[TheClimate.Vote] April 16, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest..

Tue Apr 16 08:40:11 EDT 2019

/April 16, 2019/

[News report on demonstration]
*Sky News - Extinction Rebellion [15.04.2019 at 3pm]*
ExtinctionRebellion
Published on Apr 15, 2019
https://Rebellion.Earth - Extinction Rebellion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ebH476hC0

[CBS news]
*Climate change protests stop traffic in the heart of London*
London - Thousands of protesters took to the streets of London Monday, 
blocking traffic around the city in coordinated demonstrations demanding 
government action on climate change. It was the second climate change 
protest in the capital in four days.
"The recent science has been so shocking about what my children would 
face that I feel we have to do whatever we can," 34-year-old Miriam, a 
property manager, told CBS News as she stood among a group of 
demonstrators blocking cars near London's Marble Arch. "This is an 
emergency."...
- - -
"Brexit, none of it's going to matter if there's a climate apocalypse," 
she said.
more at - 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/london-climate-change-protests-stop-traffic-today/

[video interview McKibben on Democracy Now]
*"Falter": In New Book, Bill McKibben Asks If the Human Game Has Begun 
to Play Itself Out*
Democracy Now!
Published on Apr 15, 2019
Thousands are taking to the streets in London today to demand radical 
action to combat the climate crisis. Protesters with the group 
Extinction Rebellion have set up encampments and roadblocks across 
Central London and say they'll stay in the streets for at least a week. 
It's just the beginning of a series of global actions that will unfold 
in the coming days, as activists around the world raise the alarm about 
government inaction in the face of the growing climate catastrophe. The 
London protests come just days after schoolchildren around the globe 
left school again on Friday for the weekly "strike for climate" and as 
the push for the Green New Deal continues to build momentum in the 
United States. The deal--backed by Congressmember Alexandria 
Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey--seeks to transform the U.S. economy 
through funding renewable energy while ending U.S. carbon dioxide 
emissions by 2030. We speak with climate activist and journalist Bill 
McKibben, who has been on the front lines of the fight to save the 
planet for decades. Thirty years ago, he wrote "The End of Nature," the 
first book about climate change for a general audience. He's just 
published a new book titled "Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play 
Itself Out?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAAUbzkkEKU

[Insightful essay - COMMENTARY SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2019]
*Why it matters that 'Game of Thrones' is a story about climate change*
BY LAYLA CHAMBERLIN  With the eighth and final season of "Game of 
Thrones," or "GOT," premiering this weekend, most fans, myself included, 
will be anxiously anticipating the imminent battle between the 
antagonist ice zombie White Walkers and the (mostly) human citizens of 
Westeros. But while "GOT" depicts a geopolitical conflict among the 
various kingdoms and families for the possession of the Iron Throne, the 
reason for its popularity -- beyond high budgets and enigmatic plotlines 
-- may be its parable of climate change.

Several parallels can be drawn between climate science and the 
sociopolitical landscape of "GOT" lore, ranging from how the White 
Walkers seek to destroy the human race to how leaders of the human world 
which deny their existence. While the parameters of the allegory have 
already been addressed in the past, once even by author George R.R. 
Martin, it raises interesting questions for how the series will, or 
ought to, treat a narrative that parallels the most pressing 
environmental threat of its viewers' time.

*An allegory for global warming*
Evidence of this eco-critical theory, clarifying how White Walkers 
personify climate change, can be found in at the creation of the White 
Walkers. In old Valyria, before the kingdoms were built, the children of 
the forest and the First Men -- the former tree spirits and the latter 
humans with vaguely settler-colonial overtones, respectively -- lived in 
harmony. But then the First Men began to encroach more onto the 
territory of the children in urban sprawl and cut down many trees that 
the children depended upon, in a parallel with modern deforestation. In 
retaliation, the children created the White Walkers to kill the First 
Men so that they could protect their land and themselves. The birth of 
the White Walkers is thereby simultaneously a force of nature and the 
embodiment of death. The White Walkers are also superhumanly powerful, 
coming to represent an existential threat killing everything in their path.

"(The creation of the White Walkers) was not done for the sake of 
progress, which I think is probably what the cause of climate change is 
now. Intense industrialization and furthering capitalism and 
consumerization -- that is the culprit in the real world," said David 
Peterson, a UC Berkeley alumnus, linguist and creator of the in-world 
Dothraki and Valyrian languages...
What separates the White Walkers from traditional zombies, however, is 
their mythology. For centuries, the humans have been protected from the 
White Walkers by the Wall, a massive ice barrier keeping out invading 
walkers, and have since grown complacent. Even Cersei Lannister, the 
queen of King's Landing and the show's current human antagonist, denies 
the existence of the White Walkers until Jon Snow, hero protagonist, 
brings a living specimen to her kingdom. To many, this denial of 
long-term threats in favor of political squabbling may be a clear 
connection to members of the U.S. political system who deny and debate 
evidence of global climate change despite the data they are confronted with.

