[✔️] October 2, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
👀 Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sat Oct 2 08:41:11 EDT 2021
/*October2 , 2021*/
/[ as seen from space and measured in reflected light on the Dark Side
of the Moon ] /
*Earth is losing its shine and scientists suspect climate change is the
culprit*
Measuring earthshine, scientists reveal the planet is not quite as
bright as it was two decades ago.
Jackson Ryan - Sept. 30, 2021
- -
By studying the glow of our humble space orb, scientists have discovered
a surprising dimming. They hypothesize the underlying cause could be
related to climate change.
In a study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on
Aug. 29, researchers examined the Earth's "albedo" by analyzing
earthshine at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in California between 1998
and 2017 -- equivalent to around 1,500 nights of data. This analysis
allowed them to assess how much light is reflected by the planet.
The data revealed the Earth has dimmed by about half a percent since the
late 1990s.
"The albedo drop was such a surprise to us when we analyzed the last
three years of data after 17 years of nearly flat albedo," said Philip
Goode, an astronomer at New Jersey Institute of Technology and lead
author of the study. ..
- -
Scientists have previously thought a warmer planet could result in
higher albedo, due to increasing cloud coverage. Thus, there'd be more
reflection of sunlight and less trapped by greenhouse gases -- a good
thing. But that might not be the case. "It's actually quite concerning,"
said Edward Schwieterman, a planetary scientist at the University of
California at Riverside not involved in the study, in an AGU press
release...
https://www.cnet.com/news/earth-is-losing-its-shine-and-scientists-suspect-climate-change-is-the-culprit/
- -
/[See the NASA image for yourself]/
*(June 3, 2021) --- The sun's glint beams off the Indian Ocean as the
International Space Station orbited 269 miles above south of Western
Australia.*
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-suns-glint-beams-off-the-indian-ocean
- -
/[from the Journal Geophysical Research Letters posted by the AGU]/
*Earth's Albedo 1998–2017 as Measured From Earthshine*
P. R. Goode,E. Pallé,A. Shoumko,S. Shoumko,P. Montañes-Rodriguez,S. E.
Koonin,
First published: 29 August 2021 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094888
*Abstract*
The reflectance of the Earth is a fundamental climate parameter that we
measured from Big Bear Solar Observatory between 1998 and 2017 by
observing the earthshine using modern photometric techniques to
precisely determine daily, monthly, seasonal, yearly and decadal changes
in terrestrial albedo from earthshine. We find the inter-annual
fluctuations in albedo to be global, while the large variations in
albedo within individual nights and seasonal wanderings tend to average
out over each year. We measure a gradual, but climatologically
significant urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl62955:grl62955-math-00010.5
urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl62955:grl62955-math-0002 decline in the
global albedo over the two decades of data. We found no correlation
between the changes in the terrestrial albedo and measures of solar
activity. The inter-annual pattern of earthshine fluctuations are in
good agreement with those measured by CERES (data began in 2001) even
though the satellite observations are sensitive to retroflected light
while earthshine is sensitive to wide-angle reflectivity. The CERES
decline is about twice that of earthshine.
*Plain Language Summary*
The net sunlight reaching the Earth's climate system depends on the
solar irradiance and the Earth's reflectance (albedo). We have observed
earthshine from Big Bear Solar Observatory to measure the terrestrial
albedo. For earthshine we measure the sunlight reflected from Earth to
the dark part of the lunar face and back to the nighttime observer,
yielding an instantaneous large-scale reflectance of the Earth. In these
relative measurements, we also observe the sunlit, bright part of the
lunar face. We report here reflectance data (monthly, seasonal and
annual) covering two decades, 1998–2017. The albedo shows a decline
corresponding to a net climate forcing of about 0.5
urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl62955:grl62955-math-0003. We find no
correlation between measures of solar cycle variations and the albedo
variations. The first precise satellite measures of terrestrial albedo
came with CERES. CERES global albedo data (2001-) show a decrease in
forcing that is about twice that of earthshine measurements. The
evolutionary changes in albedo motivate continuing earthshine
observations as a complement to absolute satellite measurements,
especially since earthshine and CERES measurements are sensitive to
distinctly different parts of the angular reflectivity. The recent drop
in albedo is attributed to a warming of the eastern pacific, which is
measured to reduce low-lying cloud cover and, thereby, the albedo...
