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<font size="+1"><i>September 3, 2017</i></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2017/09/raging-wildfire-north-of-downtown-los.html">Raging
wildfire north of downtown Los Angeles grows to one of the
largest blazes in city history</a><br>
</b>By Ruben Vives, Andrea Castillo, and Alene Tchekmedyian 2
September 2017<br>
(The Los Angeles Times) – A brush fire in the Verdugo Mountains
north of downtown Los Angeles has burned more than 5,000 acres,
making it one of the largest fires in the city's history and one
that officials warn could grow larger if erratic weather conditions
continue.<br>
Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze overnight and into the
morning, and at `one point, the flames were spreading in four
directions amid intense heat and wild winds. Three homes have
burned, but no injuries have been reported, officials said Saturday.<br>
Firefighters faced another day of triple-digit temperatures in some
inland areas of Southern California as a heat wave that has gripped
the state continues.... <font size="-1" color="#666666"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2017/09/raging-wildfire-north-of-downtown-los.html">http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2017/09/raging-wildfire-north-of-downtown-los.html</a></font><b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-tuna-fire-wildfire-20170902-story.html">Three
homes burned as wildfire torches more than 5,000 acres</a><br>
</b>More than 700 homes in the area are under evacuation, including
300 in Burbank, 250 in Glendale and 180 in Los Angeles, officials
said.<b><br>
</b><font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-tuna-fire-wildfire-20170902-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-tuna-fire-wildfire-20170902-story.html</a></font><b><br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/flood-waters-rising-urban-development-climate-change">As
flood waters rise, is urban sprawl as much to blame as climate
change?</a></b><br>
Global warming may have intensified Hurricane Harvey and storms in
Asia and Africa but the real problem may be our sprawling cities<br>
others argue that urban development is as much to blame for the
floods as climate change. "Houston, Bangalore and many other cities
share the same problem," says T V Ramachandra, coordinator of the
energy and wetlands research group at the Indian Institute of
Science. "These floods are mostly manmade. They are not natural
disasters. They are very similar and largely because of
concretisation."<br>
In the rush to economic development in India, China and elsewhere,
ecological sense has been ditched in favour of explosive growth
across the world, he says...<br>
Flooding is already one of the world's greatest causes of illness
and death. According to the Dartmouth Flood Observatory, between
1985 and 2014 floods worldwide killed more than 500,000 people,
displaced over 650 million people and caused damage in excess of
$800bn. Between 2003 and 2008 large-scale floods that displaced at
least 100,000 people occurred in more than 1,800 cities in 40
countries...<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/flood-waters-rising-urban-development-climate-change">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/flood-waters-rising-urban-development-climate-change</a></font><br>
.<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkjXtpAcmA">(video ) As
flooding lingers, Houston begins clean-up</a></b><br>
PBS NewsHour Published on Sep 2, 2017<br>
More than a week after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, Houston is
shifting to recovery mode and surveying the damage. The Federal
Emergency Management Administration has already granted $83 million
in aid to survivors of the storm, including funding for housing and
other critical needs, as thousands of people remain in shelters.
NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Marcia Biggs reports from
Houston.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkjXtpAcmA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkjXtpAcmA</a></font><br>
.<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/hurricane-harvey-climate-change.html">$
We Don't Deny Harvey, So Why Deny Climate Change?</a></b><br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/hurricane-harvey-climate-change.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/hurricane-harvey-climate-change.html</a></font><br>
.<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://youtu.be/ePC7R3maJsw">(video)
Why Did Houston Flood?</a></b><br>
NOVA PBS Official Published on Sep 1, 2017<br>
Hurricane Harvey's rainfall broke continental U.S. records. Here's
how cities like Houston can better prepare.<br>
<font color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/ePC7R3maJsw">https://youtu.be/ePC7R3maJsw</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://ethicsandclimate.org/2017/09/01/the-enormous-potential-of-local-governments-to-reduce-ghg-emissions-a-paper-that-identifies-571-strategies-adopted-by-44-cities-around-the-world/"><b>Ethics
and Climate: The Enormous Potential of Cities to Reduce GHG
Emissions, 571 Strategies Adopted by 44 Cities Around the World</b></a><br>
571 Strategies To Reduce GHG Emissions Adopted by 44 Cities<br>
This site has previously focused primarily on the obligations of
nations, organizations, and citizens around the world to respond to
climate change at levels consistent with their ethical and moral
