[TheClimate.Vote] August 3, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*August 3, 2020*/

[BBC says this changes everything]
*Climate change: 'Huge' implications to Irish climate case across Europe*
On Friday the Supreme Court quashed the government's 2017 National 
Mitigation Plan.

Judges ruled that it did not give enough detail on the reduction of 
greenhouse gases.

The case was brought by the environmental group Friends of the Irish 
Environment...
- -
Friends of the Irish Environment spokeswoman Clodagh Daly told BBC News 
NI the verdict was "crystal clear" and would have implications across 
Europe.

She said: "It shows governments have to do more to protect their 
citizens from the worst impact of the climate crisis.

"We know that the transition to the low-carbon economy is 
technologically feasible - there is no legal basis for a lack of 
political will.

"Governments around the EU have no excuse now."
- -
Bringing the case, Friends of the Irish Environment argued the Irish 
government had a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 
within the next couple of years or face the serious impacts of climate 
change...
- -
The unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court ruled that more specificity 
was needed about how objectives laid out in the 2015 legislation were 
going to be met by 2050.

This was decided on the grounds that a reasonable and interested person 
could make a judgement both as to whether the plan in question was 
realistic and as to whether they agree with the policy options.

It was ruled that this standard for specificity was currently not met...
- -
"We must use this judgement to raise ambition, empower action and ensure 
that our shared future delivers a better quality of life for all."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53619848



[DeSmogBlog]
*As Trump Leaves Permian Oilfield, Industry Insiders Question If 2020 
Bust Marks Texas Oil's Last Big Boom*
https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/07/30/trump-leaves-texas-some-question-if-shale-bust-marks-permian-oilfield-s-final-boom


[Scientist posted in the AGU -The American Geophysical Union is a 501 
nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, 
and planetary scientists, consisting of over 62,000 members from 144 
countries.]
*POSITION STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE**
**SOCIETY MUST ADDRESS THE GROWING CLIMATE CRISIS NOW*
Download the PDF at 
https://www.agu.org/-/media/Files/Share-and-Advocate-for-Science/Position-Statements/Society_Must_Address_the_Growing_Climate_Crisis_Now_2019.pdf

Immediate and coordinated actions to limit and adapt to human-caused 
climate change are needed to protect human and ecological health, 
economic well-being, and global security.

*The Challenge*
Human activities are changing Earth's climate, causing increasingly 
disruptive societal and ecological impacts. Such impacts are creating 
hardships and suffering now, and they will continue to do so into the 
future - in ways expected as well as potentially unforeseen. To limit 
these impacts, the world's nations have agreed to hold the increase in 
global average temperature to well below 2°C (3.6°F) above 
pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this goal, global society must promptly reduce its greenhouse 
gas emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change (IPCC), global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must reach net-zero 
by around 2070 to have a good chance of limiting warming to a 2° C 
increase and by about 2050 to achieve a more protective limit of a 1.5°C 
(2.7°F) increase. Either target will require a substantial near-term 
transition to carbon-neutral energy sources, adoption of more 
carbon-efficient food systems and land use practices, and enhanced 
removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through a combination of ecological 
and technological approaches.

Society must also prepare to cope with and adapt to the adverse impacts 
of climate change. Done strategically, efficiently, and equitably, the 
needed transformations provide a pathway toward greater prosperity and 
well-being, while inaction will prove very costly for humans and other 
life on the planet.

*The Evidence**
*Over the past century, as a result of burning fossil fuels and other 
human activities, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse 
gases--including CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and halocarbons--have 
risen to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. 
Extensive observations document that the global average surface 
temperature in the atmosphere and ocean has increased by about 1°C 
(1.8°F) from 1880 to 2018. The current decade is now the hottest in the 
history of modern civilization. Based on extensive scientific evidence, 
it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of 
greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since 
the mid-20th century. There is no alterative explanation supported by 
convincing evidence.

Many other changes related to heating have been documented: more 
frequent heat waves on land and in the ocean; reductions in Arctic sea 
ice, the Northern Hemisphere's snow cover, the Greenland and West 
Antarctic ice sheets, and mountain glaciers; changes in the global water 
cycle, including intensifying

precipitation events; and rising sea levels. Greater CO2 concentrations 
in the atmosphere are also affecting the growth and nutritional value of 
land plants and are directly acidifying ocean waters.
*
**The Predictions*
Realistic and continually improving computer simulations of the global 
climate predict that global temperatures will continue to rise as a 
result of past and future greenhouse gas emissions, with growing risks 
to natural and human systems. The amount of warming predicted in the 
coming decades depends primarily on the choices society makes and how 
those choices affect future emissions.

Global average temperatures will only stabilize after CO2 emissions 
reach net-zero, which means that the amount humans emit into the 
atmosphere is matched by efforts to accelerate its removal by natural or 
technological means. Simulations demonstrate that limiting the overall 
temperature increase to 1.5°C, including the 1.0°C warming that has 
already occurred, requires achieving net zero CO2 emissions around 2050, 
sooner if warming reduces the ability for nature to absorb and retain 
carbon. Large reductions in emissions of other greenhouse gases, as well 
as increased removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, are also required. Even 
if global temperature is stabilized, sea level will continue to rise for 
hundreds of years, but at a much slower rate than if warming continued.