- -
*Solar irradiance has been precisely measured from space for four decades. *
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL094888
/[An idea that is already proven works well - FDR did it]/
*A plan to fund the global green transition already exists | Financial
Times*
The writer is assistant professor of history at Cornell University. On
28 September 1941, two businessmen on a mission arrived in Moscow. Lord
Beaverbrook, the Canadian-British owner of the Daily ...
Nicholas Mulder - SEPT. 23, 2021 - The writer is assistant professor of
history at Cornell University
On 28 September 1941, two businessmen on a mission arrived in Moscow.
Lord Beaverbrook, the Canadian-British owner of the Daily Express, was
minister of supply in Winston Churchill’s war cabinet. With him was W
Averell Harriman, the railroad heir and banker who was Franklin
Roosevelt’s envoy to Europe. What prompted these two capitalists to
visit the centre of global communism was Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet
Union. Fascist forces stood only 200 miles from the Kremlin.
The carrot that Beaverbrook and Harriman had brought was the Lend-Lease
Act, written into law by Franklin Roosevelt earlier that year. In the
struggle against Axis aggression, the bill enabled the Allied provision
of supplies against deferred payment. On October 1, the delegates signed
the Moscow Protocol with Joseph Stalin’s foreign minister. This unlocked
massive Lend-Lease aid flows that delivered tens of thousands of
aircraft, trucks, tanks and vast quantities of machinery, munition,
food, fuel and clothing to anti-fascist armies worldwide. It sealed
Allied victory in the war.
Today, the climate crisis is arguably an even greater threat to humanity
than fascist aggression was in the 1940s. The 80th anniversary of the
Moscow Protocol should prompt us to reflect and think: would it be
possible to imagine a green Lend-Lease programme to fight climate
change? Such a policy could adapt the best elements of the 1940s formula
to 21st-century conditions. Three particular aspects stand out:
diplomatic flexibility, public-private co-operation and global distribution.
Lend-Lease was a victory of pragmatism over ideology. The programme,
started by the US but administered jointly with Britain and other
Allies, was open to any state, regardless of its political orientation.
Half of the world’s sovereign states signed up for it. By 1945, this
alliance formed the initial membership of the United Nations. Yet only
half of the 36 countries that received aid were democracies. Aid went
not just to Stalin but to other authoritarians including Chiang
Kai-shek, Getúlio Vargas and Ibn Saud. Lend-Lease funding was not just
indiscriminate, but large. The programme expended near $50bn — one out
of every six dollars spent by Washington during the war. This is nearly
four times as much as the $13bn of the better-known Marshall Plan.
Lend-Lease’s second strength was its reliance on public investment to
mobilise private resources. US government spending equal to 1.5 per cent
of gross domestic product kickstarted a wave of private investment. A
recent G7 report estimates combined public and private investment
worldwide needs to rise by 2 per cent each year to meet climate targets.
But today there are more rich countries, that can borrow at much lower
rates, than in the 1940s.
Third, Lend-Lease efficiently used the global division of labour of its
time. It directed the most advanced economies, the US and Britain, to
produce equipment and supplies for the front lines, from the Eastern
Front to north Africa, India and China. A green Lend-Lease programme
could likewise exploit regional economic specialisation and investment
needs. European and US firms dominate innovation in green technology,
and western investors own most of the capital to fund the energy
transition. But the productive effort is best focused in East Asia, the
region with the high-tech manufacturing capacity to produce low-carbon
technologies. Meanwhile, it is the developing world that most urgently
needs large-scale investment in renewable energy grids, more resilient
infrastructure and better-protected food provision.
As world leaders prepare for November’s COP26 in Glasgow, ominous talk
of a “new cold war” should not distract from the need to accelerate the
global energy transition, regardless of ideological differences.
