[TheClimate.Vote] January 28, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/January 28, 2018/

[NPR]
*/Dej//a//Vu /Flooding In Paris As Officials Say Seine Will Crest Soon 
<https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/27/581297526/deja-vu-flooding-in-paris-as-officials-say-seine-will-crest-soon>*
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/27/581297526/deja-vu-flooding-in-paris-as-officials-say-seine-will-crest-soon


[South Africa drought]
*'DAY ZERO' LOOMS AS CAPE TOWN SCRAMBLES TO TACKLE WATER CRISIS... 
<http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/_day_zero_looms_as_cape_town_scrambles_to_tackle_water_crisis>*
With less than 80 days to go until "Day Zero," when chronic water 
shortages may force Cape Town authorities to turn off the taps, 
officials are scrambling to persuade the city's four million residents 
to slash consumption and put emergency plans in place should the supply 
be cut off.
*    Taps to be turned off on April 12 unless consumption drops**
**    Rainwater tanks, buckets sold out as residents stockpile water*
Africa's top tourist destination is in the throes of the worst drought 
on record, and water levels in its six main supply dams have plummeted 
to an average of 27.2 percent, from more than 90 percent four years ago. 
With the winter rainy season still about four months away, residents may 
find themselves lining up for a daily allocation of 25 liters (6.6 
gallons) each from April 12 unless water usage declines sharply.
http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/_day_zero_looms_as_cape_town_scrambles_to_tackle_water_crisis

*
*[Independent]*
Donald Trump appears to misunderstand basic facts of climate change in 
Piers Morgan interview 
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-misunderstands-basic-facts-climate-change-piers-morgan-interview-a8181381.html#gallery>*
US President also expressed willingness to 'go back in' Paris climate 
agreement, but only if US is given 'a good deal'
"There is a cooling, and there's a heating. I mean, look, it used to not 
be climate change, it used to be global warming. That wasn’t working too 
well because it was getting too cold all over the place".
"The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but 
now they're setting records. They're at a record level," Mr Trump continued.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-misunderstands-basic-facts-climate-change-piers-morgan-interview-a8181381.html#gallery


[Buzzfeed News]
*Here's How Much Money The Mercer Family Donated To Climate 
Misinformation Groups In 2016 
<https://www.buzzfeed.com/zahrahirji/mercers-gop-climate-change-denial>*
The Mercer family, among President Trump's most powerful donors, in 2016 
gave nearly $4 million to groups that challenge the scientific consensus 
on man-made climate change, tax filings reveal.
The Mercer family, the secretive GOP megadonors with ties to the 
alt-right, in 2016 funded several groups that deny climate change is a 
problem, tax filings obtained by BuzzFeed News reveal.
The Mercer Family Foundation, funded by hedge fund billionaire Robert 
Mercer and directed by his daughter Rebekah, gave $150,000 to CO2 
Coalition in 2016, making the foundation the top donor of this small, 
Virginia-based nonprofit that promotes the benefits of climate pollution.
The Mercers also gave $125,000 to the Center for the Study of Carbon 
Dioxide and Global Change, a group that questions the link between 
rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and global warming.
The Mercers have previously funded groups with some ties to climate 
misinformation. But these two organizations are solely focused on 
climate science - denying that fossil fuels drive global warming or that 
climate change has potentially dire impacts....
The Mercer family, among President Trump's most powerful donors, in 2016 
gave nearly $4 million to groups that challenge the scientific consensus 
on man-made climate change, tax filings reveal.   -Zahra Hirji
https://www.buzzfeed.com/zahrahirji/mercers-gop-climate-change-denial


