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

Tue Sep 21 09:09:40 EDT 2021

/*September 21, 2021*/

/[  a World War?  then why not call it global warming? ]/
*Climate change is biggest global problem we’ve seen since World War II, 
says PwC chairman*
-- Climate change is the most formidable challenge humanity has had to 
face since World War II and will require a similar level of individual 
mobilization and collective cooperation, said Robert Moritz, chairman of 
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
-- “We need 8 billion people to make this a personal cause. The world 
has never seen a challenge like this probably since World War II,” said 
Moritz.
-- “Let me square this up for everybody: We are behind,” Moritz said. 
The globe has to increase decarbonization efforts by fivefold, he said.
“Let me square this up for everybody: We are behind,” he said.

“The reality is, when you look at the numbers, when you look at the 
academic studies, at least our research would say we don’t necessarily 
need to double the efforts, triple the efforts, we actually have to 
fivefold the increase of the change we need to do to decarbonize the 
world that is going on right now,” Moritz said.

To do that will require collaboration and cooperation across industries, 
sectors, stakeholders and leaders.

“How do we pull together all of the puzzle pieces and start to connect 
them, sector by sector, section by section, country by country, to do 
this?” Moritz said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/climate-change-largest-global-problem-since-world-war-ii-pwc-chair.html 

/[ Global climate destabilization can also mean colder ]/
*How climate change is making winters colder*
Sep 17, 2021
Simon Clark
A recent paper makes the extraordinary claim that climate change has 
been making North American winters colder and snowier. Specifically via 
a mechanism I have some history with, the polar vortex...

In this video I talk about Cohen et al (2021), a recent paper linking 
climate change in the Arctic to changes in the stratospheric polar 
vortex, which itself causes changes in winter weather. As I studied this 
mechanism in some detail I thought that I knew what to expect, but it 
turns out that via machine learning techniques, a new way in which the 
polar vortex influences surface weather has been discovered!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxKcqM5aSA4

/[track the data]/
*Analysis: Despite “Code Red” on climate, target update momentum at a 
standstill*
The momentum on updating 2030 targets for climate action has stalled 
since May, with no major emitters putting forward stronger climate 
targets, and the 2030 emissions gap has barely changed, according to new 
analysis released today by the Climate Action Tracker.
- -
https://climateactiontracker.org/media/images/CAT_2021-09_RatingsSummary-1-Overall.width-1000.png
- -
“In May, after the Climate Leaders’ Summit and the Petersburg dialogue, 
we reported that there appeared to be good momentum with new climate 
action commitments, but governments then had only closed the emissions 
gap by up to 14 percent,” said Niklas Höhne, of NewClimate Institute, a 
CAT partner organisation.

“But since then, there has been little to no improvement: nothing is 
moving. Governments have now closed the gap by up to 15%, a minimal 
improvement since May. Anyone would think they have all the time in the 
world, when in fact the opposite is the case.”

The CAT has updated all of the country ratings under its new ratings 
system, launched today, where it now gives ratings on a wide range of 
actions: an overall rating, the domestic target, policies and action, 
fair share, climate mitigation finance (either on providing mitigation 
finance, or detailing what international support is needed), and land 
use and forestry (where relevant). The CAT has also begun rating net 
zero targets.

Of the 37, countries assessed by the CAT only one - The Gambia – is 
rated as having overall climate action that is 1.5°C Paris Agreement 
compatible.
In another seven, overall climate action is nearly sufficient, meaning 
they are not yet consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature 
limit, but could be with moderate improvements. Three countries, the EU, 
Germany and the US, have significantly updated their targets with a raft 
of new policies, and while the UK’s domestic target is 1.5˚C compatible, 
its policies and international support don’t match.
This leaves three quarters of the countries the CAT assesses with 
significant gaps in climate action.
“Of particular concern are Australia, Brazil, Indonesia Mexico, New 
Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and Viet Nam: they have failed 
to lift ambition at all, submitting the same or even less ambitious 2030 
targets than those they put forward in 2015. These countries need to 
rethink their choice,” said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, a CAT 
partner.

“The IPCC has given the world a ‘code red’ warning on the dangers of 
climate change reinforcing the urgent need for the world to halve 
emissions by 2030. An increasing number of people around the world are 
suffering from ever more severe and frequent impacts of climate change, 
yet government action continues to lag behind what is needed. While many 
governments have committed to net zero, without near-term action 
achieving net zero is virtually impossible,” said Hare.

