[TheClimate.Vote] May 25, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

[Richard Pauli]

/May 25, 2019/

[So sayeth Forbes Magazine]
May 23, 2019
*Rich Need To Tackle Climate Change As Research Shows It Will Eventually 
Make Them Poorer*
Oliver Williams - Contributor
Some of the leading scientists in the U.K. have written an open letter 
to the country's 100 largest charitable foundations and the 100 
wealthiest families, asking for an "extraordinary increase" in their 
funding of environmental action against climate change.

"A letter like this has never been sent from our community to yours," 
say the 11 scientists, among them Chris Rapley, professor of Climate 
Science at University College London and Sir David King, a former 
government chief scientific adviser.

Currently, less than 2% of all giving by U.K. philanthropists is 
deployed to counter climate threats, meaning they are "desperately 
under-funded", says the letter.

Co-ordinator of the letter and CEO of Climate Alliance, Angela Terry, 
believes this is not enough. "I would say 10% as a minimum should be put 
towards these causes," she says.

"We are calling on them to mobilize their resources, whether through 
endowments, personal wealth or grant giving, to halt our ecological crisis".

The causes themselves are important as just 105 million [pound Sterling] 
($130.8 million) out of 4 billion ($4.9 billion) of all trust and 
foundation giving goes towards the environment, says the Environmental 
Funders Network. And a high proportion of this focuses on conservation 
rather than climate change.

*Climate Change Will Make You Poorer*
"The first thing to do now is to have a look at this subject and look at 
how it will impact you, your family, your wealth," says Terry.

For some, the stark realities of a changing climate affecting their 
children's lives will drive the point home. For others, it will be the 
bottom line: their wealth.

A report from the UN last week said that delaying the implementation of 
climate policies could cost the world's top companies $1.2 trillion over 
the next 15 years.

As much as 13.2% of overall portfolio value is at risk if temperatures 
rise 1.5 degrees, the report says. "Considering that total assets under 
management (AUM) for the largest 500 investment managers in the world 
total $81.2 trillion, this would represent a value loss of $10.7 trillion."

Such a loss would severely dent the fortunes of the world's wealthiest.

*Letter Shocks Foundations Into Action*
"Our foundation never previously focused on climate change but I've been 
shocked," wrote Sophie Marple, founder of the Gower St Foundation.

"We feel a duty to act and will commit a significant portion of our 
funding to critical environmental work moving forward. As this letter 
from scientists shows us, there's no longer any space for separation 
between 'environmental' and 'social' philanthropy," she said.

Others are following suit, a spokesperson from the Wellcome Trust told 
the BBC it wanted to expand its work on links between human health and 
the climate.

While it said it had not yet received the scientists' letter, a 
spokesperson from the Sigrid Rausing Trust said, "We are interested in 
approaches that recognize the interdependency of people and nature, and 
that lead to systemic change."

Foundations owned by the two of the U.K's wealthiest billionaires--the 
Hinduja brothers and Sir James Ratcliffe--did not respond to a request 
for comment.

For those wealthy donors that are not yet giving to the climate cause, 
the letter does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all solution.

Donors should look from "civil society and social movements, to green 
investment in research and innovation, to strategic litigation and 
public education," the letter advises.

"Look at things you care about depending on where you're geographically 
based or where your investments are," says Terry. "There is no aspect of 
our lives that is not being impacted."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverwilliams1/2019/05/23/rich-need-to-tackle-climate-change-as-research-shows-it-will-eventually-make-them-poorer/#156eb8017afd


[Extinction Rebellion]
*"Are we the last generation?" - Extinction Rebellion Youth - Heathrow 
Action*
Extinction Rebellion
Published on May 13, 2019
[London, 19 April 2019] https://www.xryouth.org/
The 10 Working Principles of Extinction Rebellion
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=vItPPX-gylA



[Understanding - RCPs - climate models for future scenarios]
*The Beginner's Guide to Representative Concentration Pathways*
By G. P. Wayne
Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Representative Concentration 
Pathways. Arranged in three parts, you can access each part by clicking 
on the tabs below. Part 1 provides background to the scenarios used by 
climate scientists. Part 2 describes the development of RCPs, and Part 3 
provides a quick reference to many of the key parameters and data 
(there's also a further reading list at the end). The guide is also 
available as a PDF.
*1: Introduction - 2: Creating New Scenarios - 3: Technical Summary *
Part 1: An introduction to scenarios
Many factors have to be taken into account when trying to predict how 
future global warming will contribute to climate change. The amount of 
future greenhouse gas emissions is a key variable. Developments in 
technology, changes in energy generation and land use, global and 
regional economic circumstances and population growth must also be 
considered.

