[✔️] September 20, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Mon Sep 20 08:22:19 EDT 2021

/*September 20, 2021*/

/[something amiss in the land of Oz]/
*This Powerful Democrat Linked to Fossil Fuels Will Craft the U.S. 
Climate Plan*
Senator Joe Manchin is already a crucial swing vote in the Democrats’ 
sweeping budget bill. But he will also write the details of its climate 
change program.
By Coral Davenport  - - Sept. 19, 2021
WASHINGTON — Joe Manchin, the powerful West Virginia Democrat who chairs 
the Senate energy panel and earned half a million dollars last year from 
coal production, is preparing to remake President Biden’s climate 
legislation in a way that tosses a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry 
— despite urgent calls from scientists that countries need to quickly 
pivot away from coal, gas and oil to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Mr. Manchin has already emerged as the crucial up-or-down vote in a 
sharply divided Senate when it comes to Mr. Biden’s push to pass a $3.5 
trillion budget bill that could reshape the nation’s social welfare 
network. But Mr. Biden also wants the bill to include an aggressive 
climate policy that would compel utilities to stop burning fossil fuels 
and switch to wind, solar or nuclear energy, sources that do not emit 
the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet.

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. 
Manchin holds the pen and the gavel of the congressional panel, with the 
authority to shape Mr. Biden’s ambitions.

But Mr. Manchin is also closely associated with the fossil fuel 
industry. His beloved West Virginia is second in coal and seventh in 
natural gas production among the 50 states. In the current election 
cycle, Mr. Manchin has received more campaign donations from the oil, 
coal and gas industries than any other senator, according to data 
compiled by OpenSecrets, a research organization that tracks political 
spending.
He profits personally from polluting industries: He owns stock valued at 
between $1 million and $5 million in Enersystems Inc., a coal brokerage 
firm which he founded in 1988. He gave control of the firm to his son, 
Joseph, after he was elected West Virginia secretary of state in 2000. 
Last year, Mr. Manchin made $491,949 in dividends from his Enersystems 
stock, according to his Senate financial disclosure report.

“It says something fascinating about our politics that we’re going to 
have a representative of fossil fuel interests crafting the policy that 
reduces our emissions from fossil fuels,” said Joseph Aldy, who helped 
craft former President Barack Obama’s climate change bill and now 
teaches at Harvard...
- -
Mr. Manchin’s version is widely expected to have less ambitious 
renewable energy requirements for electric power companies. His version 
could also reward utilities that build new power plants designed to burn 
natural gas. While it emits about half the carbon dioxide of coal, 
natural gas is still a major contributor to global warming...
- -
Mr. Aldy said removing fines would drastically weaken the bill. “The 
penalty on pollution is really important,” he said. “All the analyses 
show that you get big reductions in carbon emissions if you have a 
penalty on polluting. Take that away, and all you have is another 
government subsidy for renewable energy.”...
- -
The proposals now being weighed by Mr. Manchin “would keep fossil fuels 
as a major engine of the economy for longer than the climate can bear 
it,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences at Princeton 
University.

When Mr. Biden was asked last week if he would sign a budget package 
with slimmed-down climate measures, he responded, “I’m for more climate 
measures.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/climate/manchin-climate-biden.html/
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/[great minds in video discussion]/
The Climate Psychology Alliance of North America presents
*A CONVERSATION ABOUT CLIMATE: "HOW WE GOT HERE, AND WHERE TO NOW?"*
With Bill McKibben and Sally Weintrobe
20th September 2021 at 2:00pm EST/ 11am PST

*This event is free of charge*
Join us for a not-to-be-missed conversation between American 
environmentalist Bill McKibben and
British psychoanalyst Sally Weintrobe about her brilliant new book, 
Psychological Roots of the Climate Crisis: Neoliberal Exceptionalism and 
the Culture of Uncare, in which she explores the psychological and 
cultural forces behind the rise of the climate bubble, inside of which 
people ignore the climate crisis. She reveals the paradigm shift 
necessary to move from the current dysfunctional culture of uncare 
toward a culture of care necessary for a sustainable world.

**This will be a 30-minute conversation followed by a 30-minute Q&A with 
a select group of journalists **

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, has written extensively on the 
climate crisis, from his prophetic “The End of Nature” (1989) to 
“Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?” (2019).

