[TheClimate.Vote] October 24, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Wed Oct 24 09:35:11 EDT 2018
/October 24, 2018/
[getting it]
*A Record Number of Scientists Are Running for Congress, and They Get
Climate Change
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23102018/scientist-congress-house-race-candidate-Kopser-Casten-Luria-climate-change-trump-agenda>*
More than a dozen scientists are candidates for U.S. House and Senate
seats this year in a wave fueled by the Trump Administration's
anti-science agenda.
By Marianne Lavelle
OCT 23, 2018
- - - -
At that time, it was unclear whether protest would translate to
sustained political action. But science advocates were further
galvanized by the Trump administration's sidelining of federal
scientists and advisers and rollback of environmental protections. By
the start of this year, hundreds of scientists were seeking office at
the local, state, and federal levels, most of them for the first time,
according to 314 Action, a non-profit that seeks to recruit and support
scientists in politics and has an affiliated political action committee.
"I think the general war on truth and fact that the Trump administration
has launched has outraged not just the scientific community, but a lot
of average Americans who know that the sun rises in the East," said 314
Action's founder and president, Shaughnessy Naughton.
Many of the more than 60 scientist candidates who were running for
Congress lost in the primaries, but that hasn't discouraged Naughton or
other supporters.
"I think that's just a reflection that a lot of scientists are not
strong on political skills," said Rush Holt, chief executive officer of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a
physicist who himself made the transition from the lab to legislative
chamber. Representing New Jersey's 12th district in the U.S. House of
Representatives for 16 years, at a time a handful of scientists served
in Congress, Holt said he saw first-hand how their presence could make a
difference...
- - --
"Part of what we see as our mission is holding politicians accountable,"
she said. "I can confidently say that politicians are in the business of
self-preservation, and when they find things don't work electorally,
they'll stop doing it."
Naughton, a chemist, founded 314 Action <http://www.314action.org/>after
her own failed run for Congress in a district in the suburbs of
Philadelphia in 2016. She wanted to establish a group that could provide
training and institutional support for scientist candidates and modeled
it after Emily's List, which seeks to elect more women. (The name 314
comes from the first three digits of the mathematical constant Pi.) The
group has raised more than $2 million, some of which it hopes to use on
ads this fall in support of the 13 candidates it has endorsed, from an
emergency room physician in Arizona to a physicist in Tennessee.
more at -
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23102018/scientist-congress-house-race-candidate-Kopser-Casten-Luria-climate-change-trump-agenda
[Antarctica]
*THE BIG MELTDOWN
<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/11/antarctica-climate-change-western-peninsula-ice-melt-krill-penguin-leopard-seal/?user.testname=none>*
As the Antarctic Peninsula heats up, the rules of life there are being
ripped apart. Alarmed scientists aren't sure what all the change means
for the future.
BY CRAIG WELCH
- - -
On the rugged peninsula, Antarctica's stillness is punctuated by
squawking and chattering and concentrated motion. It's a place of
bizarre angles: Blue-white glaciers flow to the ocean and calve into
icebergs that assume every form imaginable. Bergs the size of small
towns reach into the clouds. Even dozens of miles away, you hear them
crack and explode like cannons...
- - -
more at -
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/11/antarctica-climate-change-western-peninsula-ice-melt-krill-penguin-leopard-seal/?user.testname=none
[read the digital comic on your screen]
*Interesting cartoon version of the climate communications problem.
<https://thenib.com/can-climate-science-be-rendered-conservative-friendly>*
https://thenib.com/can-climate-science-be-rendered-conservative-friendly
- - -
[from the 2010 classic essay by Dave Roberts]
*The right's climate denialism is part of something much larger
<https://grist.org/article/2010-09-09-the-rights-climate-denialism-is-part-of-something-much-larger/>*
https://grist.org/article/2010-09-09-the-rights-climate-denialism-is-part-of-something-much-larger/
[Exxon and carbon tax]
*Exxon is lobbying for a carbon tax. There is, obviously, a catch.
