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<font size="+1"><i>October 17, 2017</i></font><br>
<b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2017/10/wildfires_are_creating_a_public_health_crisis_of_smoke_problems.html">Wildfires
Don't Just Burn Things Down. Their Smoke Is Creating a Public
Health Crisis.</a></b><br>
In the new "Smoke Belt," it's raining ash and respiratory illnesses.<br>
As climate change fuels increasingly large and frequent wildfires
that hit closer and closer to densely populated urban centers, the
smoke they produce is becoming a public health crisis.<br>
"Over the past two days we've experienced unprecedented levels of
air pollution in the region," says Kristine Roselius, a spokeswoman
for the Bay Area Quality Management District. Things cleared up
slightly on Wednesday, but mercurial weather patterns make it hard
to know if the worst is still yet to come. "It's very difficult to
forecast what the air quality will be at any moment because we've
still got active fires."<br>
But in general, the forecast is not good. Roselius says they're
especially concerned about the elevated levels of PM2.5-very small
bits of liquids and solids suspended in the air, no bigger than 2.5
micrometers across. Particles this small can be inhaled into the
deepest recesses of the lungs, into the broccoli-shaped alveolar
sacs, where they bypass the body's filtration systems and slip
directly into the bloodstream. What exactly is in those tiny
droplets and specks depends on the source, the season, and
atmospheric conditions. But it's the amount of particulate matter
more than the type that matters for health.<br>
So first things first: protection. Public health officials like
Roselius are advising people with chronic respiratory illness to
seek filtered air, either in the city or outside the region. That
means buildings with high efficiency mechanical or electronic air
cleaners, like these public libraries in San Francisco. If you've
got air conditioning at home, set it to recirculate mode and make
sure all your doors and windows are tightly closed...<br>
Your best bet: disposable respirators, like the ones found at
hardware stores and pharmacies. Look for ones labeled N95 and make
sure they're properly sealed around your face...<br>
...on air pollution from past and projected future wildfires in the
American West, Liu and a team of scientists at Yale estimated that
by midcentury more than 82 million people will experience smoke
waves-more than two consecutive days with high levels of
wildfire-related air pollution. People in the new Smoke
Belt-Northern California, Western Oregon, and the Great Plains-are
likely to suffer the highest exposure.<br>
...Just as fire behaves differently in a city than it does out in
the wild, so does smoke. Urban areas, with their concrete roads and
walls of glass and steel, tend to stop a fire in its tracks. All
those buildings and alleyways prevent wind from blowing fresh embers
around. But those same aerodynamics mean that smoke gets trapped in
cities. Liu's latest research, which will appear in an upcoming
issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that
metropolitan areas, even ones very far away from any actual
wildfires, had much higher levels of particulate matter in the air
than rural areas. An urban smoke island effect, if you will.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2017/10/wildfires_are_creating_a_public_health_crisis_of_smoke_problems.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2017/10/wildfires_are_creating_a_public_health_crisis_of_smoke_problems.html</a></font><br>
-<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://khanotations.github.io/smoke-map/">View Smoke Wave
Map </a></b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://khanotations.github.io/smoke-map/">http://khanotations.github.io/smoke-map/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/wisconsin-climate-change.php">Going
full Doomsday: Reporters must convey the perils of climate
change without paralyzing their audience</a></b><br>
Rather, the goal of the project is to get people talking about what
kind of future they want and how to get there. Scenarios can be a
powerful way to get around the problem of disengagement, Dunwoody
says. "Once you get people to sit down and talk about them, you get
huge impacts," she says. "That interpersonal stuff forces people to
wrestle with the issue."<br>
In the meantime, some local reporters are doing what they can. In
August, Chris Hubbuch, a reporter at the La Crosse Tribune who
covers energy, transportation, and the environment, used the 10-year
anniversary of a deadly flood to <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lacrossetribune.com/houstonconews/news/local/when-the-river-comes-down-the-hill-more-frequent-flash/article_651e4b1f-eb79-58ca-90ed-0b1e45f6a6a6.html">discuss
the local link between climate change and severe storms </a>and
how nearby communities are trying-and sometimes failing-to plan for
these events. Hubbuch says he doesn't seek out climate change
stories, but he does look for ways to connect climate change to
local events. His latest effort manages to get readers thinking
without scaring the pants off them.<br>
"If we accept that [climate change] is happening and that there are
real local impacts," says Hubbuch, "then it's a fair question to
