[TheClimate.Vote] December 10, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*December 10, 2019*/

[Columbia University]
*Newly identified jet-stream pattern could imperil global food supplies, 
says study*
Scientists have identified systematic meanders in the globe-circling 
northern jet stream that have caused simultaneous crop-damaging heat 
waves in widely separated breadbasket regions-a previously unquantified 
threat to global food production that, they say, could worsen with 
global warming. The research shows that certain kinds of waves in the 
atmospheric circulation can become amplified and then lock in place for 
extended periods, triggering the concurrent heat waves. Affected parts 
of North America, Europe and Asia together produce a quarter of the 
world food supply. The study appears this week in the journal Nature 
Climate Change...
- - -
Because the earth's atmospheric circulation is so vast and complicated, 
only in recent years have scientists been able to pick out global 
patterns in the Rossby waves. The new study builds on previous 
discoveries of such patterns, and links them to measurable losses in 
crop production...
https://phys.org/news/2019-12-large-atmospheric-jet-stream-global.html

- - -

[Politico reports on Farmers waking up]
*How a closed-door meeting shows farmers are waking up on climate change*
Perdue, Vilsack and leading agricultural groups gathered in a Maryland 
barn to talk about the farm-country issue that dare not speak its name.
- - -
"They get it," he said in an interview. "What they don't have is a space 
to talk about it."

Russell leads a group called Interfaith Power & Light, which has been 
getting farmers together in small groups to talk about climate change in 
religious settings, an effort that's built a network of his fellow 
farmers who are comfortable speaking publicly about the issue.

When Russell invites farmers to come to these meetings, he doesn't shy 
away from using the term climate: "I say we're going to talk about 
climate action," he said. "I've had almost nobody turn me down. Almost 
to a person, I've had no one say I'm not interested -- part of that is 
no one is inviting them to this conversation."

Russell said he's been surprised at just how quickly the debate has gone 
mainstream this year. There's starting to be more attention given to how 
farmers are a key part of responding to climate change and much of the 
Democratic presidential field has now embraced the idea ahead of the 
Iowa caucuses. Several candidates, including the front runners in Iowa, 
have now formally backed paying farmers to adopt more climate-friendly 
practices as part of their platforms.

As the concept takes hold among Democrats, however, there's a deep 
desire to make the issue more bipartisan, to avoid the polarized framing 
that has plagued climate action for decades.

"It's not about turning people into Democrats," said Russell. "It's 
about building on-ramps. It's too important to leave it in political 
corners."
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/09/farmers-climate-change-074024



[Environment contains all]
*Global heating plus inequality is a recipe for chaos - just look at Chile*
Maisa Rojas is scientific coordinator for COP25
Mon 9 Dec 2019
Environmental protesters in Santiago, Chile. Their banner reads: 'From 
Santiago to Madrid, the world has woken up to the climate crisis.'

It's a grey winter day as I walk through the UN climate conference 
(known as COP25) in Madrid. The pavilions and rooms all have the names 
of cities, regions and rivers in Chile. They're especially familiar to 
me: as well as being scientific coordinator for COP25, I'm director of 
Chile's Centre for Climate and Resilience Research. It's all a stark 
reminder that we should be in Santiago.

But on 18 October 2019, the president of Chile declared a state of 
emergency and instituted a curfew to quell three days of public unrest 
that started because of an increase in metro fares. The outbreak of 
anger was summed up by the message, "This is not about 30 pesos, it is 
about 30 years", referring to discontent lasting three decades, which 
appeared on walls across the city and on social media. The protests 
ultimately led to COP25's move to Madrid.

  The good news is that addressing social issues alongside the climate 
crisis can generate powerful, long-lasting solutions
The movement they spawned continues to this day. Its demands are 
wide-ranging: better pensions, education, health, a minimum wage; but 
also water rights and action on environmental degradation. What they 
have in common is their roots in a profoundly unequal society that can 
be traced back to Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. The economic 
framework he instituted has hardly changed since the return of democracy 
in the 90s.

But why did this violence and rage explode so suddenly? Chile ranks as 
one of the most unequal countries among the OECD nations according to 
the Gini index (the most widely used measure of inequality). The latest 
survey by the Chilean government shows that the richest 10% of the 
Chilean population has 39 times more income than the poorest 10% - worse 
than it was in 2015.

The same survey shows that more than a million people live in poverty, 
almost 400,000 in extreme poverty. Not only that, more than half of 
workers earn less than 400,000 pesos (Pound Sterling 390) a month. To 
put that in context, the average monthly rent in Santiago is 300,000 pesos.

