[TheClimate.Vote] June 20, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/June 20, 2018/

[check #MetsUnite]
*TV Meteorologists Unite For Climate Change On The Summer Solstice 
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2018/06/19/tv-meteorologists-unite-metsunite-for-climate-change-on-the-summer-solstice/#76ae5908255d>*
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2018/06/19/tv-meteorologists-unite-metsunite-for-climate-change-on-the-summer-solstice/#76ae5908255d


[Everyone is heating up]
*Merkel says climate change is a fact, laments US stance 
<https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/merkel-climate-change-fact-laments-us-stance-55995584>*
German Chancellor Angela Merkel took aim Tuesday at U.S. President 
Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris accord, calling the 
move "very regrettable" at a time when the overwhelming majority of 
countries worldwide are trying to limit global warming.
"We know climate change isn't a matter of faith," she told an 
international climate meeting in Berlin. "It's a fact."
Trump announced last year that the U.S. will pull out of the accord 
negotiated by his predecessor unless he can "get a better deal."
Merkel said Germany remains committed to the Paris climate accord 
fighting global warming but acknowledged that the country still needs to 
do more to curb emissions, particularly in the transport sector, if it 
wants to meet its own goals.
The long-time German leader urged the 178 countries that have ratified 
the 2015 Paris accord to agree by the end of the year on a rulebook for 
its implementation...
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/merkel-climate-change-fact-laments-us-stance-55995584


PUBLIC RELEASE: 19-JUN-2018
*New model for gauging ice sheet movement may improve sea-level-rise 
predictions 
<http://news.ku.edu/2018/06/18/new-model-gauging-ice-sheet-movement-may-improve-sea-level-rise-predictions>*
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
"Our paper says the parameter most used in ice sheet models is incorrect 
-- the Weertman model -- developed in the 1950s based on a theoretical 
framework that how fast ice moves at the bed is based on friction and 
the amount of water at the bed. We're saying that friction doesn't matter."
Instead, the KU researchers found subglacial water pressure, the water 
pressure between the bottom of the ice sheet and the hard bed 
underneath, controls the speed of the ice flow...
- - - -
"We can calculate the friction at the bed of glaciers by investigating 
spatial patterns of surface velocity. Surprisingly, we found that the 
two are not at all correlated. Pressure is different and much harder to 
measure...
http://news.ku.edu/2018/06/18/new-model-gauging-ice-sheet-movement-may-improve-sea-level-rise-predictions
more at: 
https://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2017/09/geologist-will-upgrade-monitoring-greeland-glacier-critical-sea-level-rise


[litigation brings on many changes]
*Colorado Lawsuit Says Oil Companies Conspired to Deceive Public on 
Climate 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/06/19/colorado-climate-lawsuit-exxon-suncor/>**
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/06/19/colorado-climate-lawsuit-exxon-suncor/>*By 
Ucilia Wang
The three Colorado communities that filed a climate liability lawsuit 
against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy have added a conspiracy allegation 
to the complaint, which describes attempts by the two companies to 
deceive the public about the impact of fossil fuels on the climate.
The amendment came two months after the city and county of Boulder, 
along with the County of San Miguel, first filed suit to seek a 
yet-specified amount of money to compensate for the damage caused by 
climate change. The communities are demanding the oil companies pay for 
efforts to adapt to and minimize the impact of climate change, which 
includes more severe wildfires, drought, floods, loss of mountain 
snowpack and pest-infested forests. The communities contend that Exxon 
and Suncor deliberately misled the public by failing to disclose the 
climate impact of fossil fuels. According to the lawsuit, both companies 
knew in the 1960s that they were selling goods that are the major 
drivers of global warming and cause public harm.
The added conspiracy claim is meant to highlight company actions that 
were already in the initial complaint, said Marco Simons, legal counsel 
for EarthRights International, an advocacy group that is providing legal 
support for the communities. If the new allegation is found true in 
court, it can make each company liable for the other's conduct, he said.
"They both have a major presence in the state of Colorado, and they have 
connections to each other with respect to their conduct in Colorado," 
Simons said.
Both companies have yet to file their response to the lawsuit. Neither 
responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Colorado is a strong U.S. foothold for Suncor, a Canadian oil sands 
company. It runs one refinery and 47 gas and diesel stations in the 
state. Suncor says it supplies about 35 percent of the gasoline and 
diesel in Colorado.
Exxon and Suncor have a strong business relationship. Suncor licenses 
the ExxonMobil brand for some of its retail stores in Colorado.
Suncor co-owns an oil sands company, Syncrude Canada, with investors 
that include Imperial Oil, which is majority owned by Exxon.
The lawsuit is one of 13 filed recently by American communities seeking 
compensation from fossil fuel companies for climate impacts. The most 
recent lawsuit came from Washington State's King County, which includes 
Seattle. Other cities that have filed lawsuits include San Francisco, 
Oakland and Santa Cruz ..
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/06/19/colorado-climate-lawsuit-exxon-suncor/


