[TheClimate.Vote] September 7, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Sep 7 10:32:52 EDT 2018
/September 7, 2018/
[BBC awakes]
*Exclusive: BBC issues internal guidance on how to report climate change
<https://www.carbonbrief.org/exclusive-bbc-issues-internal-guidance-on-how-to-report-climate-change>*
7 September 2018
The BBC, one of the world's largest and most respected news
organisations, has issued formal guidance to its journalists on how to
report climate change.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/exclusive-bbc-issues-internal-guidance-on-how-to-report-climate-change
- - - -
[strong criticism]
*BBC 'political bias is unmissable, risible, almost the stuff of satire
- and that's dangerous'
<https://theecologist.org/2018/sep/06/bbc-political-bias-unmissable-risible-almost-stuff-satire-and-thats-dangerous>*
Sue Hampton | 6th September 2018
The BBC needs to better educate and inform its audience about the
severities of climate change. Children's author SUE HAMPTON sets out
five ways in which it can clean up its act...
- - - - -
It is with sadness, anxiety and growing anger that I ask why values so
embedded in the BBC's raison d'être have been compromised and abandoned.
The political bias is unmissable, risible, almost the stuff of satire -
and that's dangerous. It threatens democracy.
The rise of the Far Right began with the BBC platform that made Nigel
Farage ubiquitous (see Question Time panel statistics). News often
constitutes misinformation as the BBC takes its agenda and even its
vocabulary from the predominantly right wing press.
Climate chaos
But I am writing about something even more serious, so dangerous as to
threaten the future of life on earth.
Our most prestigious national broadcaster fails to acknowledge the
overwhelming consensus of climate scientists. It almost never finds it
necessary to share the causes, nature and potential outcomes of climate
change these experts identify.
Calls for change to mitigate climate chaos are apparently banned.
Instead, I observe a persistent and perverse determination to give a
voice to climate deniers in spite of their statistical isolation, and a
blithe or strategic head-in-sand approach to programming.
Weather presenters have smiled about sunshine through this summer, while
new temperature records have been set in Africa and Australian cities,
Taiwan, Georgia and the west coast of US, heat stroke or forest fires
have killed (at least 119 in Japan).
We have seen freak blazes in Lapland and elsewhere in the Arctic Circle.
- - - - -
I therefore suggest that in order to fulfil its responsibility at this
crucial time in human history, the BBC needs to:
- Stop crediting climate deniers with a reasonable position when
climate scientists are virtually unanimous in the expert conviction
that climate change is real, dangerous and exacerbated by human
activity;
- Stop referring to climate change as though it's no more important
than football, if somewhat inconvenient for gardeners, and as if
nothing can be done to address it;
- Look into the political allegiances of key figures behind and on
screen and ensure that there is no unrepresentative imbalance of
opinion. While I'm tempted to ask that climate deniers make up no
more than three percent of BBC staff, I would happily settle for
minimum science qualifications for all those representing or
presenting scientific data, news, weather or political debate.
- Challenge government policies that endanger future generations
with the same unshifting focus currently applied to Labour's
difficulties.
Invite David Attenborough, Brian Cox and Chris Packham, all of whom
agree on the vital need for action, to present the truth and inspire
change.
Nothing has ever mattered more.
This Author - totally appropriate to hear from a dissenting voice. The
BBC is committed to reporting the facts and most recently has covered a
range of climate change based [stories] such as the 'Hothouse Earth'
scenario, pioneering climate change resistant farming and a study from
the Nature Communications journal about rising temperatures."
https://theecologist.org/2018/sep/06/bbc-political-bias-unmissable-risible-almost-stuff-satire-and-thats-dangerous
[US Tin-Foil-Hat-Loony-Toons]
*Trump adds physicist Will Happer, climate science critic, to White
House staff
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/trump-adds-physicist-will-happer-climate-science-opponent-white-house-staff>*
William Happer, a physics professor and vocal critic of mainstream
climate science, has joined the White House as a top adviser.
Happer, 79, told E&E News in email that he began serving yesterday on
the National Security Council as the senior director for emerging
technologies. NSC officials confirmed Happer's new role but declined to
provide further detail about the appointment, which CNN first reported.
"The public, in general, doesn't realize that from the point of view
of geological history, we are in a CO2 famine," he told E&E News
during the interview in January.
When asked about his new NSC role, Happer said he would do his best to
ensure that federal policy decisions "are based on sound science and
technology."
