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

[Richard Pauli]

/*January 14, 2020*/

[temperature rising]
*Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates*
Oceans are clearest measure of climate crisis as they absorb 90% of heat 
trapped by greenhouse gases
The heat in the world's oceans reached a new record level in 2019, 
showing "irrefutable and accelerating" heating of the planet.

The world's oceans are the clearest measure of the climate emergency 
because they absorb more than 90% of the heat trapped by the greenhouse 
gases emitted by fossil fuel burning, forest destruction and other human 
activities.

The new analysis shows the past five years are the top five warmest 
years recorded in the ocean and the past 10 years are also the top 10 
years on record. The amount of heat being added to the oceans is 
equivalent to every person on the planet running 100 microwave ovens all 
day and all night.

Hotter oceans lead to more severe storms and disrupt the water cycle, 
meaning more floods, droughts and wildfires, as well as an inexorable 
rise in sea level. Higher temperatures are also harming life in the 
seas, with the number of marine heatwaves increasing sharply...
- - -
Reliable ocean heat measurements stretch back to the middle of the 20th 
century. But Abraham said: "Even before that, we know the oceans were 
not hotter."

"The data we have is irrefutable, but we still have hope because humans 
can still take action," he said. "We just haven't taken meaningful 
action yet."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/ocean-temperatures-hit-record-high-as-rate-of-heating-accelerates
  - - -
[Washington Post]
*A January heat wave engulfed the eastern half of the country, toppling 
records*
 From Naples, Fla., to Boston, several cities saw their warmest January 
weather in recorded history
- - -
This most recent episode of eastern U.S. warmth was caused by 
upper-level high pressure that flexed its muscle as a big storm cut 
through to the west. The combined flow around weather systems pumped 
springlike air northward.

High pressure dominated the eastern United States through the weekend.
The pattern pumping mild air up the East Coast dates back to the days 
before Christmas. Its persistence has helped much of the east see 
temperatures some 7 to 15 degrees above normal for the start of the month.

[What happened to winter, and will it ever show up?]

It does seem that we're on the cusp of a pattern change across the Lower 
48, which should allow much colder weather to return to the east and, 
potentially, snow. The flip to a more wintry pattern may commence as 
soon as Friday this week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/01/13/january-heat-wave-engulfed-eastern-half-country-toppling-records/




[top climate scientist down under]
*Australia ablaze: Up close and in your face*
January 13th, 2020, by Michael Mann
13 January, 2020: One of today's most respected climate scientists is 
Michael Mann. On 1 January The Guardian published his eyewitness account 
of what Australia's catastrophic bushfires are doing, and why. This is 
what he wrote.

SYDNEY, 1 January, 2020 − I am a climate scientist on holiday in the 
Blue Mountains, watching climate change in action. After years studying 
the climate, my work has brought me to Sydney where I'm studying the 
linkages between climate change and extreme weather events.

Prior to beginning my sabbatical stay in Sydney, I took the opportunity 
this holiday season to vacation in Australia with my family. We went to 
see the Great Barrier Reef - one of the great wonders of this planet - 
while we still can.

Subject to the twin assaults of warming-caused bleaching and ocean 
acidification, it will be gone in a matter of decades in the absence of 
a dramatic reduction in global carbon emissions.

We also travelled to the Blue Mountains, another of Australia's natural 
wonders, known for its lush temperate rainforests, majestic cliffs and 
rock formations and panoramic vistas that challenge any the world has to 
offer. It too is now threatened by climate change.

I witnessed this firsthand.

I did not see vast expanses of rainforest framed by distant blue-tinged 
mountain ranges. Instead I looked out into smoke-filled valleys, with 
only the faintest ghosts of distant ridges and peaks in the background.

The iconic blue tint (which derives from a haze formed from "terpenes" 
emitted by the Eucalyptus trees that are so plentiful here) was replaced 
by a brown haze. The blue sky, too, had been replaced by that brown haze.

The locals, whom I found to be friendly and outgoing, would volunteer 
that they have never seen anything like this before. Some even uttered 
the words "climate change" without any prompting.

The songs of Peter Garrett and Midnight Oil I first enjoyed decades ago 
have taken on a whole new meaning for me now. They seem disturbingly 
prescient in light of what we are witnessing unfold in Australia.

