[✔️] June 15, 2022 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Wed Jun 15 10:02:01 EDT 2022

/*June  15, 2022*/

/[ Anchorage Daily News headline ]
/*As climate change reshapes Alaska’s landscapes, tundra fires are 
getting worse*
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2022/06/14/as-climate-change-reshapes-alaskas-landscapes-tundra-fires-are-getting-worse//
//- -
//[  one cluster of wildfires in Alaska - Google Maps ]/
https://www.google.com/maps/@61.9346143,-163.5457536,7z/data=!4m2!21m1!1s%2Fg%2F11s30jw00l!5m1!1e8 

/[ WHAT ?! Jimmy Carter knew -- received a warning that said   "As you 
know this is not a new issue." ]/
*The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world*
Emma Pattee - - Tue 14 Jun 2022
Years before the climate crisis was part of national discourse, this 
memo to the president predicted catastrophe
Press starts the memo by laying out the science of the climate crisis as 
it was understood at the time.

    *EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT**
    **OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY**
    **WASHINGTON, D.C. 20500*
    *July 7, 1977*
    *MEMORANDUM TO      THE PRESIDENT*
    *From:           Frank Press*
    *Subject:      Release of Fossil co2 and the Possibility of a
    Catastrophic  Climate Change *

Frank Press... wrote a letter to Carter warning of CO2 emissions causing 
‘catastrophic climate change’.

    *Fossil fuel combustion has increased at an exponential rate over
    the last 100 years. As a result, the atmospheric concentration of
    CO2 is now 12 percent above the pre-industrial revolution level and
    may grow to 1.5 to 2.0 times that level within 60 years. Because of
    the “greenhouse effect” of atmospheric CO2 the increased
    concentration will induce a global climatic warming of anywhere from
    0.5 to 5°C.*

These far-sighted assertions were in line with the climate science that 
originated the previous decade, when the US government funded major 
science agencies focused on space, atmospheric and ocean science. 
Research produced for President Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 found that 
billions of tons of “carbon dioxide is being added to the earth’s 
atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas”.

Press’s memo was on the mark. In 2021, for the first time ever, the 
atmospheric concentration of CO2 reached 420PPM, the halfway point to 
the doubling of pre-industrial CO2 levels that Press posited.

    *The potential effect on the environment of a climatic fluctuation
    of such rapidity could be catastrophic and calls for an impact
    assessment of unprecedented importance and difficulty. A rapid
    climatic change may result in large scale crop failures at a time
    when an increased world population taxes agriculture to the limits
    of productivity.*

Press was right. We have indeed seen the catastrophic effects of a 
climatic fluctuation, in the form of increasingly severe weather events 
including droughts, heatwaves, and hurricanes of greater intensity. 
Meanwhile, in many parts of the world heating has already stemmed 
increases in agricultural productivity, and large-scale food production 
crises are thought to be possible.

    *The urgency of the problem derives from our inability to shift
    rapidly to non-fossil fuel sources once the climatic effects become
    evident not long after the year 2000; the situation could grow out
    of control before alternate energy sources and other remedial
    actions become effective.*

This is correct. By the 2000s, the effects of the climate crisis had 
become apparent in some regions in the form of more deadly heat waves 
and stronger floods and droughts.

    *Natural dissipation of C02 would not occur for a millennium after
    fossil fuel combustion was markedly reduced.*

This prediction by Press was actually debunked at least a decade ago. 
Scientists used to believe that some warming was “baked in”, but 
scientists have since found that as soon as CO2 emissions stop rising, 
the atmospheric concentration of CO2 levels off and slowly falls.

    *As you know this is not a new issue. What is new is the growing
    weight of scientific support which raises the CO2-climate impact
    from speculation to a serious hypothesis worthy of a response that
    is neither complacent nor panicky.*

But there were other currents mitigating against the sort of response 
Press calls for. “The story of climate policy in the US, generally, is 
one missed opportunities and unjustifiable delay,” said Jack Lienke, 
author of the book Struggling for Air: Power Plants and the “War on Coal.”

Many other issues may have seemed more pressing, or simply better 
understood. As Lienke writes in Struggling for Air, “At a time when 
Americans were still dying somewhat regularly in acute, 
inversion-related pollution episodes, it is unsurprising that 
legislators were more concerned with the known harms of sulfur dioxide 
and carbon monoxide than the uncertain, seemingly distant threat of 
climate change.”

    *The authoritative National Academy of Sciences has just alerted us
    that it will issue a public statement along these lines in a few weeks.*

That public statement, released later that month, emphasized the 
importance of shifting away from fossil fuel energy and highlighted the 
urgency of starting to transition to new energy sources as soon as 
possible: “With the end of the oil age in sight, we must make long-term 
decisions as to future energy policies. One lesson we have been learning 
is that the time required for transition from one major source to 
another is several decades.”

