[TheClimate.Vote] March 9, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Mon Mar 9 08:33:28 EDT 2020
/*March 9, 2020*/
[Museum 50th anniversary of Earth Day ]
*The Climate Changes Before Your Eyes*
The American Museum of Natural History focuses on science, not politics,
in its display of an environmentally challenged planet.
By Laurel Graeber - March 8, 2020
- -
There is "a comprehensive full-court press that we're bringing to this,"
said Ellen V. Futter, president of the museum. Its efforts to educate
the public on climate change amount to "a lot of leverage,
institutionally," she added, "and we think that's our role. We do have a
civic mission."...
That mission is never more clear than in the museum's Rose Center for
Earth and Space, where an immense, interactive climate-change wall
dominates the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. Although the hall has had
a climate-change display since its opening in 1999, the museum
overhauled it extensively in 2018...
Instead of a huge wall graphic, the hall now has what looks like a
television screen for a giant. Made up of 36 tiles, each a 55-inch,
high-definition digital monitor, the wall features imagery from NASA and
the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration along its upper surface.
While you gaze at the floating continents from a voyaging astronaut's
perspective, you see a series of rotating statements informing you of
facts like, "Human-caused carbon dioxide is warming our climate."
"We really envisioned that this would serve as the billboard for the
climate-change exhibit," said Lauri Halderman, the museum's vice
president for exhibition.
But while most billboards remain static, the wall evolves. A few months
ago, the museum added new images and material, including references to
the so-called Camp Fire of 2018, the deadliest and most destructive
wildfire in California history. The staff also incorporated NASA data
about how much leaf coverage was gained and lost worldwide between June
2000 and June 2018. Now that 2019 end-of-year reports are available, the
wall will reflect them as well...
- - -
"There's so much noise around climate change that's political noise, not
scientific noise," Ms. Halderman said. To make the science clear, "we
were working to find many different ways to communicate."..
- --
Perhaps the most disquieting section is "Consequences of Climate
Change," which features "before and after" images of affected sites
worldwide. An aerial photograph of Greenland in 2016 shows lakes and
rivers that were not there in 2014 -- that is how fast the ice is
melting. If you turn a dial labeled "How Will Our Lives Change," you see
a graphic present a succession of possible outcomes, like disease
spread, food shortages and political instability.
But, Dr. Kinzler cautioned, "what will happen is related to what humans
choose to do, which is frankly less about the science and more about
societal questions and policy." This is where hope creeps in. The
display specifies the risks if warming continues unabated, but a video
also explains local efforts like the NYC CoolRoofs initiative, a plan to
reduce carbon emissions by painting rooftops with a heat-reflective
white coating...
- - -
While the museum will present all these programs as science, not
advocacy, its intent is to inform the public of the future's possible
risks -- and rewards.
"I like to say this is the most important century of the environment in
the history of the human species," Dr. Novacek said. "This is really the
pivotal point in our evolution."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/arts/climate-change-science.html
[Classic paper from 1991]
*Global climate change and infectious diseases.*
R Shope
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.
Abstract
The effects of global climate change on infectious diseases are
hypothetical until more is known about the degree of change in
temperature and humidity that will occur. Diseases most likely to
increase in their distribution and severity have three-factor
(agent, vector, and human being) and four-factor (plus vertebrate
reservoir host) ecology. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus
mosquitoes may move northward and have more rapid metamorphosis with
global warming. These mosquitoes transmit dengue virus, and Aedes
aegypti transmits yellow fever virus. The faster metamorphosis and a
shorter extrinsic incubation of dengue and yellow fever viruses
could lead to epidemics in North America. Vibrio cholerae is
harbored persistently in the estuaries of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Over
the past 200 years, cholera has become pandemic seven times with
spread from Asia to Europe, Africa, and North America. Global
warming may lead to changes in water ecology that could enhance
similar spread of cholera in North America. Some other infectious
diseases such as LaCrosse encephalitis and Lyme disease are caused
by agents closely dependent on the integrity of their environment.
These diseases may become less prominent with global warming because
of anticipated modification of their habitats. Ecological studies
will help us to understand more fully the possible consequences of
global warming. New and more effective methods for control of
vectors will be needed.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1568225/
[Security]
*RELEASE: Future Climate Change Presents High-to-Catastrophic Security
Threat, Warn U.S. National Security, Military and Intelligence Experts
in New Assessment**
*[T]he "National Security, Military and Intelligence Panel (NSMIP)" of
the Center for Climate and Security, experts warn of
High-to-Catastrophic threats to security from plausible climate change
trajectories - the avoidance of which will require "quickly reducing and
phasing out global greenhouse gas emissions." The panel, made up of
national security, military and intelligence experts, analyzed the globe
through the lens of the U.S. Geographic Combatant Commands, and
concluded that "Even at scenarios of low warming, each region of the
world will face severe risks to national and global security in the next
three decades. Higher levels of warming will pose catastrophic, and
likely irreversible, global security risks over the course of the 21st
century."