On the policy front, coal remains an issue, with China and India both 
with huge coal pipelines. South East Asia is also of concern, with 
Indonesia, Viet Nam, Japan and South Korea still planning to forge ahead 
with the most polluting of fossil fuels.

Gas is still falsely being promoted as a “bridging fuel” and needs to be 
phased out as soon as possible, yet Australia, the world’s largest gas 
exporter, is still pouring cash into expanding gas. Even the EU still 
has plans to commit funding to new gas infrastructure.

“Gas is a fossil fuel, and any investment into gas today risks becoming 
a stranded asset. And while interest in green hydrogen has grown 
exponentially, there is still a large number of hydrogen projects in the 
pipeline where it’s produced from gas. Hydrogen produced from gas still 
produces carbon, and is inconsistent with reaching net zero,” said Hare.
https://climateactiontracker.org/press/analysis-despite-code-red-on-climate-target-update-momentum-at-a-standstill/

[report on changing our ways. ]
*Changing our ways? **Behaviour change and the climate crisis*
The report of the Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling 
Behaviour Change
[From the Introduction]
    Behaviours change. That much we know. And if we were in any doubt
about the speed with which they can change and the scale of their 
effects, the
Covid-19 pandemic has served as a sharp reminder. But beyond such times 
of crisis,
behaviours also change at key moments in our lives, when we have children,
retire or move home. They are shaped by a range of family, community, 
regional
and broader societal influences and physical infrastructures. But there 
is little
consensus about how best to deliberately shape and directly influence 
everyday
behaviours around transport, food and energy use in more sustainable 
directions
and where responsibility and agency to effect that change lies.
     This is particularly true of discussions about how best to scale 
behaviour change. Government policy,
economic incentives and broader cultural change all have a role to play. 
But can they achieve the
scale of change over short-term time frames within which ‘transformative 
action’ needs to take place
to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement? In climate and broader 
sustainability terms, some
behaviours matter more than others. Carbon footprints are closely 
correlated with income levels,
highlighting the need for targeted and differential strategies within 
and between societies. Tools,
strategies, levers and entry points, to be effective, have to recognise 
important cultural differences,
uneven capacity to affect and enact change and very different levels of 
responsibility. There are few
one-size-fits-all solutions to delivering change at this scale across 
and between divided and unequal
societies. Multi-pronged approaches are required...
full report is a PDF named - 
Cambridge-Sustainability-Commissions-report-FINAL.pdf

[follow bank talk - here is a new word --  “Underwaterwriting” ]
*Banks consider climate risk for home loans, a process called 
‘underwaterwriting’ or ‘blue-lining’*
-- “Underwaterwriting” is when banks consider external climate data in 
mortgage decisions.
-- “Blue-lining,” from the consumer’s perspective, is when banks or 
mortgage lenders draw lines of risk around certain streets or 
neighborhoods, often without clear disclosure.
Underwaterwriting is a neologism that combines “underwriting” with 
“underwater.” It refers to the process of banks considering external 
climate data, including business analytics, climate science, catastrophe 
modeling and insurance modeling, when making loans and assessing a 
home’s value, according to Kennan. His research found that smaller, more 
local community banks have a better understanding of local flooding 
risks than large banks, which helps them better understand risk and 
resilient investment strategies.

Blue-lining, on the other hand, is when banks or mortgage lenders draw 
lines of risk around certain neighborhoods and streets based on their 
susceptibility to flooding or other climate-related disasters. The term 
is meant to be reminiscent of redlining, a product of institutionalized 
racism that restricted loan availability to homeowners in 
minority-dominated neighborhoods. Some climate advocates feel that 
blue-lining is creating a new class of victims who have their climate 
risk determined by banks with little transparency.

“The direct comparison between redlining and blue-lining is that it’s 
targeting some of the same groups. Those who are most at risk with 
climate change and climate disasters are the same ones who have been 
struggling and advocating for their societal rights,” said Jasmine 
Sanders, executive director of Our Climate, a youth climate activist group.

