[✔️] December 5, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[👀 Richard Pauli]

/*December 5, 2021*/

/[  Weather records set in only a few days  ]/
*4 States Just Hit All-Time December Heat Records*
As much as a third of the continental U.S. experienced highs of over 70 
degrees Fahrenheit this week...
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Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming all set December 
temperature records as a heat dome of high pressure set in, trapping 
abnormal warmth in regions more accustomed to snow than t-shirt weather 
at this time of year. According to the National Weather Service, as much 
as a third of the continental U.S. experienced highs of over 70 degrees 
Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) this week. December really is the new 
September y’all.

Across the central U.S., the National Weather Service said some states 
experienced temperatures a whopping 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (17 to 
22 degrees Celsius) higher than normal. In Montana, record high 
temperatures mixed with high winds are contributing to a series of 
unusual December prairie fires. One of those fires tragically burned 
down at least two dozen homes and businesses in the town of Denton. That 
includes the town’s grain elevator, which caught fire in spectacularly 
heartbreaking fashion.
https://gizmodo.com/4-states-just-hit-all-time-december-heat-records-1848156547

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/[   Climate changes    ]
/*EXPLAINER: Stuck jet stream, La Nina causing weird weather*
by Seth Borenstein -- DECEMBER 4, 2021
- -
On Thursday, 65 weather stations across the nation set record high 
temperature marks for Dec. 2, including Springfield, Missouri, hitting 
75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius) and Roanoke, Virginia 72 degrees 
Fahrenheit (22 Celsius). Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Billings, Montana, broke 
long-time heat records by 6 degrees.

Parts of Canada and Montana have seen their highest December records in 
recorded history. On Friday, parts of South Carolina and Georgia hit 
record highs.

In Washington state, Seattle, Bellingham and Quillayute all set 90-day 
fall records for rainfall. Bellingham was doused by nearly two feet (60 
centimeters) of rain. The Olympic and Cascade mountains got hit harder, 
with more than 50 inches (127 centimeters) in three months, according to 
the National Weather Service. Forks, Washington, received more rain in 
90 days than Las Vegas gets in 13 years...
- -
These bouts of extreme weather happen more frequently as the world 
warms, said meteorologist Jeff Masters, founder of Weather Underground 
who now works at Yale Climate Connections. But scientists haven't done 
the required study to attribute these events to human-caused climate change.

In Boulder, Colorado, meteorologist Bob Henson enjoyed a rare December 
bike ride on Thursday.

Still, "there's a lot of angst about the lack of snow," he said. "It 
puts you in a psychic quandary. You enjoy the warm weather while keeping 
in mind it's not good for Earth to be warming."
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-stuck-jet-stream-la-nina.html/
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/[  Dr James Hansen is the esteemed grandfather of climate science  ] /
*A Realistic Path to a Bright Future*
3 December 2021
James Hansen
Why is nobody telling young people the truth?  “We preserved the chance 
at COP26 to keep global warming below 1.5°C.”  What bullshit!  “Solar 
panels are now cheaper than fossil fuels, so all we are missing is 
political will.”  What horse manure!  “If we would just agree to consume 
less, the climate problem could be solved.” More nonsense!

Young people, I am sorry to say that – although the path to a bright 
future exists and is straightforward – it will not happen without your 
understanding and involvement in the political process.  Ever since 2008 
I have been amazed by your acumen and your ability to affect national 
elections and appreciate global issues.  With appropriate focus, you can 
alter the course of our world in a good way.  I hope that you find 
something in my experiences that helps you in your pursuit of a bright 
future.

Do not feel sorry for yourself or get discouraged.  Yours is not the 
first generation to be dealt a bad hand.  Some were born into great 
depressions.  Some were sent to fight in world wars or senseless 
conflagrations in far away places such as Viet Nam or Iraq.  Your battle 
will cover more years.  Nature has a long time scale in its response to 
human-caused forces, and it takes time to alter human-made energy 
systems.  But your cause is noble – your challenge is nothing short of 
guiding humanity and other life on our planet to a bright future.

