[TheClimate.Vote] August 2, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*August  2, 2020*/

[US has 38% now]
*Biden calls for 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. Here's how far 
we have to go.*
States such as New York, California and Maine already have ambitious 
goals, while Ohio and West Virginia have weakened theirs
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/07/30/biden-calls-100-percent-clean-electricity-by-2035-heres-how-far-we-have-go/?arc404=true



[Unbounded Youthful Exuberance!]
*Student Leadership on Climate Solutions*
31 July 2020 - James Hansen
A stunning and heartening message appeared in my e-mails this week, 
which I share in hopes that it will encourage you as much as it did me.  
Look at this (https://www.s4cd.org/statement) and scroll down to see our 
impressive future leaders.  The e-mail, from Alex Posner, founder of the 
group, Students for Carbon Dividends (S4CD) included:

Today, after months of organizing, the student climate group I lead 
(Students for Carbon Dividends) has unveiled the "Students Government 
Leaders' Statement on Carbon Dividends," the largest declaration of 
student body presidents in US history.
The bipartisan statement, which is inspired by last year's Economists' 
Statement on Carbon Dividends, includes 350+ college student government 
presidents from all 50 states. Collectively, the signers represent over 
4 million students from campuses across the country--ranging from 
Stanford and MIT to Mississippi State and the University of Michigan….

We must help the United States Congress to recognize the wisdom these 
young people express.  Politicians must resist the temptations of a new 
revenue source.  The public will allow the carbon fee to rise to a level 
that moves us to clean energies only if the money goes directly to the 
public.

This approach is optimum for social justice.  Low-income and most 
middle-income people make money with Fee & Dividend; wealthy people lose 
because of their large carbon footprint.

Economic studies show that putting 100 percent of the funds immediately 
into the hands of the public spurs the economy, creates millions of 
jobs, increases GNP and government revenue - just what is needed to 
provide a basis for progressive policies.

The students are following the science!  The science - climate, energy, 
economics - is clear.  The fastest route to a global solution is a 
simple, honest, domestic carbon fee with border duties on products from 
countries without an equivalent fee.

You can help young people and other life on Earth best by supporting 
Citizens Climate Lobby. https://citizensclimatelobby.org/
- -
[See images of these Students For Carbon Dividends 
https://www.s4cd.org/all-sbp-signees]

As young people, with decades of life ahead, we are clear-eyed about 
what climate disruption means for our generation. That's why we 
recognize the power of a consensus solution like carbon dividends to 
bridge partisan divides, protect our shared environment, and strengthen 
the economy. Where our political leaders have been unwilling, or unable, 
to forge agreement around common-sense solutions, we on college campuses 
are showing them how it's done.

*STUDENT GOVERNMENT LEADERS' STATEMENT ON CARBON DIVIDENDS*
The climate threat is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. 
It transcends virtually every other issue because it threatens the basic 
building blocks of our security and prosperity, and with it, the 
American way of life. While the precise effects of climate instability 
remain uncertain, the risks are too grave to ignore.

This is why we are stepping forward today--as the foremost student 
leaders at America's colleges and universities--to endorse the 
breakthrough, bipartisan climate solution known as carbon dividends.

The carbon dividends framework has earned truly record-breaking support. 
In 2019, more than 3,500 US economists--from all 50 states and virtually 
every major college and university in the country--united in support of 
the solution. It became the largest statement of economists in the 
history of the profession.

Signatories of the "Economists' Statement on Carbon Dividends" include 
every living former Federal  Reserve Chair, as well as 27 Nobel 
Prize-winners--the largest number to endorse any policy on any topic, 
ever. Supporters also include 15 former Chairs of the Council of 
Economic Advisers, representing Presidential administrations on both 
sides of the aisle over the last half century.

To this unprecedented show of force, we now add our own. We, the 
undersigned college and university student body presidents and leaders, 
join this historic coalition of economists and opinion leaders in 
uniting behind the four pillars of this breakthrough solution:
=
*1.A steadily rising price on carbon to spur clean energy innovation and 
drive emissions reductions**
**
**2.Carbon dividend rebates to ensure revenue-neutrality and benefit 
American families**
**
**3.The streamlining of carbon regulations that are no longer necessary**
**
**4.Border-carbon adjustments to level the playing field for American 
workers and businesses and hold other countries accountable*
=
This win-win proposal is built upon bedrock principles of economics and 
would succeed in delivering far greater emissions reductions than all 
previous policies combined. It would promote US leadership and unleash 
American innovation toward a cleaner and more prosperous future. While 
there are complementary policies to consider, the carbon dividends 
framework has emerged as a cornerstone solution. Our economics 
professors, in a historic groundswell of support, have coalesced around 
this concrete climate strategy, and we are now carrying the torch forward.

