[TheClimate.Vote] March 22, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Thu Mar 22 09:55:31 EDT 2018
/March 22, 2018/
[Climate court drama]
*Climate science on trial as high-profile US case takes on fossil fuel
industry
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/climate-science-lawsuit-san-francisco-sues-chevron>*
Courtroom showdown in San Francisco pitted liberal cities against oil
corporations, and saw judge host unusual climate 'tutorial'
The hearing was part of a courtroom showdown between liberal California
cities and powerful oil corporations, including Chevron, ExxonMobil,
Shell and BP. San Francisco and Oakland have sued the world's biggest
fossil fuel companies, arguing that they are responsible for damages
related to global warming.
While climate change-related cases have entered courtrooms throughout
the US, the judge in the California case, William Alsup, took the
unusual step of convening a formal "tutorial" on the subject "so that
the poor judge can learn some science", allowing renowned experts and
some of the biggest oil companies to answer key questions.
- - - - - - -
The Chevron attorney also presented a graph showing that China is
burning more coal than the US, saying: "It really goes to the global
nature of this."
Environmentalists, however, pointed out that the assessment ignored
cumulative emissions and that the US is the biggest carbon polluter in
history.
Don Wuebbles, who helped lead the 2013 IPCC assessment of climate
science and 2014 US National Climate Assessment, testified for the
cities and noted that Chevron was relying on outdated reports: "The
science does not stop at 2012 … There's a lot we have learned over the
last five years."
He talked about severe weather incidents becoming more intense and noted
that 2014 was "the warmest year on record", adding: "2015 was warmer.
2016 was warmer yet." Seventeen of the last 18 years were the warmest on
record, he said.
- - - - - -
Chevron did not present any science from climate deniers, but climate
change contrarians with ties to Donald Trump's administration have also
gotten involved in the litigation, offering to contribute a presentation.
William Happer, a Princeton University physicist, rumored last year to
be a frontrunner for Trump's science adviser, co-authored a recent
motion in the case that said: "It is not possible to tell how much of
the modest recent warming can be ascribed to human influences." He has
previously described climate scientists as "a glassy-eyed cult".
- - - - - - -
Although there was no meaningful cross examination, the five-hour
hearing offered a window into how the oil corporations can attempt to
simultaneously acknowledge human-caused climate change while trying to
fight off this type of litigation. Courts across the globe have
increasingly become the new front line for climate action, and the San
Francisco case could also build a factual foundation that could be cited
in future suits.
At one point, Boutrous clarified that he was not speaking for the other
companies, and Alsup at the end of the hearing ordered the other
defendants to file motions saying whether they agreed with the Chevron
attorney: "You can't get away with sitting here in silence."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/climate-science-lawsuit-san-francisco-sues-chevron
- - - - -
[answers]
A judge asks basic questions about climate change. We answer them
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/a-judge-asks-basic-questions-about-climate-change-we-answer-them>
California judge William Alsup put out a list of questions for a climate
change 'tutorial' in a global warming case
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/a-judge-asks-basic-questions-about-climate-change-we-answer-them
[Sacking of EPA ]
*Pruitt's Clean Air Promises Ring Hollow as EPA Eases Off Smog
Protections
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032018/trump-epa-smog-rules-pruitt-air-pollution-clean-power-plan-air-quality-connecticut-pennsyvlania-power-plants>*
The EPA has taken at least 15 major actions on air pollution-all to
delay, weaken or repeal protections, and all opposed by leading public
health groups.
By Marianne Lavelle - MAR 21, 2018
It is a seemingly pro-environment promise in an administration with
almost none of them.
In speech after speech, Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency, has vowed to double down on a pledge to
improve America's air and water. He's promised to do so by working with
states and following the "rule of law."
"Let's get back to the fundamentals of what we should be about as an
agency," he declared to supporters at this year's Conservative Political
Action Conference.
Pruitt has repeated the promise even as the EPA has been leading a
unprecedented unraveling of not just climate regulation, but of the
agency's basic clean air and water mandates. Under Pruitt, the EPA has
ignored or denied pleas from several states to address ground-level
ozone, or smog, a pollutant at the core of the agency's work since its
inception 48 years ago.