At first glance, other than disrupting a climate summit, this kind of 
social unrest doesn't seem to have much to do with the climate crisis. 
But look again.

We know that climate change acts as an amplifier of social inequality, 
disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable. Think for example 
about heatwaves, of which we saw several this year. The impacts of such 
extreme events are experienced very differently depending on whether you 
have access to air conditioning or whether you have a park or green 
space close by. The ability to recover from the impact of a tropical 
storm also depends on your access to insurance or finance, and to 
natural resources such as water.

In Chile, just a month before the social crisis exploded, we saw the 
first internal displacement as a result of the climate crisis. A 
10-year-long drought has resulted in many small-scale and subsistence 
animal farmers losing their livelihoods. In the same areas, competition 
for water is fierce between local people and agriculture, particularly 
avocado producers. So as the impacts of the climate crisis become more 
intense, we can expect more displacement and more unrest. Not just in 
Chile but around the world.

But it's not just the direct effects of climate change that have the 
potential to cause social instability. The way we respond to those 
effects - if done without care and consent - can threaten even more 
social turbulence.

In order to achieve the Paris Agreement goal - limiting warming to 1.5C 
- the global community needs transformations that are unprecedented in 
scale and scope. Only recently we heard from the UN that, to reach this 
target, the world needs to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases 
every year by about 7%. Part of the work that needs to be accomplished 
by this climate meeting and the next one, which will be held in Glasgow 
in 2020, is that countries must become much more ambitious about their 
commitments.

Can we implement these transformations without addressing all the other 
social challenges that our countries face? Clearly not. The Chilean 
crisis illustrates this very vividly, highlighting the great social, 
economic and environmental obstacles ahead of us. Climate emergency plus 
growing inequality is a recipe for chaos.

We can see what happens when those whose social demands have been 
ignored are asked to contribute to the climate effort: the gilets jaunes 
(yellow vests)movement in France grew up in response to rising fuel 
prices. Protests in Ecuador, over an end to fuel subsidies, brought the 
capital Quito to a standstill and forced the government to back down. 
These, along with events in Santiago, demonstrate that we need to pay 
attention to social and cultural impacts, too.

Addressing those problems might feel like adding even more complexity to 
an already uphill struggle. In the long run, however, only if social 
demands are met will ambitious and rapid climate action be feasible.

The good news is that addressing social issues alongside the climate 
crisis has the potential to generate powerful, long-lasting solutions. 
In Chile, one of the measures to achieve carbon neutrality is phasing 
out coal power plants. The closures come with a host of benefits, from 
better air quality to - eventually - cheaper energy. Those who work in 
the industry, however, are naturally concerned about their employment 
rights. If the government can support the community through the 
transition, they will emerge into a better, cleaner and safer future. In 
other words, making sure "no one is left behind" is key.

It is crucial that the connection between social and climate upheaval is 
made clear in Madrid - otherwise we will have lost the opportunity to 
learn that every crisis should bring. As the delegates walk to their 
negotiations, I hope the names they pass - of rivers, regions and cities 
of Chile - serve as a reminder.

Maisa Rojas is the scientific coordinator for the COP25 climate summit, 
director of Chile's Centre for Climate and Resilience Research, and a 
visiting professor at the Environmental Change Institute, University of 
Oxford
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/08/un-conference-global-heating-cop25-chile-madrid-climate-crisis



[ACEs = Adverse Childhood Experiences]
*Integrating Climate Traumas into ACEs Prevention with Bob Doppelt*
Nov 6, 2019
ACEs Connection
Bob Doppelt, Executive Director, The Resource Innovation Group, and 
Founder and Coordinator of the International Transformational Resilience 
Coalition (ITRC).

You will learn:
-how climate change creates personal, family, and community traumas and 
toxic stresses;
-how those traumatic stressors trigger feedbacks that expand and 
aggravate ACEs and many other person, social, community, and societal 
maladies;
-why current approaches are woefully inadequate to address what is 
already occurring and rapidly steaming toward us and why prevention is 
the only realistic solution;
-the framework for prevention we call Transformational Resilience that 
includes resilience education and skills-development focused on both 
Presencing and Purposing skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD2nkXneLao



[Nick Breeze video interview with youth from COP26]
*Interview: Fridays For Future spokesperson on climate panic*
Leonie Berners is based in Cologne studying the environment and energy, 
as well as being the Fridays For Future Spokesperson for Germany. Here 
at the COP she is speaking widely with indigenous peoples and pledging 
solidarity to all those around the world who are suffering because of 
the climate crisis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA8YLgzA7y4


[Anything with Palm Oil]
*Your favourite consumer brands are fuelling climate crisis*
SOME OF THE WORLD'S BEST KNOWN BRANDS ARE FUELLING CLIMATE CHANGE BY 
SOURCING PALM OIL AND WOOD PULP LINKED TO INDONESIAN FOREST FIRES, 
REVEALS NEW GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL ANALYSIS
This new analysis - based on the Indonesian government's methodology for 
estimating emissions related to peatland fires - is a stark reminder 
that these fires resulting from industrial activity are major 
contributors to the global climate emergency. Indonesia is the world's 
fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, much of it due to its 
peatland fires and ongoing deforestation mostly to produce cheap 
commodities such as palm oil.