The brown skies I observed in the Blue Mountains this week are a product 
of human-caused climate change. Take record heat, combine it with 
unprecedented drought in already dry regions and you get unprecedented 
bushfires like the ones engulfing the Blue Mountains and spreading 
across the continent. It's not complicated.

The warming of our planet - and the changes in climate associated with 
it - are due to the fossil fuels we're burning: oil, whether at midnight 
or any other hour of the day, natural gas, and the biggest culprit of 
all, coal. That's not complicated either.

When we mine for coal, like the controversial planned Adani coalmine, 
which would more than double Australia's coal-based carbon emissions, we 
are literally mining away at our blue skies. The Adani coalmine could 
rightly be renamed the Blue Sky mine.

In Australia, beds are burning. So are entire towns and irreplaceable 
forests. Endangered and precious animal species such as the koala 
(arguably the world's only living plush toy) are perishing in massive 
numbers due to the unprecedented bushfires.

The continent of Australia is figuratively - and in some sense literally 
- on fire.

Yet the prime minister, Scott Morrison, appears remarkably indifferent 
to the climate emergency Australia is suffering, having chosen to 
vacation in Hawaii as Australians are left to contend with unprecedented 
heat and bushfires.

Morrison has shown himself to be beholden to coal interests and his 
administration is considered to have conspired with a small number of 
petrostates to sabotage the recent UN climate conference in Madrid 
(COP-25), seen as a last ditch effort to keep planetary warming below a 
level (1.5C) considered by many to constitute "dangerous" planetary warming.

But Australians need only wake up in the morning, turn on the 
television, read the newspaper or look out the window to see what is 
increasingly obvious to many - for Australia, dangerous climate change 
is already here. It's simply a matter of how much worse we're willing to 
allow it to get.

Australia is experiencing a climate emergency. It is literally burning. 
It needs leadership that is able to recognise that and act. And it needs 
voters to hold politicians accountable at the ballot box.

Australians must vote out fossil-fuelled politicians who have chosen to 
be part of the problem and vote in climate champions who are willing to 
solve it.

Michael E Mann is distinguished professor of atmospheric science at 
Pennsylvania State University. His most recent book, with Tom Toles, is 
The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our 
Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy (Columbia 
University Press, 2016).
https://climatenewsnetwork.net/australia-ablaze-up-close-and-in-your-face/


[cope]
*How scientists are coping with 'ecological grief'*
Gaia Vince
Sun 12 Jan 2020 08.00 ESTLast modified on Sun 12 Jan 2020 15.11 EST
Scientists reveal how they are dealing with a profound sense of loss as 
the climate emergency worsens
Melting glaciers, coral reef death, wildlife disappearance, landscape 
alteration, climate change: our environment is transforming rapidly, and 
many of us are experiencing a sense of profound loss. Now, the 
scientists whose work it is to monitor and document this extraordinary 
change are beginning to articulate the emotional tsunami sweeping over 
the field, which they're naming "ecological grief". Researchers are 
starting to form support groups online and at institutions, looking for 
spaces to share their feelings. I talked to some of those affected.
- - - clips:

    We come back from our field seasons increasingly broken. You can
    either think: I can't do this, I'm going to have to change the
    science I do; or you might try to internalise all of that pain that
    you feel. Lots of scientists do the latter - they feel we should be
    objective and robust, not at the mercy of our emotions...
    - - -
    People talked about mourning their own identity, and also
    anticipatory grief: the sense that the changes are continuing, and
    that they're likely to experience worsening of what they're already
    seeing. People also discussed the sadness of watching others around
    the world suffer environmental-related trauma, and knowing the pain
    of what it's like.

