[✔️] June 21, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Held v Montana awaits ruling, CO2 visualized US and Africa, Oreskes "The Big Myth", AOC movie, Solstice, Apocalyptics, 2011 NAS
Richard Pauli
Richard at CredoandScreed.com
Wed Jun 21 08:48:09 EDT 2023
/*June*//*21, 2023*/
/[ Groundbreaking youth-led climate trial comes to an end in Montana ]/
*Ruling could take weeks to emerge in trial for Held v Montana, which is
the first constitutional climate trial in US history *
On Monday, Montana regulators who were called as expert witnesses for
the defendants said they merely enforce state laws – something Montana
assistant attorney general Michael Russel echoed in closing arguments on
Tuesday. “What we heard in the plaintiffs’ case is not justiciable
controversy, but rather the long airing of political grievances that
properly belongs in the legislature, not a court of law,” he said.
But Montana’s constitution does not detail the meaning of a “clean and
healthful” environment, according to testimony last week from Mae Nan
Ellingson, the youngest delegate to the state’s 1972 constitutional
convention which enshrined those environmental rights when called as an
expert witness for the plaintiffs.
“She guaranteed that the courts could tell us how to understand and
enforce this anticipatory and preventative provision,” Bellinger noted
in his closing arguments on Tuesday...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/20/held-v-montana-climate-trial-youth-end
- -
/[ It might be "Good Old Boy-ism" ]/
*Groundbreaking youth-led climate trial comes to an end in Montana**
**Ruling could take weeks to emerge in trial for Held v Montana, which
is the first constitutional climate trial in US history*
Dharna Noor
Tue 20 Jun 2023
A groundbreaking climate trial came to an early close on Tuesday as
lawyers on each side presented a very different picture of who can be
held responsible for the climate crisis.
Attorneys representing the lawsuit’s young challengers said Montana
officials and agencies must be held accountable for exacerbating the
crisis, and thereby violating the plaintiffs’ state constitutional
rights. But the defense argued that climate change is a global problem,
and that if Montana is contributing to it, plaintiffs should work to
change that through the legislature.
- -
The trial for Held v Montana began in the state’s first judicial
district court in the capital city of Helena last week, marking the
first constitutional climate trial in US history.
A ruling will now follow from Judge Kathy Seeley, who has been hearing
the case, with expectations that this could take several weeks to emerge.
The case was filed in March 2020 by sixteen young Montana residents,
then aged two through 18. They allege the state’s government’s
pro-fossil fuel policies contribute to climate change, and thereby
violate provisions in the state constitution that guarantee that the
“state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful
environment in Montana for present and future generations”.
“Plaintiffs are asking this court to declare that a stable climate
system is fundamental to the protection of their rights to clean and
healthful environment,” said Nate Bellinger, an attorney representing
the plaintiffs with non-profit law firm Our Children’s Trust, in closing
arguments on Tuesday.
The lawsuit specifically targets a provision in the Montana
Environmental Policy Act which prevents the state from considering how
its energy economy may contribute to climate change. In 2011, the
legislature amended the law to prevent environmental reviews from
considering “regional, national or global” environmental impacts – a
provision the original complaint called the “climate change exception”.
Last month, Montana’s legislature amended the provision to specifically
ban the state from considering greenhouse gas emissions in environmental
reviews for new energy projects. The state’s attorneys said that should
have rendered the lawsuit moot, but Seeley, of the first district court
in Montanarejected them.
On Monday, Montana regulators who were called as expert witnesses for
the defendants said they merely enforce state laws – something Montana
assistant attorney general Michael Russel echoed in closing arguments on
Tuesday. “What we heard in the plaintiffs’ case is not justiciable
controversy, but rather the long airing of political grievances that
properly belongs in the legislature, not a court of law,” he said.
But Montana’s constitution does not detail the meaning of a “clean and
healthful” environment, according to testimony last week from Mae Nan
Ellingson, the youngest delegate to the state’s 1972 constitutional
convention which enshrined those environmental rights when called as an
expert witness for the plaintiffs.
“She guaranteed that the courts could tell us how to understand and
enforce this anticipatory and preventative provision,” Bellinger noted
in his closing arguments on Tuesday.
A favorable verdict for the plaintiffs could have implications for
Montana’s legislature. Seeley has said in previous court orders that she
would not directly order officials to create a new approach to
addressing climate change, but that if the challengers successfully make
their case, she would issue a “declaratory judgment,” saying officials
violated the state constitution.
