[TheClimate.Vote] July 30 , 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

Tue Jul 30 10:26:42 EDT 2019

/July 30, 2019/

[One minute video summary]
*Jeff Masters: Climate Change - How Bad is It?*
greenmanbucket
Published on Jul 29, 2019
Weather Underground founder Jeff Masters answers the question - "when do 
we go over the cliff into dangerous climate change?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWdCk9fjMGo

[action in Congress]
*Kamala Harris and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Release Climate 'Equity' Plan*
WASHINGTON — Senator Kamala Harris of California and Representative 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Monday unveiled legislation 
aimed at ensuring that climate change plans benefit low-income 
communities. They described the measure as a key element of the 
Democrats' Green New Deal...
more at - 
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/us/politics/kamala-harris-aoc-climate-change.html

[Where is the make-good?]
*USDA Officials Buried Climate Change Response Plan*
Date: July 18th, 2019
Agency: Federal, USDA
Explanation: Government Censorship
Scientist: Climate, Other
A United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) employee told Politico 
that during the early days of the Trump Administration the department 
quashed the release of a sweeping plan on how to respond to climate 
change. The multi-year plan was drafted by several USDA agencies to help 
the agricultural industry understand, adapt to, and mitigate the effects 
of climate change. Following the plan's completion USDA officials told 
staff members to keep it for internal use only, despite the fact that it 
was an update to a 2010 plan that was released publicly during the Obama 
administration...
Sources told Politico that the plan went through an internal clearance 
process before senior officials blocked its release. The 33-page plan 
set goals for addressing a wide range of climate change effects. It 
acknowledged that climate change is already affecting farmers and 
ranchers and suggested that farmers could make money by cutting 
greenhouse gas emissions and adopting practices that promote carbon 
sequestration. A spokesperson for the USDA declined to answer questions 
about the plan but stated that the USDA did not have a policy in place 
to discourage dissemination of climate science.
http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/silencing-science-tracker/usda-officials-buried-climate-change-response-plan/

[Opinion]
*Some Republicans are finally talking about addressing climate change. 
First they need to stand up to the deniers in their own party.*
In a world where 73% of young voters reject Trump's handling of climate 
change, Trump-style eye-rolling at anyone who takes environmental 
quality seriously is not a sustainable platform. Pretending otherwise 
does the Republican Party, and our country, no favors.
https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-gop-stand-up-climate-change-deniers-opinon-2019-7

[political season starting]
*Michigan Voters Support Climate Action*
Ahead of the Democrats' second presidential primary debate in Detroit, a 
new survey finds Michigan
voters have deep concerns about the impacts of climate change and the 
quality of their state's
environment and infrastructure. Democratic voters in Michigan say 
climate change is one of the most
important issues they'll consider when deciding whom to support for 
president in 2020 – more than any
other issue except health care. Voters in the state strongly support 
federal and state policies to expand
renewable energy sources, including policies that would encourage people 
to buy and drive electric
vehicles. To assess Michiganders' attitudes towards various climate 
policies, as well as their experiences
with impacts of climate change, Climate Nexus, in partnership with the 
Yale University Program
on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center 
for Climate Change
Communication, conducted a representative survey of 820 registered 
voters in Michigan from July 14-17,
2019. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.4% at the 95% percent 
confidence level
https://climatenexus.org/wp-content/uploads/Michigan_Voters_Support_Climate_Action.pdf

[Excellent situational overview]
*More Extremely Hot Days (2019)*
Across the world, it's been another summer of blistering heat.France 
endured record-shattering temperatures up to 114.6F (45.9C), while parts 
of India and Pakistan approached 122F (50C). And in the U.S., heat waves 
have broiled the West, Midwest and East. Intense heat is getting worse 
with climate change, as even small increases in average temperature can 
greatly magnify extremes. This week, we explore how the annual totals of 
extremely hot days have changed in your local area...
https://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/more-extremely-hot-days-2019

