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

Fri Feb 14 09:02:41 EST 2020

/*February 14, 2020*/

[AP news - every moment sets a record]
*Earth just had its hottest January on record as climate change accelerates*
PUBLISHED THU, FEB 13 2020
KEY POINTS
-The Earth had its hottest January in recorded history last month, 
continuing an alarming upward trend as the climate crisis accelerates, 
according to the National - Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Global land and ocean temperatures in January were the highest on 
record at 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.13 degrees Celsius, above the 
20th century average.
2020 will likely to rank among the five warmest years on record, 
according to scientists from the National Centers for Environmental 
Information.
- - -
2020 will likely to rank among the five warmest years on record, 
according to an analysis by scientists from the National Centers for 
Environmental Information.

Human-caused climate change has not shown any signs of decline. But 
United Nations scientists warn that warming starting at 2 degrees 
Celsius could trigger a global food crisis, as well as exacerbate 
flooding, widespread heatwaves and displacement of people.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/13/earth-just-had-hottest-january-on-record-as-climate-change-accelerates.html

[positive tipping point sign]
*Coal shipping in Twin Ports drops while wind cargo surges*
ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 11, 2020
SUPERIOR, Wis. -- The Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior recorded its lowest 
level of coal cargo in three decades during the 2019 shipping season, 
but says it handled a record amount of freight carrying components used 
for generating wind power.

The decline comes as demand for renewable energy sent a record 306,000 
freight tons of wind turbines and other components through the port, 
Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

The transition is something people would not have thought possible until 
recently, according to Greg Nemet, a public affairs professor at the 
University of Wisconsin-Madison who researches energy and policy.

"It's really a competition between coal, natural gas, and renewables. 
It's cheaper to make electricity with natural gas and with solar," Nemet 
said. "Coal really can't compete with either of those."

Last year, around 8 million tons of coal moved through the Twin Ports, 
the lowest volume since 1985.

As coal production in the United States has decreased from 1.2 billion 
tons in 2008 to a projected 597 million tons for the coming year, power 
companies have transitioned away from fossil fuels to appease investors 
and states that have set renewable energy goals.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $125.5 million in new 
funding for solar technologies.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects coal will produce 
less than a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, while renewable 
energy sources are expected to grow more than 20% during the same time span.
http://m.startribune.com/coal-shipping-in-twin-ports-drops-while-wind-cargo-surges/567766802/

[More promising news]
*****Global Financial Giants Swear Off Funding an Especially Dirty Fuel*
Some of the world's largest financial institutions have stopped putting 
their money behind oil production in the Canadian province of Alberta, 
home to one of the world's most extensive, and also dirtiest, oil reserves.

In December, the insurance giant The Hartford said it would stop 
insuring or investing in oil production in the province, just weeks 
after Sweden's central bank said it would stop holding Alberta's bonds. 
And on Wednesday BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, said that 
one of its fast-growing green-oriented funds would stop investing in 
companies that get revenue from the Alberta oil sands.

They are among the latest banks, pension funds and global investment 
houses  to start pulling away from fossil-fuel investments amid growing 
pressure to show they are doing something to fight climate change.

"If you look at how destructive oil sands can be, there's a very strong 
rationale," Armando Senra, head of BlackRock's iShares Americas funds, 
said in an interview, saying that the oil sands, along with coal, are 
"the worst offenders, if you want, from a climate perspective."...
More at - 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/climate/blackrock-oil-sands-alberta-financing.html

[video games discovering global warming]
*A NEW WAVE OF INDIES ARE USING GAMES TO EXPLORE CLIMATE CHANGE*
Interactive education
By Cian Maher  Feb 13, 2020,
- - -
Nature isn't exactly new territory for games. From the loathsome lusus 
naturae of behemoth horror series to the sprawling cosmopolis of complex 
management simulators, video games often feature wrenched contortions of 
the natural world as core tenets in environmental design. In some cases 
this is largely innocuous and more a product of pure creativity than a 
riposte against real-world issues.

But more recently, smaller creators have been designing worlds as 
mirrors to our own. Their purpose is to reflect injustice and encourage 
change as we seek to undo the damage done by the contemporary climate 
crisis. This could mean anything from a game exploring the oceans made 
in concert with the BBC, to an interactive look at the importance of bees...
- - -
"We believe that well-crafted games have the power to speak to the human 
condition," he tells me. "[To] bring new and diverse voices to the 
medium, and celebrate the complexity and beauty of our planet, helping 
us to understand and shape our world."

If this contemporary trend in games continues to gain momentum, we 
could, potentially, learn to do exactly that, preserving the wondrous 
natural phenomena of our world and ensuring Earth's successful retention 
of its status as a safe and sublime home for posterity. Not just for 
humans, but for animals, environments, and the wonderfully weird 
mysteries we have yet to unravel.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/13/21135321/video-games-climate-change-beyond-blue-bee-simulator-temtem-endling

[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - February 14, 1979 *

The New York Times reports: "There is a real possibility that some 
people now in their infancy will live to a time when the ice at the 
North Pole will have melted, a change that would cause swift and perhaps 
catastrophic changes in climate."

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60716FD3A5D12728DDDAD0994DA405B898BF1D3

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