[Activism - Washington State Sierra Club]
*Say NO to Coal Mines in Washington! 
<https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0116024&id=7010Z000002Aw4PQAS>*
Stop the coal mine!
After more than 20 years of dormancy, the Pacific Coast Coal Company is 
trying to resume open pit mining at the John Henry No. 1 Coal Mine in 
Black Diamond, WA, putting our water and communities at risk.
The Pacific Coast Coal Company (PCCC)  has applied for a wastewater 
discharge permit under the Clean Water Act. If the permit is granted by 
the Washington Department of Ecology, it would reopen coal-mining 
operations and dump toxic contaminants into our waterways. The 
Department of Ecology is accepting your public comments now!
The John Henry coal mine would emit 250,000 tons of carbon pollution 
each year, the equivalent of 51,000 cars. PCCC is also a known polluter. 
The company has polluted local creeks and lakes with phosphorus, copper, 
and other pollutants, illegally disposed of waste, and failed to clean 
up waste at the mine. Reopening the mine would discharge more toxic 
metals into Ginder Lake, Mud Lake Creek, and Lake 12.
Tell the Department of Ecology to protect our waterways and communities 
from coal pollution by denying the discharge permit for the John Henry 
coal mine.
https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0116024&id=7010Z000002Aw4PQAS


[Military thinking]
*Climate Change Remains a Consistent Theme at Shangri-La Security 
Dialogue 
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/06/19/climate-change-remains-a-consistent-theme-at-shangri-la-security-dialogue/>*
U.S._Japan_and_Australian_Trilateral_meeting_Shangri-La 2018
By Steve Tebbe, Policy Associate
When Florence Parly, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, called to 
"disarm the climate" at this year's IISS Shangri-La Dialogue (17th Asia 
Security Summit), it helped exemplify how seriously the summit's 
panelists were taking the security risks of climate change. The Dialogue 
continued the pattern of recent Shangri-La Dialogues and other security 
conferences, with a range of leading defense ministers and practitioners 
speaking on how the changing climate has impacted their security.
Asia-Pacific defense ministers, military and civilian staff gather in 
Shangri-La every year to discuss the trends and threats in Indo-Pacific 
regional security. News outlets have covered the emphasis on ASEAN 
terrorism, the Korean Peninsula, and emphasized the Indo-Pacific space 
across the Dialogue. However, climate security was included in a number 
of speaker's talks this year, including Minister Parly, Ron Mark, the 
Minister of Defence of New Zealand, and Philip Barton, the 
Director-General for Consular and Security at the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office of the UK. In the Sixth Special Session focusing on 
regional security cooperation, Vice Admiral Herve de Bonnaventure, the 
Acting Director-General of International Relations and Strategy at the 
French Ministry of the Armed Forces noted that he believes climate 
directly changes military operations:
  "Drought, floods, rising water level, coral reef erosions are not just 
natural events. They are also military events because they redraw maps, 
create new tension, displace population."
Many other leaders mentioned climate change, remarking on the need to 
cooperate on addressing this global challenge, or the need to prioritize 
fisheries cooperation among Indo-Pacific nations. The Ministers of 
Defense for Japan, Australia, Germany, and Indonesia all referenced 
climate change throughout their Plenary Sessions. The keynote speaker, 
Indian PM Narendra Modi, brought up climate change in context of the 
International Solar Alliance, an international coalition to expand solar 
energy in response to the Paris Agreement. While it is promising that so 
many defense minsters discuss the risks climate change poses, the 
commentary from the French and New Zealand military officials, in 
particular, provided a clear example on how climate change's impacts to 
military operations are continually becoming more recognized worldwide.
https://climateandsecurity.org/2018/06/19/climate-change-remains-a-consistent-theme-at-shangri-la-security-dialogue/