On Forest Day at the Madrid Climate talks, people around the world will 
be horrified to learn of the damage the makers of Kit-Kats, Oreos, Head 
& Shoulders shampoo, Dove soap and Paseo tissue are doing to our climate...
- - -
Between 2015-2018, Unilever's suppliers were responsible for accumulated 
greenhouse gas emissions as a result of peatland fires on their 
Indonesian concessions, which were equivalent to 25% of the emissions 
produced by the Netherlands in a year, the data shows. Over the same 
2015-2018 period, Nestle's suppliers were responsible for more emissions 
than Switzerland produces in a year. In the same way, another major 
player, Mondelez,  is connected to emissions greater than New Zealand's 
annual emissions, while P&G's potential carbon liability is twice that 
of Norway's annual emissions.

Palm oil and pulp & paper traders are also linked to these emissions 
linked to fire over the same period: Wilmar, responsible for more than 
80% of Singapore's annual emissions; Cargill, more than Denmark's annual 
emissions;  and Musim Mas, 75% of Singapore's annual emissions. Sinar 
Mas Group's combined emissions from its companies Golden Agri Resources 
(GAR) and Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) are equivalent to nearly 3.5 times 
Singapore's annual emissions...
- - - -
The government of Indonesia needs to be more transparent and make 
concession data public so that ongoing deforestation and fires can 
clearly be linked to the companies responsible for those lands. 
Furthermore, the government should enforce its laws on peat protection, 
on responsibility for fires, as well as the moratorium on new 
concessions and other policies seeking to protect forests. This has not 
occurred effectively, creating a regulatory culture that allows 
continued peatland and forest destruction.

These companies, as well as the governments of countries where they are 
headquartered or have a significant presence, must take immediate action 
to break the link between commodities causing deforestation and fires, 
and  work to restore and conserve all forests and peatlands.
https://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/27817/__trashed



[Opinions in Ecological Economics]
*Economics for the future - Beyond the superorganism*
Author N.J.Hagens

Highlights
- We lack a cohesive map on how behavior, economy, and the environment 
interconnect.
- Global human society is functioning as an energy dissipating 
superorganism.
- Climate change is but one of many symptoms emergent from this growth 
dynamic.
- Culturally, this "Superorganism" doesn't need to be the destiny of 
Homo sapiens.
- A systems economics can inform the 'reconstruction' after financial 
recalibration.
- - -
A bunch of mildly clever, highly social apes broke into a cookie jar of 
fossil energy and have been throwing a party for the past 150 years. The 
conditions at the party are incompatible with the biophysical realities 
of the planet. The party is about over and when morning comes, radical 
changes to our way of living will be imposed. Some of the apes must 
sober up (before morning) and create a plan that the rest of the 
party-goers will agree to. But mildly clever, highly social apes neither 
easily nor voluntarily make radical changes to their ways of living. And 
so coffee and stimulants (credit, etc.) will be consumed during another 
lavish breakfast, but with the shades drawn. It's morning already.
It is likely that, in the not-too-distant future, the size, complexity, 
and (literal) `burn rate' of our civilization will be much reduced by 
forces other than human volition. This paper suggests that we will not 
plan for this outcome - but we could react to it with airbags, social 
cohesion, an ethos and prepared blueprints based on intelligent (and 
wise) foresight...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919310067?fbclid=IwAR1Dv7AkOIe0BbJ14EDKgjByh0s2-AXzbcmiDmsz-xBECNWSU-Q3ZVr2lk0#bib0260 



[Talking with the kids]
*Parenting in the age of 'eco-anxiety': Wildfire fears, and a deeper dread*
By Ariella Cook-Shonkoff
Dec. 5, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. PST
Before wildfires wreaked havoc on California this year, there was an 
eerie calm. The power company, in an effort to deter wildfires sparked 
by power lines, had just shut down electricity in millions of homes. 
Overnight, huge swaths of the state went dark. Before the lights went 
out in my family's home, I stood outside, sniffing the smoky air with 
trepidation, listening to tree branches snap in the wind and eyeing the 
hazy orange glow above the horizon. Despite previous excitement about a 
workshop in Oregon I'd planned to attend, I warily lowered myself into 
the driver's seat. It was difficult to leave my family behind with so 
many unknowns.

