[TheClimate.Vote] February 8, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/February 8, 2019/


[The Climate Mobilization]
*Green New Deal is a Breakthrough*
THE GREEN NEW DEAL RESOLUTION SETS A NEW STANDARD FOR THE CLIMATE 
MOVEMENT AND FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.
https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/green-new-deal-is-a-breakthrough
-
[Congress ties the Gordian Knot]
*As Congress Launches Month of Climate Hearings, GOP Bashes Green New Deal*
In their first House committee hearings since taking control, Democrats 
stressed the urgency of action on climate change. They still face long odds.
By Nicholas Kusnetz , John H. Cushman Jr.
With Democrats now in charge, two key committees in the U.S. House of 
Representatives used their first hearings of the year on Wednesday to 
press for more vigorous action on climate change, despite the political 
and practical hurdles.
Democrats and their witnesses, including governors, policy experts and 
scientists, argued that time is alarmingly short. But it became clear 
over the hours that if the stakes are high, the odds are long.
- - -
In the simultaneous hearings, the minority Republicans seized the moment 
to bash the so-called Green New Deal, a legislative platform that has 
been embraced by brash new Congress members as well as seasoned climate 
hawks. It seeks a rapid, wholesale transformation to a zero-carbon 
economy that would also be prosperous and equitable...
- - -
Climate Solutions in an Infrastructure Bill?
But the hearings were less significant for what the witnesses said than 
as a way to compare the ebullience of the Democrats for action with the 
disposition of many Republicans, which tended between phlegmatic and 
choleric.
With the Senate and the White House held by Republicans, what House 
Democrats can achieve is less likely to be a law ushering in a new era 
than a platform for the next election.
The most plausible exception is the possibility that climate policy 
could inform a big bill on infrastructure, which might include upgrades 
to the electrical grid or other features that everyone can accept.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06022019/house-climate-change-hearings-democrats-green-new-deal-infrastructure-bill


[Australia and Chile weather video talk]
*Mayhem Down Under: Atacama Desert Waterfall; Argentinian Heatwaves; 
Tasmanian Dry Lightning Fires*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Feb 7, 2019
Climate Mayhem is hitting many regions in the Southern Hemisphere. A 
misconception is that the bottom of the planet is more immune from rapid 
climate disruption due to its remoteness from the Arctic. Even many 1 
Percenters and 0.1 Percenters are confused, and preparing Bug-Out places 
in New Zealand; they are sadly mistaken. I discuss torrential rains and 
waterfalls in the Atacama Desert in Chile (driest Desert in world); 
heatwaves at the Southern tip of Argentina, and unprecedented wildfires 
from “dry lightning” in old-growth pristine forests in Tasmania.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x3basr-wAQ


[Communicating Climate Change]
*How to Talk About Hard Sh**...........(aka Climate Change)*
Talking about climate change is hard. Not talking about climate change 
is easy. But if we want to keep our planet livable then we have to do 
the hard thing and not the easy thing. But how do we do the hard thing? 
I asked some of my favorite creator friends to help me figure that out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ciz1TEXjI



[Go, go Ocasio]
*Open Letter to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez*
Posted on February 7, 2019
Dear Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez,
I know you represent the 14th district of New York, and that tending to 
their needs and hopes is your first responsibility.
But I want you to know, you represent me too.
You represent all who are disgusted with racial prejudice, with all 
sorts of prejudice, tearing us apart while the president of the United 
States fans the flames of racial fear.
You represent everyone who is sick of people working hard all their 
lives, with poverty their only reward.
You speak for us who are ashamed of how the United States responded when 
its own citizens in Puerto Rico were devastated by hurricane Maria. Let 
no politican dare ever say, that the U.S. has nothing to apologize for.
You represent us who see how much suffering and pain is coming — is 
already here — with climate change.
You are so much more than the vote of the 14th district of New York. You 
are the voice of America’s conscience. Be, for us, for all of us, the 
living proof that one may hold power, and still speak truth to power.
https://tamino.wordpress.com/2019/02/07/open-letter-to-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/
- -
[AOC]
*Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez on Climate Change*
Published on Feb 7, 2019
AOC is one of the newest acronyms to sweep through the world. It's the 
initials of one of the most remarkable young political leaders in the 
world, Alexandre Ocasio-Cortez.  Here is a brief but powerful statement 
she made on the occasions of Martin Luther King's birthday in January 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x3basr-wAQ


