[TheClimate.Vote] February 15, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*February 15, 2021*/

[some weather sites]
*Cold Weather Doesn't Mean Climate Change Isn't Happening*
While temperatures are the focus this week, they're just one part of the 
overall story. Climate change impacts everything from drought to 
wildfires to sea level rise to flooding and beyond. Scientists say it 
will drive even worse extreme weather in the future.

The bottom line in all this? Short-term bouts of cold don't cancel out 
decades of warmer temperatures.
https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2021-02-14-does-cold-weather-disprove-climate-change
- -
https://twitter.com/StuOstro/status/1360755283350405121
https://twitter.com/WeatherProf/status/1360950199582138368

https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=goes-17&z=1&angle=0&im=12&ts=1&st=0&et=0&speed=130&motion=loop&maps%5Bborders%5D=white&lat=0&opacity%5B0%5D=1&hidden%5B0%5D=0&pause=20210214024031&slider=-1&hide_controls=0&mouse_draw=0&follow_feature=0&follow_hide=0&s=rammb-slider&sec=full_disk&p%5B0%5D=geocolor&x=9561.5&y=7682.2083740234375



[60-Minutes video Bill Gates talks tech and global warming]
*Bill Gates: How the world can avoid a climate disaster*
"Without innovation, we will not solve climate change. We won't even 
come close," Gates says. Anderson Cooper reports for 60 Minutes.
2021 Feb 14
CORRESPONDENT Anderson Cooper
- -
Now he is focusing on climate change, agreeing with the overwhelming 
majority of scientists who warn of a looming climate disaster. The good 
news is Gates believes it's possible to prevent a catastrophic rise in 
temperatures. The bad news? He says in the next 30 years we need 
scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations and global 
cooperation on a scale the world has never seen.

Anderson Cooper: You believe this is the toughest challenge humanity has 
ever faced?

Bill Gates: Absolutely. The amount of change, new ideas.  It's way 
greater than the pandemic. And it needs a level of cooperation that 
would be unprecedented.

Anderson Cooper: That doesn't sound feasible--

Bill Gates: No, it's not easy. But hey, we have 30 years--

Anderson Cooper: It sounds impossible.

Bill Gates: We have more educated people than ever. We have a generation 
that's speaking out on this topic. And, you know, I got to participate 
in the miracle of the personal computer and the internet. And so, yes, I 
have a bias to believe innovation can do these things...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-gates-climate-change-60-minutes-2021-02-14/



[down and under]
*Australia's lack of effort on climate change is going to cost us*
Bill Hare
Australia is deeply exposed to carbon border tax adjustments due to our 
lack of action in reducing emissions
Sun 14 Feb 2021
Global momentum is building on increasing climate action to meet the 
Paris agreement’s 1.5C limit, with all countries under pressure to 
increase their 2030 emission reductions ahead of the next United Nations 
Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this year. But Australia appears to 
be going backwards.

Now another issue has arisen from its inaction: border taxes.

Climate change is firmly on the G7 agenda. Along with two other 
countries, India and South Korea, Australia has been invited to join the 
G7 process this year under the presidency of the United Kingdom. With 
many large countries, including the US, the EU, China, Japan, South 
Korea, looking at deeper emission reductions – the whole question of how 
to deal with those who are not moving as fast to decarbonise is 
naturally rising to the surface.

The instrument of choice in the international policy community has long 
been carbon border tax adjustments, constructed in such a way as to be 
World Trarde Oranisation-compatible and which add to the cost of imports 
from climate-laggard countries into those that are pressing ahead...
- -
Australia is, sadly, the global poster child for a lack of effort. Its 
2030 target, translated into a comparable baseline to the EU, would be a 
reduction of just 8-11% below 1990 levels, compared with the EU’s 55% 
target. The government’s “technology neutral” approach has translated 
into increased support for the fossil fuel industry.

Federal climate policies have gone backwards – investments into 
renewables have dropped, and the government is promoting a 
carbon-intensive, gas-led recovery entirely inconsistent with the Paris 
agreement. Most recently, the government’s electric vehicle policy 
transmuted into an anti-EV policy called the Future Fuels Strategy, with 
the bizarrely appropriate acronym FFS. There is no price on carbon 
anywhere in the Australian system today, and each time the Morrison 
government goes near any climate policy, the result has been to weaken 
it, to advantage the fossil fuel industry.