obligations as well as with the ethical and moral problems with most
arguments made by opponents of climate change policies. While
national responses to climate change for the most part remain
frighteningly inadequate, many local governments around the world
have started to step up to reduce GHG emissions sometimes at
surprisingly ambitious levels. The following paper identifies 571
strategies that 44 cities have adopted to achieve their emissions
reduction commitments. Many cities are reducing GHG emissions while
claiming they are saving money and often improving the quality of
life and sometimes creating jobs.<br>
(2) Identification of strategies adopted by these cities arranged in
the following categories:<br>
15 strategies for building green buildings,<br>
55 strategies for reducing energy use in buildings,<br>
19 other strategies for reducing energy use in general,<br>
37 strategies for increasing renewable energy,<br>
16 strategies to increase energy efficiency,<br>
10 energy ordinance strategies,<br>
143 strategies to reduce GHG emissions from transportation,<br>
18 lighting transformation strategies,<br>
32 strategies for managing waste disposal,<br>
51 land use planning strategies,<br>
19 miscellaneous tactics for reducing GHG emissions,<br>
71 strategies for educating citizens,<br>
38 strategies for incentivizing private sector GHG emissions
reductions,<br>
22 funding strategies to reduce GHG reduction emissions,<br>
25 cooperative government climate strategies; and.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://ethicsandclimate.org/2017/09/01/the-enormous-potential-of-local-governments-to-reduce-ghg-emissions-a-paper-that-identifies-571-strategies-adopted-by-44-cities-around-the-world/">https://ethicsandclimate.org/2017/09/01/the-enormous-potential-of-local-governments-to-reduce-ghg-emissions-a-paper-that-identifies-571-strategies-adopted-by-44-cities-around-the-world/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/if-you-think-the-government-will-do-something-about-chemical-explosions-in-the-wake-of-houston-think-again/">If
You Think the Government Will Do Something About Chemical
Explosions in the Wake of Houston, Think Again</a></b><br>
They say it's because of concerns about terrorism.<br>
REBECCA LEBER Sept. 1, 2017 5:23 PM<br>
The most important information to have should you live near a
chemical plant explosion-or inhale the fumes as 15 police officers
have-is what kinds of chemicals are at risk of leeching into the air
and water. Yet more than 24 hours after explosions at its plant 25
miles northeast of Houston, the global chemical manufacturer Arkema
Inc. will not release a full inventory of its chemicals and where
they are stored. Texas officials won't either. The reason? Concerns
about terrorism. <br>
In July 2016, Pruitt and 10 other attorneys general asked then-EPA
administrator Gina McCarthy to withdraw the proposed version of the
rule: <br>
"Your proposed rule seeks to make readily-available to the public
information that you believe might be useful to the public in the
event of an accidental release of chemicals. As the federal agencies
responsible for national security have warned you, compiling that
information and making it easily accessible also aids those who
might seek to cause an intentional release for nefarious purposes,
by providing those bad actors with information that would help them
both select a target and exploit any security vulnerabilities their
target might have."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/if-you-think-the-government-will-do-something-about-chemical-explosions-in-the-wake-of-houston-think-again/">http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/if-you-think-the-government-will-do-something-about-chemical-explosions-in-the-wake-of-houston-think-again/</a><br>
. <br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2013/08/24/after-west-disaster-news-study-finds-u.s.-chemical-safety-data-about-90-percent-wrong">After
West disaster, News study finds U.S. chemical safety data about
90 percent wrong</a></b><br>
Even the best national data on chemical accidents is wrong nine
times out of 10.<br>
A Dallas Morning News analysis of more than 750,000 federal records
found pervasive inaccuracies and holes in data on chemical
accidents, such as the one in West that killed 15 people and injured
more than 300.<br>
In fact, no one at any level of government knows how often serious
chemical accidents occur each year in the United States. And there
is no plan in place for federal agencies to gather more accurate
information...<br>
A total of 174 reports were made of serious chemical accidents in
California, with only 10 percent confirmed in the other data sets.<br>
The News concluded that there was no systematic way to identify
serious accidents among the hundreds of thousands of records in the
four datasets. The only way forward was to loosen the matching
criteria and read through more than 500 individual accident
narratives to identify serious chemical accidents. Doing that, The
News was able to confirm at least 24 serious or potentially serious
chemical accidents in Texas between 2008 and 2011.<br>
On rough average, that's one every two months - a lot more than make
headlines.<br>
"Why would a company or organization do data checking? They might do
it because there is a liability risk. They might do it because they
feel it's the right thing to do," Podgurski said in an interview.