Spencer Strub, a campus graduate student who taught the class "Game of 
Thrones, Medieval to Modern" in summer 2018, concurs with this thread of 
analysis, noting, "The Cersei Lannister story is a good stand-in for the 
fossil-fuel-funded congresspeople."

Jon, the other men at the Wall and the wildlings, who live beyond the 
Wall's protection, all have firsthand experience observing and combating 
the White Walkers. Yet, much like what today's climate scientists face, 
many people in kingdoms far away from the Wall reject these accounts and 
evidence of their existence. This parallels the scientific community's 
efforts to convince the public of evidence of anthropogenic climate 
change and humanity's part in causing it...

"GOT" also discusses climate change's sociological impacts. The 
wildlings, living in walker territory, are disproportionately impacted 
by the White Walkers because they are trapped beyond the Wall. This is 
similar to how underserved and low-income communities are often more 
vulnerable to the dangers of climate change. We see this trend occur 
repeatedly: New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, Haiti after the 
earthquake, civil wars spurred by limited resources in developing 
countries, the Dakota Access Pipeline, etc. While these are all examples 
of natural disasters, it is also becoming clear in scientific literature 
that they are an extension of climate change as they become more 
frequent and intense.

"The Cersei Lannister story is a good stand-in for the 
fossil-fuel-funded congresspeople." -- Spencer Strub

"That's a fair parallel because it's not just war; it's also an effect 
of climate change. It affects the poor first because they can't actually 
do anything to combat the effects but to get away from them," Peterson said.

Strub agreed with this, pointing out how the wildlings are stand-ins for 
frontline communities impacted by extreme weather, and it's important 
for thinking about the narrative of displacement and migration that 
surrounds them...
- -
"We don't know how the show is going to end, but if they beat the White 
Walkers, that seems like a simplistic and optimistic resolution to this 
narrative, and if there's a grim apocalyptic defeat of humanity by the 
White Walkers, then that would also be giving in to despair," Strub 
said. "So I don't know what the politically correct way of narrating 
through the allegory of the White Walkers would look like."

Likewise, Peterson (although the ending was not disclosed to him because 
security on set) isn't sure of how to avoid oversimplifying the 
allegorical issue of climate change in a way that also delivers a 
satisfying narrative.

Whatever the ending, it is more important to talk about these issues of 
parallel parables than who sits on the coveted throne at the end. The 
discourse is the bulk of the conversation that will ultimately frame and 
collectively form a public consciousness about climate change. Even if 
the issue of climate change is taken up subtextually or was not the 
intentional narrative of Martin or the show's writers, it is vital that 
we heed this interpretation as a valid one, all the while remembering to 
be mindful and critical consumers of this media.

"GOT" is a show that provokes thought, and as audiences anticipate the 
final season, it is important that they consider new interpretations and 
challenge dominant ones. While the show may seem like a highbrow drama, 
it is firstly a cautionary tale.
more at - 
http://www.dailycal.org/2019/04/14/why-it-matters-that-game-of-thrones-is-a-story-about-climate-change/
- - -
[words to save the future]
*17 WRITERS ON THE ROLE OF FICTION IN ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE*
...ON THE AUTHOR'S RESPONSIBILITY TO A PLANET IN CRISIS
The fact that we can't put out the fires and lower the seas with words 
or pictures or music doesn't mean we're off the hook for trying.
https://lithub.com/17-writers-on-the-role-of-fiction-in-addressing-climate-change/
- - -
[Ready for books]
*6 Books About Climate Change & Sustainability You Need To Read This Spring*
April 9th, 2019 by The Beam
If you're anything like me, the first signs of spring may inspire you to 
spend some lazy afternoons reading new books in a street café or a park. 
These reads are our picks for those that simply must find a place on 
your bookshelf.