It could all have been very different. Australia did once have a carbon 
price mechanism, set up under the Gillard government in 2012, and that 
would have ratcheted up over time, increasing the price on carbon and 
driving fossil fuel emissions out of Australia’s energy mix. But it saw 
its demise just two years later when the Senate voted through Tony 
Abbott’s “pledge in blood” to “axe the tax”.

Australia looks like becoming totally isolated from the G7 and 
internationally on climate change and the Morrison government’s attempt 
to fight a large movement towards border tax adjustments linked to 
carbon intensity is a symptom of this. Our leaders need to focus on 
adopting a real net zero goal by 2050, backed by legislation, with 
Paris-compatible 2030 targets well north of 50% reductions.

It would be foolish, ultimately futile and damaging for our country to 
continue down our current path.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/15/australias-lack-of-effort-on-climate-change-is-going-to-cost-us



[Book reviews from the Guardian]*
**How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates; The New Climate War by 
Michael E Mann – review*
Bob Ward - Sun 14 Feb 2021
President Joe Biden has promised a new era of American leadership on 
global climate action, after four years of unscientific denial and 
misinformation under Donald Trump. Two important new books by prominent 
American authors, both written before the result of the presidential 
election was known, should help to capitalise on the new spirit of 
cautious optimism by laying out bold but well-argued plans for 
accelerating action against climate change.

_How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the 
Breakthroughs We Need_ by Bill Gates presents a compelling explanation 
of how the world can stop global warming by reducing greenhouse gas 
emissions effectively to zero. Gates and his wife, Melinda, are well 
known for their foundation’s tremendous work on improving health and 
tackling disease around the world, particularly in poor countries. It is 
this concern for the most vulnerable people on the planet that has meant 
Gates has occasionally appeared equivocal about climate and energy 
policies that he thought could undermine the fight against poverty and 
illness. However, this book lays out forcefully his understanding that 
the impact of climate change poses a far bigger threat to lives and 
livelihoods in developing countries – it is thwarting efforts to raise 
living standards because poor people, in every country, are the most at 
risk from droughts, floods and heatwaves.

Gates rightly emphasises the importance of improving the resilience of 
both rich and poor countries to current and future climate change that 
cannot now be avoided. But his book leaves no doubt that adapting to the 
impact is not a solution on its own – we must also eliminate global 
emissions of greenhouse gases.

His strategy for reaching zero emissions is laid out in a very 
straightforward way, using numbers to help guide the reader to the 
magnitude of the challenge. He notes that annual emissions of greenhouse 
gases before the Covid-19 pandemic were well over 50bn tonnes worldwide, 
and rising. Getting to zero within the next few decades will be no mean 
feat.

The book breaks down the sources of these emissions into a few broad 
categories – making things, plugging in, and getting around – and Gates 
knows how to frame issues in terms with which everybody should be able 
to engage, without dumbing down the material.

At its highest level, his strategy is simple: make power generation 
zero-carbon by replacing fossil fuels with renewables and nuclear power, 
and then electrify as much of our activities as possible. This works in 
theory, but creates significant challenges, such as how to manage the 
intermittency of supply from sources such as solar panels and wind turbines.

A key device used by Gates is to calculate the cost of clean 
alternatives relative to fossil fuels, and where they are currently more 
expensive, to quantify the difference as a “green premium”. He then 
explains how this premium can be reduced through innovation and 
government policies. The credibility of the strategy is strengthened by 
references throughout to technologies in which Gates is investing his 
own money, such as novel ways to capture carbon dioxide from the 
atmosphere and then store it. He also acknowledges that his sincerity 
will be doubted by some because of his wealth and use of private jets, 
for instance. But I think readers will discover from his book that he is 
a serious and genuine force for good on climate change.

Mann says that, far from needing a miracle, we could achieve 100% clean 
electricity with current renewable technologies

The only major concern I have is that in emphasising, correctly, the 
importance of rich countries reaching zero emissions by 2050, he appears 
to suggest that cuts in greenhouse gases over the next 10 years are less 
important. In fact, the amount of warming we face depends on cumulative 
emissions, so countries such as the US and UK need to be cutting sharply 
from now, and for the next 30 years.

Gates is also caught in the crosshairs in Professor Michael E Mann’s 
book, The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet, which 
criticises the 2016 edition of the billionaire’s annual letter, written 
with Melinda, for highlighting the challenges of cutting emissions and 
declaring “we need an energy miracle”. Mann, America’s most famous 
climate scientist, points out that many zero-carbon alternatives to 
fossil fuels are now cost-competitive with fossil fuels. He even 
suggests that, far from needing a miracle, we could achieve 100% clean 
electricity with current renewable technologies alone.