Days before Pruitt's CPAC speech, the EPA rejected a petition from
Connecticut to cut smog pollution from a coal-fired power plant in
Pennsylvania that's been one of the largest sources of East Coast smog.
It was the seventh time Pruitt denied or missed a deadline to act on
state petitions over smog from coal-fired plants...
- - - - -
Over the past 13 months, Pruitt's EPA has taken at least 15 major
actions on air pollution-all to delay, weaken or repeal protections, and
all opposed by the American Lung Association and other health
groups-according to an analysis by the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley
(D-Ore.). The list includes the Clean Power Plan, the Obama
administration's signature initiative to address climate change, which
also would dramatically reduce smog, particulate matter, mercury and
other dangerous air pollutants by slashing the amount of coal the
country burns...
- - - - -
chart
https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_centered_medium/public/epa-environment-rollbacks529px.png?itok=TFdBVqsq
- - - - - -
It remains to be seen how the fight over smog in places like Connecticut
will play out at Pruitt's EPA. He has repeatedly said ozone needs to be
regulated. But he has said that achieving the more stringent ozone
standard set by the Obama administration will be costly.
After he was sued by health groups and 16 states, Pruitt set a timetable
to designate which areas of the country failed to meet the new Obama-era
ozone standard. He will do so by April 30. Pruitt told Congress that he
is looking at implementing the new standard in a way that takes into
account "background levels"-meaning, ozone that is already in the air
(either naturally or due to international sources)-that can't be
controlled. It's the same argument used in a lawsuit by coal company
Murray Energy when it challenged the Obama ozone standard-a case Pruitt
joined as a co-litigant when he was Oklahoma's attorney general.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032018/trump-epa-smog-rules-pruitt-air-pollution-clean-power-plan-air-quality-connecticut-pennsyvlania-power-plants
[From Earth, Climate, Dreams Symposium - video interview]
*We Need to Talk about Climate Change, with Depth-Sally Gillespie, Earth
Climate Dreams Symposium <https://youtu.be/KTP4qem2hAY>*
Depth Psychology / Depth Insights - Published on Jan 29, 2018
Over time, humans in western cultures have undergone a profound
restructuring of the psyche resulting in a traumatic sense of
separation. In modern day, we face a growing set of challenges on the
ecological and social fronts. Industrial development, technological
advancement, the rise of consumerism, and increasing populations
combined with a tendency to value science and rational thought over
tending nature are among the key contributors to the complex situation
at hand.
The era of "the Anthropocene," a term alluding to the significant global
impact of human activity on the planet, has arrived.
The current crisis requires that we reflect on our situation from a
depth psychological perspective, contemplating how we might tap into the
underlying archetypal themes at work in the culture, and begin to
articulate them in ways that inspire and move us to personal and
collective action.
This series includes depth dialogues by the following psychologists,
scientists, and educators, in conversation with Bonnie Bright, Ph.D..
for the Earth, Climate, Dreams Symposium
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO>,
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO>
hosted by Depth Insights and Depth Psychology Alliance, and which aired
in 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO
https://youtu.be/KTP4qem2hAY
[Ars Technica]
*When will the US feel the heat of global warming?
<https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/when-will-the-us-feel-the-heat-of-global-warming/>*
For the Great Plains, natural variability will dominate until late this
century.
John Timmer -
A team of researchers has now looked at heat waves in the US, trying to
determine when a warming-driven signal will stand out above the natural
variability. And the answer is that it depends. In the West, the answer
is "soon," with climate-driven heat waves becoming the majority in the
2020s. But for the Great Plains, the researchers show that a specific
weather pattern will push back the appearance of a warming signal until
the 2070s.
The study, performed by researchers at three different institutions in
Florida, focuses on what they term the Time of Emergence, which they
define as the point when "the signal of anthropogenic climate change
will emerge against the background natural variability." For this work,
they focused on heat waves, which they defined as an extended period of
time with temperatures 5 degrees Celsius or more above the typical
temperature.
- - - - - -
For the West Coast, the two appear to be related. Our warming climate is
expected to produce wind patterns that reduce the frequency of storms
and thus lower the amount of moisture in the soil. This, in turn, would
reduce evaporation, leading to enhanced heat-which may explain why the
climate signal appears there earliest.