So that research between different groups is complementary and 
comparable, a standard set of scenarios are used to ensure that starting 
conditions, historical data and projections are employed consistently 
across the various branches of climate science...
https://skepticalscience.com/rcp.php?t=1



[Financial Times]
*Record methane levels pose new threat to Paris climate accord*
Rising atmospheric concentrations have power to hasten global warming...

Scientists have sounded the alarm after levels of methane in the 
atmosphere reached a record high, a development that could cause an 
unexpected acceleration in global warming and put the world further off 
course from the goals of the Paris climate deal.

New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the 
US showed that concentrations of atmospheric methane surged last year 
and accounted for about a sixth of the atmosphere's capacity to trap heat.
- - -
Carbon dioxide emissions are still the single biggest source of man-made 
global warming, accounting for about two-thirds of the atmosphere's 
heat-trapping capacity last year.

But methane is much more potent on a weight basis, with roughly 25 times 
as much warming impact, pound for pound, as carbon dioxide, even though 
it does not stay in the atmosphere as long.
- -
Carbon dioxide levels also hit a record high last year, largely due to 
increased fossil fuel consumption, raising concern over whether nations 
will be able to achieve the goal of the 2015 Paris agreement, to limit 
warming to well below 2C. The world has already warmed about 1C since 
pre-industrial times.

Two recent scientific papers have also raised the alarm on the effects 
of increasing methane concentrations, which started rising again in 2007 
after remaining mostly flat during 2000 to 2007.
- - -
Alex Turner, a researcher at the earth and planetary sciences department 
at University of California, Berkeley, said the sources of methane were 
"more elusive" than that of carbon dioxide, which is mainly produced by 
fossil fuel production.

But he said it was "pretty clear that this long-term rise in methane is 
driven by anthropogenic [human-caused] emissions".
https://www.ft.com/content/9a3c0514-7d6b-11e9-81d2-f785092ab560



[Forest fire management]
*The case for stabilizing forest carbon to mitigate climate change*
by Steve Carr, University of New Mexico
There's no doubt that climate change is affecting ecosystems as well as 
the lifestyles of plants and animals around the globe. As temperatures 
rise, so do the complexity of the issues. Scientists, both in the United 
States and around the world, are actively pursuing mitigation solutions 
while providing governments with the understanding of natural hazards to 
help stem the effects of climate change.

At The University of New Mexico, Matthew Hurteau, associate professor in 
the Department of Biology, has conducted research to determine how 
disturbances influence tree mortality risk and how that information can 
be used in carbon management policies to mitigate climate change. 
Hurteau and several colleagues argue in an opinion piece, "Managing for 
disturbance stabilizes forest carbon," released today in Proceedings of 
the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer-reviewed 
multidisciplinary scientific journal, that policymakers would do well to 
use disturbance ecology in an effort to stabilize forest carbon.

Central to their piece, Hurteau and colleagues say that "forest systems 
sequester approximately 12 percent of anthropogenic carbon emissions, 
and that efforts to increase forest carbon uptake are central to climate 
mitigation policy.

Understanding the role of carbon is important. As plants 
photosynthesize, they're taking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere 
and then, in the case of trees, turning that carbon into wood. 
Basically, you can look at a tree and that's carbon that could be in the 
atmosphere, but it's been taken up by that tree and locked up in wood.

Managing forests to store carbon has focused on increasing forested 
area, decreasing area lost to logging and clearing, and increasing 
forest carbon density. Warming, drought, and wildfires challenge the 
stability of carbon stored in forests.

"By contrast, natural cycles of low intensity fires in dry forests can, 
over the long term, promote forest carbon storage by protecting carbon 
in soil and in large, old trees. The conundrum is how to balance 
immediate, disturbance-driven carbon loss with long-term, stable carbon 
storage and account for these risks in policies for forest carbon 
management."
- - -
[S]cientists can actually quantify the risks to forest carbon offsets 
and then the benefit of management to reduce that risk can be priced by 
the market. Another key point in the dialogue is that the U.S. already 
has the legal framework in place to implement the initiative on federal 
lands in the U.S.

