[✔️] April 23, 2022 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*April 23, 2022*/

/[  So, what kinds of misleading ads are permitted? ] /
*Twitter bans ‘misleading’ ads about climate change*
The announcement came on Earth Day
By Justine Calma at justcalma  Apr 22, 2022
Twitter levied a new ban today on “misleading” advertisements “that 
contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.”

“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, 
and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important 
conversations about the climate crisis,” the company said in a blog post 
today.

Its decisions about what’s legit content in regard to climate change 
will be guided by “authoritative sources,” it says, including the United 
Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC has 
published a couple of landmark reports on the crisis over the past few 
months that break down what needs to be done to adapt to the changes 
that are already unfolding as well as how to avert even more severe 
consequences in the future, like intensifying weather disasters and 
ferocious wildfire seasons.

Twitter also said that it will soon share more details about how it 
plans to “add reliable, authoritative context” about climate change on 
its platform. Those conversations have gotten much louder over the past 
year, according to the company. Talk about “sustainability” on the 
platform has grown by over 150 percent since 2021, Twitter says. 
Discussions on “decarbonization,” aka getting rid of greenhouse gas 
emissions that come from burning fossil fuels, are also up 50 percent. 
Other environmental conversations are heating up, too. Chatter about 
reducing waste grew by more than 100 percent over the same time period.
Twitter’s new announcement is also part of a broader social media saga 
to stop lies about climate change. Other companies have made similar 
commitments, with varying success.

Google made a commitment in October 2021 to stop allowing ads that 
feature climate denial or that monetize climate misinformation. Even so, 
a report published soon after the new policy went into effect found that 
Google was still placing ads on climate-denying content. Google told The 
Verge at the time that it reviewed the content and decided to take 
“appropriate enforcement actions.” Facebook has also come under fire for 
failing to label climate misinformation despite its policy on flagging 
such content. Another report about the platform published last November 
also found a sharp rise in interactions with posts from Facebook pages 
and groups focused on spreading climate misinformation.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/22/23037677/twitter-bans-climate-change-misinformation-ads



/[  World Economic Forum talks about something different -- agency ]/
*How to get past despair to take powerful action on climate change*
Tom Bateman, and Michael E. Mann
19 Apr 2022
A recent Lancet survey has found that young people can feel powerless 
when it comes to taking action on climate change.
A psychologist and climate scientist explain how our sense of agency is 
critical to the climate effort and how we might improve it.
They introduce four psychological drivers - intentionality, forethought, 
self regulation and self reflection - that can be strengthened with 
practice.
Our species is in a race with climate change, and a lot of people want 
to know, "Can I really make a difference?"

The question concerns what’s known as agency. Its meaning is complex, 
but in a nutshell it means being able to do what you set out to do and 
believing you can succeed.

How well people exercise their agency will determine the severity of 
global warming — and its consequences.

The evidence is clear that people are changing the climate dramatically. 
But human actions can also affect the climate for the better by reducing 
fossil fuel burning and carbon emissions. It’s not too late to avert the 
worst effects of climate change, but time is running out.
Despite abundant technical agency, humanity is alarmingly short of 
psychological agency: belief in one’s personal ability to help. A 
10-country survey study in the Lancet, a British medical journal, found 
that more than half of young people ages 16-25 feel afraid, sad, 
anxious, angry, powerless and helpless about climate change.
- -
*Believing ‘I can do this’*
Human activities — particularly relying on coal, oil and natural gas for 
energy — have dramatically affected the climate, with dire consequences.

As greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuel use accumulate in the 
atmosphere, they warm the planet. Rising global temperatures have fueled 
worsening heat waves, rising sea levels and more intense storms that 
become increasingly harder to adapt to. A new report from the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describes some dangerous 
disruptions already underway, and how they are putting people and the 
environment at risk.

Just as humans can choose to drive gas-guzzlers, they can also choose to 
act in ways that influence the climate, air quality and public health 
for the better. Scientific knowledge and countless opportunities for 
action make that agency possible.

A key part of agency is one’s belief, when faced with a task to perform, 
a situation to manage, or a long-term goal such as protecting the 
climate, that "I can do this." It’s known as self-efficacy.
his may be the most important psychological factor in predicting how 
well people will cope with both climate change and COVID-19, recent 
online survey data from Europe indicate. People feeling adequate agency 
are more likely to persevere, rebound from setbacks and perform at high 
levels.