The long time scales should not dishearten you.  The slow response of 
nature provides the time that is needed to alter the infrastructure of 
our energy systems and improve land use practices.  However, your task 
is now urgent.  The next 10 years – the fourth decade since the adoption 
of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 – must be the 
decade in which young people take charge of their own destiny.

On the scientific front, several colleagues and I assert that IPCC 
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has underestimated the 
sensitivity of climate to growing freshwater injection from melting 
ice.  One potential consequence – if we continue with business-as-usual 
emissions – is shutdown of the overturning North Atlantic and Southern 
Ocean overturning ocean circulations by midcentury, each of which will 
contribute to acceleration of mass loss from the Antarctic ice sheet, 
with the likelihood of sea level rise of several meters within the 
lifetime of children born today...
- -
I am sorry that we are leaving you – young people – with such a burden, 
but I know that you will accept it as a challenge.  You have a 
magnificent opportunity to change the course of history this decade, to 
move the world onto a realistic path to a bright future for your own 
sake and for that of your children, grandchildren and future generations.
https://columbia.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0ebaeb14fdbf5dc65289113c1&id=50a244025a&e=cd4f052551



/[  weather changes after climate changes ]/
OPINION
*USA TODAY investigation reveals a stunning shift in the way rain falls 
in America*
Nicole Carroll
USA TODAY Dec 3, 2021
- -
For our climate change investigation out this week, called Downpour, USA 
TODAY reporters used 126 years of monthly data from the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration to analyze average annual precipitation 
at 344 climate divisions. They used daily precipitation data from 
weather stations to measure the change in frequency of extreme rain 
events across the U.S. from 1951-2020.

"We were hearing a lot about extreme rainfall, stories of flooding, 
people with sewer backups, people flooded out of their homes, and we 
wanted to know, is this happening everywhere?," said Dinah Pulver, one 
of the project's lead reporters. "How many people, how many places, are 
contending with this kind of rainfall?

We found more than half of the nation's 344 climate divisions had their 
wettest periods on record since 2018. We calculated the same rolling 
averages for states.

"East of the Rockies, more rain is falling, and it’s coming in more 
intense bursts," our report finds. "In the West, people are waiting 
longer to see any rain at all.

"Taken together, the reporting reveals a stunning shift in the way 
precipitation falls in America."

Specifically, our reporting finds:

    -- At some point over the past three years, 27 states – all east of
    the Rocky Mountains – hit their highest 30-year precipitation
    average since record keeping began in 1895.
    -- A dozen states, including Iowa, Ohio and Rhode Island, saw five
    of their 10 wettest years in history over the past two decades.
    -- Michigan saw six of its wettest 10 years on record over the past
    13 years.
    -- In June, at least 136 daily rainfall records were set during
    storms across five states along the Mississippi River.

At the opposite extreme, eight states – including five in the West – had 
at least three record-dry years in the same time period. That’s double 
what would be expected based on historical patterns.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/12/03/climate-change-warming-planet-slows-jet-stream-causing-downpours-drought/8829944002/ 




/[  disinformation battles ]/
*Republicans Blame Biden’s Modest Climate Agenda for Gas Prices. They’re 
Wrong.*
At a virtual hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on 
Energy and Natural Resources this week, Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, 
the ranking Republican, displayed a visual of President Joe Biden 
pointing to a gas pump with the price set at $3.49 and the words, “I did 
that!” Climate policies pushed by Biden and Democrats, Stauber insisted, 
are driving up fuel prices.

“Life is simply more expensive for Americans under the Biden 
administration,” Stauber said.

Blaming Biden and his modest climate agenda for everything from 
post-lockdown inflation to high fuel prices is all the rage among 
Republicans these days, but in reality, the bulk of Biden’s climate 
proposals have not been enacted. Experts say current fuel prices are the 
result of multiple domestic and international factors, including the 
industry’s own moves to boost returns for shareholders by limiting oil 
exploration as pandemic restrictions fade and demand increases.
Pieces of Biden’s climate agenda will be funded by a new infrastructure 
package that passed Congress with bipartisan support, but popular plans 
(which Stauber opposed) to update the transportation and energy grids to 
be more energy efficient and to withstand climate-fueled disasters were 
not the focus of the Republican’s attack.

