[✔️] November 10, 2022 - Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*November 10, 2022*/

/[ election results regarding global warming ]/
*The unexpected climate wins of the midterms*
Climate action could be moving forward in Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, 
and even Texas.
By Rebecca Leber @rebleberrebecca.leber at vox.com
Nov 9, 2022...
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23440596/2022-midterms-results-climate-states



/[ NPR report text and audio -- //Heard on Morning Edition//]/
*Here are 3 dangerous climate tipping points the world is on track for*
November 10, 2022
REBECCA HERSHER
The goal of the international climate meeting underway in Egypt is to 
limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to temperatures in 
the late 1800s. Even at that level, communities will experience more 
dangerous storms, flooding and heat waves.

But if the planet heats up beyond 1.5 degrees, the impacts don't get 
just slightly worse. Scientists warn that abrupt changes could be set 
off, with devastating impacts around the world.

Such changes are sometimes called climate tipping points, although 
they're not as abrupt as that term would suggest. Most will unfold over 
the course of decades. Some could take centuries. Some may be partially 
reversible or avoidable. But they all have enormous and lasting 
implications for the humans, plants and animals on Earth. And they are 
looming.

It's still possible to avoid such widespread calamities, but only if 
countries move far more aggressively to cut the pollution driving 
climate change. The Earth has warmed about 1 degree Celsius so far. If 
countries, including the United States, follow through on current 
promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the latest estimates 
suggest that Earth's temperature will still top out around 2.8 degrees 
Celsius of warming.

Here are the three most important and well-studied changes, from 
collapsing ice sheets to thawing Arctic permafrost, to disappearing 
coral reefs.

*Change #1: Ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica could collapse*

Ice sheets are the massive expanses of ice that cover Greenland and 
Antarctica, and which contain about two thirds of the freshwater on 
Earth. Climate change is already causing them to melt, and raising sea 
levels around the world...

But if the Earth lingers at, or above, 2 degrees Celsius of warming, as 
it is on track to, that melting will steadily accelerate. Scientists 
warn that will cause parts of the ice sheets to collapse, sending 
massive amounts of water into the world's oceans...
- -
As temperatures continue to warm, scientists say the two-mile thick ice 
sheet is getting out of balance. Snow and ice are melting faster than 
they're being replaced, and as the ice melt accelerates, the process is 
difficult to stop. One study found that no matter how humans cut 
greenhouse gas emissions going forward, the melting of the Greenland ice 
sheet is likely to cause 10 inches of sea level rise.

Research suggests that the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet may 
already be underway. A massive glacier there, which covers an area about 
the size of the state of Washington, is melting quickly in response to 
climate change, and could splinter into the ocean in the coming decades.
- -
Due to their enormous size, ice sheets have a huge amount of inertia. 
Once the melt process gets underway, it's difficult to stop.

"It takes a few hundred years to really get going," says Joughin. "And 
it's kind of a snowball effect, where the faster it goes, the more it's 
going to go."

But it will take a long time for people around the world to feel the 
most extreme effects of that melt. "It could be anywhere from two or 
three hundred years to a thousand years," says Joughin.

If humans slow down the pace of global warming, it will help slow down 
the pace of ice melting, giving the billions of people who live along 
coastlines more time to adapt.

*Change #2: Permanently frozen ground could thaw*
Climate change is causing permafrost – the permanently frozen ground in 
the Arctic – to thaw. And as the Earth approaches 2 degrees Celsius of 
warming, that thawing ground will cause both local and global problems.
- -
That's because when the ground is frozen, it's impermeable to moisture, 
like the lining of a bathtub. "When it thaws, we pull the drain out of 
the bathtub," Turetsky explains.
- -
"When permafrost thaws it's a little like losing power to your freezer. 
That food starts to rot," explains Ted Schuur, a permafrost expert at 
Northern Arizona University. Bacteria and fungi start to digest the 
carbon-rich soil, releasing planet-warming methane and carbon dioxide 
into the atmosphere.

Basically, it's an infinite loop of greenhouse gasses: human emissions 
cause the planet to heat up. That heat thaws permafrost, which releases 
more emissions.