    This is a slow and cumulative grief without end - unlike a human
    death, say. There's not one moment that you can pinpoint, but long,
    enduring grief and anxiety that's underneath...
    - - -
      When I was experiencing my own very severe ecological grief, one
    of the things that really helped me through was talking to the
    indigenous elders - having people to share with. It was a really
    amazing moment, because they talked about how grief isn't something
    to avoid or be scared of. It's certainly painful. It can be terribly
    isolating; it can be a really horrible experience. But if we come
    together, and we share our grief, and we share pain and emotions,
    there's a real strength to that.
    - - -
    The sense of helplessness is very prevalent - the feeling that the
    scale of our environmental crisis is so large that as individuals we
    can't intervene. And I think that's actually one of the really
    powerful mobilising potentials of ecological grief - it's driving
    action and anger; climate marches. More and more people are coming
    forward to share their pain and there's power in that - the capacity
    to make a sea-change in policy because ecological grief is so much
    now a part of the public narrative. Inuit leader Sheila
    Watt-Cloutier led a really amazing movement across Canada, bringing
    a lawsuit against the government for "the right to be cold"...
    - - -
    Once I understood that I was grieving, it kickstarted my ability to
    make again. I live along a tidal river that's experiencing the
    fastest-rising water temperatures in the world. So I decided to
    collect one of each plant species that I could find in a little
    patch of threatened intertidal marsh and photograph them using a
    gum-bichromate process. Through these images I was able to have a
    wider discussion about loss.

    I've discovered that the art/creative process is my distraction. It
    doesn't mean my grief goes away, but it's a way for me to process it
    and to deal with it...

more at - 
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/12/how-scientists-are-coping-with-environmental-grief?CMP=share_btn_link



[fat cat feed back]
*Jeff Bezos is getting slammed for his donation of $690,000 to the 
Australian wildfire recovery, which is less than he makes in 5 minutes*
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-australia-fires-donation-backlash-jeff-bezos-2020-1



[social conundrum described by Vicki Robin]
*Gathering in groups as society comes apart*
JANUARY 12, 2020
By Vicki Robin
*"Everyone wants community. Unfortunately, it involves other people."*
(Thus begins a post I wrote on Jem Bendell's Deep Adaptation blog. It 
continues…)

I used that line in lectures on frugal living when talking of the 
loneliness of consumerism and the benefits of sharing resources. We 
idealize the good old days of people helping people out. But can we live 
them, given who we have become?

Individualism is one of the many privileges of 'the privileged' in 
Western society. We have options and choices about where we live, with 
whom, of what genders, ages or races, whether we are child-free or have 
a brood, what we eat, what we believe, jobs we'll accept, and on and on 
and on. As people look at civilizational breakdown in detail, though, 
they realize that to survive, other people might not be optional - 
joining a group, a farm, a small town might be necessary.
*
**Survival is not a solo sport.*
If it happens, it will happen in community - intentional, 
multi-generational family, accidental - where we can share the work, 
grow food, trade, defend ourselves, socialize, learn, teach, repair. 
Civilization, it turns out, has a lot of services built in that will 
need to be maintained as long as possible or created anew… or done without.

How do we, who are so accustomed to individualism, enter into a new 
reality of living in concert with others? Not as a condiment but as a 
necessity. Not through idealistic eyes but as a sober process of 
surrendering attachment to the ego's demands and entering a state of 
belonging to a people and a place.

I've lived in several communities and learned many lessons, surprising 
ones and hard ones. Here are some ideas for those of you contemplating 
moving to an existing rural community or forming your own, given your 
perspective of deep adaptation.

In short…People. Power. Process. Projects. And sex. These will arise in 
any group that bands together for mutual aid. Best to talk about this - 
early and often.

*Diversity of perspectives bring depth and wisdom to choices*
I lived for a number of years with a team of ten people who had a series 
of shared goals in a larger context of service to others. I used to 
describe it as a cross between a monastery and the crew of the Starship 
Enterprise.

We developed many rituals and lots of mottos (and plenty of shadow). One 
motto was: "People before Projects and Projects before People's 
'stuff'." In other words, our relationships were primary. If our 
projects turned our relationships into merely team functions and we 
failed to remember our humanity and care, we would stop and reset. But 
if our projects were stalled because people indulged in public 
reactivity (fighting, pouting, gossiping, rejection, etc), we would ask 
them to work it through within or with one another.

We also developed rituals and simple tools for staying current. At least 
once a week we'd 'circle up' for heart sharing, which is very much like 
council or a talking stick circle. We'd share dinner daily, a time to 
catch up. For many groups even this much time together is noxious, but 
if you are in surviving-together-mode, the need for coordination 
increases. We also had a bulletin board and a notebook in a central 
place for messages. These days you'd have a Facebook group - though 
consider that we may be back to 20th century tools in the future.

