[TheClimate.Vote] January 11, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/January 11, 2019/

[average is 18%, current peak is 22.8]
*ASU engineers break solar cell record*
Institute Press Releases
School of Sustainability News - January 3, 2019
Thanks to Arizona State University researchers, solar cells are becoming 
more and more efficient. Improving solar cell efficiency brings down the 
cost of solar electricity, which allows this source of renewable energy 
to become a viable option for more people.
Recently, Senior Sustainability Scientist Zachary Holman and Assistant 
Research Professor Zhengshan "Jason" Yu in ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools 
of Engineering broke their own world-record efficiency percentage by 
creating a tandem solar cell stacked with perovskite and silicon that is 
25.4 percent efficient...The team estimates they'll be nearing 30 
percent tandem efficiency within two years.
https://sustainability.asu.edu/news/archive/asu-engineers-break-solar-cell-record/


[about that fracking gas]
*Fracked Shale Oil Wells Drying Up Faster than Predicted, Wall Street 
Journal Finds*
By Sharon Kelly - January 10, 2019
In 2015, Pioneer Natural Resources filed a report with the federal 
Securities and Exchange Commission, in which the shale drilling and 
fracking company said that it was "drilling the most productive wells in 
the Eagle Ford Shale" in Texas.
- - -
Three years later, The Wall Street Journal checked the numbers, 
investigating how those massive wells are turning out for Pioneer.
Turns out, not so well. And Pioneer is not alone.

Those 1.3 million-barrel wells, the Journal reported, "now appear to be 
on a pace to produce about 482,000 barrels" apiece -- a little over a 
third of what Pioneer told investors they could deliver.
- - -
Not only are the wells already drying up at a much faster rate than the 
company predicted, according to the Journal's investigative report, but 
Pioneer's projections require oil to flow for at least 50 years after 
the well was drilled and fracked -- a projection experts told the 
Journal would be "extremely optimistic."

Fracking every one of those wells required a vast amount of chemicals, 
sand, and water. In Karnes County, Texas, one of the two Eagle Ford 
counties where Pioneer concentrated its drilling in 2015, the average 
round of fracking that year drank up roughly 143,000 barrels of water 
per well...
https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/01/10/fracking-shale-oil-wells-drying-faster-predicted-wall-street-journal
- - - -
[Also in Texas..]
*Dozens of Texas scientists send letter to Gov. Greg Abbott offering to 
brief him on climate change*
Twenty-seven climate scientists, researchers and professors from Texas 
universities sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday requesting to 
the opportunity to brief him on climate science and what Texas needs to 
do to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

The offer comes less than a month after the governor told a reporter it 
was "impossible" for him to say whether man-made climate change has 
affected weather disasters in Texas because he's "not a scientist."

The letter cites the governor's comments at a news conference following 
a report on Hurricane Harvey with several recommendations for the Lone 
Star State to protect itself from another major hurricane.

"We, the undersigned, are climate scientists and experts, and can report 
to you that climate change is happening, it is primarily caused by 
humans, and it is having a devastating impact on Texas, including 
increasing deadly flooding resulting from Hurricane Harvey," the letter 
says...
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/climate-change-1/2019/01/09/dozens-texas-scientists-send-letter-gov-greg-abbott-offering-brief-climate-change


[Climate Liability News]
*Oregon Court Again Dismisses State-Level Youth Climate Case*
An Oregon court has ruled that the state is not required to protect 
public trust resources from the effects of climate change, a defeat for 
two young plaintiffs who had sued the state under the common law public 
trust doctrine.

The ruling, issued by the Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday, upholds 
a lower court's decision that the state is only required not to sell its 
public resources and that the only lands included in the public trust 
are submerged and submersible lands. The appeals court declined to rule 
on which other natural resources are part of the public trust.

"This means, for example, that while the State of Oregon may not 
transfer the Williamette River to a private entity, the state has no 
duty to protect the river from polluters, even though such contamination 
would kill all the fish and make it impossible to recreate," said Liam 
Sherlock, counsel for the plaintiffs.