For the Great Plains, however, the researchers identified a specific
weather pattern that prevailed during the summer months called the Great
Plains Low-Level Jet. The LLJ draws moist air up from the Gulf of
Mexico, allowing it to fall as rain over the Plains. The evaporation of
this rain would then offset some of the heat.
As a bit of science, this is some nice work, as the researchers have not
only identified a case where natural variability has large influence on
climate change, but they've identified the source of that variability.
But they also point out that the findings could be helpful for policy.
Over the last three decades, they note, heat-related fatalities have
been the biggest weather-related cause of death in the US. Identifying
the areas most at risk of increased heat would help us prepare for a
future where that's looking increasingly inevitable.
And, in the case of the West Coast, it may be arriving in as little as a
decade.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/when-will-the-us-feel-the-heat-of-global-warming/
[heat and disease]
*A method for predicting the impact of global warming on disease
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180320141326.htm>*
Scientists have devised a method for predicting how rising global
temperatures are likely to affect the severity of diseases mediated by
parasites. Their method can be applied widely to different host-pathogen
combinations and warming scenarios, and should help to identify which
infectious diseases will have worsened or diminished effects with rising
temperatures.
The proof-of-concept method, which was road-tested using the water flea
(Daphnia magna) and its pathogen (Ordospora colligata) as a model
system, uses a long-standing biological concept known as the metabolic
theory of ecology to predict how a wide range of processes -- all of
which influence host-parasite dynamics -- are affected by temperature.
The scientists, led by William C. Campbell Lecturer in Parasite Biology
at Trinity College Dublin, Professor Pepijn Luijckx, and graduate
student Devin Kirk from the University of Toronto, have just published
their results in leading international journal PLOS Biology.
Professor Luijckx said: "Rising temperatures due to global warming can
alter the proliferation and severity of infectious diseases, and this
has broad implications for conservation and food security. It is
therefore really important that we understand and identify the diseases
that will become more harmful with rising temperatures, with a view to
mitigating their impacts."
*The solution -- the metabolic theory of ecology*
The metabolic theory of ecology can be used to predict how various
biological processes respond to temperature. It is based on the idea
that each process is controlled by enzymes, and that the activity and
temperature dependence of these enzymes can be described using simple
equations. Even with limited data, the theory thus allows for the
prediction of the temperature dependence of host and pathogen processes.
Professor Luijckx said: "By using the metabolic theory of ecology we can
estimate the thermal dependence of each individual process, step by
step, and calculate a final prediction of disease severity at different,
changing temperatures. Until now, no study has shown if this works for
simple -- unicellular -- pathogens growing within their host, but we
have been able to show that the method works very well in the model
system we used."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180320141326.htm
[geologist video briefing at AGU] 49:11
*Waking the Climate Giant <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNWGlzHC2ss>*
Bill McGuire (University College London) speaks about responses from the
Earth crust in this 2016 lecture. He wrote a book on the subject,
available at
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Publications/Bookshop/Search?k=waking&sortexpr=Publication%20Date%20Desc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNWGlzHC2ss
[video documentary]
*Politics, power and pipelines - Europe and natural gas | DW Documentary
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4KBWDWwUrk>*
DW Documentary Published on Mar 20, 2018 - 42 mins
Russia hopes a new Baltic Sea pipeline will strengthen its gas market
position in Europe. But the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is highly
controversial.
Poland and the US are against its construction, Germany is in favor.