[reconsiderations]
*Overlooked Tiny Air Pollutants Can Have Major Climate Impact 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25012018/air-pollution-climate-research-weather-data-aerosol-particles-water-cycle-rainfall>*
Study finds once-ignored small aerosol particles can be like steroids 
for rain clouds, fueling more potent thunderstorms.
Sabrina Shankman
The study, published in the journal Science 
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aan8461>, found that in humid and 
unspoiled areas like the Amazon or the ocean, the introduction of 
pollution particles could interact with thunderstorm clouds and more 
than double the rainfall from a storm.
The study looked at the Amazonian city of Manaus, Brazil, an industrial 
hub of 2 million people with a major port on one side and more than 
1,000 miles of rainforest on the other. As the city has grown, so has an 
industrial plume of soot and smoke, giving researchers an ideal test bed...
Fan and her co-authors looked at what happens when thunderstorm 
clouds-called deep convective clouds-are filled with the tiny particles. 
They found that the small particles get lifted higher into the clouds, 
and get transformed into cloud droplets. The large surface area at the 
top of the clouds can become oversaturated with condensation, which can 
more than double the amount of rain expected when the pollution is not 
present. "It invigorates the storms very dramatically," Fan said-by a 
factor of 2.5, the research showed...
For years, researchers largely dismissed these smaller particles, 
believing they were so tiny they could not significantly impact cloud 
formation. They focused instead on larger aerosol particles, like dust 
and biomass particles, which have a clearer influence on climate. More 
recently, though, some scientists have suggested that the smaller 
particles weren't so innocent after all...
The effects aren't just local. The Amazon is like "the heating engine of 
the globe," Fan said, driving the global water cycle and climate. "When 
anything changes over the tropics it can trigger changes globally."
Fan said she's now interested in looking at other kinds of storms, like 
the ones over the central United States, to see how those systems can be 
affected by human activities and wildfires.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25012018/air-pollution-climate-research-weather-data-aerosol-particles-water-cycle-rainfall


[Vice News]
*The oceans have never been hotter than they are now 
<https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/wjpm7m/the-oceans-have-never-been-hotter-than-they-are-now>*
"The ocean heat records are so impressive because they're absolutely on 
a steady warming trend," Robert Anderson, a geochemist at Columbia 
University, told VICE News. "People who point to pauses in global 
warming haven't looked at the warming of the oceans."
The new study, published Friday, analyzed data from the top 2,000 meters 
of ocean waters around the globe, concluding that ocean waters topped 
record temps in 2017...
- YouTube data visualization Ocean 0-2000m averaged temperature change 
from 1940 to 2017 <https://youtu.be/75pSECm0eqo>  baseline1981 2010 
https://youtu.be/75pSECm0eqo
The results are remarkable: The oceans have absorbed over 90 percent of 
the excess heat produced by anthropogenic global warming in the last 50 
years, according to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change. That's a lot of heat, it turns out - the total energy absorbed 
by the oceans in 2017 alone, the study's authors found, was equivalent 
to almost 700 times the total electricity that China generated in 2016...
"It really is a massive amount of heat," Gregory Johnson, an 
oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 
Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in Seattle, told VICE News. "It's about 
350 terawatts, which is more than five times the energy released by the 
type of atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, per second - continuously."...
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/wjpm7m/the-oceans-have-never-been-hotter-than-they-are-now


[Global Temperature]
*State of the climate: how the world warmed in 2017 
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-how-the-world-warmed-in-2017>*
The climate data for 2017 is now in. In this article, Carbon Brief 
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-how-the-world-warmed-in-2017> 
explains why last year proved to be so remarkable across the oceans, 
atmosphere, cryosphere and surface temperature of the planet.
A number of records for the Earth's climate were set in 2017:

         It was the warmest year on record for ocean heat content, which
    increased markedly between 2016 and 2017.
         It was the second or third warmest year on record for surface
    temperature – depending on the dataset used – and the warmest year
    without the influence of an El Nino event.
         It saw record lows in sea ice extent and volume in the Arctic
    both at the beginning and end of the year, though the minimum extent
    reached in September was only the eighth lowest on record.
         It also saw record-low Antarctic sea ice for much of the year,
    though scientists are still working to determine the role of human
    activity in the region's sea ice changes.

