[TheClimate.Vote] September 10, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Tue Sep 10 09:44:48 EDT 2019

/September 10, 2019/

[USAToday]
*As Earth faces climate catastrophe, US set to open nearly 200 power plants*
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/09/09/climate-change-threatens-earth-us-open-nearly-200-power-plants/2155631001/ 

[activism Sept 20, 2019]
*Amazon Employees For Climate Justice*
@AMZNforClimate
Check out our video with 26 employees pledging on camera:
https://twitter.com/AMZNforClimate/status/1171077286382243840
Amplify that tweet w/ the video?
#AMZNclimate and #ClimateStrike

[The NewYorker article still gets attention]
*Jonathan Franzen's made-up climate change model sparks online pile-on*
'As a non-scientist, I do my own kind of modelling,' claimed the author 
in the New Yorker, sparking a flurry of mockery online
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/sep/09/jonathan-franzens-made-up-climate-change-model-sparks-online-pile-on
- - -
[Edited summary]
Cultural Comment
*What If We Stopped Pretending?*
The climate apocalypse is coming. To prepare for it, we need to admit 
that we can't prevent it.
By Jonathan Franzen
- - -
As a non-scientist, I do my own kind of modelling...The scenarios, which 
I draw from the prescriptions of policy-makers and activists, share 
certain necessary conditions.

The first condition is that every one of the world's major polluting 
countries institute draconian conservation measures, shut down much of 
its energy and transportation infrastructure, and completely retool its 
economy. According to a recent paper in Nature, the carbon emissions 
from existing global infrastructure, if operated through its normal 
lifetime, will exceed our entire emissions "allowance"-- the further 
gigatons of carbon that can be released without crossing the threshold 
of catastrophe. (This estimate does not include the thousands of new 
energy and transportation projects already planned or under 
construction.) To stay within that allowance, a top-down intervention 
needs to happen not only in every country but throughout every country. 
Making New York City a green utopia will not avail if Texans keep 
pumping oil and driving pickup trucks...
- - -
Finally, overwhelming numbers of human beings, including millions of 
government-hating Americans, need to accept high taxes and severe 
curtailment of their familiar life styles without revolting. They must 
accept the reality of climate change and have faith in the extreme 
measures taken to combat it. They can't dismiss news they dislike as 
fake. They have to set aside nationalism and class and racial 
resentments. They have to make sacrifices for distant threatened nations 
and distant future generations. They have to be permanently terrified by 
hotter summers and more frequent natural disasters, rather than just 
getting used to them. Every day, instead of thinking about breakfast, 
they have to think about death.

Call me a pessimist or call me a humanist, but I don't see human nature 
fundamentally changing anytime soon. I can run ten thousand scenarios 
through my model, and in not one of them do I see the two-degree target 
being met...
- - -
[article concludes]
  In the summer, as a member of its C.S.A. program, I enjoy its kale and 
strawberries, and in the fall, because the soil is alive and 
uncontaminated, small migratory birds find sustenance in its furrows.

There may come a time, sooner than any of us likes to think, when the 
systems of industrial agriculture and global trade break down and 
homeless people outnumber people with homes. At that point, traditional 
local farming and strong communities will no longer just be liberal 
buzzwords. Kindness to neighbors and respect for the land--nurturing 
healthy soil, wisely managing water, caring for pollinators--will be 
essential in a crisis and in whatever society survives it. A project 
like the Homeless Garden offers me the hope that the future, while 
undoubtedly worse than the present, might also, in some ways, be better. 
Most of all, though, it gives me hope for today.
Jonathan Franzen is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and the 
author of, most recently, the novel "Purity."
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending

[video talk recorded 2015]
*Hope in the face of climate change - Dr. Susanne Moser*
UPFSI
Published on Sep 7, 2019
Those about to watch this video are unique people, willing to 
unflinchingly consider the portends of climate change eyeball to 
eyeball. But this subculture has developed a severe aversion to the term 
'hope' which could used to be rectified.  This talk by Dr. Susanne 
Moser, presented on June 12, 2015, takes a look at climate and hope 
different than usually.  The word has a diverse meaning and integral 
relationship with the human psyche.  To 'abandon all hope' we risk 
painting ourselves into a dark, dark corner when in fact we need to be 
coming from the light more now than ever.  Hope is more complex than 
that.  There is no doubt we live at an apocalyptic moment in time. 
Remaining intent upon making personal and political change within our 
sphere is a self-reinforcing function coupled with hope.  We cannot 
afford to bar 'hope' as one of the many responses upon which we can draw.

Dr. Moser gave this keynote speech about the importance of 'active hope' 
in the face of climate disruption at the 2015 Conference on 
Communication and Environment (COCE) in Boulder, Colorado on June 12th, 
2015 .  We are republishing the presentation here with her permission.

You can read in depth about Dr. Moser at 
http://www.susannemoser.com/about.php. This is the draft of her paper 
underlying this presentation: "Hope in the face of climate change: A 
bridge without railing" https://bit.ly/2JMPXgA

She will also be appearing in the movie "Once You Know" by Emmanuel 
Cappellin, which is currently in post-production. You can see a trailer 
here: https://vimeo.com/238828549
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPp2jVlsSg8

[died last month--the Ultimate Climate Change Denier]
*Kochland: How David Koch Helped Build an Empire to Shape U.S. Politics 
& Thwart Climate Action*
Democracy Now!
Published on Aug 27, 2019
Billionaire conservative donor David Koch died Friday at the age of 79 
from prostate cancer. David Koch -- who was worth some $42 billion -- 
and his brother Charles poured massive amounts of money into funding 
climate change denial through conservative think tanks and politicians. 
The Koch brothers founded the political advocacy group Americans for 
Prosperity in 2004, which is credited with turning the "tea party" into 
a full-fledged political movement. They also backed "right-to-work" 
efforts, which aim to weaken labor rights and quash union membership. 
The brothers made their fortune running Koch Industries, the 
second-largest privately held company in the United States. We speak 
with the business journalist Christopher Leonard, who just last week 
published a major new book examining the business dealings of the Koch 
brothers. It's titled "Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries 
and Corporate Power in America."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIWeD8jy-iQ

*This Day in Climate History - September 10, - from D.R. Tucker*
September 10, 2018:
In a historic victory for climate hawks, California Governor Jerry Brown 
signs into law a bill mandating that the state move to 100 percent clean 
energy by 2045.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-renewable-energy-law-signed-20180910-story.html 

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