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

[Richard Pauli]

/*June 10, 2019*/

[graduation speeches disappoint]
*US schools accused of censoring climate crisis message in graduation 
speeches*
Students say authorities have barred them from reading a text that warns 
of 'catastrophic climate change' for being too political
Schools and colleges across the US have been accused of censoring 
students who have attempted to use their graduation speeches to speak 
out on the unfolding climate crisis.

A youth-led movement called Class of 0000 is encouraging students to 
read out a prepared text at their graduation ceremonies that warns of 
"catastrophic climate change" and tells elected leaders to "have plan to 
get to zero emissions, or get zero of our votes".
More than 350 students set to speak at ceremonies as valedictorians, or 
in other roles, have pledged to read the message, but many have 
complained that educational authorities have barred them from doing so 
as the global climate emergency is deemed too political to mention.

In the US education system, a valedictorian is typically a student with 
the highest academic performance in the class. This student delivers a 
farewell speech for the class at its graduation.

Emily Shal, an 18-year-old senior, was told by her school that the 
climate message was "too controversial" for her graduation speech as 
class president. Shal read the speech at a talent show before the 
graduation ceremony and said she still received backlash from school 
authorities.
"The administration were very mad, they were pissed," said Shal, who 
attends Whittier Tech high school in Haverhill, Massachusetts. "Everyone 
was telling me I was in trouble. They now consider me rogue and 
rebellious. I was really worried about repercussions."

Worried that she would be dragged off stage if she made the climate 
speech, Shal decided to apologize and comply with the demand not to 
mention climate change at the ceremony last week. She said a large 
majority of her classmates consider climate a "huge topic" that needs to 
be addressed.

"The school thinks it is a political issue that shouldn't be brought 
up," she said. "My freedom of speech was definitely taken away. We are 
tearing down our home, the Earth, and it should be our No 1 concern in 
the world. But it's not."

Jessica Lopez, another 18-year-old senior, was told by the principal of 
Health Sciences high and middle college in San Diego that she shouldn't 
mention climate change as it's political and instead "should be 
celebrating our achievements" in a more traditional graduation speech.

Lopez said she was surprised as her school is "friendly and innovative" 
and previously allowed students to take part in a walkout to protest 
school shootings...
more at - 
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jun/07/climate-crisis-emergency-graduation-message-censoring-class-of-0000
- - -
[a better speech - Isn't everyone in the Class of Zero?]
*THE SPEECH*
*STARTING IN MAY, HUNDREDS OF VALEDICTORIANS AND SALUTATORIANS WILL 
DELIVER THE SAME MESSAGE IN THEIR COMMENCEMENT SPEECHES:*

    Today, we celebrate our achievements from the last 4 years. But I
    want to focus on what we need to achieve in the next 11.

    That's how long climate scientists have given us; 11 years to avoid
    catastrophic climate change. It's already damaging our homes, our
    health, our safety and our happiness. We won't let it take our
    futures too.

    Our diplomas may say Class of 2019, but marked in history, we are
    the Class of Zero.

    *Zero emissions.**
    **Zero excuses.**
    **Zero time to waste.*

    Across the country, our class stands 7.5 million strong.
    And in unity, we're giving 2020 political candidates a choice:
    Have a plan to get to zero emissions, or get zero of our votes.
    Together, we have the power to solve the climate crisis.
    Every student. Every parent. Every teacher. Every leader.
    The future is in our hands.

https://classof0000.com/


[Listen to poignant reports that update news]
TED Radio Hour - Friday, June 7, 2019
*Climate Crisis*
There's no greater threat to humanity than climate change. What can we 
do to stop the worst consequences? This hour, TED speakers explore how 
we can save our planet and whether we can do it in time.
https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/



[highly aspirational Northwest Energy report released]
*Meeting the Challenge of Our Time: Pathways to a Clean Energy Future 
for the Northwest*
June 6, 2019
Key findings from Meeting the Challenge of Our Time include: *
*A nearly 100% clean electricity grid is needed to most efficiently 
achieve mid-century climate targets; coal is eliminated from the 
region's electricity sector and only a small amount of natural gas 
remains in 2050 to ensure the grid can reliably deliver power during 
periods of low renewable generation.

    -- Widespread electrification of transportation reduces emissions at
    the lowest cost. Optimal targets for electrification by 2050 include
    100% of passenger (light-duty), 60% of medium-duty and 40% of
    heavy-duty vehicles by 2050.
    -- Sustainable biomass is best reserved for jet and diesel fuel for
    aviation and freight, which are harder to electrify at this time.
    -- Increased grid integration with California will lower cost,
    potentially reducing the cost of decarbonization by $11.1 billion
    over the 30-year study period for both the Northwest and California.
    -- Emerging technologies economically use excess renewables to help
    displace fossil fuels and balance demand and supply on the
    electrical grid. Technologies such as electrolysis, synthetic fuels,
    and carbon capture will play a growing role after 2040.