With climate change, a high sense of self-efficacy strengthens a 
person’s willingness to reduce carbon emissions (mitigation) and prepare 
for climate-related disasters (adaptation). Studies confirm this for 
actions including volunteering, donating, contacting elected officials, 
saving energy and conserving water during extreme weather.

*How to boost your sense of agency*
To build agency for something that can feel as daunting as climate 
change, focus first on the facts. In the case of climate change: 
Greenhouse gas emissions cause the most harm, and people can help far 
more than they realize.

*Successful agency has four psychological drivers, all of which can be 
strengthened with practice:*

    *1. Intentionality:* "I choose my climate goals and actions for high
    impact."
    Deciding to act with purpose — knowing what you intend to do — is
    far more effective than thinking "My heart’s in the right place, I
    just have to find the time."
    In the big picture, one’s highest climate efficacy is in
    participating in larger efforts to stop fossil fuel use. People can
    set specific ambitious goals for reducing personal and household
    energy use and join others in collective actions.

    *2. Forethought:* "I am looking ahead and thinking strategically
    about how to proceed."
    Knowing your goals, you can think strategically and develop an
    action plan. Some plans support relatively simple goals involving
    individual lifestyle changes, such as adjusting consumption and
    travel patterns. Wider reaching actions can help change systems —
    such as long-term activities that advocate for climate-friendly
    policies and politicians, or against policies that are harmful.
    These include demonstrations and voter campaigns.

    *3. Self-regulation:* "I can manage myself over time to optimize my
    efforts and effectiveness."
    Worrying about the future is becoming a lifelong task — off and on
    for some, constant for others. Climate change will cause disasters
    and scarcities, disrupt lives and careers, heighten stress and harm
    public health. Seeing progress and working with others can help
    relieve stress.

    *4. Self-reflection: *"I will periodically assess my effectiveness,
    rethink strategies and tactics, and make necessary adjustments."
    It’s difficult to imagine a greater need for lifelong learning than
    as we navigate decades of climate change, its many harms and efforts
    by fossil fuel companies to obscure the facts. Reflection — or, more
    precisely, keeping up with the latest science, learning and adapting
    — is vital as the future keeps presenting new challenges.

*Personal agency is only the first step*
Even seemingly minor first steps can help reduce carbon emissions and 
lead to paths of greater action, but individual actions are only part of 
the solution. Big polluters often urge consumers to take small personal 
actions, which can deflect attention from the need for large-scale 
policy interventions.

Individual agency should be seen as a gateway for group efforts that can 
more quickly and effectively change the trajectory of climate change.

*"Collective agency"* is another form of agency. A critical mass of 
people can create societal [tipping points] that pressure industry and 
policymakers to move more quickly, safely and equitably to implement 
policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Helping to elect local, state and national officials who support 
protecting the climate, and influencing investors and leaders of 
corporations and associations, can also create a sense of agency, known 
as "proxy agency."
Together, these efforts can rapidly improve humanity’s capacity to solve 
problems and head off disasters. Fixing the world’s climate mess 
requires both urgency and a sense of agency to create the best possible 
future.
Tom Bateman studies psychology and leadership, and Michael Mann is a 
climate scientist and author of the recent book "The New Climate War."
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/how-to-get-past-despair-to-take-powerful-action-on-climate-change/ 


- -

/[an important precursor to action is to get good information - an 
interactive data set shows the complexity - requires large display]/
*Strategic Intelligence -- Latest view on Climate Change *- links to 
interactions and to history
See also 
https://intelligence.weforum.org/topics/a1Gb0000000LHVfEAO?tab=publications



/[  gather together and demonstrate power ] /
*Earth Day is a Time for...Anger*
Have We Made Progress This Trip Around the Sun?
Bill McKibben
Apr 22
Let’s note that Earth Day was born in 1970 not as a celebration, and not 
as an occasion for greenwashing press releases, and not as a moment for 
photo ops—but as a honking big protest. Maybe the biggest protest in 
American history—by some estimates there were 20 million Americans on 
the street April 22, 1970, which would have been about ten percent of 
the then-American population. The Harvard political scientist Erica 
Chenoweth has famously calculated that if you get 3.5 percent of the 
population engaged in a fight you generally win, and that first Earth 
Day proves her point. The environmental movement went—to use the kind of 
automotive metaphor we should probably be abandoning—from zero to sixty 
in no time flat: within a very few years we had a burst of Congressional 
legislation protecting clean air, clean water, endangered species, and 
much else...
- -
The number one issue for young voters? Climate change. Because they’re 
going to actually still be living on this planet “deep into the 2040s, 
even to the 2050s.”