*The Consequences*
Human-caused climate change is occurring more rapidly than has been 
typical in Earth's history, disrupting communities and ecosystems 
adapted to previous, relatively stable climatic conditions. The changing 
climate will increase heat-related deaths, various mental and physical 
illnesses, and some infectious diseases. It will accentuate hazards such 
as flooding, wildfire, and dryland water scarcity, and toxic algae. 
Economic disruption and additional health impacts will result from 
shifts in agricultural and fisheries productivity, diminished worker 
productivity, damages to critical infrastructure, and more severe 
weather disasters, including expected increases in drought and hurricane 
intensities. Economic or social disruption is likely to drive migration 
and compound risks of conflict and global insecurity. Climate change 
will continue to severely stress the world's ecosystems, including 
threatened coral reefs, permafrost landscapes and the Arctic; decrease 
biodiversity; and cause extraordinary numbers of extinctions on land and 
in the oceans. The severity of these and other impacts will worsen with 
more warming.

Climate change is manifest in myriad ways that exacerbate many existing 
challenges, stressing every region of the world and every sector of the 
economy. Some populations, communities, regions, and ecosystems are 
especially vulnerable. As lower-income and other marginalized 
populations are likely to be more affected and generally have less 
capacity to adapt to changes, climate change is expected to worsen 
pre-existing inequalities.

*The Needed Responses*
Destructive consequences of global climate change can be moderated by 
taking prompt actions to use energy more efficiently, transition to 
energy sources and products and services that do not release greenhouse 
gases, implement existing and novel technologies and practices to remove 
and store CO2 from the atmosphere, and adapt to unavoidable changes. 
These actions must involve individuals, communities, businesses, 
governments, acting at local, regional, national, and global scales. 
Done smartly, those actions can yield significant economic and social 
benefits, including better human health and well-being, employment 
opportunities, more sustainably used resources, and conserved 
biodiversity. Enhanced CO2 removal from the atmosphere will be needed to 
achieve net-zero emissions. Other climate intervention approaches, such 
as solar radiation management, require cautious consideration of risks. 
Neither can substitute for deep cuts in emissions or the need for 
adaptation.

Effective climate policies will rely on innovative and responsive 
science and engineering to inform and weigh response options. Scientists 
and engineers must continue to engage with policy makers, communities, 
businesses, and the public to undertake solution-oriented research and 
analysis. Scientific institutions, including academia and governmental 
agencies, should expand and prioritize their support for research, 
application, and knowledge dissemination to address the climate crisis.

A position statement on climate change was previously adopted by the 
American Geophysical Union in December 1998; A new version was adopted 
December 2003; Revised and Reaffirmed December 2007, February 2012, 
August 2013, November 2019.
https://www.agu.org/Share-and-Advocate/Share/Policymakers/Position-Statements/Position_Climate


[OMG! spiders too!]
*Extreme weather is making these spiders extra feisty*
They get rather aggressive after a tropical cyclone passes through.
By Sara Chodosh - August 22, 2019...
- -
We're slowly getting better at storm predictions, though, and it's 
coinciding with another reason for the push to study cyclone ecology: 
these storms are getting worse as our seas warm. That's prompting 
researchers to start trying to investigate cyclone effects in more 
detail, including a group of ecologists from California and Ontario. 
Their chosen specimen: Anelosimus studiosus, a type of tangle web spider 
known for living in multi-female colonies along the Atlantic and Gulf 
coasts, and for their unusually different personalities. Some A. 
studiosis are docile and meek, while others are aggressive and dominant. 
The ecologists published their findings in Nature Ecology & Evolution 
this week.

Depending on their environment, these tangle web colonies can be mostly 
aggressive or mostly docile, and like the individual traits, the 
colony's aggressiveness level is passed down genetically. See, 
aggressiveness isn't entirely a good or bad thing. Spiders that attack 
prey frequently and quickly, which makes them better at finding food 
when it's scarce. But all that aggression can build up and cause 
infighting if the spiders run short on meals or get overheated, proving 
that arachnids are more relatable than any of us thought.

All of this raises a question that you can probably see coming by now: 
do cyclones make for more aggressive tangle web spiders?

It turns out that yes, yes they do. Much like the lizards that became 
better huggers to survive hurricane-force winds, tangle web spiders seem 
to amp up their attitudes in response to tropical cyclones.

The researchers figured this out by studying 240 separate colonies of A. 
studiosus before three tropical cyclones--subtropical storm Alberto, 
hurricane Florence, and hurricane Michael--and then returned to see how 
those colonies fared 48 hours later. They deliberately picked some sites 
that were likely to be in the storm paths along with other, 
uninterrupted sites to serve as controls.
https://www.popsci.com/spiders-more-aggressive-after-cyclones/


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - August 3, 2015 *
*The New York Times reports:*
"The issue of climate change played almost no role in the 2012 
presidential campaign.

