[✔️] Dec 8, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Kevin Anderson, COP is Burning Man in the desert, Subsidies, Activist as security threat, Deny Deceive Delay, New rivers flow, 2014 EPA targeted

[R.Pauli]

/*December 8*//*, 2023*/

/[ Criticizing COP - video]/
*"Cabal of Oil Producers": Climate Scientist Kevin Anderson Slams 
Corporate Capture of COP28*
Democracy Now!
Dec 7, 2023  Latest Shows
- -
As we broadcast from COP28 in Dubai, leading climate scientist Kevin 
Anderson lays out why he dismisses the annual climate talks as "grand 
events" that do little to actually curb emissions. "These COPs have 
become little more than a scam under which the oil companies and the 
other fossil fuel companies are hiding that nothing is being done," says 
Anderson. Decades of inaction make solving the climate crisis much 
harder, and Anderson notes "technology and fairness have to go hand in 
hand" in order to save the planet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Nr6WDamnQ

- -

/[ //COP is "Burning Man in the desert" - //a video expressing opinions  ]/
*Paul Beckwith COP28 and 1.5 degrees C*
Canadian Association for the Club of Rome
Dec 6, 2023
An insiders perspective on the COP28 and the uncertainty around claiming 
we have passed 1.5 degrees of global warming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVCM11OHbbg

- -

/[  Here's a smart idea called for years ago. Now is time. ]/
*subsidies*
‘We cannot allow the emissions to be going up,’ the top US climate envoy 
tells POLITICO.
BY ANNE MCELVOY AND CLAUDIA CHIAPPA
DECEMBER 7, 2023
The United States must end “crazy” oil and gas subsidies to achieve its 
climate goals, but a stalled Congress is preventing President Joe Biden 
from taking action, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told POLITICO.

“The subsidies are crazy, and we have them still in the United States,” 
Kerry said in an interview with POLITICO’s Power Play podcast. 
“President Biden has said we've gotta get rid of these subsidies. But 
again … you have to legislate to do that and we've been pretty 
gridlocked in our country for a period of time.”

As the U.S. heads into a presidential election year, Kerry said he hopes 
people will put aside “party labels” and “come together around good, 
common-sense solutions” to fight climate change. The U.S. diplomat, who 
is currently in Dubai for the COP28 summit, is preparing to welcome the 
U.S. Republican congressional delegation, slated to arrive in the United 
Arab Emirates later this week...

Donald Trump, the American conservatives' standard bearer and 
front-runner to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has 
been notoriously skeptical on climate issues, even pulling the U.S. out 
of the Paris climate deal during his time in the White House...

“I really look forward to meeting with the congressional delegation,” 
Kerry told POLITICO. “They have legitimate points of view about some 
ways to try to come at this problem. Not everybody has to attack it the 
same way.”

Kerry also shrugged off COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber's controversial 
remarks that there is “no science” behind demands for a fossil fuel 
phaseout. The comments, published by the Guardian, struck a chord with 
al-Jaber's critics, who have long questioned whether the COP28 chief can 
credibly lead the climate talks given his other role as CEO of the UAE's 
state-owned oil company, Adnoc.

Al-Jaber’s comments may require “clarification,” Kerry told POLITICO, 
but he made it clear he is not withdrawing his long-standing support for 
the COP28 chief.

“Look, he's gotta decide how he wants to phrase it, but the bottom line 
is this COP needs to be committed to phasing out all unabated fossil 
fuel,” Kerry said. "That means we cannot allow the emissions to be going 
up for sure."

“I think he was saying that the science doesn't dictate the methodology 
that you have to use,” he added. “You have to choose between many 
different ways of doing it.”...

As the COP28 host country, the UAE has also been under scrutiny for its 
role as a large oil producer and exporter, especially after leaked 
documents indicated the country planned to use the summit to push fossil 
fuel deals.

Kerry agreed the UAE must “cut [oil and gas production], and everybody 
needs to be reducing supply and demand.”

