[TheClimate.Vote] November 2, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Nov 2 10:24:28 EDT 2018
/November 2, 2018/
[ratchet up]
*Frustrated climate activists resort to civil disobedience in London
<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2184211-frustrated-climate-activists-resort-to-civil-disobedience-in-london/>*
By Michael Le Page - October 31, 2018
Is this the start of a massive campaign of civil disobedience around the
world? The hundreds of protestors of all ages who illegally blocked the
busy road outside the UK's parliament this morning think so.
The idea behind the Extinction Rebellion movement is that governments
around the world are failing to do enough to prevent extreme climate
change and the ongoing mass extinction. The only choice left, they say,
is to rebel.
"The situation is dire, and there are very few governments that are
prepared to act," one of the protestors, Annie Randall, told New
Scientist. "We are really fed up."
At least nine people were arrested during today's protests, according to
those at the scene. More were forcibly removed from the road by police
without being arrested. The Extinction Rebellion says it has hundreds of
supporters willing to risk arrest...
There is no doubt at all that the basic premise of the Extinction
Rebellion - that governments are not doing enough to limit climate
change - is correct. Greenhouse gas emissions need to fall extremely
fast if we are to have any chance of limiting warming to 1.5C, a UN
climate report warned earlier this month. Instead, they are still rising
and look set to keep rising...
more at -
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2184211-frustrated-climate-activists-resort-to-civil-disobedience-in-london/
- - -
[Rise up]
*Extinction Rebellion <https://risingup.org.uk/XR/>*
https://risingup.org.uk/XR/
- - -
[re-evaluating activism - video]
*Extinction Rebellion occupy Greenpeace HQ
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MixCTe334io>*
Real Media
Published on Oct 18, 2018
On 17th Oct a group of around 25 activists surprised Greenpeace staff at
their London HQ by staging a peaceful occupation in the main lobby of
the offices. They handed staff letters, along with flowers and caking
explained their action. The letter, from 'Extinction Rebellion' and
'Rising Up UK', spoke of the climate and extinction crisis that the
planet faces, and asked for Greenpeace to take part in plans for massive
civil disobedience to change public and media perception and force big
changes in government policy.
Protesters used a megaphone to deliver a prepared hour-long message
citing the recent IPCC report that calls for huge changes within a 12
year time frame, along with many scientific papers that are even more
alarming and less conservative. They also spoke of past civil
disobedience campaigns that have succeeded in effecting lasting dramatic
changes in government policy...
More information can be found at www.rebellion.earth and social media.
Greenpeace were contacted for a statement but had not got back to us by
the time of publication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MixCTe334io
[Slower and stronger]
*Study: Freak summer weather and wild jet-stream patterns are on the
rise because of global warming
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2018/10/31/study-freak-summer-weather-wild-jet-stream-patterns-are-rise-due-global-warming/?utm_term=.683a45a78c16>*
By Jason Samenow October 31
In many ways, the summer of 2018 marked a turning point, when the
effects of climate change — perhaps previously on the periphery of
public consciousness — suddenly took center stage. Record high
temperatures spread all over the Northern Hemisphere. Wildfires raged
out of control. And devastating floods were frequent.
Michael Mann, climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, along
with colleagues, has published a new study that connects these
disruptive weather extremes with a fundamental change in how the jet
stream is behaving during the summer. Linked to the warming climate, the
study suggests this change in the atmosphere's steering current is
making these extremes occur more frequently, with greater intensity, and
for longer periods of time.
The study projects this erratic jet-stream behavior will increase in the
future, leading to more severe heat waves, droughts, fires and floods.
The jet stream is changing not only because the planet is warming up but
also because the Arctic is warming faster than the mid-latitudes, the
study says. The jet stream is driven by temperature contrasts, and these
contrasts are shrinking. The result is a slower jet stream with more
wavy peaks and troughs that Mann and his study co-authors ascribe to a
process known as "quasi-resonant amplification."
The altered jet-stream behavior is important because when it takes deep
excursions to the south in the summer, it sets up a collision between
cool air from the north and the summer's torrid heat, often spurring
excessive rain. But when the jet stream retreats to the north, bulging
heat domes form underneath it, leading to record heat and dry spells...
- - -
Although model projections suggest these extreme jet-stream patterns
will increase as the climate warms, the study concluded that their
increase can be slowed if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced along
with particulate pollution in developing countries. "[T]he future is
still very much in our hands when it comes to dangerous and damaging
summer weather extremes," Mann said. "It's simply a matter of our
willpower to transition quickly from fossil fuels to renewable energy."
Jennifer Francis, a climate researcher at Rutgers University who has
published work exhibiting changing jet-stream behavior because of
climate change, found the results of this new study compelling. "This
work takes a big step toward understanding the spate of deadly extreme
weather events during recent summers — heat waves, floods and droughts,"
she said in an email.
more at -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2018/10/31/study-freak-summer-weather-wild-jet-stream-patterns-are-rise-due-global-warming/?utm_term=.683a45a78c16
[Audio and text]
*How to cool the planet with a fake volcano
<https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/10/31/18040132/future-perfect-podcast-geoengineering-climate-change-solar>*
If the world doesn't get its act together on climate change, this could
be our last resort.
