[TheClimate.Vote] March 7, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Sat Mar 7 14:29:24 EST 2020

/*March 7, 2020*/

[Well noticed changes]
*The Climate Movement Has Gained Unprecedented Momentum Since 2018*
The climate movement has started gaining momentum, and the oil and gas 
industry is getting scared. Fossil fuel companies have been ramping up 
their ad buying, placing loads of ads on social media, in magazines, and 
even at the global climate summits. Meanwhile, in Australia, a recent 
report found that the fossil fuel industry doubled its political 
donations over the past four years.

These examples of increasing desperation from oil and gas companies are 
actually a hopeful sign in that they reflect the rising power of the 
climate movement, which has been gathering wins across the country.

The current momentum of the climate movement traces back to 
unprecedented social and cultural shifts that happened in late 2018, 
when the U.S. public started caring in a new way about the climate crisis...
*Recent Cultural Shifts in the U.S. Are Fueling the Climate Movement*
As recently as 2016, it was hard to get people to care about the climate 
crisis. Climate researchers and communicators had been ringing the bell 
for decades. As of late, they were frantically pointing at the seminal 
2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which said, 
decisively, that humans were warming the earth and that we only had a 
few decades to stop emitting to avoid utter catastrophe. Still, out of 
14 electoral issues, American voters polled by Pew Research Center in 
2016 ranked the environment twelfth. The Democratic presidential 
candidate in the general election was a climate opportunist who led the 
State Department to "[sell] fracking to the world," wrote Mother Jones. 
It was the warmest year on record.

Then it was 2018, the fifth warmest year on record, and, well, it was 
still hard to get people to care about the climate crisis. At a 
Democratic leaders' conference that year, Politico reported, Democratic 
figures supposedly devoted to climate -- Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer, 
even Washington Governor Jay Inslee -- danced around the topic when 
talking to voters. Compared to other issues, "you can't say it's 
predominate," Inslee told Politico. Only 2 percent of voters surveyed by 
the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) said global 
warming was their top issue in the upcoming midterms.

But late that year, something new happened within the American public: A 
critical mass of people started really caring about the climate crisis...
- -
*Oil and Gas Companies Are Losing Power*
Part of the reason the problems are as deeply rooted as Roberts says is 
because of the near-complete historical dominance of fossil fuels over 
the energy supply. But, even just since the start of 2020, that 
dominance has been beginning to wane...
- -
*Climate Policies Are Spreading*
Barring major judicial wins, one of the best ways to bring down the 
fossil fuel industry will be dramatically reducing demand for fossil 
fuels. Over the last year, the Green New Deal has emerged as the policy 
best posed to do so...
- -
*Media Outlets Are Waking Up to Their Role*
Journalists pushing accountability -- and those not doing so -- play an 
undeniably large role in where we are today on climate. In ignoring or 
downplaying the climate crisis, the media has been complacent, and still 
is today. A special report by Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation 
last year found that "climate silence continues to reign" across 
American media, especially broadcast news. But as much as the media is 
culpable for the continuing climate crisis, the media can also 
contribute to stopping it...
- -
*Public Opinion Is Shifting*
Media outlets have the power to influence public opinion, and the recent 
push on climate in the mainstream media is, likely not coincidentally, 
happening alongside changes in awareness in public opinion...
https://truthout.org/articles/the-climate-movement-has-gained-unprecedented-momentum-since-2018/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=e91846b8-a60e-46dc-90e0-44da24b8e49c

[expect changes to CO2 levels]