The study examined eight cases to test the impacts of different 
assumptions, such as limited transport electrification, increased 
transmission between the region and California, and constrained biomass 
supplies.

The study modeled the annual energy system costs of producing, 
distributing, and consuming energy and compared today's energy system 
costs and a Central Case from 2020 to 2050. The Central Case's net 
annual costs vary based on the timing of infrastructure investments, 
peaking at 16.1% ($9.8 billion) above business as usual in 2038 and 
decreasing to 8.3% ($6.1 billion) higher than business as usual in 2050, 
roughly 1% of the region's total GDP in 2017 (more than $870 billion). 
Meeting the Challenge of Our Time: Pathways to a Clean Energy Future for 
the Northwest
https://www.cleanenergytransition.org/meeting-the-challenge



[Book blurb]
*New Book on Transformational Resilience for Climate Change by Bob Doppelt*
Transformational Resilience: How Building Human Resilience to Climate 
Disruption Can Safeguard Society and Increase Wellbeing
This book calls for a rapid expansion of efforts to address the climate 
crisis beyond emission reductions and adapting physical infrastructure 
and natural resources to include a third major focus: building the 
capacity of individuals and groups to cope with and use the adversities 
generated by climate change as catalysts to learn, grow and flourish. 
The book also calls on mental health, public health, emergency response, 
education, and faith leaders to expand beyond post crisis-treatment to 
emphasize building preventative personal and psychosocial resilience skills.

Failure to proactively build human capacity to deal constructively with 
the harmful mental health and psychosocial impacts of climate disruption 
will seriously impair the safety and health of individuals and families. 
It will also threaten the security and social wellbeing of 
organizations, communities, and entire societies for generations to 
come. Just as important, the failure to build personal and psychosocial 
resilience threatens to delay or completely block efforts to cut carbon 
emissions, adapt to warming, and reduce the climate crisis to manageable 
levels.

Doppelt begins by describing how natural human psychobiological 
reactions to the traumas and toxic stresses generated by climate 
disruption damage the psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing of 
individuals, organizations, communities and whole societies. Using 
numerous examples, including his own organization's Transformational 
Resilience program, Doppelt describes methods and skills that may be 
used to build capacity within all levels of societies to avoid self- and 
socially harmful reactions and use the traumas of climate change as 
catalysts to find new meaning, direction, and hope in life. This book 
applies an important new perspective to the question of how to 
successfully respond to climate change...

    As seen in areas of the world, and in the U.S., that are already
    seriously impacted by climate disruption, and as verified by a
    growing body of research, without a major primary focus on
    preventative, the adverse human reactions to climate-enhanced
    adversity will include a dramatic rise in psychological disorders
    such as severe anxiety, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
    attempted suicides, hopelessness, helplessness, and more. These
    impacts will, in turn, increase physical health problems such as
    cancer, heart disease, and many other illnesses and diseases. In
    addition, self-destructive coping behaviors will multiply such as
    greater alcohol and drug abuse. Even more alarming are the rising
    maladaptive psycho-social-spiritual reactions including spousal and
    child abuse, crime, interpersonal aggression and violence, and
    extremism.

    Left unchecked, these destructive human reactions to climate change-
    enhanced traumas and toxic stresses will diminish the safety,
    health, and wellbeing of individuals, families, organizations,
    communities and entire societies across the planet. They also
    threaten to stall or completely scuttle efforts to slash emissions,
    prepare for climate impacts, and reduce climate change to manageable
    levels.

more at -http://www.theresourceinnovationgroup.org/tr-book/



[standing on the platform]
Posted rankings of Presidential Candidates on the Climate Crisis
*350.org  and does constant tracking updates*
https://350action.org/2020-tracker/#scorecard
*as does Greenpeace * https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate2020


[suggested questions]
*The 60 questions to ask of candidates*
http://oilchangeusa.org/60-questions-climate-debate/
Last night, Tom Perez, the Chair of the Democratic National Committee 
(DNC), informed Jay Inslee (and later the public via Twitter) that the 
DNC does not plan to host a climate debate. This comes after over half a 
dozen top-tier candidates have expressed a desire for such a debate, and 
hundreds of thousands of young people and voters signed petitions 
demanding one as well. It comes after multiple polls have shown that the 
climate crisis is one of the very top concerns of Democratic voters, and 
major candidates have released a raft of robust climate plans more 
detailed than ever before in a presidential primary.