Obviously the Republicans would be worse—they are arsonists on a burning 
planet. (That’s why we want Biden to get the politics right; so they 
don’t waltz to what increasingly looks like an easy win in November). 
Obviously Biden’s team includes wonderful people. Obviously they are 
getting good things done, every day, for which we should be thankful. 
Today’s order on old-growth forests is a good example, but it’s not the 
only one—the administration has been making steady, incremental 
progress. But physics doesn’t hand out trophies for making the old 
college try; climate scientists have said we have seven more Earth Days 
to cut the world’s emissions in half. With Siberia and the Southwest 
ablaze this Earth Day morning, we desperately need to see some fire from 
the White House...
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/earth-day-is-a-time-foranger?s=r


/
//[ Powell's City of Books is worth the trek to Portland, Or ]/
*Books at the End of the World: Climate Fiction Recommendations for 
Earth Day*
by Powell's Staff, April 22, 2022
Spring in Portland has brought sunny 70 degree days, but also 
record-setting snow, hail, and thunderstorms. Combine that with last 
year's "heat-dome" and 2020's forest fires and it's pretty clear that 
our years of CO2 emissions, pollution, disregard for our planet, and 
general hubris have caught up to us. Good ol' mother earth is out for 
revenge.

There are scientists doing incredible work to find new technologies that 
will help us cut carbon emissions and there are brilliant, dedicated 
activists pushing for climate action around the world. I highly 
recommend that you read about those efforts and get involved if you can. 
There are great lists of books for educating yourself on the latest in 
climate science out there. This however is not one of those lists.

With the first signs of climate upheaval already showing themselves, I'm 
feeling a bit doom and gloom-y. This Earth Day I thought I would broaden 
my anxieties by considering all the different forms a future eco-crisis 
could take. The speculative climate fiction titles on this list are 
staff favorites at Powell's and I've taken the liberty of assigning a 
rating to each of them based on the feasibility of the eco-future they 
describe actually coming to pass*.

This is by no means a definitive list. There are hundreds (or thousands) 
of incredible cli-fi books out there and even more ways an 
eco-apocalypse could actually play out IRL. Feel free to apply the 
rating system to your own favorite climate fiction or imagine possible 
disasters free-form. - - This rating does not reflect the overall 
quality of the book. Also, I take no responsibility if any of these 
predictions end up being accurate.

*The Fifth Season *
by N. K. Jemisin

    This is the way the world ends…for the last time…It starts with the
    great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent,
    spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a
    murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and
    long dormant wounds rising up to fester.

    The Fifth Season is a stunning fantasy about how difficult it is to
    build a sustainable life as disasters (geologic, atmospheric,
    manmade) continue to compound. Equal parts beautiful and painful,
    this is a book that’s directly concerned with the ways a self can
    shatter when confronted with a world that just keeps breaking and
    societal norms that are well worth abandoning at the end of the
    world. Intoxicating and bleak, vast and empathetic — I’m glad we got
    this book before the world ends. — Kelsey F.

Likelihood: The world of The Broken Earth is not ours, but it mirrors 
the darkest parts of our current society and the darkest possibilities 
for our future. 4/10
- -
*Gold Fame Citrus *
by Claire Vaye Watkins

    In a parched southern California of the near future, Luz, once the
    poster child for the country’s conservation movement, and Ray, an
    army deserter turned surfer, are squatting in a starlet’s abandoned
    mansion…Holdouts like Ray and Luz subsist on rationed cola and
    water, and whatever they can loot, scavenge, and improvise.