“People are having a double whammy,” she said. “The redlined communities 
that are still being impacted are now going to be impacted by this 
blue-lining going on.”
Nevertheless, climate risk is now an integral part of the value of a 
home. Find out your risk at websites such as the Insurance Information 
Institute’s freehomerisk.com or First Street Foundation’s 
floodfactor.com and watch the video to learn more about how some 
homeowners are tackling climate risk.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/blue-lining-and-underwaterwriting-banks-consider-climate-change-risk.html 

/[sort of a day-in-the-life overview]/*
**What It's Like Trying to Contain Over 200K Acres of Wildfire*
VICE News
So far this year's wildfire season in California is on track to match 
last year's-- which was the worst on record. That's created a need for 
more manpower-- not just on the ground but in the skies above them. Vice 
New's Michael Anthony Adams embedded with Firewatch Cobra—a team of 
pilots, mechanics, and data specialists organized by the US Forest Service.

Together, they man a Vietnam-era combat chopper retrofitted with hi-tech 
computers, cameras, and infrared sensors hovering thousands of feet 
above the flames. Acting as a communication relay station in the sky, 
the Firewatch team helps coordinate the more than 40 helicopters and 
other aircraft called in to help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw78imI_euY

/[ what's going on, thanks for asking]/
*A World Without Children*
A generation facing an intractable problem debates whether to bring a 
new generation into the world.
By Emma Green
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Miley Cyrus vowed not to have a baby on a “piece-of-shit planet.” 
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mused in an Instagram video 
about whether it’s still okay to have children. Polls suggest that a 
third or more of Americans younger than 45 either don’t have children or 
expect to have fewer than they might otherwise because they are worried 
about climate change. Millennials and Gen Z are not the first 
generations to face the potential of imminent, catastrophic, 
irreversible change to the world they will inherit. But, it seems, they 
are the first to seriously entertain whether that means they should stop 
having children.
This question tends to cleave people into two camps: those who think 
considering climate change is reasonable and necessary when making 
decisions about having children, and those who find this premise 
unthinkable. “There’s a difference in caring about our climate … and 
asking a legitimate question about doing away with the human race,” the 
conservative television personality Abby Huntsman said on The View of 
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments...
- -
Meghan Kallman and Josephine Ferorelli started hosting house parties and 
collecting testimonies about this topic roughly half a decade ago, in a 
project called Conceivable Future. They wanted people, and especially 
women, to be able to share deeply held and often silent worries, and to 
connect with the climate issue from a personal perspective. I talked 
with Kallman and Ferorelli about why the climate crisis is different 
from any other crisis in human history, whether they’re planning to have 
kids, and how that’s related to their hope for the future...
- -
*Ferorelli: *One thing that revealed itself to us pretty early is that, 
for a lot of white, middle-class people, climate is this stunner of an 
issue. It’s the first time a lot of us have noticed that our well-being 
is not cherished by our leadership. But for almost everybody else, 
demographically, that’s not a surprise...
- -
*Kallman:* First of all, neither of us have chosen to have children or 
to not have children. We’re both in our 30s. We both have a little bit 
of time to make this decision. And for both of us, there are personal 
considerations...

There is a really, really gross class—and by extension, 
race—underpinning of the premise that you should have children. Your 
children will save X. Your children will invent the cure for Y. That 
comment seems to mean: Because you are privileged, because you are 
white, because you are educated, your kids are more valuable and 
therefore you should have them (a) because you’re a woman, and (b) 
because they’ll fix everything. The stuff to unpack in there is dense as 
a brick, and it’s really destructive.

The point is that everybody’s kids deserve a chance at a healthy life.
- -
*Ferorelli: *There are a lot of moral evasions that people practice in 
order to not engage with the climate crisis as an issue. It’s a habit 
that people have developed in this privileged world to say, “Oh, these 
are first-world problems.” It’s a way to discredit concern but also to 
protect inaction. “Oh, I don’t have it that bad; climate change doesn’t 
affect me personally. Do I have a right to talk about this?” I think 
that a lot of people stall out at that point.

The mis-framing of our work as “These are eccentric women who are vowing 
not to have children, and they’re hysterical”—that was something we got 
a lot in the early days. Some groups have organized around a pledge not 
to have children, and I understand why they do that, but that’s not what 
we’ve ever done. What we’re saying is: There’s a generation of people 
who are looking at the world around us and saying, “Oh shit. It might 
not be safe for me to have a child,” or, “Oh shit, if I commit to 
activism, I won’t have time to parent a child during the next decade.” 
To us, it has no political significance whether you have one child, five 
children, or none. The political significance comes from seeing the 
threats, naming the threats, and organizing to address them in a 
systemic way.
- -
*Kallman: *There are two concerns that people at our house parties 
frequently show up with. One is: What kind of harm will my child do to 
the world? The number of diapers these kids produce would eventually 
circle the Earth; they’ll create X tons of carbon, X tons of trash. And 
then the other question is: What kind of harm would a hotter and less 
stable and more potentially violent world do to my kid? It’s thinking 
about entering this system that feels so very fragile and so very 
unstable. We’re living in a time of entwined, unending crisis...
And there’s a really strong sense of intergenerational grief and tension 
around this. There are folks who are grandparent-age who are watching 
their adult children struggle with this and feeling the grief and sorrow 
and guilt of the whole system...
For me, at least, it’s not about if you’re ever comfortable enough. I 
can’t promise any child a safe future.