<https://www.vox.com/2018/10/18/17983866/climate-change-exxon-carbon-tax-lawsuit>*
The oil giant wants immunity from lawsuits that would make it pay for
the damages of climate change.
By Umair Irfan - Oct 18, 2018
- - -
There's some debate about whether this is a cynical delay tactic, a show
of genuine concern for the environment, or an act of rational
self-interest in a changing energy landscape. (Or as the Onion put it,
"ExxonMobil CEO Depressed After Realizing Earth Could End Before They
Finish Extracting All The Oil.")
But what's gone largely unnoticed is that Exxon's proposal comes with a
massive catch: In exchange for a tax, the company wants immunity from
all climate lawsuits in the future.
Cities across the United States are currently suing oil companies to
make them pay for damages wrought by climate change, which could put
companies like Exxon on the hook for billions of dollars in payouts.
The proposal Exxon wants to enact is one that would shield the company
from lawsuits while also preventing further climate change regulations.
All in all, it would grant oil companies the kind of immunity from
litigation the gun industry currently enjoys...
- - -
*Pricing carbon dioxide at $40 per ton is nowhere near enough to fight
climate change*
Oil companies have been trying to rebrand themselves as "energy"
companies for decades, dating back to the oil embargo in the 1970s. Many
invested in renewables and hydrogen fuels before. BP once branded itself
"Beyond Petroleum" and was at one point one of the largest solar panel
manufacturers in the world.
At the same time, fossil fuel companies have campaigned for decades
against environmental regulations of any sort, particularly those around
climate. That's why some observers are cynical about Exxon's sincerity
in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
more at-
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/18/17983866/climate-change-exxon-carbon-tax-lawsuit
[classic studies]
*ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, COMMUNICATION & THE MEDIA
<http://climateshiftproject.org/>*
by MATTHEW NISBET on Sep 21, 2015
In a Spring 2016 course, students analyze major debates over the
environment, climate change, and related technologies, studying how they
are portrayed by experts, advocates, and the media; and evaluating the
implications for effective public communication, policymaker engagement,
and personal decision-making.
http://climateshiftproject.org
[Legal]
*Latest Climate Suit Vs. U.S. Government Launched by Animal Rights Group
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/10/22/animal-rights-climate-suit-us-government/>*
By Seamus McGraw
Does the U.S. Constitution, with its guarantees of liberty and privacy,
also impose an obligation on the part of the federal government to
protect those wild places where liberty and privacy can best be enjoyed?
That is the question the Animal Legal Defense Fund is hoping to test
with a groundbreaking lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Oregon.
The suit marks a unique twist in an emerging series of so-called
Atmospheric Trust cases, in which defendants allege that actions by the
government have helped fuel climate change, which has degraded the
environment and violated individual rights. In this case, the suit
alleges Americans' constitutionally protected right to "to seek liberty
and privacy in the wilderness . . . the right to be left alone . . . has
been impeded substantially by climate change," said Carter Dillard,
senior policy advisor for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
"The argument is pretty straightforward in that the government's actions
and inactions with regard to climate change are impacting wilderness
areas in dramatic ways and in some cases in life-threatening ways,"
Dillard said.
In effect, Dillard said, the suit contends that those changes, and the
government policies that contribute to them--including subsidies to the
fossil fuel industry and agricultural interests--have already harmed the
plaintiffs, among them scientists, wildlife advocates and people who
enjoy the outdoors. Dillard said those harms are especially clear in
areas designated as protected under the Wilderness Act.
"Areas established by the Wilderness Act are protected based on their
solitude," Dillard said. "The very concept of wilderness has to do with
solitude. That...matches up with documentation at the foundation of the
country that refers to the right to be free from others.