Instead, Stauber pointed to orders issued by Biden shortly after the 
presidential inauguration to block a key permit for the controversial 
Keystone XL pipeline, and to pause sales of public lands and waters for 
oil and gas drilling while the Interior Department reviewed leasing 
programs that government watchdogs have long criticized as dysfunctional.

The non-partisan fact-checkers at PolitiFact recently examined the 
Keystone XL talking point after a viral post linking high gas prices to 
“shutting pipe lines down” was flagged on Facebook as misinformation. 
The massive pipeline would have transported heavy, carbon-intensive oil 
from Canada’s Alberta Tar Sands and bisected much of the country, 
angering climate activists, tribal governments and farmers in its 
proposed path.

PolitiFact determined the post — which claimed that gas prices were 
lower in other oil-producing countries because their governments are not 
canceling pipelines like Keystone XL — to be false.

“The pipeline shutdown has absolutely nothing to do with gas prices,” 
Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told 
PolitiFact. “Prices are higher because production has lagged behind, not 
because there isn’t enough pipeline capacity — there is.”

Biden has come under pressure to cancel permits for other pipelines, 
including the Line 3 pipeline in Stauber’s home state of Minnesota, 
which faced fierce resistance from Indigenous activists despite intense 
police repression. After the pipeline went into operation in October, 
water protectors from across the country converged on Washington, D.C., 
for a mass protest demanding Biden turn the nation away from fossil fuels.

Climate activists say new fossil fuel infrastructure is unnecessary and 
will keep the U.S. dependent on dirty energy into the future. The U.S. 
has already become the world leader in oil and gas production thanks to 
the fracking boom and plenty of infrastructure that already exists.

U.S. crude oil production dropped sharply in early 2020 as lockdowns 
restricted commerce and travel. It still remains far below pre-pandemic 
levels, according to federal data. Facing consumer anger as the economy 
reboots and gas prices rise, Biden has pressured the industry to lower 
prices and unlocked strategic federal oil reserves.

Experts say the oil industry is cutting costs and holding back on 
efforts to expand crude oil production in order to boost cash returns to 
shareholders, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News. The fracking 
boom that sent U.S. fossil fuel production soaring in recent years also 
led to a glut of fuel and plummeting prices, especially for natural gas, 
which threw drilling companies into bankruptcy and angered investors 
looking for a hefty return. Some producers went out of business during 
the pandemic, which could also be contributing to higher gas prices than 
consumers are used to.

That’s one reason why the fossil fuel industry has aggressively pushed 
to expand its industrial foothold across the country: The U.S. is 
producing plenty of oil and gas as fracking booms continue in Texas and 
beyond. Plus, new pipelines and other infrastructure are needed to 
transfer and export fossil fuels into international markets. Notably, 
Republicans aren’t saying much about exports to other countries as they 
complain about high prices at home.

Some experts say the Biden’s climate agenda and global efforts to reduce 
emissions could chill private investment in oil and gas, but investors 
make decisions based on a variety of factors, including the growth of 
renewable energy and the myriad economic risks posed by a changing 
climate. When the scientists warn that extreme weather, rising seas, 
widespread drought and rising temperatures will undermine already 
struggling energy grids and transform our way of life, some financial 
investors undoubtedly take notice.

The international market also plays a role in setting gas prices at 
home, because oil is traded globally at prices shaped by speculation and 
geopolitics as well as increased demand as travel and commerce pick back 
up. Over the past month, Biden’s high-profile fight with foreign 
producers such as Saudi Arabia over oil production has bled over into 
other realms of diplomacy.

