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<font size="+1"><i>June 29, 2017</i></font><br>
<a
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/28/breaking-southern-co-officially-yanks-plug-kemper-clean-coal-power-plant-warns-it-may-recognize-loss-3-4-billion"><br>
<b>BREAKING: Southern Co. Suspends Kemper "Clean Coal" Project,
Warns Investors It May Recognize Losses up to $3.4 Billion</b></a><br>
In a major blow to proponents of "clean coal" technology, Southern
Co., parent company of Mississippi Power, announced in a Securities
and Exchange Commission filing today that it's throwing in the towel
on efforts to generate electricity from coal and will instead use
only natural gas at its flagship Kemper County, Mississippi power
plant.<br>
The project, which relied on a "gasifier" to turn a cheap and common
grade of coal into fuel, is over, at least for now, Southern said.<br>
"On June 28, 2017, Mississippi Power notified the Mississippi PSC
that it is beginning a process to suspend operations and start-up
activities on the gasifier portion of the Kemper IGCC."<br>
Further, Southern warned that it may record a $3.4 billion loss for
the project in the second quarter of 2017, depending on how
negotiations with state utility regulators unfold.<br>
If "Mississippi Power does not ultimately obtain rate recovery of
the $3.4 billion … , Southern Company and Mississippi Power would be
required to recognize a charge to income in the second quarter of
2017 for those unrecovered costs, in addition to any other costs
required to be incurred," the SEC filing says.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/28/breaking-southern-co-officially-yanks-plug-kemper-clean-coal-power-plant-warns-it-may-recognize-loss-3-4-billion">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/28/breaking-southern-co-officially-yanks-plug-kemper-clean-coal-power-plant-warns-it-may-recognize-loss-3-4-billion</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/339924-house-lawmakers-back-amendment-requiring-pentagon-climate-change-report">House
lawmakers back amendment requiring Pentagon climate change
report</a></b></font><br>
<font size="-1">BY ELLEN MITCHELL TheHill</font><br>
The House Armed Services Committee's annual defense policy bill will
include a provision requiring a Defense Department report on the
effects of climate change on military installations.<br>
The amendment - brought up by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) in the
readiness portion of Wednesday's markup - instructs each military
service to come up with a list of the top 10 military installations
likely to be affected by climate change over the next 20 years.<br>
The report would include a list of possible ways to combat such
climate change threats as flooding, droughts and increased
wildfires.<br>
Such a provision aims to ensure that the Defense Department "is
prepared to address the effects of a changing climate on threat
assessments, resources and readiness," according to the amendment
language...<br>
"The changing global climate will lead to increased instability in
the form of economic migration, increased competition over resources
and possibly more failed states, which result in breeding grounds
for extremism and terrorism," Langevin said before the committee.<br>
In his amendment, Langevin cites Defense Secretary James Mattis, who
has said he agrees "that the effects of a changing climate - such as
increased maritime access to the Arctic, rising sea levels,
desertification, among others - impact our security situation."<br>
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was the sole lawmaker to speak out against
the amendment, claiming it instructs the Pentagon "to take their eye
off the ball."<br>
"We have heard testimony in front of this committee consistently
about the array of imminent threats we face … the Russians, Chinese,
ISIS, al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea. … There is simply no way that you
can argue that climate change is one of those threats. Not even
close," she said. "There is no evidence that climate change causes
war."...<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/339924-house-lawmakers-back-amendment-requiring-pentagon-climate-change-report">http://thehill.com/policy/defense/339924-house-lawmakers-back-amendment-requiring-pentagon-climate-change-report</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.greenbiz.com/video/business-case-sustainability-transcends-politics">Business
case for sustainability transcends politics</a></b><br>
"It's important to tell lawmakers the business case you know so
well," said Anne Kelley, Ceres' senior program director of policy
and BICEP program. <br>
Businesses also have a responsibility to tell their success stories
out loud over various forms of media, she said: "The money you're
saving, the emissions you're bringing down, the materials you're
recycling."<br>
Adding his perspective as director of the 50-year-old Environmental
Defense Fund, Jason Mathers said that despite shifting political
winds, "the core framework of business leadership remains the same."
