[✔️] August 27, 2022 - Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
Richard at CredoandScreed.com
Sat Aug 27 10:38:46 EDT 2022
/*August 27, 2022*/
[ direct examination of climate migration - text and video -
https://abcnews.go.com/International/book-makes-argument-addressing-climate-migration/story
]
*New book makes argument for addressing climate migration*
Estimates say 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally by 2050.
By ABC News
August 26, 2022,
Recent natural disasters, ranging from flooding to wildfires, have made
clear the effects of climate change in the present moment.
As the climate crisis worsens, a massive amount of people may be forced
to move from their homes. The international think-tank Institute for
Economics & Peace estimates that 1.2 billion people could be displaced
globally by 2050.
Gaia Vince, a science journalist and author of the recent book _“Nomad
Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World,_*”* spoke with
ABC News Prime about the argument she makes in her books that nations
have to start planning now for future climate refugees, and that there
may be silver linings in that process.
*PRIME: Your book lays out that rather disturbing scenario that wide
swaths of planet Earth will become completely uninhabitable, but it also
focuses on solutions. How can we all feel less helpless right now?*
VINCE: Yeah, we need to look differently at the problem. Migration is
inevitable now. I wrote “Nomad Century” because nobody is talking about
the huge upheaval that is coming as climate change makes large parts of
the world unlivable. People will not be able to adapt in certain places,
they will have to move.
But migration is not the problem. Migration is the solution. If we
manage this, if we plan it, we can actually build thriving cities that
save people from some of the worst devastation in some of the poorest
parts of the world while also solving demographic issues that we have in
the wealthier, northern parts of the world. So it actually could be a
win-win if we do it properly and if we actually plan.
But nobody is talking about this issue, it's very frustrating.
*PRIME: Apart from being a climate journalist, as a resident of London,
you too experienced the effects of climate change firsthand, during this
summer's heat waves. Infrastructure began to collapse in one of the
wealthiest areas of the world, and now conversations are being had
surrounding climate adaptation. Is this a situation where humans don't
adjust until the effects of climate change are literally in their
backyards?*
VINCE: I mean, it's amazing, isn't it? We've been warned for decades by
scientists that climate change is happening. It's going to increasingly
affect our lives. But it's only when these extreme weather events… we've
all had this terrible summer of huge heatwaves, my kids couldn't go to
school, it was too hot for them. Our infrastructure is not set up for that.
In the U.S. you've also had extreme weather, Kentucky was completely
inundated with water, you had the whole of the West Coast of the U.S. on
fire more or less with the terrible forest fires. You've also had heat
waves, drought that has killed thousands of cattle… This is going to
become, unfortunately, a matter of life and death, even in the richest
nations.
*PRIME: Gaia, considering the current stigma surrounding asylum seekers,
migration on this scale is sort of hard to fathom. Yet you paint a very
humane and optimistic image of what this mass migration could look like
if properly facilitated. With that, how do we begin to unpack this
political hostility and come to terms with climate displacement?*
VINCE: Well, migration is inevitable. And in Nomad Century, what I do is
I try to make people realize that what we've done is we've allowed the
narrative around migrants, around refugees, asylum-seekers to become
truly toxic. And migration, it’s not a security issue, it’s actually an
economic issue.
It turns out that most countries around the world, their economies could
not survive without migrants… Who were going to do the everyday jobs
that cities rely on? We all rely on migrants. We're not having enough
babies in most nations in the Northern Hemisphere and so as our
populations age, we're going to face huge labor shortages, it's a
demographic crisis. The only way to solve it is through immigration.
Let's make it work. Let's actually plan it.
*PRIME: And in your book, you argue that it doesn't have to be as scary
as it sounds. It could be a win-win for the Global North, who, as you
mentioned, has a demographic crisis. But it is sort of crazy to think
about what you propose that cities may one day exist in Antarctica. We
have a segment on our show called "It's Not Too Late," focusing on
climate solutions. Do you believe it’s not too late to prepare for this?*
*VINCE*: It's absolutely not too late. You know, every degree of
temperature rise, every tenth of a degree of temperature rise makes a
difference, and we have to fight for that.
This is a serious economic and humanitarian issue. We can solve it. We
need to mitigate. We need to reduce our emissions. We need to get to net
zero. And then we need to cut below that. We need to withdraw the carbon
that we've already emitted from our atmosphere.
