[TheClimate.Vote] April 25, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

Thu Apr 25 11:00:30 EDT 2019

/April 25, 2019/

[RAND Study]
*Resilience and Adaptation Strategies Can Address the Impacts of Climate 
Change*
https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2019/02/resilience-and-adaptation-strategies-can-address-the.html

[Commentary]
*True Crimes**
*Wen Stephenson, April 22*
*Why it's important to name names when discussing the climate catastrophe...
Contrary to popular myth, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the youth-led 
Sunrise Movement did not emerge fully formed from the head of a god in 
the fall of 2018. They emerged from the climate-justice movement that 
has been building for more than a decade.

But the truth, it's increasingly clear, is that a climate movement will 
never be enough on its own. What the situation now requires (as I've 
recently argued) is something larger and more fundamental: a nonviolent 
revolutionary movement for democracy and human rights that is powerful 
enough to overthrow a political system owned and controlled by 
corporations and private wealth. Otherwise, the only histories to be 
read will be the so-called winners'--however short-lived their "victory" 
may be.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/true-crimes-stephenson

[Letter - commentary]
*Guest Post: Climate delayers are climate change deniers*
'I turn 60 next month. I don't have hope. I have kids.'
Are you feeling a little more than pissed that so much said and written 
about climate change is about the problem but not the solution? I am. 
How BIG is the problem?

Here's a key section from the summary in the International Panel on 
Climate Change 2018 report: "The report finds that limiting global 
warming to 1.5 Celsius would require 'rapid and far-reaching' 
transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport and cities. 
Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide would need to fall 
by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 
2050. This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced 
by removing (carbon dioxide) from the air."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez believes we have one year to 
change course. So, too, argues David Wallace Wells in his New York Times 
best seller "The Uninhabitable Earth": "If we start today, when global 
emissions are still growing, the necessary rate is 10 percent. If we 
delay another decade, it will require us to cut emissions by 30 percent 
each year."
In order to stop climate disaster, we need policy changes on world, 
federal, state and local levels. Here are 10 policies that should be put 
in place to meet the call to action to a clean energy future for our 
children's children:

1. *Get rid of government handouts to the fossil fuel industry.*
2. ** *Give incentives to the renewable energy instead.*
3. ** *Start a works corps to build America's renewables programs.*
4. ** *Enact a carbon tax to raise funds to invest in renewables and
slow the growth of fossil fuels.*
5. ** *Stop future fossil-fuel development through banning drilling,
fracking, etc.*
6. ** *Require utilities to produce all their electricity from
zero-carbon sources -- such as wind and solar.*
7. ** *Set energy efficiency standards for new homes and commercial
buildings.*
8. ** *Curb methane emissions from oil-and-gas operations.*
9. ** *End the use of hydrofluorocarbons, powerful greenhouse gases
used in air-conditioners, refrigerators and foams from the reduction
in future emissions.*
10. ** *End endless wars for oil and profit and cut the 800 U.S.
military bases and trillion-dollar-a-year budget by a third and
redirect the spending to renewables, clean jobs, electric
transportation and new research and innovation.*

We are only 12 years away from locking in extreme warming. The IPCC 
report released last October had a huge impact on leaders around the 
world and ignited the Green New Deal. The report outlined how little 
time we have and how much destruction is expected over the next 50 to 
100 years.

It showed how global warming will be 50% worse if we strive to keep on 
track of the 2 degrees Celsius goal of the Paris Climate Summit as 
opposed to 1.5 Celsius.

If we put sustained policy and options in place, we can avoid the 
crisis. We have the technology in place. Solar is 90% cheaper than it 
was 30 years ago. China as surpassed us in development and 
implementation. By 2050, 70 to 90% of our energy could come from 
renewables. In the next 10 years, countries like Norway will ban 
combustible engines.

We need 85% of electric to come from renewables by 2050. We can do this 
on just solar alone. This is an attainable goal. The oil and gas 
industry has spent billions to stop climate solutions, buy off 
politicians and tell us that it'll cost over $50 trillion dollars and 
millions of jobs to save their industries. But listen to Pittsburgh 
Mayor Bill Peduto: "There are now more jobs in renewable energy in the 
state of Pennsylvania than coal, natural gas, and oil combined."

If there's going to be a Green New Deal, cities, counties and states 
need to adopt ways to become carbon neutral. More than 100 cities have 
adopted a commitment to net-zero carbon by 2030-2045. Your community 
can, too. Climate justice is good for our economy, people and environment.

Start demanding our politicians, journalists, leaders and teachers act 
on the strategies and tactics to get the problem solved. My kids will be 
46 and 44 in 2050, when we need to be at zero carbon emissions as a 
planet to postpone long-term climate destruction. I turn 60 next month. 
I don't have hope. I have kids. Let's work as a nation as our 
grandparents and great-grandparents did during World War II to prevent 
the destruction to our democracy, economy and planet.
https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2019/04/19/guest-post-climate-change-deniers/

[NPR audio]
*Most Teachers Don't Teach Climate Change; 4 In 5 Parents Wish They Did*
- - -
Although most states have classroom standards that at least mention 
human-caused climate change, most teachers aren't actually talking about 
climate change in their classrooms. And fewer than half of parents have 
discussed the issue with their children.
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/22/714262267/most-teachers-dont-teach-climate-change-4-in-5-parents-wish-they-did

[good observation]
*Global Wealth Gap Would Be Smaller Today Without Climate Change, Study 
Finds*
By Somini Sengupta - April 22, 2019
Climate change creates winners and losers. Norway is among the winners; 
Nigeria among the losers.