Sally Weintrobe, psychoanalyst and longstanding member of Climate 
Psychology Alliance UK, writes about the mental health dimensions of the 
climate crisis. She edited and contributed to the book Engaging with 
Climate Change (2013).

Registration at: 
https:/www.eventbrite.com/e/a-conversation-about-climate-how-did-we-get-here-and-where-to-now-tickets-167954700029
This event will be recorded and accessible post-event at 
www.climatepsychology.us

/[News 6 min video update from the Climate Pod]/
*UN Report: The World's Catastrophic Pathway to 2.7 Degrees Warming*
Sep 19, 2021
The Climate Pod
#unitednations #synthesis #NDCs #2.7degrees
On September 17th, The United Nations released its Synthesis Report by 
the Secretariat on the Nationally Determined Contributions available 
today. Based on these NDCs, The United Nations forecasts the planet will 
be 2.7 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels by the end of this 
century. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the report 
"catastrophic".
We've read the report and provided a summary of what it says and what it 
means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJz9GltHg54/
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/[battery innovation]/
*Has Henrik Stiesdal nailed yet another market disruptor?*
Sep 19, 2021
Just Have a Think
*Gridscale *is a long duration energy storage solution developed by 
Stiesdal Storage Technologies in Denmark. The company founder, Henirk 
Stiesdal invented the modern wind turbine and has decades of experience 
in the industry. This new modular storage system sits alongside utility 
scale lithium-ion batteries and provides constant power for up to 7 days.

Video Transcripts available at our website
http://www.justhaveathink.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tEkRRec3NE/
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/[Video visit to the company 60% efficiency - optimized to 90%]/
*Thermal Energy Storage Tour with Stiesdal Gridscale Battery*
Feb 24, 2021
Engineering with Rosie
Solving climate change means an energy transition to renewables, and 
having a lot of variable renewable electricity in the grid means we'll 
need a lot more energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries are great for 
short term storage, and we have heard a lot about the potential to use 
hydrogen for long term storage, but what about in between?

In today's video, I got a tour of Stiesdal Gridscale Battery by COO Bo 
Birkemose. He explained their thermal energy storage product that they 
are developing, and showed me the three small-scale units they have been 
testing their design on, on the way to developing their first grid-scale 
system.

Bo explains the product philosophy, the operating principles of the heat 
battery, what time scale their battery will be suited to, the 
development process, the biggest design challenges and shows me the 
thermal battery up close.

    00:28 How does the thermal energy storage system work?
    02:31 How efficient is the thermal battery?
    03:20 Product goals - fast development, reduce cost
    03:50 What are the design challenges?
    04:59 Challenges associated with installation in remote locations
    06:06 Keeping the turbomachinery clean is another challenge
    06:40 What material is the heat stored in?
    07:26 Choosing the rock size: a tradeoff between heat transfer and
    pressure drop
    07:46 How big is the system?
    09:15 Energy storage duration and how heat batteries compare to
    lithium-ion batteries
    10:09 Tour of the 3 small-scale test units and what they learn from
    each step

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72wkuIvUISs/
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/[CBS says]/
*"Nothing is moving": Only one country in the world has submitted plans 
that will mitigate climate change by 2030, watchdog finds*
BY LI COHEN -- SEPTEMBER 16, 2021  CBS NEWS
A recent report from the United Nations found that the world risks soon 
hitting 1.5°C of global warming in the 2030s, a threshold that would 
ignite "extreme events unprecedented in the observational record." 
Despite the dire warning, a new analysis has found that none of the 
world's major economic countries have sufficient plans to combat climate 
change.

The goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to maintain that 1.5 
threshold. But last month's report said that without "deep reductions in 
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions," the world will 
surpass it within 80 years.

If dramatic reductions were made quickly, it would put the world closer 
to that goal; however, experts have said that such a scenario is 
unlikely. And Wednesday's analysis of 37 countries by watchdog 
organization Climate Action Tracker (CAT) seems to echo that assessment...
- -
Only Gambia has a plan "compatible" with the Paris agreement, CAT said, 
and the United Kingdom is the only one of the G20 countries among those 
with "almost sufficient" plans. CAT determined its rankings based on 
countries' mitigation targets, policies and action, and climate action...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-2030-gambia/