By Dylan Matthews and Byrd Pinkerton Oct 31, 2018
Nature has a method of cooling the planet very rapidly: volcanos.
- - -
Volcanic eruptions have, historically, caused sudden (but temporary)
changes to global climate. The sulfur particles they shoot into the
atmosphere reflect sunlight back at the sun, reducing temperatures back
on the ground. The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines
caused a reduction in Northern Hemisphere temperatures of about 0.6
degrees Celsius; for comparison, man-made global warming has heated the
planet by about 1 degree Celsius so far, and a United Nations report
this fall urged policymakers to limit total warming to 1.5 degrees.
The scale of volcanic cooling has given some climate scientists an idea:
Could we forestall the worst consequences of global warming by spraying
sulfur particles into the atmosphere — basically, by using technology to
emulate a massive volcano?...
- - -
"I don't know whether that'll happen in five or 10 or 50 years," Gernot
Wagner, a Harvard economist and expert on geoengineering, told us, "but
somebody somewhere will attempt to pull the trigger on this. And even if
you think it's nuts that anyone would consider this to be part of a
semi-rational climate policy portfolio … wouldn't it be good to know
more about this technology, about the impact, about the efficacy, about
the risks, if and when somebody is compelled to pull the trigger?"
more at -
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/10/31/18040132/future-perfect-podcast-geoengineering-climate-change-solar
[From a decade ago: 5 climate lessons reviewed ]
*The 5 Most Important Data Sets of Climate Science
<https://tamino.wordpress.com/2018/11/01/the-5-most-important-data-sets-of-climate-science/>*
November 1, 2018
Back in July of 2008 Stefan Rahmstorf gave a presentation to the Arctic
Expedition for Climate Action about "The 5 Most Important Data Sets of
Climate Science." You might disagree with his choice of "5 most
important," I might disagree myself, but they're all certainly quite
important. Of course, that was ten years ago; one might wonder, how have
those data sets changed in the decade since?
- One of them hasn't changed at all, because his first choice was
data from the Vostok ice core in Antarctica.
It reveals the up-and-down fluctuations of glacial cycles, and it
also reveals the extreme correlation between temperature and
atmospheric CO2...
- We'll start with his second choice, modern measurements of CO2 in
the air (sometimes called the "Keeling curve")...
- The next choice was global average temperature... It has kept on
rising. We're now about 1.1C above the value in 1900...
- Then comes sea level rise...Not only has it kept rising, it's been
rising faster than before...
- Rahmstorf's final choice is Arctic sea ice extent during the month
of September... there's no doubt whatsoever that recent values have
been worse than what would have been predicted by extending the
existing trend.
What have we seen in the decade since Rahmstorf's presentation? CO2 kept
rising. Temperatures kept rising. Sea level kept going up. Arctic sea
ice has dipped far below the existing trend.
https://tamino.wordpress.com/2018/11/01/the-5-most-important-data-sets-of-climate-science/
- - -
[The original 2008 document]
*The 5 Most Important Data Sets of Climate Science
<http://www.pik-potsdam.de/%7Estefan/5datasets_rahmstorf.pdf>*
This presentation was prepared on the occasion of the Arctic Expedition
for Climate Action, July 2008.
Author: Stefan Rahmstorf, Professor of Physics of the Oceans, Potsdam.
The selection of the 5 "most important" data sets is of course subjective.
The 5 core data sets are supplemented by related information and animations.
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/5datasets_rahmstorf.pdf
[video Sci-fi/cli-fi]
*Climate Denial Crock of the Week - Hollywood Does Climate Change
<https://youtu.be/-AkraoSqzeE>*
greenman3610 - Nov 10, 2010
Support Climate Denial Crock of the Week - Go to:
http://www.climatecrocks.com
The stories that we tell ourselves about the world shape our perception
of reality.
And the way we tell our stories in the modern world, is through movies.
*My most recent video about climate science in 1956 made the point that
the science has been clear for a long time.*
It's an interesting,and sometimes infuriating, exercise to see how the
climate change paradigm has evolved in the collective consciousness. if
you can think of films, tv shows or other media that have referenced
climate change, send links here. We'll review and revisit again in a
future video.
https://youtu.be/-AkraoSqzeE
[big book blurb]
'Cli-fi' writers imagine unchecked climate change
*A new fiction series from top authors challenges readers to confront
big questions in surprising ways.
<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/amazon-originals-warmer-series-cli-fi-climate-fiction/>*
BY BRIAN, CLARK HOWARD - OCTOBER 30, 2018
What will the future world look like in the face of climate change? Will
our cities be washed away overnight by great floods or trapped under
colossal glaciers like The Day After Tomorrow?
No, climate scientists say it won't go in the way of Hollywood
blockbusters. Still, envisioning the real face of climate change, and
how it may impact individuals or their families, remains difficult for
many people. It's just too abstract to be tangible. To overcome this,
some are turning to one of humankind's oldest, most powerful tools: a
good story.
