[✔️] July 28, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Dreaming more, Extinction more, More defaunation, 2014 forgotten

[Richard Pauli]

/*July*//*28, 2023*/

/[  Time magazine online article - link for charts and graphs 
//https://time.com/6298730/climate-change-dreams/ ] /
*Climate Change is Changing How We Dream*
BY KYLA MANDEL
JULY 27, 2023

Martha Crawford started having climate change dreams about 11 or 12 
years ago. Unlike many of her previously remembered dreams, these were 
not fragmented or nonsensical—they were “very explicit,” she recalls. 
“They didn’t require a lot of interpretation.” In one, she’s reading a 
textbook about climate change and then throws it behind the back of her 
couch, pretending it doesn’t exist. In another, she’s sitting in a 
lecture given by a climate scientist. But the professor starts yelling 
at her for not paying attention, and she fails the course. The meaning 
was pretty clear, says Crawford, a licensed clinical social worker: 
“You’re not paying attention, and you need to pay attention.”

The dreams eventually inspired her to start the Climate Dreams Project 
in 2019, and since, she’s been facilitating a space where people can 
share climate dream anecdotes, mostly anonymously.

One dream submitted to the collection was of people digging holes in the 
desert so that the rising seas would have somewhere to go. In another 
contribution, a Flood Football game was underway, and in the second 
half, players were floating on inner-tubes. Another person, who shared 
four climate dreams, recounted one in which billions of people were 
funneling into a giant room that looked like a video-game sports arena, 
but large enough to hold the world’s population. “At the end of the 
dream, the entire face of the earth was different,” they wrote. “It was 
completely icy and the only habitable part was a giant plateau with a 
city on it.”

It would seem that climate change has woven itself into the “fabric of 
dreaming” as Crawford puts it.

Studying dreams can be slippery. We don’t always remember them, and 
interpreting them is highly subjective. But, according to a survey of 
1,009 people conducted by The Harris Poll in June on behalf of TIME, 
over a third of people in the U.S. have dreamed about climate change at 
least once in their lives.
The imagery and sensations evoked by these dreams vary widely, according 
to the survey. Most people’s climate dreams involve extreme weather or 
natural disasters; fewer are about mosquitoes and locusts or political 
leaders and laws. The most common emotions reported are fear and stress, 
except among Millennials who seem to have more hopeful dreams. The 
prevalence of climate dreams decreases with age: 56% of people between 
18 and 34 years old said they had at least one climate dream in their 
life compared to 14% of people over the age of 55. Men appear to be 
dreaming more about climate change than women. And people of color are 
dreaming about it far more than white people. Together, the data give us 
a new perspective on how the country may be feeling about climate change.

*How Different Generations Dream*
Every now and then, society collectively experiences the same moment to 
such an acute degree that it changes our dreams. The pandemic certainly 
did this, as have world wars and 9/11. The question is whether enough 
people are feeling climate change acutely enough that it is systemically 
infiltrating our dreams at a population-level. The Harris Poll survey, 
coupled with Crawford’s dream project, suggests that in the U.S., it may 
be starting to.

Climate change is now part of the zeitgeist, says Alan Eiser, a 
psychologist and a clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan 
Medical School in Ann Arbor. “It’s part of what we’re living in and 
through, so it must impact dreams.” But determining exactly how, he 
continues, “well, that’s complicated.”

The majority (57%) of Gen Z and Millennials have dreamed about climate 
change, according to the survey. That’s compared to 35% of Gen Xers and 
just 14% of Boomers. One way this split can be interpreted is that, from 
school lessons to real world events, climate change has been pervasive 
throughout younger people’s lives in a way it hasn’t been for older 
generations—and it will continue to define their future.

For many people, particularly Gen Zers and Boomers, climate change makes 
for bad dreams: 44% of Gen Z respondents said their dreams evoked 
negative emotions (rather than positive or neutral); 41% of Boomers said 
the same. That’s compared to 24% of Millennials, and 34% of Gen Xers. 
For both of those generations, positive emotions were far more common; 
41% of Gen X respondents, for example, had good climate dreams compared 
to 35% of Gen Zers and 20% of Boomers.

