[TheClimate.Vote] October 31, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sat Oct 31 10:40:56 EDT 2020
/*October 31, 2020*/
[Washington Post Interactive data]
*Trump rolled back more than 125 environmental safeguards. Here's how.*
The administration has allowed more pollution, drilling and logging
while weakening protections
for animals such as bees, bears and birds...
- -
A Washington Post analysis has found that as Trump's first term winds to
a close, he has weakened or wiped out more than 125 rules and policies
aimed at protecting the nation's air, water and land, with 40 more
rollbacks underway.
The administration has accelerated its push to deregulate in the weeks
before the election, to ease requirements on power plants that leak
waste into waterways, weaken efficiency standards for dishwashers, scale
back oversight of mine safety and approve seismic drilling in an Alaska
wildlife refuge.
- -
*About this story*
The Post assembled data on the Trump administration's environmental
regulatory rollbacks from several sources: the White House, the Interior
Department, the Energy Department, the Commerce Department, the
Transportation Department, the Justice Department, the EPA, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration, Harvard Law School's Environmental and Energy Law
Program, Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the
Center for Biological Diversity...
- -
Democrats are already planning how they would revive environmental
regulation if they win the White House. Biden has pledged to take
executive action to block projects such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline
and Alaska's controversial Pebble Mine, and to rejoin the Paris climate
accord to help combat global warming. But overhauling many of the rules
altered under Trump would take years, and clawing back oil and gas
leases would be nearly impossible.
If Trump wins reelection, however, he and his deputies will probably try
to shrink the federal government's environmental role further, cement
policy changes into law and finalize dozens of rollbacks they are
working on now, said Caitlin McCoy, a staff attorney at the Harvard Law
School Environmental and Energy Law Program.
"Given the opportunity for a second term, they will initiate and
detonate everything they've set up," she said. "We will see even more
dramatic action now that all the groundwork is set."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/climate-environment/trump-climate-environment-protections/
[The Economist promotes techno-fideism]
*Innovation is an essential part of dealing with climate change*
More is needed
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/31/innovation-is-an-essential-part-of-dealing-with-climate-change
[Noam Chomsky's latest book]
*Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of
Saving the Planet *
*Climate change: watershed or endgame?*
In this compelling new book, Noam Chomsky, the world's leading public
intellectual, and Robert Pollin, a renowned progressive economist, map
out the catastrophic consequences of unchecked climate change--and
present a realistic blueprint for change: the Green New Deal.
Together, Chomsky and Pollin show how the forecasts for a hotter planet
strain the imagination: vast stretches of the Earth will become
uninhabitable, plagued by extreme weather, drought, rising seas, and
crop failure. Arguing against the misplaced fear of economic disaster
and unemployment arising from the transition to a green economy, they
show how this bogus concern encourages climate denialism.
Humanity must stop burning fossil fuels within the next thirty years and
do so in a way that improves living standards and opportunities for
working people. This is the goal of the Green New Deal and, as the
authors make clear, it is entirely feasible. Climate change is an
emergency that cannot be ignored. This book shows how it can be overcome
both politically and economically.
https://www.amazon.com/Climate-Crisis-Global-Green-Deal/dp/178873985X?ots=1&tag=thneyo0f-20&linkCode=w50
[disinformation warning]
*'God intended it as a disposable planet': meet the US pastor preaching
climate change denial*
October 12, 2020
Paul Braterman - Professor Emeritus in Chemistry, University of Glasgow
Every so often you come across a piece of writing so extraordinary that
you cannot help but share it. One such piece is a sermon on global
warming by American pastor John MacArthur. Full of beautifully
constructed rhetorical flourishes, it is forcefully delivered by an
experienced and impassioned preacher to a large and appreciative audience.
For me, as a man of science, it is the most complete compilation of
unsound arguments, factual errors and misleading analogies as I have
seen in discussions of this subject. But it's important because climate
change is a big election issue this November in the US, where there is a
growing movement of evangelical Christians who deny its existence, while
Joe Biden promises a "clean air revolution".
The minister of the COVID-denying, law-defying Grace Community Church in
Sun Valley, California - which has encouraged worshippers to congregate
as normal despite state COVID-19 restrictions - MacArthur is an
impressive figure whose Study Bible has sold almost 2 million copies.
He regards the infallibility of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation,
as essential to his faith, and his sermon about global warming can only
be understood in that context. MacArthur's rejection of the science is
shared by other major US ministries and organisations such as Answers in
Genesis, Creation Ministries International and the Discovery Institute.
- - video *John MacArthur on Cal Tech and the Global Warming Hoax
*https://youtu.be/ZTlYl8E_B14
In this sermon, MacArthur paraphrases "a scientist at Cal Tech" (except
not a scientist at all, but the novelist Michael Crichton, best known
for Jurassic Park), as saying in a lecture:
Consensus science is the first refuge of scoundrels … invoked only in
situations where there is a political, social, financial agenda but no
scientific support.
