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<font size="+1"><i>August 17, 2017</i></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-crop-harvests-every-degree-of-warming-counts/">For
Crop Harvests, Every Degree of Warming Counts</a></b><br>
Scientific American<br>
By Adam Aton, E&E News on August 16, 2017 <br>
The world can expect three to seven percent less yield for each
degree rise in temperature.<br>
Each degree of global warming will cut into harvests of the world's
staple crops, according to a new study that takes a broad view of
the agricultural research field.<br>
Wheat, corn, rice and soybeans make up two-thirds of humans' caloric
intake. Each crop reacts differently to rising temperatures, and the
effects vary from place to place. On average, though, the world can
expect 3.1 to 7.4 percent less yield per degree Celsius of warming,
according to the research...<br>
The findings draw from a meta-analysis of more than 70 studies of
models, statistical regressions and experiments. Twenty-nine
researchers published the paper this week in Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences...<br>
Corn proved most sensitive to rising temperatures. Evidence suggests
global corn harvests could decline 7.4 percent per degree Celsius of
warming.<br>
Rice, a main food source for developing countries, could decline an
average of 3.2 percent. Some research pointed toward an even greater
impact - as much as 6 percent - while statistical regressions
suggested almost no impact...<br>
And soybeans, the world's fourth-most important commodity crop,
could yield 3.1 percent less per degree. Although soybeans offered
the most uncertain results, the researchers estimated American
harvests could decline an average of 6.8 percent per degree, while
Chinese harvests might not see any statistically significant
changes.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-crop-harvests-every-degree-of-warming-counts/">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-crop-harvests-every-degree-of-warming-counts/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/16/12-step-climate-change-global-warming-action-plan-india/">12-Step
Climate Change & Global Warming Action Plan For India</a></b><br>
August 16th, 2017 Actions Needed to Reverse Climate Change and
Global Warming in India:<br>
<blockquote> <b>1. Introduce a carbon tax: </b>Capturing carbon
and planting trees could help slow and eventually reverse global
warming trends. A carbon tax could be used to deter more emissions
and some of the cash could then be put into important solutions on
the other side of the coin, such as capturing carbon and planting
trees.<br>
<b>2. Exponentially increase the deployment of renewable energy: </b>Aggressively
expand large-scale deployment of both centralized and distributed
renewable energy - including solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and
geothermal - to ease the strain on the present transmission and
distribution system - and to allow more off-grid populations to be
reached. Provide incentives to kickstart renewable energy programs
for massive solar rooftops - over 100 million - and with home
energy storage batteries.<br>
<b>3. Develop a national renewable energy (RE) policy: </b>Enact
and deploy a comprehensive new energy roadmap with innovative RE
policies. In addition, set National RE Standards such as 20
percent by 2020, 40 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050 - to
create demand, new industries and innovation, and a new wave of
green jobs.<br>
<b>4. Electrifying transportation: </b>Expedite a move to
electrify transportation by encouraging expanded use of electric
vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrids, alongside deployment of
solar-powered EV charging stations around the country. Develop and
implement time-of-day pricing to encourage charging of vehicles at
night and other times when peak demand is low. Adopt nationwide
charging of electric cars from solar panels on roofs, carports,
and solar-powered EV charging stations around the country. In
addition, like China is doing, launch the public transportation
system of the future with "zero-emission" battery-powered electric
buses in all major cities. India must make a massive shift that
will lead to widespread adoption of EVs in the next 5 to 7 years.<br>
<b>5. Energy efficiency: </b>Promote energy efficiency in the
economy, notably in industry, transportation, buildings, and
appliances. Make energy efficiency a high priority by expediting
the development and implementation of cost-effective energy
efficiency standards. To reduce the long-term demand for energy,
engage states, industrial companies, utilities, and other
stakeholders to accelerate energy efficiency investments such as
large-scale, nationwide use of LED lamps, etc.<br>
<b>6. Utility-scale projects:</b> Plan for the long term - phase
out conventional energy subsidies and develop a long-term plan to
replace fossil with utility-scale renewable generation. We can no
longer ignore the effect of pollution and climate change on health
of our citizens.<br>
<b>7. Renewable Innovative Financing Solution: </b>Provide
innovative financing (e.g., tax-free solar bonds or green
infrastructure bonds, etc.) to instill more confidence from
potential investors and decrease the cost of financing for
renewable energy projects. Create and fund a national smart
infrastructure bank to accelerate local demand for renewable
energy.<br>
<b>8. Decentralized energy: </b>Avoid future fossil fuel
investments in India and, instead, emphasize nationwide deployment
of community-scale solar projects and microgrids with storage.
