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<font size="+1"><i>August 20, 2017</i></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/19/more-gop-lawmakers-bucking-their-party-on-climate-change-241800">More
GOP lawmakers bucking their party on climate change</a></b><br>
But if the Republican Party is undergoing a shift on climate, it is
at its earliest, most incremental stage.<br>
LOS ANGELES — While President Donald Trump continues to dismantle
Obama-era climate policies, an unlikely surge of Republican
lawmakers has begun taking steps to distance themselves from the
GOP's hard line on climate change.<br>
The House Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan backwater when it
formed early last year, has more than tripled in size since January,
driven in part by Trump's decision in June to withdraw the United
States from the Paris climate accord...<br>
"Strangely, President Trump helped us," said Bob Inglis, a former
Republican congressman whose views on climate change contributed to
his defeat in a South Carolina primary in 2010. "His withdrawal from
Paris dramatically increased the number of [internet] searches about
climate change and increased interest … People are getting more and
more uncomfortable with the nuttiness of these positions."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/19/more-gop-lawmakers-bucking-their-party-on-climate-change-241800">http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/19/more-gop-lawmakers-bucking-their-party-on-climate-change-241800</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/brazilian-downpours-oust-familiar-drizzle/">Brazilian
downpours oust familiar drizzle</a></b><br>
Misty rain is giving way to fear of flash floods as Brazilian
downpours cause chaos in the country's biggest city.<br>
Now that gentle rain is just a memory: instead, people frequently
run the risk of being trapped in streets suddenly turned into raging
torrents; cars are flattened by falling trees; hillside shanty
dwellings are swallowed up by mudslides. The city has also got much
hotter.<br>
After analysing meteorological data for the region over the last 74
years, a group of scientists from São Paulo University (USP) found
an increase both in the frequency of rainy days and in the volume of
rain. Professor (retired) Maria Assunção Faus da Silva Dias, of the
Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences at USP,
said the aim of their research was to verify if the forecasts about
changing rain patterns were becoming a reality.<br>
"We discovered that where it rains a lot it will rain more, and
where there is drought there will be more drought"<br>
In previous studies, climatologists had foreseen that one of the
main effects of climate change would be the exacerbation of extreme
effects, including an increase in the frequency and intensity of
storms and severe droughts.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/brazilian-downpours-oust-familiar-drizzle/">http://climatenewsnetwork.net/brazilian-downpours-oust-familiar-drizzle/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/07/radio-confront-climate-change-peru-170724102823601.html">Using
radio to confront climate change in Peru</a></b><br>
Radio hosts us indigenous language radio broadcasts in Peruvian
Amazon to raise awareness and rally isolated villages.<br>
[Neil Giardino/Al Jazeera] @NeilGiardino<br>
Pahoyan, Peru - In June, indigenous communities in the Central
Peruvian Amazon marched in the sweltering jungle city of Pucallpa to
condemn widespread deforestation in their communities and to
commemorate Amazonian victims of environmental conflict. In the
remote village of Pahoyan, Antonio Rojas Shuna got word of the
protest quickly and in his native language, but not on TV or the
internet.<br>
Radio is the bridge between the city and indigenous communities.<br>
<font color="#666666">I</font>n the age of instant access to digital
information, radio is redefining its purpose in isolated villages in
the Peruvian Amazon, where Spanish is a second language and signs of
climate change are everywhere.<br>
His village is struggling to find ways to adapt to deforestation,
36-year-old Mahya told Al Jazeera. Severe flooding has caused
Pahoyan to seek higher ground three times in recent years. This
February, the village road became a river.<br>
"Radio is the bridge between the city and indigenous communities,"
said Moises Cardenas Sanchez, host of the environmental programme
Prensa Libre Intercultural, one of nearly a dozen Shipibo-language
radio programmes in Pucallpa...<br>
"Our Shipibo ancestors never had these problems," said the
50-year-old elementary school teacher, with a hint of hopelessness
in his voice...<br>
He has recently begun teaching his students about their obligation
to protect their forests.<br>
"When I hear these programmes in my language it makes me want to
stand up and do something about it," he said.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/07/radio-confront-climate-change-peru-170724102823601.html">http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/07/radio-confront-climate-change-peru-170724102823601.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/global-warming-july-continues-upward-trend-170818081255733.html">Global
warming: July continues the upward trend</a></b><br>
Last month was only 0.05 degrees Celsius below the record set in
2016.<br>
NOAA's National Centre for Environmental Information (NCEI) has just
released its Global Climate Report for July, and for those concerned
about the future of our planet, it makes for grim reading.<br>
In records stretching back to 1880, July 2017 was the second warmest
July ever recorded.<br>
