[TheClimate.Vote] December 18, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Tue Dec 18 10:18:10 EST 2018

/December 18, 2018/

[Yale reports a fresh, new vision nearly everyone likes]
CLIMATE NOTE - Dec 14, 2018
*The Green New Deal has Strong Bipartisan Support 
<http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/the-green-new-deal-has-strong-bipartisan-support/>*
Some members of Congress are proposing a "Green New Deal*"* for the U.S. 
They say that a Green New Deal will produce jobs and strengthen 
America's economy by accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to 
clean, renewable energy. The Deal would generate 100% of the nation's 
electricity from clean, renewable sources within the next 10 years; 
upgrade the nation's energy grid, buildings, and transportation 
infrastructure; increase energy efficiency; invest in green technology 
research and development; and provide training for jobs in the new green 
economy.
While the Green New Deal has been a fixture of the post-election news 
cycle, and at least 40 members of Congress (to date) have endorsed the 
idea, little is known about the American public's support for or 
opposition to it. To inform this question, we surveyed a 
nationally-representative sample of registered voters in the United States.
In the survey, we showed respondents a brief description of the Green 
New Deal, which was identical to the first paragraph of this report 
(above). The description was followed by the question "How much do you 
support or oppose this idea?"
The survey results show overwhelming support for the Green New Deal, 
with 81% of registered voters saying they either "strongly support" 
(40%) or "somewhat support" (41%) this plan....
http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/the-green-new-deal-has-strong-bipartisan-support/

[time to recalculate]
*Study: Businesses Vastly Underestimate Costs, Impacts of Climate Change 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/12/17/business-climate-change-costs/>*
By Dana Drugmand - December 17, 2018
Despite recent reports that highlight the potentially devastating 
economic impact of climate change, the business world may not be taking 
the threat seriously enough, according to a new study.

The researchers looked at more than 1,600 corporate adaptation 
strategies, concluding that most companies are making only narrow and 
incremental changes to managing the risks and finding "significant blind 
spots in companies' assessments of climate change impacts and in their 
development of strategies for managing them." The study was published 
last week in the journal Nature Climate Change.

"It's something that not enough companies are paying close enough 
attention to, and even those that are have room for improvement," said 
John Weiss, company network director at Ceres, a nonprofit dedicated to 
sustainable business practices and investing...
- -
While businesses have begun to understand climate-related challenges, 
they tend to underestimate the severity of the long-term risk and lag in 
creating appropriate resiliency strategies. The new study analyzed 
voluntary climate-risk disclosures--responses to the Climate Disclosure 
Project questionnaire--from 1,630 large companies in 2016. The 
researchers said they found five key blind spots in companies' climate 
risk management.

Two of them relate to costs. Not only is there a lack of accurate 
estimates of adaptation costs, but companies also appear to be 
underestimating how expensive the impacts of climate change will be. 
Current corporate reporting puts the cost in the tens of billions of 
dollars, while most global estimates put the price tag much higher, in 
the order of trillions of dollars. In the U.S. alone, potential damage 
costs could add up to hundreds of billions of dollars annually by 2100, 
according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment.

Another blind spot is failing to identify risk beyond direct impacts on 
operations. Companies did not seem to disclose how climate change would 
impact supply chains, employees and customers, or when they did, it was 
minimal compared to direct impacts...
- -
"Given that the impacts of climate change are projected to worsen in the 
coming decades under almost every emissions scenario and that impacts 
could become extremely severe if planetary boundaries are crossed, 
companies will need to move from incremental adaptation approaches to 
transformational ones," the report said.

Weiss said the conclusion is accurate considering the severity of the 
climate crisis.

"It's not enough and not fast enough. There certainly has been progress, 
but the urgency of the challenge suggests it's not enough to say there's 
progress. There needs to be accelerated action," he said.

"Climate change presents a fundamental threat to economic prosperity and 
the welfare of billions of people worldwide. If companies are only 
looking at this in the short-term and focusing on quarterly earnings, 
they're not setting themselves up to be successful and viable businesses 
in the long run."
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/12/17/business-climate-change-costs/