As young people, with decades of life ahead, we are clear-eyed about 
what climate disruption means for our generation. That's why we 
recognize the power of a consensus solution like carbon dividends to 
bridge partisan divides, protect our shared environment, and strengthen 
the economy. Where our political leaders have been unwilling, or unable, 
to forge agreement around common-sense solutions, we on college campuses 
are showing them how it's done.
https://www.s4cd.org/statement-text



[Optimism for storage]
*Dan Kammen on New Batteries*
Aug 1, 2020
greenmanbucket
Dan Kammen PhD is an Engineer and Professor at University of California 
Berkeley.
He is known globally as an expert on new energy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbRBBbUKY-I



[Ironic news from The Barents Observer]
*Climate change hits back, Svalbard coal mine flooded by melting glacier*
After days with record heat at Svalbard, the penetration of water from 
the above melting glacier is now flooding Norway's only operating coal 
mine that supplies the country's only coal-power plant.
ByThomas Nilsen
July 30, 2020
Large water penetration in Gruve 7 (Mine 7) was discovered on Sunday 
July 26 during a routine inspection, the Store Norske mining company 
informs.

The day before, a record heat of 21,7°C was measured in Longyearbyen, 
the highest temperature ever measured so far north in the European Arctic.

Mine 7 is located some 15 kilometers southeast of Longyearbyen and is 
the only remaining Norwegian operated coal mine on the Arctic 
archipelago. The mine supplies the local coal-power plant with about 
30,000 tons of coal annually, while another 80,000 tons are exported to 
customers in the European metallurgical and chemical industry.

The mountain above the mine is covered by a glacier and it is melting 
water from this glacier that now penetrates through the rocks into the mine.

Extra pumps are installed, but has so far not been able to remove more 
water than is coming in, the company explains. New pipes are put in 
place and more pumping capacity is brought in.

"We are also working on trying to get an overview of the equipment we 
can expect to have been destroyed and therefore need to be replaced 
before operations can start again," says mining chief Per Nilssen. He 
says it is too early to tell when coal mining can start again.

Operations were currently on a pause due to the coronavirus situation, a 
halt in mining supposed to last until August 17. The pause is now likely 
to be prolonged, the mining company informs.

Store Norske is owned by the state. Norway has for years been criticized 
for the paradox of mining coal and supplying electricity from a coal 
power plant to the town of Longyearbyen at the place on earth where 
temperatures are rising most due to climate changes.

Since the 70s, the annual average temperatures have risen by 4°C at 
Svalbard, with winter temperatures rising more than 7°C, as previously 
reported by the Barents Observer. A climate report released last year 
warns that annual average temperatures could increase with up to 10 
degrees Celsius by 2100.

This is not the first time climate changes troubles human activities on 
Svalbard. The Global Seed Vault, where some 45,000 international 
varieties are stored deep into what originally was believed to be safe 
permafrost, was recently forced to rebuild its entrance.

Climate change caused more snow and rain and the entrance was flooded 
several times. During reconstruction, the ground around the new 
waterproof entrance is artificially frozen to avoid further erosion.

In the town of Longyearbyen is houses sagging due to unstable ground as 
the permafrost melts. About 250 homes will have to be torn down and new 
buildings are built on steel pillars and sensors are placed in the 
ground to measure how the steel constructions impact the permafrost.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/07/coal-mine-flooded-melting-glacier



[OK, will do]
*The four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them all*
Damian Carrington
The shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological fool: each 
distorts the urgent global debate in their own way

new book, described as "deeply and fatally flawed" by an expert 
reviewer, recently reached the top of Amazon's bestseller list for 
environmental science and made it into a weekly top 10 list for all 
nonfiction titles.

How did this happen? Because, as Brendan Behan put it, "there's no such 
thing as bad publicity". In an article promoting his book, Michael 
Shellenberger - with jaw-dropping hubris - apologises on behalf of all 
environmentalists for the "climate scare we created over the last 30 years".

Shellenberger was named a hero of the environment by Time magazine in 
2008 and is a loud advocate of nuclear power, but the article was 
described by six leading scientists as "cherry-picking", "misleading" 
and containing "outright falsehoods".

The article was widely republished, even after being removed from its 
first home, Forbes, for violating the title's editorial guidelines on 
self-promotion, adding further heat to the storm. And this is why all 
those who deny the reality or danger of the climate emergency should be 
ignored. Obviously, I have broken my own rule here, but only to make 
this vital point once and for all.
The science is clear, the severity understood at the highest levels 
everywhere, and serious debates about what to do are turning into 
action. The deniers have nothing to contribute to this.