In the suit, Chernaik v. Brown, Ollie Chernaik, now 18, and Kelsey 
Juliana, who is now 22 and also a plaintiff in the landmark federal 
climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, asked the state of Oregon to 
declare the atmosphere, water resources, navigable waters, submerged and 
submersible lands, islands, shorelands, coastal areas, wildlife and fish 
as public trust resources that must be protected by the state.

They also alleged the state had failed to protect those resources from 
the effects of climate change and asked the state to implement a plan to 
cut its carbon dioxide emissions, which would help stabilize the global 
climate.

The state argued that the suit contained political questions over which 
the court did not have jurisdiction, contending that climate 
change-related matters should be left to the legislative and executive 
branches. That argument convinced Lane County Circuit Court Judge 
Karsten Rasmussen to dismiss the case in 2012.

Chernaik and Juliana appealed and the Oregon Court of Appeals in 2014 
reversed Rasmussen's decision. The Appeals court said the trial court 
must decide whether the atmosphere is a public trust resource that the 
state of Oregon has a duty to protect and if so, what the state must do 
to protect it and other resources from the effects of climate change.
- - -
"The court's decision is a real abdication of the authority and the 
trustee obligation of the state and it strips citizens of really 
important rights," Olson said at a live-streamed press conference.
- -
"For almost a decade I have been part of this case and I am upset that 
it has taken us so long to move through the courthouse on an issue that 
will not wait," Chernaik said. "I am upset that the government won't 
preserve all of our resources for future generations."
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2019/01/10/oregon-state-youth-climate-juliana/
- - -
[view the video]
Our Children's Trust Press conference by Oregon lawyers
https://www.facebook.com/youthvgov/videos/133921934227652/


[Faster than expected has been the catchphrase of scientists]
*Ocean Warming Is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds*
By Kendra Pierre-Louis - Jan. 10, 2019
Scientists say the world's oceans are warming far more quickly than 
previously thought, a finding with dire implications for climate change 
because almost all the excess heat absorbed by the planet ends up stored 
in their waters.

A new analysis, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that 
the oceans are heating up 40 percent faster on average than a United 
Nations panel estimated five years ago. The researchers also concluded 
that ocean temperatures have broken records for several straight years.

"2018 is going to be the warmest year on record for the Earth's oceans," 
said Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst at the independent 
climate research group Berkeley Earth and an author of the study. "As 
2017 was the warmest year, and 2016 was the warmest year."

As the planet has warmed, the oceans have provided a critical buffer. 
They have slowed the effects of climate change by absorbing 93 percent 
of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases humans pump into the 
atmosphere...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/climate/ocean-warming-climate-change.html


[From a different perspective - France]
*Trump taps former coal lobbyist to lead EPA*
Agence France-Presse  Jan 10 2019
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday formally nominated Andrew 
Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, to lead the Environmental 
Protection Agency.
The nomination of Wheeler, who is currently the acting EPA chief, 
requires Senate confirmation.
Wheeler, 54, has been the interim agency administrator since Scott 
Pruitt resigned in July amid a flurry of ethics scandals, including over 
excessive spending of federal funds while in office.

If confirmed, Wheeler is expected to pursue Trump's agenda of rolling 
back environmental regulations put in place by the Republican leader's 
predecessor Barack Obama.
Among the measures taken under Trump are the scrapping of anti-pollution 
rules for coal-fired power plants and the launch of a procedure to 
soften emissions standards for cars after 2025.
That makes Wheeler a popular choice for the energy industry itself -- 
and a disastrous candidate for environmental activists.

"Putting a coal lobbyist like Andrew Wheeler in charge of the EPA is 
like giving a thief the keys to a bank vault," the Sierra Club, a top 
environmental defense group, said in November.