*The Coronavirus Outbreak Has Caused the Biggest Global Oil Demand Dip 
in History*
Global oil demand is experiencing its most sudden and dramatic dip in 
history, and it's all because of the coronavirus outbreak.
IHS Markit, a London-based financial data group that hosts a major 
energy conference every year (which it canceled due to the outbreak), 
published a research alert on Thursday on how the first quarter of 2020 
is treating oil. And it shows a serious shift in the global market. 
COVID-19, the formal name for the virus, has brought the Chinese economy 
to a halt. As the world's largest importer of oil and gas, that's sent 
the fossil fuel sector into a tailspin that could worsen as other 
nations also struggle to contain the outbreak...
- -
In an ideal world, oil wouldn't reflect the state of the economy. The 
world should wean itself off fossil fuels as part of a smooth, just 
transition. Otherwise, the economy--which is so entwined with the oil 
and gas sector--will suffer. And what we're seeing now with the 
coronavirus is exactly what we should be trying to avoid when the end of 
oil does come.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-coronavirus-outbreak-has-caused-the-biggest-global-1842123322

[bring it to the schools - free curriculum]
*A fully supported climate-crisis curriculum to empower the climate 
strike generation*
We've all heard the millions of  young voices speaking up for the future 
of their planet
The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our time. Many young 
people are seeking to learn more about the future of their planet, but 
most are struggling to know where to go for guidance, whilst parents & 
teachers are being offered minimal climate-education support or training.
As educators it is our responsibility to step forward.
It's time to talk about climate change.
Register for your FREE Climate Curriculum
https://www.thoughtboxeducation.com/climatecurriculum

[postings from Yale Climate Connections]
[Publishing]
*15 books about women leading the way on climate change*
These fiction and non-fiction selections show how women are affected by 
climate change and how they're fighting back.
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/03/15-books-about-women-leading-the-way-on-climate-change/
- - -
[film]
*Seven of the best new documentaries about global warming*
The films screened at the recent Wild & Scenic Film Festival.
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/03/seven-of-the-best-new-documentaries-about-global-warming/
- - -
[hope]
*New and recent books about hope in a time of climate change*
These books explore how people might sustain their optimism and hope in 
the face of the often bleak news of a steadily warming world.
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/02/new-and-recent-books-about-hope-in-a-time-of-climate-change/

[Similar]
*Climate change or coronavirus? 'Pick your evil', protesters say**
*Demonstrators led by Greta Thunberg say global governments have raised 
more alarm over virus than climate emergency.
- -
"You see people all crazy with coronavirus and you see that governments 
can do things to make everybody aware about a situation, to make things 
happen ... But they do so little about climate change," she said.

Organisers said some 4,000 people attended the event, fewer than 
expected, probably because of the weather and concerns about the spread 
of the virus in large crowds.

Andaga, 25, a marine biology student from Ghent, said some of her 
friends stayed away because of worries about the virus.

"I thought, OK, maybe I should carry hand sanitiser, but it was sold out 
everywhere ... Yes, it was a concern of mine, but not enough to stop me 
from coming out and marching," she said.

While the protest went ahead, some events in the European Union's hub 
have been cancelled as a precaution.

The European Parliament has banned external visitors for the next three 
weeks, although it waived its own rule on Thursday to allow Thunberg to 
give a speech.

Other climate events have fallen victim to the virus.

The United Nations on Friday postponed a week of climate change events 
in Kampala, Uganda, which had been scheduled for next month.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/climate-change-coronavirus-pick-evil-protesters-200306195937709.html 

[Greta speaks on video]
*Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks in EU parliament - watch live*
Streamed live on Mar 4, 2020
Guardian News
Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg addresses members of the European 
parliament in Brussels.
https://youtu.be/ayqYBVJfp_I?t=893

[advanced AGU webinar released to public]
*Atmospheric Sciences Webinar Series: From the Past Into the Future: Part I*
Mar 6, 2020
AGU
Description: To celebrate past accomplishments and highlight future 
challenges at the Fall 2019 meeting, the Atmospheric Sciences Section 
hosted an all-day session of oral presentations by a diverse group of 
invited speakers – both established and emerging leaders in the field – 
and all excellent communicators. Topics included ozone depletion and 
recovery, weather and climate prediction, detection and attribution of 
climate change, and extreme events, among others.
Starts about 2 mins in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y7EhoJKLLU

[NYTimes opinion]
*Our 'Pursuit of Happiness' Is Killing the Planet*
We need to strike a new balance between our private pleasures and our 
collective survival.
By James Traub
As the coronavirus continues to spread, the chances that any one of us 
will be placed in quarantine goes up considerably. I know that being 
locked away like that would drive me nuts. Two weeks subtracted from my 
life! Still, I'd accept the justice of my confinement because I would 
recognize that my liberty had come to pose a real danger to my fellow 
humans.

