[✔️] May 17, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Wildfire blame, resilient future, Pirates increasing, Permafrost in Hawaii, Beyond hop and fear - Dowd, Predicaments,

Wed May 17 09:39:30 EDT 2023

/*May*//*17, 2023*/

/[  first study to focus on wildfires - “angering,” but not surprising 
...] /
*Oil companies’ carbon led to vast wildfire damage, researchers find*
By Chelsea Harvey | 05/16/2023
The world’s top corporate carbon emitters are responsible for more than 
a third of the area burned by wildfires in the western United States and 
southwestern Canada since the 1980s, a new study says.

The analysis, published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research 
Letters, focuses on the top 88 fossil fuel producers and cement 
manufacturers, from which a majority of the world’s greenhouse gas 
emissions originate. It’s a kind of climate attribution study that 
connects rising temperatures with worsening wildfires and the source of 
the emissions that have spurred them.

“We know that wildfires in western North America are growing worse due 
to climate change,” said study co-author Carly Phillips, a research 
scientist at the Union for Concerned Scientists’ Science Hub for Climate 
Litigation. “And we also know, based on previous research, that 
emissions from these top 88 carbon producers have contributed a 
significant amount to global temperature increase. And so we wanted to 
kind of combine those two lines of inquiry to be able to put a spotlight 
on the fossil fuel industry’s role in driving the wildfires.”

The study began by looking at changes in vapor pressure deficit — a 
measurement of the dryness of the air — in western North America over 
the last century. The region has dried as temperatures have risen, and 
multiple studies have linked the drying with a rising risk of wildfires. 
There’s simply more dry fuel available to burn.

The study next used a combination of observations and climate models to 
parse out the relationship between rising global temperatures and 
increasing vapor pressure deficit over the years. It also tracked the 
amount of area burned by wildfires across western North America over the 
same time period.

Finally, the researchers used models to assess the responsibility 
attributed to the world’s top emitters. They did so by running two sets 
of simulations.

In the first, they modeled the world as it actually exists, including 
all the carbon emissions that have historically been released into the 
atmosphere. In the second, they erased all the emissions associated with 
the 88 companies. This allowed them to assess how the West’s wildfire 
history would have been different without them.

They found that emissions traced to these 88 companies are responsible 
for about half the increase in vapor pressure deficit — the dryness 
indicator — that the region has experienced since 1901. They also found 
that these emissions are responsible for about 37 percent of the area 
burned by wildfires in the western United States and southwestern Canada 
since 1986.

“The emissions coming from the companies are large, so it makes sense 
that their contributions to these phenomena would be large too,” 
Phillips said.

The findings were “angering,” but not surprising, she said.

The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group representing fossil 
fuel companies, disputed the study and said its authors have a “clear 
agenda.”

“America’s oil and natural gas industry is focused on delivering 
affordable, reliable energy while reducing emissions,” said Christina 
Noel, an API spokesperson.

Yet the world’s top fossil fuel companies are historically responsible 
for a large share of the greenhouse gas emissions that have warmed the 
planet over the last century.

Emissions data associated with the largest fossil fuel producers is the 
work of a scientist named Richard Heede. Heede spent years compiling a 
database tracking the companies responsible for putting the most carbon 
into the atmosphere. Top producers include companies like Saudi Arabian 
Oil Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and BP PLC.

Nearly 10 years ago, Heede concluded that 90 companies were responsible 
for about two-thirds of the world’s carbon dioxide and methane emissions.

That number has since been changed to 88, due to mergers and 
acquisitions, Phillips said.

It’s not the first study to link climate impacts with the world’s top 
emitters. Other studies have quantified the role of the same 88 
companies in overall global warming and sea-level rise, as well as ocean 
acidification. One study found that these carbon producers are 
responsible for as much as half the historical rise in global temperatures.

This is the first study to focus on wildfires.

Such studies can potentially be used in climate litigation, Phillips 
suggested.

Hundreds of climate-related lawsuits have been filed globally, including 
plaintiffs suing their governments for failing to act on climate change 
and others who sued fossil fuel companies for contributing to global 
warming. Legal experts have noted that attribution studies — which 
investigate the role of climate change in extreme weather events and 
disasters — could bolster these kinds of cases.

