[TheClimate.Vote] March 13, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Wed Mar 13 10:55:33 EDT 2019
/March 13, 2019/
[state court system vs federal]
*Federal Government Backs Oil Companies Fighting NYC Climate Suit*
By Karen Savage
The Trump administration is supporting the five oil companies being sued
by New York City to pay for damages related to climate change, filing a
friend-of-the-court brief asking the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to
uphold the dismissal of the case.
The federal government contends in the brief that the city's claims
against Exxon, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron shouldn't be
decided by a state court. It argues the Clean Air Act prevents the city
from pursuing nuisance claims because the pollution that causes global
warming originates from outside the state. It also argues that the
claims should not be considered in a federal court because that would
violate the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Trump administration also says that New York's claims "interfere
with the conduct of foreign policy and regulation of foreign commerce"
and have "great potential for disruption or embarrassment for the United
States in its international relations that cannot be outweighed by the
relative interests of New York state."
The city filed the case against the five oil giants in January 2018 and
it was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge John Keenan last July. The
city appealed that decision to the Second Circuit.
"We are disappointed but not surprised that the Trump administration has
chosen to weigh in against the City in this case," said a spokesman for
the New York City Law Department. "We look forward to making our case to
the Second Circuit as we seek to hold fossil fuel companies accountable
for the costs the City is incurring in responding to climate change."
Keenan ruled in July that the courts are not the proper forum to address
harms resulting from climate change. He said issues stemming from
greenhouse gas pollution should be tackled by the executive and
legislative branches.
The city's appeal argues that Keenan "misunderstood the city's
allegations and, on the basis of that misunderstanding, erroneously
concluded that various federal law doctrines barred the city's claims."
New York City's complaint includes claims of public nuisance, private
nuisance and trespass and seeks monetary damages from the five oil
giants to help pay for the costs of protecting the city from climate
impacts. The city argues the state law claims of nuisance and trespass
are to "obtain compensation for costs of redressing the effects of
global warming," and says the industry has known for decades that lawful
use of their products would result in harm. The city emphasized the
claims are not about regulating emissions.
The oil companies maintain that the city's claims involve domestic
greenhouse gas emissions, which are covered under the Clean Air Act.
They say New York City--and it's residents--"have long consumed
Defendants' products and have thus willingly contributed to greenhouse
gas emissions" that have caused climate change.
Additional friend-of-the-court--or amicus--briefs in support of the oil
companies have recently been filed by the National Association of
Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of
Republican attorneys general.
Then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, along with eight other
Democratic state attorneys general submitted a brief in support of the
city in November, as did a coalition of local government associations,
including the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors
and the International Municipal Lawyers Association.
Both sides have requested oral arguments, which will be scheduled for
later this year.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2019/03/11/nyc-climate-suit-exxon-bp-shell-trump/
[Global Warming BirthStrikers]
*BirthStrikers: meet the women who refuse to have children until climate
change ends*
A movement of women have decided not to procreate in response to the
coming 'climate breakdown and civilisation collapse'. Will their protest
be a catalyst for change?
As soon as Blythe Pepino got together with her partner Joshua two years
ago, she felt "this overwhelming urge to create a family with him", she
says. "I think it was the fifth day after having met him, I said: 'I've
got to meet your parents.' He was like: 'You're mad.'"
Then, late last year, she attended a lecture held by the direct action
group Extinction Rebellion, which set out starkly the catastrophic
reality of the changing climate. That galvanised Pepino, an activist and
musician (she is the former singer of Vaults, now Mesadorm), to do
research of her own and, eventually, to have a series of sad
conversations with Joshua.
"I realised that even though I wanted to have a family at that point, I
couldn't really bring myself to do it," she says. "I had to say to him:
'I don't know if I can do this, considering what we know - if there
isn't a political will to fix this, we really don't stand much of a
chance.'"
- -
Pepino, at least, takes a similarly optimistic view of BirthStrikers'
approach. It is, she says, "in a sense a very hopeful act. We're not
just making this decision, hiding it and giving it up. We're
politicising that decision - and hoping that will give us the chance to
change our minds."