So what happened? When Press’s memo made it to the president’s desk, Jim 
Schlesinger, America’s first secretary of energy, also attached his own 
note in response:

    *My view is that the policy implications of this issue are still
    too uncertain to warrant Presidential involvement and policy
    initiatives.*

Carter seems to have heeded this warning, and did not make much progress 
on climate crisis mitigation during his presidency. Yet he did sign some 
significant pieces of environmental legislation, including initiating 
the first federal toxic waste cleanups and creating the first fuel 
economy standards...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/14/1977-us-presidential-memo-predicted-climate-change
   - -
/[ read the original 1977 memo on a PDF image that original document 
using that old typewriter font  ]/
https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2022/06/02/SSO_148878_031_07.pdf

/[ Stumbled across an impressive new organization ]/
*Pledge For A Future*
https://afuture.org/launching-the-pledge/
Every elected leader should commit to protect our children's future, and 
every parent can help push them to act.
FFF TEAM / JUNE 13, 2022

Today the launch of the Pledge For A Future, a campaign asking all 
elected leaders to commit to phase out fossil fuels in order to protect 
our kids, families, and future generations. Specifically, we are asking 
electeds to commit to:

    --  Make big polluters pay for their pollution and clean it up.
    --  Stop giving polluters taxpayer money.
    --  Advance clean energy in order to rapidly phase out pollution

* We already have all the technology we need*. Clean energy allows us to 
replace the energy we get from fossil fuels to power our cars, furnaces, 
tvs, phones and stoves — just without pollution. Clean energy is more 
efficient, and won’t cost us our health or our children’s future. It’s a 
very good deal.

*What we’re missing is action from our elected leaders*. The transition 
to clean energy is already underway, but we as individuals can’t make it 
happen fast enough based on our consumer actions. We need lawmakers to 
make laws and budgets that prioritize it.

Protecting kids shouldn’t be controversial, partisan, or political. It’s 
common sense. But lawmaker inaction is now the biggest barrier to progress.

*It’s time for elected leaders to protect our families, not serve 
polluters*. Too many lawmakers still dismiss pollution as an isolated 
environmental problem that affects polar bears and glaciers, but not our 
air or communities. They spout the same fear mongering about energy 
prices that has kept families saddled for 50 years with the costs of 
globally volatile energy sources, lost lives, sick kids, and a 
disappearing future. And they hold fast to the tax giveaways that help 
fossil fuels companies rake in record profits while avoiding competition 
from cheaper, healthier energy sources.
https://afuture.org/launching-the-pledge/

/[The news archive - looking back]/

/*June 15, 2010 */

June 15, 2010: In an address from the Oval Office, President Obama declares:

"For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil 
were numbered.  For decades, we’ve talked and talked about the need to 
end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels.  And for decades, 
we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge 
requires.  Time and again, the path forward has been blocked -- not only 
by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and 
candor.

"The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight. Countries like 
China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be 
right here in America.  Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our 
wealth to foreign countries for their oil.  And today, as we look to the 
Gulf, we see an entire way of life being threatened by a menacing cloud 
of black crude.

"We cannot consign our children to this future.  The tragedy unfolding 
on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time 
to embrace a clean energy future is now.  Now is the moment for this 
generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s 
innovation and seize control of our own destiny.

"This is not some distant vision for America.  The transition away from 
fossil fuels is going to take some time, but over the last year and a 
half, we’ve already taken unprecedented action to jumpstart the clean 
energy industry.  As we speak, old factories are reopening to produce 
wind turbines, people are going back to work installing energy-efficient 
windows, and small businesses are making solar panels.

"Consumers are buying more efficient cars and trucks, and families are 
making their homes more energy-efficient.  Scientists and researchers 
are discovering clean energy technologies that someday will lead to 
entire new industries.

"Each of us has a part to play in a new future that will benefit all of 
us.  As we recover from this recession, the transition to clean energy 
has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs -– but 
only if we accelerate that transition. Only if we seize the moment.  And 
only if we rally together and act as one nation –- workers and 
entrepreneurs; scientists and citizens; the public and private sectors.

"When I was a candidate for this office, I laid out a set of principles 
that would move our country towards energy independence.  Last year, the 
House of Representatives acted on these principles by passing a strong 
and comprehensive energy and climate bill –- a bill that finally makes 
clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America’s businesses.

"Now, there are costs associated with this transition.  And there are 
some who believe that we can’t afford those costs right now. I say we 
can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy -– because the 
long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our 
environment are far greater.

"So I’m happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party -– 
as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels.  Some have 
suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in 
our cars and trucks.  Some believe we should set standards to ensure 
that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power.  Others 
wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the 
high-tech industry does on research and development -– and want to 
rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.

"All of these approaches have merit, and deserve a fair hearing in the 
months ahead.  But the one approach I will not accept is inaction.  The 
one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is 
somehow too big and too difficult to meet.  You know, the same thing was 
said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War 
II.  The same thing was said about our ability to harness the science 
and technology to land a man safely on the surface of the moon.  And 
yet, time and again, we have refused to settle for the paltry limits of 
conventional wisdom.  Instead, what has defined us as a nation since our 
founding is the capacity to shape our destiny -– our determination to 
fight for the America we want for our children.  Even if we’re unsure 
exactly what that looks like.  Even if we don’t yet know precisely how 
we’re going to get there.  We know we’ll get there."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQJW4_FvVKo

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/us/politics/16obama.html?pagewanted=all

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