"If you have the right to be left alone, and the quintessence of being
left alone is being in the wilderness and if that area is being
degraded, if not attacked, by our own federal government so that people
can't be left alone due to the unwanted influence of climate change,
isn't the government violating the right to freedom and liberty?"
Dillard said.
The lawsuit, spearheaded by Jessica Blome of Greenfire Law of Berkeley,
Calif., names the Department of Interior, the Department of Agriculture
and other agencies as defendants...
more at -
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/10/22/animal-rights-climate-suit-us-government/
[Petals to the meditation]
*Why Are Japan's Cherry Blossom Trees Blooming in Fall?
<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-are-japans-cherry-blossom-trees-blooming-fall-180970590/>*
By Brigit Katz
SMITHSONIAN.COM - OCTOBER 19, 2018
Each spring, Japan is crowned with a fluttery wreath of pink cherry
blossoms, which draw crowds of admirers and inspire many celebrations.
But this year, as Laurel Wamsley reports for NPR, the country's cherry
blossoms have made an unexpected second appearance--in the middle of fall.
More than 350 people reported seeing the ephemeral flowers this autumn,
though it isn't clear if or to what extent the reports overlap.
According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, the blossoms have been sighted in
an area stretching from Kyushu, in western Japan, to Hokkaido, the
northernmost of Japan's main islands.
Recent extreme weather events, including two typhoons that hit Japan in
September and early October, are the likely force behind the unusual
bloom. Hiroyuki Wada of the Flower Association of Japan tells NHK that
the Yoshino cherry tree, which puts on a particularly lovely display of
blossoms, buds in the summer, but hormones in the trees' leaves stop the
buds from opening until spring. This year, however, typhoons whipped the
leaves from the cherry blossom trees, or otherwise exposed the trees to
salt that caused their leaves to wither. The lack of hormones to keep
the buds in check, coupled with warm temperatures that followed the
storms, prompted the buds to blossom.
"This has happened in the past," Wada tells NHK, "but I don't remember
seeing anything on this scale."
Japan's love for its cherry blossom trees stretches all the way back to
the 8th century, when strolling among the beautiful flowers was a
favorite pastime of the aristocracy. The democratization of
cherry-blossom appreciation occurred later, in the 18th century, when
Japan's esteemed ruler Tokugawa Yoshimune planted cherry blossom trees
in public spaces in Tokyo (known then as Edo).
Though the recent bloom is particularly anomalous, the cherry blossoms'
flowering date has been creeping earlier and earlier over the past
150-odd years, Jason Samenow of the Washington Post reported last year.
In Kyoto in 1850, for instance, the average bloom date was April 17.
Today, the average date is around April 6. Various factors affect the
trees' blooming period, but "the warmer it is in March, the earlier the
cherry blossoms bloom," Samenow writes.
The buds that are flourishing now in Japan won't open again in the
spring, but fortunately, the proportion of blossoms that have opened in
recent days is relatively small. So, Wada tells NHK, the unseasonal
bloom is not likely to affect the splendor of the cherry blossoms next
spring.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-are-japans-cherry-blossom-trees-blooming-fall-180970590/
<http://web.archive.org/web/20031124102135/http://www.rep.org/opinions/speeches/33.html>*This
Day in Climate History - October 24, 2003
<http://web.archive.org/web/20031124102135/http://www.rep.org/opinions/speeches/33.html>
- from D.R. Tucker*
October 24, 2003: At the University of Chicago, Jim DiPeso of
Republicans for Environmental Protection discusses the McCain-Lieberman
Climate Stewardship Act and the urgent need to combat carbon pollution:
"We have two choices. We can ignore what the scientists are telling
us, convince ourselves that nothing can be done, and abrogate the
inter-generational contract we have with unborn generations. Or, we
can accept what the scientists are telling us, roll up our sleeves,
and take on the climate challenge."
http://web.archive.org/web/20031124102135/http://www.rep.org/opinions/speeches/33.html
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