    If anyone can write about the ways the California mythos persists,
    even past the apocalypse, it’s Claire Vaye Watkins (the daughter of
    a member of the Manson family). There are abandoned Hollywood homes,
    former mines turned into towns for those looking to hide from the
    sun, a cult-like sand dune colony; the characters grapple with the
    bleak reality of this newly desiccated landscape alongside issues of
    fame and addiction and loss and love (as well as the titular gold
    and citrus). Watkins is so, so good at evoking a broken reality in
    all its splendor and horror. — Kelsey F.

Likelihood: Given the most recent drought news, this feels less like 
cli-fi and more like cli-fact. 10/10
- -
*The Windup Girl *
by Paolo Bacigalupi

    What happens when calories become currency? What happens when
    bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said
    bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of
    post-human evolution?

    The sea levels have risen, bio-engineered plagues run rampant, foods
    are going extinct, energy is wound on a spring, and the world is on
    the cusp of post-human evolution. Truly one of the greatest science
    fiction settings I have ever read. Windup Girl is a book I’ll never
    stop recommending. — Sarah R.

Likelihood: The list of foods already facing extinction includes fan 
favorites like coffee, chocolate, wine, and avocados. And since 1993 the 
rate at which the seas are rising has doubled. 8/10
- -
*Parable of the Sower *
by Octavia E. Butler

    Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe
    neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the
    walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a
    handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture
    that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water
    shortages.

    The world of Parable of the Sower is not a world destroyed by a
    single event. Rather it is the weight of inaction in the face of
    economic, environmental, and social disaster that fractures America
    and leads us to a post-apocalyptic future. Butler was not just one
    of the powerful and prescient science-fiction writers of the
    twentieth century, she was one of the best writers of the twentieth
    century full-stop. — Lucinda G.

Likelihood: Inaction in the face of imminent disaster? No further 
comments. 10/10
- -
*Marrow Island *
by Alexis M. Smith

    Twenty years ago Lucie Bowen left Marrow Island; along with her
    mother, she fled the aftermath of an earthquake that compromised the
    local refinery, killing her father and ravaging the island’s
    environment…In the company of Station Eleven and California, Marrow
    Island uses two tense natural disasters to ask tough questions about
    our choices — large and small.

    Written by a Portland local (and former Powell's employee!), Marrow
    Island is a captivating story of natural disaster, the harms that
    are done to our planet and the people who live on it, and the
    choices we each make. Smith's descriptions of the Pacific Northwest
    are lush and exacting — a love letter to our region's unique
    ecology. — Emily B.

Likelihood: I mean, we all know "The Big One" is coming eventually. 6/10
- -
*The Ministry for the Future *
by Kim Stanley Robinson

    Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization was simple:
    to advocate for the world's future generations and to protect all
    living creatures, present and future. It soon became known as the
    Ministry for the Future, and this is its story.

    “Bestseller Robinson (Forty Signs of Rain) again tackles climate
    change head-on in this gutsy, humane view of a near-future Earth
    careening toward collapse...Robinson masterfully integrates the
    practical details of environmental crises and geoengineering
    projects into a sweeping, optimistic portrait of humanity’s ability
    to cooperate in the face of disaster...a must-read for anyone
    worried about the future of the planet.” — Publisher's Weekly

Likelihood: While I too want to believe that climate change will force 
the globe to finally confront inequity, from our present moment that 
future feels monumentally out of reach. 7/10*
**- -
**American War *
by Omar El Akkad

    Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second
    American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil
    is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned
    drones fill the sky.

    El Akkad's debut novel is a canny exploration of current relations
    in the Middle East through the lens of an entirely too believable
    second American Civil War. What does it take to cleave a country in
    two? What will angry and hurting people do when faced with division,
    terror, disease, asymmetrical warfare, and poverty? El Akkad's
    critiques of the West cut deep and true. I highly recommend
    everything he writes. — Emily B.

(editor's note: for more on El Akkad, read his interview about his most 
recent book What Strange Paradise)
Likelihood: Uncannily similar to more recent nonfiction books. Minus a 
couple of believability points, but plus a couple of comfort points, for 
the 2074 start date. 8/10
- -
*Scatttered All Over the Earth *
by Yoko Tawada

    Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from
    the face of the earth, is now remembered as “the land of sushi.”
    Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job
    teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language
    Panska (Pan-Scandinavian).

