[✔️] March 5, 2022 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[👀 Richard Pauli]

/*March 5, 2022*/

/[ floods in Australia where 739mm = 29 inches in three days  ]/
*‘Heartbreaking’: Australia’s east coast reels from worst floods in 
living memory*
Queensland and NSW bear the brunt of catastrophic weather conditions 
that have claimed 16 lives
by Caitlin Cassidy
Lismore residents in northern NSW evacuate from the worst floods in the 
regional city’s history.
When Jenni Metcalfe returned to her Brisbane home to survey the damage 
as the nearby river peaked, water had already risen a metre up the back 
wall. There was nothing she could do. “I sat in the gutter and watched 
it and cried,” she said.

The east coast of Australia has been battered by more than a week of 
torrential rain, as communities begin to survey the wreckage of fatal 
flash flooding that has left townships looking like war zones.

South-east Queensland and the north coast of New South Wales have borne 
the brunt of the “one in-1,000 year” catastrophic weather conditions, 
which have claimed at least 17 lives.

Residents in the regional city of Lismore in north-eastern NSW are still 
reeling from the worst flooding in its history, which sent huge areas of 
the regional city underwater with the cleanup likely to last months, if 
not years...
- -
The cleanup had barely begun in large parts of south-east Queensland 
when residents were again forced to take cover due to more storms.

The “rain bomb” that battered the capital city of Brisbane and surrounds 
until Monday killed 10 people and damaged more than 17,000 homes and 
businesses. Some 739mm of rain fell in just four days – nearly 75% of 
the annual average.  [ about 29 inches ]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/04/heartbreaking-australias-east-coast-reels-from-worst-floods-in-living-memory



/[ hey, that's me ]
/*Nearly 75% of Pacific Northwest in some level of drought*
by Joe English, KATU Staff, March 3rd 2022
https://katu.com/news/local/nearly-75-of-pacific-northwest-in-some-level-of-drought?video=ec39ffa59bfe49b18437771862c4bb4c&jwsource=cl
While that's where some of the worst drought conditions are, in the 
short term, it's not the big fires that are the concern.

With a fairly dry January and February, there's plenty of fuel ready to 
burn.

"We do have the finer fuel deficit that may help us a bit, but what is 
on the ground is very dry, so we are very concerned about people burning 
in their backyards and things getting away from them, and also our 
firefighting units that may be out doing project work to treat the 
fuels. On those dry windy days, that can definitely get out of hand," 
said Eric Wise of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

Western Washington has fared better than most areas as far as rain and 
mountain snowpack. Partly because, even though we were in a La Nina 
weather pattern, the associated ridge of high pressure was farther north 
than usual and closer to the coastline.

"It kind of diverted the storms and there’s more sinking motion that 
basically dried us out through January and February that we’re 
complaining about," said state of Washington Climatologist Nick Bond.

Even the record-setting rain in an atmospheric river event like the one 
of the past few days doesn't help all that much.

Climatologists watch the stream flows to decipher that.

"You can see that the atmospheric river that we just experienced did 
increase stream flow somewhat. You can see on the last day there is a 
bit of recovery in some of those, but still about half of the stream 
flow gages in Oregon were still much below normal for this time of 
year," said Larry O'Neill, state climatologist for Oregon.

Into the summer, big rivers like the Columbia and the Willamette aren't 
expected to be much lower than normal.

But if water levels get too low, the water can get warmer and unhealthy 
for fish.

While forecasters don't think we'll see another heat dome like last 
summer, with temperatures soaring between 110 and 120 degrees, what they 
do think is more likely is longer strings of hotter days.

"This past year in Oregon and some places in eastern Washington, we had 
the most number of days over 90 degrees Fahrenheit on record. And that 
it going to be more likely what we'll expect from the warming climate. 
Just more of these hot days, persistent hot days," said O'Neill.

While some areas of the Northwest would need 150% to 250% of normal 
rainfall to catch up to normal levels (there's only about a 5% chance of 
that happening), there are efforts to combat the drought and fire danger.

