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

[Richard Pauli]

/*January 21, 2020*/

[significant UN ruling]
*Climate refugees can't be returned home, says landmark UN human rights 
ruling*
Experts say judgment is 'tipping point' that opens the door to climate 
crisis claims for protection
It is unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their 
lives might be threatened by the climate crisis, a landmark ruling by 
the United Nations human rights committee has found.

The judgment - which is the first of its kind - represents a legal 
"tipping point" and a moment that "opens the doorway" to future 
protection claims for people whose lives and wellbeing have been 
threatened due to global heating, experts say.

Tens of millions of people are expected to be displaced by global 
heating in the next decade...
- - -
While the judgment is not formally binding on countries, it points to 
legal obligations that countries have under international law.

"What's really important here, and why it's quite a landmark case, is 
that the committee recognised that without robust action on climate at 
some point in the future it could well be that governments will, under 
international human rights law, be prohibited from sending people to 
places where their life is at risk or where they would face inhuman or 
degrading treatment," said Prof Jane McAdam, director of the Kaldor 
centre for international refugee law at the University of New South Wales.

"Even though in this particular case there was no violation found, it 
effectively put governments on notice...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/20/climate-refugees-cant-be-returned-home-says-landmark-un-human-rights-ruling




[Bees and Honey in Australia]
*In the Wake of Australia's Worst Bushfires*
Jan 20, 2020
Journeyman Pictures
 From honey production to the long-term health effects of toxic smoke, 
Australia has had to survey the aftermath of bushfires even as they 
continue to burn. Some border fires have now combined into a 'megablaze'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33FqMdlEVo



[Activism video]
*Roger Hallam | World Web Forum 2020 | Extinction Rebellion*
Jan 20, 2020
Extinction Rebellion
'Time For Courage!' Roger Hallam urges business executives and leaders 
to have the courage to take action. He is empowering radical change by 
hosting his only workshop in Switzerland at WorldWebForum in Zurich on 
January 17, 2020. [https://worldwebforum.com]
He calls for action beyond talk, and demonstrates his courage by going 
shirtless before an audience of 2000 business leaders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zo2DWW_fhc


[climate and security]
*How Terrorists Leverage Climate Change*
By Scott Somers
Policymakers and emergency managers tend to build a conceptual wall 
between natural hazards and terrorism. The causes of--and remedies 
for--these two kinds of disasters are seen as separate and distinct. 
But, in the era of climate change, the wall between the two is crumbling.

As climate and weather patterns shift, the resulting environmental 
crisis is being leveraged as a tool for terror and political violence. 
Around the world, environmental stress due to unpredictable weather 
catalyzes political violence, further undermining weak governments. And 
in the United States, the environmental crisis is a "threat multiplier" 
that could enable terrorism, overwhelm response capabilities, and 
threaten populations and critical infrastructure.

The emerging threat is not about eco-terrorism--a term used to describe 
acts of violence in support of ecological or environmental causes. 
Rather, there is a growing potential for vulnerable ecosystems to be 
exploited or destroyed as a means to intimidate or provoke a state of 
terror in the general public for a political, ideological, or 
philosophical agenda.

Militant organizations including ISIS, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda have 
openly promulgated a strategy of ecological jihad. In contrast to other 
methods employed by extremists, environmental tactics, such as 
contaminating water supplies or starting fires, can be quickly planned, 
require little technical expertise to execute, and are harder to detect. 
Water shortages due to shifting weather patterns increase vulnerability 
to these methods with significant consequences for people, 
infrastructure, and the economy.

*Weaponized Fire and Water*
Severe drought as a result of climatic weather shifts raises 
vulnerability of water systems as reservoirs continue to dry up. As 
global fresh water supplies become increasingly scarce, extremist groups 
are stepping up attacks and manipulating supply as a strategic tactic of 
coercion.

Most analysts suggest that, since water itself would dilute any toxin or 
pathogen, the quantity of material needed to sufficiently contaminate 
the supply makes such an attack technically difficult. But, as the level 
of water in reservoirs continues to fall due to drought, this tactic 
becomes increasingly feasible. Extremist groups, including Al Qaeda, 
have expressed interest in contaminating drinking water in the United 
States. A report by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and 
Preparedness identified 26 specific threats of water contamination in 
the United States between 1968 and 2008.

Drought also creates tinderbox conditions, increasing the potential for 
intentionally set fires near populated areas and critical 
infrastructure. Fire as a tool of warfare is well documented. The 
Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, used wildfire as a part of its 
military strategy,  as well as an economic and psychological attack, 
during its 2006 conflict with Israel. In 2012, an issue of the online 
magazine Inspire surfaced on jihadi Internet forums detailing how to 
construct an "ember bomb" to target forested areas of the United States.

The exposure of U.S. communities to wildfire makes wildfire a 
potentially potent weapon for economic warfare and mass destruction. One 
military officer wrote in his 2005 thesis: "An opportunistic terrorist 
can unleash multiple fires creating a conflagration potentially equal to 
a multi-megaton nuclear weapon." Wildfires can have a profoundly 
negative effect on a region's economy: the damage from California's 2018 
conflagrations is estimated at $400 billion. And wildfires  pose a 
threat to critical infrastructure, especially the electric grid, 
creating widespread outages and cascading effects.

*Reducing Vulnerability and Building Community Resilience*
Current policies to protect critical infrastructure and key resources 
focus on hardening and monitoring. In addition, sustainability practices 
and ecosystem management must become part of a cohesive strategy for 
national infrastructure protection.