India's present 40 GW solar target should be extended to include
photovoltaic panels on the rooftop of every home in India,
generating enough power to reduce the country's massive dependence
on fossil fuels.<br>
<b>9. Microgrids: </b>Aggressively invest in a smart, two-way
grid and also microgrids. Invest in smart meters, as well as
reliable networks that can accommodate the two-way flow of
electricity.<br>
<b>10. Solar Roadways: </b>India should also take advantage of
its vast network of roads across the country and the sun that
beats down on them and turn them into energy-creating solar
superhighways. The idea of solar panel roads is to replace
traditional asphalt roads with glass-based "solar panels that you
can drive on" in a bid to turn roads into sources of renewable
energy.<br>
<b>11. Develop energy storage: </b>This includes thermal storage,
grid battery storage (e.g., Tesla Powerwall home battery backup),
compressed air/gas, vehicles-to-grid/home, pumped hydro, fuel
cells or other hydrogen storage, flywheels, superconducting
magnets, and supercapacitors. Develop a "Hydrogen Economy" plan.
India can export sunshine around the world by converting solar
energy into "Liquid Hydrogen Fuel."<br>
<b>12. Transform India into a global solar manufacturing hub:</b>
Establish R&D facilities within academia, research
institutions, industry, government, and private entities to guide
technology development.<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/16/12-step-climate-change-global-warming-action-plan-india/">https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/16/12-step-climate-change-global-warming-action-plan-india/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/16/an-inconvenient-sequel-truth-to-power-review-al-gore-climate-change">An
Inconvenient Sequel review - Trump looms over Al Gore's urgent
climate-change doc</a></b><br>
4 / 5 stars<br>
New challenges - and a science-dismissing US President - make Gore's
sequel to his 2006 film feel both cinematic and compelling<br>
Eleven record-breaking summers on from An Inconvenient Truth, Al
Gore doubles down. <br>
Cohen and Shenk don't deviate radically from that film's formula.
Again, excerpts of Gore's orations (manna for bar chart aficionados)
are bolstered with visits to natural disaster sites (as Irwin Allen
foresaw, extreme weather is inherently cinematic), while
behind-the-scenes diversions find our host battling to discuss
temperature hikes with an election-crazed media and an
expert-intolerant public.<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/16/an-inconvenient-sequel-truth-to-power-review-al-gore-climate-change">https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/16/an-inconvenient-sequel-truth-to-power-review-al-gore-climate-change</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/346837-congress-its-time-to-step-up-on-climate-change">Congress,
it's time to step up on climate change</a></b><br>
BY DANIEL COHAN, <br>
Environmental policy has followed a recurrent pattern this year.