We need to change the way human systems work to make them sustainable
with natural systems, because natural systems are much harder to change.
*PRIME: And you propose some promising solutions. We appreciate you
joining us. “Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our
World” is now available wherever books are sold.*
https://abcnews.go.com/International/book-makes-argument-addressing-climate-migration/story?id=88895091
/[ Florida looks to the future ]/
*Sea level rising more rapidly than previously predicted*
MIAMI – The federal government’s 8th State of High Tide Flooding report
is its starkest assessment yet, detailing the upward trends of rising
seas spilling into coastal cities.
Despite an ongoing La Niña in the eastern Pacific, which can temporarily
dampen sea levels along the U.S. Coast, the frequency of relentless
saltwater flooding – unrelated to extreme weather – has continued to
accelerate across the U.S. In 2022.
- -
“When the gulf stream slows down, flooding along the eastern U.S.,
Florida in particular, increases,” Sweet said.
An estimated 40 percent of Florida’s population is at risk of storm
surge flooding and it’s not just people who live right on the coast line
but also those living inland.
“As you go west from the ridge along the railroad and I-95 you lose
elevation towards the Everglades and so yes the western parts of our
counties, Broward and Miami Dade, they should experience some serious
effects as well,” said Dr. Colin Polsky, Director of the Center for
Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University.
He said local efforts to stem the rising tide, like putting duck valves
on storm drains, are helpful, but limited.
“Because it’s not really going to work beyond certain levels of sea
rise,” Polsky said.
Until we can contain the effects of global warming, which cannot happen
overnight, scientists say we’re facing both the ecological and
economical costs of now rapid sea level rise.
- -
According to scientists, standing water will go from a matter of inches
for a few hours, as we currently experience, to several feet for much
longer, maybe days.
This could ultimately change both the desire to live here and even
government and private support for flood related damage.
https://www.local10.com/weather/2022/08/25/sea-level-rising-more-rapidly-than-previously-predicted/
//
- -
/[ we cannot stem the tides //]/
*Most bleak federal report yet on high-tide/sunny-day tide floods*
Remember the octopus in the Miami parking garage in 2016? Think of it as
today’s modern-day canary in the coal mine.
by MICHAEL LOWRY
AUGUST 21, 2022
The federal government’s eighth State of High Tide Flooding report is
its starkest assessment yet detailing the upward trends of rising seas
spilling into coastal cities.
- -
The U.S. population seeking a permanent place along the coasts is
booming. Nearly 40 % of the nation’s 330-plus million live in a coastal
shoreline county on land comprising less than 10% of the total U.S. land
area, excluding Alaska. In many hurricane- and storm surge-prone areas
along the gently sloping Gulf Coast, population and attendant wealth
have skyrocketed. In Collier County on Florida’s southwest coast, home
to Naples and one of the country’s most prosperous communities,
population has soared by nearly 1000% over the past 50 years. An
estimated 40% of Florida’s population is at risk of storm surge
flooding, with the highest concentration of per capita losses from storm
surge along Florida’s southwestern shoreline.
Similar to lowering the rim of a basketball goal (or alternatively
raising the floor under the basket), rising seas will lower the bar for
future storm surge “dunks,” worsening extreme flooding, even if the
characteristics of storms don’t change. Recent studies conclude damage
from storm surges and sea-level rise under a moderate global warming
scenario could top $1 trillion by the end of the century in the U.S. –
most egregiously on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Under an extreme
global warming scenario, these damages could top $14 trillion worldwide
without appropriate adaptation measures to reduce risk.
Added to the tidal wave of coastal concerns are compounding issues of
climate change, which may hasten the destructive feedback loop.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/08/most-bleak-federal-report-yet-on-high-tide-sunny-day-tide-floods/
/[ a brief video interview and transcript ]/
*The State of the Climate Movement with Elizabeth Kolbert, on Lever Time*
Aug 26, 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Elizabeth Kolbert joined
us on the Lever Time podcast to talk about the state of the climate
movement and about how the Republicans became the party of denial and
obstruction.