ask, What are we doing about those impacts?"<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/wisconsin-climate-change.php">https://www.cjr.org/special_report/wisconsin-climate-change.php</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/federal-court-dismisses-racketeering-case-against-greenpeace/">Federal
Court Dismisses Resolute SLAPP Suit Against Greenpeace</a></b><br>
SAN FRANCISCO, October 16, 2017 - Today, the United States District
Court for the Northern District of California dismissed all claims
in the controversial case that major logging company Resolute Forest
Products [2] filed against Greenpeace Inc., Greenpeace Fund, and
Greenpeace International, Stand.earth and individual defendants,
including claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations (RICO) act.<br>
The court's decision sends a clear message to corporations that
attacks on core democratic values like freedom of speech and
legitimate advocacy on issues of public interest will not be
tolerated. District Judge Jon S. Tigar wrote in his order dismissing
the case that "the defendants' speech constituted the expression of
opinion, or different viewpoints that [are] a vital part of our
democracy." Noting that "Greenpeace's publications at issue rely on
scientific research or fact", the judge added that "[t]he academy,
and not the courthouse, is the appropriate place to resolve
scientific disagreements of this kind."<br>
Resolute will be allowed to amend its filing as a formality, but
Greenpeace is confident that any such attempt will meet a similar
fate.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/federal-court-dismisses-racketeering-case-against-greenpeace/">http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/federal-court-dismisses-racketeering-case-against-greenpeace/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://theenergymix.com/2017/10/15/community-based-efforts-aim-to-repower-puerto-rico-from-the-ground-up/">COMMUNITY-BASED
EFFORTS AIM TO REPOWER PUERTO RICO FROM THE GROUND UP</a></b><br>
With at least 80% of Puerto Rico's transmission lines brought down
by Hurricane Maria, and a utility company that was bankrupt before
the storm hit, a community energy group that formed after Hurricane
Sandy is already delivering on-the-ground support to the U.S.
territory, while a local advocate sets out terms for the future of
the island's shattered electricity grid.<br>
The common theme that brings the two strands together: While offers
by Tesla Inc. and several U.S. solar companies to repower Puerto
Rico's are welcome, and probably well-intended, they have to
dovetail with efforts to assert local control over the U.S. local
electricity system.<br>
The first phase in the three-part plan is "to bring as much energy
to as many people as possible as quickly as possible, using a
proven, mobile solar-electric system that targets the hardest-hit
and most remote communities first," the site states.<br>
Phase 2 will aim to deliver mobile solar-electric kits to Puerto
Rico's 78 municipalities by the end of 2017, setting up "solar hubs"
in central plazas or other community gathering points. "Our solar
technicians will train local residents during the cooperative
installation. This 'each one, teach one' style of job training can
power up more than the solar kits: it can help develop an
island-wide work force capable of growing with the green economy."<br>
In Phase 3, ResilientPR will work through 2021 to promote solar
electricity for every household on the island.<font size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://theenergymix.com/2017/10/15/community-based-efforts-aim-to-repower-puerto-rico-from-the-ground-up/">http://theenergymix.com/2017/10/15/community-based-efforts-aim-to-repower-puerto-rico-from-the-ground-up/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://climatenexus.org/">Climate
Nexus</a><br>
<span style="font-family:helvetica
neue,helvetica,arial,verdana,sans-serif"><strong>Koch-Funded Texas
Denier Tapped for CEQ: </strong>The White House announced last
week that President Trump has officially nominated climate change
denier Kathleen Hartnett White to lead the White House Council on
Environmental Quality. White is currently a senior adviser to the
Koch-funded Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Politico reports
that her nomination is the third Trump administration post for
alumni of the far-right network. White previously served as the
Texas CEQ chairwoman under Rick Perry, a tenure Texas
environmentalists have <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=890fbf5720&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">described</a> as a "disaster." White has argued
against classifying carbon dioxide as a pollutant, claimed coal
helped to end slavery and described renewable energy as
"unreliable and parasitic." White's nomination, on top of coal
lobbyist Andrew Wheeler's nomination to the number two spot at EPA
earlier this month, secures "a full house for the fossil fuel
industry," Christy Goldfuss, who served as managing director of
Obama's CEQ, told the New York Times. For more on White's
questionable CV, scroll down to the Denier Roundup. (<a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=9bbd736df1&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">New York Times</a> $, <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=a5c762d81b&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">Washington Post</a> $, <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=e96c5275fc&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">AP</a>, <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=9edba980b0&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">Reuters</a>, <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=483292de89&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">Bloomberg</a>, <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c44fdda37&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">Politico Pro</a> $, <a