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/mar/12/birthstrikers-meet-the-women-who-refuse-to-have-children-until-climate-change-ends
[See this video. Climate Psychology gives us language for everyday
conversation]
*Ro Randall talks to Hugh Hunt about Climate Psychology*
Cambridge Climate Lecture Series
Published on Mar 5, 2019
Visit: https://climateseries.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCl20LAWTOg
- -
[Cambridge Climate Lecture series 2019 #CCLS19 lecture by Ro Randall]
https://climateseries.com/home-blog/40-climate-psychology-conversation-cpa
*Title: Climate, Psychology, Conversation: the unconscious dynamics of
how we talk about climate change*
https://www.facebook.com/climateseries/videos/326879054850094/
- -
[more Ro Randall in the Atlantic 2017]
*Constant Anxiety Won't Save the World*
Spreading fear and worry about issues you care about on social media can
lead to burnout rather than action.
JULIE BECK - AUG 17, 2017
- - -
Sometimes worry acts as a sort of superstition, or magical thinking. It
"can provide us with an illusion of control," says Woodruff. "We can
develop the belief: 'If I worry about this, that's going to keep us
safe.'" People may end up conflating anxiety with action.
Rosemary Randall, a psychotherapist based in Cambridge, England, says
she's seen this in people who worry about plane crashes. Even if she
talks them through it, and they rationally recognize that their worry
isn't going to keep the plane from crashing, "they still find it very
very difficult not to go through the 'I've got to worry, otherwise the
plane is going to crash.' [They feel] it's not safe to stop."
Though several people I spoke to said that fear-based appeals to action
don't work, and may even backfire, there's actually evidence that they
do work. Dolores Albarracin, a professor of psychology at the University
of Illinois, did a meta-analysis in 2015 of all available research on
fear-based appeals and found that overall, inducing fear does change
people's attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. She and her team did not
find a backfire effect.
But the fear appeals that Albarracin studied came with recommended
actions. "If the message is not actionable, then you're not going to get
effects overall," she says.
While people do put out concrete calls to action on social media all the
time, there is also the "stay outraged" genre of posts, which are more
calls to emotion than calls to action. Surely when people rile each
other up and freak each other out online, the general intent is to move
toward a solution to the problem they're concerned about. But "you're
not going to get behavior if you don't tell people what to do,"
Albarracin says.
"People try to frighten others because they're frightened themselves.
It's about panic," says Randall, who has studied the psychology of
climate change. "It's shouting 'Fire,' and what we know about shouting
'Fire' is it's not a great idea. It's much more sensible to say 'Ladies
and gentlemen, we have a small problem in the theater. I'd like row one
to get up and leave, I'd like row two to get up and leave,' etc."
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/constant-anxiety-wont-save-the-world/537132/
[opinion from July of last year]
*The Media's Failure to Connect the Dots on Climate Change*
Why are some major news outlets still covering extreme weather like it's
an act of God?
- -
There are consequences to siloing climate coverage, Hymas said. "The
media's failure to connect the dots between climate change and extreme
weather happening now in the U.S. is a key part of why Americans don't
perceive climate change to be a major, priority issue," she said. "A lot
of people, even Americans who accept climate science, still believe
climate change is something that happens far away, either in the future
or in another country."
- -
https://newrepublic.com/article/150124/medias-failure-connect-dots-climate-change
[like war - use command and control - classical management]
*Climate Change and the Problems of Neoliberalism*
Earth101
Published on Feb 10, 2019
In this short Christian Parenti argues that neoliberalism is closely
linked with the climate crisis. What we need is a guided capitalism and
an expansion of the public sector.
Christian Parenti has a PhD in sociology (co-supervised in geography)
from the London School of Economics and is a professor in the Global
Liberal Studies Program at New York University. His latest book, Tropic
of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (2011),
explores how climate change is already causing violence as it interacts
with the legacies of economic neoliberalism and cold-war militarism. The
book involved several years of travel and research in conflict zones of
the Global South.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlSq609fnVE
[when ice free "Blue Ocean"?]
*Arctic Sea Ice Loss : What's the latest?*
Just Have a Think
Published on Mar 10, 2019
NOAA released their 2018 Arctic Report Card back in December with some
fairly stark warnings about the status of that region. Since then we've
had further updates suggesting that this year could be one of the most
precarious for Summer Arctic Sea Ice. This week we take a look at what
it's all about. References below...
https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eft2.502
https://www.axios.com/bering-sea-ice-vanishing-a23bacda-a08d-4ec7-9124-419b90b984a2.html
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2817/with-thick-ice-gone-arctic-sea-ice-changes-more-slowly/
https://sites.uci.edu/zlabe/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYJIwGACKY8
[Pay no attention to other continuing executive malfeasance]
*Trump Parrots Anti-Science Misinformation As He Readies Climate Change
Panel*
The president shared global warming skeptic Patrick Moore's theories
with his more than 58 million followers.
