[TheClimate.Vote] August 14, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Fri Aug 14 11:13:26 EDT 2020

/*August  14, 2020*/

[Fires]
*Extreme wildfire rips through California, forcing evacuations
*An explosive fire is threatening more than 200 homes located north of 
Los Angeles. The pandemic is complicating evacuation procedures, and a 
dangerous heat wave is moving in. *
*https://www.cbsnews.com/video/extreme-wildfire-rips-through-california-forcing-evacuations/*
**- -
**Denver weather: Expect smoky skies Friday as multiple wildfires burn 
in Colorado*
An air quality alert for the Denver metro area and the Front Range has 
been issued through 4 p.m. Friday
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/14/denver-weather-smoky-skies-colorado-wildfires/
- -
*Pine Gulch fire update: Wildfire outside Grand Junction grows to 68,000 
acres overnight*
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/13/pine-gulch-fire-update-august-13/
- -
*Columbia River Gorge wildfire prompts evacuations, grows to over 800 acres*
https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/08/columbia-river-gorge-wildfire-prompts-evacuations-grows-to-800-acres.html- 
-

[NYTimes]
*How Facebook Handles Climate Disinformation*
Critics say a company policy that exempts opinion articles from 
fact-checking amounts to a huge loophole for climate change deniers.

That's because, under the company's guidelines, climate content can be 
classified as opinion and therefore exempted from fact-checking procedures.

The policy means that peer-reviewed science can be lumped into the same 
category as industry statements and even blatant disinformation. In 
September, for example, the CO2 Coalition, a nonprofit group that says 
increased carbon emissions are good for the planet, successfully 
overturned a fact-check when Facebook quietly labeled its post as "opinion."
- -
Facebook said in a statement that it has tripled the number of staff 
working on safety and security issues since 2016. Mr. Stone noted that 
the company produces quarterly, publicly-available reports that describe 
how much policy-violating content it removes.

"When someone posts content based on false facts -- even if it's an 
op-ed or editorial -- it is still eligible for fact-checking," Mr. Stone 
said in a statement in response to this article. "We're working to make 
this clearer in our guidelines so our fact checkers can use their 
judgment to determine whether it is an attempt to mask false information 
under the guise of opinion."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/climate/climate-facebook-fact-checking.html

- - -

[Oh really?]
*Facebook tells Elizabeth Warren it has two different standards for 
climate fact-checking*
Warren is still pushing back
By Justine Calma - Aug 13, 2020,
Facebook says its third-party fact-checking partners "do review and rate 
climate misinformation, and there has never been a prohibition against 
them doing so," in a response to criticism from Democratic senators. 
Facebook will continue its policy of exempting "clear opinion content" 
from fact-checking, the letter says. The senators are unsatisfied.

In the response, which was shared exclusively with The Verge, the tech 
behemoth says it does not consider all climate change content "opinion." 
But opinion articles about climate change don't receive fact-checking, a 
policy Facebook says it began in 2016...

"We asked Facebook leadership to close the loopholes that let climate 
disinformation spread on their platforms," Senators Elizabeth Warren, 
Tom Carper, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Brian Schatz said in a statement. 
"Their response: we should trust them to make and follow their own rules 
and procedures, even if it results in the distortion of facts and the 
mass dissemination of falsehoods. The future of our planet is at stake, 
and there should be no company too big, too powerful, and too opaque to 
be held accountable for its role in the climate crisis. Facebook is no 
exception."

Facebook has been accused of allowing climate denial to fester on its 
platform. Last August, it removed a "false" rating from an op-ed 
published by the Washington Examiner that cast doubt on the accuracy of 
climate change models. Initially, Facebook's independent fact checker 
flagged the article as "highly misleading" because it included 
inaccurate information and cherry-picked data. But the CO2 Coalition, a 
non-profit group created by former Trump advisor William Happer, 
protested the rating.Facebook ultimately caved, E&E News reported in 
June. According to E&E News, Facebook created a de facto loophole for 
opinion articles to escape fact checking. But Facebook says that this 
was the policy the entire time.

