[✔️] April 12, 2022 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Tue Apr 12 09:14:45 EDT 2022

/*April 12, 2022*/

/[ hmm.. difficult to walk through the mud ] /
*Donors Pledge $41 Million to Monitor Thawing Arctic Permafrost*
The six-year effort by climate scientists and policy experts aims to 
fill gaps in knowledge about planet-warming emissions and help affected 
communities in Alaska.
- -
Led by the Massachusetts-based Woodwell Climate Research Center, the 
6-year, $41 million project will fill in gaps in monitoring across the 
Arctic of greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, currently a 
source of uncertainty in climate models. The project is financed by 
private donors, among them the billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott.

With the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard 
University and the Alaska Institute of Justice, the project will also 
develop policies to help mitigate the global impact of permafrost 
emissions and, locally in Alaska, assist Native communities that are 
struggling with thawing ground and problems that arise from it.

“A good part of this is science,” said Sue Natali, a permafrost 
researcher, director of the Arctic program at Woodwell and one of the 
leaders of the new project, called Permafrost Pathways. “But really, 
it’s important to us to be making sure that our science is actually 
useful and usable where it’s needed.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/climate/permafrost-climate-change.html

- -

[ here it is ]
*Permafrost thaw is threatening Arctic communities and our global climate.*
Our course of action
https://permafrost.woodwellclimate.org/

/[ Oh boy, a new term.   A bunch of new terms  ]/
*I Wrote an Essay About “Petromasculinity,” and Conservatives Freaked Out*
Liza Featherstone/April 11, 2022
The knee-jerk panic some conservative men feel over fossil fuels isn’t 
just tied to financial incentive. It’s an identity.
What is it about climate change and gender that so reliably gets under 
conservatives’ skin? ...I knew this was going to be a sensitive topic. 
But still, the hackles it raised were impressive...
- -
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen tweeted the column, asking “Can you 
imagine being single right now? My god.” Fox News devoted a whole 
article to summarizing the column’s main points (thanks, guys!). Some 
commentators in the right-wing media seemed particularly offended by the 
word “petromasculinity,” which has been used by scholars in recent years 
to describe the well-documented emotional and cultural attachment of 
many white conservative males to climate denial, fossil fuels, and 
authoritarianism. Washington Examiner writer Nicholas Clairmont, in 
response to my article, called the term “one of the most absurd coinages 
I have ever seen.” Other conservative critics willfully (or 
hysterically?) misread the piece; a writer for The Post Millennial 
called petromasculinity “the left’s latest made-up reason to hate men,” 
although the point of the column was that the gender gap among OK Cupid 
users wasn’t that dramatic, and men seemed nearly as interested in 
rejecting the toxic politics of climate denial as women.

These reactions carried more feeling than typical disagreements over 
science or policy. And that’s not surprising: In fact, the term 
petromasculinity was coined specifically to explain why this issue is so 
emotionally fraught for some people: a potent overlap of financial and 
personal interests that, thanks to cynical politics and marketing, has 
turned into a full-blown culture war.

While the notion that fossil fuels could be central to anyone’s gender 
identity may seem like a stretch to some people, political theorist Cara 
Daggett—now an assistant professor of political science at Virginia 
Tech—explained the connection in an article for Millennium: Journal of 
International Studies back in 2018: The old order of cheap fuel enabled 
the family wage, the suburb, cars, the male-headed household, and many 
of its material comforts. That’s why Trump focused his 2016 campaign on 
a dying industry (“Trump Digs Coal”), not only to win votes in states 
where coal has a lingering economic significance but as a nod to the men 
for whom coal matters psychically. Trump used coal to signify that he 
was with the real men, against the soy boys and Democrats who worry that 
coal is the leading source of emissions dangerously warming the planet.

Daggett described how the declining coal industry, no longer able to 
promise economic benefits to Appalachian communities as it did in the 
past, still ingratiates itself through P.R. appeals to masculinity: 
images of the male provider, connecting coal to football and NASCAR, 
hunting and fishing. From a left perspective, climate politics should be 
a class war between people like Marc Andreessen and the rest of us. But 
Daggett’s analysis helps explain why a culture war surrounds fossil 
fuels and climate politics. As she puts it, fossil fuels not only make 
profits, they also “make identities” and “cultural meaning,” all of 
which is “oil soaked and coal dusted.” Fossil fuel use, she argues, 
offers “violent compensation for the anxieties provoked by both climate 
and gender trouble.”

Despite accumulating evidence that coal, oil, and gas companies have 
long lied to and poisoned the communities they employ, workers in 
declining fossil fuel towns do have legitimate reasons to fear the 
upcoming energy transition. (This, incidentally, is a central point in 
the Green New Deal platform, which emphasizes the need for a “just 
transition” to ensure employment for these communities.) Others fear 
hardship if environmental policies imposed by indifferent elites raise 
gas prices (as happened in France to disastrous political effect in 
2018). But the culture war over fossil fuels goes far beyond these 
specific, material worries.

