[TheClimate.Vote] May 6, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Mon May 6 09:05:26 EDT 2019


/May 6, 2019/

[follow the money]
*Insurance experts rank climate change as top risk for 2019*
By Paola Rosa-Aquino on May 3, 2019
It's no secret that climate change comes at a cost -- so much so that 
even the insurance industry has flagged it as a priority. According to a 
new industry survey, actuaries (the people who calculate insurance risks 
and premiums based on available data) ranked climate change as the top 
risk for 2019, beating out concerns over cyber damages, financial 
instability, and terrorism.

When actuaries correctly measure and manage climate risks, they can help 
nudge societies away from poor planning -- such as overbuilding in 
high-risk coastal flood zones -- and towards better choices -- like 
building more resilient infrastructure designed to withstand anticipated 
sea level rise.

"The survey shows actuaries are engaged and tackling this risk 
frontier," Steve Kolk, actuary and climate data scientist, told Grist. 
"It thrills me to see actuaries join the effort and help us all build a 
sustainable planet more quickly."

The survey, published by the Joint Risk Management Section and two other 
organizations that represent professional actuaries, found that out of 
267 actuaries surveyed, 22 percent identified climate change as their 
top emerging risk. It was also the top-ranked choice for combination 
risk and tied with cyber/interconnectedness of infrastructure for top 
current risk. It's a dramatic shift from previous years, when climate 
change lagged well behind other dangers to people and property. In last 
year's survey, only 7 percent of respondents rated climate change as the 
top emerging risk...
- - -
https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2019/12th-emerging-risk-survey.pdf


[gives plain truth and describes the need for urgency and agency]
*Michael Mann Calls for Action on Climate Threat*
Climate State
Published on May 4, 2019
As long as we take action, we preserve a better future. The professor of 
atmospheric science at Penn State University and director of the Penn 
State Earth System Science Center was invited to deliver the Jones 
Visiting Lecture by the president's office and the environmental science 
and studies programs.

In his talk, "Urgency and Agency: As Climate Threat Mounts, a Call for 
Public Engagement and Action," Mann discussed the indisputable evidence 
that climate change is real, the social and political challenges he has 
faced as a climate scientist, and why there is an urgent need for people 
to be actively engaged in demanding climate action.
video https://youtu.be/uTcIelRmerE
http://climatestate.com/2019/05/04/michael-mann-calls-for-action-on-climate-threat/



[first identify the villains - in 3 cartograms]
*Names and Locations of the Top 100 People Killing the Planet*
"The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing 
it have names and addresses." - Utah Phillips
Just 100 companies are responsible for more than 70% of the world's 
greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. The guys who run those companies - 
and they are mostly guys - have gotten rich on the backs of literally 
all life on Earth. Their business model relies on the destruction of the 
only home humanity has ever known. Meanwhile, we misdirect our outrage 
at our neighbors, friends, and family for using plastic straws or not 
recycling. If there is anyone who deserves the outrage of all 7.5 
billion of us, it's these 100 people right here. Combined, they control 
the majority of the world's mineral rights - the "right" to exploit the 
remaining unextracted oil, gas, and coal. They need to know that we 
won't leave them alone until they agree to Keep It In The Ground. Not 
just their companies, but them. Now it's personal.

Houston tops this list as home to 7 of the 100 top ecocidal planet 
killers, followed by Jakarta, Calgary, Moscow, and Beijing. The richest 
person on the list is Russian oil magnate Vagit Alekperov, who is 
currently worth $20.7 billion.

The map is in the form of a cartogram which represents the size of 
countries by their cumulative carbon dioxide emissions since 
industrialization.

This map is a response to the pervasive myth that we can stop climate 
change if we just modify our personal behavior and buy more green 
products. Whether or not we separate our recycling, these corporations 
will go on trashing the planet unless we stop them. The key 
decision-makers at these companies have the privilege of relative 
anonymity, and with this map, we're trying to pull back that veil and 
call them out. These guys should feel the same personal responsibility 
for saving the planet that we all feel.
https://portside.org/2019-05-04/names-and-locations-top-100-people-killing-planet


[Extinction Rebellion video report from early April]
*Huffpost - "Extinction Rebellion: Risking Their Freedom For Climate 
Change" - April 14th*
ExtinctionRebellion - Published on May 5, 2019
The 10 Working Principles of Extinction Rebellion
https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/about-us/#principles
1.   We have a shared vision of change
2.   We set our mission on what is necessary
3.   We need a re-generative culture
4.   We hopefully challenge ourselves, and this toxic system
5.   We value reflection and learning
6.   We welcome everyone, and every part of everyone into Extinction 
Rebellion
7.   We actively mitigate for power
8.   We avoid blaming and shaming
9.   We are a non-violent movement
10. We are based on autonomy and de-centralization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Ra0YhV-mo
- - -
[XR demands]
*Our Demands*
We have three demands in the UK: https://youtu.be/4s9jfkWz72g

    *1. Tell the truth*
    Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological
    emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the
    urgency for change.

    *2. Act Now*
    Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce
    greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.

    *3. Beyond Politics*
    Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens'
    Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

web page https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/demands/
video https://youtu.be/4s9jfkWz72g


[Crazy Town podcast - audio]
*They'll Think of Somethingisms*
The threats of overshoot and climate chaos loom larger by the day, but 
it's all going to work out just fine. At least that's what you hear from 
starry-eyed techno-optimists, hemp enthusiasts, and the output of 
ultra-hypothetical computer models. The silver bullet could come from 
outer space (e.g., mining asteroids or colonizing other worlds), it 
could come from the sky (turning air into carbon-sequestering rocks), or 
it could come from beneath our feet (building infrastructure out of hemp).

Maybe we should stop grasping at these (carbon nanotube) straws, and 
look for alternatives to the politically expedient worship of 
technology? Warning: we employ some math to get at the answer. Get out 
your abacus.
https://www.postcarbon.org/crazytown/
- - -
[Classic title in global warming studies]
*OVERSHOOT**
**The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change *
- -
It is axiomatic that we are in no way protected from the consequences of 
our actions by remaining confused about the ecological meaning of our 
humanness, ignorant of ecological processes, and unmindful of the 
ecological aspects of history.
I have tried to show the real nature of humanity's predicament not 
because understanding its
nature will enable us to escape it, but because if we do not understand.
- - -
PDF of book 
https://monoskop.org/images/9/92/Catton_Jr_William_R_Overshoot_The_Ecological_Basis_of_Revolutionary_Change.pdf


*This Day in Climate History - May 6, - from D.R. Tucker*
May 6, 2013: In Grist, David Roberts reacts to Jon Chait's May 5 New
York magazine piece declaring President Obama "the environmental
president":

    "Is Obama a success on climate compared to what needs to be done? Ha
    ha. No. Of course not. But then all world leaders fail that test.
    Chait says 17 percent carbon reductions by 2020 is greens' 'holy
    grail,' but it's more like a moldy grail. We now know that much more
    is needed. For the U.S. to truly do its part, to achieve carbon zero
    by 2040 or so, would require massive systems change, an
    all-hands-on-deck wartime mobilization. Obama is not delivering that,
    or anything close, nor could he."

http://grist.org/politics/is-obama-the-environmental-president/

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