Republicans argue that any attempt by the U.S. to reduce fossil fuel 
production will make the nation more reliant on competitors like China 
and Russia, and imports from these countries will simply replace the 
domestic supply to meet America’s demands for energy. However, Biden and 
Democrats in Congress are not actually advocating for canceling the 
industry’s current operations. They’re mulling options for reducing 
future drilling, and only on public lands and ocean waters.

In fact, the Biden administration recently offered to lease more than 80 
million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling companies, 
although the industry showed only a modest interest in expanding its 
already wide foothold in the Gulf. The administration is also planning 
on leasing up to 734,000 acres of public lands across the country next 
year despite objections from environmental groups, which filed lawsuits 
to stop both lease sales.

Climate justice activists are demanding much more from the Biden 
administration, including a halt to new pipelines and other 
infrastructure expansions as well as reparations for communities harmed 
by climate disruption and industrial polluters.

Stauber claimed Biden’s “ban” on oil and gas leasing on public lands 
threw the industry “into chaos,” but a federal judge blocked Biden’s 
leasing moratorium earlier this year. Oil and gas companies are already 
leasing at least 26 million acres of public lands, and less than half of 
these acres are currently used for drilling, according to Democrats on 
the House Natural Resources Committee.
Federal researchers estimate that nearly a quarter of domestic carbon 
dioxide emissions came from fossil fuels produced on public lands and 
ocean waters from 2005 to 2014, and Biden pledged on the campaign trail 
to ban new leasing. Still, his executive order only placed a temporary 
moratorium on oil and gas leasing, allowing the Interior Department time 
to conduct an internal review of leasing programs that the Government 
Accountability Office has flagged as “vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, 
or mismanagement.”

Regulators released the results of the internal review in a report last 
week that identified “significant shortcomings” in the leasing program 
and recommended several reforms supported by Democrats in Congress, 
including an increase in royalties and rents paid by drillers to provide 
a “fair return” for taxpayers.

The Interior Department report on its leasing programs and the 
climate-warming emissions from oil and gas drilling on public lands were 
the focus of the House Energy and Mineral Resources subcommittee hearing 
that saw Republicans attacking Biden over gas prices on Thursday. For 
their part, Democrats on the subcommittee said they are encouraged by 
the Interior Department’s embrace of reform but are disappointed that 
the leasing report only mentions emissions — and the “climate-related 
costs that must be borne by taxpayers” — in passing.

“In my view, this was a missed opportunity, and it’s a critical issue we 
must address,” said Rep. Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from California and 
chair of the subcommittee. “America’s public lands contain massive 
fossil fuel reserves, and Interior’s leasing practices and its 
management of these resources are incredibly outdated and destructive.”
https://truthout.org/articles/republicans-blame-bidens-modest-climate-agenda-for-gas-prices-theyre-wrong/



/[  Everyone lives in a garden  ] /
*Why climate-change gardening means breaking all the rules*
Manage your soil and your planting with global heating in mind and 
you’ll not only save time and effort, but have a healthier plot
Kim Stoddart -- Sat 4 Dec 2021
Early in 2010, I moved from a home with a small, tidy back garden in 
Brighton to a wild smallholding more than 200 metres above sea level in 
Llandysul in Wales. Concerns about the climate crisis were at the heart 
of my move: I was living at sea level, near an underground river, and 
worried about flooding. But more than anything, I longed to live 
somewhere I could be self-sufficient...
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Today, I try to replicate the natural world where I can. I encourage 
weeds and local flora, let plants self-seed, and use wild areas for 
biodiversity (natural pest control) and protection against the elements. 
My approach is organic and sustainable, but ultimately it has evolved 
around a free-spirited instinct, and no following of rules...
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Try not to use gloves. Stick your fingers in the soil to see if a plant 
needs water or not. Look, smell and feel your way. Touching soil is good 
for your own gut microbiome – research by Bristol University and 
University College London in 2007 (published in Neuroscience) suggested 
that coming into contact with soil bacteria (Mycobacterium vaccae) can 
stimulate the release of serotonin, which is a natural antidepressant 
and makes you feel better overall...
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*Break rules*
Question perceived wisdom, and try to think independently. For example, 
out-of-date seed can often still be germinated, it just needs planting 
more thickly. Leave plants in the ground for as long as you can. 
Brassicas such as chard, flat-leaf kale and purple spouting broccoli can 
be successfully grown on for many years, saving you time, effort and money.

