[✔️] June 20, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
👀 Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sun Jun 20 09:44:19 EDT 2021
/*June 20, 2021*/
[a surge heatwave becomes permanent summer heat]
*The Record Temperatures Enveloping The West Are Not Your Average Heat Wave*
June 19, 2021
ERIC WESTERVELT
...
These sprawling, persistent high-pressure zones popularly called "heat
domes" are relatively common in later summer months. This current system
is different.
"It's not only unusual for June, but it is pretty extreme even in
absolute terms," says Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the UCLA
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. "It would be a pretty
extreme event for August," Swain says, when these typically occur.
This heat dome's reach is remarkable, too: It has set record highs
stretching from the Great Plains to coastal California. And these aren't
just records for that specific date or month, but in a few spots, they
are records for the singularly hottest day in the entire period of
record, sometimes stretching back 100 to 150 years. "That's a pretty big
deal," Swain says.
"It's unusual in that it's more intense in terms of the maximum
temperature," says Alison Bridger, a professor in the Meteorology and
Climate Science department at San Jose State University. "And how
widespread the impact is."
- -
This current heat dome "fits with climate change ideas, global warming,
meaning that it's just a little bit warmer than it would have been last
year," Bridger says. "And if we have this next year, it'll be just a
little bit warmer again."
The "heat dome" is making droughts even worse
It's also coinciding with and worsening record drought across big parts
of the West. These two things, Daniel Swain says, are now making each
other worse.
"The drought is leading to extremely low soil moisture, which is making
it easier for these high pressure systems to generate extreme heat waves
because more of the sun's energy is going into heating the atmosphere
rather than evaporating nonexistent water in the soil."
And that is only making things hotter and drier...
- -
Experts say this current heat dome is yet more evidence of the impact of
human-caused climate change...
- -
"It's just so clear at this point," says climate scientist Swain, "when
it comes to record-breaking heat events, the study has been run for
event after event after event in region after region after region in
year after year."
And the answer is almost always the same, he says: "There's a crystal
clear human fingerprint on extreme heat and extreme heat events ...
climate change is making these sorts of things worse."
And what was historically rare is now becoming almost commonplace:
Forecasters say there's a chance of yet another heat wave of similar
magnitude in the West about 10 days from now.
"That sounds crazy, except that last summer we saw like three to five of
these, you know, 'unprecedented events' in different regions of the
West," Swain points out.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/19/1008248475/the-record-temperatures-enveloping-the-west-is-not-your-average-heat-wave
[today's lesson in language:]
*Eight ways to make your climate change social media posts matter – from
a communication expert*
June 17, 2021
Social media gives everyone the opportunity to argue with the world. So
if you want to persuade people about the need to tackle climate change
and how we should do it, social media is a pretty good place to start.
Many people clearly think so: environmentally conscious Instagram
hashtags like #zerowaste boast 4 million posts and counting.
But how do you get your posts about climate change to cut through the
noise – and inspire positive climate-related behaviour change and
support for policies that mitigate the climate crisis? Here are some key
insights from recent research on communicating about climate change.
*1. Relevance matters*
As individuals, our power to fight climate change is limited but vital.
The more we understand climate change as threatening our own beloved
habitats, the more we are likely to accept far-reaching social and
political decisions that will protect the planet in the long run.
*2. Conciseness helps*
The sheer abundance of internet chatter can quickly become overwhelming.
Whether positive or negative, we know that the short snippets of
information provided by Twitter or Instagram – no matter our belief in
our own immunity to them – shape the way we think about key social ideas
and, in turn, the way we react. Since people don’t often have the time
or attention to wade through long arguments, it’s best to keep your
contributions brief and to the point.
*3. Chase positive, realistic targets*
Research demonstrates that if we feel that preventing climate threats is
beyond our power, we may just give up and do nothing. Climate anxiety is
real, and it can be paralysing. That means positive messages are much
better than negative ones at making people act. Giving your audience
tips on how to recycle, for example, beats listing all the problems with
recycling.
*4. Avoid misleading terminology*
Climate change is complicated. And communication about climate change is
often less clear, less streamlined and more prone to being
miscommunicated than discussions about more immediate threats like a
pandemic.
This means you need to choose your words carefully and precisely. While
a “positive trend” sounds nice, it can be bad news when it concerns
temperature. Referring to an “upward trend” might be wiser.