*
*[Scientist's travelog 4k video]*
Methane in the Permafrost: Embracing Uncertainty in the Arctic 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih5w7si5cQw>*
Matobo Ltd - Published on Feb 1, 2018
A group of renowned permafrost scientists meet in Svlabard in October 
2017, at the culmination of the LowPerm research project.
The project was launched in 2015, with the aim of understanding nutrient 
transport within permafrost landscapes that may lead to changes in 
greenhouse gas production and fertilisation of the Arctic Ocean. The 
evidence from the project suggests feedbacks are having a bigger impact 
than previously thought.
At the same time, we're minded to embrace uncertainty - and accept that 
the evidence comes together gradually like a game of chess. Sometimes 
it's 1 step forward, followed by 2 steps back...
Funding from the Royal Geographic Society and the Joint Programme 
Initiative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih5w7si5cQw


[Richard B. Alley video talk at Yale Nov. 2017]
*"Sea-Level Rise: Inconvenient, or Unmanageable?" Richard B. Alley 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE9Gqy8Yy9w>*
Yale University - Published on Nov 8, 2017
The warming climate is causing sea level to rise at an accelerating 
rate, and this is expected to continue, depending on human decisions 
about our energy system. Economic analyses generally show that efficient 
response to this challenge will be more favorable than ignoring the 
science and continuing with business as usual. Those analyses often 
assume that we will respond efficiently, and that the rise will be slow, 
small and expected. Recent events raise major questions about our 
efficiency, however, and scientific advances suggest that rapid warming 
could cause larger and faster rise than previously expected, with much 
higher costs. If so, then there is greater value in slowing warming and 
in managing coasts for resilience, and in advancing science rapidly to 
reduce the large uncertainties.
Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Lectures at Yale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE9Gqy8Yy9w
succinct conclusion: https://youtu.be/WE9Gqy8Yy9w?t=43m55s


[classic video from 2011]
Jerry Mitrovica, Harvard University
Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia
Published on May 18, 2011
*The Fingerprints of Sea Level Change 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhdY-ZezK7w>*
This meeting was held March 31-April 2, 2011 at the AAAS Auditorium, in 
Washington, D.C. and was organized by Rita Colwell, Christopher Field, 
Jeffrey Shaman, and Susan Solomon
Meeting Overview
Climate science is addressing issues that require an increasingly 
interdisciplinary perspective, posing new challenges to scientists and 
to the organization and support of this science. Like other 
interdisciplinary activities, recognition and support of 
interdisciplinary climate science by the broader scientific 
community-including university and government administrators, journal 
editors and reviewers, and funding agencies-is advancing slowly. Often 
it is easier to recognize ideas that would represent major advances 
within a discipline, than ideas that would provide major advances but 
cut across multiple disciplinary foundations. This circumstance poses a 
challenge to interdisciplinary research and may slow interdisciplinary 
scientific advances. Such issues are of particular significance for 
studies of climate impacts, which may, for example,represent linkages 
between physical and social science, as well as feedbacks among 
physical, chemical and biological systems.
This Sackler Colloquium will provide a forum for addressing these 
issues.  Specifically: How are high-quality interdisciplinary scientific 
ideas best recognized and nurtured in their nascent phase? How can we 
improve this recognition process so as to better support 
interdisciplinary climate science advances?  The colloquium will examine 
the history of successful, innovative interdisciplinary scientific 
advances, drawing on experience not only in climate science but also in 
other fields.  The purpose of the colloquium is to identify patterns in 
the evolutions of research in these areas. Are there common 
characteristics and/or principles that allowed critical efforts to 
succeed, thereby leading to significant advances? Did they begin as 
small concepts or as big, break-out ideas?  How were these efforts 
nurtured, supported, or hindered? At what career stages were the primary 
researchers?  How might future, novel interdisciplinary ideas in climate 
science be better identified?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhdY-ZezK7w