In the mental health field (of which I'm a part), some clinicians might 
say I was experiencing "eco-anxiety," and perhaps it's true. Across the 
globe, worry related to a changing and uncertain natural environment is 
clogging up our minds, bodies and news feeds. To be sure, there is real 
cause to worry. If we do not act quickly to combat climate change, our 
future looks exceedingly grim: climate-related deaths, mass migrations, 
environmental devastation, extinction of species. But, other than 
managing this anxiety to whatever extent possible, are there really any 
better options?

As a parent raising two young children in California, I'm struck by the 
peculiar, often unsettling contours of this particular moment: how 
families are readying evacuation kits, attempting to fit child-size 
masks, discussing air quality indexes with neighbors -- all while 
maintaining some semblance of ordinary life. At the root, a low-grade 
anxiety permeates. On the surface, we are resilient and functional.

This new "normal" can feel like a tightrope act at times, for both 
children and adults. As parents, we reckon not only with the frightening 
truth about what is happening to our planet but also with the gnawing 
uncertainty of our children's futures. As parents, we hope for the best 
for our children, even as they have been strapped to this supreme burden 
-- as if academic, social and economical pressures were not already 
enough. Although my oldest daughter is barely 5, I'm aware that 
navigating the what, when and how much to share with our kids about this 
crisis is just around the corner. Although excessive sharing can 
undermine kids' mental health, too little of it won't prepare them for 
the challenges of the future. These conversations won't be easy.

Climate-change anxiety is now a part of growing up. Pop culture has 
caught on.

In 2017, the climate crisis crept viscerally close to my home. Ash 
particles descended like snowflakes, and my husband and I fled town with 
our then-2-year-old, canceling her birthday party at the last minute and 
heading to a friend's home in the mountains. The following year, my 
husband, who works closely at the nexus of human health, climate and the 
environment, invested in air filters for our poorly insulated house. 
Some days later, informing me that air quality in the Bay Area was worse 
than in Beijing, he drove our 3-month-old to a friend's house on the 
northwest coast. For another day or two, I stuck it out with my older 
daughter, showing up at work as usual, trying to convince myself that 
everything would be okay if I just went through the motions. Eventually, 
we followed suit.

This year, at the start of what is now referred to by some as "wildfire 
season," we ran familiar scripts in preparing for the pending shut-off: 
Keep windows closed, gas up car, fill cooler with ice, plant flashlights 
in strategic locations. Even as it all grows increasingly familiar, I am 
more on edge than ever. One night, I paused before getting into bed and 
texted our neighbors to let them know I was home alone with the kids. I 
was comforted by their reply: "We are home and have food and water for 
three weeks, including enough for you guys." Over the course of two 
days, while both of my children were out, I finally organized an 
emergency kit in our basement, feeling hugely relieved, and infinitely 
more like a responsible adult. Instinctively, I didn't involve my 
children in this project, although I wasn't trying to hide the kits, 
either. When my 5-year-old asked me later about the large bins in the 
basement, I simply explained that they were supplies "just in case there 
is ever an emergency and we need to leave quickly."

"Like the people who lost their homes in the fire?" she asked. I nodded.

The day I left my kids behind to set out on my trip, I felt nervous and 
guilty. How could I put distance between us if there was a risk of a 
wildfire breaking out -- one that might harm or separate us? By 
reminding myself that there were no actual fires yet and that "public 
safety power shut-offs" were a preemptive measure, I could finally push 
off. Driving north on Highway 5, I passed by the town of Paradise, the 
site of last year's devastating blaze, which stole 88 lives, 11,000 
homes and more than 150,000 acres. Observing the scarred remains of 
forests with my own eyes -- rather than in print or on a screen -- was 
sobering. The sense of freedom I'd previously experienced on road trips 
wrestled with the gravity of the moment.

My time away was blissfully uneventful. On my drive home, a pink sunset 
streaked across the flat horizon, dividing sky and land. When I walked 
through the door, the lights were on. But the following night, we went 
black. In the morning, I tried to ignore the tightness in my chest while 
scrambling eggs for my daughters, packing a unicorn lunchbox, velcroing 
sneakers and dropping the girls off at school in a state of anxious 
anticipation -- an odd juncture of the mundane and the apocalyptic. I'm 
not sure if my kids pick up on my anxiety, which tends to peak at night, 
after they are in bed and I have time to read the news and reflect.