As a result of the dust-up, the senators wrote a letter to Facebook CEO 
Mark Zuckerberg on July 15th. They objected to the alleged loophole and 
demanded Facebook explain how the decision to change the rating was 
made. "The climate crisis and environmental degradation are not matters 
of opinion," they wrote.

"Placing statements that are verifiably false in an opinion section 
shouldn't grant immunity from fact-checking," Scott Johnson, a science 
editor at one of Facebook's third-party fact-checkers called Science 
Feedback, told The New York Times in July.

Facebook has told its independent fact-checkers that opinion content is 
not subject to fact-checking, the company said in response to the 
senators. (The company told The New York Times that the policy has been 
in place since 2016.) "However, when someone presents content based on 
underlying false information as opinion -- even in the form of an op-ed 
or editorial -- it is still eligible for fact-checking," it added.

In their letter, the senators asked if disinformation around climate 
change is treated differently than fake COVID-19 posts -- and if so, 
why. Climate change misinformation isn't a priority for Facebook, Andy 
Stone, Facebook's policy communications director, told The New York 
Times in July. Instead, the company is most concerned with more 
immediate threats like hate speech or coronavirus disinformation.

Climate change is expected to lead to an additional 250,000 deaths every 
year between 2030 and 2050 because of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, 
and heat stress, according to the World Health Organization.

The Democratic senators aren't the only ones worried about the damage 
that lies about climate change could do. A majority of polled voters 
think Facebook should label opinion articles containing false 
information about climate change as false, according to a recent survey 
by the think tank Data for Progress.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21368136/facebook-climate-change-fact-check-senators-warren

[Psychotherapist Ro Randall thought you might be interested in some 
short videos]
*'Coping with the Climate Crisis'* where I talk about the emotional 
dimensions of our responses to the emergency.

    1. Disavowal - everyday denial https://youtu.be/xMH3SgO4rKY
    2. Climate distress and anxiety https://youtu.be/sRCPjBYX_dk
    3. Loss and Grief https://youtu.be/dHIEwsFBvSA
    4. Supporting others https://youtu.be/HUPZLCPXF78
    5. Hope and despair https://youtu.be/yTjnibYegTM
    6. Climate journeys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIlkFrngYL4

Do circulate/link to them if you find them useful.
all the best
Rosemary Randall
@rorandall2
My new novel 'Transgression' is now available
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Rosemary+Randall+Transgression&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss 

Also available from me direct at www.rorandall.org

[mass extinction has begun]
*Extinction Emergency: Naomie Harris, Brian Eno & Extinction Rebellion*
Aug 12, 2020
Extinction Rebellion
Voiced by Naomie Harris and scored by Brian Eno for Extinction 
Rebellion, the animated explainer video 'Extinction Emergency, and Why 
We Must Act Now' summarises the planet's biodiversity loss, runaway 
consumerism and the ecological crisis that now faces us, and how the 
consequences will affect millions of lives around the world.
Full credits list:

    Voice-over: Naomie Harris
    Music: Brian Eno
    End theme music: Simon Bass
    Direction, Design and Animation: Miritte Ben Yitzchak
    Script: Mark Ellis
    Science and Script: Matthew Shribman
    Sound Design and Mix: Jack Hallett at Factory
    Producer: Serena Schellenberg
    Public Relations: Beverley Luckings and Nic Eliades at theclima.es
    Marketing and Distribution: Jonathan Mintram

Extinction Rebellion is a decentralised, international and politically 
non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil 
disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and 
Ecological Emergency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdNjRdsq1qA&feature=youtu.be

[Classic book recommendation*– June 1, 1982*]
*Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change Paperback*
by William R. Catton (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Overshoot-Ecological-Basis-Revolutionary-Change/dp/0252009886/ref=sr_1_1

[Digging back into the internet news archive - twelve years ago]
*On this day in the history of global warming - August 14, 2008 *

Video - GOP presidential candidate John McCain discusses his views on 
energy and climate change in Aspen, Colorado.

http://youtu.be/BqqZzY0fjC0

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