[✔️] August 3, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[👀 Richard Pauli]

/*August 3, 2021*/

[Global problem]
*Europe fries in a heat wave made ‘more intense by climate change’*
Fires, floods and roasting temperatures hit Europe from Finland to Sicily.
Europe roasted under one of its worst heat waves in decades on Monday, 
as scientists and governments prepared to sign off on a major new 
warning about the severity of climate change.

Temperatures in Greece were forecast to approach Europe’s all-time 
record of 48 degrees and wildfires raged in Turkey, Greece, Italy and 
Finland.

While parts of Europe burned, negotiations between governments and 
scientists over the final wording of a major compilation of the last 
seven years of climate science were taking place online...
- -
On Friday, the panel signed off on a section that draws on the emerging 
field of attribution science, which allows scientists to identify the 
human fingerprint in heat waves, floods and other extreme events. It 
represents a profound shift in the level of certainty and detail for 
single destructive events.

“Every heat wave that is happening today is made more likely and more 
intense by climate change,” said Friederike Otto, associate director of 
the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, and the lead 
author on the IPCC report who has pioneered research in the attribution 
field.

The soaring temperatures are being felt across Southern Europe...
- -
Fires razed trees even in Europe’s far north last week, as Finland, 
which registered record temperatures in early July, saw its worst forest 
fire in half a century.

Forecasters said the scorching temperatures in Southern Europe were 
being driven by a “heat dome,” where heat gets trapped over a region for 
days or even weeks. A similar pattern was behind recent extreme heat in 
western North America.

Recent scientific advances and leaked drafts of the IPCC report indicate 
scientists will deliver a stark message next week about the role of 
climate change in worsening heat waves, floods and other disasters.

“That side of the science has moved on a lot. And that will be reflected 
I'm sure in the IPCC report,” said Hawkins.
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-fries-in-a-heat-wave-made-more-intense-by-climate-change/

*
*

[Axios]
*The case for climate change realism*
Andrew Freedman - August 2, 2021

It’s getting harder and harder to communicate the two essential 
realities of human-caused climate change: that our failure to slow and 
eventually stop it is contributing to devastating human suffering all 
over the world, and that it’s not too late to act.

The big picture: Experts have long told climate communicators —including 
scientists, journalists and politicians — that disaster porn immobilizes 
people, leaving them cowering in a corner. You've got to give them a 
sense of hope, the research shows.

Yes, but: Climate news right now continues to be a steady, terrible 
drumbeat of doom.

During the past few months, we've seen an unprecedented, deadly heat 
wave in the Pacific Northwest that shocked veteran climate researchers, 
wildfires raging across the West well ahead of peak fire season, and 
cities and towns flooded in Europe, China and elsewhere.
Each of these events has ties to climate change.
*Why it matters:* Climate change is not an existential cliff that we'll 
suddenly fall off of, with no turning back. It's more like a hill we're 
sliding down at ever-increasing speed.

We can choose to alter course at any time by hitting the brakes and 
slashing emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, 
emanating from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
But the longer we wait, the faster we'll be traveling, and the more 
effort it will take to slow down and achieve the cuts that are needed. 
And we've already waited a long time to start pumping the brakes.
Between the lines: Optimism has its place in climate change discourse.

Many of the technologies needed to dramatically reduce emissions, such 
as renewable energy resources like wind and solar power, are seeing 
increasingly wide adoption. In most cases now in the U.S., they even 
have a cost advantage over fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.
Electric vehicles are gaining traction, and money is flowing into 
next-generation technologies like carbon removal mechanisms.
A social movement is pushing for climate action in the U.S. and abroad. 
And corporations are seeking ways to reduce their emissions in response 
to pressure from customers and regulators.
But the fact is that we're still on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of 
warming compared to the preindustrial era, based on the latest emissions 
reduction pledges. And if climate models that project even more warming 
for the same amount of emissions are correct, it could be closer to 4°C 
(7.2°F).

Almost unimaginable consequences would stem from that level of warming, 
particularly in the developing world.
The planet has only warmed by about 1.2°C (2.16°F) since the 
preindustrial era, and even that has left us with a summer straight out 
of "The Day After Tomorrow."
*My thought bubble: *Being a climate reporter today is like being a 
chronicler of human-caused disasters, along with a bearer of grim policy 
news as leaders fail to stem the tide of ever-increasing greenhouse gas 
emissions.

