[TheClimate.Vote] June 26, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*June 26, 2020*/

[The Guardian Opinion - Look to the North]
*The Arctic heatwave: here's what we know*
Tamsin Edwards
It's 38C in Siberia. The science may be complicated – but the need for 
action now couldn't be clearer..
- -
[W]e can use this northern heatwave to illuminate the complexity of our 
planet. We can break this question into parts, from fast to slow.

Fast: the immediate effect is to increase wildfires. Siberia has seen 
"zombie fires" reignited from deep smouldering embers in peatland. This 
is bad news, releasing particulate air pollution and more carbon in 18 
months than in the past 16 years. The immediate cause? Here in the 
mid-high northern latitudes, we live in unstable weather under the 
influence of the polar jet stream. This rapid current of air high above 
our heads drags weather in a conveyor belt from west to east, with 
alternating patches of cold and warm air, low and high pressure. 
Sometimes the weather patterns get stuck, creating a stable period of 
weather, like a heatwave. This is one long, severe example...
- -
The real fear around the Arctic for the longer term, I find when talking 
to people, comes from the idea of "runaway" warming from methane 
release. Warming could release stores of methane – a strong greenhouse 
gas – from permafrost or frozen sediments at the bottom of the ocean, 
which would add to the warming from our own activities. There is more 
than twice the amount of carbon in the permafrost as in the atmosphere, 
and thawing has already begun...
- -
Perhaps there is one simple story though: every bit of warming we avoid 
will help keep our planet a more familiar and an easier place to live on.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/25/arctic-heatwave-38c-siberia-science




[another serious legal challenge]
*DC Is the Latest to Sue Exxon and Big Oil for Climate Disinformation 
Campaigns*
By Dana Drugmand - Thursday, June 25, 2020...
- -
According to D.C.'s Deputy Attorney General in the Public Advocacy 
Division, Kate Konopka, the District did not coordinate with Minnesota 
and was not even aware of Attorney General Ellison's lawsuit until it 
was filed yesterday. The D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine has been 
investigating Big Oil and ExxonMobil in particular for potential fraud 
for the past several years, as had attorneys general in New York and 
Massachusetts.

The investigations followed groundbreaking investigative reporting in 
2015 revealing the extent of Exxon's early knowledge of climate change. 
Over the last five years researchers and journalists have uncovered even 
more evidence demonstrating not only what fossil fuel companies knew 
about climate science and when, but how they worked to conceal that 
knowledge and create a false impression of scientific uncertainty.

"The remarkable thing about these cases is how much evidence we have 
even before we get to discovery," Kert Davies, founder and director of 
the watchdog group Climate Investigations Center, told DeSmog. "We have 
a mountain of evidence of what they knew and what they did to deceive 
the public about the threat of climate change. And yet we've only 
scratched the surface."
https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/06/25/district-columbia-fraud-lawsuit-exxon-oil-climate-disinformation



[BBC Future Planet]
*A 'mass experiment' for the climate*
Has the pandemic helped individuals and leaders get any closer to 
tackling the environmental crisis?
"I was so worried about the dangers of going too far," says Sally Capp, 
Lord Mayor of Melbourne, when she now thinks about her pre-pandemic 
leadership on the environment. The leader of Australia's second most 
populated city believes Covid-19 has helped her clarify what's important 
to her as an individual and as mayor. "I have become much more resolute 
about my values, prioritising humanity and protecting the environment, 
so they can play a larger role in driving my agenda."

The pandemic has created the most significant economic shock since the 
Great Depression, besides being a public health crisis like no other in 
living memory. The existential threat that it has posed has set many 
individuals, cities and national leaders on a new track. In Capp's case, 
it has meant taking very different decisions on the environment, leading 
in a way that focuses on what's truly important. Capp believes this 
trend needs to continue post Covid-19.

There is indeed a large movement to "build back better" from the 
pandemic in a way that confronts the climate crisis. Attitudes are 
changing. But however good our intentions as individuals, it will take 
determined moves by industry, national and local government to modify 
the environment so that we can all build on any attitude changes. Has 
the pandemic helped us make the changes needed to tackle the 
environmental crisis?
- -
Turning point

However, Wood believes the massive disruption in our routines caused by 
the pandemic may present an opportunity for us to move to a more 
sustainable lifestyle, but only if leaders are willing to take decisive 
steps to alter the cues around us. Otherwise, we are likely to slip into 
old patterns. Wood is on an advisory board of the Los Angeles Metro and 
focuses on helping get people in LA out their cars and into the habit of 
using mass transit. However, as mass transit is not a healthy option 
right now, there is a search for other sustainable alternatives. "My 
impassioned appeal to the transit authority is to start opening the 
streets to scooters, cycles and pedestrians," she says, "but so far, 
they've only agreed to open 20 miles of road, a drop in the ocean of 
LA's freeways"....
- - -
A recent global Ipsos Mori poll found a recognition by the public that 
individuals aren't the biggest actors in the story of climate change.

"There has always been a huge focus on behaviour change when it comes to 
global warming mitigation, but now the public is demanding that industry 
and government pull their weight," says Jessica Long, the pollster's 
head of sustainability. In the May 2020 poll, three in four people 
polled across 16 countries expect their government to make protection of 
the environment a priority when planning a recovery from the coronavirus 
pandemic.
- -
Long says across the countries that Ipsos Mori polled in 2019 "the 
number one global issue was the environment. *Four out of five people 
polled felt that we are headed towards an environmental disaster". *What 
took Long and her pollster colleagues by surprise were the results of 
the recent polling which indicates that Covid-19 hasn't detracted from 
this. "Over 70% of respondents across the world report that, in the long 
term, climate is as serious a crisis as Covid-19. In April 2020 poll, 
well over half of the international sample said that they would be put 
off voting for a political party whose policies didn't deal seriously 
with climate change.