In "Simplicity Parenting," Kim John Payne offers "filtering out the 
adult world" as a strategy for nurturing young children. This resonates 
with me, although I also sense I'm on the brink of entering into a new 
phase with my oldest daughter, who is growing ever more curious, alert 
and resilient.

One night, despite the blackout, my husband and I set out on foot for a 
date night. Passing by street after darkened street, we descended a hill 
until crossing a power shut-off threshold. Lights suddenly flooded the 
darkness in the commercial zone. Restaurants and bars were open, and 
people sat together at tables, somehow rollicking with laughter. We 
could almost forget the wildfires. Almost.

"So what is our plan if we need to evacuate?" I asked. "We need to have 
one."

"Well," my husband said, "it depends on where the fire is. We need 
context. That will inform where we go."

"Shouldn't we just fly out of here for a week until things calm down?" I 
persisted. "I can book a flight, and we can always cancel within 24 hours."

In that moment, amid the eerie revelry of the bar, I realized how this 
sounded a tad extreme.

In the end, we stayed. Despite fires hemming us in on either side, they 
hadn't advanced in our direction, air quality was reasonably safe and we 
had power again. But the prospect of dealing with this uncertainty every 
year has raised questions about our family's future. Should we stay and 
accept this as part of normal life? Or is it time to stop rolling the 
dice each year and hoping for the best? As an East Coast transplant, I 
can imagine living more comfortably in pockets of the country less 
compromised by climate change. Even my husband, who is more deeply 
entrenched in this community, is open to discussion.

Meanwhile, I'm not convinced that eco-anxiety is our enemy. When I 
startle in the middle of the night, I feel rooted to mammalian impulses, 
which is both humbling and significant at this time in history. If, as 
research suggests, some anxiety can actually benefit us by motivating us 
to act, could eco-anxiety be similarly adaptive? When people do not 
appear fazed or think it can't possibly happen to them or that they are 
somehow immune, I find it deeply troubling. A bell is tolling, reminding 
us we should be alarmed.

As my daughters become more aware of the crisis we are living in, it is 
my hope that they will find ways to remain alert, engaged and balanced, 
while not slipping into panic. Learning to live with and manage anxiety 
-- which is intrinsic to the human condition -- is an important skill 
for kids to cultivate, after all. I consider it my responsibility, as 
their parent, to help build this type of resilience.

One night, the power outage in effect, I sat playing card games with my 
5-year-old by flashlight. I had shared with her how, as a child, I used 
to play card games with my parents when the lights went out. She wanted 
to do the same. The next morning, my daughter rolled out of bed and 
cheerfully declared: "I wasn't even afraid of the dark. Wanna know why? 
Because I had my eyes closed." For just a moment longer, I say, let hers 
be closed and mine open. Her time will come -- far sooner than I would like.

Ariella Cook-Shonkoff is a licensed psychotherapist, art therapist and 
freelance writer, and lives with her husband and two daughters in the 
San Francisco Bay area.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/12/05/parenting-age-eco-anxiety-wildfire-fears-deeper-dread/



[ Christ child creshe controversy climate conundrum continues]
*Dedham church back in spotlight with another controversial Nativity scene*
DEDHAM, Mass. --
For the third straight year, the Nativity scene at a Catholic church in 
Massachusetts has taken on a political theme.

St. Susanna Parish in Dedham has unveiled its latest Nativity scene, 
which is centered on the issue of climate change.

The infant Jesus is depicted as floating on water that is filled with 
plastic bottles. He is also cradling a glob. Meanwhile, the shepherd's 
flock and the three wise men are drowning in the water.

Posted above the Nativity is the following message: "God so loved the 
world...will we?"

Fr. Stephen Josoma and his volunteer parishioners said the latest 
Nativity scene is not a political statement.

"I'm not sure if we're politicizing it; we're just painting an accurate 
picture of what the world is like this day," Josoma said.

Last year, the Nativity scene depicted immigration issues, putting Jesus 
in a cage and separating him from his parents.

In 2017, the church depicted some of the deadliest mass shootings in 
American history with its Nativity scene.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/saint-susanna-parish-in-dedham-back-in-spotlight-with-another-controversial-nativity-scene/30175115?src=app


*This Day in Climate History - December 10, 1997 - from D.R. Tucker*

President Clinton hails the progress UN negotiators have made regarding 
the Kyoto Protocol in brief remarks at JFK Airport in New York.

http://youtu.be/Ibl63YlTtI4

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