- -

/[Visualize the data]/
*About Climate Action Tracker (CAT)*
The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) is an independent scientific analysis 
produced by two research organisations tracking climate action since 
2009. We track progress towards the globally agreed aim of holding 
warming well below 2°C, and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
https://climateactiontracker.org/
- -
*Analysis: Despite “Code Red” on climate, target update momentum at a 
standstill*
https://climateactiontracker.org/press/analysis-despite-code-red-on-climate-target-update-momentum-at-a-standstill/

[TP -- think of it every day]
*Major toilet paper brands are flushing our forests down the drain*
By Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin | News | September 17th 2021
Companies like Proctor & Gamble are deforesting areas that act as carbon 
sinks.
What runs through your mind when you’re deciding which toilet paper to 
buy? Sale price, roll size, pitiful single-ply or luxurious triple? 
Climate change might not make your list of considerations, but it should.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the toilet 
paper industry is among the most egregious climate offenders in Canada.

In its latest report on tissue products, the NRDC evaluated the 
sustainability of 44 toilet paper brands, giving each product a score 
from A+ to F. Who Gives a Crap, 100% Recycled and Green Forest were 
ranked highest, while Angel Soft and Charmin brought up the rear with 
critically low scores....
- -
As with cars and straws and single-use grocery bags, the responsibility 
and cost of sustainable choices fall first to the consumer.

Alternatives to the “tree-to-toilet” pipeline are highlighted in the 
report, such as bamboo-based and recycled products. There’s a bevy of 
choices, if you’re willing to look for them.

“Finally, both large and small companies are offering tissue products 
that don’t flush our forests down the drain,” said Vinyard. “Now it’s 
time for the laggards like P&G to catch up to the quickly shifting 
market trends.”
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/09/17/news/major-toilet-paper-brands-flushing-forests-down-drain

/[The Queen]/
*Prof. Katharine Hayhoe*
@KHayhoe
Climate change isn't only an environmental issue: it's a health issue, 
and economic issue, a humanitarian issue... and a security issue. That's 
why the US National Academies are establishing a Climate Security 
Roundtable. Please submit nominations here: 
https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/climate-security-roundtable

https://twitter.com/KHayhoe/status/1439393741979144198

/[Radical notion of Agnotology]/
*The Age of Manufactured Ignorance*
Sep 9, 2021
RT America
On the show Chris Hedges discusses the age of manufactured ignorance 
with the scholar Professor Henry A. Giroux.

Education, the scholar Henry Giroux writes, has increasingly become a 
tool of domination as right-wing pedagogical apparatuses controlled by 
the entrepreneurs of hate, attack workers, the poor, people of color, 
refugees, immigrants from the south and others considered disposable. A 
Republican Party dominated by the far right believes education should 
function as a tool of propaganda and pedagogy of oppression, rightly 
named ""patriotic education."" Dissent is defiled as corrupting American 
values and any classroom that addresses racial injustice is viewed as 
antithetical to ""a Christian and white supremacist world where Black 
people 'know their place'."" Banning instruction on ""critical race 
theory"" has become the new McCarthyism. Noam Chomsky argues that any 
reference to the history of slavery, systemic racism or racial injustice 
now replaces ""Communism and Islamic terror as the plague of the modern 
age."" Chomsky, Giroux argues, may not have gone far enough, since GOP 
extremists argue that the threat of communism has simply been expanded 
to include Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Movement and other emerging 
protest groups, all connected and viewed as updated forms of Marxism and 
part of an international communist-global conspiracy. The Red Scare, 
Giroux warns, is alive and well in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wf4rY963FY

/[YouTube video with transcript ]/
*The end of globalisation and the return of localisation - Rupert Read's 
keynote lecture*
Oct 30, 2019
Rupert Read
The end of globalisation and the return of localisation: How climate 
change breakdown terminates developmentality.
This is the 2019 Mahbub ul-Haq Lecture at the Human Development & 
Capability Association's  conference held at Univesity College London.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxIdhv2KHb8

'[One man voice - on video ]
*2021 Unprecedented Government Climate Crime*
Peter Carter
2.87K subscribers
Explains recent big reports on the climate emergency response, being 
ignored by governments, with the UN COP 26 climate conference coming up 
soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnrXw2xuKUw/
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[The news archive - looking back]
*On this day in the history of global warming September 20, 2013*

September 20, 2013: The Obama administration proposes new EPA 
regulations intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new power 
plants in the US.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/13/epa-to-announce-carbonlimitsonnewpowerplants.html

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