Throughout last week, expert witnesses for the plaintiffs, including
climate scientists and ecologists, explained that to ensure a stable
climate system and livable future, the concentration of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere must be reduced to no more than 350 parts per million
by 2100 – something the defendants have not argued against.
“This court should declare 350 parts per million is the constitutional
standard necessary to protect a stable climate system,” said Bellinger.
Many who packed the courtroom for the closely-watched Held v Montana
trial have staunchly supported the plaintiffs. The 16 young challengers
were met by supporters outside the courthouse each day, and on Tuesday,
when Bellinger wrapped his closing arguments, he was met with cheers.
This support has not gone unnoticed by the defense.
Montana: Youth Climate Lawsuit, Helena, USA - 13 Jun 2023.
‘I’m a prisoner in my own home,’ asthma sufferer, 15, tells landmark US
climate trial
“This case has received national attention in part because it has been
billed or at least received as a sort of referendum on climate change
generally,” said Russel in his closing arguments. “This is not supposed
to be a town hall meeting or popularity contest; it’s a court of law in
which basic principles like causation and redress clearly still apply.
He argued that though the defense understands that fossil fuels emit
greenhouse gases, Montana cannot by itself have an effect on climate change.
“What we heard from every single expert who testified about fossil fuels
… is that it’s a global issue,” he said
But Bellinger said that doesn’t mean Montana should not be held
accountable for its role in perpetuating the problem.
“The defendants argue that Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions don’t
matter, but irrefutable expert testimony affirms that Montana’s
emissions are substantial,” he added. “Montana’s contribution to
anthropogenic climate change harms plaintiffs. The impacts of Montana’s
emissions are both local and immediate as well as global and long lasting.”
In other words, he said, when it comes to planet-warming pollution,
“every ton matters.”
The trial’s conclusion came unexpectedly early. The plaintiffs and their
expert witnesses testified over the course of five days last week, but
the state rested its case after just one.
On Monday, two representatives from the Montana Department of
Environmental Quality, which is named as a defendant in the complaint,
testified. The agency’s director, Chris Dorrington, said he “admired”
the plaintiffs and invited them to apply for jobs in his department.
Before the trial began, he said, he was unfamiliar with the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading climate body.
Sonja Nowakowski, the state’s air, energy and mining division
administrator, testified that it is possible to analyze the local
climate impacts of Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions, but the law
prohibits doing so for energy permits. Asked if emissions degrade
Montana’s natural resources, she said she is “not a scientist”.
The state called just one expert witness to the stand on Monday: Terry
Anderson, a climate economist with ties to the tobacco industry who
touts the benefits of “free market environmentalism”. During cross
examination by plaintiffs’ lawyer Phil Gregory, Anderson said he is
billing the state $500 per hour and that he has “perhaps” worked for 25
hours or more.
Gregory attacked Anderson’s credibility, citing multiple errors in
Anderson’s expert report which the economist admitted he was later
forced to revise. The attorney asked Seeley to strike Anderson’s
testimony from the record; she refused but said he had “definitely
raised some questions about the numbers”.
Anderson made additional errors during his Monday testimony, Gregory
said Tuesday.
The state was originally expected to ask for expert testimony from
climate-crisis denying climatologist Judith Curry, who has charged the
state of Montana more than $30,000 for her preparation, DeSmog reported.
Defendants also declined to invite expert testimony from Debra Sheppard,
a neuropsychologist who said in her deposition that she has no expertise
in how the climate crisis impacts youth mental health, according to the
Flathead Beacon.
Similar lawsuits are pending in four other states, and a federal suit,
Juliana v United States, is also pending. Climate advocates say the Held
v Montana trial could inspire more litigation.
“The fossil fuel industry should be terrified because fights like this
are going to pop up across the country as Gen Z and a growing Gen Alpha
fight to protect their futures from climate disaster,” Varshini Prakash,
executive director of Sunrise Movement, wrote in an email.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/20/held-v-montana-climate-trial-youth-end
/[ Visualizing our CO2 pollution -- https://youtu.be/zAG3-t-fHbY ] /
*Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Tagged by Source: The Americas*
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
Jun 7, 2023
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most prevalent greenhouse gas driving global
climate change. However, its increase in the atmosphere would be even
more rapid without land and ocean carbon sinks, which collectively
absorb about half of human emissions every year. Advanced computer
modeling techniques in NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office
allow us to disentangle the influences of sources and sinks and to
better understand where carbon is coming from and going to.
