[✔️] September 19, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Know the disinformation enemy, BBC on ice loss, California Law suit against oil industry, actual legal filing, Petroleum tries to transition, World Petroleum Congress tries, 2015 - similar times.

Tue Sep 19 03:55:16 EDT 2023

/*September 19*//*, 2023*/

/[ This may become an important reference article ]/
*Meet the Shadowy Network Vilifying Climate Protestors*
The Atlas Network is behind the effort to brand climate activists as 
extremists and pass anti-protest legislation.
(For decades, the Atlas Network has used its reach and influence to 
spread conservative philosophy—and criminalize climate protest.)

By Amy Westervelt and Geoff Dembickion Sep 12, 2023

Earlier this year, news footage began making the rounds on social media 
of young activists from the German climate organization Letzte 
Generation (Last Generation) being assaulted by their fellow citizens as 
they obstructed streets in an effort to draw attention to the German 
government’s inaction on climate. A young woman, with her hand glued to 
a road was ripped off the road by her hair; a young man was run over by 
a truck driver; a passerby punched the protestors and was cheered on. A 
few months later, German police raided the homes of Last Generation 
activists and seized their bank accounts. It all seemed like a gross 
overreaction to a pretty tame form of protest. Although Last Generation 
stands out for its willingness to inconvenience everyday people’s lives 
to draw awareness to the severity of the climate crisis, the tactic of 
road blockades is not a new one — it was commonly used by suffragettes, 
civil rights activists, and anti-war activists in the pasts, and has 
been used by cycling advocates for decades as well...
. .
Atlas is a global network of more than 500 member think tanks, 
advocating for “free market” policies in the majority of democratic 
countries. Its members are in regular contact with each other, sharing 
ideas, tips, and strategies. Back in the 1990s, the Atlas Network even 
bragged about being early adopters of the internet, for the sole purpose 
of staying regularly connected and sharing ideas. Representatives from 
member think tanks also meet at events like the annual regional Liberty 
Forums or the two-day Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner. Ideas are shared 
between member think tanks via various publications as well, including 
the quarterly Freedom’s Champion magazine, a Latin America podcast 
“Hablemos Libertad,” and various books in both English and Spanish (even 
a cookbook!).
- -
By the end of 2017, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a 
trade group representing oil refiners, pipeline companies, and 
petrochemical manufacturers, had drafted legislation criminalizing 
protest near “critical infrastructure,” the state of Oklahoma had passed 
it, and ALEC was pushing it to other state lawmakers. Canada took a 
similar approach, with various provinces passing anti-protest 
legislation and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police forming a new unit—the 
Community Industry Response Group—to shut down protest camps and arrest 
protesters...
- -
Media Matters’ analysis found that fewer than half of U.S. media stories 
on climate protest included anything about the scientific basis for 
climate change or the political stalemate driving the surge in protests. 
Meanwhile, the study found that Fox News has run four times the combined 
coverage of its competitors CNN (27 segments) and MSNBC (9 segments); 
all of the network’s 144 segments on the topic have painted climate 
protesters as dangerous radicals.

Social scientists who study movements and social change have largely 
been confused by how much questions over the “civility” of climate 
protesters’ tactics have dominated the discourse. “There really hasn’t 
been much destruction of property—the climate movement’s tactics have 
been very tame so far,” says Dana Fisher, who heads up the Center for 
Environment, Community, and Equity and has been researching protest in 
general and climate protest in particular for years.

The fixation on whether climate activists are “radical” makes a lot more 
sense in the context of the Atlas Network’s history. “It’s this method 
that you see over and over again over the years,” Walker, the Atlas 
researcher, says. “They’ll throw something out into the public sphere, 
which will get a little bit of press, and then before you know it, a new 
law has been written, possibly by one of them. And now you have the 
criminalization of what was previously seen as legitimate civil protest.”

This story was produced in collaboration with independent investigative 
news sites Drilled and DeSmog.

https://newrepublic.com/article/175488/meet-shadowy-global-network-vilifying-climate-protesters

https://www.desmog.com/2023/09/12/atlas-network-vilifying-climate-protestors/

/[  This is another worrisome news report --  5 min video  ]/
*Antarctic winter sea-ice reaches record lows - BBC News*
BBC News
Sep 17, 2023  #Antarctica #BBCNews #ClimateChange
The sea-ice surrounding Antarctica is well below any previous recorded 
winter level, satellite data shows, a worrying new benchmark for a 
region that once seemed resistant to global warming.

"It's so far outside anything we've seen, it's almost mind-blowing," 
says Walter Meier, who monitors sea-ice with the National Snow and Ice 
Data Center.

Antarctica's huge ice expanse regulates the planet's temperature, as the 
white surface reflects the Sun's energy back into the atmosphere.