Lend-Lease remains one of the most powerful examples of how realpolitik
and public-private finance can drive ambitious internationalism.
https://www.ft.com/content/fd7bcad4-53b0-4e1e-9cd9-99c3c2ff43b6
/[messy politics feels more like organized crime]/
*With Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s Snubbing of the Democrats’ Reconciliation
Plans, Environmental Advocates Ask, ‘Which Side Are You On?’*
The Arizona Democrat, whose vote is crucial for Biden’s climate plans,
has been coy about her reasons for refusing to support the Democrats’
$3.5 trillion package.
By Judy Fahys -- October 1, 2021
In Kyrsten Sinema’s 2009 book, Unite and Conquer: How to Build
Coalitions That Win and Last, she described the necessity of working
with Republicans so she could “get something done.”
But after months when Sen. Sinema (D-Ariz.) has defiantly snubbed a $3.5
trillion reconciliation package that contains the bulk of President Joe
Biden’s plan for tackling climate change, many Democrats think she just
may have gone too far.
“Now she’s working with Republicans to get nothing done,” said Sandy
Bahr, executive director of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club.
“If she’s not supporting strong climate policy, then she’s definitely
out of step with Arizonans,” said Bahr, a veteran environmental activist
who has worked for Sinema’s campaigns and who said that, in a state with
too little water and way too much heat, voters grasp the need for urgent
climate action.
“They get it; they see it; they’re living it,” she said.
Instead, the Arizona Democrat is helping to push through an
infrastructure bill that includes little to tackle climate change, only
measures to address its impacts. On Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
said he was in favor of a $1.5 trillion reconciliation package. Then,
late Thursday night, House Democrats delayed a planned vote on a roughly
$1 trillion infrastructure bill that Manchin and Sinema had helped
negotiate, after liberals refused to support it in response to the
centrist Senators’ failure to get behind Biden’s reconciliation package.
Sinema and Manchin are the two holdouts in a Senate where every
Democratic vote is needed to pass the reconciliation package. And while
Manchin’s objections to the spending plan—he has said it costs too much
and includes clean energy provisions that are too onerous—may be
understandable in a coal-state politician, Sinema’s reasons for
withholding her support remain mysterious, even to her Democratic
colleagues.
- -
In a recent interview with the Arizona Republic, Sinema acknowledged
that she had “an interest in policies addressing climate change” in the
reconciliation plan and in some of its proposals for “human
infrastructure.”
But asked about what she specifically wants and doesn’t want in the
reconciliation package, she said, “I don’t make decisions based on other
peoples’ actions or other peoples’ behavior. And I don’t engage in
hypotheticals or predict outcomes.”
Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs for the
League of Conservation Voters, said Sinema has a long record of
recognizing climate change as a real and urgent problem.
“She has this opportunity to be part of transformational progress for
her state and for our country,” Sittenfeld said. “We certainly hope and
expect that she will meet the moment and support the package.”
Progressives, in particular, aren’t so sure. The stakes are dire for
Democrats and their leader in the White House, whose climate proposal is
aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 with a
carrot-and-stick approach.
The reconciliation package includes a grab-bag of programs that have
been bundled together and separated from the infrastructure bill to
avoid the necessity of winning over at least 10 Republican senators. The
reconciliation package contains climate provisions to promote clean
electricity generation, spark electric vehicle purchases, reduce potent
methane emissions and conserve soil. According to one analysis, that’s
1.3 billion metric tons in emissions cuts, just as new international
climate talks—the first since the United States rejoined the Paris
accord—begin next month...
- -
Maria Nájera, director of government affairs for the regional advocacy
group, Western Resource Advocates, said it’s essential for Congress to
pass the reconciliation package before Capitol Hill potentially returns
to Republican control in next year’s elections and the White House
potentially does too in 2024.
Nájera’s group is part of a coalition that’s pressing for $150 billion
to be included in the reconciliation package for the Clean Electricity
Payment Program, intended to push utilities toward ensuring that 80
percent of the nation’s electricity is furnished by clean energy sources
within a decade. She said programs like this are needed to address a
climate emergency that Americans are already experiencing.
