[TheClimate.Vote] January 23, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Jan 23 07:51:13 EST 2018


/January 23, 2018/

[Climate Liability News]
*Richmond Becomes Latest California City to File Climate Lawsuit Vs. Big 
Oil 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/23/richmond-california-climate-lawsuit-chevron/>*
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/23/richmond-california-climate-lawsuit-chevron/
*CITY OF RICHMOND BECOMES NINTH COMMUNITY SEEKING TO HOLD FOSSIL FUEL 
COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE AND PROTECT ITS TAXPAYERS FROM COSTS AND 
CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE 
<https://www.sheredling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1.22.18-NEWS-RELEASE-City-Sues-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-for-Climate-Change-Damages.pdf>*
Oil, Gas, and Coal Companies Challenged for Knowingly Putting Richmond, 
CA Families, Businesses and Infrastructure in Jeopardy
RICHMOND, Calif., Faced with growing costs to protect its residents and 
businesses from climate change-related damages, the City of Richmond, 
California today joined the growing number of communities that are suing 
fossil fuel companies for knowingly contributing to climate change and 
to what an industry expert described as its "potentially catastrophic" 
consequences. The lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court in 
Contra Costa County.
Richmond is surrounded by water on three sides and is one of the poorest 
communities in the Bay Area, which makes the city both uniquely 
vulnerable to rising seas and exceptionally challenged in finding the 
resources to mitigate or adapt to the damage they cause....
https://www.sheredling.com/complaint-richmond/
The complaint asserts: 
<https://www.sheredling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1.22.18-NEWS-RELEASE-City-Sues-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-for-Climate-Change-Damages.pdf>

    Sea level rise endangers City property and infrastructure, causing
    coastal flooding of low-lying areas, erosion, salinity intrusion,
    higher risk of liquefaction during seismic events, and storm surges.
    Several critical City facilities, existing roadways, wastewater
    treatment facilities, residential neighborhoods, industrial areas
    including the Port of Richmond and the Chevron Refinery, highways,
    rail lines, emergency response facilities, and parks have suffered
    and/or will suffer injuries due to sea level rise expected by the
    end of this century...

    Defendants have known for nearly 50 years that greenhouse gas
    pollution from their fossil fuel products has a significant impact
    on the Earth's climate and sea levels….Instead of working to reduce
    the use and combustion of fossil fuel products, lower the rate of
    greenhouse gas emissions, minimize the damage associated with
    continued high use and combustion of such products, and ease the
    transition to a lower carbon economy, Defendants concealed the
    dangers, sought to undermine public support for greenhouse gas
    regulation, and engaged in massive campaigns to promote the
    ever-increasing use of their products at ever greater
    volumes….Defendants are directly responsible for 215.9 gigatons of
    CO2 emissions between 1965 and 2015, representing 17.5% of total
    emissions of that potent greenhouse gas during that period.

Lawsuit filling Jan 22, 2018: 
<https://www.sheredling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1.22.18-NEWS-RELEASE-City-Sues-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-for-Climate-Change-Damages.pdf>
https://www.sheredling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1.22.18-NEWS-RELEASE-City-Sues-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-for-Climate-Change-Damages.pdf


[theGuardian]
*Canadian climate science faces crisis that may be felt globally, 
scientists warn 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/22/canada-climate-science-faces-looming-crisis>*
In a letter to Justin Trudeau, 250 scientists highlight their concern 
over the imminent end of a research program to better understand climate 
change
Canadian climate science is facing a looming crisis whose repercussions 
could be felt far beyond the country's borders, hundreds of scientists 
have warned, after the Canadian government failed to renew the country's 
only dedicated funding program for climate and atmospheric research.
In an open letter addressed to Justin Trudeau 
<https://evidencefordemocracy.ca/sites/default/files/international_climate_scientists_letter_to_trudeau_.pdf>, 
more than 250 scientists from 22 countries highlight their concern over 
the imminent end of the C$35m Climate Change and Atmospheric Research 
program...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/22/canada-climate-science-faces-looming-crisis
-
*An open letter from international scientists to Canadian Prime Minister 
Justin Trudeau in support of climate science 
<https://evidencefordemocracy.ca/sites/default/files/international_climate_scientists_letter_to_trudeau_.pdf>*
https://evidencefordemocracy.ca/sites/default/files/international_climate_scientists_letter_to_trudeau_.pdf
-
[Arctic funding cut]
*Climate researchers press Trudeau to renew Canadian Arctic research 
program 
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/climate-researchers-press-trudeau-renew-canadian-arctic-research-program>*
Matt Jeneroux, a member of Parliament and the Shadow Minister for 
Science of the opposition Conservative Party, reacted to today's letter 
with a statement affirming his party's support for continuing CCAR. The 
Conservative administration of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper 
"created this fund in the 2011 budget," he noted. "This government has 
had over two years in power, and plenty of advanced warning, to come up 
with a solution when CCAR sunsets this year." The Trudeau government's 
silence on the issue, he added,  "is disappointing from a government 
that claims to put a high value on both science and climate change."
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/climate-researchers-press-trudeau-renew-canadian-arctic-research-program


[Trump blocks solar]
*Trump Slaps Steep Tariffs on Foreign Washing Machines and Solar 
Products 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/business/trump-tariffs-washing-machines-solar-panels.html>*
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/business/trump-tariffs-washing-machines-solar-panels.html
[Reuters]
*Trump deals blow to solar makers, industry to focus on growth away from 
US 
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-tariffs-solar/trump-deals-blow-to-solar-makers-industry-to-focus-on-growth-away-from-u-s-idUSKBN1FC0EZ?il=0>*
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-tariffs-solar/trump-deals-blow-to-solar-makers-industry-to-focus-on-growth-away-from-u-s-idUSKBN1FC0EZ?il=0