This visualization shows the CO2 being added to Earth's atmosphere over
the course of the year 2021, split into four major contributors: fossil
fuels in orange, burning biomass in red, land ecosystems in green, and
the ocean in blue. The dots on the surface also show how atmospheric
carbon dioxide is also being absorbed by land ecosystems in green and
the ocean in blue.
This view highlighting North America and South America, during the
growing season plants absorb CO2 through photosynthesis, but release
much of this carbon through respiration during winter months. Some
interesting features include fossil fuel emissions from the northeastern
urban corridor that extends from Washington D.C. to Boston in the United
States. The fast oscillation over the Amazon rainforest shows the impact
of plants absorbing carbon while the sun is shining and then releasing
it during nighttime hours.
For additional details visit the SVS page: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5110
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAG3-t-fHbY
- -
/[ Visualizing CO2 Pollution African continent
https://youtu.be/Q_93pLMA4pM ]/
*Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Tagged by Source: Europe, the Middle East,
and Africa.*
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
Jun 7, 2023
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most prevalent greenhouse gas driving global
climate change. However, its increase in the atmosphere would be even
more rapid without land and ocean carbon sinks, which collectively
absorb about half of human emissions every year. Advanced computer
modeling techniques in NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office
allow us to disentangle the influences of sources and sinks and to
better understand where carbon is coming from and going to.
This visualization shows the CO2 being added to Earth's atmosphere over
the course of the year 2021, split into four major contributors: fossil
fuels in orange, burning biomass in red, land ecosystems in green, and
the ocean in blue. The dots on the surface also show how atmospheric
carbon dioxide is also being absorbed by land ecosystems in green and
the ocean in blue. Though the land and oceans are each carbon sinks in a
global sense, individual locations can be sources at different times.
This view highlights Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. European
fossil fuel emissions are visible as red representing emissions from
fires over central Africa that are used to clear crop residue. Fires
represent a much smaller source of CO2 to the atmosphere than fossil
fuel emissions, but are significant because they can alter the ability
of an ecosystem to sequester carbon in the future. Scientists are
carefully monitoring how CO2 emissions from fires are altered by climate
change, which is bringing longer and more severe fire seasons to many areas.
For additional details visit the SVS page: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5110
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_93pLMA4pM
- -
/[ See more from NASA visualizations ]/
*NASA Scientific Visualization Studio*
/@nasascientificvisualizatio/
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) works closely with
scientists to create visualizations of NASA data in order to promote a
greater understanding of Earth and space science research activities at
NASA and its collaborators. We are creating more and more of our content
in 4K resolution and are starting to experiment in 360-degree visuals,
so releasing material through YouTube will allow users greater ease and
flexibility in using our visualizations. Starting in 2017, we plan on
releasing all our new material here as well as on our website,
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov .
https://www.youtube.com/@nasascientificvisualizatio5842/featured
/[ an excellent conversation about our predicament ]/
*Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway Discuss 'The Big Myth'*
The Climate Pod
May 7, 2023
How did Americans come to believe that markets were the answer to
everything? Why don't people trust the government to efficiently
allocate resources in a way that creates the greatest good? Who
orchestrated this century-long con of the American people?
Dr. Naomi Oreskes and Dr. Erik Conway, co-authors of the eye-opening
book "Merchants of Doubt", join the show to discuss their new book "The
Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love
the Free Market." Our conversation only scratches the surface of
everything they uncovered while trying to get to the origin of the
market fundamentalism myth that has dominated American popular culture
for the last 100 years, and how that myth has led to the climate crisis
we're facing today.
Be sure to subscribe to The Climate Pod YouTube channel!
Listen to the full episode of The Climate Pod featuring Dr. Naomi
Oreskes and Dr. Erik Conway here:
iTunes: https://bit.ly/3mANzij
Spotify: https://bit.ly/3IXF08J
The Climate Pod is a weekly conversation on the latest climate issues
with the journalists, activists, academics, and artists at the center of
the story.
Follow us on social media!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/climatepod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/climatepod/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/climatepod/
Subscribe to our new Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly":
https://theclimateweekly.substack.com/
Website: www.theclimatepod.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeyOxicyyI
/[ //$5.89 to //see the movie online -- about climate activism and AOC ]/
*To The End | Trailer | Available Now*
Journeyman Pictures
Jun 20, 2023
Apple TV.