In the aftermath of the DNC's out-of-touch and premature refusal, young 
people, voters, advocates, and some candidates themselves have doubled 
down in their demands, unwilling to take no for an answer. Oil Change 
U.S. is proud to stand with the youth of this country and with our 
partners and continue demanding a dedicated debate on candidates' plans 
to confront the fossil fuel industry and address the mounting climate 
crisis.

As news of the denial broke, #ClimateDebate began to trend on Twitter, 
and the DNC apparently went to work recruiting surrogates to defend the 
decision and attack proponents of the idea. They trotted out tired 
arguments such as not having enough time to devote full debates to 
specific issues, and hard-to-believe assurances that climate change will 
get its due attention during the usual debates (particularly hard to 
swallow given the history of climate change discussions in previous 
debates, as outlined by Lisa Hymas from Media Matters for America here).

But one argument from some really stuck out as so beyond the pale that 
it deserves some attention. The suggestion was that there simply is not 
enough to ask candidates about to fill an entire debate on the climate 
crisis.
[I'll pause here to allow you to stop laughing and compose yourself.]

This is obviously a ridiculous assertion that shouldn't need a response, 
but it got us wondering…off the top of our heads, just how many 
questions could we come up with that we'd like to see candidates asked 
about the climate crisis? So we made a list. To spare you from being 
forced to read a novel on climate wonkery, we decided to limit it to 
60…enough to ask one question per minute for a full hour, although each 
of these deserve to be discussed at far greater length.

