[✔️] May 21, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*May 21, 2021*/

[a great idea for now and the future]
*Biden Proposes A 'Civilian Corps' To Address Climate Change*
  May 20, 2021 - NATHAN ROTT, SCOTT DETROW
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/22/970319632/biden-proposes-a-civilian-corps-to-address-climate-change


[from the BBC another great idea]
*Climate change: EU official backs German Greens on curbing flights*
The EU's top official on climate action has backed the German Greens' 
call for tax and pricing changes to make rail travel more popular than 
flying.
EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said "I support taxing 
kerosene like other fuels" and "nobody has to fly 10 or 12 times a year".
He did not, however, back German Green Party leader Annalena Baerbock's 
call for a ban on short-haul flights.
The Greens' popularity has soared ahead of a September general election.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57185261



[global warming refugees]
*Climate disasters ‘caused more internal displacement than war’ in 2020*
Refugee organisation says 30m new displacements last year were due to 
floods, storms or wildfires
Intense storms and flooding triggered three times more displacements 
than violent conflicts did last year, as the number of people internally 
displaced worldwide hit the highest level on record.

There were at least 55 million internally displaced people (IDPs) by the 
end of last year, according to figures published by the Norwegian 
Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

There were more than twice as many people displaced within their own 
country as forced out of their country as refugees, the IDMC said. The 
number is the highest on record, but in line with its steady rise over 
the past decade...
- -
Countries with the highest disaster-driven internal displacements were 
Afghanistan, with 1.1 million people; India, with 929,000; and Pakistan 
with 806,000.

The countries with the highest number of people displaced by conflict 
and violence were Syria (6.6 million), the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo (5.3 million), and Colombia (4.9 million).

As well as the number of people displaced, the IDMC’s report records the 
number of movements a person made during the year – if they were 
displaced at least once.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/20/climate-disasters-caused-more-internal-displacement-than-war-in-2020



[information battleground]
*Feel like fixing the climate crisis is your personal responsibility? 
ExxonMobil has been telling you that for 20 years, a study found.*
Morgan McFall-Johnsen May 18, 2021

    -- ExxonMobil advertisements blame climate change on "demand" and
    consumer "needs," a new study found.

    -- Internal documents, however, say "fossil fuels" and "carbon
    dioxide" cause the climate crisis.

    -- Two Harvard researchers say ExxonMobil is intentionally
    deflecting climate responsibility.

When Naomi Oreskes lectures about climate change, she gets the same 
question over and over again.

"A member of the audience will say: 'Well, what can I personally do? 
What can I do as an individual to fix this problem?'" Oreskes, a science 
historian at Harvard University, told Insider. "Much less frequently do 
they say: 'What can we do about the way the fossil fuel industry is 
blocking policy action?'"

It's a common idea: That the best way to fight climate change is by 
making changes in your own life — using less energy, eating less meat, 
driving less, flying less. But according to Oreskes and her colleague, 
Geoffrey Supran, a key source of this sentiment is a set of 
communications campaigns from ExxonMobil.

The researchers' latest analysis indicates that the oil giant started 
blaming the climate crisis on consumers two decades ago. In a study 
published last week, Supran and Oreskes analyzed 180 ExxonMobil 
documents discussing climate change from 1977 to 2014. The set includes 
internal communications, peer-reviewed publications, and "advertorials" 
— advertisements fashioned to look like editorials and published in The 
New York Times op-ed section.

Around the year 2000, the researchers found, a new trend emerged in the 
company's public-facing communications. The advertisements began to 
focus on how consumers use energy.

"Be smart about electricity use," one 2007 advertorial suggested, 
continuing: "Heat and cool your home efficiently." "Improve your gas 
mileage." "Check your home's greenhouse gas emissions."

Focusing on how consumers power their homes and cars, Oreskes and Supran 
argue, helps ExxonMobil "downplay" its role in extracting and burning 
the fossil fuels that are filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and 
raising global temperatures. It places both the blame and the 
responsibility for solving the problem onto individuals.