But no one is having more positive climate dreams than Millennials. In 
this group, 54% of respondents indicated their dreams had positive 
emotions. Intriguingly, over a third of Millennials said their dreams 
involved science—at a rate at least 10 percentage points higher than 
other generations.

Climate dreams may actually help people feel motivated to protect the 
world around them, adds Crawford. “Our dreams often show us that we're 
embedded in an ongoing relationship with our habitat. Now, many of these 
dreams can strengthen people and help them find hope.”

In one dream submitted to Crawford’s collection, for example, the 
entrant recounts being asked to give a speech on behalf of a climate 
scientist: “The auditorium is filled with pictures of different 
mushrooms and these are important to the scientist’s work. I am asking 
the audience to reflect on their sense of belonging in the natural 
world, and their level of grief. There is a theory underlying the 
lecture about how these two experiences entwine, but it is overall very 
positive—there is a sense of active hope pulsing through the words and 
the crowd.”

How Other Demographics Influence Climate Dreams
Other demographic factors such as sex, race, political affiliation, and 
where you live, also had some influence on whether and how someone 
dreams about climate change—to a degree.

Unsurprisingly, living in the Western United States—where drought, heat, 
and wildfires are all worsening due to rising global temperatures—can 
affect someone’s climate dreams. There, 44% of respondents said they’d 
had a climate dream compared to a third of people across the South, 
Northeast, and Midwest. And half of people out west—and the same number 
in the Midwest—had dreams filled with extreme weather compared to 37% in 
the South and 46% in the Northeast.

Catastrophes like tornadoes or tsunamis are a common theme in all 
dreams, not just climate-related ones. “Our emotional lives often 
present like weather,” says Crawford; we use phrases like “I’m flooded,” 
or “I’m heated.” So it’s common for that symbolism to crop up when we’re 
sleeping. But now, such imagery is more often literally about climate 
change.

“I am visiting a friend who has been ill with covid. Despite her long 
recovery she still has multiple loaves of fresh baked zucchini bread for 
her guests,” recounts one contributor to Crawford’s dream project. “We 
wander out to see the zucchini growing and her garden is exquisite and 
abundant, with flowering bushes towering over my head. We collect 
flowers for wreaths, everyone is wearing flowers. I begin to wonder how 
they have the water to maintain this garden. I think I have not seen 
flowers in such abundance that we can wear them in ages, and I compare 
it to my own parched land. I am not sure if I should be happy for my 
friend—this generous, giving person—that she has water, or angry that 
she is using so much when I cannot.”

Be it drought or heat waves, hurricanes or flooding, people of color are 
among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. And that 
awareness seems to be reflected in the survey results. Half of all 
people of color who were surveyed said they had dreamed about climate 
change at least once in their lives, compared to just 28% of white people.
Meanwhile, people who self-identified as Conservatives dreamed far less 
(24%) than those who said they were Liberal (48%). And of those who did 
have climate dreams, positive dreams were far more likely among 
Conservatives (60%) than Liberals (45%). This seems to reflect the 
current national divide when it comes to views on how urgent of a threat 
climate change is. According to an April survey by Pew, significantly 
more Democrats, or Democrat-leaning, individuals (78%) view climate 
change as a major threat to the country’s well-being compared to just a 
quarter of Republicans.

The Harris Poll survey also showed that 43% of men had dreamed about 
climate change while just 29% of women had. More men (50%) had positive 
dreams compared to women (34%). And regardless of whether the dreams 
were positive or negative, more women (39%) reported dreams about family 
than men (29%).

That resonates with Rebecca Weston, co-president of the Climate 
Psychology Alliance North America. As a licensed clinical social worker, 
Weston often listens to people’s dreams. Dreams are a “kind of a 
repository and a filter of the feelings and thoughts and images that 
we're still trying to process in our life,” she says.

Personally, she says, “my dreams are often that I cannot save my 
children,” from a looming threat created by some sort of extreme weather 
event. “It taps into my sense of futility and helplessness in the face 
of something so large. And it’s much more often about my feeling of 
helplessness, and I visualize less what happens to my kids.”

