."
However, less than two weeks after the announcement, the climate science
and policy institute Climate Analytics took aim at these ambitions in a
new briefing titled "Why geoengineering is not a solution to the climate
problem," which goes as far as recommending a global ban on solar
geoengineering.
The group's briefing warns about the dangers of proceeding with solar
radiation management (SRM) in particular.
The basic idea behind SRM is to release particles into the earth's
stratosphere, the atmospheric layer approximately 6–30 miles above the
surface, where they would then reflect some of the sun's light (and
heat) away from Earth, resulting in atmospheric cooling.
Harvard's scientists working on this concept point to the particles
released by volcanic eruptions as real-world examples of how it might
work. One such example is the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the
Philippines, an event which released large amounts of sulfur dioxide
into the stratosphere.
According to NASA, after Mount Pinatubo's eruption, "Over the course of
the next two years strong stratospheric winds spread these aerosol
particles around the globe," which led to a temporary global cooling of
about 1° Fahrenheit over the following 15 months. The Harvard team plans
to investigate calcium carbonate, a common calcium supplement and
antacid, as a potential particle to use instead of sulfur dioxide.
Despite this parallel, why is Climate Analytics warning against solar
radiation management? For a long list of reasons, including the
potential for some pretty disastrous consequences.
*1. Solar Radiation Management Doesn't Address the Real Issue*
Earth's climate is warming because humans are pumping large amounts of
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, with carbon dioxide from fossil
fuel-burning topping that list. As Climate Analytics notes, solar
radiation management "does not address the drivers of human-induced
climate change." Instead, the briefing says, this geoengineering
approach "would mask warming temporarily" in a best-case scenario, while
representing a fundamental and "potentially dangerous" threat to the
earth's basic climate operations.
As Mt. Pinatubo's eruption showed, the basic concept behind the Harvard
team's proposal certainly has the potential to cool the planet, but
Climate Analytics notes the many sizable and unique risks to attempting
solar radiation management on a long-term, global scale.
Critics of solar radiation management--and there are many--note that one
of the biggest risks of this approach is that it becomes a distraction
from the primary goal of decarbonizing the global economy in order to
address the root cause of climate change.
A recent in-depth piece from In These Times quotes a document from the
group Hands Off Mother Earth, which opposes solar geoengineering:
"Geoengineering perpetuates the false belief that today's unjust,
ecologically, and socially devastating industrial model of production
and consumption cannot be changed and that we therefore need
techno-fixes to tame its effects."
Even David Keith, one of the Harvard scientists working on solar
radiation management, shares the concern that this work could distract
from the required efforts to reduce global carbon emissions.
"One of the main concerns I and everyone involved in this have, is that
Trump might tweet 'geoengineering solves everything -- we don't have to
bother about emissions.' That would break the slow-moving agreement
among many environmental groups that sound research in this field makes
sense," Keith said in 2017, according to The Guardian.
After scientists' recent announcement of a very short timeline for the
world to drastically cut carbon emissions, some are viewing solar
radiation management as a way to allow for continued fossil fuel use
while hoping for "techno-fixes" to avert global catastrophe.
*2. Risks Far Outweigh Potential Reward*
In a world where even predicting the weather is more difficult due to
climate change, it isn't hard to fathom that changing the global climate
quickly could have many unknown consequences. But as Climate Analytics
points out, there are plenty of known risks and concerns surrounding
solar radiation management, including the following:
Weather System Changes: According to the Climate Analytics briefing:
"Solar radiation management would alter the global hydrological cycle,"
which means changes to global weather patterns, including monsoon
activity. Tweaking monsoon activity may not bode well for many people
around the world. "These [monsoon] rains not only play a vital role in
food security and exports, but also provide essential water for the very
large, and often already vulnerable, populations," states the briefing.
Ocean Acidification: Another negative impact of increased atmospheric
carbon dioxide is the acidification of the oceans. Reflecting away
sunlight does nothing to address this problem fundamentally caused by
excess carbon dioxide.
Global Agriculture: While increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentrations can be beneficial up to a point for some plants, that
benefit likely would be canceled out by the reduction in actual sunlight
reaching plant life, which is necessary for photosynthesis.
Decreased Renewable Energy Production: As with agriculture, lower levels
of sunlight reaching the earth's surface would reduce solar power
production. And changing the global climate and weather could also alter
wind power potential.