Oreskes thinks that these kinds of marketing campaigns from fossil-fuel 
companies in general helped fuel people's fixation on reducing their 
carbon footprints. In fact, BP coined the term "carbon footprint" in 2004.

"They talk about energy demand, they talk about need, they talk about 
use, and they use the term 'consumers.' And this is basically a way of 
shifting responsibility away from the producers — that is to say them, 
ExxonMobil — and onto the consumer," Oreskes said.

A 1997 ad even encourages policy-makers to adopt this energy-saving 
mindset: "Governments should encourage and promote voluntary actions by 
industry and citizens that reduce emissions and use energy wisely. 
Governments can do much to raise public awareness of the importance of 
energy conservation," it says.

A discrepancy between how ExxonMobil talks privately and publicly
In its internal communications, ExxonMobil didn't talk about consumer 
demand and energy efficiency very much, the new study found.

"In the private correspondence, they still recognize that climate change 
is caused by fossil-fuel use. It's caused by the burning and combustion 
of their product, the thing that they have built their corporation on, 
which is fossil fuels," Oreskes said. "But in the public language, they 
use language that seems to shift the responsibility to the consumer."

Oreskes and Supran ran their collection of ExxonMobil documents through 
a program that analyzed them for language. Advertorials often used the 
terms "emissions," "risk," "energy," "energy efficient," "meet," 
"demand," "use," and "need."

The internal documents, on the other hand, mentioned carbon dioxide more 
than 1,000 times. Other terms that appeared the most were "atmosphere" 
or "atmospheric," "fossil fuel," "ppm" (which stands for parts per 
million, the metric by which scientists measure atmospheric carbon 
dioxide), "fossil fuel combustion," and "source."

Oreskes said her findings point to "a systemic discrepancy between the 
way ExxonMobil has talked about this problem in private, versus the way 
they've presented it to the public."

In a statement to Insider, however, ExxonMobil alleged that Oreskes has 
a conflict of interest and pointed to her expert testimony in a 
climate-related lawsuit last year.

"This research is clearly part of a litigation strategy against 
ExxonMobil and other energy companies," the statement said.

Oreskes and Supran responded that they have both "served as experts in a 
number of capacities to groups and organizations involved in fighting 
climate change."

"These efforts present no conflict of interest," the researchers said. 
"They are a logical application of our knowledge and expertise."

ExxonMobil added in its statement that the company "is working to reduce 
company emissions and helping customers reduce their emissions while 
working on new lower-emission technologies and advocating for effective 
policies."

To make a difference, 'join forces with other people'
Oreskes and Supran don't think ExxonMobil invented the idea that 
consumers are responsible for curbing climate change. But they say the 
company's language has influenced public discourse.

"I do think that the fossil-fuel industry rhetoric is probably part of 
the reason why so many people think of [climate change] in personal and 
individualistic terms," Oreskes said. "This is what we've been reading 
and hearing for an awfully long time."

This isn't to say, though, that individual people can't do anything. If 
a significant portion of the population powered their homes and cars 
with renewable energy from solar panels or wind turbines, that would 
reduce the amount of carbon added to the atmosphere each year. Oreskes 
has solar panels on her roof and uses halogen lightbulbs in her home. 
But she recommends against letting lifestyle changes — like "be smart 
about electricity use" or "improve your gas mileage" — overshadow the 
bigger picture. About 70% of all industrial carbon emissions come from 
100 fossil-fuel companies, according to a 2017 analysis by the charity CDP.

"I can change my lightbulbs as an individual. But I can't change my 
electricity grid. I can't change the policies that make it harder for 
renewable energy to compete. For that I have to join forces with other 
people," Oreskes said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/exxonmobil-pins-responsibility-for-climate-crisis-on-consumers-study-2021-5



[enjoyably informative paleo video]
*Ten Thousand Years of Climate Change*
May 20, 2021
ClimateAdam
We talk so much about how global warming is reshaping the present, and 
what the future might bring. But what did Earth's past look like. To 
celebrate hitting 10k subscribers, I'm looking ten thousand years into 
our history, to put today's changes in context...
#CreatorsForChange #ClimateChange

twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ClimateAdam
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClimateAdam
instagram: http://instagram.com/climate_adam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lHcORHIbvM


[video discussion of eco-economics]
*Dividing America for Profit*
May 20, 2021
Facing Future
The American political system is broken.  Right and left fling the most 
toxic, often ridiculous, statements about each other, to the delight of 
extremists.  Who benefits from this narrowing of our minds - the 
political industry!  Making millions from every campaign, trafficking in 
fear and hate,  lobbyists, strategizers, poll takers, and advertising 
agencies serve special interests to the detriment of the country.

