[TheClimate.Vote] December 21, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*December 21, 2020*/

[video and text from CNBC -  disinformation battles, misinformation wars]
*The money funding climate change denial*
PUBLISHED SUN, DEC 20 2020
*Why climate change denial still exists in the U.S. 
*https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/12/20/why-climate-change-denial-still-exists-in-the-us.html

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, some American 
politicians continue to deny that climate change exists, while others 
question the severity of its impact. And among the general public, 
climate change denial is higher in the U.S. today than almost anywhere 
else in the world.

This is largely the result of the oil and gas industry’s financial 
interests colliding with a powerful libertarian strain in U.S. politics. 
Fossil fuel companies, hoping to prolong the world’s reliance on their 
products, have made common cause with conservative and libertarian think 
tanks that promote free market economics, and therefore oppose fossil 
fuel regulation on ideological grounds.

This combination of money and deep-seated ideology has helped prevent 
the U.S. from taking bolder climate action for decades. But public 
opinion is shifting, and today even oil and gas companies publicly admit 
that climate change is a serious problem.

So as the public and corporations change, what does the climate denial 
landscape look like today? Who exactly still funds this movement? And 
why is denial mainly a U.S. problem?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/20/the-big-business-of-climate-change-denial-.html 


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[20 min video explains]
*Why Climate Change Denial Still Exists In The U.S.*
Dec 20, 2020
CNBC
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, some American politicians 
continue to deny that climate change exists, while others question the 
severity of its impact. But public opinion is shifting, and today even 
oil and gas companies publicly admit that climate change demands action. 
So why does climate denialism continue to influence U.S. politics? 
Here's a look into who is funding the movement, and why denial is mainly 
a U.S. problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rxv1yPQrc


[Journal STAT pediatrics]
*New pediatrician network puts spotlight on climate change’s effects on 
children*
By SHRADDHA CHAKRADHAR @scchak DECEMBER 18, 2020
As the effects of climate change play out worldwide, pediatricians see 
the evidence in their offices.

There are the children with asthma who experience more frequent attacks 
as a result of excess heat and longer allergy seasons. And then there 
are kids who have missed vaccinations or other routine care because more 
frequent hurricanes or other natural disasters have displaced their 
families.

Now a new network of pediatricians nationwide is working on a grassroots 
effort to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on children’s 
health. Pediatricians participating in the all-volunteer initiative, 
known as American Academy of Pediatrics’ Chapter Climate Advocates 
Program, told STAT that the impact is clear, and will become more serious.

Just this week, in a historic ruling, a coroner in the U.K. announced 
that a 9-year-old girl’s death was the first in the country in which air 
pollution — which can be made worse by climate change — was listed as a 
cause. The girl, who lived close to a major circular road in London, had 
a series of seizures, asthma attacks, and other complications in the 
years leading to her death in 2013.

“AAP advocates underscore the idea that if only every parent in America 
knew that climate action was essential to the well-being of their child 
and family, we would have no political discourse, no debates about the 
science, no concerns about the course of action,” said Aaron Bernstein, 
a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital and interim director of the 
Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard 
T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “The AAP deserves a lot of credit for 
backing them and enabling this network.”

The network — whose work extends beyond a medical setting and includes 
lobbying for local laws to combat a warming planet — is the brainchild 
of Lori Byron, a semi-retired pediatrician in Harding, Mont., who said 
heavy flooding in the state in 2011 was really the turning point for her 
advocacy on climate change’s impact on health.

At the time she was working as a general pediatrician under the Indian 
Health Service on the Crow Tribe reservation. “There were people that 
had been just barely making it just living on the edge, with 
minimum-wage jobs and not much money to spare,” she said.

But when the floods hit, Byron said, “it took away everything.” Even 
years after the floods, “we still had families that were living in FEMA 
trailers or living in the spare bedroom of somebody’s house or even 
living in their car. And it just hits you, the environmental injustice 
of the whole situation.”

Your home situation is one of the most important social determinants of 
health, Byron explained, so when that is threatened by floods or other 
disasters, that “is a huge factor for parents’ health and children’s 
health.”

After doing climate advocacy work in Washington, D.C., Byron said she 
realized that local groups — as constituents — seemed to have more sway 
with lawmakers than national groups, and wondered if local AAP chapters, 
who were already lobbying on behalf of children’s health issues, could 
be leveraged to also become involved in climate advocacy. In 2018, the 
AAP chapter in Montana became the first to adopt a climate change 
resolution in the country, and she began pushing for a broader network 
of climate advocates in AAP chapters across the country.

“Lori has been an incredible leader of convening and identifying these 
chapter advocates — climate change reform does need to happen in 
multiple contexts and health advocates are important for that,” said 
Aparna Bole, a pediatrician at Case Western Reserve University in 
Cleveland, Ohio and a fellow AAP chapter climate advocate.

The network now has at least 101 chapter climate advocates — with at 
least one for each state — across 59 AAP chapters, many of whom had long 
been active in climate change advocacy. Several of the chapters have 
adopted climate resolutions, which acknowledge and outline the impact of 
climate change on children’s health, and others are in the process of 
passing similar measures.