The NWCC will be adding risk assessment officers and Oregon has put 
aside $200 million to support drought-impacted rural communities, invest 
in infrastructure, reduce carbon emissions, and get more people access 
to air conditioners and cooling centers.
https://katu.com/news/local/nearly-75-of-pacific-northwest-in-some-level-of-drought 


/
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/
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/[  $ubscription - taunting with a great headline in RollingStone ] /
*The First Step Toward Saving the Planet Is Ignoring the Economists*
The U.N.’s latest climate report shows that we don’t know how expensive 
the climate crisis will be, which means cost-benefit analyses weighing 
how to combat it are pointless
By ANDREW DESSLER
The latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on 
Climate Change is stark. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres 
describes it as “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of 
failed climate leadership.” If the world can’t solve this problem, there 
will be a lot of blame to go around, but one group in particular 
shouldn’t be able to skirt it: economists who have relentlessly 
downplayed the seriousness of climate change and overstated the costs of 
solving it. ..
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ipcc-climate-report-climate-change-economics-1316106/



/[  confusion danger when following money too closely ]/
*Republicans at CPAC Say ‘Drill Dummy Drill’ in Response to Russia’s 
Invasion of Ukraine*
Speakers at the conservative conference likened environmental 
regulations to sanctions and claimed that bad American energy policy had 
laid the groundwork for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
By Zach Robertson Mar 3, 2022

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last week, American 
conservatives descending on Florida for 2022’s Conservative Political 
Action Conference (CPAC) delivered a mixed message about the conflict. 
Many speakers seemed undecided on whether to quietly support Russian 
President Vladimir Putin or fall back on Cold War conservative 
ideologies. Others, like Charlie Kirk, CPAC favorite and founder of 
youth conservative organization Turning Point USA, simply urged 
attendees to forget about “a dispute 5,000 miles away in cities we can’t 
pronounce,” and focus instead on “how the cartels are deliberately 
trying to infiltrate our country.”

But one thing many speakers could agree on was that the war showed the 
need for America to push for expanded coal mining and oil and gas 
drilling. It was a line that the American Petroleum Institute had been 
pushing since the first day of the invasion, when it said in a blog post 
that “right now, the most important move President Biden can make is to 
signal that America is positioned to provide stability and supply amid 
any disruption of international energy markets — and can do so without 
increasing costs at home.”

Speakers at CPAC, however, went beyond simply using the war as an excuse 
to call for more drilling. They also blamed Biden’s stance on coal, oil, 
and gas for encouraging this war...
- -
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the other member of the “Drill Dummy Drill” 
planel, complained that the United States was putting “sanctions” (that 
is, environmental regulations) on domestic drilling but not on Russia.

“So we look out there, we see Russia, we see them producing, and we 
wonder what our own federal government is actually putting sanctions on 
states like Wyoming and Alaska,” he said.

In an Orwellian twist, Dunleavy and Hageman argued that preventing 
Russian aggression and prominence on the world stage isn’t the only 
reason the United States needs to drill and export more fossil fuels. We 
also need to drill for the environment.

“The irony is when you push this stuff overseas you actually destroy the 
environment at an accelerated rate,” Dunleavy said.

He and Hageman argued that fossil fuel extraction in Russia is 
considerably dirtier than in the United States, so drilling in America 
was truly the best for the environment overall. And Hageman told the 
audience that even thinking about the environment is a “luxury.”

“It is our prosperity that allows us the luxury of protecting our 
environment,” Hageman said. If we don’t drill for more oil and gas, she 
warned, “we’re not going to have the same prosperity to be able to 
protect the environment the way that we do.”
https://www.desmog.com/2022/03/03/republicans-cpac-oil-gas-drilling-russia-ukraine-war/



/[  podcast ] /
FEB 27, 2022  HOT TAKE
*War, Who Is It Good For? The Fossil Fuel Industry*
By Amy Westervelt
Hoo boy, the Debate-Me Bros really revved up the hot take machine (pun 
intended) this week. Matt Yglesias, Michael Shellenberger, and a whole 
lotta centrist pundits were out in force carrying water for the fossil 
fuel industry, proclaiming U.S. fracking as the solution to Russian 
aggression. Their argument? Europe is reliant on Russian gas, but if 
they were just reliant on U.S. gas instead, that would neutralize Putin. 
The complete lack of self-doubt is breathtaking. Fact check? Not me, I 
have opinions! Really showing their whole asses on this one, let’s count 
the ways:

*1. Biden hasn’t really done shit to curb fracking.* The fossil fuel 
industry keeps pushing the idea that he has, but the only thing he’s 
done is halt new leases for oil and gas drilling on federal land (more 
on that next)—and even then the courts had to force the issue.