But how much extra carbon ultimately gets released by Arctic permafrost 
in the future is up to humans. "The faster we can decarbonize society 
today, the more permafrost carbon we can keep in the Arctic ground where 
it belongs," says Turetsky. For example, by using renewable energy 
instead of burning fossil fuels.

But, she warns, there will be a lag: the warming that has already 
occurred will keep thawing permafrost for decades. "Our climate warming 
today is going to thaw permafrost and cause that permafrost to lose 
carbon 50 years from now," Turetsky explains.

*Change #3: Coral reefs could be gone forever**
*By overall area, coral reefs are a tiny part of the ocean. But they're 
a bedrock ecosystem for marine life, supporting an estimated 25% of all 
species.

Corals are highly sensitive to heat, and as the oceans warm, the future 
of reefs is in peril. When marine heat waves hit, corals under stress 
expel their algae companions, which they need to survive. The reefs turn 
a ghostly white color.
- -
Oceans are also becoming more acidic, as they absorb the carbon dioxide 
that humans emit from burning fossil fuels. That also stresses corals, 
making it difficult for them to build their skeletons.

If the world passes 2 degrees Celsius of heating, an estimated 99% of 
the world's coral reefs could be lost. The damage is happening faster 
than scientists expected. Combined with the effects of pollution and 
human development, half of all reefs worldwide will be in unlivable 
conditions by 2035, according to a new study.

"The coming decades will bring, I think, unprecedented change for both 
these reef systems and humanity in general," says Erik Franklin, 
professor at Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of 
Hawaii at Manoa, who worked on the study.

It's estimated that half a billion people around the world depend on 
coral reefs for food, income and livelihoods. Losing reefs would 
destabilize many countries, along with risking extinction for marine 
life that can only be found on coral reefs.

"There's entire societies and economies that are built around reef 
systems, especially in equatorial and tropical regions," Franklin says. 
"So these societies will be in dire straits."

Many scientists are searching for "refuges" – pockets of the ocean where 
conditions might remain livable for coral reefs. The hope is that coral 
reefs can hold on there, surviving just long enough until humans can get 
their heat-trapping emissions under control.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1133090748/here-are-3-dangerous-climate-tipping-points-the-world-is-on-track-for



/[  COP 27 on funding ]/
*‘Significant’ moves on climate disaster funds lift Cop27 hopes*
Small but symbolic moves at summit where finance is critical include new 
loss and damage money and debt relief...
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Wed 9 Nov 2022...
- -
There are three types of climate finance, for cutting emissions, 
adapting to inevitable climate impacts and for loss and damage. The 
latter is the most controversial and has been blocked for years by rich 
nations who fear being liable for huge sums of compensation.
- -
Emily Wilkinson, of the ODI thinktank, said: “The growing number of 
country pledges on loss and damage funding are significant and welcome. 
We expect more countries to pledge during Cop27. This puts further 
pressure on negotiators to agree to the development of an appropriate 
financing mechanism.”

The creation of a loss and damage fund is a key demand of developing 
nations at Cop27. However, the millions being pledged are far short of 
the sums that will be needed, which could run to $1tn a year under some 
estimates. Mottley raised the idea at Cop27 of a 10% tax on soaring 
fossil fuel profits to fund loss and damage.

Analysis by campaigners at Global Justice Now published on Wednesday 
suggested that five big oil companies – Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell 
and Total – should be paying $65bn a year based on their contribution of 
11% of global carbon emissions to date. Recent research showed that the 
oil and gas industry has delivered an average of $1tn a year in pure 
profit for the last 50 years.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/09/cop27-egypt-climate-disaster-funds



/[ relevance - live streamed 11-10-22 ]/
*Multiple Threats to Polar Oceans*
International Cryosphere Climate Initiative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3bvfZF2NJc

- -

/[ For more intense browsing -- scientists reporting on ice and global 
impacts ]/
*International Cryosphere Climate Initiative*
The cryosphere is a term for the regions of our globe which are covered 
in ice and snow – either seasonally or year-round. Climate change is 
happening in the cryosphere faster and more dramatically than anywhere 
else on earth.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXpj1q59mrsT5cOuyagk97Q



/[ a little bit of science and conjecture - video ]/
*This Is Why Worse Droughts Mean WAY Worse Floods*
PBS Terra
  Nov 8, 2022
Thank you to ATMO for supporting PBS. Go to http://bit.ly/3zUR7j4 to 
find out more about Atmotube PRO air quality monitors.