Proximity will surely stimulate sexual energies and interests. Sticking 
in monogamous couples or singles dating responsibly is often the safest, 
but it's good to acknowledge that people may well develop powerful 
feelings for their not-mates. Unacknowledged sexual attractions are 
wrecking balls for communities. Good communication channels and 
practices can at least provide ways to process these often-destructive 
disturbances.

Who makes decisions, and how, can be unexamined and therefore slip 
towards unequal, sometimes unconscious, power-over. Some conscious 
groups try to reverse the privilege scale by having women and people of 
colour speak first and white men later. In council we talk about "be 
lean of expression" and to not speak again until everyone has spoken 
once - just two of the rules that help all feel heard and all 
contributions get made.

In my team we explored a number of personal development paths to become 
more conscious of ourselves and group dynamics. When we found the 
Enneagram, we realized that among the ten of us we embodied all nine of 
the personality-types it describes. The Enneagram is just one language 
to describe diversity of personalities. The Meyers Briggs framework 
sorts people out in a similar way along dimensions of introvert/ 
extrovert, thinking/ feeling, intuitive/ concrete, process oriented/ 
completion oriented. Organisations often use this tool to help workers 
get along with impossible others.

We chose to regard our archetypal personalities (or perspectives) as 
assets to our harmonious functioning and wise decision making. Faced 
with a choice, we'd have each person reflect briefly on the pros and 
cons and from this we would most often, with little discussion, hit on a 
choice with a "ring of rightness". It wasn't consensus per se. Sometimes 
there would be one perspective that captured all of us as right. 
Sometimes we'd scrap the whole thing. Sometimes we'd see that the idea 
was good but not ripe. Sometimes we defaulted to the "theory of the 
strong opinion" - that if one person was passionate and no one objected, 
they could act with support.

As individuals we often see others as competitors, allies for our cause, 
or irrelevant to our goals.

For communities with shared goals, such a diversity of perspectives in a 
container of love and respect is crucial. The goal could be anything 
from keeping the streets clean and the gardens tended to building a 
water wheel to generate power, to evolving spiritually while avoiding 
the cultic tendencies of all groups.

*A diversity of talents held in a container of common purpose*
Community survival is not the same as survival skills like fire building 
or hunting. Communities need a range of skills. Gardening, cooking, 
raising animals for food, fiber and fertility, foraging, turning 
dandelions (and beets and apples etc) into alcohol, natural building, 
natural medicine, composting waste, food preservation… and on and on. 
However, it also needs talents like mediators, meeting facilitators, 
priests or shamans of all sorts (for confession, for learning from 
mistakes, for healing from pain, for solace, and on and on), comedians, 
actors, artists, group game leaders, meditation (and other 
transformational) teachers, wise-elder leaders, and on and on…

People accustomed to ample space, time and independence will need to 
have gotten a grip on themselves, their reactivity, their shadow 
elements, their capacity for forgiveness and apology, and their ability 
to take a wider view of any circumstance. They will need true sobriety, 
not just from addictive substances but from any immaturity.

As you gather in a group, intentionally or improvisationally, beware 
that your current friend network or Facebook group may lack some crucial 
talents. Liking one another - when you all have separate lives - is no 
basis for joining forces to move together in anticipation of collapse. A 
talent inventory can help. If major talents are missing, people need to 
(joyfully hopefully) step up to learning. The quality of leadership is 
crucial as all this gets sorted out. Everyone can be a leader in being 
self-aware and in service to the group. Some are comfortable with 
holding and distributing power for the sake of the group. But leadership 
isn't the same as wielding power.

*How to join a village*
As people realize how dependent cities are on the surrounding rural 
communities for food, environmental refugees might migrate. First, one 
or two early adopters. Then more. And more. You can't just show up in 
town expecting open arms and hot meals. Rural communities stick together 
and take care of their own because that's how they survive. Trust is 
earned. Your city ways (how you talk, the assumptions you make, your 
habits, your expertise) may strike folks as arrogant. You need to do 
things that people who belong do: show up for the small tasks of daily 
life, like volunteering in schools, churches, social service agencies. 
You go to the pancake breakfast and the fish fry. You usher at the local 
theatre. Or try out for a part. Or join the community choir.