*2. They don’t need more federal land—they’re using less than half of 
what they’ve already leased.* Oil and gas companies have been 
stockpiling public land leases for years. They currently hold leases for 
more than 26 million acres, and according to the Bureau of Land 
Management are only drilling on 12.8 million of those acres. The Center 
for American Progress estimates the industry is currently sitting on 10 
years’ worth of unused leases. The idea that adding more to that 
stockpile would have any effect at all on Russia’s current aggression is 
laughable.

*3. New leases or pipeline permits have nothing to do with the 
Russia-Ukraine situation. *It takes a long time to put up a new wellpad 
or build a pipeline or LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal to export 
oil and gas. Nothing that gets permitted today will have any impact at 
all on the Russia-Ukraine situation.

*4. Fracking companies aren’t necessarily interested in changing their 
production plans. *I’ve written about this a bunch, but the fracking 
industry never really made money during the shale boom—it was the 
ultimate Ponzi scheme, with early investors making money off of later 
investors and that’s about it. But they’ve learned from those mistakes 
and so are not necessarily jumping at the chance to increase production 
right now. Fracking industry leaders Pioneer Natural Resources Co., 
Devon Energy Corp. and Continental Resources Inc. just pledged to limit 
2022 production increases to no more than 5 percent, a fraction of the 
20 percent or higher annual growth rates of the pre-pandemic years. They 
want to make back money lost in the pandemic and maybe even finally turn 
a profit. So while, of course, some folks are ramping up production, the 
narrative that the American Petroleum Industry is pushing hard—that the 
industry is just dying to drill more and Biden is holding them back—is 
simply untrue.

*5. The world’s reliance on fossil fuels is what put Russia in the 
position to pull this shit in the first place.* Putin is invading 
Ukraine because he knows he can, at the moment. Why? Because Europe is 
heavily dependent on Russian gas and he knew its leaders would be 
hesitant to risk skyrocketing prices for their citizens. As Bill 
McKibben wrote in The Guardian, “This is not a ‘war for oil and gas’ in 
the sense that too many of America’s Middle East misadventures might 
plausibly be described. But it is a war underwritten by oil and gas, a 
war whose most crucial weapon may be oil and gas, a war we can’t fully 
engage because we remain dependent on oil and gas. If you want to stand 
with the brave people of Ukraine, you need to find a way to stand 
against oil and gas.”

*6. Fossil fuels are a threat, not a boon, to national security. *As of 
2021,10 percent of global deaths were attributable to abnormally cold or 
hot temperatures. That’s 5 million deaths a year, far more than any war 
being fought over oil and gas, ever. Also guess what, solar, wind, and 
wave energy are all domestic energy sources too, so please explain how 
the national security argument works for oil and gas but not those 
energy sources.

*7. U.S. oil companies’ relationships with Russia are also a threat to 
national security.* Back in 2013, ExxonMobil’s Russia holdings were by 
far its largest—5x more than its holdings in the U.S. Then Russia 
annexed Crimea in 2014 and the U.S. government responded with strict 
sanctions that not only halted a lot of the projects Exxon had planned 
with Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft, but also made it 
impossible for Exxon to include the projected oil from those projects on 
its books. Bad news for Exxon! That’s why as soon as Putin started 
lining up tanks at Ukraine’s border, the API started lobbying for weak 
sanctions. How exactly is it good for U.S. national security to pander 
to Putin? (Make sure you’re following journalist Antonia Juhasz 
throughout the Russian invasion, she’s got all the receipts on U.S. oil 
companies and Russia!)

*8. Clean energy generation would actually increase national security 
Forget the fossil fuel talking points.* For nearly a decade now, the 
U.S. military—not exactly known for being a bunch of hippies—has listed 
climate change as a threat multiplier in its quadrennial reviews. A 
decade ago when I was reporting on efforts to “green” the military, 
generals were very pragmatic about it: soldiers routinely die on 
refueling missions, wars are often fought over or fueled by oil, getting 
off of oil means a reduction in casualties, which makes it worth doing. 
And the thing is, it’s not impossibly out of reach. We’re already on a 
path to replace fossil fuels—renewable energy is set to account for 95 
percent of the increase in global power capacity through 2026. In fact, 
I suspect this has quite a bit to do with both Putin and the U.S. oil 
industry’s current posturing. The end is near, and they know it, but 
they won’t go quietly, they’ll use this decade to retain as much power 
as possible, and get as much oil and gas out of the ground for as much 
money as possible. That’s inevitable. The question is how much we’ll let 
them get away with.
https://www.hottakepod.com/war-who-is-it-good-for-the-fossil-fuel-industry/