Amazon.
Google Play.
Microsoft.
Redbox.
ROW8.
Vudu.
YouTube.
Storyline. Stopping the climate crisis is a question of political
courage, and the clock is ticking. Over three years of turbulence and
crisis, four young women fight for a Green New Deal, and ignite a
historic shift in U.S. climate politics.
Over four years of turbulence and crisis, four remarkable young women
(Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, activist Varshini Prakash, climate
policy writer Rhiana Gunn-Wright, and political strategist Alexandra
Rojas) work together to defend their generation's right to a future and
lead the movement behind the most sweeping climate change legislation in
U.S. history.
Following four women of colour who are key players in the rise of the
Green New Deal, a new plan to address climate change, economic justice
and racial justice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ojXheqWW_M
[ Next stop is Winter solstice ]
*Solstice is Wed, Jun 21, 2023 7:57 AM*
America/Los_Angeles
[ Oddly comforting to hear of astronomical risks rather than those we
can directly blame on humans. ]
*Richard Wilman: Apocalyptic Cosmic Threats and our Post-Apocalyptic
Future in Space*
Centre for Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic Studies
Richard Wilman: Apocalyptic Cosmic Threats and our Post-Apocalyptic
Future in Space
CAPAS - Lecture Series Summer 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgYL__WrOMs&t=478s
/[The news archive - looking back]/
/*June 21, 2011*/
June 21, 2011: NPR reports:
"The American public is less likely to believe in global warming than it
was just five years ago. Yet, paradoxically, scientists are more
confident than ever that climate change is real and caused largely by
human activities.
"Something a bit strange is happening with public opinion and climate
change.
"Anthony Leiserowitz, who directs the Yale University Project on Climate
Change Communication, delved into this in a recent poll. He not only
asked citizens what they thought of climate change, he also asked them
to estimate how climate scientists feel about global warming.
"'Only 13 percent of Americans got the correct answer, which is that in
fact about 97 percent of American scientists say that climate change is
happening, and about a third of Americans just simply say they don't
know,' he said.
"Most Americans are unaware that the National Academy of Sciences, known
for its cautious and even-handed reviews of the state of science, is
firmly on board with climate change. It has been for years."
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137309964/climate-change-public-skeptical-scientists-sure
=======================================
*Mass media is lacking, many daily summariesdeliver global warming news
- a few are email delivered*
=========================================================
**Inside Climate News*
Newsletters
We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or
once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s top headlines
deliver the full story, for free.
https://insideclimatenews.org/
---------------------------------------
**Climate Nexus* https://climatenexus.org/hot-news/*
Delivered straight to your inbox every morning, Hot News summarizes the
most important climate and energy news of the day, delivering an
unmatched aggregation of timely, relevant reporting. It also provides
original reporting and commentary on climate denial and pro-polluter
activity that would otherwise remain largely unexposed. 5 weekday
=================================
*Carbon Brief Daily https://www.carbonbrief.org/newsletter-sign-up*
Every weekday morning, in time for your morning coffee, Carbon Brief
sends out a free email known as the “Daily Briefing” to thousands of
subscribers around the world. The email is a digest of the past 24 hours
of media coverage related to climate change and energy, as well as our
pick of the key studies published in the peer-reviewed journals.
more at https://www.getrevue.co/publisher/carbon-brief
==================================
*T*he Daily Climate *Subscribe https://ehsciences.activehosted.com/f/61*
Get The Daily Climate in your inbox - FREE! Top news on climate impacts,
solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered week days. Better than coffee.
Other newsletters at https://www.dailyclimate.org/originals/
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
/Archive of Daily Global Warming News
https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/
/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe
<mailto:subscribe at theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request>
to news digest./
Privacy and Security:*This mailing is text-only. It does not carry
images or attachments which may originate from remote servers. A
text-only message can provide greater privacy to the receiver and
sender. This is a personal hobby production curated by Richard Pauli
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain cannot be used for commercial
purposes. Messages have no tracking software.
To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote
<mailto:contact at theclimate.vote> with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe,
subject: unsubscribe
Also you may subscribe/unsubscribe at
https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for
http://TheClimate.Vote <http://TheClimate.Vote/> delivering succinct
information for citizens and responsible governments of all levels. List
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously restricted to
this mailing list.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20230621/d3c593e8/attachment.htm>
More information about the theClimate.Vote
mailing list