*
**5. Climate is global: weather is local*
People, particularly in the UK, love to talk about the weather.
Erroneously, it’s frequently linked directly to the overall climate,
especially if a speaker wants to express climate scepticism. With
Britain seeing snow in April, Niagara Falls frozen over this year and
weather predictions always unreliable, why should anyone believe in the
certainty of climate change or in the urgency of fighting against it?
Talking about the weather in the context of climate change is often
misleading, since it’s not reflective of the broader climate picture.
But in places where climate change affects the weather directly,
articulating global change in terms that respect local concerns like
flooding or drought can be more effective.
*6. Avoid uncertainty*
The scientific evidence for climate change is undeniable, but the
details of how it will unfold are less clear. Yet when climate
scientists talk about “uncertainties” regarding the planet’s future,
they’re less likely to be taken seriously by the public. Framing the
same outcomes as “risks” is far more effective.
But describing the probability of future scenarios convincingly and
clearly is a challenge which requires clear language. Take Greta
Thunberg, whose transparent, direct communications about climate change
have sparked a worldwide climate movement supported by social media.
Snippets like “How dare you?”, “Never too small to make a difference,”
or “Our political leaders have failed us,” lodge in people’s minds,
leaving little room for misunderstanding.
*7. Suggest concrete action*
Research shows that demonstrating actual, specific risks that are
tangible and close to home – like the threat to birds or bees in our
gardens – helps fight climate denial by presenting evidence people can
witness for themselves.
Likewise, advice for making simple, practical changes, like growing
flowers that help bees flourish or carrying reusable shopping bags, is
more likely to have a direct practical effect than sharing theoretical
and complex scientific discourse.
*8. Listen*
Maybe the most important requirement of all is to listen. We must make
the effort to understand our audience’s stumbling blocks to accepting
the reality of the climate crisis. After all, people whose concerns have
been truly heard are much more open to questioning their behaviour –
which is what it takes to achieve global change.
The author would like to acknowledge Jenna Burns (Bangor University
intern) for the important contributions made to the compilation of this
article.
https://theconversation.com/eight-ways-to-make-your-climate-change-social-media-posts-matter-from-a-communication-expert-161026
[the future]
*War Against Climate Change: Managed Retreat and Floating Cities of the
Future*
New research finds that moving off the coast and away from floods can
expand options.
University of Delaware disaster researcher A.R. Siders said it’s time to
put all the options on the table when it comes to discussing climate
change adaptation.
Managed retreat — the purposeful movement of people, buildings, and
other assets from areas vulnerable to hazards — has often been
considered a last resort. But Siders said it can be a powerful tool for
expanding the range of possible solutions to cope with rising sea
levels, flooding, and other climate change effects when used proactively
or in combination with other measures.
Siders, a core faculty member in UD’s Disaster Research Center, and
Katharine J. Mach, associate professor at the University of Miami
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, provide a
prospective roadmap for reconceptualizing the future using managed
retreat in a new paper published online in Science on June 17, 2021.
“Climate change is affecting people all over the world, and everyone is
trying to figure out what to do about it. One potential strategy, moving
away from hazards, could be very effective, but it often gets
overlooked,” said Siders, assistant professor in the Joseph R. Biden,
Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and the Department of
Geography and Spatial Sciences. “We are looking at the different ways
society can dream bigger when planning for climate change and how
community values and priorities play a role in that.”
video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZm6N3Ws20&
https://scitechdaily.com/war-against-climate-change-managed-retreat-and-floating-cities-of-the-future/
[Our friend electricity]
*Josh Pearce PhD: Base Load is the Least Useful Power*
Jun 19, 2021
greenmanbucket
Josh Pearce teaches engineers at Michigan Tech University
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIpO_HWRKBc
[What's up with Mitt?]
*Why Mitt Romney says ‘the world has changed,’ and what that means for
fighting wildfires in the West*
By Katie McKellar -- Jun 18, 2021
Blaming the American West’s “unprecedented” wildfire problem on decades
of poor forest management and the reality of a hotter and drier climate,
Sen. Mitt Romney on Friday unveiled a bill to create a new commission to
tackle the issue...
- -
“It’s getting drier in the American West,” Romney said. “Our state’s
getting drier. The fires are becoming bigger. The loss of life is more
significant. And continuing to do the things the way we’ve done them in
the past doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
So that’s why Romney said he and bill sponsor Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah,
have worked with Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly on the Wildland Fire Mitigation
and Management Commission Act to create a commission to mitigate and
prevent wildfires that is made up not just federal officials, but also
local officials and wildfire experts.