My job is to inform, not to inspire, and that means being blunt about 
the fact that climate change is ravaging the Earth right now.
But I also know that too much doom risks leaving people with a sense of 
fatalism, obscuring the equally true and equally relevant fact that the 
damage does not have to keep getting worse at this pace. Choices made 
today will determine what the planet will be like in just a few decades.
What's next: The doom, for now, is going to keep coming.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set to release a 
new compendium on Aug. 9 — a policy-neutral, authoritative report that's 
expected to highlight how difficult it will be to adhere to the Paris 
climate agreement's temperature targets, while also depicting in more 
granular details the consequences of failing to do so.
The report is expected to detail the differences between a world that 
warms by only 1.5°C -- an increasingly unrealistic target — versus a 
world that warms by 2°C or more.
Expect alarming headlines to accompany that report, and a renewed push 
for action.
https://www.axios.com/case-for-climate-change-realism-extreme-events-c384a74d-b3d3-42ec-8e2a-d9862175c738.html 




[We knew this would happen]
*Biden’s Climate Plans Are Stunted After Dejected Experts Fled Trump*
Hundreds of scientists and policy experts left the government during the 
Trump administration. The jobs remain unfilled six months into President 
Biden’s term.
- -
Scientists and climate policy experts who quit have not returned. 
Recruitment is suffering, according to federal employees, as government 
science jobs are no longer viewed as insulated from politics. And money 
from Congress to replenish the ranks could be years away...
The result is that President Biden’s ambitious plans to confront climate 
change are hampered by a brain drain.

“The attacks on science have a much longer lifetime than just the 
lifetime of the Trump administration,” said John Holdren, professor of 
environmental science and policy at Harvard and a top science adviser to 
President Barack Obama during his two terms.
The Interior Department has lost scientists who study the impacts of 
drought, heat waves and rising seas caused by a warming planet. The 
Agriculture Department has lost economists who study the impacts of 
climate change on the food supply. The Energy Department has a shortage 
of experts who design efficiency standards for appliances like 
dishwashers and refrigerators to reduce the pollution they emit.
- -
Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public 
Service, which studies the federal work force, said the Biden 
administration must focus on modernizing recruitment and improving human 
resource departments.

“I don’t think it’s a simple story of ‘The last administration was 
anti-science and the current administration is pro-science so 
everything’s going to be fine,’” Mr. Steir said. “And there’s no law you 
can pass that will fix all of this.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/01/climate/biden-scientists-shortage-climate.html


[respected scientist who often speaks out]
*Dr Jason Box Says We're On "Catastrophic Path." (w/ Dr. Jason Box)*
Jul 29, 2021
Thom Hartmann Program
Dr Jason Box talks about the alarming rate the arctic is malting and 
likens us to the frogs as they slowly warm up.

    What's really standing out is winter warming,and that is activating
    the permafrost carbon.
    The arctic used to be a region of permafrost ... carbon sink for
    tens of thousands of years.
    The arctic soils are accumulating biomass and in a frozen state. And
    this warming --
    which is pronounced in winters -- as activating microbial activity
    it's following ground ice
    and ...it takes energy to heat ice and it does nothing until it
    reaches zero Celcius
    and then it crosses that threshold and you you get melt, you get
    water ponding at the surface which
    becomes a methane source...
    - -
    There is now growing evidence that warming is
    shifting the Arctic from a sink into source
    - -
    And there are abrupt processes - the collapse of permafrost and
    these ... collapse mechanisms
    are not in the climate models and they're being programmed in there now
    but we are looking at a future of 15 Celsius warming in the Arctic
    by end of
    century and 25 Celsius in in winter...
    - -
    I don't think anyone knows just how soon the the house of cards...
      ... civilization, how soon it falls apart...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0iVaoxKwMQ




[The news archive - looking back]
*On this day in the history of global warming August 3, 2015*

August 3, 2015:
*The New York Times reports:*
"The issue of climate change played almost no role in the 2012 
presidential campaign.

President Obama barely mentioned the topic, nor did the Republican 
nominee, Mitt Romney. It was not raised in a single presidential debate.

"But as Mr. Obama prepares to leave office, his own aggressive actions 
on climate change have thrust the issue into the 2016 campaign. 
Strategists now say that this battle for the White House could feature 
more substantive debate over global warming policy than any previous 
presidential race."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/us/politics/obama-policy-could-force-robust-climate-discussion-from-2016-candidates.html?_r=0

*The AP reports:*
"Aiming to jolt the rest of the world to action, President Obama moved 
ahead Sunday with even tougher greenhouse gas cuts on American power 
plants, setting up a certain confrontation in the courts with energy 
producers and Republican-led states.

"In finalizing the unprecedented pollution controls, Obama was 
installing the core of his ambitious and controversial plan to 
drastically reduce overall US emissions, as he works to secure a legacy 
on fighting global warming. Yet it will be up to Obama’s successor to 
implement his plan, which has faced steep Republican opposition from 
Capitol Hill to the 2016 campaign trail.

"Opponents planned to sue immediately and to ask the courts to block the 
rule temporarily. Many states have threatened not to comply.