"One of the things that stands in the way of getting this done is that 
the U.S. Federal government has not recognized, the significant risks 
that we face from climate change and therefore is undervaluing the 
portfolio of options we have available to reduce that risk," said 
Hurteau. "The data and research on wildfire and forest management goes 
back to the '70s and '80s and we've known that the humans have been 
changing the climate for decades. We could have done something a lot 
sooner. As humans, we're real good at dealing with acute problems and 
not real good with the chronic."
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-case-stabilizing-forest-carbon-mitigate.html



[Paul Beckwith half dozen videos]
*Mishmash on Abrupt Climate Change Status: Prognosis Grim*
Paul Beckwith
Published on May 24, 2019
This video is the 1st of 6 where I chat about the most significant 
recent developments in our ongoing abrupt climate change system. I am 
simply joining the dots, delving deeply into what is happening on the 
ground, in the atmosphere, and in the oceans, and profound existential 
consequences that are affecting each of us in this time of gut-wrenching 
disruption. I strive to take the latest science and tell a coherent 
story that is easily understandable to the most novice layperson, using 
the best, most clearly illustrated gifs that I have come across in 
social media over several months.
Please support my independent analysis and videos by donating to me at 
http://paulbeckwith.net and help me share this vital information far and 
wide.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9NvCwVDmFI
2. *A Mishmash on our FUBAR'd Climate: Dooohhhhh...Take off, aye (to 
another planet)*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGAiXkrJ32w
3. *Rampaging Climate Crushes Humans Like Bugs, and Just Getting Warmed Up*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6F0vxfp1wM
This video is the 3rd of 6 in my swarm of videos to parallel the 
tornadoes swarm that continues to wreak cascading havoc on the U.S.A., 
along with the hydro-attack that is decimating planting schedules and 
risking global price spikes on grains, soy, etc.; making a mockery of 
the so called "useful" idiot climate denier who is being enabled by the 
God-Owful-Party in power. I'm one to talk; Ontario lost its senses in 
voting in neomort Doug Ford, while Alberta went nutters voting in Jason 
Kenney who is set up a "war-room" to attack opponents of his iron rod 
pipeline of doom.
4.
5.
6.
7. See more at https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulHBeckwith
See also @PaulBeckwith



[warning: dark, conjectural opinion - includes 4 published comments]
*The Dopamine Hypothesis*
By Tom Lewis | May 23, 2019
Podcast: Play in new window - 
http://media.blubrry.com/dailyimpact/p/www.dailyimpact.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Dopamine-Hypothesis.mp3
Download - 
http://media.blubrry.com/dailyimpact/s/www.dailyimpact.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Dopamine-Hypothesis.mp3
Since he's coming anyway, perhaps we should just take something and 
enjoy the visit? Oh. Never mind.

The euphoria of the dying is well known but little understood. Stories 
abound of people who have been languishing toward oblivion but just 
before the end rally briefly with a burst of energy and optimism that 
astonishes their families. It has been proposed, although whether with 
any scientific credibility or not I do not know, that when the organism 
comprehends its imminent extinction it floods itself with dopamine, 
buoying the mood of the dying. It has also been speculated that people 
facing violent death, in a plane going down, for example, or at the 
hands of a murderer, are anesthetized by the dopamine rush and 
experience their final seconds as a kind of peaceful lark.

I don't know if this dopamine hypothesis is valid, but it is comforting 
to believe it, whether we are contemplating our own end or that of a 
loved one. Taking the suffering out of the equation, once the end is at 
hand, would be, to say the least, helpful. As Shakespeare said in a 
slightly different context, it would be a consummation devoutly to be 
wished.

I am wondering if the same thing happens when a civilization, say for 
example western industrial civilization, reaches its expiration date. 
How else to explain the irrational exuberance of American consumers, 
investors, brokers, politicians and Uber drivers as they stride 
confidently toward what any rational mind can see is imminent 
destruction. They've gotta be on something.

I'm not talking here about the opioid, crack, meth, alcohol and other 
related narcotic epidemics currently raging, although they may be part 
of the syndrome; they are surely spawned by hopelessness and are often 
used to ease one through the final hours of life.

But I mean here something larger and more vague, a quietly raging 
giddiness bubbling through our entire lives. When we are shown that 
climate change is about to turn our farm fields to deserts, to sink our 
cities beneath ocean waves, to burn our forests down and unleash the 
four horsemen of the Apocalypse -- and then we see it starting to happen 
-- surely the appropriate response is not a giggle. Or a shrug. Such 
responses are those of people who are on something.

The drinking water is almost gone, so is the soil and the oil and the 
breathable air and the fish. Out-of-control debt is strangling our 
country and almost all of us. And yet we seem collectively happy. The 
consumer confidence index has seldom been higher, we hear every day that 
our economy is terrific and the stock market is stratospheric and 
America is Number One.