Those are the stark findings of a peer-reviewed paper by two Stanford 
University professors who have tried to quantify the impact of rising 
greenhouse gas emissions on global inequality. It was published Monday 
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- - -
Norway, which is also a big oil and gas producer, fared well: It grew 34 
percent richer. The authors cautioned that data on the very hottest and 
the very coldest countries is relatively sparse.

Countries in temperate zones, including China and the United States, did 
not feel much of an effect, the study said.

"If you're a really cool country you've been helped a lot," Dr. Burke 
said. "If you're a really warm country, you've been hurt a lot. And if 
you're in the middle the effects have been smaller or much more muted."

The findings carry enormous implications for the global debate about who 
should bring down greenhouse gas emissions the fastest -- and who should 
pay for the havoc they are causing, especially in poor countries. That 
is already one of the stickiest issues in global climate negotiations.

Dr. Burke said this study quantified the "dual benefits" that rich 
countries, particularly industrialized countries in the cooler latitudes 
of the Northern Hemisphere, had enjoyed -- first being able to consume 
fossil fuels to grow their economies and then reaping the gains of 
warmer temperatures. "Other countries have not had either of those," Dr. 
Burke asserted.

"They didn't cause the problem," he said. "They're being harmed by it. 
There's a clear equity dimension here."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/climate/climate-change-global-wealth-gap.html

[Don't threaten birds]
*A new study is warning that some species of sparrows will vanish before 
the end of this century, as their natural habitats are wiped out.*
Endangered sparrows are facing extinction with future sea-level rise
By Chrissy Sexton
Earth.com staff writer - 04-16-2019
A new study from the Oxford University Press is warning that some 
species of sparrows will vanish before the end of this century, as their 
natural habitats are wiped out. The seaside and saltmarsh sparrows both 
depend almost entirely on coastal salt marshes, yet their projected 
responses to climate change were found to be different...
https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-sparrows-facing-extinction/

[Not surprising]
*Study: Sea level rise causes Texas coastal homeowners to lose millions 
in potential property value*
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Study-Sea-level-rise-causes-Texas-coastal-13786803.php

[Yale Climate Communications]
*Former climate 'denier' regrets 'how wrongheaded but certain I was' 
Here's what led him to change his mind.*
By Karin Kirk - April 15, 2019
- - -
[John] Kaiser's confidence at the time was telling: "I was so certain in 
my convictions, that I said, 'I'm not lying, you can see the citations 
in the video, right?' But I didn't realize the extent to which they were 
twisting the references they had. I mean, I was 19 years old, and the 
video confirmed what I already believed, and so my confirmation bias was 
really strong at that moment. I didn't have enough experience to 
overcome it. I'm ashamed I believed this stuff."

That was in 1999. Over the course of about 12 years, Kaiser made the 
switch from a student activist eager to sow doubt about climate change, 
to someone who is worried about the impacts of climate change. He has 
confronted his own role in delaying action, and is motivated to share 
his story. One way he does so is through Facebook comments, where he 
describes himself as a "former denier" and explains his subsequent 
change of thinking.
- - -
Kaiser suggests shifting to a strictly economics-based argument. "If you 
want to move people quickly in the next five to 10 years, it's probably 
easier to present an argument that solar and wind energy are now 
entirely viable than it is to present an argument that climate change is 
real and we need to address it."
- -
What? Me worry? Yes…'thought horrifies me…I worry'
Kaiser reflects on his contributions to stall action on climate change, 
and grapples with the implications for the future. "Now I'm a 
39-year-old man with children who are going to reach maturity…in a world 
that will be worse than the one that I came to maturity in. That thought 
horrifies me, especially because I was out there on a weekly basis 
telling people, don't worry about global warming, it's not going to be a 
problem."

"I'd like to say that there's a part of me that believes that, 
politically and technologically, we will figure this out in time. And 
that the technology of geothermal, solar, wind, all of that, will 
advance … to fully replace coal, and a big chunk of oil. There's a part 
of me that wants to believe that. But, having been a part of climate 
change denial, I worry about whether we can get to that point. And I 
worry especially as we see active attempts at sabotaging things like 
renewable energy industries."

"Time will tell, we will see. I worry that it won't be enough."
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/04/former-climate-change-denier-explains-his-shift/

[about information: Facebook - social media manipulation #3]
*People are Manipulating You on Facebook - Smarter Every Day 215*
SmarterEveryDay
Published on Apr 24, 2019
Thank you Facebook for being so open to this discussion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_NtO7SIrY

[Grim history from one year ago]
*This Day in Climate History - April 25, 2018 - from D.R. Tucker*
April 25, 2018:
The New York Times reports:

"The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new regulation
Tuesday that would restrict the kinds of scientific studies the
agency can use when it develops policies, a move critics say will
permanently weaken the agency's ability to protect public health.

"Under the measure, the E.P.A. will require that the underlying data
for all scientific studies used by the agency to formulate air and
water regulations be publicly available. That would sharply limit
the number of studies available for consideration because much
research relies on confidential health data from study subjects.

"Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, announced the proposed
regulation this afternoon at agency headquarters, flanked by
Republican lawmakers who sponsored legislation designed to achieve
the same ends as the new regulation."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/climate/epa-science-htransparency-pruitt.html 

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