The reverend has the most serious reasons possible for rejecting the
scientific consensus concerning the age of the Earth, the origins of
humankind, the history and prehistory of the ancient near East and the
peopling of continents: it is totally incompatible with the Genesis
account of creation, Adam and Eve, the flood and the dispersion of
peoples from the Tower of Babel.
*Error, denial and misunderstanding*
As for global warming itself, the reverend channels standard climate
change denial, but all his arguments are unsound and have been
convincingly refuted to the satisfaction of an overwhelming consensus of
climate scientists (see in-depth discussion at Skeptical Science). He
understates the amount of global warming, incorrectly describes the full
record as dating back only 30 years, and cites the Little Ice Age as
evidence that the changes currently taking place are natural. There's more:
Here's the key, friends, this is the real deal. Legitimate science
recognises a close correlation between sunspots and climate change … The
sun is the source of temperature changes because of its infrared
variations. … There is absolutely no evidence that CO2 contributes to
warming. On the contrary the opposite is true. Warming produces CO2 …
It's the other way round.
Here we have a collection of half-truths and misunderstandings, typical
of denialists claiming to represent "legitimate science". As the graph
below shows, the 11-year sunspot cycle is a minor deviation, and the
temperature increase since 1980 has occurred despite the fact that over
that period the amount of solar energy falling on Earth has gone down
slightly. Incidentally, this solar energy input is concentrated mainly
in the visible, not the infrared, region of the spectrum, and it is the
roughly balancing heat outflow from the Earth that is in the infrared.
https://images.theconversation.com/files/362960/original/file-20201012-15-g2tmqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1
MacArthur offers a false dichotomy between saying that CO2 warms the
oceans, and warmer oceans release more CO2. Unfortunately, both these
statements are true. There is a positive feedback loop: human-released
CO2 is the primary driver, but its effect is amplified by the fact that
yet more CO2 is then released from non-human sources. Regarding CO2
itself, MacArthur seems to be even more confused:
By the way, plants produce CO2. What man produces is marginal…Industry
doesn't affect CO2 in the environment or atmosphere.
Plants do produce CO2 but they absorb more than they emit. However, when
it comes to humans, their activity may cause only a small imbalance each
year between CO2 emission and natural uptake, but this imbalance is
cumulative. CO2 levels are now 50% above pre-industrial, and subtle
atomic differences clearly show that fossil fuel is the source. But
according to MacArthur, "There is no scientific reason to believe that
ice caps are melting".
- - video *Key Indicators of Arctic Climate Change 1971 2017*
https://youtu.be/O9uunW_DBZE
Despite the Arctic Monitoring and Assement Programme's video on this
subject, the reverend does not think that the evidence for ice-cap
melting is scientific, and that other factors are at play:
This is all political [and] financial agendas, class warfare, class envy
… By the way, US$100 billion has been spent to make a case for global
warming … driven by the socialist mentality … even some of the feminist
mentality that resents male success.
All is now clear. Talk of global warming is part of a politically
motivated conspiracy. But US$100 billion? That's 600 years' worth of all
federal climate research spending. Clearly, those pesky socialists and
feminists are formidable fundraisers. However, none of this matters
because environmentalism is fundamentally misplaced. As MacArthur puts
it, citing Revelation and the integrity of scripture:
God intended us to use this planet, to fill this planet for the benefit
of man. Never was it intended to be a permanent planet. It is a
disposable planet. Christians ought to know that.
And that is a statement that would leave anybody who cares about this
world speechless.
https://theconversation.com/god-intended-it-as-a-disposable-planet-meet-the-us-pastor-preaching-climate-change-denial-147712
["Of all the ways to solve a problem, denial is the least effective" -
Psychotherapist Betty Merton ]
- -
[How to]
*How to debunk misinformation*
John Cook
An effective rebuttal requires three elements. Fact. Myth. Fallacy. This
video to explain how to tie these together into a cohesive debunking.
First, you need to provide an explanation that neatly replaces the myth
in people's mental model. Your fact needs to be plausible and it needs
to fit all the causal links left by the myth. You also need to make your
facts sticky - communicate your fact in a way that grabs people's
attention and sticks in the memory. The golden rule of debunking is
fight sticky myths with stickier facts.
Second, you do need to mention the myth when debunking, in order for
people to tag it in their mental model as false. But warn them before
mentioning the myth. This puts people cognitively on guard so they're
less likely to be influenced by the misinformation.