A transcript of the whole podcast episode is found at
https://otter.ai/u/vJdlFhn3RzQ78ILJBjgec0FcCyY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6PnJK9_cvI
/[ Business reporter from NYTimes - Text and Audio ]/
*Pace of Climate Change Sends Economists Back to Drawing Board*
They underestimated the impact of global warming, and their preferred
policy solution floundered in the United States.
- -
The outcome reflects a larger trend in public policy, one that is
prompting economists to ponder why the profession was so focused on a
solution that ultimately went nowhere in Congress — and how economists
could be more useful as the damage from extreme weather mounts.
A central shift in thinking, many say, is that climate change has moved
faster than foreseen, and in less predictable ways, raising the urgency
of government intervention. In addition, technologies like solar panels
and batteries are cheap and abundant enough to enable a fuller shift
away from fossil fuels, rather than slightly decreasing their use...
- -
At the same time, Dr. Nordhaus’s model was drawing criticism for
underestimating the havoc that climate change would wreak. Like other
models, it has been revised several times, but it still relies on broad
assumptions and places less value on harm to future generations than it
places on harm to those today. It also doesn’t fully incorporate the
risk of less likely but substantially worse trajectories of warming.
Dr. Nordhaus dismissed the criticisms. “They are all subjective and
based on selective interpretation of science and economics,” he wrote in
an email. “Some people hold these views, as would be expected in any
controversial subject, but many others do not.”
Heather Boushey, a member of the White House’s Council of Economic
Advisers who handles climate issues, says the field is learning that
simply tinkering with prices won’t be enough as the climate nears
catastrophic tipping points, like the evaporation of rivers, choking off
whole regions and setting off a cascade of economic effects.
“So much of economics is about marginal changes,” Dr. Boushey said.
“With climate, that no longer makes sense, because you have these
systemic risks.” She sees her current assignment as similar to her
previous work, running a think tank focused on inequality: “It
profoundly alters the way people think about economics.”...
- -
“This is a space where having more models early on would be better,” Dr.
Price said. “Rather than someone has an assumption, that assumption goes
into a model, nobody questions it and, 10 years later, we realize that
assumption is pretty powerful and maybe not right.”
The larger lesson is that modern climate policy is a complex endeavor
that calls for large, interdisciplinary teams — which is not
historically how the economics field has operated.
“You can only do so much by writing things down on a single sheet of
paper from your office at Yale,” said Dr. Kopp, of Rutgers. “That’s not
how science gets done. That’s how a lot of economics gets done. But you
run into limits.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/business/economy/economy-climate-change.html
/[ records are for measuring change ]/
*Wettest 24 hours in nearly a century for Dallas-Fort Worth*
A thousand-year rain event soaks parts of Dallas, and what the U.S.
‘summer of floods’ signifies in a changing climate.
by BOB HENSON
AUGUST 23, 2022
Another dramatic flash flood played out across a starkly different
setting on August 6 in Death Valley, California. Here, 1.46″ in just
three hours (the second largest daily rain total on record, by a mere
0.01″) engorged normally dry washes, caused catastrophic damage to the
Cow Creek water system, and stranded some 1,000 people.
Alongside these torrents, intense drought has been scattered across
other parts of the United States, from the Southern Plains to parts of
the Missouri Valley and even coastal New England. It can seem as if the
nation’s usual allotment of summer rainfall has gotten concentrated into
a few high-profile local episodes...
- -
But it can’t be merely that extreme rain events are being identified and
publicized more nimbly. The databases of past rainfall, such as NOAA’s
Atlas 14, used to assess recurrence intervals, are based on the
assumption that climate is fixed – clearly not the case. For most
locations in today’s ever-more-downpour-friendly climate, what used to
be a rainfall one might expect to occur every 100 or 1,000 years tends
now to occur more often and more frequently still in the future.
It’s a stark reminder of the need to adapt more effectively to the
current climate, but also to become more far-sighted in preparing for
the even heavier downpours that will inevitably arrive.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/08/wettest-24-hours-in-nearly-a-century-for-dallas-fort-worth/
/[ a video lesson on energy ]/
*The Fascinating Truth About Energy With Professor Jim Al-Khalili |
Order and Disorder | Spark*
Sep 2, 2019 The great 19th-century Austrian physicist, Ludwig Boltzmann
was one of the most important proponents of the idea that all matter is
made of atoms.
Today no one doubts this is true but in Boltzmann's day it was a
controversial idea and many of his contemporaries disagreed with him.