Daggett argues that as the old order—the family where dad ruled 
uncontested, fossil fuels, perhaps even American dominance—slips out of 
reach, some will fight it with a violent nihilism. Many conservative 
white men—let’s call them petrosexuals—love fossil fuels not despite 
their destructiveness but because of them. Daggett gives “rollin’ coal” 
as an example. This antisocial antic involves retrofitting a diesel 
truck to flood the engine with excess gas, producing clouds of thick 
black smoke. In 2014, it became popular as a form of right-wing protest 
of environmentalism; later, in favor of Trump; and most recently in the 
Canadian truckers’ “freedom” convoy. (Indeed, the practice was 
celebrated in a country music anthem released in January with a video of 
exuberantly smoky footage of the latter.) Coal rollers will blast smoke 
at the perceived enemies of petromasculinity: bikers, environmental 
activists, and hybrid cars, especially Priuses. Some drivers who do this 
sport bumper stickers reading “Prius Repellent,” like the one in this 
video who rolls coal while passing a hybrid on the road, laughing 
gleefully. A 2017 compilation video shows coal rollers targeting “Black 
Lives Matter, Trump Haters, Tree Huggers.” One driver yells, “Tastes 
like America, right? Make America Great Again!” This activity isn’t fun 
despite being bad for the environment, but because. The destructive 
sadism is the joy.

While many of Silicon Valley’s wealthy would distance themselves from 
this uncouth Trumpy identification with fossil fuels, Andreessen is a 
good example of how petromasculinity can operate in a white-collar 
context as well. Andreessen has flirted with the right as he’s gotten 
richer, as journalist Eoin Higgins showed in a 2018 analysis of the 
venture capitalist’s Twitter activity (though Andreessen supported 
Hillary Clinton in 2016 after Carly Fiorina dropped out of the 
Republican primary). His tweet about the horror of being single in an 
era when online daters care about climate change is simultaneously 
absurd and revealing. With a net worth of $1.8 billion, if his current 
wife (the daughter of a Silicon Valley billionaire real estate mogul) 
left him tomorrow he’d easily find a date—even though he’s almost as old 
as I am and no better looking—regardless of his climate change views, 
probably even on OK Cupid. For Andreessen to express concern about the 
troubles that a normal man would face in this arena is like Elon Musk 
fretting about gas prices.

Still, it’s plausible that Andreessen is threatened by the demise of 
petrosexuality in a material way: Climate denial, especially in its most 
aggressive, violent and political forms, is essential to profitmaking 
right now. Andreessen is a major investor, for example, in 
cryptocurrency, which has horrific effects on the environment. Bitcoin, 
according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, uses about as much 
energy as the entire country of Sweden; the massive carbon footprint of 
crypto is due to the massive amount of computing power it requires, 
which makes it an extremely unfortunate tech bro fad for our current 
moment, in which we need to reach net-zero emissions by yesterday. 
Andreessen probably doesn’t roll coal, but business models like his need 
the guys who do, and the reactionary politics they represent.

The good news is the petrosexuals are in the minority (perhaps, other 
than pedophiles, the least sympathetic sexual minority ever). When asked 
in a 2019 Pew survey whether the government should prioritize expanding 
alternative energy or protecting the fossil fuel industry, Democrats 
were aligned on favoring alternative energy, regardless of gender, 
whereas Republican support for fossil fuels skewed male and 
ideologically hard right. The petromasculinists are overrepresented in 
our political system, which, through undemocratic institutions like the 
Senate and the Electoral College, gives white, conservative voters power 
beyond their numbers. Without that imbalance, plus voter suppression, 
and, just as important, the outsize influence on politics of cynical 
plutocrats like Andreessen, the petromasculinists could roll coal all 
they wanted but would have little impact on our world, eventually dying out.

And of course, without his wealth, Andreessen would be no more datable 
than a coal roller on OK Cupid. I like to think his anxious tweet was a 
nod to that future, one slightly less pleasant for Marc Andreessen and 
far better for almost everyone else.
https://newrepublic.com/article/166048/fox-news-petromasculinity-fossil-fuels

/[  XR explains why 1989 was so important -- and degrowth now -- video  ]/
*IPCC says WE NEED TO STOP USING FOSSIL FUELS | IPCC Explained - Part 2*
Extinction Rebellion UK - April 11, 2022
The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The world's 
largest and leading body working to gather and advance knowledge on 
human induced climate change.

This IPCC report is focussed on "mitigation", in other words what we can 
do to reduce the cause and therefore the impacts of the climate crisis. 
The previous video in this series covers the March 2022 IPCC report on 
impacts and adaptation.

There was a leak of this draft document last year, scientists have 
compared the two, and you can read their comments on the differences 
here: https://scientistrebellion.com/we-leaked-the-upcoming-ipcc-report/

SPMs (Summary for Policymakers - an abridged version of the full report) 
like the one discussed in this film are often greatly criticised for 
allowing leaders off the hook. Because its release has to pass 
government consensus, the most bold and direct asks get removed by 
powerful petrostates before publication.

