[TheClimate.Vote] October 22, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

Tue Oct 22 10:16:55 EDT 2019

/October 22, 2019/

[Long building suit]
*Exxon accused of misleading investors on climate change*
Fraud claims
New York's attorney general filed the financial fraud suit in 2018, 
after years of investigation by state authorities.

In court filings, the state says internal documents show Exxon evaluated 
new projects based on forecasts for costs associated with climate change 
that were lower than those it told investors it was using.

Those calculations made investments appear less risky and more valuable.

"By representing that it was applying higher projected carbon costs than 
it was actually using, ExxonMobil made its assets appear significantly 
more secure than they really were, which had a material impact on its 
share price," the state wrote...
Analysts said the New York case is an example of the kind of 
experimentation occurring as governments seek to hold companies 
accountable for climate change.
- -
"Regardless of the outcome [of the New York case] the reality that is 
clear and not inescapable is that the future of Exxon and [other fossil 
fuel] companies is filled with litigation and it's only going to grow." 
Mr Muffett said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50132400
- - -
[trial background]
*America Misled: How the fossil fuel industry deliberately misled 
Americans about climate change*
Over the past few decades, the fossil fuel industry has subjected the 
American public to a well-funded, well-orchestrated disinformation 
campaign about the reality and severity of human-caused climate change. 
The purpose of this web of denial has been to confuse the public and 
decision-makers in order to delay climate action and thereby protect 
fossil fuel business interests and defend libertarian, free-market 
conservative ideologies. The fossil fuel industry's denial and delay 
tactics come straight out of Big Tobacco's playbook. As a result, the 
American public have been denied the right to be accurately informed 
about climate change, just as they were denied the right to be informed 
about the risks of smoking by the tobacco industry. While fossil fuel 
companies attacked the science and called on politicians to "reset the 
alarm," climate-catalyzed damages worsened, including increased storm 
intensities, droughts, forest damage and wildfires, all at substantial 
loss of life and cost to the American people.

This report explores the techniques used to mislead the American public 
about climate change, and outlines ways of inoculating against 
disinformation.
https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/america-misled/
- -
[This is a superb report, easy to read, clear presentation - a PDF file 
- 15 pages]
*The MISLED**
*How the fossil fuel industry deliberately misled Americans about 
climate change
https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/America_Misled.pdf
- - -
*Oil Industry Braces For Blowback From Exxon Scandal*
By Nick Cunningham - Oct 21, 2019...
If true, the upshot is that Exxon is knowingly sitting on assets that 
might become stranded in a carbon-constrained world, and it 
simultaneously misled investors on that reality. Put another way, Exxon 
had two sets of books, according to the allegations, which obscured 
billions of dollars in potential costs.

The NY AG says that the "fraud" was sanctioned "at the highest levels of 
the company," which includes former CEO Rex Tillerson...
- - -
If the oil major loses at trial, it could be required to pay back "all 
amounts gained or retained as a result of the fraud." More worrying for 
the entire oil industry would be the fact that a loss for Exxon could 
lead to a proliferation of litigation against oil companies. "It could 
open up a big can of worms," Jennifer Rowland, an analyst at 
financial-services firm Edward Jones, told the Wall Street Journal. 
"Other companies could be looked at and questioned about what 
assumptions they have made."

Litigation experts also note that Exxon is likely worried about the 
discovery phase of the case, which could unearth more damaging 
information about what the company knew and when it knew it. Again, 
InsideClimate News published a bombshell investigation in 2015 that 
documented Exxon's extensive knowledge of climate change, dating back 
decades, and also the company's efforts to sow and manufacture doubt 
about climate science. The InsideClimate News report one a Pulitzer 
Prize. The story sparked even more investigation into oil industry's 
role in obscuring the science behind climate change...
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Industry-Braces-For-Blowback-From-Exxon-Scandal.html

[Baba Brinkman has a new rap]
*Data Science – Baba Brinkman Music Video*
Oct 21, 2019
Baba Brinkman
Rap battle between a data scientist and a classical statistician, 
arguing for predictive algorithmic models versus inferential data models 
respectively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHGlCi9jOWY