But Boltzmann used brilliant mathematical arguments to show that many
aspects of the world we observe, like the behaviour of heat, can be
explained if one accepts that atoms are real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeaQpuYPsy8
/[ Only when you are ready, should you watch this video ]/
*Hopium Dealers Hall of Fame (with a Nod to Guy McPherson)*
930 views Aug 26, 2022 This hour-long video represents the heart of
Michael Dowd's message during the summer of 2022. In it, he confesses to
being a repeat offender (i.e., a notorious hopium peddler) between
2000-2012 and also nominates friends, colleagues, and NYTimes
bestselling authors for special honor in a "Hopium Dealers Hall of
Fame". :-)
*“HOPIUM” (definition) ... *
1. A comforting vision of the future that requires breaking the laws of
physics, biology, or ecology.
2. Addiction to false (literally, impossible) hopes.
3. Irrational or unwarranted optimism that promises short-term relief
but delivers crushing disappointment and despair when reality inevitably
bites.
4. Any ‘hope’ that leads us to put off or not prioritize what matters
most — individually and collectively.
5. Believing the climate crisis can be ‘fixed’ or ‘solved’ by doubling
down on the very things driving ecocide...
*HOPIUM DEALER:* Someone who ignores (or is blind to) our real
predicament — ecological overshoot — and who proposes “fixes” or
“solutions” to the climate crisis that rely on the very things causing
/ driving collapse and ecocide.
*MAIN CAUSES/DRIVERS of COLLAPSE and ECOCIDE*
1. Anthropocentrism — human-centered religious values, worldview
2. Civilization — extractive/exploitative (city-based) totalitarian
narcissism
3. Technology — science/tech: "Man: conqueror of nature" / electricity
4. Progress — how we measure “wealth”, “wellbeing”, and “success”
5. Economics — trade/money systems that incentivize evil and ecocide
Six Odious Truths Few People Know (and almost no one can accept)
1. We are decades into abrupt climate change, unstoppable collapse,
and a mass
extinction that will likely include most plants, animals, and
humans...by 2040
2. The more human GHG emissions decline, the faster Earth overheats due to
less particulate pollution: aerosol masking / global dimming /
“McPherson paradox”.
3. All human-centered civilizations destroy their habitat, then
self-destruct.
4. Technology and the market can’t save us from the ecocide they
always create.
5. Climate change is not our worst predicament — ecological overshoot is.
6. Denying #1-5 betrays ignorance of the main causes/drivers of
collapse & ecocide
and increases the likelihood of scores of nuclear meltdowns in
near future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g59vxAbof2s
/[The news archive - looking back]/
/*August 27, 1989*/
August 27, 1989: The New York Times reports:
"Top Soviet and American scientists, environmentalists,
policymakers, industry leaders and artists today urged President
Bush and President Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union to form
an 'environmental security alliance' to reverse what they fear could
be a catastrophic warming of the planet.
"The gathering urged that the superpowers promote energy-efficient
technologies and phase out production and use of chlorofluorocarbons
no later than the year 2000. The group said the countries should
'substantially reduce' carbon dioxide emissions, reduce the loss of
forests and promote tree planting worldwide. Participants asked that
the two leaders appeal directly to their citizens to help.
"The joint letter avoided specific goals to achieve a compromise
between the Soviet and American participants and within the American
contingent, even though some participants had wanted specific
numerical and time goals on cutting emissions. But it represented
the most concerted Soviet-American action yet over fears that the
emission of industrial chemicals into the atmosphere is causing a
worldwide warming trend, or 'greenhouse effect.'
"'Soviet and U.S. scientists agreed that continued buildup of
greenhouse gases at present rates will insure that global
temperatures rise before the middle of the next century above
anything in human history,' an accompanying report stated. The
report said disruptions in agriculture and rising sea levels would
cause 'massive refugee problems.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/27/us/summit-of-sorts-on-global-warming.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
=======================================
*Mass media is lacking, here are a few daily summariesof global warming
news - email delivered*
=========================================================
**Inside Climate News*
Newsletters
We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or
once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s top headlines
deliver the full story, for free.
https://insideclimatenews.org/
---------------------------------------
**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
==================================
*T*he 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 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.
More information about the theClimate.Vote
mailing list