*How To Interpret Your Climate Dreams*
Studying dreams helps people better understand how the world affects 
them emotionally. This is particularly true for things outside of an 
individual’s control, like the impacts of climate change. Part of 
navigating the climate crisis through dreams, says Crawford, is being 
“able to come to terms with the aspects of living, the world, and our 
habitable environment that we do not have control over.”

There are a few questions Weston says she’d ask to help someone 
interpret their climate dreams: What is your relationship to the land, 
and the place that’s being affected in the dream? What feelings of home 
does it stir up? Or what about feelings of loss or connection? Who else 
is in the dream, and what is your relationship to them? What type of 
relationship is it, one of power, stability, or perhaps insecurity? “I 
would ask about those things and then talk to them about how that 
manifests in their world, in their lives,” she explains. Maybe it’s part 
of your subconscious self “saying this is what we need to develop in 
your waking life, more connection, more access to nature … connection to 
other people who are engaging in these issues.”

There could be lessons beyond the individual too. Maybe dreams can teach 
us something about how to deal with climate change, says Tore Nielsen, 
director of the Dreams and Nightmares Laboratory and psychiatry 
professor at the University of Montreal.

Dreams have, after all, inspired innovations ranging from the sewing 
machine to the Periodic Table. When it comes to climate change, maybe 
logical thinking hasn’t been working so well, says Nielsen. Maybe “we 
need more approaches, like a dream-oriented approach.”

“Imagine you send out a call for dreamers to dream up solutions to 
climate change. You’d get probably 10s of 1,000s if not hundreds of 
1,000s of replies. A lot of them, obviously [won’t be] very useful,” he 
suggests. “How many good ideas would it take?”

A dream shared in Crawford’s collection offers one vision of the future. 
“I was part of a group of nomads consisting of about 20 people,” the 
person begins. “We would camp in one place for a while then leave before 
the stormy season.” To survive they planted many, many crops to ensure 
enough food survived the harsh weather.

“We traveled light, living in teepees mainly. Some of them were 
insulated and had air conditioning units. We had solar panels for 
electricity, but mostly used it for lighting and communications. We used 
large trucks for long-distance journeys and horses for local travel. The 
most valuable skills were agriculture, mechanics, and electronics. There 
was no money, and no taxes. Life was simple but we were free.”

https://time.com/6298730/climate-change-dreams/



/[ Pondering the far future, Forbes magazine - text or audio ]/
*Modern ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’ Event Will Be Worse Than First 
Predicted: Report*
GrrlScientist
Senior Contributor
Evolutionary & behavioural ecologist, ornithologist & science writer

The report argues that nearly half of the planet’s animal species are 
now in decline, but unlike past mass extinctions, this one has been 
entirely caused by humans

Tragically, the global mass extinction event that we find ourselves in 
the midst of will be even worse than originally predicted, according to 
a recent study (ref). The international team of scientists came to their 
conclusion after analyzing population trends data for more than 71,000 
animal species — including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish 
and insects — from around the world to see how their numbers have 
changed since record-keeping first began.

Generally, scientists agree that an extinction event is occurring when 
species vanish much faster than they are replaced. A mass extinction 
event is usually defined as losing 75% of the world’s species in a short 
period of geological time — less than 2.8 million years, according to 
the Natural History Museum (here).

Previous research has established that the current rates of extinction 
are between 1000-10,000 times higher than “background” extinction rates, 
which has led some scientists to argue that life on Earth has entered 
its sixth mass extinction event. But uniquely, when compared to the 
planet’s previous five mass extinction events, this is the first mass 
extinction event that is the result of the actions of just one species — 
humans.

Globally, many species are declining as the result of a variety of 
destructive human activities, particularly habitat loss, fragmentation 
and degradation, the widespread use of pesticides, herbicides and other 
chemicals, overexploitation and hunting, and the effects of invasive 
species, aggravated by runaway climate change.

Gauging a species’ conservation status has traditionally been based on 
assessments issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature 
(IUCN). Of the population numbers and extinction risks for more than 
150,300 species evaluated by the IUCN, 28% are considered to be facing 
the threat of extinction, and approximately 1% have been declared 
extinct. However, the study authors noted that extinctions are preceded 
by progressive population declines through time that leave demographic 
“footprints” warning of impending extinctions — and this downward 
population trajectory is what the researchers analyzed.