"He should be swiftly rejected by any senator who cares about protecting 
the health of their constituents."
In November, Trump had vowed to push Wheeler's nomination forward, 
saying he was doing a "fantastic job" as acting EPA chief.
The EPA is also looking to roll back clean water rules protecting the 
nation's waterways and wetlands, fulfilling a pledge from Trump to farmers.

The agency has also proposed looser restrictions on mercury and other 
toxic air pollutants from power plants.

All of these measures will take years to implement. Deregulation is just 
as time-consuming as instituting regulations. And some of the EPA 
proposals have been met with court action designed to block them.
Wheeler, 54, launched his career at the EPA as a lawyer, before heading 
to Congress as a Senate staffer. As a lobbyist, he represented coal 
producers, as well as companies in the chemical and uranium industries.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/10/19/trump-taps-former-coal-lobbyist-to-lead-epa



[see how far we have come]
*How wide is the field? Gestalt therapy, capitalism and the natural world*
Steffi Bednarek posted January 10, 2019
Abstract: A recent UN report has warned that we are heading for an 
unprecedented global
crisis if we do not radically change our ways. Climate change is no 
longer a hypothetical
argument but a reality that threatens the existence of human and 
other-than-human life on
the planet. With that information in mind, can we afford to keep 
practising psychotherapy
with a focus on the individual and their personal needs, or do we need 
to radically question
the role of psychotherapy in its lack of relationship to the 
more-than-human world? This
article investigates where aspects of Gestalt psychotherapy may be too 
closely aligned
with the capitalist paradigm, that risks costing us the Earth. I argue 
that we need to widen
our notion of what is part of the field. I reflect on our theory in 
relation to anthropocentrism,
individuality, materiality, privatisation, growth, progress and the lack 
of a cosmological
perspective. This is by no means an exhaustive overview but an attempt 
to open the
conversation.
Keywords: capitalism, complex systems, 'more-than-human world', 
anthropocentrism,
individuality, materialism, systemic change, mythology, cosmology.
- - -
We seem to have become so inflated with our sense
of ourselves as a species that we cannot see our actual
dependence on that which we are destroying.
- - -
When it comes to transitioning out of the deep
rupture we have torn between us and the world, there
are no rules, no maps and hardly any elders to look to.
We need to decide where to steer the boat, and so it is
up to us to step out of our comfort zones and act in
service of something that is greater than us.
When alarm bells are repeatedly ignored, the
only way to wake up is through crisis. Is that where
we are heading? Some people suggest that we are at
the beginning of a major paradigm shift – a time of
transition between the world as we have known it and
a new world that we cannot know yet. In such a time it
is easy to feel disheartened and to dismiss what we have
to contribute.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a teacher of mine, reminds
us that:
Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at
once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the
world that is within our reach … It is not given to
us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the
critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What
is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of
acts, adding, adding to, adding more … When a great
ship is in harbour and moored, it is safe, there can be
no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.
http://www.psychotherapyinbrighton.com/blogpost.php?permalink=how-wide-is-the-field-gestalt-therapy-capitalism-and-the-natural-world



[or stay still and the world moves around you]
*How soon will climate change force you to move?*
Across the country, far more people are in danger of becoming climate 
refugees than you might think.
BY ADELE PETERS - 1.08.19
Early in the morning of November 8 in Paradise, California, Mark Mesku 
got a call from his daughter. "She said, 'Dad, you got to get out. The 
whole town's on fire.'" Mesku looked outside, saw the sky filled with 
smoke, and shouted for his wife. After grabbing a few belongings, they 
got in their cars. "Three hours of pure darkness is what it took us to 
get out from our home," he says. "The sky was pure black, except for the 
trees and cars that were burning up and exploding right next to us." 
When they got to the main road–the only route out of Paradise–the other 
cars wouldn't let them merge into traffic. Mesku had to force his truck 
onto the road, and let his wife merge in front. They later learned that 
cars behind them on the side road had burned.