*3. Geopolitical and Catastrophic Risks*
While purposefully altering the global atmosphere would be an
unprecedented project in both scale and impact, the endeavor actually
would not cost very much and could be done unilaterally by one country.
Solar radiation management would likely affect different parts of the
world in different ways, some positively and some negatively.
The Climate Analytics briefing highlights this potential: "SRM will
strongly alter the climate system producing 'winners' and 'losers' in
different regions and with different levels of deployment. It could
therefore become a source of massive conflict between nations."
This potential for geopolitical conflict is one reason Climate Analytics
is calling for a global ban on solar radiation management.
Another reason is because the group views the approach as a grand form
of "kicking the can"--that is, the can leaking too many greenhouse
gases--down the road. And once solar radiation management is deployed on
a global scale, it has to continue even in the event of grave
consequences because stopping the program would induce something known
as "termination shock."
Climate Analytics predicts that termination shock--the result of
stopping an SRM program once begun--would result in "very rapid and
large-scale planetary warming" that could occur "on a timescale of months."
*Geoengineering and Sun Dimming*
With Harvard leading solar geoengineering field tests and the long-term
support of people such as Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, the idea
that "techno-fixes" will save the planet from climate catastrophe isn't
going away. Especially with major media outlets such as CNN running
headlines suggesting these approaches could be "the answer to global
warming."
Geoengineering and Sun Dimming
With Harvard leading solar geoengineering field tests and the long-term
support of people such as Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, the idea
that “techno-fixes” will save the planet from climate catastrophe aren't
going away. Especially with major media outlets such as CNN running
headlines suggesting these approaches could be “the answer to global
warming.”
https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/12/09/warning-dangers-solar-radiation-management-geoengineering-global-ban
[Promising]
*Ireland to Become World's First Country to Divest From Fossil Fuels
<https://www.ecowatch.com/ireland-fossil-fuels-divestment-2621293680.html>*
Ireland's landmark Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill passed the Seanad, or
upper house, on Thursday, putting the Emerald Isle on track to become
the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuel-related funds.
The bill--which requires the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to sell
off about 318 million euros ($361 million) investments in coal, oil, gas
and peat assets over a five year period--now heads to President Michael
D. Higgins for signature, where it will likely become law by the end of
the year, according to the Irish Times.
- -
"Ireland can finally hold its head up high on an issue of climate
policy, as the first country in the world to put a national divestment
strategy into place," O'Sullivan said in a press release. "This bill
will help protect us from climate change, will allow us to stand as an
example to the world and protect Irish tax payers from massive losses as
the world moves to a post-carbon future."
https://www.ecowatch.com/ireland-fossil-fuels-divestment-2621293680.html
[video Kevin Anderson]
*Kevin Anderson & Hugh Hunt - A Rule Book for the Climate Casino
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5voJj0DMHiI>*
UPFSI
Published on Dec 12, 2018
https://ScientistsWarning.TV - Kevin and Hugh are back with us this year
discussing the new 'climate glitterati' that come annually to Davos to
feign concern about the climate while they discuss techno-fixes that
might allow the (in their minds at least) to continue their excessive
lifestyle that is heading us directly for runaway climate change and
collapse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5voJj0DMHiI
[climigration]
*Hot wars: climate change and conflict
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiMCxTaxZ8I>*
Climate & Migration Coalition
Published on Dec 10, 2018
What do we know about the links between climate change and conflict?
Will life on a hotter planet be on with more armed violence?
This webinar explores the existing evidence connecting climate change
with conflict. It examines how researchers have drawn connections
between changes in the environment and altered patterns of conflict
across the planet.
As well as looking at the evidence, this session will also explore the
implications. How should governments and civil society respond? What are
the implications for development, peace building and security?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiMCxTaxZ8I
[third section in series]
First Do No Harm
BY STEPHANIE KAZA| OCTOBER 10, 2018
Environmentalist Stephanie Kaza invites us to consider how Buddhist
principles can help us nurse the planet back to health.
More at -
https://www.lionsroar.com/first-do-no-harm/?mc_cid=651927711b&mc_eid=0f3d41a2e1
*This Day in Climate History - December 14, 2009
<http://youtu.be/PXoB3xCSgi8> - from D.R. Tucker*
December 14, 2009: Frank Luntz--the author of an infamous 1990s memo
encouraging Republicans to place rhetorical emphasis on alleged
uncertainties in climate science--appears on the Fox News Channel and
declares that according to his own polling, Americans want action on
climate change.
http://youtu.be/PXoB3xCSgi8
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