I don’t use fertiliser for hungry Mediterranean fruits like tomatoes 
(which I grow in a polytunnel) because it makes them needy for more, and 
stops their roots seeking out natural resilience through symbiotic 
relationships with underground fungi. Instead make your own compost from 
leaf mould, and boost it with comfrey, nettles, seaweed, chicken poo and 
borage.

*Learn from your mistakes*
When my neat, long row of tomato plants succumbed to blight, I realised 
that having plants so close together was making it easier for this 
airborne fungus to spread. Now, with mixed planting, and at more than a 
metre between similar plants, I don’t have blight, pests or disease. I 
don’t have to use crop rotation now either.

*Spend less and get creative*
Try to work with what you already have. I have turned old windows into a 
makeshift cold frame, and created planters out of rubbish – from old 
pallets and wellies to battered Belfast sinks and a neighbour’s tractor 
tyres (to house comfrey plants). Repair and maintain your tools.

Save seed and grow on supermarket leftovers: citrus pips can be grown 
into houseplants – they will be hybrids but still may eventually bear 
fruit. Lime leaves can be used in cooking in the interim. Organic ginger 
and turmeric stems can produce a viable harvest: choose a golfball-sized 
piece with an eye – the nobbly, protruding bit – and place in a plastic 
zip bag in your warmest spot. Plant out when the eye goes green and 
starts trying to shoot up. Plum, apricot and avocado stones can be 
germinated in compost in spring (don’t expect homegrown avocados, but 
they make attractive houseplants). Dried peas can be soaked in water and 
turned into salad sprouts or planted in pots for pick-and-come-again pea 
shoots over winter.
*Grow what works best for your space*
Stop trying to grow high-maintenance plants that don’t naturally 
flourish in your location and soil type. Look at easier, more resilient 
alternatives.

Avoid anything with exacting watering requirements (for example, sprouts 
or cauliflower); instead, grow pick-and-come-again leaves such as 
spinach, chard and kale. For ease of growing, I also favour purple 
sprouting broccoli over the ordinary kind...
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*Protect your plants naturally*
I was told that I couldn’t grow fruit trees so high up, which 
immediately made me determined to do so. I found that planting a row of 
quicker-growing damson trees slowed the strong winds sufficiently for my 
apple and pear trees to establish and grow after just two years.

Protect your soil all year round with ground cover. In summer, fill any 
bare patches with plants to help protect against the drying glare of the 
sun, and to minimise watering. Quick-growing lettuce, herbs and edible 
flowers like nasturtium, as well as pumpkin and squash, with their large 
leaves, can be trailed around plants to shelter the ground.

Over winter, soil fertility can leach away with lots of rain, so help 
bind it together with green manures, perennial plants and spent crops 
left to rot naturally. Mulches and covers also protect against erosion.

*Favour natural pest control*
Seed heads, piles of leaf litter, dead branches or stinging nettles all 
provide a winter haven for beneficial predators such as frogs, toads, 
newts, ground beetles, hedgehogs, solitary bees, ladybirds and lacewings 
– as well as providing food for birds.
Embrace free planting (polyculture) as our medieval ancestors did – 
mixing crops together makes it harder for pests to proliferate, and you 
will have more natural biodiversity. Try companion planting: for 
example, place strong-smelling plants such as onions or marigolds around 
carrots to disguise the smell of the foliage and deter carrot fly.