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local 
station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateTerra.

Massive floods have been sweeping the globe lately. British Columbia 
flood of 2021, Pakistan flood of 2022, Hurricane Ian, New Zealand, Las 
Vegas, Kentucky, Yellowstone National Park flood, and floods in 
California are all recent examples of such tragic flooding. And many are 
blaming climate change. But at the same time, we’re also seeing record 
lows in rivers and reservoirs all around the world. So what’s really 
going on here? Is the answer Hadley Cells changing? Is it the moisture 
capacity of the atmosphere?

In this episode, we try to get to the bottom of this paradox and unravel 
the role that climate change is truly playing in our increasingly 
erratic weather and precipitation patterns. We also look at large 
climatological elements like atmospheric rivers and Hadley cells to see 
the roles they are playing in these changes. And we look back on the 
worst flood to ever hit the United States to see what we can learn about 
our future – the Great Flood of 1862 that submerged much of California, 
at one point creating a 500 mile lake between Bakersfield and Redding. 
The California Mega Flood and of course the Las Vegas Flood in 2022.

Weathered is a show hosted by weather expert Maiya May and produced by 
Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what 
causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare.

Subscribe to PBS Terra so you never miss an episode! https://bit.ly/3mOfd77
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJCl-T2HUvI



/[  NYTimes likes to scoop the news -- report due next year ] /
*Draft Report Offers Starkest View Yet of U.S. Climate Threats*
“The things Americans value most are at risk,” says a draft of the 
National Climate Assessment, a major federal scientific report slated 
for release next year.
Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong
Nov. 8, 2022
WASHINGTON — The effects of climate change are already “far-reaching and 
worsening” throughout all regions in the United States, posing profound 
risks to virtually every aspect of society, whether it’s drinking water 
supplies in the Midwest or small businesses in the Southeast, according 
to a draft scientific report being circulated by the federal government.

The draft of the National Climate Assessment, the government’s premier 
contribution to climate knowledge, provides the most detailed look yet 
at the consequences of global warming for the United States, both in the 
present and in the future. The final report isn’t scheduled to be 
published until late 2023, but the 13 federal agencies and hundreds of 
scientists who are compiling the assessment issued a 1,695-page draft 
for public comment on Monday.

“The things Americans value most are at risk,” says the draft report, 
which could still undergo changes as it goes through the review process. 
“More intense extreme events and long-term climate changes make it 
harder to maintain safe homes and healthy families, reliable public 
services, a sustainable economy, thriving ecosystems and strong 
communities.”

As greenhouse gas emissions rise and the planet heats up, the authors 
write, the United States could face major disruptions to farms and 
fisheries that drive up food prices, while millions of Americans could 
be displaced by disasters such as severe wildfires in California, 
sea-level rise in Florida or frequent flooding in Texas
“By bringing together the latest findings from climate science, the 
report underscores that Americans in every region of the country and 
every sector of the economy face real and sobering climate impacts,” 
said John Podesta, a senior adviser to President Biden on clean energy, 
adding that the draft report was still undergoing scientific peer review 
and public comment.

The assessment isn’t entirely fatalistic: Many sections describe dozens 
of strategies that states and cities can take to adapt to the hazards of 
climate change, such as incorporating stronger building codes or 
techniques to conserve water. But in many cases, the draft warns, 
adaptation efforts are proceeding too slowly.

“The old narrative that climate change is something that’s happening to 
polar bears or it’s going to happen to your grandchildren — that was 
never true, but it is now obviously not true,” said one of the report’s 
authors, Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute 
for Space Studies. “There’s bad stuff happening now where we can very 
confidently say, ‘This wouldn’t have happened without climate change.’”
Under a law passed by Congress in 1990, the federal government is 
required to release the National Climate Assessment every four years, 
with contributions from a range of scientists across federal agencies as 
well as outside experts. The last assessment, released in 2018, found 
that unchecked warming could cause significant damage to the U.S. economy.