[Alleviating methane panic]
*Interview (excerpts) with Carolyn Ruppel, PhD, Chief, USGS Gas Hydrates 
Project, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center. *
In this video, Ruppel explains the fundamentals of methane hydrates, 
where they are concentrated, and why. The areas of greatest concern are 
in the Arctic continental shelf, which during the last glaciation, when 
sea level was lower, were vast northern permafrost grasslands. This 
“Serengeti of the North,” as climate scientist Ben Abbott of Brigham 
Young University has called it, helped lay down massive layers of 
vegetation and living remains, now frozen in permafrost.  And in that 
frozen permafrost are isolated deposits of methane hydrate, a potent 
greenhouse gas.
*Carolyn Ruppel PhD on Methane Hydrates - Part 1*
As the glaciers retreated as a result of changes in Earth’s orbit, 
oceans rose and flooded large areas of permafrost coastal plain, forming 
an extended Arctic Ocean shelf. In that shelf area, relatively warm 
ocean waters may cause those hydrates to break down.
Ruppel explains, however, that because hydrates can concentrate only in 
certain types of soils, they are not as widespread as some people 
believe, and huge methane releases from hydrates have not been confirmed 
in these areas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ex6tySBQc
- -
*P**art 2*
In this video, Ruppel discusses newly described areas in the Barents Sea 
where pockmarks have been discovered on the sea floor. These may be 
indications of methane releases from deposits that formed under an ice 
sheet that covered the area during the glacial maximum. “That is a new 
environment,” Ruppel says, “but that doesn’t mean we need to panic about 
the amount of methane that’s coming out.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_IA6aoHpN8
- - -
*Part 3*
In this third video, Ruppel explains that deposits of methane hydrate in 
the Arctic typically coincide with areas of conventional oil and gas 
deposits, and leaks from those deposits may be the source of the hydrate 
deposits. “They are not ubiquitous,” she says, “and the amount may not 
be as large as people might think it is.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVENQ776jbM
- - -
*Part 4*
Ruppel here explains that ocean waters are under-saturated with methane, 
meaning that for releases from waters more than 100 meters deep, methane 
tends to be absorbed in the water column before reaching the surface. 
“It’s not a freight train that this methane is going to wind up directly 
in the atmosphere.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4P8UHKrV54
- -
*Part 5*
Ruppel here discusses what she calls a common “misconception” involving 
the risk of a “catastrophic trigger” of methane releases. The 
thermodynamic properties of methane hydrate render that fear “not a 
scientifically sound worry,” she says. “That is simply not how these 
deposits can function thermodynamically.” She explains that the reaction 
that releases methane is “endothermic.” The significance of that, she 
says, is that the methane absorbs heat from the surroundings, and the 
methane “keeps shutting itself down.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbfl7f7rjtU
-- - -
*Part 6*
Here Ruppel points out that “methane seepage is not new … in geophysics, 
the tools have changed quite a bit in the last decade … you can actually 
do this with your fish finder. Go out on a lake, turn your fish finder 
on, and you may find methane coming out. We have the tools to routinely 
image the water column, and that is why we are finding methane coming 
out everywhere.”
“It would be inappropriate for us to portray them as new, just started 
happening,” she advises.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnwZbopIlpY
- -
See the entire list at 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtZdUYUZr493AUh_EInBYxQ


[fundamentals of understanding the IPCC - the only internationally 
trusted source for climate change]
*The IPCC: Who Are They and Why Do Their Climate Reports Matter?*
Overview
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 
1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United 
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess climate change based on 
the latest science.

Through the IPCC, thousands of experts from around the world synthesize 
the most recent developments in climate science, adaptation, 
vulnerability, and mitigation every five to seven years. Governments 
request these reports through the intergovernmental process and the 
content is deliberately policy-relevant, but steers clear of any 
policy-prescriptive statements.  Government representatives work with 
experts to produce the "summary for policymakers" (SPM) that highlights 
the most critical developments in language accesible to the world's 
political leaders. Scholars, academics and students can dig into the 
chapters and supplementary materials for a thorough and deeper 
understanding of the evidence.

The IPCC has issued comprehensive assessments in 1990, 1996, 2001, 2007 
and 2013, methodology reports, technical papers, and periodic special 
reports assessing specific impacts of climate change (the latest ones in 
the works: oceans and ice cover, land degradation, impacts of 1.5°C 
warming)...
- -
Contributing authors help write specific sections, contribute specific 
data, or represent particular perspectives. Though lead authors 
typically solicit such contributions, scientists are also encouraged, 
both individually and by their countries, to become contributing authors 
by submitting relevant material directly to the working group’s chairs. ...
https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/ipcc-backgrounder.html#.XFfTUlxKguU
- - -
[influencing the IPCC]
*How ExxonMobil had an IPCC chairman fired*
https://theecologist.org/2018/oct/12/how-exxonmobil-had-ipcc-chairman-fired
- - -
[Conflict of interest letter - Exxon and Aramco have seat on the IPCC]
To:  IPCC Chair, Dr. Hoesung Lee
IPCC Bureau
*Re: Conflicts of interest of authors on the IPCC Special Report on the 
impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels*
April 27, 2017