Perhaps the whole organism, sensing that it's almost time for lights 
out, is burping dopamine to that the final throes will not bother us, 
the gathering darkness will not frighten us, and we can keep watching 
football until the screen goes to black.

It would make far more sense than what I hear people saying about their 
situation: that there's no reason we can't keep growing our economy 
forever, that technology will replace the cheap energy that oil can no 
longer give us, that there are unexpected upsides to global warming, 
that Trump is a good president because he "tells it like it is." Wait, 
that also sounds like people who are on something. I rest my case.

Excuse me, I have to go. I feel like I'm going to start giggling for no 
reason….
http://www.dailyimpact.net/2019/05/23/the-dopamine-hypothesis/
  - - -
*4 Responses to The Dopamine Hypothesis*
Greg Knepp May 23, 2019
I've heard the term 'Supernova Syndrome' similarly applied to what you 
describe. Just as a star burns its brightest immediately prior to its 
demise, so individuals, institutions, cultural formats, societies and 
even civilizations often go out with a bang rather than a whimper.

The tallest statue on Easter Island was its last; the Coliseum marked 
the beginning of the end of the Roman experiment; St. Peter's Basilica 
was by far the most expensive and ostentatious project of its era, 
bankrupting Europe and presaging the Reformation; I needn't elaborate on 
Versailles. Or consider the decade-long bacchanal that preceded the 
Great Depression - talk about giddy; the skyscrapers of Dubai, the Mall 
of America…Christ, the list is endless!

It seems to be the way of nature. "Eat drink and be merry, for all else 
is vanity."

In Ecclesiastes 'vanity' translates as 'useless' rather than 'egocentric'.

Reply
Denis Frith May 24, 2019
Tityus, the acronym for industrialized civilization, is destined to 
gradually decline prior to its demise. Gaia, nature, can no longer 
support this rampant misbehavior. The inhabitants will continue to 
blindly misuse what remains of Tityas' capabilities.

Reply
Max4241 May 24, 2019
Can human beings choose to go insane? Is it possible, that our ability 
to make this choice is what truly separates us from the other species?

Reply
L Racine May 24, 2019
"At the end only Love remains." But that assumes you know what "Love" 
is… This is a pretty dark post. Even Guy McPherson is lighter reading…
http://www.dailyimpact.net/2019/05/23/the-dopamine-hypothesis/



[World interactions.]
*Pompeo's CIA (Climate Insanity Again!)*
Just Have a Think
Published on May 19, 2019
Climate Change once again hit the news in May at the 11th Ministerial 
Meeting of the Arctic Council. Most of the member states agreed that 
Climate Change was a clear and present danger that required extremely 
careful stewardship, and nowhere more so than up in the arctic region. 
But the Trump Administration, in the form of Secretary of State Mike 
Pompeo, represented a voice of dissent that effectively scuppered any 
progress. This week we take a look at the battle for arctic supremacy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQwIAFL7i48&t=13s


*This Day in Climate History - May, 2011 - from D.R. Tucker*
May 25, 2011: Former Delaware Republican Party official Michael 
Stafford, in a column describing his growing recognition of the threat 
of climate change, observes:

"Regrettably, while the scientific evidence supporting [climate
action] has become increasingly more persuasive over the past
several years, and the need for immediate action ever more apparent,
public opinion, at least in the United States, has been trending in
the opposite direction.

"I think there are several reasons for this.  First, few of
us...possess the technical expertise or knowledge required to
independently assess and analyze scientific research, reports, or
peer reviewed literature.  As a result, we fall back on pop-culture
works, like the thoroughly debunked [Bjorn Lomborg] book 'Cool It,'
and reports in the mainstream media.  The climate denial industry
has exploited this by endeavoring to create 'doubt' in the minds of
Americans, despite the fact that no reasonable grounds for doubt
remain.  Meanwhile, the scientific community has not been
particularly effective at communicating the case for [climate
action] in a way that is accessible and understandable to most
Americans.  At the same time, the radicalization of the political
Right, and the rise to prominence of an extreme form of
libertarianism within its ranks, has made opposition to [climate
action] a required tenant of its political orthodoxy.  In other
words, our political ideology demands that it cannot be
true--therefore, it is not.

"The rejection of proven science in favor of a form of ideologically
driven magical thinking by the GOP is extremely unfortunate, and
unnecessary."

http://townsquaredelaware.com/2011/05/25/my-road-to-damascus-coming-to-terms-with-global-climate-change/
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