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<font size="+1"><i>July 25, 2017</i></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/opinion/california-climate-change-cap-trade.html">California
Shows How States Can Lead on Climate Change</a></b><br>
California, which has long been a pioneer in fighting climate
change, renewed its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions
last week by extending, to 2030, its cap-and-trade program, which
effectively puts a price on emissions. It's a bold, bipartisan
commitment that invites similarly ambitious policies from other
states, and it sends a strong signal to the world that millions of
Americans regard with utmost seriousness a threat the Trump
administration refuses to acknowledge, let alone reckon with.<br>
The cap-and-trade program, which had been set to end in 2020, is the
most important component of California's plan to reduce
planet-warming emissions by 40 percent (from 1990 levels) by 2030.
The extension, along with a companion bill to reduce local air
pollution, was passed by a two-thirds majority of the State
Legislature, including eight crucial votes from Republicans. They
defied a Republican president who has not only reneged on America's
global climate commitments, but has tried to undo every climate
policy put into place by former President Barack Obama....<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/opinion/california-climate-change-cap-trade.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/opinion/california-climate-change-cap-trade.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/24/it-was-really-a-surprise-even-minor-global-warming-could-worsen-super-el-ninos-scientists-find/?utm_term=.604de5a83bf5">Scientists
just found a surprising possible consequence from a very small
amount of global warming</a></b><br>
Even if we meet our most ambitious climate goal - keeping global
temperatures within a strict 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degree
Fahrenheit) of their preindustrial levels - there will still be
consequences, scientists say. And they'll last for years after we
stop emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.<br>
New research suggests that extreme El Niño events <font size="-1">-</font>
which can cause intense rainfall, flooding and other severe weather
events in certain parts of the world - will occur more and more
often as long as humans continue producing greenhouse gas emissions.
And even if we're able to stabilize the global climate at the
1.5-degree threshold, the study concludes, these events will
continue to increase in frequency for up to another 100 years
afterward. The findings were published Monday in the journal Nature
Climate Change.<br>
"It was really a surprise that what we find is after we reach 1.5
degrees Celsius and stabilize world temperatures, the frequency of
extreme El Niño continued to increase for another century," <br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/24/it-was-really-a-surprise-even-minor-global-warming-could-worsen-super-el-ninos-scientists-find/?utm_term=.604de5a83bf5">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/24/it-was-really-a-surprise-even-minor-global-warming-could-worsen-super-el-ninos-scientists-find/?utm_term=.604de5a83bf5</a><br>
</font>- more:<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="It+is+also+important+to+bear+in+mind+that+the+2+degree+Celsius+target+is+a+%E2%80%9Cnormative+goal,%20a%20value%20judgment,%E2%80%9D+said+Reto+Knutti,%20a%20climate%20expert%20with%20ETH%20Zurich%20who%20was%20familiar%20with%20the%20new%20study%20but%20did%20not%20contribute%20to%20it.,,%E2%80%9CThere+is+no+magic+hard+threshold+that+separates+%E2%80%98safe%E2%80%99+from+%E2%80%98dangerous.%E2%80%99+Not+all+impacts+scale+with+temperatures,%20and%20what%20is%20dangerous%20to%20one%20person%20may%20seem%20okay%20to%20another,%E2%80%9D+Knutti+said.+%E2%80%9CThis+is+only+partly+the+science+issue+of+trying+to+quantify+how+warm+the+world+was+before+humans+started+to+substantially+mess+with+the+climate.+It+is+just+as+much+a+political+problem:%20If%20countries%20at%20some%20point%20are%20made%20responsible%20not%20just%20for%20their%20current%20but%20also%20for%20their%20past%20emissions%20%28the%20polluter%20pays%29,+then+it+matters+when+we+start+the+historic+blame+game.%E2%80%9D">We
may have even less time to stop global warming than we thought</a></b><br>
At least since 2013, one of the biggest concerns in the climate
change debate has been the so-called carbon budget - a fixed limit
to the volume of carbon dioxide emissions that we can put into the
atmosphere before irrevocably committing to a considerably hotter
planet.<br>
As of 2011, that budget was about 1,000 billion tons of carbon
dioxide before the planet is likely to careen past a 2 degrees
Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in temperatures, which is
above what is believed to be the Earth's temperature before
industrialization. The budget shrinks by about 41 tons a year, more
recently put at about 600 billion tons (or 15 years of emissions) by
a group of scientists and climate policy wonks.<br>
But now, a team of prominent climate scientists say the budget is
probably even narrower. The problem is how you define
"preindustrial," or when you consider human-caused perturbations of
the atmosphere to have begun. Many analyses have taken the late 19th
century as the starting point, but the new study in Nature Climate
Change suggests significant human influence was afoot by at least
1750, and may have contributed as much as one-fifth of a degree
Celsius of warming (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) before the late
1800s....<br>
It is also important to bear in mind that the 2 degree Celsius
target is a "normative goal, a value judgment," said Reto Knutti, a
climate expert with ETH Zurich who was familiar with the new study
but did not contribute to it.<br>
"There is no magic hard threshold that separates 'safe' from
'dangerous.' Not all impacts scale with temperatures, and what is
dangerous to one person may seem okay to another," Knutti said.
"This is only partly the science issue of trying to quantify how
warm the world was before humans started to substantially mess with
the climate. It is just as much a political problem: If countries at
some point are made responsible not just for their current but also
for their past emissions (the polluter pays), then it matters when
we start the historic blame game."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/24/we-may-have-even-less-time-to-stop-global-warming-than-we-thought/?utm_term=.35d3228b2831">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/24/we-may-have-even-less-time-to-stop-global-warming-than-we-thought/?utm_term=.35d3228b2831</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://soundcloud.com/noplacelikehome/14-rising-from-the-ashes">(podcast)
No Place Like Home #14 Rising From the Ashes</a></b><br>
We're joined by filmmaker Michael Bonfiglio to talk storytelling,
climate change, and his new film 'From The Ashes,' that tells the
story of coal pollution, our nation's shift beyond coal, and the
need for an economic transition in coal communities. We also chat
about the viral New York Magazine climate article by David
Wallace-Wells, hotly debated online and now the most read article in
the magazine's history.<br>
- Learn more about "From the Ashes' film here: <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="http://www.fromtheashesfilm.com/">www.fromtheashesfilm.com/</a><br>
- Read "The Uninhabitable Earth" in New York Magazine here:<br>
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/…-hot-for-humans.html<br>
- No Place Like Home is hosted by Mary Anne Hitt and Anna Jane
Joyner <br>
- We are produced by Zach Mack<br>
- Additional production help by Daniel Tureck <br>
- Our theme music is by River Whyless<br>
- And we are supported by the Sierra Club<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://soundcloud.com/noplacelikehome/14-rising-from-the-ashes">https://soundcloud.com/noplacelikehome/14-rising-from-the-ashes</a></font><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/07/university-establishes-environmental-resilience-institute"><br>
<br>
<b>University establishes Environmental Resilience Institute</b></a><br>
New interdisciplinary institute will study changing global
environment<br>
by Spencer Culbertson Courtesy University of Virginia<br>
The University recently announced the creation of the new
Environmental Resilience Institute, an interdisciplinary institute
intended to study environmental changes.<br>
"Understanding the environment, how much change is natural and how
much is caused by human activity, the ways a changing global climate
affects societies, and what actions we can take to create a more
desirable future is a complex challenge requiring the actively
collaborating investigative minds of researchers and practitioners
in many disciplines – the environmental sciences, economics, public
policy, engineering, architecture, international law, behavior, the
humanities, education, and others,"...<br>
"One of the things that a top drawer topic for the Resilience
Institute is to look at coastal environments and their resilience to
the combination of sea level rise and other kinds of activities that
are occurring in the coast,"..<br>
The work the institute aims to do will help coastal communities
understand what changes are happening on the coast by working
directly with the local communities and governments.This is just the
first of a number of programs the institute wants to study.<br>
The University is already very involved in research about the