In addition to surface measurements over the world's land and oceans, 
satellite microwave sounding units 
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-satellites-used-monitor-climate-change>have 
been providing estimates of global lower atmospheric temperatures since 
1979. These measurements, while subject to some large uncertainties, 
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/major-correction-to-satellite-data-shows-140-faster-warming-since-1998> 
also show 2017 as a near-record warm year.
These satellites measure the temperature of the lower troposphere and 
capture average temperature changes around 5km above the surface. This 
region tends to be influenced more strongly by El Nino and La Nina 
events than the surface and satellite records show correspondingly 
larger warming or cooling spikes during these events.
This is why, for example, 1998 shows up as one of the warmest years in 
satellites, but not in surface records.
Carbon Brief - Zeke Hausfather
https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-how-the-world-warmed-in-2017


[CarbonBrief <https://www.carbonbrief.org/>]
*Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2017 
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-the-climate-papers-most-featured-in-the-media-in-2017>*
2017's Top 10 climate papers for news and social media attention
- graphic 
https://www.carbonbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/altimetric-draft-4.jpg
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-the-climate-papers-most-featured-in-the-media-in-2017


[Video]
*Science Denial: For GOP, It's not a Bug, it's a Future 
<https://climatecrocks.com/2018/01/26/science-denial-for-gop-its-not-a-bug-its-a-future/>*
Yeah, some things are just true whether you like them or not.
Neil deGrasse Tyson scolds cherry picking climate science 
<Neil%20deGrasse%20Tyson%20scolds%20cherry%20picking%20climate%20science>
https://youtu.be/y1MZ8U8C9c8
As the Republican Party spins deeper and deeper into an imaginary swamp, 
worth reviewing why science is the absolute anti-thesis of the 
Authoritarian idea that only what the "great leader" says is true.
https://climatecrocks.com/2018/01/26/science-denial-for-gop-its-not-a-bug-its-a-future/


[Global Environmental Change]
Volume 48, January 2018,
*Differentiating environmental concern in the context of psychological 
adaption to climate change 
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378017305228>*
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.11.012
*Highlights*
     Identifies factors linked to psychological adaptation to climate 
change threats.
     Differentiates psychological impacts of egoistic, altruistic and 
biospheric concerns.
     Biospheric environmental concern dominant in affecting 
psychological adaptation.
     Ecological coping may decrease depressive symptoms and increase 
pro-environmental behaviors.
     Public-policy messaging to be (re)directed at people with egoistic 
concern.

*Abstract*

    Despite existing evidence for the threats of climate change facing
    people living in the U.S., the psychological impacts of this threat
    have been neglected in public and scientific discourse, resulting in
    a notable lack in studies on individuals' adaptation to climate
    change. Using social-cognitive theory, we examine how three forms of
    environmental concern-egoistic (e.g., concern for oneself; one's
    health or life), social-altruistic (e.g., concern for others; future
    generations or country), and biospheric (e.g., concern for plants
    and animals; nature)-influence concurrent ecological stress and
    ecological coping strategies. Further, we examine how ecological
    stress and coping are associated with both depressive symptoms and
    pro-environmental behaviors. In an online survey of 342 U.S. adults
    we found unique patterns of the three forms of environmental
    concern. Only individuals higher in biospheric environmental concern
    perceived ecological stress and engaged in ecological coping. In
    contrast, individuals higher in social-altruistic concern did not
    perceive ecological stress, but did engage in ecological coping.
    Those higher in egoistic concern neither perceived ecological
    stress, nor engaged in coping. In addition, perceived ecological
    stress was positively associated with depressive symptoms;
    ecological coping negatively predicted depressive symptoms, while
    positively predicting pro-environmental behaviors. In sum, with the
    exception of those high in biospheric concern, study participants
    did not seem to perceive climate change threats as having a profound
    effect on their own or their family's life.

    Differentiating three forms of environmental concern provides a
    nuanced view on their association with ecological stress and coping,
    and in turn depressive symptoms and pro-environmental behaviors.
    Results indicate that current public policy approaches that often
    focus on the natural environment when depicting or explaining the
    effects of climate change, may limit the effectiveness of
    interventions to those people who already show high concern for all
    living creatures, while failing to affect those motivated by
    egoistic or altruistic concern, increasing the risks associated with
    delaying climate change adaptation and the potential for large-scale
    negative mental health effects in our society.