Third, explain the fallacy or rhetorical technique the misinformation
uses to mislead. Help people resolve the conflict between fact and myth
by explaining how the myth distorts the facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I37HD444aI
[Halloween scare - contentious science]
[methane release]
*'Sleeping giant' Arctic methane deposits starting to release,
scientists find*
Exclusive: expedition discovers new source of greenhouse gas off East
Siberian coast has been triggered
Scientists have found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the
Arctic Ocean - known as the "sleeping giants of the carbon cycle" - have
started to be released over a large area of the continental slope off
the East Siberian coast, the Guardian can reveal.
High levels of the potent greenhouse gas have been detected down to a
depth of 350 metres in the Laptev Sea near Russia, prompting concern
among researchers that a new climate feedback loop may have been
triggered that could accelerate the pace of global heating.
The slope sediments in the Arctic contain a huge quantity of frozen
methane and other gases - known as hydrates. Methane has a warming
effect 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over 20 years. The United
States Geological Survey has previously listed Arctic hydrate
destabilisation as one of four most serious scenarios for abrupt climate
change.
The international team onboard the Russian research ship R/V Akademik
Keldysh said most of the bubbles were currently dissolving in the water
but methane levels at the surface were four to eight times what would
normally be expected and this was venting into the atmosphere.
"At this moment, there is unlikely to be any major impact on global
warming, but the point is that this process has now been triggered. This
East Siberian slope methane hydrate system has been perturbed and the
process will be ongoing," said the Swedish scientist Örjan Gustafsson,
of Stockholm University, in a satellite call from the vessel.
- -
The scientists - who are part of a multi-year International Shelf Study
Expedition - stressed their findings were preliminary. The scale of
methane releases will not be confirmed until they return, analyse the
data and have their studies published in a peer-reviewed journal.
- -
The latest discovery potentially marks the third source of methane
emissions from the region. Semiletov, who has been studying this area
for two decades, has previously reported the gas is being released from
the shelf of the Arctic - the biggest of any sea.
For the second year in a row, his team have found crater-like pockmarks
in the shallower parts of the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea that are
discharging bubble jets of methane, which is reaching the sea surface at
levels tens to hundreds of times higher than normal. This is similar to
the craters and sinkholes reported from inland Siberian tundra earlier
this autumn.
Temperatures in Siberia were 5C higher than average from January to June
this year, an anomaly that was made at least 600 times more likely by
human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. Last winter's sea
ice melted unusually early. This winter's freeze has yet to begin,
already a later start than at any time on record.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/oct/27/sleeping-giant-arctic-methane-deposits-starting-to-release-scientists-find
- -
[more methane news]
*Researchers Worry Methane Discovery in Arctic Ocean Could Signal
Dangerous New Climate Feedback Loop*
"Climate warming is awakening the 'sleeping giants' of the carbon
cycle," warned one researcher.
An international team of researchers aboard a Russian research ship has
discovered evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean
have been dispersing over a large area of Siberia, potentially fueling a
dangerous new climate feedback loop.
The Guardian reports the International Siberian Shelf Study (ISSS-2020)
found that slope sediments spreading over much of the continental shelf
are rich in frozen methane hydrates that have been detected to a depth
of 1,150 feet in the Laptev Sea...
- -
The chief scientist aboard the vessel, Igor Semiletov of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, called the hydrate discharges "significantly
larger" than anything previously seen.
"The discovery of actively releasing shelf slope hydrates is very
important and unknown until now," Semiletov told The Guardian. "This is
a new page. Potentially they can have serious climate consequences, but
we need more study before we can confirm that."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/27/researchers-worry-methane-discovery-arctic-ocean-could-signal-dangerous-new-climate
- -
[Stockholm University Dept of Environmental Science]
*The ISSS-2020 Arctic Ocean Expedition*
Investigating cryosphere-climate-carbon couplings on the East Siberian
Arctic Ocean Shelf
The ISSS-2020 Expedition will contribute to further progress and build
on our research and findings to date of:
- massive methane release from the sediments over extensive scales
- thermal condition of subsea permafrost and new techniques to probe the
subsea permafrost table
- importance of both coastal erosion and rivers in delivering
terrestrial organic matter from different land compartments, including
different permafrost regimes
- the transport and degradation of terrestrial organic matter (carbon
and nitrogen cycling), as well as mercury and organic contaminants,
across the shelf seas
- the severity of ocean acidification on the ESAS
-the history of massive carbon remobilization during earlier periods of
warming and sea-level rise
in addition to many other research topics (our Scope of Work document
detailing specific areas of scientific interest can be made available on
request).
https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/client/q_glossy,ret_img,w_849/https://www.aces.su.se/aces/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/key-figure-849x999.png
https://www.aces.su.se/research/projects/the-isss-2020-arctic-ocean-expedition/
-
Other scientist limit the concertn
https://news.yahoo.com/climate-scientists-throw-cold-water-213900012.html
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - October 31, 1978 *
President Carter signs the National Climate Program Act into law.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-92/pdf/STATUTE-92-Pg601.pdf
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