    Dear IPCC Chair and IPCC Bureau Members,
    We, the undersigned organizations, are active in the international
    climate negotiations and
    climate discussions at national, regional and/or international
    levels. We are writing to express
    our deepest concern that senior employees of two major oil companies
    (ExxonMobil and Saudi
    Aramco) are included among the authors for the IPCC Special Report
    on the impacts of global
    warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global
    greenhouse gas emission
    pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the
    threat of climate change,
    sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.
    As you well know, the role of the IPCC, as stated in paragraph 2 of
    the Principles Governing IPCC
    Work, is to assess, on a comprehensive, objective, open and
    transparent basis, the scientific,
    technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding
    the scientific basis of risk of
    human-induced climate change, its potential impacts, and options for
    adaptation and mitigation.
    Despite the important work the IPCC does to inform policy makers of
    the now-overwhelming
    scientific evidence of human-induced climate change, the climate
    crisis is deepening.
    The delayed and inadequate responses to this crisis can be
    attributed in part to lobbying by
    businesses with vested interests in the fossil-fuel-driven economy.
    Disturbingly, the role of
    business has gone beyond mere lobbying: to delay urgently-needed
    climate action, several
    companies have financed climate change skepticism and denial. This
    is well documented and the
    subject of multiple judicial investigations.
    The two aforementioned companies are the second- and third-largest
    corporate emitters of
    greenhouse gases worldwide.1 They bear a large part of the
    responsibility for causing climate
    change, along with 88 other major oil, energy and cement companies,
    which together are
    responsible for two thirds of the cumulative historical CO2 and CH4
    emissions since 1854.
    Moreover, the Exxon staff member selected, Dr. Haroon S. Kheshgi,
    has been a leading
    proponent of controversial climate geoengineering proposals since
    1995, including carbon
    capture and storage (CCS) strategies. Exxon holds the most patents
    related to CCS and other
    sequestration methods of any company, and on its website, publicly
    declares an interest in one
    quarter of existing global CCS facilities....
    - -
    The IPCC needs to maintain a broad and balanced approach to
    highlighting the necessary
    conditions to enhance real pathways to stay below 1.5°C, including:
    peasant and agroecological food systems;
    public transportation; ecologically-sound and locally-controlled
    renewable energy sources; and ecosystem protection and restoration,
    among many other
    proven and effective solutions. We therefore request the IPCC to
    reconsider the selection of
    authors, both for this and all upcoming reports, to ensure that no
    conflict of interest exists, and
    that multiple disciplines, regions and viewpoints are included.

more at - 
http://klima-der-gerechtigkeit.de/files/2017/04/IPCC-Conflict-of-Interest-letter.pdf



[Dr Lise Van Susteren]
*#ClimateFacts: How Climate Impacts Mental Health*
The YEARS Project
Published on Feb 4, 2019
In the aftermath of a climate disaster, survivors may recover physically 
but the mental health impacts can last for years to come. Psychiatrist 
Lise Van Susteren explains “solastalgia” and other aspects of climate 
anxiety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXsrIa5UnHo&feature=youtu.be


[Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970 - video clipped to statement on our 
necessary future]
*A Conversation with Bertrand Russell (1952)*
Manufacturing Intellect
Published on Jul 13, 2018
Romney Wheeler interviews British philosopher, logician, mathematician, 
historian, and social critic Bertrand Russell at Russell's home in 
Surrey, England.

    Well I think there are three things that are needed if the world is
    to adapt itself to the Industrial Revolution:
    The troubles we are suffering now, are essentially troubles due to
    adapting ourselves to a new phase of human life,
    namely the industrial phase.
    I think three things are necessary if people are to live happily in
    the industrial phase:
    *One of these is world government. **
    **The second is an approximate economic equality between different
    parts of the world, **
    **And the third is a nearly stationary population...*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb3k6tB-Or8&feature=youtu.be&t=1178
[What he knew in 1952]


*This Day in Climate History - February 8, 2014 - from   D.R. Tucker*
February 8, 2014:
On MSNBC's "Craig Melvin," NASA climatologist Gavin Schmidt discusses 
the consequences of extreme winter weather.
http://www.msnbc.com/craig-melvin/watch/how-winter-is-testing-weak-infrastructure-142984259576# 


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