Are political leaders ready to take more radical action to protect the 
planet and address man-made climate change? This challenge is especially 
pertinent when many of them are negotiating one the most challenging 
economic landscapes in living memory alongside mass unemployment. In 
addition, with many people feeling public transport is no longer safe, 
there are pressures to allow private cars greater freedom in the city, 
which could roll back sustainable city improvements made over decades...
- -
Perhaps the change will be driven by cities, not countries. Mark Watts 
leads C40, a network of the world's megacities committed to addressing 
climate change. Since Covid-19 he has been convening a bi-weekly 
meetings of the big city mayors to discuss tackling the epidemic and how 
to manage a green recovery. Watts told me the sense of possibility is 
palatable, even in a virtual meeting. "The mayors are treating this time 
as a massive game-changing moment. This epidemic experience will have 
been the greatest pressure that most of these individuals have been 
under, as hundreds of thousands of people have been dying in their 
cities. But with increased public trust in government, they are sensing 
this is the moment they have to be strong and bold to take radical steps 
to protect our environment."...
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200624-has-covid-19-brought-us-closer-to-stopping-climate-change



[opinion - because wood burns]
*THE TRAGEDY OF NORTH AMERICAN DEFORESTATION*
Mike Roddy - Alameda, Ca
Americans' habit of building houses with lumber is a 19th century relic, 
and a method rarely used in the rest of the world...Our houses last an 
average of 60 years. Houses in Asia, Europe, and South America are 
designed to last for centuries, since they feature concrete, steel, and 
masonry.  American houses are cheap, but are they really?
- -
It's time to take a good look at ourselves. Avoiding construction of 
death traps in forested areas is a good place to start.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xjr6VA3jVi-pn1osziTKup46GoxXP55mRRZE1UXJJZs/edit 




[Resilience discussions]
*What Could Possibly Go Right? | Episode 2 with Bill McKibben*
postcarboninstitute
In today's episode, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben shares his 
perspectives on "What Could Possibly Go Right?" including:

Learning from the pain and trauma of the current crises in a 
destabilized planet.

Reconnecting with the physical reality of the world outside of our 
online lives.

Knowing speed matters in our response to climate change, as well as 
understanding that actions will be disruptive but necessary.

Recognizing that social solidarity and a unified, fair society is what's 
required to tackle big issues like climate change.

Being aware of the new scariest words in the English language.

Realizing the opportunity in channeling the large unemployed labor force 
towards activities to transform our energy system and response to climate
Learn more: https://bit.ly/pci-wcpgrseries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnx0OiOnnHw



[3rd UK serious discussion to reach zero emissions]
*Net Zero Home School Day 3: Nature and Land in Net Zero*
June 25, 2020
Oxford Climate Society
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vopEyqhmNE4


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - June 26, 2006 *
The Associated Press reports:

    "The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether the Bush
    administration must regulate carbon dioxide to combat global
    warming, setting up what could be one of the court's most important
    decisions on the environment.

    "The decision means the court will address whether the
    administration's decision to rely on voluntary measures to combat
    climate change are legal under federal clean air laws.

    "'This is the whole ball of wax. This will determine whether the
    Environmental Protection Agency is to regulate greenhouse gases from
    cars and whether EPA can regulate carbon dioxide from power plants,'
    said David Bookbinder, an attorney for the Sierra Club.

    "Bookbinder said if the court upholds the administration's argument
    it also could jeopardize plans by California and 10 other states,
    including most of the Northeast, to require reductions in carbon
    dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.

    "There was no immediate comment from either the EPA or White House
    on the court's action.

    "’Fundamentally, we don't think carbon dioxide is a pollutant, and
    so we don't think these attempts are a good idea,’ said John Felmy,
    chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group
    representing oil and gas producers.

    "A dozen states, a number of cities and various environmental groups
    asked the court to take up the case after a divided lower court
    ruled against them.

    "They argue that the Environmental Protection Agency is obligated to
    limit carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles under the federal
    Clean Air Act because as the primary ‘greenhouse'’ gas causing a
    warming of the earth, carbon dioxide is a pollutant.

    "The administration maintains that carbon dioxide -- unlike other
    chemicals that must be controlled to assure healthy air -- is not a
    pollutant under the federal clean air law, and that even if it were
    the EPA has discretion over whether to regulate it.

    "A federal appeals court sided with the administration in a sharply
    divided ruling.

    "One judge said the EPA's refusal to regulate carbon dioxide was
    contrary to the clean air law; another said that even if the Clean
    Air Act gave the EPA authority over the heat-trapping chemical, the
    agency could choose not to use that authority; a third judge ruled
    against the suit because, he said, the plaintiffs had no standing
    because they hadn't proven harm.

    "Carbon dioxide, which is release when burning fossil fuels such as
    coal or gasoline, is the leading so-called 'greenhouse' gas because
    as it drifts into the atmosphere it traps the earth's heat -- much
    like a greenhouse. Many scientists cite growing evidence that this
    pollution is warming the earth to a point of beginning to change
    global climate."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/washington/AP-Scotus-Greenhouse-Gases.html?pagewanted=print 


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