- - - -
Happer told E&E News in January that he supported Trump's decision to
pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord but said he
wished the president had focused on how the agreement "did not make
scientific sense." Trump had cast the pact as detrimental to the U.S.
economy.
"There is no problem from CO2," Happer said. "The world has lots and
lots of problems, but increasing CO2 is not one of the problems. So [the
accord] dignifies it by getting all these yahoos who don't know a damn
thing about climate saying, 'This is a problem, and we're going to solve
it.' All this virtue signaling. You can read about it in the Bible:
Pharisees and hypocrites and phonies."
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/trump-adds-physicist-will-happer-climate-science-opponent-white-house-staff
[turbulent time action]
*The global climate action summit: increasing ambition during turbulent
times <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2018.1516957>*
Vicki Arroyo
ABSTRACT
In September 2018, leaders in climate action within and outside the
U.S. will convene in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action
Summit. They plan to demonstrate strong ongoing commitment to
exceeding the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, despite U.S.
federal opposition under President Trump, and to spur greater
ambition among subnational governments and the private sector. Now
that the Trump Administration is working to undo the progress made
under President Obama, it is more important than ever that states
and cities, as well as the private sector, redouble their efforts.
Since the 2016 election, many U.S. states have demonstrated
leadership by establishing ever-more ambitious clean energy and
electric vehicle targets through legislation and executive action;
by pushing back on the Trump Administration in public forums and in
the courts; and by banding together to realise greater effectiveness
through collective action. The commitment of leading states, cities,
and businesses alone will not be enough to achieve the rapid
reductions needed to keep planetary warming to 1.5 degrees C in the
absence of U.S. federal efforts. But coming after a summer of
extreme weather events, the Summit represents a critical opportunity
to re-energise constituencies, highlight the need for urgent and
ambitious action, and bring climate change to the forefront of
policy conversations across the U.S. and beyond.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2018.1516957
[Washington Post]
*Hot nights: Summer low temperatures were warmest on record in Lower 48*
Americans seeking to cool off after long, hot days this summer found
little relief in the dark of night.
[Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale]
*"Global Climate Action Summit" <https://globalclimateactionsummit.org/>*
https://livingthechange.net/interfaith-service
http://diocal.org/global-climate-action-summit-faith-rooted-affiliated-workshops
https://globalclimateactionsummit.org/
September 12-14, 2018
Grace Cathedral
1100 California St.
San Francisco, CA, USA
https://livingthechange.net/interfaith-service
[stepping across the chasm]
*Launching the Clean Energy Transition Institute
<https://www.cleanenergytransition.org/>*
The Clean Energy Transition Institute focuses on accelerating low-carbon
pathways, advancing urban clean energy, and creating a clean energy
workforce.
https://www.cleanenergytransition.org/
[AU newspaper publishes what scientists say]
*The divisive issue Australia can no longer ignore
<https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/the-divisive-issue-australia-can-no-longer-ignore/news-story/1915f694320e540444c03aff3ccd3a41>*
IT'S the life-and-death issue on which Australia is "irresponsible to
the extreme". And 30 leading experts in the field are furious.
Stephanie Bedo
AUSTRALIA, you're being "irresponsible to the extreme".
That's the harsh message from leading scientists across the country, not
just for our "confused, divided and backwards" government but for the
everyday Aussies who believe climate change scepticism and refuse to
acknowledge the state of "emergency" we face.
Climate policy was one of the catalysts for the Liberal Party rolling
Malcolm Turnbull last month. In his final speech as prime minister, Mr
Turnbull acknowledged the Coalition found it "very hard" to take action
on climate change.
Last month Mr Turnbull was brought down for the second time over
energy/climate change policy. The first time he was rolled by Tony
Abbott as opposition leader. This time it cost him his job as prime
minister.
Scientists have slammed the federal government for its "deliberate
negligent failure" to take action to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas
emissions over the last few years.
Climate and Health Alliance president Peter Sainsbury said the
Australian Government was, remarkably, still projecting an increase in
carbon emissions to 2030.
"Australia is being held back by the self-interest of a few right-wing
politicians and a network of highly influential companies, particularly
in the fossil fuel industry, who are prepared to sacrifice other
people's health and wellbeing for their own short-term economic gain,"
he said.
"The immediate impacts of a government divided on climate change means
they can't agree on what is and isn't a priority - one big example will
be lack of preparedness for the global heatwave predicted to 2022 and
that trickles down to everything from public health and farming to
massive bushfires.