<br>
As long as business leaders continue to set ambitious sustainability
goals, execute against those goals and developing forward-thinking
solutions — and tell stories about how environmental policies foster
innovation and advance billion-dollar industries — there will be
"opportunities for us to be proactive."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.greenbiz.com/video/business-case-sustainability-transcends-politics">https://www.greenbiz.com/video/business-case-sustainability-transcends-politics</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/berg-acceleration/"><b>Larsen
C iceberg accelerates ahead of calving June 28, 2017</b></a><br>
In another sign that the iceberg calving is imminent, the
soon-to-be-iceberg part of Larsen C Ice Shelf has tripled in speed
to more than ten meters per day between 24th and 27th June 2017. The
iceberg remains attached to the ice shelf, but its outer end is
moving at the highest speed ever recorded on this ice shelf. We
still can't tell when calving will occur - it could be hours, days
or weeks - but this is a notable departure from previous
observations.<br>
The most recent observations on 27th June do not cover the rift tip,
but a low resolution Sentinel-1 image of just after midnight on 28th
June shows clearly that the iceberg remains attached to the ice
shelf at its western end - for now.<br>
When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10% of
its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever
recorded; this event will fundamentally change the landscape of the
Antarctic Peninsula. We have previously shown that the new
configuration will be less stable than it was prior to the rift, and
that Larsen C may eventually follow the example of its neighbour
Larsen B, which disintegrated in 2002 following a similar
rift-induced calving event....<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/berg-acceleration/">http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/berg-acceleration/</a><br>
- more:<br>
</font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21911">Brief
Communication: Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf
presents significant risk to stability</a><br>
Marine ice regulates the future stability of a large Antarctic ice
shelf / Bernd Kulessa; Daniela Jansen; Adrian J. Luckman; Edward C.
King; Peter R. Sammonds<br>
<font color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21911">https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21911</a></font><br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://t.co/UCsvNSlGNe"><br>
<b>Landmark youth climate lawsuit (Juliana v US) - Trial set for
February 5, 2018. </b></a> <br>
Today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin issued an order in the
climate lawsuit brought by<br>
21 youth, Juliana v. United States , setting a trial date for
February 5, 2018 before U.S. District<br>
Court Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon.<br>
Press release: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/s/170628-Juliana-Trial-Date-PR.pdf">https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/s/170628-Juliana-Trial-Date-PR.pdf</a><br>
Facebook: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.facebook.com/youthvgov/photos/a.186886431354003.40508.186475038061809/1626979990677966/?type=3&theater">https://www.facebook.com/youthvgov/photos/a.186886431354003.40508.186475038061809/1626979990677966/?type=3&theater</a><br>
Twitter: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://twitter.com/youthvgov/status/880217884529614848">https://twitter.com/youthvgov/status/880217884529614848</a><br>
IG: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BV5xUExARZq/?taken-by=youthvgov">https://www.instagram.com/p/BV5xUExARZq/?taken-by=youthvgov</a><br>
-more: <br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/06/the_doj_admits_climate_change_exists_it_just_refutes_whether_the_federal.html">The
Trump Response to the Kids' Climate Lawsuit Isn't Denial. It's
Evasion.</a></b><br>
Since the inauguration, the DOJ's responses have taken on a Trumpian
tinge. <br>
...there's still one small but possible way the U.S. could be forced
to take climate change seriously while Trump is in office: if the
two dozen kids pushing a landmark environmental lawsuit against the
federal government for imperiling their future by causing climate
change win their case...<br>
At a hearing ... government lawyers in the case unveiled a second
strategy that echoed the congressional testimony of Attorney General
Jeff Sessions just one day earlier: evasion. They refused to answer
basic questions of fact and asserted executive privilege over the
science the government is using to determine climate change
policy....<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/06/the_doj_admits_climate_change_exists_it_just_refutes_whether_the_federal.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/06/the_doj_admits_climate_change_exists_it_just_refutes_whether_the_federal.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="nuEeue hzdq5d ME7ew" target="_blank"
href="http://www.consumerreports.org/climate-change/how-climate-change-could-affect-your-homeowners-insurance-coverage/"
style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration:
underline; color: rgb(59, 120, 231); vertical-align: top;
font-weight: 500; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; transition:
color 0.2s ease-in-out; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft,
Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">How Climate Change Could
Affect Your Homeowners Insurance Coverage</a> <br>
Homeowners will ultimately foot the bill for more extreme weather<br>
You might already be seeing the effect. Erie Insurance, for example,
has raised premiums to account for severe weather, says Joe Vahey, a