Industry pushes Scott Pruitt's EPA to undo an Obama-era protection
for clean water, clean air or climate. Litigation then counteracts
those rollbacks. For example, an appeals court reinstated a methane
leak rule, and a lawsuit prompted EPA to stop delaying an ozone smog
rule.<br>
Those roles were reversed last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals in
Washington overturned an Obama-era rule phasing down the use of
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - refrigerants that are extremely potent
at warming the climate. In this case, Trump's Justice Department and
U.S. chemical companies had actually asked the court to uphold the
rule.<br>
The court's ruling may be just a temporary setback for a narrow
rule. But it also highlights a more fundamental problem: Congress
has failed to enact comprehensive climate legislation<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/346837-congress-its-time-to-step-up-on-climate-change">http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/346837-congress-its-time-to-step-up-on-climate-change</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a
href="https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/">What
is the Climate Solutions Caucus?</a></b><br>
The Climate Solutions Caucus is a bipartisan group in the US House
of Representatives which will explore policy options that address
the impacts, causes, and challenges of our changing climate. The
caucus was founded in February of 2016 by two south-Florida
representatives Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Rep. Ted Deutch
(D-FL) who will serve as co-chairs of the caucus.<br>
"The Caucus will serve as an organization to educate members on
economically-viable options to reduce climate risk and protect our
nation's economy, security, infrastructure, agriculture, water
supply and public safety,<font size="-1">"</font> according to
documents filed with the Committee on House Administration.<br>
Membership will be kept even between Democrats and Republicans.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/">https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://hbr.org/2017/08/the-dark-side-of-resilience">The
Dark Side of Resilience</a></b><br>
Resilience, defined as the psychological capacity to adapt to
stressful circumstances and to bounce back from adverse events, is a
highly sought-after personality trait in the modern workplace. As
Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant argue in their recent book, we can
think of resilience as a sort of muscle that contracts during good
times and expands during bad times.<br>
In that sense, the best way to develop resilience is through
hardship, which various philosophers have pointed out through the
years: Seneca noted that "difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor
does the body" and Nietzsche famously stated "that which does not
kill us, makes us stronger." In a similar vein, the United States
Marine Corps uses the "pain is just weakness leaving the body"
mantra as part of their hardcore training program.<br>
Large-scale scientific studies suggest that even adaptive
competencies become maladaptive if taken to the extreme. As Rob
Kaiser's research on leadership versatility indicates, overused
strengths become weaknesses. In line, it is easy to conceive of
situations in which individuals could be too resilient for their own
sake.<br>
For example, extreme resilience could drive people to become overly
persistent with unattainable goals. Although we tend to celebrate
individuals who aim high or dream big, it is usually more effective
to adjust one's goals to more achievable levels, which means giving
up on others. Indeed, scientific reviews show that most people waste
an enormous amount of time persisting with unrealistic goals, a
phenomenon called the "false hope syndrome." Even when past
behaviors clearly suggest that goals are unlikely to be attained,
overconfidence and an unfounded degree of optimism can lead to
people wasting energy on pointless tasks.<br>
Along the same line, too much resilience could make people overly
tolerant of adversity. <br>
In sum, there is no doubt that resilience is a useful and highly
adaptive trait, especially in the face of traumatic events. However,
when taken too far, it may focus individuals on impossible goals and
make them unnecessarily tolerant of unpleasant or counterproductive
circumstances. This reminds us of Voltaire's Candide, the sarcastic
masterpiece that exposes the absurd consequences of extreme
optimism: "I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow
I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps
one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there
anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden
which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one's very being and
yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it
has eaten our hearts away?"<br>
Finally, while it may be reassuring for teams, organizations, and
countries to select leaders on the basis of their resilience - who
doesn't want to be protected by a tough and strong leader? - such
leaders are not necessarily good for the group, much like bacteria
or parasites are much more problematic when they are more resistant.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://hbr.org/2017/08/the-dark-side-of-resilience">https://hbr.org/2017/08/the-dark-side-of-resilience</a></font><br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://hbr.org/2016/06/how-to-evaluate-manage-and-strengthen-your-resilience">How