“It’s only going to get worse,” she concluded. “And, if you’re not
actually focusing on turning off the tap [to slow climate impacts], all
the buckets in the world aren’t going to help you.”...
- -
Sinema’s potential to derail her party’s agenda prompted one headline
writer to declare her a “Democrat Only Republicans Can Love.” Another
said the senator’s resistance to progressives is “driving them to the
brink.” Meanwhile, Joy Behar, host of ABC’s “The View,” said on
Wednesday that Sinema and Manchin “must be brought to task” because they
are blocking the Democratic agenda and threatened to be “the ruination
of the nation.” She said, “These people are destroying the country in my
opinion.”
Recent news reports also have begun to surface about hostility toward
Sinema among fellow congressional Democrats. Rep. Veronica Escobar of
Texas complained about Sinema’s “lack of transparency that prevents
progress” on the spending bills.
And Rep. Ro Khanna of California has been listing his grievances with
Sinema in interviews with multiple news outlets: It is “insane” that the
Arizona senator won’t say what she likes and dislikes about the
reconciliation proposal, Khanna told Axios, unlike Manchin, who made it
clear in the press and to colleagues.
“You know exactly where he’s coming from,” Khanna said.
To NPR, he added, “You have no sense of how she plans to get the
revenue, you have no sense of what she wants in there, what she’s not
for, and that’s what makes it so difficult.”
And on MSNBC’s The Reidout, he complained, “How can we negotiate and
compromise when the other person isn’t even willing to have a starting
offer, not just to us, but not to the president?”
In a statement Sinema’s office released Thursday, her spokesman said she
has made clear her concerns, including dollar figures, to the White
House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, CNN reported....
- -
R.L. Miller, founder of California-based Climate Hawks Vote, pointed out
that Sinema was named this summer as one of the 11 senators who Exxon
regards as central to its efforts to derail national climate
legislation. She said Sinema has failed to make positive contributions
to climate policy and could face an intra-party challenge for reelection
because she’s refusing to support the Democratic agenda at this crucial
time.
“I really think that the Democratic base in Arizona is so angry with her
that it’s gonna kill off her career,” said Miller, who said progressives
have already begun considering prospects to line up a strong primary
challenger for Sinema in 2024.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” said Miller. “I just don’t know whether
it ends badly for her or for all of us.”
While the Senate has struggled with the reconciliation package, a
chapter of the youth-led Sunrise Movement based in Mesa has been
protesting outside Sinema’s office even though it is unoccupied because
of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Reconciliation is one of the best opportunities to have any climate
legislation, or climate spending, in the next two years,” said organizer
Casey Clowes.
“We’re posing the question to Sen. Sinema: ‘Which side are you on? On
the side of constituents who are trying to solve and survive the climate
crisis, or on the side of the fossil fuel executives?’”
Judy Fahys, Reporter, Mountain West, National Environmental Reporting
Network
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01102021/kyrsten-sinema-reconciliation-climate-change/
/[ Listen to the money ] /
*Billionaire Ray Dalio on climate change: ‘It worries me. I worry for man’*
Sep 30 2021
Jade Scipioni
- -
Over those past three years, Dalio says, he’s realized that plenty of
folks still talk about climate change in a “theoretical sense.”
“Many people think 20 years from now is far,” he says. But it “ain’t
far.” he adds.
In focusing on ocean climate, Dalio says, he’s discovered that few
people understand the massive amounts of carbon dioxide the ocean
absorbs. According to researchers at England’s University of Exeter,
around 25% of all CO2 emissions generated annually by human activity —
roughly 900 million tons — are absorbed in the ocean, making it one of
the world’s largest carbon sinks.
Before the industrial era, the researchers wrote last year, the ocean
actually released CO2 into the atmosphere. But now, the added carbon can
alter the chemistry of seawater, a process known as ocean acidification
— decreasing the water’s pH level and causing some organisms’ shells and
skeletons to dissolve, significantly altering the ocean’s food chain...
- -
“It’s almost as though man is like a disease on the planet,” Dalio says.
“And that planet and nature have the ultimate power.”