The average land and sea surface temperature was 16.63C. That is
0.83C above the 20th-century average and only 0.05C behind the
record year of 2016.<br>
Nine of the 10 warmest Julys on record have occurred since 2005,
with only 1998 (a strong El Nino year) preventing a clean sweep for
the 21st century.<br>
NCEI also point out that July is the 41st consecutive July and the
391st consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century
average.<br>
Every month of 2017, so far, has been in the top three warmest for
that particular month. To date, it is the second warmest January to
July period on record, just 0.14C behind last year, which was the
warmest on record.<br>
Although it is unlikely that 2017 will exceed the warmth of 2016, it
is expected to be just behind it, making the warmest years on
record, 2016, 2017 and 2015.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/global-warming-july-continues-upward-trend-170818081255733.html">http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/global-warming-july-continues-upward-trend-170818081255733.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://theconversation.com/greenland-how-rapid-climate-change-on-worlds-largest-island-will-affect-us-all-82675">Greenland:
how rapid climate change on world's largest island will affect
us all</a></b><br>
The largest wildfire ever recorded in Greenland was recently spotted
close to the west coast town of Sisimiut, not far from Disko Island
where I research retreating glaciers. The fire has captured public
and scientific interest not just because its size and location came
as a surprise, but also because it is yet another signpost of deep
environmental change in the Arctic.<br>
I have considered only a handful of the major environmental shifts
in Greenland over the past few decades, but the effects of
increasing temperatures are being felt in all parts of the earth
system. Sometimes these are manifest as extreme events, at others as
slow and insidious changes.<br>
The different parts of the environmental jigsaw interact, so that
changes in one part (sea ice decline, say) influence another (polar
bear populations). We need to keep a close eye on the system as a
whole if we are to make reliable interpretations – and meaningful
plans for the future.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://theconversation.com/greenland-how-rapid-climate-change-on-worlds-largest-island-will-affect-us-all-82675">https://theconversation.com/greenland-how-rapid-climate-change-on-worlds-largest-island-will-affect-us-all-82675</a></font><br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/climate-change-blame-freetown-170817133120465.html"><br>
<b>Is climate change to blame in Freetown?</b></a><br>
Humanity may have worsened the conditions on the ground but is the
weather worse anyway?<br>
Rob McElwee<br>
The <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/sierra-leone-mudslide-survivors-describe-shock-anger-170817094624457.html">deadly
landslide </a>in Freetown, Sierra Leone on Monday morning was
undoubtedly partly the result of deforestation. During the rainy
season, Sierra Leone is one of the wettest places on earth,
statistically. And from that point of view, it is a surprise that
such disasters don't happen more often...<br>
That finding came from a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-87-8-1057">scientific paper
published in 2006, </a>a study using a worldwide database. A more
recent investigation has found that the number of these storms has
increased in sub-Saharan Africa, by a factor of three, since 1982.<br>
That latter conclusion came from <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v544/n7651/full/nature22069.html#ref1">another
scientific paper,</a> published this year, discovering evidence
that looks like a clear link to a warming climate. It is a
well-established expectation that temperatures will rise, as a
global average, and that local variations will be vastly
different...<br>
And as you cannot change the laws of physics, the resulting
thunderstorms, grouped as mesoscale convective systems, now have
more vigorous construction. They also have the necessary shear in
wind direction and strength within the thunderheads to create an
efficient up- and downdraught circulation.<br>
This increase in the intensity of these major storm systems looks
like a result of climate change. The climate forecast sees the
Sahara warming more which leads directly to a future of more intense
rainfall events, especially in the Sahel. Resultant devastating
flooding and landslides will become more common.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/climate-change-blame-freetown-170817133120465.html">http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/climate-change-blame-freetown-170817133120465.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.idahostatesman.com/living/religion/article168082097.html">Let
Monday's eclipse be a call to action on climate change</a></b><br>
BY RABBI DAN FINK<br>
AUGUST 18, 2017 4:54 PM<br>
Talmud teaches: "When the sun is eclipsed, it is a bad omen for the
entire world."<br>
This is not surprising. Nearly every ancient tradition shared this
view. Shakespeare describes an eclipse as a "stain on the sun that
portended no good." The English word "eclipse" comes from the Greek,
"ekleipsi," which implies, at its root, abandonment. In a
prescientific world, the sun's unexpected diminishment and even
disappearance must have been utterly terrifying. Without its light
and heat, the Earth would be a lifeless, frozen hunk of rock. What
could be more traumatic than the sun's abandonment?<br>
Times have changed. This weekend, millions of people across the U.S.