Help XR mobilise and donate: https://chuffed.org/project/xrapril2022

    1. Tell The Truth
    2. Act Now
    3. Beyond Politics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--fHgmdoa-k

- -
/[  IPCC ramifications, earnest reportage from PBS ] /
*UN climate report warns governments are falling short on lowering 
planet's temperature*
Apr 4, 2022
PBS NewsHour
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change laid out 
its latest report Monday stressing the critical need to implement 
dramatic cuts in greenhouse gasses to head off the worst impacts of 
climate change. Dave Roberts writes a newsletter and hosts a podcast 
called “Volts,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaUw-PoLTgA

/[ video nicely explains why and how the opinion manipulation leads us 
to favor eco-socialism ]/
*How Fascists Are Taking Advantage Of Climate Change*
Mar 25, 2022
Second Thought
We all understand that climate change is real, it's here, and that the 
consequences of our inaction will be disastrous for our species and 
countless other forms of life around the world. But what happens when 
those in positions of power see climate change as a means to an end? A 
way to make truly draconian policies seem rational? In this week's 
episode, we're talking about two distinct forms of climate fascism: 
Fossil Fascism and Ecofascism.

Make sure to check out the companion video by Our Changing Climate here: 
https://youtu.be/QI59G-Uup-0

How Fascists Are Taking Advantage Of Climate Change – Second Thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA1T_0pZHXk

/[  coming too late ]/
*Why Electric Cars Won't Save Us*
Apr 8, 2022
Our Changing Climate

Find the Nebula extended video here: 
https://nebula.app/videos/occ-why-ele...

In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at why 
electric cars won't save us. Specifically, I unpack why electric cars 
still have emissions tied to them as well as solidify imperialist 
extraction in the global south. That being said, electric cars are still 
much better for the planet and for people than gas-powered, fossil 
fuel-guzzling cars. My question, however, is whether completely 
replacing gas cars with electric cars is a justice-oriented answer to 
the climate crisis. To that, I offer up free and electrified public 
transportation like trams and buses as an alternative that would expand 
access to cities, especially for low-income people, and minimize our 
material footprint. Public transportation is essential to creating an 
ethical and ecologically focused future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn9Vl0G53lA

/[   a clear discussion ] /
*Degrowth and Ecosocialism | Bonus*
Mar 18, 2022
Planet: Critical
An analysis of the Planet: Critical episode with Jason Hickel on 
Degrowth and Ecosocialism: https://youtu.be/isjWWCRBJBk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC2DBlvp_CI

- -

/[introducing deeper discussions  post carbon world ]/
*Understanding the Nature of Systems | Bonus*
Apr 8, 2022
Planet: Critical
Rachel Donald on the Planet: Critical episode with Jessie Henshaw, 
Understanding the Nature of Systems: https://youtu.be/eej-AcargnA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckwfc5UkPXY

/[ we know the ethics of the industrial process ]/
*Gravitas Plus: Blood The dark side of Electric Vehicles*
April 11, 2022
WION
Are Electric Vehicles really clean?
They run on dirty energy and blood of children as young as 6.
Electric cars drive human rights abuse and child labour.
China is one of the villains in this story.
Are electric carmakers equally guilty too?
Palki Sharma Upadhyay tells you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHvq-8np1o

/[ Russia has lots of fossil fuels ] /
*War Gives Oil Producers Greater Clout at Global Climate Talks*
Higher demand for fossil fuels has strengthened their hand
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-11/war-gives-oil-producers-greater-clout-at-cop27

/[The news archive - looking back]/
*April 12, 2015*
Harvard Heat Week--a series of demonstrations against Harvard 
University's refusal to sever ties with the fossil fuel industry--begins 
in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/04/07/wake-harvard-time-divest-from-fossil-fuels/9xT2pzgtL8PIpI7UakKyOJ/story.html?event=event25
http://bluemassgroup.com/2015/04/why-im-banned-from-harvard-and-why-im-coming-back-anway/
=======================================

*More daily summaries*
---------------------------------------

*Climate Nexus https://climatenexus.org/hot-news/*
Delivered straight to your inbox every morning, Hot News summarizes the 
most important climate and energy news of the day, delivering an 
unmatched aggregation of timely, relevant reporting. It also provides 
original reporting and commentary on climate denial and pro-polluter 
activity that would otherwise remain largely unexposed.    5 weekday

=================================

*Carbon Brief Daily https://www.carbonbrief.org/newsletter-sign-up*
Every weekday morning, in time for your morning coffee, Carbon Brief 
sends out a free email known as the “Daily Briefing” to thousands of 
subscribers around the world. The email is a digest of the past 24 hours 
of media coverage related to climate change and energy, as well as our 
pick of the key studies published in the peer-reviewed journals.
more at https://www.getrevue.co/publisher/carbon-brief

==================================

*The Daily Climate   Subscribe https://ehsciences.activehosted.com/f/61*
Get The Daily Climate in your inbox - FREE! Top news on climate impacts, 
solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered week days. Better than coffee.

Other newsletters too
more at https://www.dailyclimate.org/originals/

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

/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/20220412/5e5d07d5/attachment.htm>