They survived, and during the exodus Mesku even managed to rescue a 
woman whose car caught on fire. But their house was destroyed, and their 
neighbors were killed in the fire. Emotionally, Mesku says, he and his 
wife can't go back to Paradise, where they had lived for 15 years. "I 
look at it as a graveyard," he says. It also isn't practical to go back 
now. The toxic aftermath of the fire will take time to clean up. The 
town's infrastructure is gone, and with roughly 14,000 homes destroyed, 
so is the tax base. Mesku's business, a dental lab, was destroyed, and 
the dentists that he worked with no longer have patients. Even the trees 
in his yard–40 massive Ponderosa pines–present an insurmountable 
obstacle, because taking down each damaged tree would cost $2,000 
apiece, totaling more than the value of the land. Mesku and his wife had 
to move. In late December, they found a home in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

The fire that destroyed Paradise was the most destructive in California 
history. But it's an example of the kind of event that is becoming more 
likely as climate change intensifies disasters. And the Mesku family's 
move is an example of the kind of forced relocation that will also 
become more common in the wake of hurricanes, wildfires, or 
slower-moving disasters like sea level rise...
- - -
The risk is not the same everywhere. In the U.S., "Florida will have, by 
far, the most climate refugees," says Orrin Pilkey, a professor emeritus 
at Duke University and author of an upcoming book about the consequences 
of sea level rise in America. In Miami Beach, where parts of the city 
already regularly flood when tides are high, nearly 60% of the city 
could face chronic flooding by 2060, according to a recent study from 
the Union of Concerned Scientists, if emissions continue at the current 
rate. By 2100, more than 90% of the city could be in the "chronic 
inundation" zone, or underwater at least 26 times a year...
-- - -
For those who can leave, no destination is immune from the effects of 
climate change. Some parts of the U.S. will be hardest hit economically, 
particularly the Southeast, but the whole country is beginning to see 
negative impacts. In the Albuquerque area, where the Mesku family moved, 
the risk of severe drought is increasing. In the Pacific Northwest, a 
region that is often cited as one of the places that will be less 
impacted by global warming, wildfires are incurring record costs and 
smoke is starting to impact local economies. In Seattle, where most 
people don't have air conditioning, there was a record-breaking heat 
wave in 2017 and again in 2018. In Madison, Wisconsin, record rainfall, 
a problem that is also linked to climate change, caused widespread 
flooding in August 2018. In Maine, as the ocean warms and acidifies, 
fisheries and the lobster industry could collapse. In Canada, a heat 
wave in Quebec in July 2018 was linked to more than 90 deaths. San 
Francisco hit a record 106 degrees in September and then in November 
went through 13 days of dangerous air quality as smoke from the Camp 
Fire blew into the area. As many as 13,000 properties in the Bay Area 
are at risk of chronic flooding by 2045...
https://www.fastcompany.com/90288934/how-soon-will-climate-change-force-you-to-move

- - -

[quest for safety]
*CLIMATE CHANGE REFUGEES SHARE STORIES OF ESCAPING WILDFIRES, FLOODS, 
AND DROUGHTS*
Alleen Brown
December 29 2018
TENS OF THOUSANDS of U.S. residents were displaced by climate 
change-fueled disasters in 2018. California saw a string of massive 
wildfires -- from the Mendocino Complex in July, which became the 
state's largest wildfire on record, to the Camp fire in November, which 
was the deadliest. Meanwhile, Hurricane Florence, the second rainiest 
storm in 70 years of U.S. record-keeping, was quickly forgotten as 
Hurricane Michael slammed into the Gulf Coast, the third strongest ever 
to make landfall in the U.S.

The survivors of the disasters have resorted to camping in tents in 
retail parking lots, sleeping on friends' couches, parking trailers on 
the lawns of their destroyed homes, or renting overpriced apartments in 
communities where housing has become increasingly scarce. Safety nets 
like flood and fire insurance or the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
routinely fall far short of providing the support needed to keep 
survivors housed, fed, and on their feet. A climate refugee's pathway to 
recovery is determined by their savings, family wealth, community 
connections, and credit scores.