will go significantly out of their way to view the Great American
Eclipse. As writer Ross Andersen notes: "The primary emotion most of
us now feel upon glimpsing an eclipse is wonder." The moon, which
is, amazingly, both 400 times smaller than the sun and also 400
times closer to Earth, perfectly blocks the sun, so day turns to
night and the sun's corona glitters in the darkened sky. Here in
Idaho, many will witness what will be a once-in-a-lifetime event.<br>
I share the wonder. I don't believe in the kind of God who makes
everything happen for a reason, micromanaging the Creation with
divine signs and portents. Eclipses are not omens in response to our
sins; they are entirely predictable and will occur whether we are
sinful or saintly. Like other celestial mechanics, they are, in
fact, powerful reminders that we human beings are not the center of
the universe.<br>
Yet I am convinced that with a bit of post-modern interpretation,
Talmud still has something significant to teach us on these matters.
My conviction that eclipses are not sent as inherently purposeful
messages from an omnipotent deity need not leave them absent of
moral significance. As fundamentally meaning-making creatures, we
human beings are strongly inclined to find our own purposes in
events after the fact. This eclipse might still serve as a powerful
sign for humanity if that's how we consciously choose to understand
it.<br>
How, then, might we interpret both the fear and wonder of this
week's solar eclipse in a contemporary context?<br>
I suggest we take it as a call to action on climate change. On
Monday, Aug. 21 — or, by the Jewish calendar, the eve of Rosh
Chodesh Elul, a month devoted to reflection and repentance — the
source of life on Earth will, for a moment or two, go dark, from
coast to coast across the world's most powerful nation. And then,
just as scientifically predictably — and, at the same time, still
miraculously — the light and warmth that sustain us will return. Let
this awesome event serve as a reminder that unless we change our
behavior as a species, in the future, we may not be so lucky. The
damage that we are doing to our planet — and our own civilization —
with our profligate devastation of Earth's natural systems is not so
easily undone. May the temporary eclipse of the sun awaken us to the
wisdom of philosopher and naturalist Kathleen Dean Moore: "To let
the world slip away — the starfish and sea anemones, the green and
fecund marshland, the glacial streams — to let it slip away because
we're too busy, or too comfortable to change, is a sin against
creation."<br>
Now is the time for turning, in action and in prayer. Let us
conclude with the words of poet Daniel Landinsky, inspired by the
work of Persian Sufi mystic Hafiz:<br>
Even<br>
After<br>
All this time<br>
The sun never says to the earth,<br>
"You owe<br>
Me."<br>
Look<br>
What happens<br>
With a love like that,<br>
It lights the<br>
Whole Sky.<br>
Dan Fink is the rabbi for the Ahavath Beth Israel congregation.<br>
The Idaho Statesman's weekly faith column features a rotation of
writers from many different faiths and perspectives.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.idahostatesman.com/living/religion/article168082097.html">http://www.idahostatesman.com/living/religion/article168082097.html</a></font><br>
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<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/08/20/1009012/-65-70-Protesters-arrested-in-front-of-the-White-House-w-video-photo-update">This
Day in Climate History August 20, 2011</a> - from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
August 20, 2011: Several dozen climate activists are arrested in
Washington, DC at the start of a two-week civil-disobedience
campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline. Over 1,200 are arrested
by the time the campaign concludes.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/08/20/1009012/-65-70-Protesters-arrested-in-front-of-the-White-House-w-video-photo-update">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/08/20/1009012/-65-70-Protesters-arrested-in-front-of-the-White-House-w-video-photo-update</a></font>
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