/[  Atomic pollution spread by wildfire  ]/
*Chernobyl Is Not the Only Nuclear Threat Russia’s Invasion Has Sparked 
in Ukraine*
The potential for fires in the “Red Forest” still tainted by radioactive 
fallout from the 1986 meltdown, and 15 reactors running elsewhere in the 
country, pose greater risks.
By Michael Kodas
February 26, 2022
It took only hours for the Russian invasion of Ukraine to hang a nuclear 
threat over Europe. But the defunct Chernobyl power plant may pose less 
of a hazard than the forest surrounding it, or the 15 nuclear reactors 
still operating in the country.

On Thursday morning, Ukrainian officials reported a fierce fight in the 
exclusion zone around the dead  Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which in 
1986 blanketed parts of Europe with radioactive fallout after a meltdown 
that remains the worst nuclear accident in history.

“Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will 
not be repeated,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on 
Twitter. “This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”...
- -
The ability to turn off the power can provide Russia with a big 
advantage in their efforts to subdue Kyiv, but also points to a bigger 
nuclear threat in the Ukrainian conflict.

In addition to Chernobyl, where the last reactor stopped producing 
electricity in 2000, Ukraine has 15 operating nuclear reactors at four 
electricity plants across the country. Those reactors, many of which are 
old Soviet designs that are operating beyond their originally intended 
lifespans, are dependent on a steady supply of electricity and water to 
maintain their safe operation and keep them from melting down.

A wayward missile striking one of those reactors could spark a nuclear 
disaster. But any military operation that interrupted the power supply 
to one of them for longer than the facilities’ backup generators could 
keep the plant running safely has the potential to create another Chernobyl.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26022022/russia-ukraine-chernobyl-nuclear-fallout/



/[  Comment on the science of climate models  - a few minutes video ] /
*Scott Denning PhD: Climate Models vs Real World*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wryj84PGTyE


/[  DeSmog is naming names ]/
*IPCC Report Calls Out ‘Vested Interests’ Delaying Climate Action*
The report also pointed the finger at journalists for providing false 
balance to “contrarian” voices in their coverage of the issue.
By Phoebe Cooke on Feb 28, 2022
The second installment of the Sixth Assessment Report notes that 
misinformation around climate science has “created polarization” in 
North America, particularly in the U.S., thereby limiting climate action.

In addition, the report highlights the influence of print and broadcast 
media in shaping public perceptions around climate change – and warns 
against climate scientists and contrarians being given equal weight in 
coverage of climate change for the purposes of journalistic balance.

This, it says, can “unevenly amplify certain messages that are not 
supported by science, contributing to politicization of science, 
spreading misinformation, and reducing public consensus on action”.

‘Go Further, Name Names’
While the inclusion of misinformation has been welcomed, Supran urged 
the IPCC to “go further, name names”, saying the reports should expose 
what he described as the “veiled reference to ‘vested economic and 
political interests’”.

Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at University College 
London, agreed that “the job of IPCC authors is to report the truth, to 
the best of their abilities, no matter who it might upset”.

“That the IPCC are reporting on misinformation campaigns, and this is 
seen as a step further than past IPCC reports, shows that scientists 
have been too timid in the past,” Lewis said.

“For me, I’d have liked to see the authors go further and say who the 
literature says is organising and funding these misinformation 
campaigns. The public deserves to know.”
https://www.desmog.com/2022/02/28/ipcc-report-calls-out-vested-interests-delaying-climate-action/



/[  Looking farther ahead, much further  video nearly 2 hours ] /
*Ten Inevitables: Post Doom, No Gloom ("All You Can Eat Buffet")*
Feb 25, 2022
thegreatstory
This is the most complete and in-depth video I have ever created: the 
"ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET" version of "TEN INEVITABILITIES: POST DOOM, NO 
GLOOM".
(TIME-CODED TABLE OF CONTENTS BELOW{
This is a visually rich and information dense experience, it includes 
the most credible and important resources available for understanding 
where we are, how we got here, and what is possible and no longer 
possible going forward. It also includes practical tools and insights 
for staying sane, sober, and grateful to be alive in increasingly 
crazy-making times.