I want to be really clear that my decision around this is unmade. What I 
want to see is a sign that people are taking this seriously—that there 
is a good-faith, collaborative effort to make the world safe.

Is there a threshold? No. For every single person, this is a complex 
assessment of partner or partners and financial security, age, whatever. 
To me, it’s not a useful framing, either to myself or to say out loud to 
you: “Is there a threshold? What’s the threshold?” We don’t know what’s 
going to happen. We’re already in the age of uncertainty. The question 
is: Can we use the collective power that we have to push that 
uncertainty into the best possible outcome?...
- -
*Ferorelli: *People who have children are doing so because they know 
they have to have hope located in the future. It’s a way of staking a 
claim in the future that you care about on a really deep level. There is 
no one right outcome. If we were advocating an outcome, I think we would 
have closed up shop years ago. We’re advocating broad participation in a 
conversation that gets people to engage with the levers of power.

*Kallman: *It’s the fact of the question, not the answer. The outcome 
doesn’t matter in any individual case...
- -
*Ferorelli: *I think it’s a really beautiful question. I tend to find 
philosophical meaning in stuff that a lot of people experience as 
prosaic. I teach yoga, and I find that my experience of my physical body 
connects me to the world around me. There’s an idea of God in my life, 
and the succession of generations, and the ongoing power of life. I 
don’t believe in a literal reincarnation, but I do believe in a woven 
thing that is life, that makes us deeply, intrinsically responsible for 
each other and what comes next. I feel often that I’m coming up short 
that way, and I feel like having these conversations about a future we 
can imagine together is a spiritual practice...
- -
*Kallman: *Rebecca Solnit has a definition of hope as living in the 
unstuck place between optimism and pessimism where action is possible. 
Optimists think everything’s going to be fine, no matter what happens, 
and they excuse themselves from action. And pessimists think we’re 
fucked no matter what happens, and they excuse themselves from action. 
But hope lives in the unstuck middle place where agency is possible. I 
believe that what I do matters. So, by that definition, yes, I feel 
hopeful...
- -
Emma Green is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers 
politics, policy, and religion.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/09/millennials-babies-climate-change/620032/

- -

/[Here is the group - members interveiwed above ]/
*Conceivable Future *
*LONG-TERM LOVE OVER SHORT-TERM PROFIT*
90 testimonies and counting
Who We Are
Conceivable Future is a women-led network of Americans bringing 
awareness to the threat climate change poses to reproductive justice, 
and demanding an end to US fossil fuel subsidies.

We believe that this country can’t take meaningful steps to mitigate the 
changing climate without severing ties with the industry most 
responsible. We also see a great need to build moral power for climate 
action, and we believe that telling the stories of climate change’s 
impact on our reproductive lives will bring public perception of the 
crisis from “over there” in science/economics/politics into the heart of 
our daily lives; from consumer choices like lightbulbs and appliances to 
the intimate choices that define our humanity.

Our generation is in a unique, dangerous and powerful position. It’s not 
‘future generations’, it’s right now. Across the country we are 
organizing house parties for people to meet, talk, testify and take action.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for 
all volunteers, partners, staff, and contractors. We aim to build 
relationships with a wide spectrum of partner organizations as we fight 
for climate justice...
https://conceivablefuture.org/mission

[The news archive - looking back]
*On this day in the history of global warming September  21, 1998*
September 21, 1998: In an anecdote that explains the mainstream media's 
skittishness about covering climate change, TIME's international editor, 
Charles Alexander, is asked by the Wall Street Journal if TIME's "Heroes 
for the Planet" series, which is sponsored by Ford, will cover 
environmentalists critical of the automobile industry's role in 
furthering climate change. Alexander responds that those 
environmentalists won't be covered, noting, "We don't run airline ads 
next to stories about airline crashes."
http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/fear-amp-favor-2000-the-first-annual-report/

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