While storms and wildfires reduced thousands of homes to ash and rubble, 
or left them covered in mold, slower-moving disasters, like sea-level 
rise on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and erosion driven by melting 
permafrost in Alaska, are giving scores of communities expiration dates.

But the climate refugees left most vulnerable live outside the U.S. The 
yearslong drought in Central America's Dry Corridor, for example, is 
quietly driving subsistence farmers and agricultural workers toward the 
increasingly militarized U.S.-Mexico border. And although the U.S. is 
responsible for more climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions than any 
other country in the world, its asylum system does not account for those 
escaping drought. Indeed, in a world where climate change is already 
fueling massive movements of people, hardly any nations officially 
recognize the existence of the climate refugee...
- - -
According to climate scientist Daniel Swain, the summer of 2018 was 
hotter than usual in that part of California, and autumn's fire 
season-ending rains came late. Communities like Paradise, located on the 
edge of forested land, are particularly vulnerable to wildfires fueled 
by climate change...
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/29/climate-change-refugees/


[rename Rover to Bugsy]
*Climate change: Will insect-eating dogs help?*
By Roger Harrabin
Have no fear - you can now fatten Fido on black soldier flies instead of 
Brazilian beef.
A pet food manufacturer now claims that 40% of its new product is made 
from soldier flies.
It's one of many firms hoping to cash in on the backlash against beef by 
people concerned that the cattle are fed on soya.
These soya plantations are responsible for the release of greenhouse 
gases in significant quantities.

Is it good for the dog?
The key question is whether a diet of 40% soldier flies meets the 
nutritional needs of your beloved canine.

We put the question to a pet diet expert at the Royal Veterinary 
College, Aarti Kathrani. Her conclusion was a cautious "yes".

"Insects can be a very useful source of protein," she told us. "More 
studies are needed to show how much of these nutrients can actually be 
absorbed by a dog's body - but some studies suggest that insects can 
provide nutrients for dogs."

Does it help the climate if dogs eat flies?
At first sight it seems obvious that feeding your dog meaty food is bad 
for the environment. The link between humans eating meat and the allied 
emissions of CO2 and methane is well established - and pets are 
estimated to eat 20% of global meat.
It's also true that flies produce protein much more efficiently than 
cows - using a small percentage of the water and land.
But actually the analysis is more subtle than that - because as 
societies become more wealthy, people often turn to muscle meat and 
reject the animal's offal.
The flies are brought to maturity in about 14 days
That offal is just as nutritious - and it gets made into pet food. That 
means that dog food is just as sustainable - or unsustainable - as 
humans eating meat.

In fact, if dogs were weaned off meat and on to insects, the industry 
would have to find another purpose for the offal. More sausage, perhaps? 
Or more humans eating insect protein. Or more going vegan?

Could cat food be made out of insects, too?
Dogs are omnivores - they eat more or less anything. Cats are much more 
choosy, because they can't make an essential amino acid, taurine. They 
find it instead in meat and fish.

But Dr Kathrani says studies show that insects do contain taurine, so 
it's possible that insects could also form a useful part of the moggie diet.

The new product is from Yora, a UK start-up. The insect grubs are fed on 
food waste in the Netherlands.

There are several competitors which also produce pet food incorporating 
fly protein. They include Insectdog, Entomapetfood, Chippin and 
Wilderharrier.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46811358


*This Day in Climate History - January 11, 2017 - from D.R. Tucker*
January 11, 2017:
In a Washington Post op-ed, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says the only 
obstacles to bipartisan action on climate in Congress is a) the 
fossil-fuel industry's intimidation of Republicans and b) the refusal of 
companies that profess support for climate action to push back against 
the fossil-fuel industry.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-want-to-fight-climate-change-but-fossil-fuel-bullies-wont-let-them/2017/01/10/177dbd4e-cc82-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html
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