The main focus of Mann’s book is a call to arms in the new war against 
“inactivists” who are using new tactics of “deception, distraction and 
delay” to prevent the phase-out of fossil fuels. Mann is a robust 
character, and has fought off several disgraceful onslaughts against him 
and his work by climate change deniers in US politics and the media over 
the past 20 years. He warns that vested interests and ideological 
extremists who oppose efforts to eliminate fossil fuels no longer deny 
outright the reality of climate change because people can now see the 
evidence for it all around them. Instead, opponents of action now rely 
on slightly subtler arguments, and Mann reveals how they are sometimes 
unwittingly assisted by clumsy communications from climate scientists 
and campaigners.

He cautions against highlighting in particular the need for action by 
individual citizens and consumers. As important as personal efforts are, 
they can distract attention away from the critical role of governments 
and companies in making systemic changes.

Mann criticises the practice of flight-shaming climate researchers, 
because it creates the false impression that experts have to experience 
personal sacrifice and deprivation to be taken seriously, regardless of 
how successful they are in persuading politicians to act. Despite the 
attention devoted to it, flying is responsible for about 3% of annual 
greenhouse gas emissions.

Mann also attacks “doomsayers”, including some members of Extinction 
Rebellion, who claim that we have already passed the point of no return, 
condemning us all to imminent climate destruction. Such claims are not 
based on science and have the effect of making people give up on efforts 
to rid the world of fossil fuels.

Mann does not pull his punches, but his aim is usually strong and true. 
This book will no doubt prove controversial for some climate 
campaigners, as well as the deniers, but I hope it will be read by 
everybody who is engaged in making the case for action.

Both Mann and Gates appear optimistic that the world can stop climate 
change, but they are also under no illusions about the scale of the 
challenge we face and the many obstacles that lie in our way. They also 
show just how wrong those people are who think we cannot or should not 
succeed.

Bob Ward is policy and communications director at the Grantham Research 
Institute on climate change and the environment at the London School of 
Economics and Political Science

• _How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the 
Breakthroughs We Need_ by Bill Gates is published by Allen Lane (£20). 
To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

• _The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet_ by Michael E 
Mann is published by Scribe (£16.99). To order a copy go to 
guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

With the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, American democracy 
has a chance to reset. The new administration has a historic opportunity 
to address the country’s deepest systemic challenges, and steer it 
toward a path of fairness, equality and stability.

It won’t be easy. Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency has ended, but the 
forces that propelled him – from a misinformation crisis to a surge in 
white nationalism to a crackdown on voting rights – remain clear threats 
to American democracy. The need for fact-based reporting that highlights 
injustice and offers solutions is as great as ever. In the coming year, 
the Guardian will also continue to confront America’s many systemic 
challenges – from the climate emergency to broken healthcare to 
rapacious corporations.

We believe everyone deserves access to information that’s grounded in 
science and truth, and analysis rooted in authority and integrity. 
That’s why we made a different choice: to keep our reporting open for 
all readers, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to 
pay. In these perilous times, an independent, global news organisation 
like the Guardian is essential. We have no shareholders or billionaire 
owner, meaning our journalism is free from commercial and political 
influence.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/14/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster-by-bill-gates-the-new-climate-war-by-michael-e-mann-review




POWER PLAYERS
*Bill Gates on climate change: I’m another ‘rich guy with an opinion’ — 
but here’s why you should listen*
Published Sun, Feb 14 2021
Catherine Clifford
Bill Gates is a philanthropist and climate change evangelist.

But he knows full well that his life as a billionaire and business 
tycoon also makes him “an imperfect messenger on climate change,” he 
writes in his new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.”

“I can’t deny being a rich guy with an opinion,” writes Gates, who is 
worth more than $100 billion, has a massive home in Medina, Washington 
(known as “Xanado 2.0″) and uses a private jet (which helps him do the 
global work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he’s said on Reddit).

“It’s true that my carbon footprint is absurdly high,” Gates writes in 
his new book.

“I own big houses and fly in private planes — in fact, I took one to 
Paris for the climate conference — so who am I to lecture anyone on the 
environment?” he writes.

Gates says he’s long felt guilty about his high emissions, but “working 
on this book has made me even more conscious of my responsibility to 
reduce them,” he writes. “Shrinking my carbon footprint is the least 
that can be expected of someone in my position who’s worried about 
climate change and publically calling for action.”