*Kiribati, Chronique illustree d'un archipel perdu (2017) -- French*
By Alice Piciocchi & Andrea Angeli
Fiction -- 156 pages
Welcome to Kiribati, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean that is
expected to be the first land to disappear due to climate change.
How do the people here build their homes? With what plants do they
heal? What does the night sky look like here? What fish inhabit the
ocean? What plants grow in the gardens? This magnificent illustrated
chronicle fixes the memory of the beauty of these islands which,
whatever the scope of the efforts made to limit the climatic change,
will have disappeared at the end of this century. This might be the
most beautiful book about climate change I have ever read. It's a
very important book to understand what is really at stake with
global warming.
- -
*A River Runs Again, India's Natural World in Crisis, from the
Barren Cliffs of Rajasthan to the Farmlands of Karnataka (2015)*
By Meera Subramanian
Non-Fiction -- 352 pages
"To hope is also to act, and now is India's time for action. Now is
the moment to build a new economy that cultivates the country's
people and also safeguards its irreplaceable natural
resources." -- Meera Subramanian
Meera Subramanian tells the stories of ordinary people who are
determined to guide India into a sustainable future and she finds
hope for a nation that has the potential to be a model for the
world. By framing the stories of five environmental crises around
the five elements, she introduces readers to villagers in Rajasthan
who are resuscitating a river run dry; biologists bringing vultures
back from the brink of extinction, etc.
- -
*Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse
Global Warming (2017)*
By Paul Hawken
Non-Fiction -- 256 pages
There have been agreements and proposals on how to slow, cap and
arrest emissions, and there are international commitments to prevent
global temperature increases. However, there is no roadmap that goes
beyond slowing or stopping emissions. This is the story of those
individuals who care about the planet. Drawdown maps, models, and
describes the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming.
- -
*Kiss the Ground: How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change,
Heal Your Body & Ultimately Save Our World (2017)*
By Josh Tickell
Non-Fiction- 352 pages
Josh Tickell, one of America's most celebrated documentary
filmmakers and director of Fuel, has dedicated most of his life to
saving the environment. In Kiss the Ground, he explains an
incredible truth: by changing our diets to a soil-nourishing,
regenerative agriculture diet, we can reverse global warming,
harvest healthy, abundant food and eliminate the poisonous
substances that are harming our children, pets, bodies and
ultimately our planet.
- -
*Waste to Wealth: The Circular Economy Advantage (2015)*
By Peter Lacy &‎ Jakob Rutqvist
Non-fiction -- 264pages
Circular economy, circular responsibility, circular advantage. So
simple, yet so powerful. Waste to Wealth is a sneak peak into the
future and proves that 'green' and 'growth' need not be binary
alternatives. The book examines five new business models that
provide circular growth from deploying sustainable resources to the
sharing economy before setting out what business leaders need to do
to implement the models successfully.
- -
*Sites Unseen: Uncovering Hidden Hazards in American Cities (2018)*
By Scott Frickel & James R. Elliott
Non-Fiction -- 176 pages
In Philadelphia or New Orleans, former manufacturing sites leave
behind hazards at a scale that far exceeds what is monitored by the
U.S. government. These sites have been converted to homes,
restaurants or playgrounds, with almost no environmental review. The
authors examine how environmental regulations focus resources on
just a handful of publicly visible 'eyesore' sites, leaving a long
trail of invisible risks across today's cities.
By The Beam Editor-in-Chief Anne-Sophie Garrigou.

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/04/09/6-books-about-climate-change-sustainability-you-need-to-read-this-spring/

[dangerous, we have choices]
*The BBC programme Climate Change - The Facts  will air on BBC1 at 9pm 
on Thursday 18th April.*
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00049b1
When the programme was first announced by Charlotte Moore, the BBCs 
Director of Content, she said: "We want it to be the definitive film on 
climate change. To cut through the confusion, tell audiences the facts 
without any other agenda, explore what a dangerous level of climate 
change could really mean. It will be unflinching about the potential 
catastrophe thats unfolding. And offer the facts about what can still be 
done.  Because, for all the uncomfortable truth, the message is, 
ultimately, a positive one: We have the power to do something. We hold 
the future in our hands."

I've been providing science advice to the (great) production team, and 
we are hoping it will have a big impact - maybe even as a Tipping Point 
for public attention and political action, just as Blue Planet 2 has 
been for plastic pollution.

So this is by way of asking that you encourage friends and colleagues to 
watch it - and if you or they Tweet - to use the handle: 
#ClimateChangeTheFacts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00049b1

*This Day in Climate History - April 16, 2008, 2009 - from D.R. Tucker*
April 16, 2008: President George W. Bush delivers a widely panned Rose 
Garden speech on carbon pollution.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89713249
https://www.c-span.org/video/?204885-1/global-climate-change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/16/AR2008041603084.html
http://youtu.be/yg5Z62Gzc4I (Fox's spin, er, coverage)

April 16, 2009: On MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," Janeane 
Garofalo observes:
"Fox News loves to foment this anti-intellectualism because that is 
their bread and butter.  If you have a cerebral electorate, Fox News 
goes down the toilet, you know, very, very fast...They‘re been doing 
this for years.  That‘s why Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch started this 
venture; it is to disinform and to coarsen and dumb-down a certain 
segment of the electorate."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAAHMDpk7Ik   (5:27-5:50)
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