"We will lose our food security for one. If they can't agree on science,
they can't prepare for reality. They will leave us in the headlights of
a semi-trailer getting faster and more unpredictable."
*WHAT SCIENTISTS TOLD US*
*John Quiggin, University of Queensland:*The toxicity of the issue
is not due, primarily, to conflicts of interest, which could be
resolved through ordinary political processes. Rather the problem is
that the issue has become bound up in right-wing culture wars.
*Peter Sainsbury, Climate and Health Alliance:*Climate change is
occurring at a rate that is far faster than anything seen in Earth's
recent history, and that it is principally due to human activity. If
co-ordinated global action is not taken in the next few years to
rapidly slow the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and
reach zero net carbon emissions by 2050, there will be catastrophic
consequences.
*Liz Hanna, Australian National University:*The evidence supporting
climate change exists in all areas of science, and it comes from all
countries, and from all meteorological organisations. Collectively,
humanity is causing the warming, so all of humanity has a
responsibility to stop it, and stop it as fast as we can.
*Greg Skilbeck, University of Technology, Sydney*: Scaremongering on
energy prices and anything that will affect these, is seen as a very
effective (political) campaigning tool, even though it has been
consistently shown that rising energy prices are only about the
greed of the energy companies and poor management of the
infrastructure, and really nothing else.
*Chris Brown, Griffith University:*Time spent debating the science
on climate change delays decisions on acting to address climate
change and its impacts. It is time wasted that our natural
ecosystems and our economy cannot afford.
*Haydn Washington, UNSW Australia:*They (the government) are
betraying the future of future Australians and risking large parts
of Australia becoming uninhabitable. This is irresponsible in the
extreme.
*Dietmar Dommenget, Monash University:*For the rest of the world,
Australia used to be an environmental friendly place with no nuclear
energy and an environment that is still beautiful and natural. But a
country that is destroying its own natural wonder and does next to
nothing to prevent global warming will not be popular for much longer.
*Olaf Meynecke, Griffith University:*We are no longer in the
position to wait or hope that the problem will solve itself. We are
faced with mass extinctions, severe weather and the long-term loss
of stability of our economy if climate action is delayed.
*Tom Worthington, Australian National University:*There is plenty of
hard science to say climate change is real. What we have to do now
is help the community with what to do about it. We need to be
putting in place actions now, such as investing in renewable energy,
to save high costs to the community and the economy later.
*Linda Selvey, University of Queensland:*This is an emergency. That
is not an exaggeration, but an assertion that is backed by
scientific evidence. We need to take more action than less and a
divided government means that we do very little.
*Ian Lowe,**Griffith University:*The immediate impact of the current
government policy paralysis (and mindless encouragement of new
fossil fuel projects) is to accelerate the changes we are seeing -
altered rainfall patterns, more extreme events, worse bushfires - as
well as risking international sanctions for failing to meet our
treaty obligations.
*Stephen Williams, James Cook University:*Stop pretending there is
any serious debate and start getting on with doing something rather
than political grandstanding and using climate change as a scary
topic to play political games. Climate change is the most serious
challenge facing the world.
*Peter Rayner, University of Melbourne:*It's much better to squeeze
the brakes gently than jam them on at the last minute, especially
when we can see the brick wall a mile off.
*Bill Laurance, James Cook University:*Australia's political
conservatives have shifted so far to the right that they've fallen
off a cliff - and they're dragging the rest of the country with
them, consequences be damned.
*John Church, UNSW:*Saying we do not want to discuss climate change
and the drought is like arguing we do not care how much more
Australian farmers and regional areas suffer in the future.
*Samantha Hepburn, Deakin University:*As the Earth gets hotter,
governments will increasingly confront tragic choices. Global
climate change will cause severe food and water scarcity, resource
conflict and a sea-level rise that will threaten major cities.
Warming at the higher levels (5-6C) will be civilisation-altering.
*Andrew Blakers, Australian National University:*Climate change is
likely to become an ever more prominent political, engineering,
environmental and business issue. The fact that solar and wind are
both cheaper and have zero emissions virtually guarantees continued
rapid growth throughout the first half of the 21st century.
*Steven Sherwood, UNSW:*Division means uncertainty, which means lack
of investment in new electricity hence higher electricity prices.