[Climate Liability News]
*Climate Challenge to Federal Coal Leases Gets a Day in Court 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/22/climate-change-coal-leases-us/>*
A federal appellate court will decide the fate of a lawsuit challenging 
how the Department of Interior analyzes the environmental impact of 
proposals to lease public land for coal mining.
The lawsuit contends that the U.S. government failed to update its 
environmental review process to take into account how coal mining 
contributes to climate change and threatens public health. A lower court 
dismissed the suit in 2015, and the plaintiffs filed an appeal. The D.C. 
Circuit Court of Appeals said last week it would hear the appeal 
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2017/20170915_docket-15-5294_brief.pdf>on 
March 23.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/22/climate-change-coal-leases-us/


[climate risk]
*NEW GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR INVESTORS ILLUSTRATES CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS 
ON INFRASTRUCTURE
<http://www.acclimatise.uk.com/2018/01/22/new-guidance-document-for-investors-illustrates-climate-change-impacts-on-infrastructure/>*Acclimatise, 
Climate Finance Advisors (CFA) <https://climatefinanceadvisors.com/>, 
and Four Twenty Seven <http://427mt.com/> have released a new guidance 
document to increase the climate resilience of large infrastructure 
investments. The "Lenders' Guide for Considering Climate Risk in 
Infrastructure Investments" clearly breaks down the ways in which 
physical climate risks might affect key financial aspects of prospective 
infrastructure investments. Ten sub-sectors, including airports, marine 
ports, gas and oil transport and storage, power transmission and 
distribution, wind-based power generation, data centres, 
telecommunications, commercial real estate, healthcare, and sports and 
entertainment, are analysed and illustrated with topical examples.

    "...provides the first practical approach to assessing the impact of
    climate change on infrastructure investments for owners, developers,
    and lenders.  For the first time, the guide provides infrastructure
    investors and lenders with a concrete approach to climate risks and
    opportunities,"

This guide provides a framework for questioning how revenues, costs, and 
assets can be linked to potential project vulnerability arising from 
climate hazards, such as increasing temperatures or sea-level rise.  A 
heightened frequency of extreme weather events may lead to more 
disruptions of infrastructure service delivery resulting in lower 
revenues and increased expenses.
http://www.acclimatise.uk.com/2018/01/22/new-guidance-document-for-investors-illustrates-climate-change-impacts-on-infrastructure/


[TransitionNetwork]
*The Value of Values in Talking Climate (and not mathematical ones) 
<https://transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/value-values-talking-climate-not-mathematical-ones/>*
By Kate Heath
* Everyone who's talking about talking about climate recommends, 
fundamentally, taking a values-up approach – finding common ground in 
deep values common to us all, and working upwards from there.* This 
approach comes as nothing of a surprise - I understand it reflects that 
taken by Transition in the early local visioning stages, and I think is 
pulling in the same direction as the perspective as shared in Rob 
Hopkins' post 'The Transition Story 
<https://transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/the-transition-story-time-to-stop-talking-about-climate-change/>- 
Time to stop talking about climate change 
<https://transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/the-transition-story-time-to-stop-talking-about-climate-change/>'.  
It also mirrors the participatory approaches I learnt as a Water, 
Sanitation and Hygiene worker for supporting communities to examine and 
address hygiene behaviours linked to poor health. What perhaps differs 
is to what extent people think it's useful/necessary to make the link 
back to climate change explicitly. As Katherine Hayhoe 
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-brief-interview-dr-katharine-hayhoe?utm_source=Weekly+Carbon+Briefing&utm_campaign=dc709265d2-Carbon_Brief_Weekly_24_11_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3ff5ea836a-dc709265d2-303480253&ct=t%28Carbon_Brief_Weekl> 
(one of the leading climate change communicators in the US) points out: 
it's not difficult to join the dots from people's deep values back to 
climate change.
https://transitionnetwork.org/news-and-blog/value-values-talking-climate-not-mathematical-ones/


[science suppression]
*The Silencing Science Tracker 
<http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/resources/silencing-science-tracker/>*
The Silencing Science Tracker is a joint initiative of the Sabin Center 
for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. It is 
intended to record reports of government attempts to "silence science" 
since the November 2016 election. At this time, the tracker only 
includes actions taken by the federal government, but we plan to add 
state-level actions in the future.
We define "silencing science" to include any action that has the effect 
of restricting or prohibiting scientific research, education or 
discussion, or the publication or use of scientific information. We 
divide such actions into 6 categories:
*Government Censorship **
**Self-Censorship **
**Budget Cuts **
**Personnel Changes **
**Research Hindrance **
**Bias and Misrepresentation *
http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/resources/silencing-science-tracker/


[Cartoon drawing]
*THE BILLIONAIRE'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING GLOBAL WARMING - WITH IAN THE 
CLIMATE DENIALIST POTATO... 
<http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/the_billionaire_s_guide_to_surviving_global_warming_with_ian_the_climate_denialist_potato>*
image: 
https://media.guim.co.uk/7868ef7e1a73e8280c8c911b5badb0932d7fcdf9/0_0_3508_5131/1367.jpg
http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/the_billionaire_s_guide_to_surviving_global_warming_with_ian_the_climate_denialist_potato


*This Day in Climate History January 23, 2007 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqoM1AgE9ig>  -  from D.R. Tucker*
After six years, President George W. Bush finally addresses global 
climate change in his State of the Union address.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqoM1AgE9ig
/
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