The report, titled "A Security Threat Assessment of Global Climate
Change: How Likely Warming Scenarios Indicate a Catastrophic Security
Future," is a first of its kind, bringing together a panel of security
professionals to analyze the security implications of two future warming
scenarios (near term: 1-2C and medium-long term: 2-4+C). It identifies
major threats, including heightened social and political instability,
and risks to U.S. military missions and infrastructure, as well as
security institutions, at both warming scenarios and across all regions
of the world. Key findings and recommendations include:
*Key findings*
- A near-term scenario of climate change, in which the world warms
1-2C/1.8-3.6F over pre-industrial levels by mid-century, would pose
'High' to 'Very High' security threats. A medium-to-long term
scenario in which the world warms as high as 2-4+C/3.6-7.2F would
pose a 'Very High' to 'Catastrophic' threat to global and national
security. The world has already warmed to slightly below 1C compared
to pre-industrial temperatures.
- At all levels of warming (1-4+C/1.8-7.2+F), climate change will
pose significant and evolving threats to global security
environments, infrastructure, and institutions.
- While at lower warming thresholds, the most fragile parts of the
world are the most at risk, all regions of the world will face
serious implications. High warming scenarios could bring about
catastrophic security impacts across the globe.
- These threats could come about rapidly, destabilizing the regions
and relationships on which U.S. and international security depend.
- Climate change will present significant threats to U.S. military
missions across all of its geographic areas of responsibility
(AORs), as well as to regional security institutions and
infrastructure that are critical for maintaining global security...
The report -
https://climateandsecurity.org/a-security-threat-assessment-of-global-climate-change/
https://climateandsecurity.org/2020/02/24/release-future-climate-change-presents-high-to-catastrophic-security-threat-warn-u-s-national-security-military-and-intelligence-experts-in-new-assessment/
[thoughtful commentary 16 min video]
*Amazon, Bezos, Microsoft and Gates: What's their impact on the Climate
Crisis? : Just Have a Think*
Mar 8, 2020
Just Have a Think
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos announced in February that he was putting $10
billion of his own money into a new grants program called the Bezos
Earth Fund, to help in the fight against Climate Change. The other
richest guy in the world, Bill Gates has been talking about climate
change for over a decade now. So how do the two individuals, and the
companies they founded, measure up in their green credentials?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRQzoJLBMA
[Stake Through Heartland propaganda]
*Pro-Trump Climate Denial Group Lays Off Staff Amid Financial Woes,
Ex-Employees Say*
The Heartland Institute is the think tank paying the far-right German
teen known as the "Anti-Greta."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heartland-institute-staff-layoffs-climate-change-denial_n_5e6302a6c5b6670e72f85fa5
[course work]
*Death and Dying: Grief and Climate Change*
Start date: March 16, 2020
Duration: 4 weeks (includes two one-hour interactive sessions online.
Each, available in two different time slots for participants in
different parts of the world.)
Cost: $30 US
Registration: Now Open!
About the course
We face an uncertain future, and it is time for humanity to come
together and use its collective skills, knowledge, and heart. In this
course, we explore grief from the massive losses suffered and yet to
come from climate change, using concepts and key terms from the study of
death and dying.
The work of grief and mourning is a healing work. When we lose a member
of the human family, we enact rituals that acknowledge our loss and help
us return to life without the deceased. These communal acts are a means
to heal through acceptance, love, and support.
But in this time of crisis, we hardly have names for what is happening,
let alone strategies to cope with it. We will explore grief, hope, and
compassion in the face of ongoing destruction of species and habitats,
and discover collective ways to support healing for ourselves, for
mother earth, and for all of life.
The course will include two virtual sessions. Each session will be held
twice, once in each of two time zones, to accommodate participants in
different parts of the world.
https://www.charterforcompassion.org/grief-and-climate-change
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - March 9, 2018 *
The New York Times reports:
"John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has killed an effort
by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to stage public
debates challenging climate change science, according to three
people familiar with the deliberations, thwarting a plan that had
intrigued President Trump even as it set off alarm bells among his
top advisers.
"The idea of publicly critiquing climate change on the national
stage has been a notable theme for Scott Pruitt, the administrator
of the E.P.A. For nearly a year he has championed the notion of
holding military-style exercises known as red team, blue team
debates, possibly to be broadcast live, to question the validity of
climate change.
"Mr. Pruitt has spoken personally with Mr. Trump about the idea, and
the president expressed enthusiasm for it, according to people
familiar with the conversations.
"But the plan encountered widespread resistance within the
administration from Mr. Kelly and other top officials, who regarded
it as ill-conceived and politically risky, and when Mr. Pruitt
sought to announce it last fall, they weighed in to stop him. At a
mid-December meeting set up by Mr. Kelly's deputy, Rick Dearborn, to
discuss the plan, Mr. Dearborn made it clear that his boss
considered the idea 'dead,' and not to be discussed further,
according to people familiar with the meeting. All spoke on the
condition of anonymity in order to describe internal White House
deliberations and meetings."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/climate/pruitt-red-team-climate-debate-kelly.html
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