Psychological coping strategies (e.g. search for relevant stressor 
information or expression of anger) do not directly serve to ameliorate 
the environmental problem itself, but the individual's psychological 
state regarding climate change. In contrast, PEB aim at reducing or 
solving an environmental problem, and thus as described above, may be 
activated by perceived ecological stress and psychological coping 
strategies. With psychological ecological coping strategies individuals 
consciously address a problem which may aid them in feeling less 
helpless or hopeless, at least in the short term. Consequently, 
ecological coping likely decreases depression and increases PEB, 
/(pro-environmental behaviors) /as explained by Fritze et al. (2008): 
"When people have something to do to solve a problem, they are better 
able to move from despair and hopelessness to a sense of empowerment" 
(p. 6). Thus, we assume that ecological coping will be negatively 
associated with depressive symptoms and positively associated with 
pro-environmental behaviors.

Few studies have provided empirical evidence on environmental or climate 
change coping and adaptation on the individual level (see Grothmann and 
Patt, 2005; Homburg and Stolberg, 2006; van Zomeren et al., 2010 for 
some notable exceptions). The study by Homburg et al. (2007) delivered 
important insights on the possible structure of psychological adaptation 
processes by focusing on*eight strategies people employ to cope with 
global environmental problems: problem solving, expression of emotions, 
denial of guilt, relativization, wishful thinking, self-protection, 
pleasure and resignation* (Homburg and Stolberg, 2006). These perceived 
pressures and psychological strategies associated with climate change 
threats, in turn, may lead to  physiological arousal that can either 
facilitate depression or withdrawal from the problem of climate change, 
or active engagement and focus to mitigate the effects of climate change.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378017305228


[video humor about news]
*Algorithm News <https://youtu.be/vLcDJyfPKX0>*
Humor cartoon by Mark Fiore
https://youtu.be/vLcDJyfPKX0


*This Day in Climate History January 28, 1969 
<http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/30/3453277/oil-spill-heard-round-the-world/>  
-  from D.R. Tucker*
January 28, 1969: The notorious Santa Barbara, California oil spill 
takes place.
*"How A Massive Oil Spill In 1969 Changed Everything"*

    ...on the same stretch of coastline where offshore oil drilling
    first took place at the turn of the 20th century — an oil spill
    forever changed the way we view the environment.  The Santa Barbara
    oil spill that began on the morning of January 28, 1969 had many
    lasting impacts. In the immediate aftermath, thousands of seabirds
    died, seals and dolphins were poisoned, and kelp forests were
    devastated as oil up to six inches thick coated 35 miles of
    coastline along the idyllic, Mediterranean shores of Santa Barbara
    County. The oil muted the sound of the waves on the beach and the
    smell of petroleum was pervasive. The only larger oil spills to have
    happened in the U.S. since are the 1989 Exxon Valdez crash and the
    2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/30/3453277/oil-spill-heard-round-the-world/
http://youtu.be/jqd_VTADHzM
/
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Archive of Daily Global Warming News 
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html> 
//
/https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote//
///
Send email to subscribe <a%20href=%22mailto:contact at theClimate.Vote%22> 
to news clippings. /

        *** Privacy and Security: * This is a text-only mailing that
        carries no images which may originate from remote servers.
        Text-only messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and
        sender.
        By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for
        democratic and election purposes and cannot be used for
        commercial purposes.
        To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote with subject: 
        subscribe,  To Unsubscribe, subject: unsubscribe
        Also youmay subscribe/unsubscribe at
        https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
        Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Paulifor
        http://TheClimate.Vote delivering succinct information for
        citizens and responsible governments of all levels.   List
        membership is confidential and records are scrupulously
        restricted to this mailing list.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20180128/36d934da/attachment.html>