“We all have to be part of hitting this goal of keeping the earth's 
temperature limit to 1.5 degrees,” he said.
https://www.politico.eu/article/john-kerry-us-rid-crazy-oil-subsidies-climate-change-fossil-fuel-paris-climate-deal-cop28/



/[ A study of dangers of disruptive activism ]/
*COP, Look, Listen: Special Edition (1)*
The Growing Threat to Climate Activists
Activists as a “Security Threat”
Labelling climate activists as "extremists", “lunatics” or “zealots” is 
common amongst right-wing
media, as are calls to proscribe environmental groups as “terrorist 
entities” (see examples
shared by Spiked, The Daily Mail, GB News and Turning Point UK, to name 
a few). As Amy
Westervelt and Geoff Dembicki have revealed, vilifying activists is also 
a well-worn and explicit
strategy used by groups like the Atlas Network – a US-based non-profit 
supporting over 500
“free market” think tanks and organisations across the globe...
https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/COP-Look-Listen-Spotlight-1.pdf 


- -

/[ Like a weather report on the sources of misinformation ]/
*Deny Deceive Delay ( Vol. 3)*
Climate Information Integrity Ahead of COP28*
*
The Impacts of Mis- and Disinformation
At this pivotal juncture, it is more important than ever for societies 
to have a shared
understanding of climate change, and to chart a path forward based on 
credible science and
data. Realising meaningful plans for Net Zero requires information 
integrity, as without it a strong public mandate for meaningful action 
is far harder to build.
Unfortunately, mis- and disinformation about climate continues to 
thrive. As well as
undermining public and political support for action, it is increasingly 
linked to real-world
harm. Such content not only impacts debate and implementation of climate 
policy, but also
centres climate as a vector for wider conspiracy theories, scapegoating 
and social division. With
the latter, 2023 has seen alarming mobilisation to violence against 
those even loosely
associated with climate action, from elected officials and policymakers 
to scientists, activists
and journalists. When a traffic calming proposal in Oxford, UK, was 
falsely conflated with “climate
lockdowns” and Stalinism, large scale protests broke out with death 
threats sent to local
politicians. Similarly, a conspiracy claiming droughts were a result of 
geoengineering led to
attacks on weather forecasters and Met Offices across the globe, with 
reports of trolling and
abuse from Spain, France, the US and UK. More broadly, a study by Global 
Witness polled 468
climate scientists and found that 39% had experienced online harassment 
or abuse in recent
months, with numbers increasing for those who present their evidence via 
the media or
publications.
https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Deny-Deceive-Delay-Vol.-3.pdf


/[ PHYS+ORG Climate science examines new river flows ]/
*When sea-level rise threatens coastal wetlands, don't look to rivers 
for help, scientists say*
by Stroud Water Research Center
DECEMBER 7, 2023
Amid climate change, large dam removal projects have gained attention as 
a solution to the loss of coastal wetlands that reduce flooding, filter 
water, and provide wildlife habitat. But in a paper appearing in 
Science, researchers conclude that this strategy won't work in most U.S. 
rivers...

The reason, they said, is not enough sediment. Of the nearly 5,000 
rivers analyzed, almost three out of every four could not deliver enough 
sediment to match sea-level rise in their connected coastal areas. 
Nearly half fell short of the amount of sediment needed by at least 10-fold.

This is the first national study to examine how much watershed sediment 
could be deposited by rivers into coastal areas. Until now, research has 
focused on a few very large rivers like the Mississippi, and steep 
rivers like the Elwha in Washington, that are not representative of most 
others in the contiguous United States.

According to the researchers, most U.S. watersheds are small and are not 
the leading source of sediment buildup in wetlands. It's on these small 
rivers that most dams exist.

Research Scientist Scott Ensign, Ph.D., of Stroud Water Research Center, 
a nonprofit that studies freshwater streams and rivers around the world, 
led the study. He said, "The Elwha is the poster child for a dam removal 
project restoring coastal sediment, and for good reason: it liberated an 
enormous amount of sediment and sand."

"However, rivers along the East and Gulf coasts are less steep than on 
the West Coast, and they have less sediment that could potentially reach 
wetlands—wetlands that are larger, requiring more sediment to keep them 
above rising seas. Basically, the numbers don't add up."

Christopher Craft, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Indiana who 
focuses on wetland restoration and climate change, said, "The expansive 
and comprehensive spatial analysis conducted by the authors strongly 
suggests that sediment supply of most coastal watersheds is inadequate 
to sustain tidal wetlands as sea level rises. In other words, sediment 
will not save them."

Ensign and his co-authors, Joanne Halls from the University of North 
Carolina and Erin Peck from the University of Massachusetts, used 
publicly available data from the U.S. Geological Survey and National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to model the supply of watershed 
sediment to coastal wetlands using ArcGIS Pro technology from Esri. They 
then compared their predictions to tidal wetlands around the U.S. with 
previously reported rates of change.

"By and large, the sediment that saves most wetlands from drowning 
doesn't come from the river upstream. In many places on the East Coast, 
removing dams won't help. We have to look elsewhere," Ensign explained.

James Pizzuto, Ph.D., a professor of geological sciences specializing in 
river science at the University of Delaware, said that the researchers 
cleverly addressed a complex problem.