“It’s an attempt to say, ‘Well, frankly, we can learn from some
others,’” Romney said, noting that officials in Australia formed a
similar commission to “recognize that the climate is changing. It’s
getting hotter and drier. How do we protect our lands and our people in
this new circumstance?”
For funding, Romney said, the bill will seek what may be millions out of
roughly $42.5 billion proposed for “resiliency” in a nearly $1 trillion,
five-year infrastructure spending plan he and a group of nine other
bipartisan senators have agreed upon. It’s unclear whether the Senate
plan will garner enough support as it is less than President Joe Biden’s
$2.6 trillion proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled earlier this
week it may run into trouble.
Romney noted he’s no wildfire “expert,” but he listed off possible
solutions the commission could explore: Cutting red tape for controlled
burns whose permits, he says, take too long to obtain; allowing more
highly flammable dead wood to be removed from forests for commercial
purposes; or funding more aircraft to assist firefighters.
- -
Give preference to nonfederal stakeholders from a state that has had at
least one FEMA Fire Management Assistance declaration or a major
disaster declaration for a fire in at least four of the last five years.
- -
Recommend policies to improve forest management tactics, federal
spending and budgeting for wildfires, as well as long-term management
and land maintenance strategies.
Report to Congress policy recommendations on short- and long-term
wildfire prevention, mitigation, suppression, management and
rehabilitation to combat future wildfires from becoming “catastrophic
disasters.”
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/6/18/22540472/how-sen-romney-wants-protect-utah-and-the-west-from-wildfires-drought-disaster-emergency-fire-risk
[Pandemic is practice for global calamities of climate]
*Nobody is Safe if Someone is Unsafe*
Jun 17, 2021
New Economic Thinking
A dialogue between Jayati Ghosh, Rohinton Medhora, Joseph E. Stiglitz,
coordinated by Robert Johnson at the 2021 Trento Economics Festival
The world won’t emerge from the pandemic until the pandemic is
controlled everywhere, and this is a special concern because of the new
mutations that are likely to arise where the disease is running its
course. So too, the world won’t have a robust economic recovery until at
least most of the world is on the course to prosperity. Global growth is
far more muted now than then, and inward-looking policies in some of the
nations where growth has been restored have resulted in an increase in
their trade surplus, attenuating the global impact of their recovery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IulggT6ar7I
[Disney's Loki? - Walt approved?]
*How Did 'Loki' Episode 2 Sneak in Terrifying, Prescient Satire About
Climate Change?*
BY GREGORY LAWRENCE
PUBLISHED Jun, 19, 2021...
- -
To an extent, Loki bringing up something like climate change should not
surprise me. The two previous Disney+ MCU shows, WandaVision and The
Falcon and the Winter Soldier, were more than willing to dive into deep
issues beyond any requisite thrills or lore-setting. Heck, Episode 1 of
Loki itself was an existential dive into a human's capacity to shut down
when faced with the fact of death.
The specificity of climate change in Loki does surprise me, though.
Partially because so many of Disney's markets, from the USA to China,
are so directly responsible for the worsening of climate change (and
we've seen how eager Disney is to erase any fact of life to make it more
lucratively palatable for its markets). Partially because Loki's
previous exploration of death was still filtered through a character,
rather than through its viewers.
But when it arrives in Episode 2, it arrives wholly. It arrives ready to
state, as a fact, that we human beings will be devastated by many
climate disasters to come. And most provocatively, it arrives with a
blunt sense of humor, a pointed sense of satire, and a grimly prescient
foresight as to how we human beings will deal with it all.
- -
Apocalypses, plural, are inevitabilities in working for the TVA, in
examining the various timelines of existence. It's not "will the world
end," it's "which end of the world are you talking about?" So when Loki
(Tom Hiddleston) poses a theory to Agent Morbius (Owen Wilson) that the
variant Loki they're looking for would be hiding in an apocalypse, they
head to Pompeii right before Mount Vesuvius erupted and killed all the
city's inhabitants. This is a real piece of human history, but one so
removed from our everyday life, so abstracted as to have been the
subject of a Paul W.S. Anderson disaster film, that we can swallow it
being used as the springboard for entertainment somewhat easily. Even
when Loki starts dancing at the onset of the eruption, shouting
gleefully terrifying bursts of existentialism like, "Enjoy your last
meal while you can! Nothing matters! Nothing has any consequence! Dance
while you still can!", a sense of intellectual remove occurs. "I can
enjoy this as being unusual," we think, "because I am so removed from
anything like this happening."
