[TheClimate.Vote] April 26, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Apr 26 09:12:06 EDT 2019
/April 26, 2019/
[Extinction Rebellion]
*"I'm scared about what my future holds..." - Swarming - City of London
- Extinction Rebellion*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxPPlXkMzZg
- - -
*BBC News Live (with Clare Farrell) Marble Arch - Extinction Rebellion -
Apr25th*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Niv_rMtT7U
[persistent trauma slows recovery]
***After 2 Hurricanes, A 'Floodgate' Of Mental Health Issues In U.S.
Virgin Islands*
April 23, 2019
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/23/716089187/after-two-hurricanes-a-floodgate-of-mental-health-issues-in-the-virgin-islands
[Greta in the New Yorker]
*The Uncanny Power of Greta Thunberg's Climate-Change Rhetoric*
By Sam Knight - April 24, 2019
- - - [a great article concludes:]
"You don't listen to the science because you are only interested in
solutions that will enable you to carry on like before," she said. "Like
now. And those answers don't exist anymore. Because you did not act in
time."
The climate-change movement feels powerful today because it is
politicians--not the people gluing themselves to trucks--who seem
deluded about reality. Thunberg says that all she wants is for adults to
behave like adults, and to act on the terrifying information that is all
around us. But the impact of her message does not come only from her
regard for the facts. Thunberg is an uncanny, gifted orator. Last week,
the day after the fire at Notre-Dame, she told the European Parliament
that "cathedral thinking" would be necessary to confront climate change.
Yesterday, Thunberg repeated the phrase. "Avoiding climate breakdown
will require cathedral thinking," she said. "We must lay the foundation
while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling." In Westminster,
Thunberg's words were shaming. Brexit is pretty much the opposite of
cathedral thinking. It is a process in which a formerly great country is
tearing itself apart over the best way to belittle itself. No one knew
what to say to Thunberg, or how to respond to her exhortations. Her
microphone check was another rhetorical device. "Did you hear what I
just said?" she asked, in the middle of her speech. The room bellowed,
"Yes!" "Is my English O.K.?" The audience laughed. Thunberg's face
flickered, but she did not smile. "Because I'm beginning to wonder."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-uncanny-power-of-greta-thunbergs-climate-change-rhetoric
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-uncanny-power-of-greta-thunbergs-climate-change-rhetoric
[pollinating fruits and vegetables]
*BUMBLE BEES SEE HUGE POPULATION DECLINE*
An estimate of bumble bee population and distribution shows that half of
the species studied have seen a more than 50 percent decline...
https://www.futurity.org/bumble-bee-populations-2044012-2/
- - -
[document]
*Narrow pollen diets are associated with declining Midwestern bumble bee
species*
23 April 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2697
*Abstract*
Many species of bumble bee (Bombus) have declined in range and
abundance across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, whereas other
species have persisted and remain common and widespread. One
explanation as to why some species have declined, based primarily on
studies of the European bumble bee fauna, is that declining species
have relatively narrow pollen‐foraging niches and are less able to
use alternative host plants in the absence of their preferred hosts.
Though extensively explored in Europe, this hypothesis has not been
investigated in North America, in part due to incomplete information
on the foraging niche of many species. We selected 12 bumble bee
species found in Michigan and quantified their pollen diets using
museum specimens. We also extensively resurveyed the state to
understand their contemporary status and distribution. Compared to a
pre‐2000 baseline, six species remain relatively common and
widespread, whereas six species show range contractions of over 50%.
There was a significant relationship between dietary breadth and
distributional range change, with declined or declining species
collecting around one‐third fewer pollen types than stable species.
Though there were significant compositional differences, we found no
differences in the number of pollen types collected by species with
differing tongue lengths. Overall, these results support the
hypothesis that species with narrower dietary niches are at greater
risk of decline. However, it is not clear if narrow dietary niches
are a cause of declines, or if both are driven by an underlying
factor such as proximity to the edge of climatic niches. Further
research is needed to improve our understanding of dietary niche in
bumble bees, and how it interacts with other factors to influence
population trajectories of stable and at‐risk species.
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecy.2697
["Deniers haven't got a prayer"]
*It's Starting To Look Like God Won't Save Us From Global Warming*
"There is no sign of religious people saving us from climate change."
Dan Vergano - BuzzFeed News Reporter
- - -
"We are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic
system," said the 2015 letter, known as an encyclical. "Humanity is
called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and
consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes."
The Pope got to hang out with Leonardo DiCaprio, an environmentalist,
and the United States Congress, where he enjoyed mixed applause as he
also called for the end the death penalty, more kindness to immigrants,
and better relations with Cuba...
- - -
It's possible the pope's climate message will have a long shelf life;
Haluza-DeLay noted that a papal encyclical released in the 1890s still
informs how the Church talks about labor relations today. But even if it
doesn't, Catholic influence isn't what it used to be. People without
adherence to any religion are the fastest-growing segment of the US
population, beating Catholics and evangelicals according to the latest
survey. Not coincidentally, they are also among those most likely to see
the environment as important, and environmental regulation as worthwhile.
"There will be a tipping point on climate change," Taylor said, most
likely as extreme weather forecasted by climate scientists gets worse.
"But it won't be religious people leading the charge."
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/pope-didnt-fix-climate-change
[Child and youth]
*8 Ways To Teach Climate Change In Almost Any Classroom
*April 25, 20199:11 AM ET*
*NPR/Ipsos conducted a national poll recently and found that more than 8
in 10 teachers -- and a similar majority of parents -- support teaching
kids about climate change.