President Obama barely mentioned the topic, nor did the Republican 
nominee, Mitt Romney. It was not raised in a single presidential debate.

"But as Mr. Obama prepares to leave office, his own aggressive actions 
on climate change have thrust the issue into the 2016 campaign. 
Strategists now say that this battle for the White House could feature 
more substantive debate over global warming policy than any previous 
presidential race."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/us/politics/obama-policy-could-force-robust-climate-discussion-from-2016-candidates.html?_r=0

*The AP reports:*
"Aiming to jolt the rest of the world to action, President Obama moved 
ahead Sunday with even tougher greenhouse gas cuts on American power 
plants, setting up a certain confrontation in the courts with energy 
producers and Republican-led states.

"In finalizing the unprecedented pollution controls, Obama was 
installing the core of his ambitious and controversial plan to 
drastically reduce overall US emissions, as he works to secure a legacy 
on fighting global warming. Yet it will be up to Obama's successor to 
implement his plan, which has faced steep Republican opposition from 
Capitol Hill to the 2016 campaign trail.

"Opponents planned to sue immediately and to ask the courts to block the 
rule temporarily. Many states have threatened not to comply.

"The Obama administration estimated the emissions limits will cost $8.4 
billion annually by 2030. The actual price won't be clear until states 
decide how they will reach their targets. But energy industry advocates 
said the revision makes Obama's mandate even more burdensome, costly, 
and difficult to achieve.

'"'They are wrong,' the Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, 
Gina McCarthy, said flatly, accusing opponents of promulgating a 
'doomsday' scenario.

"Last year, the Obama administration proposed the first greenhouse gas 
limits on existing power plants in US history, triggering a yearlong 
review and received more than 4 million public comments.

"On Monday, Obama was to unveil the final rule publicly at an event at 
the White House.

"'Climate change is not a problem for another generation,' Obama said in 
a video posted to Facebook. 'Not anymore.'

"The final version imposes stricter carbon dioxide limits on states than 
were previously expected: a 32 percent cut by 2030, compared with 2005 
levels, the White House said. Last year, Obama's proposed version called 
for a 30 percent cut.

"Immediately, Obama's plan began reverberating in the 2016 presidential 
race, with Hillary Rodham Clinton voicing her strong support and using 
it to criticize her GOP opponents for failing to offer a credible 
alternative.

"'It's a good plan, and as president, I'd defend it,' Clinton said.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/08/02/obama-rule-for-power-plants-compel-steeper-emissions-cuts/vhwQU4MUS6MPcaAskKqqKI/story.html

*The Washington Post reports:*
"Four weeks before the official rollout, the news for President Obama's 
signature regulation on climate change suddenly went from bad to abysmal.

"Already, the Senate's top Republican was urging a nationwide boycott of 
the carbon-cutting proposal known as the Clean Power Plan. Fourteen 
states had joined in a lawsuit seeking to block the rule even before it 
became final. Then came a blow from the Supreme Court: a surprise June 
29 decision blocking the White House's previous attempt at curbing 
pollution from coal-burning power plants.

"By July 7, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency was testily 
deflecting questions over whether the Clean Power Plan -- a pillar of 
the White House's climate-change strategy -- could survive the gantlet 
of legal and political challenges it faced.

"'We certainly know how to defend against lawsuits, for crying out 
loud,' EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters at a Washington 
news conference.

"White House officials pressed ahead with the proposal, ultimately 
deciding on an altered version that will be formally adopted at a 
ceremony Monday. But while the revised rule expresses lofty aims, the 
details reflect real, practical concerns about the battles still to 
come: an expected onslaught of litigation and legislation designed to 
derail the rule.

"The final shape of the Clean Power Plan was hashed out over months of 
often contentious meetings as administration officials debated how to 
balance two competing objectives. On one side were advocates who pushed 
for the deepest possible cuts in U.S. greenhouse-gas pollution to help 
build momentum for international climate talks this December in Paris. 
On the other were experienced regulators and lawyers who saw trouble 
ahead as the proposed rule picked up growing numbers of opponents in 
Congress and in the utilities industry..."

"But other observers said the administration appeared to have gotten 
exactly what it wanted. Supporters said the revisions to the regulation 
undercut the most salient legal and political objections raised by 
critics, including the claim that the plan will unfairly burden poor 
people or will lead to disruptions in the power supply. At the same 
time, the plan appears capable of achieving its goals of encouraging 
greater adoption of renewable energy as well as dramatic reductions in 
heat-trapping carbon pollution over the next 15 years, said S. William 
Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air 
Agencies, an independent group that represents state regulators."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/internal-debate-over-clean-energy-plan-pitted-ambition-against-legal-worries/2015/08/02/9e0c1c94-3966-11e5-9c2d-ed991d848c48_story.html

http://www.msnbc.com/thomas-roberts/watch/president-obama-unveils-clean-power-plan-497601603688
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/sustained-change--obama-unveils-climate-plan-497534531635

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