*Go wild*
Look to the past and heritage varieties (try Garden Organic’s Heritage 
Seed Library) for a wide variety of plants saved from extinction. They 
may offer greater resilience against our changing climate than the 
smaller pool of modern varieties commonly available. Wild fruit trees, 
such as plum and crab apple, can grow in the most extreme circumstances, 
and tend to adapt more readily to local conditions. The Woodland Trust 
offers a nice range.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/04/why-climate-change-gardening-means-breaking-all-the-rules



/[  Brazil ... ] /
*A Slow-Motion Climate Disaster: The Spread of Barren Land*
Brazil’s northeast, long a victim of droughts, is now effectively 
turning into a desert. The cause? Climate change and the landowners who 
are most affected.
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Desertification is a natural disaster playing out in slow motion in 
areas that are home to half a billion people, from northern China and 
North Africa to remote Russia and the American Southwest.

The process does not generally lead to rolling sand dunes that evoke the 
Sahara. Instead, higher temperatures and less rain combine with 
deforestation and overfarming to leave the soil parched, lifeless and 
nearly devoid of nutrients, unable to support crops or even grass to 
feed livestock...
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​​“There is a huge body of evidence that desertification already affects 
food production and lowers crop yields,” said Alisher Mirzabaev, an 
agricultural economist at the University of Bonn in Germany, who helped 
write a 2019 United Nations report on the topic. “And with climate 
change, it’s going to get even worse.”...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/world/americas/brazil-climate-change-barren-land.html



/[   WAPO to the West ]/
//*Snow may vanish for years at a time in Mountain West with climate 
warming*
Study warns of impending water supply problems due to nearly snowless 
mountains in about 35 to 60 years

A new study provides a glimpse into the future of Western U.S. snow and 
the picture is far from rosy: In about 35 to 60 years, mountainous 
states are projected to be nearly snowless for years at a time if 
greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked and climate change does not 
slow...
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“Banking” unused water in reservoirs, and storing excess water in vast 
groundwater aquifers during wet years, could help to offset the loss of 
snowpack storage.

Improved seasonal forecasts can also help reservoir operators decide 
when to hold or release water, avoiding unnecessary releases if outlooks 
favor dry spells, or helping with flood control if an extremely wet 
episode is expected.

“The good news is that we can do this, but we’ve got to act with much 
greater urgency,” Eklund, the Colorado water expert, said. “All the 
aphorisms apply here: Hope is not a strategy. Failure is not an option.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/12/03/snow-water-resources-california/

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/[ Source maters ]/
*A low- to- no snow future and its impacts on water resources in the 
western United States*
Abstract

    Anthropogenic climate change is decreasing seasonal snowpacks
    globally, with potentially catastrophic consequences on water
    resources, given the long- held reliance on snowpack in water
    management. In this Review, we examine the changes and trickle- down
    impacts of snow loss in the western United States (WUS). Across the
    WUS, snow water equivalent declines of ~25% are expected by 2050,
    with losses comparable with contemporary historical trends. There is
    less consensus on the time horizon of snow disappearance, but model
    projections combined with a new low- to- no snow definition suggest
    ~35–60 years before low- to- no snow becomes persistent if
    greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated. Diminished and more
    ephemeral snowpacks that melt earlier will alter groundwater and
    streamflow dynamics. The direction of these changes are difficult to
    constrain given competing factors such as higher evapotranspiration,
    altered vegetation composition and changes in wildfire behaviour in
    a warmer world. These changes undermine conventional WUS water
    management practices, but through proactive implementation of soft
    and hard adaptation strategies, there is potential to build
    resilience to extreme, episodic and, eventually, persistent
    low-to-no snow conditions. Federal investments offer a timely
    opportunity to address these vulnerabilities, but they require a
    concerted portfolio of activities that cross historically siloed
    physical and disciplinary boundaries.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-021-00219-y.epdf?sharing_token=DlqLXvs3U9XZGaoWrpcHE9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NrWxp67ZcZbEvHKiufGQcDN5txJh7MkiF_WXil18joDTFv_XIIsXx4gzKJUocMRN0YJs5nCfog1Ni1UsI1Mj9AGEkuew06VBimk7m3XbO3mGxe81Y0D4VeyMlZ71RgfFsWgqSdAsrwLiHHWivLf9Kp8wD-lxjFT4uiq0c5tulGsVAAOx-O48VrRJKZygYWSUA%3D&tracking_referrer=www.washingtonpost.com