[TED political rant - tangential to global warming, by Lawrence Lessig]
*How the Net destroyed democracy 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHTBQCpNm5o>*
Lawrence Lessig - video 27 mins
TEDx Talks Published on Aug 10, 2017
Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at 
Harvard Law School. Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, Lessig was a 
professor at Stanford Law School, where he founded the school's Center 
for Internet and Society, and at the University of Chicago. He clerked 
for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice 
Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. Lessig serves on the 
Board of the AXA Research Fund, and on the advisory boards of Creative 
Commons and the Sunlight Foundation. He is a Member of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical 
Association, and has received numerous awards, including the Free 
Software Foundation's Freedom Award, Fastcase 50 Award and being named 
one of Scientific American's Top 50 Visionaries. Lessig holds a BA in 
economics and a BS in management from the University of Pennsylvania, an 
MA in philosophy from Cambridge, and a JD from Yale. Visit our website 
http://www.tedxberlin.de for more information
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHTBQCpNm5o


[Drought India - Peter Sinclair]
*Water Pressure: India Faces "Worst-ever" Crisis 
<https://climatecrocks.com/2018/06/19/water-pressure-india-faces-worst-ever-crisis/>*
June 19, 2018
Increasing pressure on water supplies in crowded,  historically 
hostile,  nuclear armed region. What could go wrong?

    Nearly 163 million of India's population of 1.3 billion lack access
    to clean water close to home, the most of any country, according to
    a 2018 report by Britain-based charity WaterAid.

New York Times: 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/world/asia/shimla-india-drought-water.html> 
SHIMLA, India - The people of Shimla haven't agreed on much lately. A 
drought in the Himalayan resort has had residents blaming farmers, the 
tourism industry and one another for depleting the strained water supplies
- - - - -
"There's global warming all over India, and Shimla is no exception," 
said Vineet Chawdhry, chief secretary of the state of Himachal Pradesh, 
whose capital is Shimla.
But the city's ancient pipe system also leaks five million liters of 
water every day, Mr. Chawdhry said in an interview in his office. A $105 
million, World Bank-backed upgrade of the system, including a pipeline 
drawing water from a nearby river, is scheduled to be finished in 2023.
The strain on the water supply increases greatly during the summer 
tourist season, when Shimla's population essentially doubles. In the 
summer months, Mr. Chawdhry said, the city typically needs 45 million 
liters a day. He said the current daily supply stood at 31 million 
liters, and at the height of the crisis in May it was as low as 22 million.
Shimla is not the only Indian city whose water supplies are under 
increasing pressure. Last year was the country's fourth hottest since 
record-keeping began in 1901, with rainfall down by nearly 6 percent 
from 2016, according to the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences.
https://climatecrocks.com/2018/06/19/water-pressure-india-faces-worst-ever-crisis/
More at: https://www.wateraid.org/us/


*This Day in Climate History - June 20, 2003 
<http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-06-25/news/0306240367_1_climate-change-global-warming-carbon-dioxide-emissions> 
- from D.R. Tucker*
June 20, 2003: Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson calls out 
President George W. Bush for his suppression of science:
"UNDAUNTED BY accusations of cooking the books for war, President Bush 
deep-fried the data on global warming.
"The New York Times reported yesterday that the White House took a draft 
report on the state of the environment by the Environmental Protection 
Agency and deleted critical portions on climate change. The White House 
knocked out references to studies that directly mentioned industrial 
pollution and vehicle exhaust as contributors to global warming."
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-06-25/news/0306240367_1_climate-change-global-warming-carbon-dioxide-emissions 


/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Archive of Daily Global Warming News 
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html> 
//
/https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote//
///
///To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe 
<mailto:subscribe at theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request> 
/to news digest. /

        *** 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/20180620/fa299e04/attachment.html>