  - -
[source- Nature Climate Change]
*The private sector's climate change risk and adaptation blind spots 
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0340-5.epdf?author_access_token=rIVFp4tf67AzF3Qr_MwPQdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0N8g8xbtxLmCj8ay5891Hoe0Hw6pThv1arTQRvAKdbeanl_YgLJQ0zmisPkVvKBcro3xlFVCot-_wzjVYWrigIFyUnhe_nYDL7TRW_QZl7SSw%3D%3D>*
The private sector is already experiencing the impacts of climate 
change, from increased operational costs to disrupted production. 
Investors are increasingly asking companies to disclose these risks as 
the physical consequences of climate change become financially material. 
In reviewing more than 1,600 corporate adaptation strategies, we find 
significant blind spots in companies' assessments of climate change 
impacts and in their development of strategies for managing them. 
Adaptation approaches that consider broader climate change risks to 
supply chains, customers and employees, and that integrate 
ecosys-tem-based strategies, could limit the 'tragedy of the horizon' 
characterized by inadequate and too-late action.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0340-5.epdf?author_access_token=rIVFp4tf67AzF3Qr_MwPQdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0N8g8xbtxLmCj8ay5891Hoe0Hw6pThv1arTQRvAKdbeanl_YgLJQ0zmisPkVvKBcro3xlFVCot-_wzjVYWrigIFyUnhe_nYDL7TRW_QZl7SSw%3D%3D

[Money drives change]
*Global Divestment Movement Celebrates Milestone: 1,000 Institutions 
With Nearly $8 Trillion in Assets Have Vowed to Ditch Fossil Fuels 
<Global Divestment Movement Celebrates Milestone: 1,000 Institutions 
With Nearly $8 Trillion in Assets Have Vowed to Ditch Fossil Fuels,By 
Jake Johnson,,While the COP24 climate talks are at risk of ending 
without a concrete plan of action thanks in large part to the Trump 
administration's commitment to a dirty energy agenda, environmental 
groups on Thursday celebrated a major milestone in the global movement 
to take down the fossil fuel industry after the number of public and 
private institutions that have vowed to divest from oil, gas and coal 
companies surpassed 1,000.>*
By Jake Johnson
While the COP24 climate talks are at risk of ending without a concrete 
plan of action thanks in large part to the Trump administration's 
commitment to a dirty energy agenda, environmental groups on Thursday 
celebrated a major milestone in the global movement to take down the 
fossil fuel industry after the number of public and private institutions 
that have vowed to divest from oil, gas and coal companies surpassed 
1,000...
- -
With the 1,000 institution landmark reached, 350 said the global 
movement's next ambitious goal is 2,020 divestments totaling $12 
trillion in combined assets by 2020.
"For those investors who persist in engaging with the fossil fuel 
industry, despite mounting evidence of its failure to achieve anything, 
we ask them to change tack as the science and justice demands in this 
moment," 350's report concluded. "If companies are not on track to keep 
their reserves in the ground or play their part in meeting the 1.5°C 
target, investors must walk away. The clock is ticking on multiple 
carbon bombs around the world as we approach 2020."
https://www.ecowatch.com/fossil-fuel-divestment-institutions-2623328911.html

[follow the money]
*New York City plans to divest $5bn from fossil fuels and sue oil 
companies 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/10/new-york-city-plans-to-divest-5bn-from-fossil-fuels-and-sue-oil-companies>*
Mayor Bill de Blasio: 'It's up to the fossil fuel companies whose greed 
put us in this position to shoulder the cost of making New York safer 
and more resilient'...
New York City is seeking to lead the assault on climate change and the 
Trump administration with a plan to divest $5bn from fossil fuels and 
sue the world's most powerful oil companies over their contribution to 
dangerous global warming...
- -
Christiana Figueres, former UN climate chief and architect of the Paris 
climate agreement, added: "The exponential transition toward a 
fossil-fuel-free economy is unstoppable and local governments have a 
critical role to play. There is no time to lose.
"It's therefore extremely encouraging to see NYC step up today."
New York joins cities such as Washington DC and Cape Town in divesting, 
along with universities such as Stanford in California and Oxford in the 
UK. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, notable for its links to the past oil 
wealth of John D Rockefeller, has also sought to divest.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/10/new-york-city-plans-to-divest-5bn-from-fossil-fuels-and-sue-oil-companies

[Anthropocene blog]
*Corporate planning for future climate change is stuck in a 
business-as-usual past*
http://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2018/12/corporate-planning-for-future-climate-change-is-stuck-in-a-business-as-usual-past/

[visualizing finance flow]
*Interactive: How climate finance 'flows' around the world*
https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-how-climate-finance-flows-around-the-world

[Wall $treet Journal should know]
*The Yellow Jackets Are Right About Green Policies 
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-yellow-jackets-are-right-about-green-policies-11544991717>*
They have distinguished company in questioning the science behind 
climate-change dogma.
By George Melloan - Dec. 16, 2018
Seek out the most basic cause of the French riots and you'll come to a 
bizarre answer: carbon dioxide. More specifically, the demonization by 
political activists of that vital element of the earth's atmosphere...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-yellow-jackets-are-right-about-green-policies-11544991717