- -
In summation, as Mobius puts it, "most things in history are kinda dumb
and everything gets ruined eventually." That doesn't stop him from
wanting a brighter future, which for him, is symbolized by his love of
the jet-ski. It's a silly thing to love, especially in the face of such
higher-stakes, existence-threatening issues. But Mobius loves it all the
same. And when asked why, he responds simply: "Helps remind me of what
we’re fighting for."
Change is possible, through the motivation of joy, of your favorite
popcorn TV shows, of anything you can grab your hands on. It just has to be.
New episodes of Loki premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.
https://collider.com/loki-episode-2-climate-change/
[video games and global warming - due out in October of this year, if we
make it.]
*How ‘Battlefield 2042”s extreme weather affects combat*
Force on force of nature
By Jack Grimshaw - 17th June 2021
EA Dice‘s Battlefield 2042 game designer Daniel Berlin appeared during
tonight’s (June 17) Xbox Games Showcase Extended to talks about how
extreme weather affects the game’s combat.
Using the new map Hourglass as an example, Berlin discussed how the
sandstorm is a massive map-wide wall of sand that sweeps from one side
of the map to the other. When caught in the sandstorm, the player’s
visibility will be reduced – altering how weapons, tanks, and
helicopters will be used...
He also added that debris would light the map differently even after the
sandstorm has passed, and its effects will still be relevant.
Berlin also discussed the tornado that was originally revealed in the
first Battlefield 2042 trailer. The large column of twisting wind will
roam around the map of its own free will, causing chaos wherever it goes.
It changes the physics of an area, throwing around helicopters, cars,
and players. This will break up any fight in the area and make outdoor
areas unusable while the tornado wreaks havoc.
Connected to this, Berlin talked about the Plus System. This is the new
mechanic that allows players to swap attachments mid-match using a new
menu. Berlin’s example was that players might want to change their
weapon configuration during a sandstorm to better suit the reduced
visibility. It can also be used when fighting in confined spaces while a
tornado denies outdoor combat.
He states that the game is truly a sandbox in the players’ hands and
that players are in control of everything that happens in a match.
Battlefield 2042 is available for pre-purchase on Steam, Origin, and
consoles.
https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/how-battlefield-2042s-extreme-weather-affects-combat-2972311
- -
[Hear the game producer]
*Battlefield 2042 In-Depth Look | Xbox Games Showcase 2021*
Jun 17, 2021
GameSpot
DICE revealed new details about the latest entry into the Battlefield
franchise, Battlefield 2042. Battlefield 2042 will feature series staple
Conquest and Breakthrough. Breakthrough is much a much more guided
experience, where teams are compressed into smaller spaces, while
Conquest will be the standard open sandbox battles. Battlefield 2042
will allow for massive 128 player online battles. In order to deal with
this, Battlefield 2042 will include cluster objectives. Battlefield 2042
releases October 22, 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyNaADqpCl4
[The news archive - looking back at backwards thinking]
*On this day in the history of global warming June 20, 1979*
Solar heaters are installed on the roof of the White House by President
Carter. The panels would be yanked down by President Reagan in August 1986.
http://youtu.be/_88idk1VJGU
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
/Archive of Daily Global Warming News
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html>
/
https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote
/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe
<mailto:subscribe at theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request>
to news digest./
- Privacy and Security:*This mailing is text-only. It does not carry
images or attachments which may originate from remote servers. A
text-only message can provide greater privacy to the receiver and
sender. This is a hobby production curated by Richard Pauli
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain cannot be used for commercial
purposes. Messages have no tracking software.
To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote
<mailto:contact at theclimate.vote> with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe,
subject: unsubscribe
Also you may subscribe/unsubscribe at
https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for
http://TheClimate.Vote <http://TheClimate.Vote/> delivering succinct
information for citizens and responsible governments of all levels. List
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously restricted to
this mailing list.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20210620/720e49da/attachment.htm>
More information about the TheClimate.Vote
mailing list