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<font size="+1"><i>July 4, 2017<br>
</i></font><b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://qz.com/1020528/stephen-hawking-donald-trumps-climate-change-policies-spell-disaster-for-the-planet/">Stephen
Hawking says Trump's climate policies are pushing Earth toward
an irreversible "tipping point"</a></b><br>
Famed physicist Stephen Hawking spent part of his 75th birthday
celebration warning the public of the potentially catastrophic
consequences of US president Donald Trump's climate change policy.<br>
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes
irreversible," he said yesterday (July 2) in an interview with BBC
News. "Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become
like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and
raining sulphuric acid."<br>
Hawking's comments come as the head of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, who has already been cited by critics
for dismantling the department from within, has recently launched a
formal plan to challenge mainstream climate science.<br>
Pruitt's move to discredit the scientific consensus on global
climate change is part of a pattern of actions the EPA has taken
since Trump became president. As Quartz wrote in May:<br>
Days after Trump's inauguration, EPA employees were told to stop
publicizing taxpayer-funded science. After Pruitt took over, he
removed "science" from the mission statement of the agency's Office
of Science and Technology. He scrubbed a climate-science site from
public view after two decades of the EPA hosting it online. Pruitt
also dismisses more than 100 years of science when he says that he
doesn't believe that carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global
warming. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt was a fierce critic
of the EPA and a reliable ally of oil companies lobbying for looser
emissions rules...<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://qz.com/1020528/stephen-hawking-donald-trumps-climate-change-policies-spell-disaster-for-the-planet/">https://qz.com/1020528/stephen-hawking-donald-trumps-climate-change-policies-spell-disaster-for-the-planet/</a></font><br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40461726">Hawking
says Trump's climate stance could damage Earth</a></b><br>
<blockquote>Stephen Hawking says that US President Donald Trump's
decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement could lead to
irreversible climate change.<br>
Prof Hawking said the action could put Earth onto a path that
turns it into a hothouse planet like Venus.<br>
He also feared aggression was "inbuilt" in humans and that our
best hope of survival was to live on other planets.<br>
The Cambridge professor spoke exclusively to BBC News to coincide
with his 75th birthday celebrations.<br>
Arguably the world's most famous scientist, Prof Hawking has had
motor neurone disease for most of his adult life. It has impaired
his movement and ability to speak.<br>
Yet through it all, he emerged as one of the greatest minds of our
time. His theories on black holes and the origin of the Universe
have transformed our understanding of the cosmos.<br>
Prof Hawking has also inspired generations to study science. But
through his media appearances what has been most impressive of all
has been his humanity.<br>
'Great danger'<br>
His main concern during his latest interview was the future of our
species. A particular worry was President Trump's decision to
withdraw from the Paris climate agreement to reduce CO2 levels.<br>
What is climate change?<br>
What is in the Paris climate agreement?<br>
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes
irreversible. Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink,
to become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty
degrees, and raining sulphuric acid," he told BBC News.<br>
"Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one
we can prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate
change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald
Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful
planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children."<br>
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also
highlights the potential risk of hitting climate tipping points as
temperatures increase - though there are gaps in our knowledge of
this topic.<br>
In its Fifth Assessment Report, the IPCC authors wrote: "The
precise levels of climate change sufficient to trigger tipping
points (thresholds for abrupt and irreversible change) remain
uncertain, but the risk associated with crossing multiple tipping
points in the Earth system or in interlinked human and natural
systems increases with rising temperature."<br>
When asked whether he felt we would ever solve our environmental
problems and resolve human conflicts, Prof Hawking was
pessimistic, saying that he thought our days on Earth were
numbered.<br>
"I fear evolution has inbuilt greed and aggression to the human
genome. There is no sign of conflict lessening, and the
development of militarised technology and weapons of mass
destruction could make that disastrous. The best hope for the
survival of the human race might be independent colonies in
space."<br>
And on Brexit, he feared UK research would be irreparably damaged.<br>
"Science is a cooperative effort, so the impact will be wholly
bad, and will leave British science isolated and inward looking".<br>
I asked him what he would like his legacy to be.<br>
"I never expected to reach 75, so I feel very fortunate to be able
to reflect on my legacy. I think my greatest achievement, will be
my discovery that black holes are not entirely black."<br>
"Quantum effects cause them to glow like hot bodies with a
temperature that is lower, the larger the black hole. This result
was completely unexpected, and showed there is a deep relationship
between gravity and thermodynamics. I think this will be key, to
understanding how paradoxes between quantum mechanics and general
relativity can be resolved."<br>
When asked if money or practicality were no object, what his dream
present would be, he said it would be a cure for motor neurone
disease - or at least a treatment that halted its progression.<br>
"When I was diagnosed at 21, I was told it would kill me in two or
three years. Now, 54 years later, albeit weaker and in a
wheelchair, I'm still working and producing scientific papers. But
it's been a great struggle, which I have got through only with a
lot of help from my family, colleagues, and friends."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40461726">http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40461726</a></font><br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/heres-the-real-reason-republicans-dont-give-a-damn-about-climate-change/">Here's
the Real Reason Republicans Don't Give a Damn About Climate
Change</a></b><br>
"The largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in the
country's history."<br>
They found that states that are already hotter, and already poorer
on average, will lose the most. These states tend to be located in
the South and lower Midwest. Meanwhile, states to the north and west
will see increased economic opportunity, with "colder and richer"
counties across the northern border and in the Rockies standing to
benefit the most as health, agriculture, and energy costs are likely
to improve.<br>
The study is the first to price warming by analyzing decades-worth
of data and evidence. The researchers estimate that for each one
degree Fahrenheit (0.55°C) increase in global temperatures, the U.S.
economy loses about 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product, with each new
degree of warming costing more than the last.<br>
"If we continue on the current path, our analysis indicates it may
result in the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich
in the country's history."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/heres-the-real-reason-republicans-dont-give-a-damn-about-climate-change/">http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/heres-the-real-reason-republicans-dont-give-a-damn-about-climate-change/</a><br>
<br>
<font size="+2"><b><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">This Day in Climate History July 4, 2011,
2014 </a><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.html"
moz-do-not-send="true"> </a>- from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
<blockquote><b>July 4, 2011: </b><b>The Fox News Channel</b>
celebrates its independence from reality by bringing on infamous
climate-change denier Joe Bastardi to attack those concerned about
carbon pollution.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/07/06/fox-celebrates-july-4-by-trying-to-debunk-globa/180569">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/07/06/fox-celebrates-july-4-by-trying-to-debunk-globa/180569</a><br>
<br>
<b>July 4, 2014 The New York Times reports:</b><br>
"Speaking to a friendly audience of environmental advocates last
week, President Obama mocked members of Congress who 'duck the
question,' as he put it, of whether climate change is real by
saying that they are not scientists.<br>
"'I mean, I’m not a scientist either,' the president told the
League of Conservation Voters in Washington. 'But I’ve got this
guy, John Holdren. He’s a scientist.'<br>
"The line got a laugh, in part because Mr. Holdren, a physicist
and the White House science adviser since the beginning of the
administration, is hardly just a 'guy'— he has had one of the more
prominent careers in academia and policy making of any scientist
in the land.<br>
"But it also acknowledged a truth: Mr. Holdren has this
president’s ear, perhaps more than any White House science adviser
in recent memory, at a time when climate change has been thrust to
the forefront of national politics and could help shape Mr.
Obama’s legacy."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/politics/john-holdrens-influence-seen-in-obama-policies.html</a><br>
</blockquote>
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