[More inspiration in video 18 mins ]
*School Strike for Climate: Meet 15-Year-Old Activist Greta Thunberg, 
Who Inspired a Global Movement 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYyBtb1PH4>*
Democracy Now! - published on Dec 11, 2018
https://democracynow.org - As government ministers from around the globe 
gather in Katowice, Poland, for the final days of the 24th U.N. climate 
summit, we speak with 15-year-old activist Greta Thunberg, who denounced 
politicians here last week for their inaction on reducing greenhouse gas 
emissions. She has garnered global attention for carrying out a weekly 
school strike against climate change in her home country of Sweden. "We 
need to change ourselves now, because tomorrow it might be too late," 
says Thunberg. We are also joined by her father, Svante Thunberg, a 
Swedish actor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYyBtb1PH4

[Polar bears in the Arctic, Penguins in Antarctic]
*An Upheaval at the Ends of the World 
<https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/north-pole-faces-unprecedented-climate-future-nasa-says/577915/>*
Two new reports find that the North and South Poles face an 
"unprecedented" climate future...
ROBINSON MEYER - DEC 12, 2018
- - -
Alex Gardner, another glaciologist at nasa, said that warming 
oceans--and not just a warming climate overall--seemed to be causing the 
decline in glacier levels. Some of the fastest-collapsing glaciers in 
the world--such as the Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland--are primarily 
giving way because of warm ocean waters wearing at their icy fronts.
Both researchers said that existing models of sea-level rise may not 
account for these changes. "We weren't expecting it because we never 
knew it was happening," Walker said. "This isn't new; it started 
happening 10 years ago. We just couldn't see it."
Alex Gardner, another glaciologist at nasa, said that warming 
oceans--and not just a warming climate overall--seemed to be causing the 
decline in glacier levels. Some of the fastest-collapsing glaciers in 
the world--such as the Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland--are primarily 
giving way because of warm ocean waters wearing at their icy fronts.
Both researchers said that existing models of sea-level rise may not 
account for these changes. "We weren't expecting it because we never 
knew it was happening," Walker said. "This isn't new; it started 
happening 10 years ago. We just couldn't see it."..
- -
In the spring, the sea ice vanishes early, allowing algae blooms to 
envelop the open ocean. One warm-water species of algae produces toxins 
that trigger a disease called paralytic shellfish poisoning when 
absorbed by shellfish and then eaten by humans. Toxins in a single 
animal can kill a person in as little as two hours, according to the 
Alaska Division of Public Health. There is no antidote.
Cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning have increased sevenfold in 
Alaska over the past 40 years, the new report finds. Seals, walruses, 
and whales have also been killed by the disease.
Finally, in the summer, temperatures soar. In August, huge swaths of the 
Arctic Ocean surface measured 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal. 
Ice now almost never makes it through the summer: Less than 1 percent of 
sea ice in 2018 formed more than four years ago. When scientists began 
tracking that figure back in the 1980s, one-sixth of all sea ice was at 
least four years old.
Animal life is cratering in response to these year-round changes. 
Caribou and reindeer herds have lost more than half their animals since 
the 1980s, said Howard Epstein, a professor at the University of 
Virginia. About 4.7 million caribou and reindeer roamed the tundra a few 
decades ago. Only 2.1 million do so today...
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/north-pole-faces-unprecedented-climate-future-nasa-says/577915/

[only in Texas]
*Report Seeks to 'Future-Proof' Texas From Climate Change Without Saying 
So Directly 
<http://www.govtech.com/em/preparedness/Report-seeks-to-future-proof-Texas-from-climate-change-without-saying-so-directly.html>*
The report calls Hurricane Harvey a warning that should not be ignored. 
"The enormous toll on individuals, businesses and public infrastructure 
should provide a wake-up call underlining the urgent need to 
'future-proof' the Gulf Coast - and indeed all of Texas - against future 
disasters.'"
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS / DECEMBER 13, 2018...
http://www.govtech.com/em/preparedness/Report-seeks-to-future-proof-Texas-from-climate-change-without-saying-so-directly.html

[Doomerism warning:  audio interview with blogger Gail Zawacki]
*Gail Zawacki: "You're Not Gonna Be Able to Survive This, No Matter How 
Much You Prepare" 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBv36JRUkL0&feature=youtu.be>*
Collapse Chronicles - Published on Dec 16, 2018
In this week's edition of my Collapse Chronicles interview, I have the 
pleasure and honor of speaking with the Diva of Doom herself, Gail 
Zawacki. Here is a link to Gail's classic primer for neophyte doomers, 
"Doom for Dummies":
http://doomfordummies.blogspot.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBv36JRUkL0&feature=youtu.be

*This Day in Climate History - December 18, 2014 
<http://on.msnbc.com/16xIDy9> - from D.R. Tucker*
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow observes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has 
damaged his country by making its economy overdependent on fossil fuels.
http://on.msnbc.com/16xIDy9

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