In no particular order, and undoubtedly still missing many critical 
questions…

 1. What do you think is the single most important step you can take as
    president to show leadership on the climate crisis?
 2. Have you signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge? Why or why not?
 3. Describe your plan to put the United States on a managed decline of
    fossil fuel production in line with climate science.
 4. What do you believe are the key elements of a just transition for
    workers and communities as we move our economy away from fossil fuels?
 5. Please describe how the principles of environmental justice and
    concerns from low income communities, frontline communities,
    indigenous communities, and communities of color will be heard and
    incorporated in the planning and implementation of your climate agenda?
 6. Please describe how you would ensure the US lives up to the bedrock
    principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and
    capabilities as outlined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate
    change?
 7. After you commit the United States to rejoining the Paris Agreement,
    what will your next step on the international stage be?
 8. What do you believe is the appropriate level of ambition for the
    United States' next revision to its Nationally Determined
    Contribution to the Paris Agreement?
 9. Describe an action you've taken in your career in public service
    that you believe has been most beneficial to our climate fight.
10. What level of funding do you believe is appropriate for the United
    States to contribute to the Green Climate Fund annually?
11. How will you work with G20 nations to finally live up to the
    decade-old commitment to end fossil fuel subsidies?
12. How will you take action to ensure our public lands are put to
    public good rather than used to dig up more fossil fuels?
13. In your climate plans, what do you believe can be done through
    executive action alone, and what will need Congressional action?
14. In order to get climate policy through Congress, will you support
    eliminating the filibuster? If not, what is your strategy to obtain
    60 votes in the Senate?
15. Do you support the immediate elimination of federal fossil fuel
    subsidies?
16. Do you believe granting oil industry actors immunity from being
    tried for climate crimes is worth trading away to attract their
    support for a modest price on carbon that will not promote serious
    emission reductions?
17. What lessons can you take from existing cap and trade policies in
    California and elsewhere to ensure communities at the fencelines of
    major emitters are protected from local pollution impacts?
18. How would you define the "Green New Deal" and what role would it
    play in your administration?
19. The Permian basin in Texas and New Mexico is set to see the largest
    increase in oil and gas development in the world over the coming
    years unless there is some intervention. How would you work with
    those states to ensure such a dangerous increase in production will
    be curtailed?
20. A number of you voted in Congress to eliminate the crude oil export
    ban. Do you regret that vote? Do you support reinstating the crude
    oil export ban?
21. How would you reform the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
    to ensure it accounts for the climate impacts of natural gas
    infrastructure in its permitting process?
22. The Obama administration's Council on Environmental Quality issued
    guidance to incorporate climate impacts in the National
    Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process agencies undergo in
    consideration of infrastructure projects, which Trump has since
    rescinded. Would you reinstate that guidance, and/or how would you
    strengthen it?
23. Do you support a "Climate Test" for fossil fuel projects?
24. What can the US do to help shift global financial flows toward clean
    energy, and away from dirty energy?
25. How should the US support international climate action through its
    overseas climate and development finance?
26. Describe your intended approach to engaging major emerging economies
    such as China, India, and/or Brazil in partnering with them to
    achieve climate goals.
27. Do you support enacting a ban on exporting liquified natural gas?
28. How will you address the increasing petrochemicals and plastics
    production in the United States as it relates to our climate crisis?
29. How will you engage young people in developing and implementing your
    climate policy agenda?
30. Do you believe companies like Exxon should be held accountable for
    lying to the public and shareholders about the dangers of their
    product and business model as it relates to the growing climate crisis?
31. What do you believe is the best approach to address emissions
    related to deforestation?
32. What do you say to the members of Congress who still deny the
    realities of the climate crisis?
33. Do you support the rights of state Governors and governments to
    reject permits for fossil fuel projects via Section 401 of the Clean
    Water Act? If so, how will you go about protecting that right from
    future assaults such as that attempted by President Trump?
34. Do you support the overturning of President Trump's executive order
    forcing the approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project?
    If so, how will you ensure the proposed pipeline is put to bed
    permanently?
35. How will you approach working with cities and communities who will
    face sea level rise (e.g. Miami) in supporting their residents as
    climate impacts grow more disruptive?
36. What deadline would you set for phasing out internal combustion
    engine passenger vehicles, and what approach would you take to
    achieve it?
37. Do you believe the Republican Party will ever rid itself of the
    influence of the fossil fuel industry and support legitimate and
    robust climate action?
38. How would you adjust transportation policy to ensure cities and
    states are supported in pursuing public transportation?
39. How would you adjust agricultural policy in the United States to
    support climate efforts?
40. What key improvements to U.S. trade policy would you make to align
    it with our climate imperatives?
41. Describe how you will deploy public finance for renewable energy to
    leverage private finance at home and abroad?
42. What is your view on carbon capture and storage (CCS)?
43. How would you work with the Energy Information Agency to ensure
    their energy modeling better guides work to incorporate more
    renewable energy onto the US grid?
44. How would you reform the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private
    Investment Corporation to ensure their investments are aligned with
    climate imperatives?
45. It is estimated that the military spends anywhere from $10.5 to $500
    billion annually to secure oil supply overseas. How would you reign
    in these activities?
46. Will you instruct the Department of Justice to drop the Government's
    request to throw out the Juliana v. United States lawsuit and allow
    it to go to trial?
47. What will you be looking for as you fill the positions of Secretary
    of the Interior, EPA Administrator, Secretary of Energy, Secretary
    of State and heads of other agencies directly related to our climate
    efforts?
48. Do you believe that natural gas -- also known as fossil or fracked
    gas -- is a "bridge fuel" in our climate efforts or that it is a
    "bridge to climate disaster"?
49. Do you support a national ban on fracking?
50. How would you reform campaign finance law to ensure the voices of
    people are heard over the dollars of fossil fuel companies and other
    big corporations?
51. What is your view of new laws that have been passed in multiple
    states (and proposed by the Trump administration) to promote harsh
    penalties for protests of oil and gas infrastructure? How will you
    protect communities' rights to protest dangerous infrastructure in
    their communities?
52. Would you work to repeal the 45Q tax credit, which is used mostly by
    the oil industry to gain tax credits for injecting CO2 into the
    ground in order to dig up more oil?
53. Do you support overturning the Citizens United decision?
54. How will you adjust US immigration policy to react to the inevitable
    increase in refugees seeking shelter from climate impacts across the
    globe?
55. Do you support ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal
    Protocol to phase down hydrofluorocarbons, a key short-lived climate
    pollutant?
56. Do you support removing fossil fuel industry actors from the UN
    climate negotiations, as has been done with tobacco industry actors
    in tobacco treaty talks?
57. By when do you believe the US should strive to achieve net-zero
    greenhouse gas emissions?
58. Will you acknowledge the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous
    peoples to protect their traditional lands and waters from fossil
    fuel extraction and infrastructure projects? How will you work with
    tribes and nations to achieve this goal?
59. Do you support a carbon tax? If so, why? If not, why not?
60. How will you engage the labor movement to ensure they are a key part
    in our clean energy revolution and that jobs in the burgeoning
    renewable energy sector are quality union jobs?

http://oilchangeusa.org/60-questions-climate-debate/


[An Unusual UPS interruption notice for deliveries ]
"Atmospheric Conditions Affecting Global Aviation May Cause Delays"
https://www.ups.com/us/en/service-alerts.page?id=alert1


***This Day in Climate History - June 10, 1963 - from D.R. Tucker*
June 10, 1963: In a commencement address at American University, 
President Kennedy famously observes:

    "For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we
    all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all
    cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal."

http://youtu.be/0fkKnfk4k40

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