[TheClimate.Vote] April 17, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Apr 17 10:22:51 EDT 2020
/*April 17, 2020*/
[BBC on US drought]
*Climate change: US megadrought 'already under way'*
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
A drought, equal to the worst to have hit the western US in recorded
history, is already under way, say scientists.
Researchers say the megadrought is a naturally occurring event that
started in the year 2000 and is still ongoing.
Climate change, though, is having a major impact with rising
temperatures making the drought more severe.
Some researchers are more cautious, saying that it is too early to say
if the region really is seeing a true megadrought.
According to the authors of this new paper, a megadrought in North
America refers to a multi-decade event, that contains periods of very
high severity that last longer than anything observed during the 19th or
20th centuries.
The authors say there have been around 40 drought events over the period
from 800-2018 in the western US.
Of these, only four meet the criteria for a megadrought.
These were in the late 800s, the mid-1100s, the 1200s and the late 1500s...
- - -
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52312260
- - -
[Source material in Journal Science]
*Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North
American megadrought*
*A trend of warming and drying*
Global warming has pushed what would have been a moderate drought in
southwestern North America into megadrought territory. Williams et
al. used a combination of hydrological modeling and tree-ring
reconstructions of summer soil moisture to show that the period from
2000 to 2018 was the driest 19-year span since the late 1500s and
the second driest since 800 CE (see the Perspective by Stahle). This
appears to be just the beginning of a more extreme trend toward
megadrought as global warming continues.
*Abstract*
Severe and persistent 21st-century drought in southwestern North
America (SWNA) motivates comparisons to medieval megadroughts and
questions about the role of anthropogenic climate change. We use
hydrological modeling and new 1200-year tree-ring reconstructions of
summer soil moisture to demonstrate that the 2000-2018 SWNA drought
was the second driest 19-year period since 800 CE, exceeded only by
a late-1500s megadrought. The megadrought-like trajectory of
2000-2018 soil moisture was driven by natural variability
superimposed on drying due to anthropogenic warming. Anthropogenic
trends in temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation
estimated from 31 climate models account for 47% (model
interquartiles of 35 to 105%) of the 2000-2018 drought severity,
pushing an otherwise moderate drought onto a trajectory comparable
to the worst SWNA megadroughts since 800 CE.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6488/314
full text https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6488/314.full
[Three minute video plea]
*The Solutions to the Climate Crisis No One is Talking About*
Greenpeace worked on this video with Robert Reich and Inequality Media.
I think this video is particularly important right now because, as the
COVID-19 pandemic shows yet again, crises fall most heavily on the
shoulders of those already facing systemic inequities. The climate
crisis is no different. And this film makes a compelling case for
opposing the fossil fuel industry and create a future that puts people
first.
*Robert Reich Explains The Solutions To The Climate Crisis No One Is
Talking About*
Apr 16, 2020
Greenpeace USA
The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most
economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires, and
disruptions to supplies of food, water, and power. At the same time,
environmental degradation and climate change are themselves byproducts
of widening inequality. The political power of wealthy fossil fuel
corporations has stymied action on climate change for decades.
Make no mistake: the simultaneous crisis of inequality and climate is no
fluke.
Robert Reich explains the decades of deliberate choices made, and
policies enacted, by ultra-wealthy and powerful corporations that have
led us to this point.
https://youtu.be/X194-G-_jbg
[Podcast with transcript]
*There Will Be Fraud: How Big Oil Is Using the Pandemic to Push More
Plastic*
In a new report, the Center for International Environmental Law looks at
the way oil, gas and petrochemical companies are leveraging the pandemic
to push policy and increase profits, and whether these efforts will
ultimately be successful. Carroll Muffet, one of our S3 experts, joins
to walk us through some of the key points of the report, including how
the industry is using the pandemic to push more single-use plastics.
Read the report: Pandemic Crisis, Systemic Decline: Why Exploiting the
COVID-19 Crisis Will Not Save the Oil, Gas, and Plastics Industries
https://www.ciel.org/reports/pandemic-crisis-systemic-decline/
Transcripts
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fi4n4g13nqt2f7m/AABRqV6p5_0q9tlllp-v357-a/S3%20Transcripts
https://www.drillednews.com/podcasts
- - -
[Center for International Environmental Law]
*Pandemic Crisis, Systemic Decline: Why Exploiting the COVID-19 Crisis
Will Not Save the Oil, Gas, and Plastic Industries (April 2020)*
Amidst a global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, the oil, gas,
and plastic industries are exploiting the crisis by aggressively
lobbying for massive bailouts and special privileges in a desperate
attempt to revive an oil and gas industry already in decline.
Pandemic Crisis, Systemic Decline: Why Exploiting the COVID-19 Crisis
Will Not Save the Oil, Gas, and Plastic Industries documents how
long-term systemic declines in the oil and gas industry had been
accumulating long before the coronavirus pandemic emerged. Compounded by
the impacts of the pandemic and related economic crisis, the industry's
collapse has accelerated, with leading companies losing an average of
45% of their value since the start of 2020.
While the current crises have exacerbated the industry's collapse, its
underlying risks remain unchanged. Ultimately, government bailouts and
regulatory rollbacks will not reverse the inevitable decline of the oil,
gas, and plastic industries.
Recommendations:
Public Officials taking policy action to respond to COVID-19 and the
economic collapse should not waste limited response and recovery
resources on bailouts, debt relief, or similar supports for oil, gas,
and petrochemical companies.
Institutional Investors and Asset Managers should recognize the
overwhelming evidence that the risks of continued investment in fossil
fuels now substantially outweigh the benefits, and they should rebalance
their portfolios to eliminate their exposure to volatile and declining
oil and gas assets.