regional vice president fpr Erie. The Pennsylvania-based insurer has
developed climate modeling and risk analytics. These sophisticated
models forecast weather risk down to the street level.<br>
The Travelers Insurance Company says its risk analyses have led to
writing fewer homeowners insurance policies in some areas and
raising prices in others. The company wouldn't provide specifics.<br>
Travelers has also selectively imposed separate deductibles on
standard homeowners insurance policies in areas prone to hurricanes
and those at greater risk of tornadoes, and wind and hail damage...<br>
o what's the bottom line? Homeowners pay for extreme weather: higher
premiums, bigger deductibles, fewer coverage options. Now more than
ever, it's critical to shop smart for homeowners insurance, make
sure you have enough coverage, and take steps to prevent losses in
the first place.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.consumerreports.org/climate-change/how-climate-change-could-affect-your-homeowners-insurance-coverage/">http://www.consumerreports.org/climate-change/how-climate-change-could-affect-your-homeowners-insurance-coverage/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/melbourne-apartments-failing-heat-stress-test/8358852">Melbourne
apartments are failing the heat stress test, study finds</a></b><br>
Many of Melbourne's apartment blocks depend entirely on air
conditioning for cooling, failing to meet overheating tests adhered
to across Europe and the US, researchers have found.<br>
The new Melbourne University study found that if a power blackout
was to hit in the middle of a heatwave, the majority of the city's
apartment buildings and occupants would roast.<br>
<b>Strategies for cooling apartments include:</b><br>
- Improving ventilation<br>
- Using external heat-reflective coating and paint<br>
- Installing appropriate shading<br>
- Building better awareness among occupants of what can be done
during a heatwave<br>
According to a 2016 Climate Council report, heatwaves kill more
Australians than any other natural hazard.<br>
Lead researcher and construction scientist Chris Jensen modelled how
six common Melbourne apartment designs could cope with extremely
high temperatures like those experienced in January and February
2009.<br>
What he found was that all six designs failed to keep internal
temperatures below limits set in France, the UK, Germany and the US.<br>
The worst performing designs were often older west-facing concrete
constructions.<br>
A lack of ventilation, the orientation of the apartment block and
the construction materials used were the major factors which caused
the buildings to retain heat, Mr Jensen said.<br>
While standards vary between countries, Mr Jensen explained that,
for example, in France if the internal temperature of an apartment
rises above 28C for more than 3 per cent of the year it would be in
breach of the code.<br>
But Mr Jensen said there were no standards to protect against heat
stress in the Building Code of Australia.<br>
"The research highlights to the public that heat stress inside
apartments is a real issue and that we need to do more to control
this — not only in new buildings, but also for existing buildings.<br>
"This is an issue of health and safety in people's homes, so it is a
fairly important issue."<br>
Mr Jensen said in light of predictions of the increased frequency
and intensity of heatwaves, as well as recent questions over the
reliability of electricity grids, apartment cooling designs could
and should not be solely dependent on air-conditioning units.<br>
Why don't we have a summer comfort code?<br>
He explained that the French Government implemented a summer comfort
code following 14,000 deaths attributed to a heatwave there in 2003.<br>
"That event triggered it for them, which we potentially haven't
had."<br>
Mr Jensen said a summer comfort code in Australia should be
introduced sooner rather than later.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/melbourne-apartments-failing-heat-stress-test/8358852">http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/melbourne-apartments-failing-heat-stress-test/8358852</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="esc-lead-article-title-wrapper" style="margin: 0px 32px
1px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 13.44px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent:
0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">
<h2 class="esc-lead-article-title" style="font-size: 16px;
line-height: 18px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><a
target="_blank" class="article
usg-AFQjCNGWTNrsH49Zvg1c15wQefNckIVdyA
sig2-QWEvgQZlTXLtRI9P1G99-w did--27603991768168089"
href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-app-for-personal-climate-change-fighters-now-available-300480197.html"
id="MAA4AEgRUABgAWoCdXN6AA" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);
text-decoration: underline;"><span class="titletext"
style="font-weight: bold;">(press release) New Mobile App
for Personal<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b
style="font-weight: bold;">Climate Change</b><span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Fighters Now
Available</span></a></h2>
</div>
June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - "Greenie," the new mobile app that
empowers users with tips, tools and incentives to do their part in
fighting climate change, debuts today and is available as a free
download from the Apple app store.<br>
<b>"Get the app, save the planet,</b>" the app provides users
with energy saving actions they can take to increase their energy
efficiency and shrink their carbon footprint.<br>
The app then gives users a daily summary of how much CO2 they've
eliminated, how much oxygen they've generated, and how much money
they've saved, based on the actions they've engaged in and recorded