to Evaluate, Manage, and Strengthen Your Resilience</a></b><br>
David Kopans <font size="-1" color="#666666"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://hbr.org/2016/06/how-to-evaluate-manage-and-strengthen-your-resilience">https://hbr.org/2016/06/how-to-evaluate-manage-and-strengthen-your-resilience</a></font><br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure">Resilience
Is About How You Recharge, Not How You Endure</a></b><br>
Shawn Achor and Michelle Gielan<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure">https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure</a></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-has-broad-power-to-block-climate-change-report"><br>
Trump Has Broad Power to Block Climate Change Report</a></b><br>
Influential advisers press the Trump administration to subject a
draft climate change report to a "red team" review that many
scientists decry as misplaced.<br>
Earlier this month, someone involved in the government's latest
report on climate change provided The New York Times with a copy of
the version submitted to the Trump administration for final
approval. The main intent of the leak, according to several people
tracking the report, was to complicate any attempt to suppress the
study or water down its findings.<br>
Publication of the document inflamed an already-fraught debate about
climate change. Administration officials and Republican lawmakers
accused the leaker and journalists of manufacturing a dispute. They
said the report, which was required by law, was moving through a
normal process of White House review.<br>
The report was submitted in late June and the Trump administration
has broad authority to review its findings. Any one of a number of
government agencies can block its release, which is ultimately
subject to presidential review.<br>
...author Katharine Hayhoe has been busy on Twitter:<br>
"Our 600 page climate report in one tweet:<br>
It's real<br>
It's us<br>
It's serious<br>
And the window of time to prevent dangerous impacts is closing fast"<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-has-broad-power-to-block-climate-change-report">https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-has-broad-power-to-block-climate-change-report</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/climate-fiction-forum-sees-tv-drama-as-one-solution-to-global-warming-20170815-gxwew4.html">Climate
fiction forum sees TV drama as one solution to global warming</a></b><br>
Garry Maddox <br>
For marine ecologist Adriana Verges, the problem of climate change
is so urgent that scientists need clever new strategies to draw more
attention to it.<br>
And one of them is developing TV dramas that focus on not sci-fi but
cli-fi - climate fiction.<br>
Dr Verges, who lectures at the University of NSW, came up with the
idea of teaming scientists with leading screenwriters for a forum
that is being held at the Australian Film, Television and Radio
School.<br>
After briefings from specialists in climate science,
geo-engineering, psychology, human health, renewable energy,
politics and history, screenwriters will crunch ideas for new shows
in a forum that also involves ABC TV, production company Jungle,
Screen Australia and Create NSW.<br>
"For ages scientists have been using our graphs and our data and our
facts to try to communicate our science but it's been demonstrated
that this doesn't really work very well," Dr Verges says. "It very
rarely influences people's opinions and hardly ever motivates
action.<br>
"Storytelling, in contrast, is emerging as a very clear way to
communicate environmental issues."<br>
"Ironically, people sit around in Hollywood try to work out ways of
creating a story about an evil genius trying to destroy the planet,"
he says.<br>
"And now we have real identities like [Adani chairman] Gautam Adani
and former Exxon chief [and US Secretary of State] Rex Tillerson,
who The Guardian once characterised as 'the man who sold the world'
for pursuing company profits while disregarding the impact on global
climate."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/climate-fiction-forum-sees-tv-drama-as-one-solution-to-global-warming-20170815-gxwew4.html">http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/climate-fiction-forum-sees-tv-drama-as-one-solution-to-global-warming-20170815-gxwew4.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbnKxBNcvI"
moz-do-not-send="true">This Day in Climate History August 17,
2000 </a>- from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
August 17, 2000: At the Democratic National Convention, Vice
President Al Gore, the Democratic Presidential nominee, declares:<br>
"In my first term [in Congress], a family in Hardeman County,
Tennessee wrote a letter and told how worried they were about toxic
waste that had been dumped near their home. I held some of the first
hearings on the issue. And ever since, I've been there in the fight
against the big polluters. <br>
"Our children should not have to draw the breath of life in cities
awash in pollution. When they come in from playing on a hot summer
afternoon, every child in America, anywhere in America, ought to be
able to turn on the faucet and get a glass of safe, clean drinking
water.<br>
"On the issue of the environment, I've never given up, I've never
backed down, and I never will.<br>
"And I say it again tonight: we must reverse the silent, rising tide
of global warming."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbnKxBNcvI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbnKxBNcvI</a>
</font><br>
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