[TheClimate.Vote] September 20, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Sep 20 07:52:39 EDT 2019


/September 20, 2019/

[Friday strike day]
*Climate strikes see students worldwide demand action*
"I'm here because leaders aren't doing enough"
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/global-climate-strike-2019/index.html
- - -
[NPR radio 3:53]
*Global Youth Climate Strike Expected To Draw Large Crowds*
Organizers predict this climate strike will be the largest yet. More 
than 2000 scientists around the world have pledged to join. Some 
companies also have signed on, including Patagonia and Seventh Generation.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/20/761916356/global-youth-climate-strike-expected-to-draw-large-crowds
- - -
[Belfast Times]
*Climate strikes expected to be largest environmental protest in history*
Millions of people all over the world are preparing to get involved.
- - -
The protests are part of a snowballing movement sparked by teenage 
activist Greta Thunberg's school strikes outside the Swedish parliament.

It comes ahead of a climate action summit in New York convened by UN 
secretary general Antonio Guterres to urge countries to up their climate 
efforts.

Much steeper measures are needed across the globe to prevent temperature 
rises of more than 1.5C (2.7F) or 2C (3.6F) to avoid the worst impacts 
of climate change.
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/climate-strikes-expected-to-be-largest-environmental-protest-in-history-38515984.html


[Graphic cartoon instructions - click below to view in your browser]
*Global climate strikes: Don't say you're sorry. We need people who can 
take action to TAKE ACTUAL ACTION*
First Dog on the Moon
Brenda the civil disobedience penguin gives some handy dos and don'ts 
for your civil disobedience
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/20/the-global-climate-strike-dont-say-youre-sorry-we-need-people-who-can-take-action-to-take-actual-action 



[Financial Times video - Nicola Walker lends sensitivity and 
philosophical depth ]
*Climate Change: what do you want me to say? | FT*
Published on Sep 18, 2019
Financial Times
'The future has come to meet us'. Ahead of climate strikes started by 
Greta Thunberg, the FT and the Royal Court collaborate on a short drama 
exploring inaction on climate change. Actress Nicola Walker, 
transmitting news from 2050, asks why we 'never really learnt how to 
talk about this'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43XK0wzMd4



[ferocious storm strikes Houston]
*''Catastrophic Flooding'' Threatens Heart Of Texas Oil Industry*
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Catastrophic-Flooding-Threatens-Heart-Of-Texas-Oil-Industry.html
- -
[YouTube video]
*Storm Imelda lashes Texas with 'life-threatening' amounts of rainfall*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2F7R7yWo0E


[apres moi, le deluge]
*Climate Change Is Devastating the Lush Gardens of Versailles*
Traditional elms, chestnuts and birches are being replaced by trees that 
can survive climate change.
"Visually, the palace visitors won't see any major changes, but silently 
everything is changing."
--Alain Baraton, chief gardener at the Versailles Palace. Climate change 
is devastating its legendary gardens.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/versailles-palace-leads-battle-to-save-europe-s-dying-forests


[Surprise! Amazon joins in with promises]
*Ambitious goals. Immediate action.*
Amazon is co-founding The Climate Pledge, a goal to meet the Paris 
Agreement 10 years early. Amazon is also pledging to be net zero carbon 
by 2040, and use 100% renewable energy by 2030, and more.
Committed to a sustainable future
Amazon is making big changes to protect the planet.
On September 19, 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism announced The Climate 
Pledge, a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early. Amazon 
is the first signatory of this pledge. The Climate Pledge calls on 
signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040--a 
decade ahead of the Paris Agreement's goal of 2050.
*100% Net zero carbon by 2040*
Deploying our technology and people to reach net zero carbon across 
Amazon by 2040, one decade ahead of the Paris Agreement.
*80% Renewable energy by 2024*
Investing in wind and solar to reach 80% renewable energy across all 
business operations by 2024. We expect to reach ~40% renewable energy by 
the end of 2019.
*100% Renewable energy by 2030*
Investing in wind and solar to reach 100% renewable energy across all 
business operations by 2030.
*50% Shipments net zero carbon by 2030*
Our vision to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all 
shipments net zero carbon by 2030.
https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/
- - -
[Amazon employees will keep pressuring for real zero emissions and not 
net zero]
*Criticism of Amazon*
 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazon.com has attracted criticism from multiple sources, where the 
ethics of certain business practices and policies have been drawn into 
question. Amazon has also faced numerous allegations of anti-competitive 
or monopolistic behavior.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon



[TV Bee's sarcastic indictment - Samatha Bee stings hard]
*Meet the Rich: The Koch Brothers | Full Frontal on TBS*
Published on Sep 18, 2019
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
The Koch brothers may not have started climate change-induced fire 
that's about to engulf the Earth--but they definitely poured gasoline on 
the flames!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Rdo3jmjTk



[Trees are not so simple]
*Climate change: the trouble with trees | The Economist*
Published on Sep 18, 2019 [text=video]
The Economist
*Tree-planting has been hailed as a solution to climate change. But how 
much can trees really do to tackle global warming? *
See our research here: https://econ.st/32HXvXY

Summer 2019 - More than 38,000 fires raged across the Amazon. Fires that 
were man-made. Over the past 50 years almost 17% of the world's largest 
rainforest has been cleared. And globally deforestation has almost 
doubled in just five years.

Since the start of human civilisation it's estimated that the number of 
trees around the world has fallen by almost half. Clearing forests 
increases carbon-dioxide levels but planting them could store away some 
of the carbon already in the atmosphere.

This woman runs safaris in England. Guests are not only here to see wild 
animals - they're here to see wild trees.

Almost 20 years ago Isabella Tree--yes that is her real name-handed 
1,400 hectares of Sussex farmland back to nature, by doing, well 
nothing. She thinks this is the best way to use the land to help tackle 
climate change.

To stabilise the climate global carbon emissions need to drop to net 
zero by 2050. Simon Lewis is a professor of global change science.

And there's never been more global ambition to plant trees. In 2014, 51 
countries pledged to plant over 3.5m square kilometres of forest by 2030 
- an area slightly larger than India. The 2030 target looks likely to be 
met. But there's a catch…

Monoculture tree plantations like eucalyptus grow quickly but the trees 
are harvested every ten or so years releasing much of the carbon stored 
in the tree back into the atmosphere - which means that, according to 
some studies they'll store only around one-fortieth of the carbon 
natural forests do over the long term.

In fact, those pledges to plant millions of trees actually promise to 
store 26bn tonnes less carbon than they could. Sometimes the motives for 
planting forests are less green than they might appear. By 2020 Ireland 
ought to have cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% below 2005 levels. But 
at current rates it will have reduced them by only 5%. Planting forests 
might help Ireland avoid massive penalties for missing EU targets 
because the potential carbon these forests could store in the future can 
be counted as a carbon credit today. In the 1920s Ireland had the lowest 
forest cover in Europe at around 1%. That's now risen to 11% and the 
government has set a target to cover 18% of the land with forest by 2046.

And now local community groups are protesting against these monoculture 
tree plantations. They say they're doing more harm than good.

Tree-planting programmes invariably have an impact on the people living 
nearby. In east Africa one project is demonstrating what can be achieved
when there's genuine buy-in from the local communities. Green Ethiopia 
is a mixed-tree planting charity.

The land is communally owned and co-operatives of local women receive 
benefits for planting trees which are protected from being harvested. 
Here conserving is just as important as planting. Green Ethiopia 
assesses whether the condition of the land is good enough to regenerate 
by itself. When it is--on about a third of the area the charity runs 
they leave it alone. Just like Isabella Tree, back in England.

Monoculture plantations are often preferred because they make money. So 
some experts are looking to a future where carbon payments could create 
financial incentives for natural forests. Ultimately though, the trouble 
with trees tackling climate change is space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXkbdELr4EQ


[indigenous village used to be icebound year round]
*The Impact of Climate Change on Kivalina, Alaska*
ALAN TAYLOR - SEP 18, 2019 - *28 PHOTOS *IN FOCUS
Along Alaska's west coast, about 80 miles above the Arctic circle, sits 
the village of Kivalina, situated on a narrow strip of land between a 
lagoon and the Chukchi Sea--one of several native coastal villages 
dealing with problems due to the warming of the Arctic. Joe Raedle, a 
photographer for Getty, recently flew to Kivalina to spend some time 
with the villagers and photograph their lives and surroundings. The 
warming climate has led to troubles such as the accelerated erosion of 
the land the village sits on, which used to be mitigated by sea ice 
(which is vanishing), and permafrost (which is melting). Fish and 
wildlife that villagers rely on for food have been forced to change 
their migration patterns--and poor hunting means more food must be 
bought from a store, further increasing the cost of living. Raedle: "The 
residents of Kivalina are hoping to stay on their ancestral lands, where 
they can preserve their culture, rather than dispersing due to their 
island being swallowed by the rising waters of the ocean."
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/09/photos-impacts-climate-change-kivalina-alaska/598282/
- - -
[a once promising lawsuit by Kivalina]
*Listed Claims against the Carbon Fuel Industry accepted in Federal 
District Court 2007*
Kivalina vs. Exxon,et al 2007
The following claims are directly from the 2007 filing of Kivalina v. 
Exxon, et al . The facts were never in dispute, but the case was 
rejected for standing. (numbering 189-282, the first few are:

189. There has been a long campaign by power, coal, and oil companies to 
mislead the public about the science of global warming. Defendants 
ExxonMobil, AEP, BP America Inc., Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips 
Company, Duke Energy, Peabody, and Southern ("Conspiracy Defendants") 
participated in this campaign. Initially, the campaign attempted to show 
that global warming was not occurring. Later, and continuing to the 
present , it attempts to demonstrate that global warming is good for the 
planet and its inhabitants or that even if Geopoliticus child watching 
the birth of the new manthere may be ill effects, there is not enough 
scientific certainty to warrant action. The purpose of this campaign has 
been to enable the electric power, coal, oil and other industries to 
continue their conduct contributing to the public nuisance of global 
warming by convincing the public at-large and the victims of global 
warming that the process is not man-made when in fact it is.

190. The campaign has been conducted directly by the Conspiracy 
Defendants, and through trade associations such as the Edison Electric 
Institute ("EEI") (which represents the electric power industry), the 
National Mining Association (which represents the coal industry), and 
the Western Fuels Association (which represents coal-burning utilities 
that own Wyoming coal fields). The industries have also formed and used 
front groups, fake citizens organizations, and bogus scientific bodies, 
such as the Global Climate Coalition ("GCC"), the Greening Earth 
Society, the George C. Marshall Institute, and the Cooler Heads 
Coalition. The most active company in such efforts is and has been 
defendant ExxonMobil.No danger ahead, OK to pass me!

191. The tactics employed in this campaign include the funding and use 
of "global warming skeptics," i.e. professional scientific "experts" 
(many of whom are not atmospheric scientists) who regularly publish 
their marginal views expressing doubts about numerous aspects of climate 
change science in places like the Wall Street Journal editorial page but 
rarely, if ever, in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The skeptics are 
frequently quoted in newspapers such as the Washington Times and are 
offered up to numerous mainstream unsuspecting, news outlets as 
scientific experts in order to sow doubt among the public about global 
warming...
more at - http://novote4energy.org/
- - -
[the community lawsuit]
Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., No. 4:08-cv-01138 (N.D. Cal.), is a 
lawsuit filed on February 26, 2008, in a United States district court. 
The suit, based on the common law theory of nuisance, claims monetary 
damages from the energy industry for the destruction of Kivalina, Alaska 
by flooding caused by climate change. The damage estimates made by the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Government Accountability Office 
are placed between $95 million and $400 million. This lawsuit is an 
example of greenhouse gas emission liability.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivalina_v._ExxonMobil_Corp.




[Musical anthem collection for this day, for the future, all found on 
YouTube]
*Collected Music for Global Warming Anthropocene and changing climate - 
playlist**
*122 videos Last updated on Jul 7, 2019
Search for an Anthem for Global Warming - offering this collection of 
musical anthems and political and cultural song about our changing 
future.  This is the Anthropocene - the era where humans have left their 
mark on the world.   We have a huge mess now, and worse problems for our 
future.   We have dire science, and now we are on a path of tremendous 
self-discovery, why are we so willing to tolerate such self harm?   We 
now bring relentless attention to adapting to our mess and figuring out 
how to mitigate harm.

Every struggle has its own music - a body of heroic songs, stirring 
marches,  and anthems.  Even a dirge or two.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5dY2n3AbGHCgJ9OiDxG5hjY9QYAkQ55
- -
[More music video]
*Global warming and Climate destabilization Music AGW*
163 videos
Music playlist for topic of global warming and climate change - a global 
trauma triggers a musical response.  Gathered music, general, in no 
particular order
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL77C46FF49252AEFD
- - -
[Still more]
*Music Anthems Classics on the Cosmic Quest
*42 videos Updated today
Sacred songs of patriotism or devotion.   In modern music there is a 
general definition that become cultural.   Once you hear some of these, 
you will get the sense of what this kind of inspirational music means.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5dY2n3AbGEL9rs__qaJM06KbVHwMki4

*This Day in Climate History - September 20, 2013 - from D.R. Tucker*
September 20, 2013: The Obama administration proposes new EPA 
regulations intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new power 
plants in the US.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/13/epa-to-announce-carbonlimitsonnewpowerplants.html

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