The impact of such uncertainty on electricity prices has been vastly
greater than the impact of whether we use coal, solar or wind or
whatever. Eventually we will agree on climate change but it may be
too late then to do very much.
*Tony Matthews, Griffith University:*Australia is underperforming in
its response to climate change overall. The country continues to
fall behind expectations in terms of emissions reductions, relative
to many other developed economies.
*Peter Tangney, Flinders University:*There is unequivocal evidence
that the climate is changing. There is also unequivocal evidence
that the climate is changing due to human interference.
*Colin Butler, Flinders University:*Climate change represents an
existential threat to civilisation. Catastrophe may yet be avoided,
but is increasingly likely, with early signs already evident.
*Celia McMichael, University of Melbourne:*Australia should be doing
much more to shift to a clean economy and to urgently meet - or
exceed - greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
*Tullio Rossi, Animate Your Science*: Let's take the Great Barrier
Reef situation as an example. Given the inestimable value of this
wonder of the world, and the fact that we are seriously risking
losing it because of climate change. Australia should be at the
forefront of climate change action globally.
*Scott Kelly,*University of Technology Sydney*:*While Australian
politicians continue to argue between themselves, the rest of the
world is going to move on and Australia will be left behind. If
Australia is going to lead the way in renewable technology and build
a society of the future, it can't continue to support vested
interests in old expensive technology such as coal.
*Ying Zhang, University of Sydney:*We need better public engagement
to increase the awareness of both risks and opportunities in
responding to climate change. For example, better urban planning to
accommodate more public and active transportation that could bring
co-benefits of improved air quality and health status.
*Elizabeth Haworth, University of Tasmania:*It is hard to explain
Australia's lack of action, considering the vulnerability of the
population and business to climate change - perhaps due to lack of
understanding of the scientific base, apathy due to ideology and/or
being in thrall to big business rather than science.
*Jason Evans, UNSW:*Australia has been increasing emissions in
recent years but we need to decrease them to reach our Paris
Agreement commitment. Then we need to continue decreasing them
beyond that to limit the worst impacts of climate change.
*Paul Read, Monash University:*We've lost decades of action and
squandered opportunities for an economic adaptation that would have
preserved a decent quality of life for future Australians.
*Anonymous:*The absence of effective greenhouse gas emission
reduction policies is a decision to continue high emissions from
Australia. That is a decision to make climate change worse; more
intense and more frequent heatwaves, greater sea level rise, reduced
rainfall in southern Australia and more intense bushfires.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/the-divisive-issue-australia-can-no-longer-ignore/news-story/1915f694320e540444c03aff3ccd3a41
[See if it floats]
*Coast Guard Plan to Build New Icebreakers May Be in Trouble
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06092018/icebreaker-coast-guard-ship-gao-review-polar-security-science-construction-risks-costs-congress>*
Congress' investigative arm says the polar ships may take longer to
build and cost more than expected. But pushing the project off could be
a bigger problem.
BY SABRINA SHANKMAN
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06092018/icebreaker-coast-guard-ship-gao-review-polar-security-science-construction-risks-costs-congress...
- - - - -
The Coast Guard's estimated schedule for delivering the icebreakers has
the first one being completed in 2023, the next in 2025 and the third in
2026, allowing for three years to construct each ship.
"When we looked at 10 recent ship-building programs, only three were
constructed in three years or less, and those three were more basic
ships," Mak said. "They were either based on commercial designs or had
commercial specifications. Given that we haven't built a heavy polar
icebreaker in 40 years, it screams optimism."
Though the report cautions that these issues should be rectified prior
to committing funds to build the ships, the GAO was not weighing in on
what Congress should do. But it could offer an excuse to those in
Congress who would rather push off funding the program.
"We have perfected the art of study to avoid taking difficult, high cost
decisions," said Conley, of CSIS. "If we fall back into that trap again,
we are not going to be able to maintain access to the poles. That's the
bottom line here."
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06092018/icebreaker-coast-guard-ship-gao-review-polar-security-science-construction-risks-costs-congress
*This Day in Climate History - September 7, 2011
<http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/audio-chris-christie-koch-brothers-seminar/>
- from D.R. Tucker*
September 7, 2011:
On MotherJones.com, investigative journalist Brad Friedman, in part two
of his report on a secretive June 2011 meeting in Colorado held by
billionaire climate-change deniers Charles and David Koch, notes that
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke at the meeting--and that David Koch
called him "my kind of guy."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/audio-chris-christie-koch-brothers-seminar/
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