The Trump administration tried, but largely failed, to halt work on the 
next report, and its release was pushed back to 2023.
The draft report comes as world leaders are meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, 
Egypt, this week for the annual United Nations climate change summit. 
This year’s talks are focused on the harm that global warming is 
inflicting on the world’s poorest nations and the question of what rich 
countries should do to help. But the forthcoming U.S. assessment will 
offer a stark reminder that even wealthy nations will face serious 
consequences if temperatures keep rising.

The United States has warmed 68 percent faster than Earth as a whole 
over the past 50 years, according to the draft report, with average 
temperatures in the lower 48 states rising 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 
degrees Celsius) during that time period. That reflects a global pattern 
in which land areas are warming faster than oceans are, and higher 
latitudes are warming faster than lower latitudes are as humans heat up 
the planet, primarily by burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal for 
energy.

Americans can now feel the effects of climate change in their everyday 
lives, the draft says. In coastal cities like Miami Beach, Fla., the 
frequency of disruptive flooding at high tide has quadrupled over the 
last 20 years as sea levels have risen. In Alaska, 14 major fishery 
disasters have been linked to changes in climate, including an increase 
in marine heat waves. In Colorado, ski industries have lost revenue 
because of declining snowfall.

Across the country, deadly and destructive extreme weather events such 
as heat waves, heavy rainfall, droughts and wildfires have already 
become more frequent and severe.

In the 1980s, the nation suffered an extreme weather disaster that 
caused at least $1 billion in economic damage about once every four 
months, on average, after adjusting for inflation. “Now,” the draft 
says, “there is one every three weeks on average.” Some extreme events, 
like the Pacific Northwest heat wave last year that killed at least 229 
people, would have been virtually impossible without global warming.
Bigger hazards are on the way if global temperatures keep rising, the 
draft report says, although the magnitude of those risks will largely 
depend on how quickly humanity can get its fossil fuel emissions under 
control.
“When we look to the future, we can’t say with any certainty that, ‘Oh, 
we’re safe at 2 degrees, we’re safe at 1.5 degrees,’” Dr. Marvel said. 
“We don’t know exactly how the carbon cycle is going to change. We don’t 
know exactly how warm it’s going to get.” But what’s clear, she said, is 
that “the primary determinant of the future” is what humans do in the 
present.

The Biden administration has set a goal for the United States to cut its 
greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and to stop adding 
planet-warming pollution to the atmosphere altogether by 2050. But while 
America’s emissions have fallen in recent years, the report says, 
current efforts are “not sufficient” and emissions would need to decline 
at a much faster pace, by more than 6 percent per year, to meet that 
2050 target.

And even if drastic action on emissions is taken today, the United 
States will still face rising climate risks through at least 2030 
because of lags in the climate system — in other words, it would take 
some time for reductions in emissions to have an effect on the climate. 
That means every state in the country will need to take steps to adapt 
to growing hazards.

There are some encouraging signs. At least 18 states have now written 
formal adaptation plans, with another six in the works. Cities and 
communities across the country are increasingly aware of the dangers of 
global warming and are taking actions to protect themselves.
Yet many of those adaptation efforts are poorly funded and remain 
“incremental,” the draft says, instead of the “transformative” changes 
that are likely to be necessary to deal with climate effects. Instead of 
merely installing more air-conditioning in response to heat waves, 
cities could redesign buildings and parks to help stave off heat. In 
addition to elevating individual homes above floodwaters, states will 
need to redirect development from flood-prone areas.

The authors of the draft report also note that many risks from climate 
change may be hard to predict and defend against. As the planet warms, 
the dangers of “compound events” grow. In 2020, for example, a 
combination of record-breaking heat and widespread drought created 
large, destructive wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington that 
exposed millions of people to hazardous smoke and stretched firefighting 
resources.