What will the outcome be? The negotiations are heading into the final
round. At stake is an energy lifeline for Europe - and the power it
implies. Over the coming months in Brussels and Berlin, Moscow and
Washington, the decision will be made on whether or not a European
consortium led by Russian state natural gas company Gazprom is to lay
another pipeline on the Baltic seabed. The carbon steel pipes bearing
the name Nord Stream 2 are projected to cost 10 billion euros and run
from Vyborg, Russia, to Lubmin, Germany. This route could soon be
carrying the greater share of Russia's natural gas exports to the
European Union. The project already carries its share of opposition:
Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic republics eye a direct German-Russian
connection with concern - mindful of hundreds of millions of euros in
transport fees they stand to lose. And Ukraine sees itself at the mercy
of Russian interests, should the West no longer have need of it as an
energy corridor. The United States, with liquefied petroleum gas of its
own to sell, has been threatening more sanctions. The pipeline's
opponents in the EU are doing what they can to hinder its construction
and tie it up in the courts with legal maneuvering. Government
spokespeople in Berlin and Moscow insist the project has only private
business motives, those being to guarantee the supply of natural gas and
keep the prices low. Supporters and opponents agree on one thing: Nord
Stream 2 would alter Europe's energy politics for decades to come, which
would in turn affect geo-politics. Energy issues are always questions
of power. Russia's leadership is well aware of that, as they've
repeatedly demonstrated in the past. But in this round of the "Great
Game", the Americans are joining in. This documentary presents the pros
and cons of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Former German chancellor Gerhard
Schroder, now in the employ of Nord Stream, has been drumming up
support. Opponents, such as the former Polish prime minister and current
Member of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, explain their positions.
The documentary was shot on locations in Germany, France, Ukraine,
Georgia and in Brussels and Moscow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4KBWDWwUrk
[Book: Global warming nudges geology]
*Waking the Giant: How a changing climate triggers earthquakes,
tsunamis, and volcanoes
<https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199678758/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?>*
by Bill McGuire
Blurb: "Twenty thousand years ago our planet was an icehouse.
Temperatures were down six degrees; ice sheets kilometres thick buried
much of Europe and North America and sea levels were 130m lower. The
following 15 millennia saw an astonishing transformation as our planet
metamorphosed into the temperate world upon which our civilisation has
grown and thrived. One of the most dynamic periods in Earth history saw
rocketing temperatures melt the great ice sheets like butter on a hot
summer's day; feeding torrents of freshwater into ocean basins that
rapidly filled to present levels. The removal of the enormous weight of
ice at high latitudes caused the crust to bounce back triggering
earthquakes in Europe and North America and provoking an unprecedented
volcanic outburst in Iceland. A giant submarine landslide off the coast
of Norway sent a tsunami crashing onto the Scottish coast while around
the margins of the continents the massive load exerted on the crust by
soaring sea levels encouraged a widespread seismic and volcanic rejoinder.
In many ways, this post-glacial world mirrors that projected to arise as
a consequence of unmitigated climate change driven by human activities.
Already there are signs that the effects of climbing global temperatures
are causing the sleeping giant to stir once again. Could it be that we
are on track to bequeath to our children and their children not only a
far hotter world, but also a more geologically fractious one?"
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199678758/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
*This Day in Climate History - March 22, 2017
<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/kids-sue-us-government-climate-change>
*
'Biggest Case on the Planet' Pits Kids vs. Climate Change
National Geographic - Laura Parker
The case could prove even more consequential with the change of
administration because of President Trump's efforts to roll back
climate regulations put in place by his predecessor. Last week, the
Trump administration shifted course on the case and asked that a
federal appeals court review Judge Aiken's decision to proceed to
trial...
"Whatever happens next, this is a case to watch," says Michael
Burger, a Columbia University law professor and specialist in
climate law. "It's out there, ahead of the curve. And given the
change in administration and President Trump's views on climate
change, this may be a potential hook to keep things moving along the
climate change front. It may be the opening salvo in what will be an
increasing number of lawsuits that take a rights-based approach to
climate change in the United States."...
The climate change lawsuit makes essentially a straightforward
request. It asks a federal judge to order the government to write a
recovery plan to reduce carbon emissions to 350 parts per million by
2100 (down from 400 parts per million) and stabilize the climate system.
The courts are needed to step in, Olson argued, because the
government has not—despite knowing for more than 50 years that the
burning of fossil fuels causes global warming....
The climate change lawsuit makes essentially a straightforward
request. It asks a federal judge to order the government to write a
recovery plan to reduce carbon emissions to 350 parts per million by
2100 (down from 400 parts per million) and stabilize the climate
system...
The courts are needed to step in, Olson argued, because the
government has not—despite knowing for more than 50 years that the
burning of fossil fuels causes global warming...
Two days after the government's motions were filed, EPA
Administrator Scott Pruitt swept aside established science on the
connection between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming and
declared that "carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to the
global warming that we see."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/kids-sue-us-government-climate-change
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