According to the team’s analysis, 49% of these species populations are 
stable, but 48% have shrinking populations, whilst only 3% have 
populations that are increasing (Figure 1). They also found evidence 
that 33% of species currently classified as “least concern” (not 
threatened) on the IUCN’s Red List are actually trending toward extinction.

Additionally, the researchers found that some taxonomic classes of 
animals are experiencing greater threats to their continued existence 
than others. For example, the team found that amphibians are 
experiencing the greatest population drops of any animal classes. 
Geography is also important. Declines are steeper amongst animals living 
in the tropics compared to temperate region species, probably because 
tropical species tend to be more sensitive to change.

“Collectively, our findings reinforce the warning that biodiversity is 
on the brink of an extinction crisis,” the authors point out in their 
study, noting that this extinction event will be far more serious than 
prior research has suggested, particularly as entire ecosystems unravel 
and collapse.

“This crisis will have extensive ecological and ecosystemic 
consequences, given that ecological functioning is severely impacted by 
population declines and the resulting changes in community compositions.”

Further, the study authors found that relying solely on the IUCN’s Red 
List “runs a risk of downplaying the severity of biodiversity loss”, 
especially after they found that some 33% of the species classified as 
not threatened actually have declining populations, too. For example, 
just 13% of bird species are considered “threatened” by the IUCN but the 
study authors found that 53% have declining populations.

Despite this, the IUCN classifications are still “an excellent resource” 
for conservation scientists, although this study’s methodology provides 
additional information regarding impending biodiversity loss. Combining 
the IUCN data with the findings in this study provides a reasonably 
precise picture about what is happening and why.

The reason for this impending massive biodiversity loss is obvious. It 
cannot be denied that human activities are the sole cause of this 
extinction event, which is driven by our unsustainable use of land, 
water and energy, which also are driving runaway climate change. 
Currently, 40% of all land on Earth has been altered specifically for 
food production to support the growing human population. Agriculture 
alone is responsible for 90% of global deforestation and 70% of the 
planet’s freshwater consumption, thereby pushing species that inhabit 
those habitats towards extinction.

“To make matters worse, unsustainable food production and consumption 
are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions that are 
causing atmospheric temperatures to rise, wreaking havoc across the 
globe,” the authors write (ref). “The climate crisis is causing 
everything from severe droughts to more frequent and intense storms. It 
also exacerbates the challenges associated with food production that 
stress species, while creating conditions that make their habitats 
inhospitable. Increased droughts and floods have made it more difficult 
to maintain crops and produce sufficient food in some regions. The 
intertwined relationships among the food system, climate change, and 
biodiversity loss are placing immense pressure on our planet.”

Source:
Catherine Finn, Florencia Grattarola, and Daniel Pincheira-Donoso 
(2023). Review: More losers than winners: investigating Anthropocene 
defaunation through the diversity of population trends, Biological 
Reviews | doi:10.1111/brv.12974

GrrlScientist
Although I look like a parrot in my profile picture, I'm an evolutionary 
ecologist and ornithologist as well as a science writer and journalist. 
I'm very active on twitter @GrrlScientist, I curate my writing on 
Medium, and lurk on most social media sites. I share links to all my 
recent writing via TinyLetter.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2023/07/19/modern-sixth-mass-extinction-event-will-be-worse-than-first-predicted/?sh=25f16e04ab65


/[ Academic paper ]/
*More losers than winners: investigating Anthropocene defaunation 
through the diversity of population trends*
Catherine Finn, Florencia Grattarola, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso
First published: 15 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12974