Everything about deeply adapting to an unfolding collapse of modern 
society will grind away at your preferences and identities. If you think 
you might be one of the people who moves to a small town or onto a farm 
with a group of people here are some ways through which you can prepare 
yourself:

Starting to learn and practice Non-Violent Communication, or any process 
that teaches you to own your feelings, observing your projections, 
taming your demand that others change so you might continue to be 
comfortable, or manipulate and lie.

Joining a board or work on a project team to observe how you function in 
groups, how you judge others, how you offer your ideas, whether you talk 
a lot and over-talk others or hang back, your fears of being seen or 
looking stupid or doing more than your fair share.

Starting to learn some facilitation skills, like council, or active 
listening("this is what I heard you say"), or organizing open space 
(where groups self-organize into interest groups) or consensus.

Starting to learn some coaching skills, how to ask questions and offer 
practices to others as they find their way. For example, friends and I 
developed a circle practice called Conversation Cafes that is now used 
globally.

Beginning or deepening a meditation practice that allows you to witness 
rather than identify with your thoughts, and to let go of stress, 
tightness and defensiveness though simply watching your breathing and 
tracking your thoughts and feelings without interacting with them.

Consider getting some therapy so you experience the beneficial effect of 
being listened to with warm awareness by someone who sides with you, not 
your inner critic.

These are suggestions for while the good times are still rolling. When 
the pressure is on and individuals find themselves in groups for 
survival - in collective households, in villages, on food lines, in 
camps - those who are mentally healthy, self-aware and skilled at 
working with others will be necessary for success. Frictions will arise. 
The skill is to work with them as they do. These are lessons from 
voluntary affiliations that can help us as we work to stay alive and 
keep our people well. To help, Diana Leafe Christian has written a 
wonderful book, Creating a Life Together, full of deep wisdom and 
practical advice. Much wisdom from the Eco-Village experiments worldwide 
has been captured in this excellent book by Karen Litfin, EcoVillages: 
Lessons for Sustainable Communities.

*A final note…*
Sh~t happens. As Robert Burnes said, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' 
men, Gang aft a-gley:" People fall out of love. People have kids, need 
to move on, are banished, sink through quarrelling. At the end of the 
day, maturity is the bottom line. And humility. And good will.
https://vickirobin.com/gathering-in-groups/



[Continued lecture on Arctic by Paul Beckwith]
*Arctic Summer Sea-Ice Melt-Out Equivalent to One Trillion Tons of CO2: 
40% of ALL Emissions THUS FAR*
Jan 13, 2020
Paul Beckwith
In previous videos I explained how the latest cutting edge science from 
late 2019 expects that a Blue-Ocean State (zero Arctic sea ice) in 
summer would heat the overall planet the equivalence of 25 years of 
global warming or 1 Trillion tons of CO2. Putting this into context, as 
of 2016 an estimated 2.4 Trillion tons has been emitted since the 
preindustrial period; due to both fossil fuel combustion (1.54 Trillion 
tons) and land use changes (0.82 Trillion tons). It becomes glaringly 
obvious that we will blow through 1.5C and 2C Paris safety targets when 
this happens, not to mention methane and Greenland vulnerabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyMSiXIbVEU



[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming  - January 14,  2013*

January 14, 2013: Slate's Phil Plait once again debunks the "global 
warming stopped in 1998" claim often heard in right-wing media circles. 
(This claim had previously been debunked by Peter Sinclair of 
ClimateCrocks.com.) Plait notes:

"So let this be clear: There is no scientific controversy over this. 
Climate change denial is purely, 100 percent made-up political and 
corporate-sponsored crap. When the loudest voices are fossil-fuel funded 
think tanks, when they don't publish in science journals but instead 
write error-laden op-eds in partisan venues, when they have to 
manipulate the data to support their point, then what they're doing 
isn't science."

http://youtu.be/QwnrpwctIh4

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/01/14/no_global_warming_for_16_years_debunking_climate_change_denial.html

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