coasts. The Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research
program is located in Oyster, Va. and studies the Eastern Shore.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/07/university-establishes-environmental-resilience-institute">http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/07/university-establishes-environmental-resilience-institute</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/science/2017/07/a_government_scientist_has_blown_a_whistle_on_climate_change.html">Blowing
the Whistle on the Trump Administration's Attempt to Ignore
Climate Change</a></b><br>
The latest government employee to speak out is a scientist worried
about rising seas' effect on Alaskan communities.<br>
Joel Clement is the latest example of a public servant who has shown
us what integrity can look like for civil servants in the Trump
administration. Clement was the director of the Department of
Interior’s Office of Policy Analysis. Last week, he was
involuntarily reassigned to the department’s revenue office—an area
in which he has no expertise. He courageously declared his role as a
whistleblower, penning an op-ed in the Washington Post about the
move, writing:<br>
<blockquote>I am not an accountant — but you don’t have to be one to
see that the administration’s excuse for a reassignment such as
mine doesn’t add up. A few days after my reassignment, Interior
Secretary Ryan Zinke testified before Congress that the department
would use reassignments as part of its effort to eliminate
employees; the only reasonable inference from that testimony is
that he expects people to quit in response to undesirable
transfers. Some of my colleagues are being relocated across the
country, at taxpayer expense, to serve in equally ill-fitting
jobs.<br>
</blockquote>
In doing so, Clement has shown us that it is possible to behave
ethically while staying on and working for the Trump administration.
It’s been a weird time for federal employees. In the Trump
administration, loyalty is prized over duty. We have seen a few
different paths taken for employees committed to fulfilling the
missions of their office. Former U.S. Acting Attorney General Sally
Yates and erstwhile FBI Director James Comey were fired for doing
their jobs. Walter Shaub, the principled former Office of Government
Ethics director who repeatedly called out the Trump administration’s
failures to comply with ethics rules, chose the path of "noisy
exit."...<br>
In publicly declaring himself a whistleblower and staying within the
government to assert his rights, Clement sends a powerful message:
Leaving government service or engaging in head-down self-censorship
are not the only options for retaining professional integrity.
Exercising the right to blow the whistle is the vehicle by which
dedicated public servants can continue to choose duty over blind
partisan and political loyalty.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/science/2017/07/a_government_scientist_has_blown_a_whistle_on_climate_change.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/science/2017/07/a_government_scientist_has_blown_a_whistle_on_climate_change.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a
href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F8395E137B93C7AB178CD85F438785F9"
moz-do-not-send="true">This Day in Climate History July 25,
1977 </a> - from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
July 25, 1977: The New York Times runs a front-page story by Walter
Sullivan entitled: "Scientists Fear Heavy Use of Coal May Bring
Adverse Shift in Climate."<br>
"Highly adverse consequences" may follow if the world, as now seems
likely, depends increasingly on coal for energy over the next two
centuries, according to a blue‐ribbon panel of scientists.<br>
In a report to the National Academy of Sciences on their
two‐and‐a‐half‐year study, the scientists foresee serious climate
changes beginning in the next century. By the latter part of the 22d
century a global warming of 10 degrees Fahrenheit is indicated, with
triple that rise in high latitudes.<br>
This, it is feared, could radically disrupt food production, lead to
a 20‐foot rise in sea level and seriously lower productivity of the
oceans.<br>
The focus of concern is the addition of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere by fuel burning. While that gas represents less than
one‐tenth of 1 percent of the atmosphere, it acts like glass in a
greenhouse. That is, it permits passage of sunlight to heat the
earth but absorbs infrared radiation that would otherwise return
some of that heat to space....<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F8395E137B93C7AB178CD85F438785F9">http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F8395E137B93C7AB178CD85F438785F9</a><br>
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