By Hayley Miller and Chris D'Angelo
President Donald Trump on Tuesday once again used his Twitter platform
to share misinformation about climate change to his 59 million
followers, quoting a "Fox & Friends" guest who falsely claimed global
warming isn't caused by man and could actually benefit many people.
Former Greenpeace Canada President Patrick Moore, a longtime nuclear
energy industry shill, denied that human activity fuels climate change
and claimed the phenomenon doesn't pose an imminent danger to life on
earth, despite the mountains of scientific evidence that suggest otherwise.
He dubbed the climate crisis as "fake news" and chalked up the
catastrophic rise in global warming over the last few decades as simply
"weather."
"Wow!" the president wrote in his tweet Tuesday quoting Moore's Fox News
appearance....
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace: "The whole climate crisis
is not only Fake News, it's Fake Science. There is no climate
crisis, there's weather and climate all around the world, and in
fact carbon dioxide is the main building block of all life."
@foxandfriends Wow!
Though Trump and Fox News described Moore as a co-founder of Greenpeace,
a major environmental advocacy group that supports climate change
science, the organization has long denied such a characterization...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-patrick-moore_n_5c87d504e4b038892f47b332
- - -
[BBC report]
*Greenpeace hits back at Trump tweet on climate change denial*
*What did Greenpeace say?*
In a statement, Greenpeace said Mr Moore "frequently cites a long-ago
affiliation with Greenpeace to gain legitimacy in the media, and media
outlets often either state or imply that Mr Moore still represents
Greenpeace. He does not."
Greenpeace USA
@greenpeaceusa
Replying to @realDonaldTrump @foxandfriends
Patrick Moore was not a co-founder of Greenpeace. He does not
represent Greenpeace. He is a paid lobbyist, not an independent
source. His statements about @AOC & the #GreenNewDeal have nothing
to do with our positions.
https://bit.ly/2Tf6LCA
End of Twitter post by @greenpeaceusa
The environmental group went a step further, referencing the Green New
Deal as "a vision for the future of this country with more equality,
justice, fairness, & frankly, more common sense".
"Climate deniers are trying to delegitimise it, the truth is that most
people in this country support the #GreenNewDeal & support policies like
ending fossil fuel subsidies. Wow!"
- - -
Who is Patrick Moore?
Mr Moore, an ecologist and former Greenpeace activist, was a part of the
group during its early days in the 1970s.
Greenpeace has denied links to Mr Moore before, and has created a page
detailing Mr Moore's background, lobbying efforts and views that go
against Greenpeace's mission.
"Although Mr Moore played a significant role in Greenpeace Canada for
several years, he did not found Greenpeace," the organisation said.
"Phil Cotes, Irving Stowe, and Jim Bohlen founded Greenpeace in 1970."
The group eventually voted him out of leadership roles and Mr Moore left
Greenpeace in 1986.
He has since become an independent environmental consultant and nuclear
energy advocate. He is a member of the CO2 coalition, a nonprofit group
that contends carbon emissions are not bad for the environment.
On his Twitter biography, however, Mr Moore describes himself as a
"Greenpeace co-founder, 15 yr leader, dropped out in '86 to be The
Sensible Environmentalist".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47543905
[4 videos Paul Beckwith in a relaxed mood]
*Reflections on Abrupt Climate Change*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Mar 11, 2019
For many years, myself and colleagues at AMEG (Arctic Methane Emergency
Group; founded by John Nissen in the UK) have brainstormed on how risky
our rapidly accelerating climate destabilization is to all ecosystems on
Earth, including humanities, and what we need to do about it.
In this first of a series of videos, I chat on abrupt climate changes in
the past, what is happening now, and what we can expect in the near future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmT2-VnK0Yo
- - -
[follow up video]
*The Latest and Not-So-Greatest on Abrupt Climate Change*
In this second of a series of videos, I chat on abrupt climate changes
in the past, what is happening now, and what we can expect in the near
future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL5OYkBiyg4
- -
[Following the followup]
*Faster Than Expected Abrupt Climate Change Wisdom*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHC8vk57Uy0
- - -
[Concluding the followups]
*Earth Spasms from Profoundly Abrupt Climate Change*
Paul Beckwith
Published on Mar 12, 2019
In this fourth of a series of videos, I chat on abrupt climate changes
in the past, what is happening now, and what we can expect in the near
future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6_3W4tHbFg
*This Day in Climate History - March 13, 2001 - from D.R. Tucker*
March 13, 2001: The Bush administration announces that it will not
regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, abandoning a
campaign pledge under pressure from the fossil fuel industry.
http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=3657&method=full
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