First, we need to acknowledge the connection between the natural 
environment and vulnerability to terrorism by integrating sustainability 
principles and practices into the National Homeland Security Strategy. 
The U.S. military recognizes that global competition for finite natural 
resources is a national security concern and has embraced sustainability 
as a vital strategic security element and mission enabler.

Second, governments and utilities must fund investments in smaller 
scale, distributed infrastructure systems. Centralized utilities with 
large, complex distribution systems are more vulnerable to targeted 
disruptions with consequences of failure spread across a larger 
population. Distributed power systems, such as on-site photovoltaics or 
micro-grid generation, reduce the risk of widespread power failures as 
well as the cascading effects and economic damage that result.

Decentralizing is important in the water sector as well. New sustainable 
water technologies are emerging that integrate decentralized systems 
with traditional, centralized conveyance and treatment networks. 
Integrating principles and technologies of distributed infrastructure 
might also enhance the EPA Water Security Initiative.

Finally, we must restore and rebalance ecosystems to mitigate the 
terrorism threat. Foresters and fire protection experts are increasingly 
realizing that a century of aggressive federal fire suppression policy 
has led to uncharacteristically dense forests. Such conditions generate 
more intense conflagrations, prevent more water from reaching 
underground aquifers, and reduce the health of the forests.

As part of its mission, the Department of Homeland Security should 
support efforts by the National Forest Service to develop, test, and 
demonstrate approaches to ecosystem restoration that are environmentally 
sound, economically sustainable, and socially acceptable.

In a changing climate, the wall between natural disasters and terrorism 
is breaking down, creating new vulnerabilities. But a holistic approach 
offers opportunities to address both problems at once.  By integrating 
sustainable principles and practices into the national homeland security 
strategy, we can protect valuable natural resources and reduce the 
potential for the environment to be exploited as a tool of terror.

Scott Somers is Professor of Practice in Emergency Management at Arizona 
State University.
https://climateandsecurity.org/2020/01/20/how-terrorists-leverage-climate-change/


[look into the science by Carbon Brief]
*Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2019*
Amidst an extraordinary year for media coverage of climate change, 
scientists and researchers were busily publishing thousands of 
peer-reviewed journal papers on their latest findings.

These were reported around the world in news articles and blogs and 
shared on social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn 
and Reddit. Tracking all these "mentions" was Altmetric, an organisation 
that scores and ranks papers according to the attention they receive. 
(Full details of how the Altmetric scoring system works can be found in 
an earlier article.)

Using Altmetric data for 2019, Carbon Brief has compiled its annual list 
of the 25 most talked-about climate change-related papers that were 
published the previous year. The infographic above shows which ones made 
it into the Top 10.
Number one

According to Altmetric, the two highest-scoring climate papers in 2019 
are commentaries. These are "World scientists' warning of a climate 
emergency" in the journal BioScience, with a score of 10,950, and 
"Climate tipping points - too risky to bet against" in Nature, which 
scored 8,552...
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-the-climate-papers-most-featured-in-the-media-in-2019
- - -
[two top papers]
Oxford Academic - BioScience
*World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency*
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biz088/5610806
- - -
[The journal Nature November 2019]
*Climate tipping points -- too risky to bet against*
The growing threat of abrupt and irreversible climate changes must 
compel political and economic action on emissions.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03595-0



[Records]
*Highest Atmospheric Pressure in More than 300 Years of London 
Recordkeeping*
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Highest-Atmospheric-Pressure-More-300-Years-London-Recordkeeping



[metaphor shows widespread adoption of meme]
*New Research Claims Inbreeding 'Akin to Global Warming'*
Study says problem could weaken overall fertility and health in 
Thoroughbreds

By Martin Stevens/Racing Post
The issue of inbreeding in the Thoroughbred population is "akin to 
global warming," according to Professor Emmeline Hill, who has 
spearheaded major new research into the subject conducted by University 
College Dublin and equine science company Plusvital.

The resultant paper, published last week in the peer-reviewed journal 
Scientific Reports, analyzed the DNA of more than 10,000 Thoroughbreds, 
the largest set of horses examined to date, and established that there 
has been a highly significant rise in inbreeding over the last 45 years.
War Front

The research linked the increase in inbreeding to selection for 
favorable racing traits and the influence of popular sire lines, with 
97% of horses in the study tracing to Northern Dancer, 35% of European 
horses having Sadler's Wells in their pedigree, and 55% of Australian 
horses having Danehill in their pedigree.

Hill said: "Inbreeding has always been high in Thoroughbreds, but it is 
getting higher. It's likely that, unchecked, inbreeding in the 
Thoroughbred will continue to increase in a market where there is high 
demand for particular sire lines.

"The problem with inbreeding is that it can compromise overall 
population fertility and health. This is a highly significant issue akin 
to global warming, where inbreeding is accumulating in the population, 
and it must be addressed at an industry-wide level."

Inbreeding can increase the chances of offspring inheriting recessive 
traits, which if unchecked can weaken the biological fitness of the 
population and hinder its ability to survive and reproduce--a 
circumstance known as inbreeding depression...
more at - 
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/237997/new-research-claims-inbreeding-akin-to-global-warming


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming  - January 21, 1992 *
"Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit" by Senator Al Gore 
is released. Six days later, Gore discusses the book on C-SPAN's 
"Booknotes."
http://www.c-span.org/video/?24448-1/Ecol

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