The literary genre known as climate fiction, or cli-fi, has been
maturing over the past few years, with titles that seek to shine a light
on emerging science and help readers understand a rapidly changing world.
On Tuesday, Amazon Original Stories will launch a new series of cli-fi
short stories by A-list writers, what they call "a collection of seven
possible tomorrows." Called Warmer, the collection includes works by
Jane Smiley (of A Thousand Acres fame), Lauren Groff (Fates and Furies),
Jesse Kellerman (The Genius), and Jess Walter (Beautiful Ruins).
The goal, according to Amazon, is stories that "offer up a collision of
fear, hope, and imagination."
National Geographic spoke with award-winning author Jess Walter about
his contribution to the new series, called "The Way the World Ends." Set
during a freak storm at Mississippi State University in the near future,
the story explores the intersection of climate science and activism in a
fight for survival.
A newspaper-journalist-turned-novelist, Walter is a New York Times
bestselling author and winner of the Pushcart Prize as well as an Edgar
Award. He is based in Spokane, Washington.
*Why were you attracted to this project?*
I love when fiction tries to tackle big topics. And climate change is
such a fascinating challenge.
*How did you approach writing a fiction story about climate change?*
If you think about the stakes in most short stories, especially in the
Western and American tradition, they are based on an individual's
triumph against society. But climate change is the thing that could
destroy us all. So the stakes in this type of fiction would be people
deciding to do what's best for everybody.
At the same time, we're all kind of the villain here. That's what makes
climate change so hard for people to see through, because our lives are
constructed in a way that is causing catastrophic problems. Every time
you start your car or eat something, you are contributing. If you go to
a wedding or have a baby, think about all the carbon behind these
normally happy events.
To imagine a story that could capture that is tricky. How do you
dramatize that? Who do we root for?
*Where did you get the idea for this specific story?*
I had just gone to Mississippi State University as a visiting writer. I
was there when Mississippi had one of those unseasonable storms.
Everywhere I went, people were saying it was the coldest winter ever.
That made me think of starting in a place where they just had an
unseasonable weather event.
I had also done a lot of work around climate science and had become
fascinated to meet climate scientists who are suffering from depression
because they are warning of these really drastic problems, yet people
aren't taking them seriously enough. Some people call it pre-traumatic
stress disorder. I wanted to explore that with characters.
I was also moved and inspired by young activists involved in the debate
over gun laws, from the Parkland shooting and others. They are often
told that the political world can do nothing about that issue. But if
you look at it from a distance, that's insane. That's so cynical and
demoralizing. Of course we can fix things. That's like shrugging your
shoulders and saying we'll never be able to wean ourselves off coal.
*
**Climate fiction, or cli-fi, is often known for being dystopian. How
did you come to write something different?*
Whatever the conventions of a genre are, you have to try to subvert them
in a satisfying way. Writing a climate change novel that wasn't a
dystopia was a challenge. With my dark chapter titles I was trying to
disrupt what you would expect, while still ending the story on a hopeful
note.
It's interesting how quickly we skip ahead in the fictional world to a
few sturdy survivors battling against the collapse of civilization. You
see that in many books, movies, and TV shows. I wanted to write
something before that point.
*As a writer, you are particularly known for dark humor. Why do you find
that an effective form of storytelling?*
There is something so overwhelming about the state we are in. Look at
what might happen with each degree of warming. By pulling out of the
Paris agreement and having a federal government that seems intent on
fracking and coal mining in national forests, rolling back restrictions
on exhaust, and so on, it feels like we are almost hastening the end.
On the personal level, we can feel the emptiness of sitting there
sorting our recycling while we're all hurtling toward disaster. It can
feel like arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. As in Dr.
Strangelove, we are hurtling toward the end of the world, but not with
nuclear weapons, with something that is more elemental to how we live.
As writers we have to talk about all of that without lecturing or being
didactic, because fiction dies in the face of a lecture. The absurdity
of it, the gallows humor, that's where my mind goes.
*What do you want readers to take away from your story?*
Hope. By the end of the writing process I was so inspired by this young
character challenging this climate scientist. When I was finished, it
gave me a renewed sense of activism. I wanted to go register voters or
something.
If things are hopeless, it means we have done everything we possibly
can, but [when it comes to climate change] we know we haven't. Hopefully
that hope can be a rallying cry.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/amazon-originals-warmer-series-cli-fi-climate-fiction/
*This Day in Climate History - November 2, 2010
<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/11/voters-reject-prop-23-keeping-californias-global-warming-law-intact.html>
- from D.R. Tucker*
November 2, 2010: Republicans win control of the US House of
Representatives in the midterm elections, putting some of the nation's
most vehement climate-change deniers in control of that body. Also,
California voters reject a ballot initiative intended to kill landmark
climate-change legislation in that state.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/11/03/128002/gop-frosh-class/
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/11/19/174837/climate-zombie-caucus/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/11/voters-reject-prop-23-keeping-californias-global-warming-law-intact.html
http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/greenfront/2010/11/becky-bond-of-credo-action-group-how-prop-23-was-defeated.html
http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/greenfront/2010/11/adi-nochur-1sky-about-the-elections.html
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