/[   Popular Science    ]/
*4 new myths about climate change—and how to debunk them*
Pushing off climate change policy isn’t that far removed from denying 
its existence.
BY SARA KILEY WATSON | PUBLISHED DEC 4, 2021
Ten years ago, it may have seemed like climate change denial was an 
ordinary, if not misinformed, opinion shared among loads of people. 
Nowadays, with climate disasters plaguing most everywhere in the world, 
it’s not so practical to live in denial. As of September 2021, only one 
in every 10 Americans thinks climate change isn’t happening, but around 
three out of every four believes it is.
Of course, some leaders still hold on to the constantly debunked idea 
that climate change isn’t happening. But businesses, even fossil fuel 
ones, are changing their tune ever so slightly.

“Although some politicians continue to traffic in climate denial, 
corporations are too smart for that because they realize it will 
alienate most of their consumers,” says Edward Maibach, director of 
George Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication. Climate change 
denial now comes in a variety of embellished, truthful-sounding 
opinions—but in reality, they’re just as mythical as the idea that 
climate change is a hoax. Here are three examples of those altered 
arguments.

*Myth no. 1: Clean energy will hurt working-class people*
It’s no secret that in the past, renewable energy was a far off and 
expensive alternative to fossil fuels. But today we know that isn’t the 
case: Solar and wind were the cheapest sources of energy in the world in 
2020, and prices continue to drop. “Renewables present countries tied to 
coal with an economically attractive phase-out agenda that ensures they 
meet growing energy demand, while saving costs, adding jobs, boosting 
growth and meeting climate ambition,” Francesco La Camera, 
director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, said in 
June.

Still, there are plenty of op-eds boldly stating that renewable energy 
policy will hurt the vulnerable—often to make the case for expanding 
fossil fuels. But these arguments are simplistic and overlook the 
bigger, more important picture, says John Cook, a research fellow at the 
Climate Change Communication Research Hub at Monash University in 
Australia.

“More broadly, these types of arguments ignore the harmful impacts of 
climate change that damage society and the economy—the costs of climate 
inaction will be far greater than the costs of climate action,” Cook says.

Some opponents have brought up concerns about job losses, specifically 
in the US, which despite global growth during the pandemic, saw a 
downtick in employment. Whether it’s fossil fuel workers in 
already-struggling communities or clean energy workers who lost jobs 
during COVID-19, policy must prioritize working class people in the 
energy transition.

*Myth no. 2: Scientists and activists are overreacting; opponents are 
being realistic*
Another way that climate denial views are being recast is in “culture 
war terms,” says Cook, by painting proponents of climate action as 
“extremist and pushing political agendas.” One example is the idea of 
“climate realism”—which supposedly exists to counteract panic. Fossil 
fuel-funded groups like the Heartland Institute have gone so far as to 
find their own anti-Greta Thunberg who pushes against “climate 
alarmism”—the idea that the climate crisis must be combated with serious 
urgency.

In reality, we’ve been in the loop on climate change for at least 62 
years—and that we’re down to the wire to to keep the worst impacts from 
happening. Making climate change political and dragging out decision 
making is in some ways, a new excuse to do nothing at all.

“These kinds of arguments tap into people’s social identity and are 
quite corrosive as they have a polarizing impact on society,” Cook says. 
“When issues become culturally or politically polarized, progress 
becomes more difficult.”

Another reason politics and social identity have been injected into 
climate conspiracies is through a fringe movement that correlates 
immigration with environmental catastrophe. This has also been named 
“eco-bordering” by British political scientists Joe Turner and Dan 
Bailey. “This discourse seeks to blame immigration for national 
environmental degradation, which draws on colonial and racialized 
imaginaries of nature in order to rationalize further border 
restrictions and ‘protect’ the ‘nativist stewardship’ of national 
nature,” they wrote in a recent paper. And these ideas aren’t new: John 
Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and often called the father of the 
American national parks, discriminated against Black and Indigenous people.