[inevitable]
*Geoengineering is very controversial. How can you do experiments? 
Harvard has some ideas.*
A new committee will consider the wisdom of outdoor experiments, and may 
set the stage for more.
"It doesn't pose a physical risk, but it does pose a considerable social 
and political risk in being the first step towards development of actual 
technology for deployment," Raymond Pierrehumbert, a physics professor 
at the University of Oxford, has said of the experiment. "There would be 
some limited scientific payback from such a small-scale experiment, but 
it is mostly a stunt to break the ice and get people used to the idea of 
field trials."
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614025/geoengineering-experiment-harvard-creates-governance-committee-climate-change/

[clueless AI]
*Is AI the next big climate-change threat? We haven't a clue*
Dire warnings are being issued about AI's energy needs, but new chip 
technologies and even AI itself could help keep demands for more 
electrical power in check.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614005/ai-computing-cloud-computing-microchips/ 

[research wildfire - incredible video]
*Watch The Forest Service Burn Down A Forest For Science*
VICE News
Published on Jul 23, 2019
Dan Jimenez doesn't get to do this very often. It's almost unheard-of 
for researchers to get this close to such a massive fire: In a few 
hours, if all goes well, more than 2,000 acres of trees will be ablaze, 
in a controlled burn that will emulate the conditions and behaviors of 
naturally-occurring wildfires.

Jimenez, a researcher with the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab, in Montana, 
is here setting up a series of cameras and heat sensors right at the 
edge of the future wildfire, as part of an new joint project between the 
U.S. Forest Service and a handful of research institutions. The goal: to 
better understand how wildfires spread -- and why they've become so 
dangerous, to towns and the firefighters sent to put them out.

"The data we are collecting, that's really valuable because of the 
implications of safety zones and firefighters' safety, and what 
constitutes a safe environment," Jimenez told VICE News.

VICE News Tonight got a rare look at the inner workings of this 
essential -- and potentially dangerous -- study, from the first ignition 
(by helicopter and ATVs bearing flamethrowers), to the day after, when 
researchers returned to check on their charred equipment.

"As scientists, our job is to gather data and make sense of it -- and 
prove scientifically what is safe," Jimenez said. "I think that's the 
starting point. If you are really going to change the culture, it starts 
through an organic process."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ri4AEGDXQc

[Hang on the sloop, Greta -T]
*Greta Thunberg to Attend New York Climate Talks. She'll Take a Sailboat.*
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, will cross the 
Atlantic Ocean in mid-August on an open-cockpit racing yacht to attend a 
United Nations summit meeting on global warming.

"Good news! I'll be joining the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York," 
Ms. Thunberg said Monday on Twitter. "I've been offered a ride on the 
60ft racing boat Malizia II."

The trip to New York is expected to take two weeks. Ms. Thunberg, who is 
taking the year off from school to campaign against climate change, also 
plans to attend the annual United Nations Framework Convention on 
Climate Change talks, to be held in December in Santiago, Chile.

She has called the two conferences "pretty much where our future will be 
decided" because nations will be pushed to further reduce emissions of 
the planet-warming gasses that come from burning fossil fuels. "We still 
have a window of time when things are in our own hands. But that window 
is closing fast. That is why I have decided to make this trip now," Ms. 
Thunberg said in a statement Monday...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/climate/greta-thunberg-sailing-climate-summit.html

[wonderful video lecture on art and climate]
*How Climate Changes Art*
The Art Assignment
Published on Jul 25, 2019
This week we tackle the intersection of art and our changing climate. 
Throughout history, art has helped reveal the climate around us and 
highlight our fragile relationship to it. We look at navigational charts 
from the Marshall Islands, Katsushika Hokusai's "Under the Wave off 
Kanagawa", Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "Hunters in the Snow", Mali's 
Great Mosque of Djenne', the Ise Shrine in Japan, steadily sinking 
Venice, the cave paintings of Lascaux, and Robert Smithson's Spiral 
Jetty, among others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvQocRS3RdE

*This Day in Climate History - July 30, 2010 - from D.R. Tucker*
July 30, 2010: On MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," fill-in host Chris 
Hayes and Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard discuss the coal 
industry's role in killing climate-change legislation.
http://youtu.be/sWlwmzgLzVc
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