However infuriating they are, arguing with them or debunking their 
theories is likely only to generate publicity or money for them. It also 
helps to generate a fake air of controversy over climate action that 
provides cover for the vested interests seeking to delay the end of the 
fossil fuel age.

But the deniers are not all the same. They tend to fit into one of four 
different categories: the shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the 
ideological fool.

The shill is the easiest to understand. He, and it almost always is he, 
is paid by vested interests to emit clouds of confusion about the 
science or economics of climate action. This uncertainty creates a 
smokescreen behind which polluters can lobby against measures that cut 
their profits.

A sadder case is that of the grifters. They have found themselves 
earning a living by grinding out contrarian articles for rightwing media 
outlets. Do they actually believe the guff they write? It doesn't 
matter: they just warm their hands on the outrage, count the clicks and 
wait for the pay cheque.

The egomaniacs are also tragic figures. They are disappointed, 
frustrated people whose careers have stalled and who can't understand 
why the world refuses to give full reverence to their brilliance. They 
are desperate for recognition, and, when it stubbornly refuses to 
arrive, they are drawn to make increasingly extreme pronouncements, in 
the hope of finally being proved a dogma-busting, 21st-century Galileo.

The ideological fool is the fourth type of climate denier, and they can 
be intelligent. But they are utterly blinded by their inane, no-limits 
version of the free-market creed. The climate emergency requires 
coordinated global action, they observe, and that looks horribly like 
communism in disguise.

They could explore the many credible climate action plans being pursued, 
including by those on the political right. But their cognitive 
dissonance forces them to the conclusion that because state intervention 
is wrong, acting to avert climate danger cannot be right. Intellectual 
gymnastics to "expose" climate alarmism then follow naturally.

But why do I say ignore them all? The climate crisis is urgent, and we 
need debate to drive action. However, vigorous debates over action are 
already taking place in good faith all over the world, from the tops of 
governments to the smallest local action groups.

Every nation in the world signed up to the 2015 Paris climate deal, 
pledging to keep global heating below 2C and ideally to 1.5C. The 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change involves thousands of 
international scientists and is arguably the greatest scientific 
endeavour in history. It has spent three decades spelling out in 
painstaking detail how humanity is causing global heating, how 
catastrophic that threatens to be - and how drastic action is required 
to avert the worst.

The world of finance and business is catching up fast with the science, 
and almost all the technology needed already exists. In short, no sane 
or serious actor can countenance denial of climate danger. Bad-faith 
arguments motivated by greed, egomania or ideology have nothing to add.

Which brings me to the US president, Donald Trump. Political leaders are 
the exception to the rule. Their climate idiocy should be challenged, as 
they hold actual power. But even in this case, reality is fast debunking 
their proclamations.

In the US, coal is dying, because green energy is cheaper and cleaner, 
however great Trump claims he will make the miners. Even if Trump, and 
Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, persist, other nations will begin to 
ostracise them via trade sanctions and border taxes.

As for the shill, grifter, egomaniac and ideological fool, the reality 
of increasing climate impacts and successful action is fast exposing 
them as well. Those willing to employ the shills and the grifters are 
dwindling.

The book I started with has now been knocked off the environmental 
bestsellers list, fittingly enough by one published by the environmental 
hero Rachel Carson, in 1951. I can't profess to know what 
Shellenberger's motivation was, but one thing is clear: the egomaniacs 
and ideological fools will get the place in history they so lust for. It 
will be a small footnote marking the useful idiots of the climate war.
-- Damian Carrington is the Guardian's Environment editor
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/30/climate-denier-shill-global-debate 




[Wonderful images too]
*How Killer Whales are Changing the Arctic*
Jun 12, 2020
Terra Mater
Life in the frozen North is changing. Due to climate change, seasonal 
pack ice extends much less than it previously did, meaning that once 
closed-off waterways like Eclipse Sound are now open to visitors almost 
all year round. And when those visitors are highly skilled predators 
like killer whales, the entire ecosystem could be turned on its head...

Shot in the Canadian Arctic, our latest video explores the effect that 
rising sea temperatures are having on iconic polar species like orcas 
and narwhals. We explore the importance of ice in shaping local 
ecosystems and find out why killer whales are the perfect predators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsAfZxyw3r0


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - August 2, 2006 *

Republican televangelist Pat Robertson calls for action on human-caused 
climate change, a position he would abandon several years later.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2006/08/03/6719/robertson-global-warming/

http://youtu.be/zxT0Nug1XqY

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