(Gates’ disproportionate consumption of carbon-emitting fossil fuels is 
representative of a larger trend globally: The “1%” are the main drivers 
of climate change, while the poorest are hit the hardest by its 
consequences.)

According to Gates’ book, in 2020 he started using sustainable jet fuel 
and “will fully offset my family’s aviation emissions in 2021.”

Sustainable jet fuel is not made from fossil fuels, according to the 
International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association 
for the world’s airlines. It can be made from any number of raw 
materials including cooking oil, plant oils, municipal waste, waste 
gases and agricultural residues, IATA says.

For Gates’ non-aviation emissions, he writes that he is “buying offsets 
through a company that runs a facility that removes carbon dioxide from 
the air.”

A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon emissions to compensate for 
emissions produced elsewhere. Specifically, a “carbon offset represents 
a reduction or removal of one metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) from 
the atmosphere,” says Anne Thiel, the Communications Manager for Verra, 
a Washington, DC-based non-profit. Carbon dioxide is the used as a point 
of reference because it is the most common greehhouse gas in the 
atmosphere and “remains in the climate system for a very long time,” 
Thiel says.

It is worth noting that some criticize the idea of carbon offsets as a 
convenient stop-gap for more permanent solutions. Others, however, see 
it as better than nothing.

“Companies should set and work towards a net-zero target diligently and 
we should all hold them to those goals. But, in the meantime, we need a 
way to reduce emissions now in order to avoid catastrophic climate 
change,” says Naomi Swickard, the chief program officer at Verra. 
“Offsets provide one of the most efficient and near-term ways to drive 
finance to real emission reductions to help us bend the curve and keep 
below the planet’s tipping points — buying us time to make the 
longer-term transition.”

Gates writes that he is also investing in clean energy companies and 
non-profits. For instance, in 2015, Gates spearheaded the creation of 
Breakthrough Energy, a venture capital fund investing in climate 
innovation technology “that will lead the world to net-zero emissions.”

Net zero emissions means getting to a place where collectively, there 
are no new emissions being added to the atmosphere. “Emissions will 
continue, but will be balanced by absorbing an equivalent amount from 
the atmosphere,” according to the United Nations.

“I have put more than $1 billion into approaches that I hope will help 
the world get to zero, including affordable and reliable clean energy 
and low-emissions cement, steel, meat and more,” Gates writes in his book.

“Of course, investing in companies doesn’t make my carbon footprint 
smaller. But if I have picked any winners at all, they’ll be responsible 
for removing much more carbon than I or my family is responsible for,” 
Gates writes.

“Besides, the goal isn’t simply for any one person to make up for his or 
her emissions; it’s to avoid a climate disaster.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/14/bill-gates-on-his-carbon-footprint.html



[witty, fun 30 min video explains & contains many links to source material ]
*Climate Change Is An Absolute Nightmare - This Is Why*
Jul 9, 2020
UpIsNotJump
So. What is Climate Change? Do you know the facts? No?

Well I personally had no idea. One day it just hit me, I knew very 
little about climate change. Even with a useless degree in chemistry, 
climate change is a confusing mess of strange and difficult to 
understand information.

I made this video to gather all the facts I could find about climate 
change, in a fun way, and without any bias on my part. I wanted anyone 
who watched this video (and myself too!) to understand all the important 
facts relating to climate change. Non-scientists welcome.

Science is exciting! It’s just school and most of our education systems 
aren’t…

In a few months this video will be uploaded as to remove any language or 
scenes not suitable for schools, so it can be used to teach about 
climate change in schools.
https://youtu.be/uqwvf6R1_QY



[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - February 15, 2010 *

February 15, 2010:

NPR's Christopher Joyce reports:

"Most [climate scientists] don't see a contradiction between a warming 
world and lots of snow. That includes Kevin Trenberth, a prominent 
climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 
Colorado.

"'The fact that the oceans are warmer now than they were, say, 30 years 
ago means there's about on average 4 percent more water vapor lurking 
around over the oceans than there was, say, in the 1970s,' he says.

"Warmer water means more water vapor rises up into the air, and what 
goes up must come down.

"'So one of the consequences of a warming ocean near a coastline like 
the East Coast and Washington, D.C., for instance, is that you can get 
dumped on with more snow partly as a consequence of global warming,' he 
says.

"And Trenberth notes that you don't need very cold temperatures to get 
big snow. In fact, when the mercury drops too low, it may be too cold to 
snow."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123671588&sc=emaf

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