Now, let's ratchet up the sacrifice: Suppose you were required by law to 
turn the thermostat up to 75 in the summer, and down to 66 in the 
winter, in order to reduce your carbon footprint. The principle is the 
same: Your freedom to live as you wish turns out to jeopardize public 
well-being...
- - -
Liberal societies, in short, have always faced the problem of secondhand 
smoke, but what once was exceptional has now become endemic. One man's 
meat is another man's poison, as F.D.R. put it, more prescient than he 
knew. In the cataclysm of the Depression, the president was able to 
summon up the sense of collective purpose needed to embark on 
large-scale change. Our own crisis, of course, still appears to many far 
too remote for any such call to sacrifice. To make matters worse, we've 
elected as president a libertine devoted not to fostering a spirit of 
collective purpose, but to his right to do anything he pleases. Indeed, 
Donald Trump is illiberal in every respect save for his single-minded 
commitment to private pleasures.

Can we forge a new equilibrium before Miami is under water? I would like 
to think we'll do so as part of a larger process of democratic 
deliberation. The Green New Deal envisions a 10-year phase of 
"transparent and inclusive consultation," which sounds just about right. 
I note, however, that the authors seem more committed to consulting with 
"vulnerable communities" and "worker cooperatives" (I didn't know we had 
that many) than with recalcitrant carnivores, or for that matter with 
energy companies. That does not put one in mind of F.D.R.

The Dutch can reach consensus on painful social questions because 
they've spent the last thousand years working cooperatively to build 
dikes; the climate accord adopted last year came after a full year of 
discussion among representatives of all interest groups. That's not how 
American democracy works, and especially so in recent years. We allow 
those interest groups to wage a pitched battle using all the money and 
influence they can muster against one another. Legislation emerges only 
after a war of attrition. That's a very self-defeating way of doing 
business when all parties must be called on to sacrifice. At some point, 
presumably, things will get so bad that President Ocasio-Cortez manages 
to ram a green-enough new deal through Congress. Then we'll adjust our 
thermostats and go two-thirds vegan the same way we got used to the 
chaos and tedium of airport security check-ins: We'll have no choice.

Or just maybe we'll rise to the occasion: With the flood upon us, we, 
too, will learn how to build dikes together.
James Traub is the author of "What Was Liberalism: The Past, Present and 
Promise of A Noble Idea."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/opinion/our-pursuit-of-happiness-is-killing-the-planet.html

[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming  - March 7, 2016 *
March 7, 2016 - MediaMatters.org reports:

    "ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox collectively spent five percent less time
    covering climate change in 2015, even though there were more
    newsworthy climate-related events than ever before, including the
    EPA finalizing the Clean Power Plan, Pope Francis issuing a climate
    change encyclical, President Obama rejecting the Keystone XL
    pipeline, and 195 countries around the world reaching a historic
    climate agreement in Paris. The decline was primarily driven by ABC,
    whose climate coverage dropped by 59 percent; the only network to
    dramatically increase its climate coverage was Fox, but that
    increase largely consisted of criticism of efforts to address
    climate change. When the networks did discuss climate change, they
    rarely addressed its impacts on national security, the economy, or
    public health, yet most still found time to provide a forum for
    climate science denial. On a more positive note, CBS and NBC -- and
    PBS, which was assessed separately -- aired many segments that
    explored the state of scientific research or detailed how climate
    change is affecting extreme weather, plants, and wildlife."

http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/03/07/study-how-broadcast-networks-covered-climate-ch/208881

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