The chapters vary in their makeup and the work that they do. Some have 
academic researchers in addition to practicing physicians. And what each 
chapter undertakes depends on the unique environmental challenges facing 
their local communities.

In Virginia, for example, a recent report from a partner organization 
known as the Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action found that pollution 
from transportation causes 2,600 asthma attacks in children per year, 
and more than 3,300 cases of bronchitis and related symptoms in kids. 
Samantha Ahdoot, a pediatrician in Alexandria, Va., and one of the 
state’s AAP chapter climate advocates, said pushing to reform the 
transportation system is a top priority, while there are also critical 
issues along the coast.

“Virginia’s coastal communities are experiencing the highest rate of sea 
rise along the eastern seaboard,” she said.

Earlier this year, Virginia became the first state in the South to pass 
a law committing to have all of its electricity come from renewable 
sources by 2045, a law that the local AAP chapter lobbied for. The group 
also plans to lobby in the upcoming state legislative session for 
Virginia to adopt California’s low-emission and greenhouse gas emission 
standards, which at least a dozen other states have done.

“There’s no controversy that burning fossil fuels has health effects, 
and clearly policies that dictate the use of these fuels also have to 
have a health aspect,” Ahdoot said.

Over on the West Coast, Lisa Patel, a pediatric hospitalist based in 
Pleasanton, Calif., and a former Environmental Protection Agency 
scientist, said that she saw in her practice this fall the health 
effects of the devastating wildfires that hit the region.

“It was a quiet summer, but then in September and October, I started 
seeing a lot of premature labor,” she said, explaining that research has 
shown that air pollution and heat are risk factors for going into 
premature labor and also heighten the risk for stillbirth. “These are 
women that were a month or two early in delivering their babies.”

Patel and her AAP colleagues have also been leading an effort to make 
climate change-related courses available to pediatricians who are going 
through their licensure recertification process through the American 
Board of Pediatrics.

“As doctors, it is our duty to understand all of the ways in which our 
patients’ health might be harmed,” Patel said. “And the ABP and AAP have 
seen the evolution of our understanding on climate change and health in 
that regard.”

In Ohio, air quality and extreme rainfall or snowfall can alter water 
quality, according to Case Western Reserve’s Bole, especially as toxic 
algal blooms and the rising water temperature of Lake Erie in northern 
Ohio can cause sewage and stormwater overflow.

And like other places around the U.S., extreme heat continues to be a 
problem for allergies, asthma, and preterm births. “All of those issues 
are not a one-time illness,” Bole said. “This is why a lot of us say 
that climate solutions are health solutions.”

As part of her work with the AAP climate advocacy group, Bole testified 
this year in the Ohio Congress against controversial House Bill 6. 
Allegations swirled that an Akron-based electric utility company paid 
$60 million to a nonprofit run by the speaker of Ohio’s House of 
Representatives in exchange for more than $1 billion in bailout funds — 
through H.B. 6 — to help the utility company with its struggling nuclear 
power wing.

“It can be surprising to politicians that pediatricians want to speak up 
about [energy issues], and I don’t think a politician on either side of 
the aisle would say they don’t care about children’s health,” Bole said.

The AAP network has also provided an avenue for newcomers to get involved.

“Prior to joining this group, I didn’t see how connected climate change 
is to health,” said Hayley Guilkey, a pediatrician in Myrtle Beach, S.C. 
“It’s not something that I learned about in residency or medical 
school.” Since becoming an AAP advocate, Guilkey has also founded a 
statewide group for other health professionals interested in combating 
climate change.

Few of these advocates reported getting pushback from their patients’ 
families or others asking them to “stay in their lane,” as has happened 
when doctors have promoted gun control and immigration policy reform. 
Even if they did face backlash, these physicians say are ready with a 
response. “What can you say to a pediatrician who sees a child suffocate 
in front of their eyes?” Patel said.

These pediatricians also say it’s only natural that their specialty is 
leading the charge on climate change.

“We never think of kids in a vacuum,” Bole said. “Pediatricians are used 
to thinking about kids in context about their families, homes, and 
environments, and extending our purview of children beyond the 15 
minutes we spend with them.”

She added: “Nobody is going to bear the brunt of the effects of climate 
change more than kids.”
https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/18/new-pediatrician-network-puts-spotlight-on-climate-changes-effects-on-children/ 


- -

[Manual]
*Eco distress: for parents and carers*
This webpage is for parents and carers, as well as teachers and others 
who support children and young people, to help you understand what eco 
distress is, how to recognise if your child is experiencing eco 
distress, and provide some suggestions to help them cope with their 
feelings.

    About this information
    This information reflects the best available evidence at the time of
    writing. This mental health information for young people was written
    in 2020.
      November 2020 Royal College of Psychiatrists

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/parents-and-young-people/information-for-parents-and-carers/eco-distress---for-parents-and-carers



[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - December 21, 2013*
On MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry," guest host Joy Reid discusses the 
ecological leadership of Pope Francis.
http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/watch/pope-francis-places-focus-on-environment-97805379704#

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