“We know that there are lots of lawsuits against fossil fuel actors 
right now that are citing attribution science as evidence of the impact 
of these companies’ products,” Phillips said. “So this really adds to 
that body of work that can be used to inform those cases.”
https://www.eenews.net/articles/oil-companies-carbon-led-to-vast-wildfire-damage-researchers-find/

/[ Local materials.  TED talk ]/
*How to build a resilient future using ancient wisdom*
Julia Watson • TED2020
In her global exploration of Indigenous design systems, architect Julia 
Watson researches enduring innovations that could help us counter the 
challenges of climate change. From floating villages to living root 
bridges that strengthen over time, Watson introduces us to some of these 
resilient solutions -- and shows how they can teach us to design with 
nature, instead of against it.
https://www.ted.com/talks/julia_watson_how_to_build_a_resilient_future_using_ancient_wisdom?user_email_address=080c272b1bf03ff4404fd3dd32129aab

/[ plausible, of no surprise ]/
*CLIMATE CHANGE LINKED TO INCREASED PIRATE ATTACKS*
FISHERMEN ARE PIVOTING TO PIRACY AS THE SEAS HEAT UP
by SHARON ADARLO
May 14, 2023
*Jolly Roger*
Climate change isn't just causing weird weather patterns, like stronger 
storms or flood surges wreaking havoc on coastal communities and 
infrastructure. Apparently, scientists say, we can also blame it for — 
we shit you not — an increase in pirate attacks in the waters off East 
Africa.

It's not quite as wild as it sounds. As the ocean off East Africa 
experiences warmer surface temperatures, fish stocks have suffered, and 
the resulting economic destabilization has led to increased piracy in 
the area, as detailed in a new paper in the journal Weather, Climate and 
Society. Strengthening the case, the same study also analyzed the South 
China Sea, another piracy hotspot, and found that increased fish 
production was correlated with a decrease in pirate attacks.

Sound whimsical? On a certain level, sure. But piracy is still a serious 
global issue, and the climate even more so — so the fact that 
researchers are charting a link between the two should give anyone pause.

"In a timeline of roughly 20 years, we’re picking up statistically 
significant, measurable differences," study coauthor Gary LaFree, a 
professor of criminology at the University of Maryland, told the 
Guardian. "I was surprised by how rapidly those changes are occurring, 
especially when you think of climate change most likely accelerating in 
the future."

*Swashbuckers*
The study looked at about two decades of data and analyzed more than 
2,000 acts of piracy in the two regions.

Complicating the picture, the researchers also noted that some of the 
pirates plying these waters are also fishermen, who live largely hand to 
mouth and have the skills and know-how to navigate the ocean, making 
them ideal pirates for this new age of maritime crime.

"You tend to think either you are a criminal or a non-criminal," LaFree 
told the Guardian. "But there is evidence from other researchers that 
some fishermen drift into it, depending on how fishing is going,"

All told? It's just one more example of the sometimes bafflingly complex 
risks posed by a warming climate — and particularly how the 
carbon-spewing developed world is causing myriad problems for poorer 
areas that use far fewer fossil fuels.

"If our arguments are correct, and sea temperatures continue to rise 
into the foreseeable future," reads the researchers' paper, "the 
struggle against piracy in east Africa will become increasingly difficult."
https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-change-pirate-attacks

/[ Permafrost in Hawaii -- melting ]/
*Scientists race to study Hawaii’s vanishing permafrost*
By Chelsea Harvey | 05/15/2023
Mauna Kea is the only place in Hawaii where it’s known to occur — and 
it’s likely dying out. Surveys have found the patches are shrinking over 
time
https://www.eenews.net/articles/ee-subscriber-scientists-race-to-study-hawaiis-vanishing-permafrost/

/[ 1 of 2  video presentation https://youtu.be/hV91pH8HORo ]/
*CACOR: The Big Picture: Beyond Hope and Fear - Michael Dowd*
thegreatstory
May 15, 2023
I consider this 52-minute presentation delivered via Zoom on May 3, 2023 
to the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR) to be my most 
important and emotionally supportive video to-date. DESCRIPTION: No one 
needs convincing that we are living in an age of chaos and breakdowns. 
Even those without benefit of an ecological understanding of history 
feel the stress. How do we cope? How can we escape the seesaw of hope 
and fear?  And, crucially, how can we be of support to others who are 
confused, angry, depressed, or filled with fear, blame, or guilt?