"The Obama administration estimated the emissions limits will cost $8.4 
billion annually by 2030. The actual price won’t be clear until states 
decide how they will reach their targets. But energy industry advocates 
said the revision makes Obama’s mandate even more burdensome, costly, 
and difficult to achieve.

‘"'They are wrong,' the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, 
Gina McCarthy, said flatly, accusing opponents of promulgating a 
‘doomsday' scenario.

"Last year, the Obama administration proposed the first greenhouse gas 
limits on existing power plants in US history, triggering a yearlong 
review and received more than 4 million public comments.

"On Monday, Obama was to unveil the final rule publicly at an event at 
the White House.

"'Climate change is not a problem for another generation,’ Obama said in 
a video posted to Facebook. ‘Not anymore.’

"The final version imposes stricter carbon dioxide limits on states than 
were previously expected: a 32 percent cut by 2030, compared with 2005 
levels, the White House said. Last year, Obama’s proposed version called 
for a 30 percent cut.

"Immediately, Obama’s plan began reverberating in the 2016 presidential 
race, with Hillary Rodham Clinton voicing her strong support and using 
it to criticize her GOP opponents for failing to offer a credible 
alternative.

"‘It’s a good plan, and as president, I’d defend it,’ Clinton said.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/08/02/obama-rule-for-power-plants-compel-steeper-emissions-cuts/vhwQU4MUS6MPcaAskKqqKI/story.html

*The Washington Post reports:*
"Four weeks before the official rollout, the news for President Obama’s 
signature regulation on climate change suddenly went from bad to abysmal.

"Already, the Senate’s top Republican was urging a nationwide boycott of 
the carbon-cutting proposal known as the Clean Power Plan. Fourteen 
states had joined in a lawsuit seeking to block the rule even before it 
became final. Then came a blow from the Supreme Court: a surprise June 
29 decision blocking the White House’s previous attempt at curbing 
pollution from coal-burning power plants.

"By July 7, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency was testily 
deflecting questions over whether the Clean Power Plan — a pillar of the 
White House’s climate-change strategy — could survive the gantlet of 
legal and political challenges it faced.

"'We certainly know how to defend against lawsuits, for crying out 
loud,' EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters at a Washington 
news conference.

"White House officials pressed ahead with the proposal, ultimately 
deciding on an altered version that will be formally adopted at a 
ceremony Monday. But while the revised rule expresses lofty aims, the 
details reflect real, practical concerns about the battles still to 
come: an expected onslaught of litigation and legislation designed to 
derail the rule.

"The final shape of the Clean Power Plan was hashed out over months of 
often contentious meetings as administration officials debated how to 
balance two competing objectives. On one side were advocates who pushed 
for the deepest possible cuts in U.S. greenhouse-gas pollution to help 
build momentum for international climate talks this December in Paris. 
On the other were experienced regulators and lawyers who saw trouble 
ahead as the proposed rule picked up growing numbers of opponents in 
Congress and in the utilities industry..."

"But other observers said the administration appeared to have gotten 
exactly what it wanted. Supporters said the revisions to the regulation 
undercut the most salient legal and political objections raised by 
critics, including the claim that the plan will unfairly burden poor 
people or will lead to disruptions in the power supply. At the same 
time, the plan appears capable of achieving its goals of encouraging 
greater adoption of renewable energy as well as dramatic reductions in 
heat-trapping carbon pollution over the next 15 years, said S. William 
Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air 
Agencies, an independent group that represents state regulators."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/internal-debate-over-clean-energy-plan-pitted-ambition-against-legal-worries/2015/08/02/9e0c1c94-3966-11e5-9c2d-ed991d848c48_story.html
*
**NYTimes.com reports:*
"President Obama on Monday unveiled an aggressive plan to sharply limit 
greenhouse gases emitted by the nation’s power plants, declaring that 
time was running out to thwart the most dangerous impacts of global 
climate change.

"'No challenge poses a greater threat to our future and future 
generations than a changing climate,' Mr. Obama said in a speech from 
the East Room of the White House as he announced his most ambitious 
action to date to tackle the planet’s rising temperatures. 'There is 
such a thing as being too late when it comes to climate change.'

"The president, who wants to make his initiatives to address the warming 
of the planet a central element of his legacy, called the new rules a 
public health imperative and 'the single most important step America has 
ever taken in the fight against global climate change.' He also sought 
to wrap the policy in the legitimacy of transcendental values, noting 
that Pope Francis had issued an encyclical in June, calling action on 
the issue a 'moral obligation.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/us/obama-unveils-plan-to-sharply-limit-greenhouse-gas-emissions.html?mwrsm=Email
http://www.msnbc.com/thomas-roberts/watch/president-obama-unveils-clean-power-plan-497601603688
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/sustained-change--obama-unveils-climate-plan-497534531635

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/


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