"These results, and the local variations documented by mapping the 
entire coastal U.S., provide essential guidance to managers and 
scientists, documenting where future efforts should focus on other 
processes beyond watershed sediment," he said.

Such efforts might include finding ways to keep more mineral sediments, 
plant material, and organic carbon in wetland soils, explained Donald F. 
Boesch, professor emeritus of the University of Maryland Center for 
Environmental Science. He said, "This is true both where they are 
sediment-starved and where sediments are being diverted to build and 
maintain wetlands experiencing high rates of relative sea-level rise, 
such as in the Mississippi Delta."

Future studies are needed to measure how much sediment is trapped behind 
specific dams and to accurately predict its effect on tidal wetlands 
downstream.

Ensign said, "Across the board, the most important action for saving 
tidal wetlands is to allow them to migrate upslope. In some areas, this 
will require restoring natural hydrology and preserving low-lying land. 
Direct application of sediment and other engineering approaches can also 
be useful at very local scales."

More information: Scott H. Ensign et al, Watershed sediment cannot 
offset sea level rise in most U.S. tidal wetlands, Science (2023). DOI: 
10.1126/science.adj0513. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0513

Laurel G. Larsen et al, Tidal marshes threatened by lack of sediment, 
Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adl4251. 
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl4251

Journal information: Science
https://phys.org/news/2023-12-sea-level-threatens-coastal-wetlands-dont.html

- -


/[ Here's the science paper - ]/
*Watershed sediment cannot offset sea level rise in most US tidal wetlands*
SCOTT H. ENSIGN HTTPS://ORCID.ORG/0000-0002-1490-4751 , JOANNE N. HALLS 
HTTPS://ORCID.ORG/0000-0001-8427-9181, AND ERIN K. PECK 
HTTPS://ORCID.ORG/0000-0002-2021-6584Authors Info & Affiliations
SCIENCE
7 Dec 2023
Vol 382, Issue 6675
DOI: 10.1126/science.adj0513

*Editor’s summary*
Sea-level rise threatens to overtake coastal wetlands, but 
elevation-building processes, including deposition of sediments from 
upstream, can help keep wetlands above water. Ensign et al. investigated 
whether watershed sediment loads are enough to keep up with sea-level 
rise at US coasts (see the Perspective by Larsen and Milligan). Their 
model conservatively estimated that incoming sediment loads may be 
sufficient in the western Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coasts but 
insufficient in other regions where most watersheds are smaller. Local 
accretion is often higher than predicted from the model, suggesting an 
important role for biological processes to raise marsh elevation in the 
face of sea-level rise. —Bianca Lopez

*Abstract*
Watershed sediment can increase elevation of tidal wetlands struggling 
against rising seas, but where and how much watershed sediment helps is 
unknown. By combining contiguous US datasets on sediment loads and tidal 
wetland areas for 4972 rivers and their estuaries, we calculated that 
river sediment accretion will be insufficient to match sea level rise in 
72% of cases because most watersheds are too small (median 21 square 
kilometers) to generate adequate sediment. Nearly half the tidal 
wetlands would require 10 times more river sediment to match sea level, 
a magnitude not generally achievable by dam removal in some regions. The 
realization that watershed sediment has little effect on most tidal 
wetland elevations shifts research priorities toward biological 
processes and coastal sediment dynamics that most influence elevation 
change.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0513


/[The news archive - big politics  ]/
/*December 8, 2014 */
December 8, 2014:
The Washington Post reported:

    "Oil, gas and coal interests that spent millions to help elect
    Republicans this year are moving to take advantage of expanded GOP
    power in Washington and state capitals to thwart Obama
    administration environmental rules.

    "Industry lobbyists made their pitch in private meetings last week
    with dozens of state legislators at a summit of the American
    Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an industry-financed
    conservative state policy group.

    "The lobbyists and legislators considered several model bills to be
    introduced across the country next year, designed to give states
    more power to block or delay new Obama administration environmental
    standards, including new limits on power-plant emissions.

    "The industry’s strategy aims to combat a renewed push by President
    Obama to carve out climate change as a top priority for his final
    two years in office. The White House has vowed to continue using
    executive authority to enact more environmental limits, and the
    issue is shaping up to be a major flash point heading into the 2016
    presidential election.

    "With support from industry lobbyists, many Republicans are planning
    to make the Environmental Protection Agency a primary political
    target, presenting it as a symbol of the kind of big-government
    philosophy they think can unify social and economic conservatives in
    opposition."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-bolstered-by-gop-wins-work-to-curb-environmental-rules/2014/12/07/3ef05bc0-79b9-11e4-9a27-6fdbc612bff8_story.html 





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