According to a poll from the Yale Program on Climate Change
Communication released on Monday, more Americans are becoming
increasingly concerned with climate change. The report says 70% of
Americans are “very” or “somewhat worried” about global warming, an
all-time high since the program started tracking data in March.
Dalio says corporations and individuals alike can use their money to
positively influence the fight by doing more environmental, social and
governance — or ESG — investing.
Last year, Dalio’s Bridgewater started advising clients on
environmentally conscious investing and announced plans to open two
sustainable funds in 2021.
“Fortunately, I think it’s becoming bad or uncool or nasty to be doing
harm to the environment, and it’s becoming cool and appropriate or
polite to do things like ESG investing,” Dalio says.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/30/billionaire-ray-dalio-on-why-climate-change-worries-him.html
/[the famous Kevin Anderson interviewed by Nick Breeze... his new book
is due out Oct 17] /
*Professor Kevin Anderson: “To hell in a hand cart”*
Oct. 1, 2021
Nick Breeze
In the run-up to COP26, we face a new onslaught of mainstream media
coverage of how this conference will decide the fate of humanity. The
truth is that even the best outcome being sought by policymakers is far
short of what the science tells us is needed to stabilise global climate.
Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the accelerating decline of
planetary systems was acknowledged and leaders expressed the need for
change, nothing has been achieved to stop the catastrophic circumstances
that we are facing today.
In this episode of Shaping The Future I am speaking with Professor Kevin
Anderson about his (and colleagues) new paper to be published on the
17th October titled, Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why Haven’t We
Bent the Global Emissions Curve?
In this analysis also emerges potential opportunities that could shift
the locus of where we are in entrenched greed by a powerful few, towards
a better prepared and resilient future for the majority of us.
In the next episode, I am speaking with Jakapita Nanganda on her
struggle to oppose oil drilling and the contamination and destruction of
forests in Namibia and the struggles her family are confronting in the
face of severe drought. Jakapita will be traveling to COP26 as part of
Fridays For Future International to demand a brighter future for her
generation.
You can subscribe to Shaping The Future on all major podcast channels
and Youtube and you can also support my work via Patreon. Please visit
GENN.cc for more information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnoYIRhUqf8
/
//[fiction to save our souls]/
*FIX imagine 2200*
At Fix, we recognize that when writers from different backgrounds
envision the future, the tales they tell expand our ability to imagine a
better world. That’s why we launched a short story contest, Imagine
2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. We encouraged entrants to
envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress. The three
winning stories and nine finalists create intersectional worlds in which
no community is left behind. Whether built on abundance or adaptation,
reform or a new understanding of survival, these stories provide
flickers of hope, even joy, and serve as a springboard for exploring how
fiction can help create a better reality.
https://grist.org/fix/series/imagine-2200-climate-fiction/
/[a cynical history of carbon credits]/
*How @The Spiffing Brit broke the Kyoto Protocol*
Mar 25, 2021
Simon Clark
Why did the EU emissions market succeed when the Kyoto Protocol failed?
Find out on Nebula by signing up for CuriosityStream at
https://www.CuriosityStream.com/Simon...
In this video I'm joined by the wonderful @The Spiffing Brit of the
Yogscast, who shares his expertise in how to exploit everyone's
favourite international treaty, the Kyoto Protocol! We talk about why
the Kyoto Protocol failed to address climate change, using the wrong
tools to try and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In particular this
video looks at the practice of carbon emissions trading, a system that
fell apart for a good reason - it was very easy to exploit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3M9-MxyCaQ
/[ A little sarcasm video that is NOT for children ]/
*The Pandemic - A Children's Song*
Sep 30, 2021
Julie Nolke
The realities of living through a pandemic but for kids... well, sort of...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldw10Ef4V8I
/[The news archive - looking back]/
*On this day in the history of global warming October 2, 2008*
October 2, 2008: Vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah
Palin spar over climate and energy issues in their lone debate,
moderated by Gwen Ifill.
http://youtu.be/5qhox5P_jCg
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
/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/20211002/e7a1be79/attachment.htm>
More information about the TheClimate.Vote
mailing list