This idea is based off a multitude of ethical problems and scientific 
inaccuracies—namely that the majority of climate change issues stem from 
overproduction and consumption in major economies, while poorer nations 
will be the ones to bear the worst brunt of climate change.

*Myth no. 3: Corporations are already doing the necessary work*
Greenwashing is everywhere—from buying clothes to taking vacations to 
offsetting carbon footprints by planting trees. But it very much exists 
for once-climate denying industries, especially fossil fuels.
For example, Chevron may have set some goals for minimizing emissions, 
but the vast majority of its footprint comes from scope 3 emissions (all 
of the emissions associated with making and delivering a product) which 
isn’t addressed anywhere in its climate goals. Instead of accounting for 
emissions associated with oil and gas, according to environmental law 
group Client Earth, the company “will develop a renewable energy 
business, invest in ‘low-carbon technologies’ and sell offsets ‘to our 
customers around the world to help them achieve their own lower-carbon 
goals.‘ ” Still, Chevron’s shiny advertisements and rampant use of the 
terms net-zero and sustainable fuels don’t give the slightest clue that 
it hasn’t revealed how, or even if it plans to, move away from fossil fuels.

A similarly concerning trend is “wokewashing,” where corporations pose 
as champions for people of color and women through advertisements. 
Exxon’s ad, which centers around the story of an immigrant from India 
who now works for the fossil fuel giant, is one example...
“Big oil companies now spend a lot of money to convince us that they are 
dealing with the problem, although their claims are highly misleading,” 
says Maibach. “They have large advertising and PR budgets which they use 
to convince us that they are responsible actors who are working to solve 
climate change.”

*Myth no. 4: We’re doomed*
The final kind of new climate change denial is the belief that the 
apocalypse is inevitable, and there’s nothing we can do about the 
climate crisis. And while global warming is certainly an ever-looming 
and scary issue, it doesn’t have to signal the end of the world.

“The kind of hope we need—rational, stubborn hope—isn’t about positive 
thinking, but it doesn’t begin with imitating an ostrich, either,” 
Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, wrote in 
New Scientist. “It starts by acknowledging just how serious climate 
change is and what is at risk: the future of civilization as we know it.”
Luckily, we know what we have to do—namely drop emissions to keep the 
global temperature from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius, while still 
prioritizing protection of biodiversity and human populations. But we’re 
cutting it close to the roughly 2030 goalline.

“While it’s true that our climate has already been changed and that it 
will change for many decades to come, the actions we can take to limit 
the extent of the change will have huge benefits,” Maibach says, “many 
of which begin to pay off immediately in the form of cleaner air and 
water, better health, and more jobs.”
Sara Kiley Watson is an assistant editor at PopSci focusing on 
sustainability, climate and energy. Her work has also been featured in 
NPR and Business Insider.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/climate-denier-myths/



/[The news archive - looking back]/
*On this day in the history of global warming December 5, 2007 *

December 5, 2007: In a monologue that clearly explains why he had spent 
the previous nineteen years claiming that climate change was a hoax, 
Rush Limbaugh declares:

    "Can I give you a real simple reality? It may be controversial, but
    it's inarguable. This is a world that runs on fossil fuels, folks,
    and it's going to run on fossil fuels long after you and I and your
    grandkids are dead. Wind, solar, all pipe dream stuff, as we sit
    here and speak now. Would somebody explain to me what is so immoral
    about the leaders of this country attempting to maintain a supply
    and access to the fossil fuel that runs the world and runs our
    economy?...What I'm suggesting here is that even if a part of all of
    the strategy here [with the Iraq War] is to maintain the free flow
    of oil at market prices, what in the name of Sam Hill is wrong with
    that? What's the crime? Where's the immorality in it?"

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2007/12/05/what_s_wrong_with_war_for_oil2


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