[TheClimate.Vote] November 16, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/November 16, 2019/

[from Climate Liability News]
*Elizabeth Warren Calls for Corporations to Be Held Liable for Perjury, 
Cites Exxon*
As part of her larger plan to fight corruption, Democratic presidential 
candidate Elizabeth Warren proposed a set of rules that would hold 
companies liable for lying to federal agencies, including by using 
industry-backed studies to bolster their case. Warren’s plan, dubbed 
"Fighting Corporate Perjury," would hold corporate officers criminally 
liable for lying to or misleading government agencies. It comes on the 
heels of New York's trial against Exxon for climate fraud, highlighting 
how the oil giant has continuously worked to cloud the public knowledge 
of fossil fuels' role in climate change. She also proposes prohibiting 
the use of non-peer-reviewed studies in federal rule-making if they are 
found to have a conflict of interest. Those kinds of studies were used 
for years to bolster Big Tobacco's lie that there was no link between 
smoking and cancer.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2019/11/12/elizabeth-warren-exxon-perjury/


[some science]
*A battle for the jet stream is raging above our heads*
by Tim Woollings, The Conversation
- - -
We are in the early days of a great battle in the air above our heads 
between the Arctic and the tropics, for the future of the jet stream. At 
best, there might be a stalemate, leaving the jet stream distorted but 
otherwise unmoved.

However, if one of the competitors outweighs the other, regional climate 
patterns could be severely altered as the climate zones shift along with 
the jet. It's too early to say with any confidence which of these will 
win out, but many computer models predict the jet will shift a little 
towards the pole, consistent with a greater influence of the tropics.

In this case, we should expect to see the warm, dry regions at the edge 
of the tropics extend a little further out from the equator. The 
strongest impacts of this would likely be felt in regions such as the 
Mediterranean, which are already highly sensitive to fluctuations in 
rainfall. A northward jet shift would act to steer much needed 
rainstorms towards central Europe instead, leaving the Mediterranean at 
greater risk of drought.

So, the jet may not become more erratic as the Arctic warms, but it may 
well change profoundly. And one thing is clear: the stress of increased 
temperatures and altered rainfall patterns from our destabilizing 
climate will leave us even more vulnerable to the weather patterns 
brought by the whim of the wandering jet stream.
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-jet-stream-raging.html


[fire to prevent fire]
*A surprising answer to a hot question: Controlled burns often fail to 
slow a bushfire*
by Trent Penman, Kate Parkins and Sarah McColl-Gausden, The Conversation
As sure as night follows day, this week's bushfires prompted inevitable 
debate about whether fire authorities should have carried out more 
hazard reduction burning, and whether opposition from conservationists 
prevented this.

There are two key points to remember when we consider these questions. 
First, the impact on human life and property--not the impact on the 
environment--is the number one concern in the minds of fire officials 
when deciding whether to conduct a controlled burn. Second, and perhaps 
more importantly, evidence shows increasing the frequency or area of 
controlled burns does not necessarily reduce the bushfire risk.
- -
Bushfire hazard reduction is not as simple as dropping a match 
indiscriminately and standing back to watch the landscape burn. Fire 
agencies must assess the risks and manage the potential impacts. These 
assessments are made in the years and months prior to the burn, as well 
as on the day.
-- -
*Controlled burns may not slow bushfires*
Even if we were to carry out more controlled burns, it does not 
necessarily follow that bushfire risk would be reduced.

Controlled burns do not remove all fuels from an area. And forests 
accumulate fuel at different rates--some return to their pre-burn fuel 
loads in as few as three years.
- - -
Evidence is mounting of increased bushfire frequency and extent in both 
Australia and the US--a situation predicted to worsen under climate 
change. Changing weather patterns mean opportunities for controlled 
burning will likely diminish further. Coupled with expanding populations 
in high fire-risk areas, Australia's fire agencies--among the best in 
the world--have a challenging time ahead.

In future, we must think beyond traditional approaches to fire 
management. Acknowledging the role of climate change in altering natural 
hazards and the impact they have on humans and the environment is the 
first step. Communities should also be at the center of decisions, so 
they understand and act on the risks.
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-hot-bushfire.html



[Health and Global Heating]
*Why Climate Change Poses A Particular Threat To Child Health*
November 14, 20195:02 AM ET
-- -
For instance, it has meant the conditions for growing all sorts of crops 
around the world have become less favorable.

"Each of the major crops," Watts says. "We track maize; we track rice, 
soybean, and spring and winter wheat."

Watts says the research team found that the yield potential for these 
staple crops is now down as much as 6%.

That might not sound like much, but with reduced crop yields, "who is 
going to be the most vulnerable?" Watts asks. "Children."

Particularly kids in poorer countries. When fewer crops are produced, 
prices go up, and people get less food. That leads to malnutrition, 
which can be especially devastating for kids because their bodies are 
still growing...
- -
Dr. Renee Salas is an emergency room doctor and Harvard professor who 
authored the report's section on the United States. "People living in 
the United States are experiencing the health harms of climate change 
today," she says.

Salas saw the impact in her own ER at Massachusetts General Hospital 
during a massive heat wave in Boston last July. An elderly man was 
carried in. He was in a terrible state of disorientation. He was living 
in low-income housing, Salas says. And he had no air conditioning.

"I'll always remember the ambulance crew said that when they opened the 
door the amount of heat that hit them was just really striking," she says.

Salas' research on climate change has sprung directly from these 
experiences.