"But even in an honest organization, deadline financial pressures
will mitigate those efforts."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:investigate@dallasnews.com">investigate@dallasnews.com</a><br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2013/08/24/after-west-disaster-news-study-finds-u.s.-chemical-safety-data-about-90-percent-wrong">https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2013/08/24/after-west-disaster-news-study-finds-u.s.-chemical-safety-data-about-90-percent-wrong</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/">(threnody)</a><b><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/">
Exit, Pursued by a Crab</a></b><font size="-1"> AUGUST 28,
2017 BY ANDY SKUCE </font><br>
<b>Climate change and me</b><font size="-1"> </font><br>
It may seem a little odd to end this disclosure about my looming
demise with a technical commentary on climate change. However,
concern about what happens to the planet after my death-whenever
that date might be-has been important to me over the past few years.
Having the fatal moment moved forward doesn't change anything.<br>
For the past ten years, I've become obsessive about learning and
writing about climate change. I've done my best to provide my own
perspective as an ex-oilman and geoscientist. Most of my
contributions are recorded on this blog. I've lately found it hard
to apply the sustained effort to research and write in-depth pieces
that add anything coherent and novel enough to be worth publishing.
I would love, for example, to dig deeper into the means and benefits
of mitigation technologies and the costs of inaction.<br>
I have become reluctantly pessimistic about our ability to avoid
dangerous global change. If the best mitigation efforts are made and
we get lucky with climate sensitivity and carbon-cycle feedbacks, we
might succeed in limiting surface warming to 2-3 degrees C. If we
are mitigation laggards and the response of the Earth System to the
abrupt chemical changes we are delivering to the atmosphere turns
out to be severe, the consequences could be dire. Even in the best
imaginable case, we are in for some nasty, disruptive shocks,
unfairly focussed on the poorest people: those who have done the
least to cause the problem....<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/">https://critical-angle.net/2017/08/28/exit-pursued-by-a-crab/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.bustle.com/p/what-to-put-in-a-disaster-kit-why-you-need-one-80608">How
To Build A DIY Disaster Kit</a></b><br>
If you want to make your own disaster kit, it's pretty easy to DIY.
The Red Cross considers these items essential to any basic disaster
kit. If you're going the DIY route, grab a backpack and add:<br>
- Water: You'll need one gallon per person for three days. Water is
heavy, so consider getting some emergency drinking water in bags.<br>
- Food: Three days worth of non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items.
Cans are heavy, so consider lightweight items, like dehydrated foods
and protein bars. If you have pets, make sure to pack food for them
too.<br>
- A flashlight and extra batteries, first-aid kit, lightweight
emergency blankets, and extra cash.<br>
- Battery-powered or hand-crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if
possible) because your cellphone likely won't work.<br>
- Medications, pack a seven-day supply, and sanitation and personal
hygiene items.<br>
- A multi-purpose tool, like a deluxe pocket knife.<br>
- Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent
medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home,
passports, birth certificates, insurance policies).<br>
- Cellphone with chargers just in case, and family and emergency
contact information.<br>
- Map(s) of the area because your maps apps probably won't do you
any good.<br>
You can get most of these items on Amazon, or at any local surplus
store.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.bustle.com/p/what-to-put-in-a-disaster-kit-why-you-need-one-80608">https://www.bustle.com/p/what-to-put-in-a-disaster-kit-why-you-need-one-80608</a><br>
.<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/get-a-kit"><b>Be
Prepared for an Emergency. Be Red Cross Ready!</b><br>
</a><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/get-a-kit">http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/get-a-kit</a><br>
.<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/smarter-living/packing-emergency-kit-disaster.html">How
to Pack an Emergency Kit for Any Disaster</a></b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/smarter-living/packing-emergency-kit-disaster.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/smarter-living/packing-emergency-kit-disaster.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic">This Day in
Climate History September 3, 2008</a><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic"> </a>-
from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
September 3, 2008: In his address to the Republican National<br>
Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, former Maryland Lieutenant
Governor Michael Steele blows off concerns about climate change by
proclaiming:<br>
"Drill, baby, drill!"<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/03/steele-gives-gop-delegates-new-cheer-drill-baby-drill/tab/article/">http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/03/steele-gives-gop-delegates-new-cheer-drill-baby-drill/tab/article/</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSsOnVWhic</a><br>
<br>
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