But in reality, it's not always happening: Fewer than half of K-12
teachers told us that they talk about climate change with their children
or students. Again, parents were about the same.
The top reason that teachers gave in our poll for not covering climate
change? "It's not related to the subjects I teach," 65% said.
Most Teachers Don't Teach Climate Change; 4 In 5 Parents Wish They Did
Yet at the same time, we also heard from teachers and education
organizations who are introducing the topic in subjects from social
studies to math to English language arts, and at every grade level, from
preschool on up...*
*- -
The "reality of human-caused climate change" is mentioned in at least 36
state standards, according to an analysis done for NPR Ed by Glenn
Branch, the deputy director at the National Center for Science
Education. But it typically appears only briefly -- and most likely just
in earth science classes in middle and high school. And, Branch says,
that doesn't even mean that every student in those states learns about
it: Only two states require students to take earth or environmental
science classes to graduate from high school.
Joseph Henderson teaches in the environmental studies department at Paul
Smith's College in upstate New York. He studies how climate change is
taught in schools and believes it needs to be taught across many subjects...
- -
"I worry a lot about asking schools to solve yet another problem that
society refuses to deal with."
As a potential response to this criticism, the nonprofit Ten Strands
follows an "incremental infusion" model in California. In other words,
environmental literacy becomes part of subjects and activities that are
already in the curriculum instead of, the organization says, "burdening
educators" with another stand-alone and complex area to cover.
We also heard from teachers who say they are searching for more ideas
and resources to take on the topic of climate change. Here are some
thoughts about how to broach the subject with students, no matter what
subject you teach:
*1. Do a lab.*
Lab activities can be one of the most effective ways to show
children how global warming works on an accessible scale...
*2. Show a movie.*
Susan Fisher, a seventh-grade science teacher at South Woods Middle
School in Syosset, N.Y., showed her students the 2016 documentary
Before the Flood, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio journeying to five
continents and the Arctic to see the effects of climate change. "It
is our intention to make our students engaged citizens," Fisher says...
*3. Assign a novel.*
Rebecca Meyer is an eighth-grade English language arts teacher at
Bronx Park Middle School in New York City.
She assigned her students a 2013 novel by Mindy McGinnis called Not
a Drop to Drink...
Not A Drop To Drink belongs to a subgenre of science fiction known
as "cli-fi" (climate fiction) or sometimes eco-fiction. You can find
lists of similar books at websites like Dragonfly.eco or at the
Chicago Review of Books, which has a monthly Burning Worlds column
about this kind of literature.
*4. Do citizen science.*
Terry Reed is the self-proclaimed "science guru" for seventh-graders
at Prince David Kawananakoa Middle School in Honolulu. He has also
spent a year sailing the Caribbean, and on his way, he collected
water samples on behalf of a group called Adventure Scientists, to
be tested for microplastics. (Spoiler: Even on remote, pristine
beaches, all the samples had some.)...
*6. Talk about your personal experience.*
Pamela Tarango teaches third grade at the Downtown Elementary School
in Bakersfield, Calif. She tells her students about how the weather
has changed there in her lifetime, getting hotter and drier: "In our
Central Valley California city of Bakersfield, there has been a
change in the winter climate...
*7. Do a service project.*
"I teach preschoolers and use the environment and our natural
resources to highlight our everyday life," says Mercy Peña-Alevizos,
who teaches at Holy Trinity Academy in Phoenix. "I stress the
importance of appreciation and eliminating waste. My students
understand and have fantastic ideas. We recycle and pick up around
our neighborhood."..
*8. Start or work in a school garden.*
Mairs Ryan teaches science at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School
in San Diego. "The sixth-graders oversee the school garden, as well
as our vermin composting bin, christened the 'Worm Hotel'. The
garden is their lab and the students 'live and learn' soil carbon
sequestration and regenerative agriculture. Our school's compost bin
is evidence that alternatives exist to methane-producing landfills.
In looking for more solutions to reduce methane, students debate
food reuse practices around the world."...
After the publication of our climate poll story on Monday, we heard from
people all over the country with dozens more resources for climate
education.
More at -
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/25/716359470/eight-ways-to-teach-climate-change-in-almost-any-classroom
[radical positive activism - video https://youtu.be/qiG7_UX1Ci0]
*Sacred Earth Solar x Tiny House Warriors
*Sacred Earth Solar
https://sacredearth.solar/*
*
*This Day in Climate History - April 26, 1998 - from D.R. Tucker*
April 26, 1998: The New York Times reports on an effort by the American
Petroleum Institute to attack the Kyoto Protocol with lies about climate
science.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/26/us/industrial-group-plans-to-battle-climate-treaty.html
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
/Archive of Daily Global Warming News
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html>
/
https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote
/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe
<mailto:subscribe at theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request>
to news digest./
*** Privacy and Security:*This is a text-only mailing that carries no
images which may originate from remote servers. Text-only messages
provide greater privacy to the receiver and sender.
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for democratic
and election purposes and cannot be used for commercial purposes.
To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote
<mailto:contact at theclimate.vote> with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe,
subject: unsubscribe
Also you may subscribe/unsubscribe at
https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for
http://TheClimate.Vote <http://TheClimate.Vote/> delivering succinct
information for citizens and responsible governments of all levels. List
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously restricted to
this mailing list.
More information about the TheClimate.Vote
mailing list