Frontier Countries considering whether to open their lands, waters, and
democracies to new oil and gas extraction should urgently reassess their
prospects in light of the collapse in oil prices and demand,
demonstrated severe risks of economic dependence on volatile oil
markets, ongoing long-term decline of the sector, and its fundamental
incompatibility with climate action.
Local Communities and Decisionmakers should reject demands from the oil,
gas, and petrochemical sectors for public subsidies, tax abatements, lax
environmental enforcement, or other special concessions. They should
interrogate industry promises of long-term sustainable employment
actively and skeptically, and they should require evidence to support
those claims that goes beyond simplistic assumptions of market growth.
In the rare circumstances where these burdens are met, affected
communities should require project proponents to irreversibly commit the
funds required to restore communities and the environment when the
project reaches the end of its economic life.
Read the full report.
https://www.ciel.org/reports/pandemic-crisis-systemic-decline/
- - -
[Read the full report]
*PANDEMIC CRISIS, SYSTEMIC DECLINE**
**Why Exploiting the COVID-19 Crisis Will Not Save the Oil, Gas, and
Plastic Industries*
https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pandemic-Crisis-Systemic-Decline-April-2020.pdf
[BBC analysis]
*Coronavirus: Don't bail out airlines, say climate campaigners**
*By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst
6 April 2020
More than 250 trades unions and environment groups have signed an open
letter opposing plans for bailing out the aviation industry.
The letter to governments demands that any bailouts lead to better
labour conditions and a cut in emissions.
They say aviation should make changes already evident in other sectors
amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Thanks to a long-standing treaty, international aviation has largely
been able to make its own rules.
The campaigners say this must change now that firms are asking for new
favours from governments
Their informal group is called "Stay Grounded". Its spokesperson
Magdalena Heuwieser said: "For decades the aviation industry has avoided
contributing meaningfully to global climate goals and resisted the
merest suggestion of taxes on fuel or tickets.
Bankruptcy risk
"Now, airlines, airports and manufacturers are demanding huge and
unconditional taxpayer-backed bailouts. We cannot let the aviation
industry get away with privatising profits in the good times, and expect
the public to pay for its losses in the bad times."
The aviation association IATA has conducted what it calls an
"aggressive" global campaign aimed at persuading governments to
introduce measures softening the effect of the virus emergency.
It's asking for the immediate reduction of all charges and taxes;
deferral of any planned increases in charges and taxes for 6-12 months;
and the creation of funds to help airlines restart or maintain routes.
It says without such measures, many airlines will go bankrupt - leading
to the loss of routes and damage to the economy, as well as thousands of
job losses.
Duty freeze
Several nations have agreed to some of the industry's demands but in the
UK the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has told airlines to look to its own
shareholders to keep them running.
UK airports, meanwhile, are asking ministers to grant them a suspension
of Air Passenger Duty and other measures when the crisis is over.
Stay Grounded has a very different recipe for a successful outcome at
the end of the crisis.
It wants a focus on protecting workers not shareholders; making aviation
firms contribute to emissions reductions by cutting air travel demand
and strengthening low-carbon alternatives like rail travel; while
imposing a kerosene tax and progressive levies on frequent flying.
Pablo Munoz from the Spanish organisation Ecologistas en Accion, said:
"While we are rightly focused on saving lives during the immediate
health threat of, our governments have a choice: they can hand
taxpayers' money to corporations unconditionally, or they can seize the
opportunity to start building an economy which doesn't harm people or
the planet".
This touches on a much deeper debate about the nature of the post-Covid
recovery. There's a gulf between people who want to use the crisis for a
green stimulus to the economy, whilst others warn that so much money
will have been spent conquering the virus that there will be little left
for clean energy investment.
IATA has been approached for a comment.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52190502
[An important video lecture with clear advice]
*Climate Depression: Confronting Eco-Anxiety in the Age of Crisis*
Mar 31, 2020
Jennifer Atkinson
As our climate crisis grows, new research shows that ecological loss is
taking a huge emotional toll. Terms like "eco-grief," "climate
depression" & "pre-traumatic stress" are becoming increasingly common.
Meanwhile, frontline communities -- particularly poor & historically
marginalized groups -- are experiencing the brunt of climate disruption
& suffering from significant mental health impacts. In this talk, Dr.
Jennifer Atkinson will discuss the emotional dimensions of our climate
crisis & share strategies for addressing grief & anxiety over
environmental loss without retreating into despair. Having taught one of
the first college seminars on eco-grief, Atkinson will draw on her
experience helping students & activists build the resilience to stay
engaged in climate solutions over the long run.
This talk was hosted by the Pacific Science Center in Seattle as part of
the "Science in the City" (February 2020)
Bio: Dr. Jennifer Atkinson is a Senior Lecturer at the University of
Washington, Bothell, where she teaches environmental humanities, ethics,
and environmental literature. Her seminar on "Climate Anxiety and Grief"
was one of the first college courses of its kind in the U.S., and has
been featured in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News,
The Seattle Times, Grist, and dozens of other outlets. Her most recent
project, titled "An Existential Toolkit for Climate Educators" received
a grant from the Rachel Carson Center in Munich & will launch in summer
2020, along with a podcast titled "Facing It." Dr. Atkinson is also the
author of Gardenland: Nature, Fantasy and Everyday Practice, a book that
explores how American gardens have promoted community, joyful labor,
contact with nature, and more vibrant and democratic cities. She holds a
Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago, and has taught at the
University of Washington for the past 11 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuRG9hwJ6aU
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - April 17, 2008 *
Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection releases a commercial
featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, calling for a bipartisan effort
to address human-caused climate change. Gingrich is rhetorically
flogged by right-wing bloggers for participating in the commercial,
and later disavows it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n-wB154
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1COYhkzEXPI
http://thecenterholds.com/2013/04/17/happy-anniversary/
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