on the app. The app tracks the results of all users signed into the
Greenie app, with daily updates. <br>
An Android version of the Greenie app is in the works and is
expected to be available later in the third quarter of this year.<br>
For more information, go to greenieapp.com<br>
"We know there are millions of people out there who firmly believe
in global warming and are committed to doing their part to reverse
it," said MIS President, Glenn Smith. "In light of our
Administration's current disinterest in sustaining critical climate
change policies, we set out to provide a tool that puts fighting
climate change into the hands of everyday people."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-app-for-personal-climate-change-fighters-now-available-300480197.html">http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-app-for-personal-climate-change-fighters-now-available-300480197.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056631">Fires rise in
Arctic as 'lightning follows the warming'</a></b><br>
Climate change is driving up the number of forest fires ignited by
lightning, and it's pushing them farther north, to the edges of the
Arctic tundra, researchers say.<br>
Lightning-caused fires have risen 2 to 5 percent a year for the last
four decades, according to a paper published yesterday in the
journal Nature Climate Change. And as thunderstorms intensify and
become more frequent, fires are increasingly occurring in the boreal
forests, and even on the permafrost tundra. Warmer temperatures
encourage more thunderstorms, which in turn bring more lightning and
greater fire risk.<br>
The changes are part of a complex climate feedback loop that is only
now becoming more clear to scientists, said Sander Veraverbeke of
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the study's lead author. A feedback
loop is a series of interrelated phenomena that is worsened by
climate change and continues to build upon itself with additional
consequences. In the north, fires release more carbon dioxide and
methane from the permafrost, he said.<br>
"You have more fires; they creep farther north; they burn in these
soils which have a lot of C02 and methane that can be exposed
directly at the moment of the fire and then decades after,"
Veraverbeke said. "That contributes again to global warming; you
have again more fire."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056631">https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056631</a></font><br>
-more: <br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/lightning-wildfires-boreal-forest-climate-change-global-warming/">Lightning-Caused
Fires on the Rise in the World's Largest Forest</a></b><br>
New NASA study shows how lightning is driving fire and pushing it
north, with a likely link to climate change.<br>
As fire season reaches for its annual summer turning point, the role
lightning plays as the culprit in setting fires shows a worrisome
trend. That's not good news for the boreal forest, the world's
largest forest habitat, where virtually all wildfires are ignited by
lightning.<br>
Since 1975, the number of fires ignited by lightning has increased
between two and five percent, driven by an increase in volatile
thunderstorm weather,...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/lightning-wildfires-boreal-forest-climate-change-global-warming/">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/lightning-wildfires-boreal-forest-climate-change-global-warming/</a></font><br>
-more:<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://phys.org/news/2017-06-lightning-boreal-forest.html">Lightning
sparking more boreal forest fires</a></b><br>
To study the fires, the team analyzed data from NASA's Terra and
Aqua satellites and from ground-based lightning networks.<br>
Lead author Sander Veraverbeke of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who
conducted the work while at UC Irvine, said that while the drivers
of large fire years in the high north are still poorly understood,
the observed trends are consistent with climate change.<br>
"We found that it is not just a matter of more burning with higher
temperatures. The reality is more complex: higher temperatures also
spur more thunderstorms. Lightning from these thunderstorms is what
has been igniting many more fires in these recent extreme events,"
...<br>
The researchers found that the fires are creeping farther north,
near the transition from boreal forests to Arctic tundra. "In these
high-latitude ecosystems, permafrost soils store large amounts of
carbon that become vulnerable after fires pass through," said
co-author James Randerson of the University of California, Irvine.
"Exposed mineral soils after tundra fires also provide favorable
seedbeds for trees migrating north under a warmer climate."<br>
"Taken together, we discovered a complex feedback loop between
climate, lightning, fires, carbon and forests that may quickly alter
northern landscapes,"<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://phys.org/news/2017-06-lightning-boreal-forest.html">https://phys.org/news/2017-06-lightning-boreal-forest.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://350.org/about/blogs/ellen-page-records-psa-350org">This
Day in Climate History June 29, 2011</a> - from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
Entercom Communications, the radio conglomerate perhaps best known
for running right-wing talk radio stations whose hosts regularly
promote climate-change denial, announces that it will run a <a
href="http://350.org">350.org</a> PSA featuring actor Ellen Page
on its stations.<br>
<div dir="auto"><a
href="http://350.org/about/blogs/ellen-page-records-psa-350org">http://350.org/about/blogs/ellen-page-records-psa-350org</a>
<br>
</div>
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