THESIS (2-hours): Confusion and suffering prevail without a 
life-centered view of ecology, energy, and history. Enthralled by 
gee-whiz technology, and blind to*TEN COLLAPSE-RELATED INEVITABILITIES,* 
we stumble into a future of ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIETAL CERTAINTIES that 
most people cannot see, or will vehemently deny...

    1. Most people will have a hard time trusting how and why our
    civilization is collapsing.
    2. Abrupt climate change (rapid 2C+) locks in biospheric collapse
    and extinctions.
    3. Tipping points already crossed will be falsely framed as “still
    avoidable”.
    4. Without “Assisted Migration” love-in-action, most tree species
    will go extinct.
    5. Without urgent collective action, there will be dozens of nuclear
    meltdowns.
    6. As our biospheric and societal predicament worsens, so will our
    mental health.
    7. Most people will only reluctantly relinquish their faith in “the
    Almighty We”.
    8. If you proselytize only the 'doom' side of collapse reality,
    expect to be shunned.
    9. Most people will crave distraction — and virtually anything that
    offers “hope”.
    10. Elite universities, the IPCC, mainstream media, and politicians
    will remain first-rate legal hopium dealers. (Definition of hopium:
    "A comforting vision of the future that requires breaking the laws
    of physics, biology, or ecology, such as thinking that we can slow,
    stop, or reverse the Great Acceleration of biospheric collapse.")

YOUTUBE URL: https://youtu.be/Y-1fv-5_ldM
PRESENTER: Michael Dowd: https://www.postdoom.com/ AND 
http://michaeldowd.org/
*
**TIME-CODED TABLE OF CONTENTS*
01:11 Introduction to "Ten Inevitables"
04:17 List of the Ten Inevitables
05:44 "Benefits of Trusting What Is Inevitable: Collapse Acceptance" 
(list of 7)
07:29 INEVITABLE 1. "Most people will have a hard time trusting how and 
WHY our civilization is collapsing."
26:40 "Five Stages of Awakening: Climbing the Ladder of Awareness"
46:10 INEVITABLE 1. "Most people will have a hard time trusting HOW and 
why our civilization is collapsing."
01:02:01 INEVITABLE 2. "Abrupt climate change (rapid 2C+) locks in 
biospheric collapse and extinctions."
01:05:44 INEVITABLE 3. "Tipping points already crossed will be falsely 
framed as 'still avoidable'."
01:15:17 INEVITABLE 4. "Without 'Assisted Migration' love-in-action, 
most tree species will go extinct."
01:17:21 INEVITABLE 5. "Without urgent collective action, there will be 
dozens of nuclear meltdowns."
01:22:50 INEVITABLE 6. "As our biospheric and societal predicament 
worsens, so will our mental health."
01:23:50 "Universal Human Needs" (list of 9)
01:32:02 "Benefits of Truting What Is Inevitable: Collapse Acceptance" 
(list of 7)
01:33:05 INEVITABLE 7. "Most people will only reluctantly relinquish 
their faith in 'the Almighty We'."
01:37:47 INEVITABLE 8. "If you proselytize only the 'doom' side of 
collapse reality, expect to be shunned." Including definitions of Doom 
and Post-Doom.
01:40:08 INEVITABLES 9 & 10. "Most people will crave distraction — and 
virtually anything that offers 'hope'."  "Elite universities, IPCC, MSM, 
& pols will remain first-rate legal hopium dealers." Definition of 
"hopium" and "the secular religion of perpetual progress."
01:47:26 "Progressing Toward Ecocide" (list of 4)
01:53:42 "Honor Your Sadness and Grief" (stages of grief and "finding 
the gift")
01:54:36 "Gallows humor" (examples of)
01:55:40 Concluding section: rereading of the Thesis; the list of 10 
Inevitables; Benefits of Collapse Acceptance (Dowd's list of 7 and video 
of Karen Perry's list of 15).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1fv-5_ldM



/[The news archive - looking back]/
*March 5, 2015*

The New York Times reports:
"Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and majority leader, is 
urging governors to defy President Obama by refusing to implement the 
administration’s global warming regulations."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/us/politics/mcconnell-urges-states-to-defy-us-plan-to-cut-greenhouse-gas.html?mwrsm=Email


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