Time-coded table of contents:
00:00 - Intro of speaker, Michael Dowd
01:24 - Slide program begins
01:40 - Description and overview
03:00 - Religious naturalism, compost theology credo
04:40 - Denial / adaptive inattention
05:57 - Catton and Berry quotes
06:47 - How “progress" leads to collapse/ecocide
09:52 - problems vs. predicaments
10:00 - Main issue is ecological overshoot, not climate
12:05 - Thesis
13:31 - Ophuls vs. Pinker and other progress acolytes
16:40 - The ecocidal cult of perpetual progress
18:31 - Collapse & Overshoot in a Nutshell / Hopium
19:57 - Un-trivializing good & evil / nuclear meltdowns
21:30 - Overshoot - Why “solutions” make things worse
22:54 - 4 main drivers of collapse, ecocide, likely NTHE
23:48 - BREAK
24:34 - Great Acceleration / Ongoing and unstoppable
28:15 - Tipping points (thresholds) already passed
30:20 - NASA chart - Last 22K years of temperature rise
31:21 - How denial shows up / Myth of ‘the Almighty We’
32:41 - Four (Deadly Accurate) Metaphors
34:02 - BREAK and REVIEW /
34:42 - Serenity Prayer / why Acceptance is vital
36:16 - Grief, Jenkinson hope-free / Stages of Grief
39:55 - Assisted migration of trees / helping forests walk
40:55 - It’s NOT too late for… / It IS too late for…
42:10 - Cultivating calm gratitude / Benefits of acceptance
45:45 - Karen & Jordan Perry and Meg Wheatley PD videos
46:18 - What’s wrong with hope?
47:50 - Thesis redux / Joseph Brodsky: evil in the language
50:11 - Definitions of doom and post-doom
51:30 - Feelings that reveal acceptance or non-acceptance
52:34 - Final note of encouragement / invitation to watch Q&A

RESOURCES (SCHOLARSHIP on which this program is grounded):
https://postdoom.com/resources/
https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-g...
https://thegreatstory.org/sustainabil...

CACOR website: https://canadiancor.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV91pH8HORo

- -

/[ pt 2 waiting for hospice --  videos ]/
*Dowd CACOR Q&A - The Big Picture: Beyond Hope and Fear*
thegreatstory
May 15, 2023
This 75-min video is one of the best Q&A sessions I've ever participated 
in, largely because of the amazing questions and commentary from such an 
educated Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR) audience. The 
questioners brought out the best in me. One of my closest post doom, no 
gloom friends and colleagues (and a mentor), MEG WHEATLEY, responded in 
such a generous way in an email the next day that it brought tears to my 
eyes. She wrote: "I’ve just listened to the Q&A from yesterday and want 
to both appreciate and honor your extraordinarily compassionate honoring 
of all questioners, even those who misunderstood or denied your remarks. 
I learned a new level of compassion and grace in listening to your 
responses. Thank you." 🙏❤️

TIME-CODED TABLE of CONTENTS - video 2 -- Q&A
00:20 - Anitra, President of Club of Rome U.S.A. / PP&T blog
03:59 - Gary: Communities of care?
05:50 - Steve: AI (Artificial Intelligence) and human destiny?
07:52 - Gordon: predications, uncertainties, certainties?
13:00 - Gordon: ecocentric (sustainable) civilizations?
15:25 - Richard: What IS possible, constructive, life-giving?
18:33 - Raymond: Electrifying society, shift to ‘renewables’?
23:35 - Peter: Are we already in hospice? Our way of life?
27:50 - Sally: population, overconsumption, overshoot?
29:54 - Peter: Can societies choose to succeed or fail?
30:57 - Bob: Differences: ours from previous boom/busts
34:00 - Karen: Benefits of collapsing well? Amends? Chat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccsBdr7WKmU

- -

/[ Eric Michaels blog ]/
*Problems, Predicaments, and Technology*
This blog covers many different aspects of ecological overshoot focusing 
on climate change, pollution loading, and energy and resource decline. 
Specific areas of interest also include anthropocentrism, hubris, 
cognitive dissonance, and optimism bias.
lhttps://problemspredicamentsandtechnology.blogspot.com/

/[The news archive - looking back consciousness conundrum - religion 
trumps cognitive certainty. ]/
/*May 17, 2013*/
May 17, 2013: Andrew Sullivan points to the root cause of US 
climate-change denial:
"But the main reason many Americans still refuse to believe it is 
religious fundamentalism. That is immune to science and reason. But it 
is the bedrock belief of one of our political parties."
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/05/17/settled-among-scientists/

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