"As an emergency medicine doctor, I'm trained to respond to 
emergencies," she says. "And I can think of no greater emergency facing 
the health of our country than climate change."
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/11/14/778992862/why-climate-change-poses-a-particular-threat-to-child-health


[Newsweek posts Michael E Mann opinion]
*"CLIMATEGATE" IS A DECADE OLD. ALL IT EXPOSED IS THE BAD FAITH OF 
CLIMATE DENIERS *
MICHAEL E. MANN
Russia, Wikileaks and stolen emails. You could be forgiven for thinking 
I'm talking about the now well-established conspiracy to steal the U.S. 
presidential election of 2016, a scandal that has since been branded 
Russiagate. Instead, I'm talking about the fake scandal in November 2009 
that would come to be known as Climategate, and which arguably served as 
a training ground, a test run, for the more recent hacking of our 
presidential election.

Ten years ago, hackers with links to Russia and Wikileaks broke into an 
email server in the U.K., and released stolen emails in a massive, 
carefully orchestrated disinformation campaign designed to impact the 
upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit of December 2009. Words from the 
emails were disingenuously rearranged and taken out of context (for 
example, the word "trick"--a term used by mathematicians and scientists 
to denote a clever short-cut to solving a problem) by climate change 
deniers to misrepresent both the science and the scientists.

Even the name attached to the affair--"Climategate"--was the product of 
a carefully crafted narrative foisted on the public and policymakers in 
a collaborative effort by fossil fuel industry front groups, paid attack 
dogs, and conservative media outlets. Mainstream media couldn't resist 
the bait, and before long the news was buzzing with talk of how emails 
expose the seedy underbelly of the climate science world.

Never matter that multiple subsequent investigations revealed no 
wrongdoing on the part of scientists. Indeed, the true irony is that, 
just like Watergate after which it was named, the only wrongdoing was 
the criminal theft itself. But the damage was already done. 
"Climategate" became a rallying cry for the fossil fuel-funded climate 
denial network and industry-funded politicians alike.

The ultimate legacy of the affair, however, is quite different from what 
climate denialists might like to think. While the fossil fuel industry 
had for decades sought to forestall regulation of carbon emissions, 
Climategate illustrated the depths of dishonesty to which denialists 
were willing to sink in their efforts to sabotage action on climate. It 
was a tacit admission on their part that they no longer had a legitimate 
case to make.

And so citing "Climategate" as a reason for inaction has become a simple 
"tell" in the climate discourse. Those who do it are acting in bad 
faith. They are not honest actors expressing true belief. They are 
dissemblers intentionally misrepresenting the science and the scientists 
to score political points on behalf of the fossil fuel interests whose 
bidding they are doing.

In the decade since, we have now largely overcome outright climate 
denial. The debate has, at least in honest quarters, moved squarely 
beyond the question of whether we have a problem to what to do about it. 
But it's late in the game. Extreme weather events have been made more 
frequent, destructive and deadly because of climate change. Yet those 
same events are also now mobilizing the public and an increasing number 
of policymakers to act, making it clear that the danger is already here 
and needs to be addressed now. Sea level rise combined with more 
destructive hurricanes are now threatening coastal communities in 
Florida, triggering Republicans there to begin taking the issue 
seriously as sea-side real estate falls increasingly underwater.

On the energy front, renewables are now cheaper than ever, with prices 
falling still, and adoption accelerating. The transition from fossil 
fuels to renewable energy is unstoppable if, for no reason other than 
the fact that the price of capturing wind and sun is ultimately lower 
than the cost of digging up, transporting, and burning fossil 
fuels--even without putting a price on carbon pollution. But we will 
need to speed up the transition if we are to avert ever-more dangerous 
warming. A price on carbon will do that.

Add to that the massive world-wide climate demonstrations, with our 
children leading the way, and we have all of the basic ingredients 
necessary for a societal tipping point on climate action. But Big Oil 
isn't stepping aside willingly. Instead, we're seeing a new front in the 
fight, with a softer form of denial involving efforts to deflect 
attention from industry's responsibility or offer fake solutions that 
keep us addicted to oil, coal, and natural gas. We cannot afford that 
sort of slow-walking however. We don't have time to appease polluters 
with incremental policies. We have precious little time to end our 
addiction before the consequences are catastrophic.

Looking back, we've wasted too much time already. But looking forward, 
we're just a year away from a make or break election when it comes to 
climate. Another thing that is even more true now than it was a decade 
ago. The good news is that it gives us an opportunity to seize control 
of our future by turning out to vote, and to vote on climate.

Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at 
Pennsylvania State University. His most recent book, with Tom Toles, is 
The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our 
Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy (Columbia 
University Press, 2016).
https://www.newsweek.com/climate-gate-fake-news-climate-denialism-1471826


[upsetting religious priorities]
*Abortion preeminent issue, global warming not urgent, say bishops*
National Catholic Reporter
Abortion preeminent issue, global warming not urgent, say 
bishops...Baltimore -- Global warming is an important issue but not 
urgent, said the...gave his comments on global warming in response to a 
question from Religion News
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/signs-times/abortion-preeminent-issue-global-warming-not-urgent-say-bishops 



*This Day in Climate History - November 16, 2005 - from D.R. Tucker*
The Washington Post reports:

    "A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies
    met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 --
    something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently
    as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress

    "The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that
    officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with
    Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House
    complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy
    policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being
    debated."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842.html
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