Bill Shireman is the co -founder of #EarthX, a Texas- based 
organization, dedicated to bringing all sides together to overcome 
polarities, and drive solutions to the climate emergency that threatens 
our entire planet.

We need to take the growth out of #economics.  Instead of producing and 
consuming endlessly, we need to establish a sustainable economy based on 
the realities of ecology.  Science tells us that there are limits to the 
resources of the Earth, and to its capacity to absorb our polluting 
industries.  Aiming for a critical mass of just 5% of the voting public, 
5 million Americans, spread across all 50 states, EarthX hopes to 
reverse our destructive and divisive paradigms, with the recognition 
that our dollars and votes can be used to tip the balance in favor of 
our survival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL-nJFav6Jw


[noted here weeks ago - video]
*Kate Aronoff with Bill McKibben: How Capitalism Broke the Planet and 
How We Fight Back*
Streamed live on Apr 27, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp11KZ91NzI


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming  May 21, 2010 *
In the New Republic, Al Gore notes:

    "During the last 22 years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
    Change has produced four massive studies warning the world of the
    looming catastrophe that is being caused by the massive dumping of
    global-warming pollution into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, this
    process has been vulnerable to disruption and paralysis by a cynical
    and lavishly funded disinformation campaign. A number of large
    carbon polluters, whose business plans rely on their continued
    ability to freely dump their gaseous waste products into the global
    atmospheric commons—as if it is an open sewer—have chosen to pursue
    a determined and highly organized campaign aimed at undermining
    public confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the global
    scientific community. They have attacked the scientific community by
    financing pseudo-studies aimed at creating public doubt about
    peer-reviewed science. They have also manipulated the political and
    regulatory process with outsized campaign contributions and legions
    of lobbyists (there are now four anti-climate lobbyists for every
    single member of the House and Senate).

    "This epic public contest between the broad public interest and a
    small but powerful special interest has taken place during a time
    when American democracy has grown sclerotic. The role of money in
    our politics has exploded to a dangerous level. Our democratic
    conversation is now dominated by expensive 30-second television
    commercials, which consume two-thirds of the campaign budgets of
    candidates in both political parties. The only reliable source of
    such large sums of campaign cash is business lobbies. Most members
    of the House and Senate facing competitive election contests are
    forced to spend several hours each day asking special interests for
    money to finance their campaigns. Instead of participating in
    committee hearings, floor debates, and Burkean reflection on the
    impact of the questions being considered, they spend their time as
    supplicants. Though many struggle to resist the influence their
    donors intend to have on their decision-making process, all too
    frequently human nature takes its course.

    "Their constituents now spend an average of five hours per day
    watching television—which is, of course, why campaigns in both
    political parties spend most of their money on TV advertising.
    Viewers also absorb political messages from the same special
    interests that are wining and dining and contributing to their
    elected officials. The largest carbon polluters have, for the last
    17 years, sought to manipulate public opinion with a massive and
    continuing propaganda campaign, using TV advertisements and all
    other forms of mass persuasion. It is a game plan spelled out in one
    of their internal documents, which was leaked to an enterprising
    reporter, that stated: 'reposition global warming as theory rather
    than fact.' In other words, they have mimicked the strategy
    pioneered by the tobacco industry, which undermined the scientific
    consensus linking the smoking of cigarettes with diseases of the
    lung and heart—successfully delaying appropriate health measures for
    almost 40 years after the landmark surgeon general’s report of 1964."

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/the-crisis-comes-ashore


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