    Yoko Tawada has never shied away from the complicated, scary
    realities of climate change. Most of her books deal with climate
    disasters in some capacity and Scattered All Over the Earth is no
    different. Somehow, it manages to charm its way through the dark
    thought experiment: what if, when the oceans rise, they swallow
    Japan? What will happen to Japanese people living abroad? How will
    Japan be remembered? And how will the climate refugees find one
    another? This is an honestly delightful read about finding friends
    at the end of the world and the importance of finding a shared
    language. — Moses M.

Likelihood: That the oceans will continue to rise is a scientific fact. 
I hope that the ability and desire to find friends and connection even 
at the end of the world is a human fact. 8/10
*- -
**A Children's Bible *
by Lydia Millet

    A Children’s Bible follows a group of twelve eerily mature children
    on a forced vacation with their families at a sprawling lakeside
    mansion. Contemptuous of their parents, the children decide to run
    away when a destructive storm descends on the summer estate,
    embarking on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside.

    “This somber novel by Millet...is a Lord of the Flies–style tale
    with a climate-fiction twist...Millet’s allegorical messages are
    simple...A bleak and righteously angry tale determined to challenge
    our rationalizations about climate change.” — Publisher's Weekly

Likelihood: While it has never been a fair burden to place on their 
shoulders, the younger generation's sense of outrage and urgency about 
the climate disaster may be our best hope for the future. I hope us 
adults will follow their lead and not the lead of the adults in this 
parable. 8/10
https://www.powells.com/post/lists/books-at-the-end-of-the-world-climate-fiction-recommendations-for-earth-day



/[ A little more looking at the past ]/
*Vintage Earth Day TV Ads, Ranked*
There's nothing like a 1980s Earth Day commercial to make you realize 
how far we haven't come.
By Angely Mercado - April 21, 2022
It’s been over 50 years since the first Earth Day, and boy, we really 
solved all those problems, huh?

What began as a protest movement demanding strong environmental policy 
is now just a sad, greenwashed shell that gives polluters a chance to 
tweet platitudes and pat themselves on the back for “loving” the Earth 
(all while continuing to pollute like mad). These vintage TV spots may 
not have saved us from environmental ruin, but at least they’re a 
nostalgic reminder of a much more optimistic time.
https://gizmodo.com/vintage-earth-day-tv-ads-ranked-1848824590



/[The news archive - looking back when a trusted Republican spoke clearly ]/
*April 23, 2007*
   In a speech on climate change and energy at the Center for Strategic 
and International Studies in Washington, D.C., Senator John McCain 
(R-AZ) notes:

    "The burning of oil and other fossil fuels is contributing to the
    dangerous accumulation of greenhouse gases in the earth's
    atmosphere, altering our climate with the potential for major
    social, economic and political upheaval. The world is already
    feeling the powerful effects of global warming, and far more dire
    consequences are predicted if we let the growing deluge of
    greenhouse gas emissions continue, and wreak havoc with God's
    creation. A group of senior retired military officers recently
    warned about the potential upheaval caused by conflicts over water,
    arable land and other natural resources under strain from a warming
    planet. The problem isn't a Hollywood invention nor is doing
    something about it a vanity of Cassandra like hysterics. It is a
    serious and urgent economic, environmental and national security
    challenge.

    "National security depends on energy security, which we cannot
    achieve if we remain dependent on imported oil from Middle Eastern
    governments who support or foment by their own inattention and
    inequities the rise of terrorists or on swaggering demagogues and
    would be dictators in our hemisphere.

    "There's no doubt it's an enormous challenge. But is it too big a
    challenge for America to tackle; this great country that has never
    before confronted a problem it couldn't solve? No, it is not. No
    people have ever been better innovators and problem solvers than
    Americans. It is in our national DNA to see challenges as
    opportunities; to conquer problems beyond the expectation of an
    admiring world. America, relying as always on the industry and
    imagination of a free people, and the power and innovation of free
    markets, is capable of overcoming any challenge from within and
    without our borders. Our enemies believe we're too weak to overcome
    our dependence on foreign oil. Even some of our allies think we're
    no longer the world's most visionary, most capable country or
    committed to the advancement of mankind. I think we know better than
    that. I think we know who we are and what we can do. Now, let's
    remind the world."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-82G-mEvs

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=77106

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301763.html

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