[Simulation, International change, how to ]
*The Simulation That Shows How Hard it Will Be to Solve Climate Change*
Oct 19, 2019
VICE News
The non-profit Climate Interactive has created a new role playing game 
that perfectly simulates the sense of existential dread that thinking 
about climate change often brings about. Using a complex algorithm, 
"World Climate" has created a program that calculates what the increase 
in global temperature will be by 2100 based on energy consumption and 
international policy. The game that this algorithm revolves around is 
basically model UN for the planet: you get a bunch of people in a room, 
assign each one a country, and then have everybody argue about how to 
reduce emissions and get the global rise in temperature as low as 
possible. We're going to play this game with a bunch of business 
students from MIT and see just how hard saving the planet from climate 
collapse will be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z9OZE_TypE
- - -
[Or, see this classic, superb, animated cartoon - with snappy music - an 
ear worm]
*The History of Climate Change Negotiations in 83 seconds*
Nov 19, 2012
ciceroklima
This video is released under a Creative Commons licence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B11kASPfYxY

[quintessential Naomi Klein presentation]
*Naomi Klein, "On Fire" (with Jane Fonda)*
Oct 11, 2019
Politics and Prose
Naomi Klein discusses her book, "On Fire", at a Politics and Prose event 
in Washington, DC.

#1 international and New York Times bestselling author Naomi Klein, 
author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything, makes the case 
for a Green New Deal, explaining how bold climate action can be a 
blueprint for a just and thriving society. For more than twenty years, 
Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged 
on both people and planet--and an unapologetic champion of a sweeping 
environmental agenda with justice at its center. In lucid, elegant 
dispatches from the frontlines of contemporary natural disaster, she 
pens surging, indispensable essays for a wide public: prescient 
advisories and dire warnings of what future awaits us if we refuse to 
act, as well as hopeful glimpses of a far better future. On Fire: The 
(Burning) Case for a Green New Deal gathers for the first time more than 
a decade of her impassioned writing, and pairs it with new material on 
the staggeringly high stakes of our immediate political and economic 
choices.

Klein is in conversation with Betsy Reed, Editor-in-Chief of The 
Intercept and editor of several best selling books, including Black 
Water and Dirty Wars as well as actress and activist Jane Fonda.

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781982129910

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and author of the 
New York Times and international bestsellers The Shock Doctrine, No 
Logo, This Changes Everything, and No Is Not Enough. A Senior 
Correspondent for The Intercept, reporter for Rolling Stone, and 
contributor for both The Nation and The Guardian, Klein is the inaugural 
Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at 
Rutgers University. She is co-founder of the climate justice 
organization The Leap.

Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose 
Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and 
cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and 
discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual 
book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit 
them on the web at http://www.politics-prose.com/
https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781982129910

[Indus River originates between Pakistan and India in the region of Kashmir]
*Fishing villages dry up on the Indus*
THETHIRDPOLE.NET
AKHTAR HAFEEZ - 10/20/2019
- - -
Aslam recalled better times: "We have seen the days when fishing nets 
were made of threads and, after putting the net into river, we would get 
tons of fish with a single net."

*Chaining a river*
Muhammad Ali Shah, Chairman of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) said, 
"I do not consider the Indus river a commodity. It's a living entity, 
like a human being. You cannot chain a river through dams. This is a 
controlled river which does not reach the end, so it is dying."

He added that, during a flood, water is stored in reservoirs not allowed 
to flow in the river.

"There is a great need to rehabilitate the Indus river; it's the right 
of the river. I believe in the natural flow of the river, so it should 
be canal free," he said.

Environmentalist and former programme coordinator at WWF-Pakistan, Nasir 
Panhwar said, "These fishermen were dependent on fresh water. Due to a 
shortage of water, the Indus delta is also completely destroyed. Like 
Manchhar lake, these miyans are getting cleaned out."
https://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/27474/fishing-villages-dry-up-on-the-indus

*This Day in Climate History - October 22, 1976 - from D.R. Tucker*
In the third and final presidential debate, President Ford and 
Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter discuss the importance of 
environmental protection. Carter reiterates his previously expressed 
support for "cleaner" coal.
(33:20--39:19)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CipT04S0bVE (33:20--39:19)
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

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