An unstable Antarctica could have far-reaching consequences, polar 
experts have wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6IhyM79HHI

/[ the essential problem ]/
The Recount @therecount
*"Their deception caused a delayed societal response to global warming." *
The state of California has filed a sweeping climate lawsuit against the 
big 5 oil and gas companies — Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, 
and Chevron — alleging a "decades-long campaign of deception."
https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1703737473849807066

- -

/[ clip from California press release -- notice of lawsuit   ]/
*Attorney General Bonta Announces Lawsuit Against Oil and Gas Companies 
for Misleading Public About Climate Change*
Press Release Attorney General Bonta Announces Lawsuit Against Oil and Gas…

The complaint includes the following causes of action:

    *Public nuisance: *Under California law, a “nuisance” is “anything
    which is injurious to health,” and a “public nuisance” is “one which
    affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood, or any
    considerable number of persons.” The complaint alleges that all the
    defendants, by their deceptions, acts, and omissions, have created,
    contributed to, and assisted in creating harmful climate-related
    conditions throughout California.

    *Damage to natural resources: *California law authorizes the
    Attorney General to take legal action to protect the state’s natural
    resources “from pollution, impairment, or destruction.” The
    complaint alleges that the misconduct by all the defendants has
    served to exacerbate the climate crisis in California, and has led
    to the pollution, impairment, and destruction of California’s
    natural resources.

    *False advertising: *California law prohibits untrue and misleading
    advertising in connection with the disposition of property or
    services. The complaint alleges that all defendants, with the intent
    to induce members of the public to purchase and utilize fossil fuel
    products, made misleading statements concerning fossil fuels.

    *Misleading environmental marketing:* Under California law, “[i]t is
    unlawful for a person to make an untruthful, deceptive, or
    misleading environmental marketing claim, whether explicit or
    implied.” The complaint alleges that all defendants have made
    environmental marketing claims that are untruthful, deceptive,
    and/or misleading, whether explicitly or implicitly.

    *Unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business practices: *California
    law prohibits unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business acts or
    practices. The complaint alleges that all defendants committed
    unlawful acts by, among other things, deceiving the public about
    climate change and affirmatively promoting the use of fossil fuels
    while knowing that fossil fuels would lead to devastating
    consequences to the climate, including in California.
    *
    **Products liability (strict and negligent): *The complaint alleges
    that, as a result of the defendants’ failure to warn about the
    climate-related harms related to the use of their products,
    California has sustained a plethora of injuries and damages,
    including to state property, state infrastructure, and its natural
    resources.

*A copy of the lawsuit can be found 
*https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/FINAL%209-15%20COMPLAINT.pdf

https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-lawsuit-against-oil-and-gas-companies

/[ Perfunctory gestures ? ]/
*World Petroleum Congress kicks off in Calgary with energy transition theme*
Global News
Sep 17, 2023  #GlobalNews
Oil and gas leaders from around the world are meeting in Calgary, 
Alberta, Canada for the 24th World Petroleum Congress this week. The 
theme of the gathering this year is Energy Transition: The Path to Net Zero.
A number of heads of prominent oil and gas firms will be at the event, 
including ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser.
But as Heather Yourex-West explains, this will not be a conference about 
reaching climate targets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G-g6p9Gi8k

/[ The news archive - looking back some 7 years ago similar to our time ]/
/*September 19, 2015 */
September 19, 2015:
In a New York Times op-ed, Noah S. Diffenbaugh, an associate professor 
of earth system science at Stanford University, and Christopher B. 
Field, a director of the department of global ecology at the Carnegie 
Institution for Science, observe:

    "As wildfires rage, crops are abandoned, wells run dry and cities
    work to meet mandatory water cuts, drought-weary Californians are
    counting on a savior in the tropical ocean: El Niño.

    "This warming of the tropical Pacific occurs about every five years,
    affecting climate around the globe and bringing heavy winter
    precipitation to parts of California. The state experienced two of
    its wettest years during two of the strongest El Niños, in 1982-83
    and 1997-98.

    "Now climatologists have confirmed that a powerful El Niño is
    building, and forecasts suggest a high likelihood that El Niño
    conditions will persist through the next several months. So we in
    California expect a rainy winter.

    "But before everyone gets too excited, it is important to understand
    this: Two physical realities virtually ensure that Californians will
    still face drought, regardless of how this El Niño unfolds.

    "The first is that California has missed at least a year’s worth of
    precipitation, meaning that it would take an extraordinarily wet
    rainy season to single-handedly break the drought. Even if that
    happened, we would most likely suffer from too much water too fast,
    as occurred in the early 1980s and late 1990s, when El Niño
    delivered more rainfall than aquifers could absorb and reservoirs
    could store.

    "The second is that California is facing a new climate reality, in
    which extreme drought is more likely. The state’s water rights,
    infrastructure and management were designed for an old climate, one
    that no longer exists.

    "Our research has shown that global warming has doubled the odds of
    the warm, dry conditions that are intensifying and prolonging this
    drought, which now holds records not only for lowest precipitation
    and highest temperature, but also for the lowest spring snowpack in
    the Sierra Nevada in at least 500 years. These changing odds make it
    much more likely that similar conditions will occur again,
    exacerbating other stresses on agriculture, ecosystems and people."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/opinion/a-wet-winter-wont-save-california.html?ref=opinion

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