And it is hard to foresee how American society will react to other 
potentially wrenching changes produced by global warming, which, the 
draft report says, could also include increased crime and domestic 
violence, harm to mental health and reduced opportunities for outdoor 
recreation. “These compounding stressors can increase segregation, 
reliance on social safety net programs and income inequality,” the 
report says.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/climate/national-climate-assessment.html



/[ Interesting breakthrough fiction might encourage discussion - young 
adult thriller -  from my local library ]/
*The Doomsday Show*
by Mark Alpert
Hardcover
$29.99
In this action-packed environmental thriller from the internationally 
bestselling author of Final Theory, a good-hearted climate activist must 
stop terrorists from assassinating the worst fossil-fuel tycoons.

Five climate criminals. One assassination plot. One man caught in the 
middle.

It's Climate Emergency Week in New York City. Thousands of 
environmentalists are protesting against the ongoing destruction of the 
planet. Also here are the five fossil-fuel tycoons and reactionary 
politicians who were labeled 'The Worst Climate Criminals' by Max 
Mirsky, former editor of the Journal of Climatology.

When Number Five on the list mysteriously dies as Max confronts him, 
quickly followed by Number Four, Max becomes the FBI's prime suspect. 
Things then go from bad to worse when his daughter is kidnapped.

Max can't sit back and wait for the FBI to solve the case. He must 
rescue his daughter and discover who the real assassins are. And he must 
stop the killings before the outrage and backlash destroy all hopes for 
a climate-change solution.

What will happen to Max's daughter - and all future generations - if he 
fails?
- -
[one commenter wrote] "This book is fast-paced, fun, comical on a scary 
subject and might be the perfect present for your climate activist 
friends of your teen in despair. Alpert offers a solution you might not 
have thought of--read the book to find out!"
- -
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-doomsday-show-mark-alpert/1141372984
https://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Show-Mark-Alpert/dp/1448309263
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62011618-the-doomsday-show



/[ Old guys pontificating - pretty interesting video ]/
*Democracy in the Next Cycle of History | Jonathan Haidt*
Long Now Foundation
Sep 27, 2022
Jonathan Haidt sees that we have entered a social-psychological phase 
change that was initiated in 02009 when social media platforms 
introduced several fateful innovations that changed the course of our 
society and disintegrated our consensus on reality.

In this conversation with Long Now co-founders Stewart Brand and Kevin 
Kelly, Haidt presses on questions of technological optimism, morality vs 
ethics, teen mental health, possible platform tweaks that could reduce 
the damage and just how long this next cycle of history could last.

Prompted by Haidt's piece on Why The Past 10 Years of American Life Have 
Been Uniquely Stupid, this discussion offers a behind the scenes look at 
the thinking going into Haidt's next book; release slated for the fall 
of 02023.

Jonathan Haidt's mission is to study moral psychology and use that 
knowledge to help important institutions and systems work better. The 
institutions and systems he works on are: universities, corporations, 
liberal democracy, schools & families that are overprotecting kids and 
social media. Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s 
Stern School of Business and is author of several books including The 
Righteous Mind, The Coddling of the American Mind and numerous articles 
and essays.

“Democracy in the Next Cycle of History” was given on September 27, 
02022 as part of The Long Now Foundation's Seminar series. The series 
was started in 02003 to build a compelling body of ideas about long-term 
thinking from some of the world's leading thinkers. The Seminars take 
place in San Francisco and are curated and hosted by Stewart Brand...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUViuFITTI



/[The news archive - looking back]/
/*November 10, 2014*/
The Boston Globe reports:

"Professors at Boston-area colleges are adding their voices to a 
student-led movement that is pressing higher education institutions to 
shed investments in fossil fuel companies.

"The growing faculty involvement has not only galvanized the effort with 
increased support but also added an important and unique perspective, 
activists say."

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/11/10/fuel-divestment-movement-grows-boston-campuses/uOKCKYo71b6QhMVaKmQQNK/story.html

- -

  On MSNBC's "The Ed Show," Sen. Ben Cardin, Lee Fang and Tiernan 
Sittenfeld discuss Sen. James Inhofe's impending return as head of the 
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/gop-majoritys-slick-politics-356204611684


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