    ABSTRACT
    The global-scale decline of animal biodiversity (‘defaunation’)
    represents one of the most alarming consequences of human impacts on
    the planet. The quantification of this extinction crisis has
    traditionally relied on the use of IUCN Red List conservation
    categories assigned to each assessed species. This approach reveals
    that a quarter of the world's animal species are currently
    threatened with extinction, and ~1% have been declared extinct.
    However, extinctions are preceded by progressive population declines
    through time that leave demographic ‘footprints’ that can alert us
    about the trajectories of species towards extinction. Therefore, an
    exclusive focus on IUCN conservation categories, without
    consideration of dynamic population trends, may underestimate the
    true extent of the processes of ongoing extinctions across nature.
    In fact, emerging evidence (e.g. the Living Planet Report), reveals
    a widespread tendency for sustained demographic declines (an average
    69% decline in population abundances) of species globally. Yet,
    animal species are not only declining. Many species worldwide
    exhibit stable populations, while others are even thriving. Here,
    using population trend data for >71,000 animal species spanning all
    five groups of vertebrates (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and
    fishes) and insects, we provide a comprehensive global-scale
    assessment of the diversity of population trends across species
    undergoing not only declines, but also population stability and
    increases. We show a widespread global erosion of species, with 48%
    undergoing declines, while 49% and 3% of species currently remain
    stable or are increasing, respectively. Geographically, we reveal an
    intriguing pattern similar to that of threatened species, whereby
    declines tend to concentrate around tropical regions, whereas
    stability and increases show a tendency to expand towards temperate
    climates. Importantly, we find that for species currently classed by
    the IUCN Red List as ‘non-threatened’, 33% are declining.
    Critically, in contrast with previous mass extinction events, our
    assessment shows that the Anthropocene extinction crisis is
    undergoing a rapid biodiversity imbalance, with levels of declines
    (a symptom of extinction) greatly exceeding levels of increases (a
    symptom of ecological expansion and potentially of evolution) for
    all groups. Our study contributes a further signal indicating that
    global biodiversity is entering a mass extinction, with ecosystem
    heterogeneity and functioning, biodiversity persistence, and human
    well-being under increasing threat.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/c6ffbfdf-96d5-4656-9068-d8807b55c929/brv12974-fig-0001-m.jpg
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12974#pane-pcw-figures


/[ Some thick science, yes this stresses the Polar Bears ]/
*Recent Efforts to Understand Warm Air Intrusions into the Arctic: 
Atmosphere Meeting July 2023*
IARPC Collaborations
Jul 27, 2023
Warm air intrusions represent a significant source of heat, moisture and 
aerosol particles across northern high latitudes. Recent field campaigns 
have observed and even targeted these features of the Arctic atmosphere 
to better understand their dynamics and consequences. This meeting 
supported progress on Deliverable 2.1.1 of the Arctic Research Plan's 
implementation plan, supporting discussion and sharing knowledge on work 
to study the transport of heat, moisture, and pollutants between Arctic 
and lower latitudes, and on Deliverable 2.1.4, focusing discussion on 
the advancement of understanding of the role of atmospheric rivers in 
Arctic Amplification.

Lubna Dada (Paul Scherrer Institut) presented "A central Arctic extreme 
aerosol event triggered by a warm air-mass intrusion." Penny Vlahos 
(University of Connecticut) provided an update on the ARTofMELT expedition.

Want to join future IARPC Collaborations meetings or webinars? Request 
an account on our member space where U.S. federal government program 
managers, scientists, and community members from state, academic, 
Indigenous, nonprofit, and private sector organizations team up to solve 
hard problems to carry out the research laid out in the Arctic Research 
Plan. Visit » https://www.iarpccollaborations.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GrnmHLEM5I



/[The news archive - looking not very far back - actually the files are 
missing ]/
/*July 28, 2014*/
July 28, 2014:
MSNBC's Ed Schultz condemns Washington's refusal to take the climate 
crisis seriously.

*Climate change impact on congressional races*
Conservative climate change deniers fuel a misinformation campaign, 
refusing to address the terrible environmental disasters impacting the 
country. Ed Schultz, Jane Klebb and Brad Woodhouse discuss.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/climate-change-impact-on-congressional-races-313099843876#

*Dangerous oceanic exploration off the East Coast*
A major setback for environmental safety, after the Obama Administration 
lifts a 30 year ban on east coast oil and gas exploration. Ed Schultz 
and Dr. Reese Halter discuss the potential impact.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/dangerous-oceanic-exploration-off-the-east-coast-313100867952#


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