href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=4e53f2b022&e=95b355344d"
target="_blank" style="word-wrap:
break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color: #709ab9;font-weight: normal;text-decoration:
underline;">InsideClimate News</a>)</span><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a
href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/16394818/sheldon-whitehouse-congress-climate">The
Senate's top climate advocate explains why Congress is doing
nothing about global warming</a></b><br>
"Trajectory points on the horizon aren't part of our battle":
Sheldon Whitehouse on Democrats' climate strategy.<br>
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), widely seen as the Senate's most
active advocate on climate change, says he is in routine
communication with "six to 10" Senate Republicans who, he says,
privately support his carbon tax bill but are unwilling to publicly
back it. Only one Senate Republican, South Carolina's Lindsey
Graham, is willing to publicly support that idea.<br>
After the hurricane in Florida, one Republican mayor said: "If this
isn't climate change, I don't know what is."<br>
To be sure, Republicans still hold power over which bills even come
to the floor with their bare majority, and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell certainly doesn't seem interested in bringing
Whitehouse's bill to a vote anytime soon. ("I don't think CO2 is a
pollutant," Texas Rep. Joe Barton told me when I asked about the
possibility of climate legislation. "You're creating CO2 asking me
these questions.")<br>
Former Vox reporter Brad Plumer argued, at length, that a
conservative carbon tax is a "dream" that "refuses to die," and said
that the media should be skeptical that the GOP would act on climate
change until their elected officials openly embrace it.<br>
But Whitehouse thinks that interpretation is too pessimistic for his
Republican colleagues. The question isn't purely academic, because
its answer structures how progressives may choose to try to build a
movement for climate action.<br>
Then you have the people in the corral - with Exxon and the US
Chamber and API and Americans for Progress and the whole rest of the
ghouls - that say, "If you dare touch this issue we'll punish you
politically."<br>
The reputation of the Republican Party hangs in the balance for
future generations. Let's say you're a Republican up in 2022 or 2024
- what's your bet on how the public will look at this by then?
What's your bet on how people will view, "Oh, the climate has always
been changing; oh, this is a hoax." It's not a good outlook.<br>
That was before Citizens United. [That Supreme Court decision] gave
the industry the power to create the kill zone in the first place -
before they could be mad as hell, and blow the whistle, and turn
their faces red, and write a $10,000 PAC check. They could not set
up a $2 million shell foundation to beat the crap out of you with
ads in your congressional district.<br>
Our best scenario is that they try the partisan route again; they
fail. Trump is furious he's again been led into a boxed canyon of
failure by Republican leadership, and then we can say: Not only is
there an opportunity for tax reform, but we can make it stronger in
some areas. But here's the deal: You've got to be willing to sign on
for this [carbon pricing], which would make it the deal of the
century for the guy who says he understands the "Art of the Deal."<br>
And then maybe we have a shot.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/16394818/sheldon-whitehouse-congress-climate">https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/16394818/sheldon-whitehouse-congress-climate</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/10/san-franciscos-sea-level-rise-daniel-herrera-port-seawall/">San
Francisco Is Suing Major Oil Companies to Protect its Citizens
from Climate Change</a></b><br>
Sea level rise could lead to catastrophic flooding, and the city
blames ExxonMobile and BP.<br>
The upgrades-which include an estimated $3 billion in sea level rise
mitigation and $2 billion in earthquake retrofitting-will come at a
huge cost to the city.<br>
"Right now, we have zero construction dollars," Forbes says. To
amass the funds, the city and the port are planning ballot
initiatives and working with the US Army Corps of Engineers, which
might chip in.<br>
Meanwhile, the city attorney's office has decided to try a new
approach. On September 19, San Francisco filed suit against five of
the nation's largest oil companies demanding they pay for the
updates the city needs to protect its residents against climate
change. The suit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court,
argues that the corporations-Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil,
Shell, and BP-promoted fossil fuels as "environmentally responsible
and essential to human well-being" amid multiple warnings that the
planet was in danger.<br>
The lawsuit cites a slew of examples alleging that the oil companies
continued promoting their product when they knew it would harm the
environment. A 1968 Stanford Research Institute report, for example,
warned the American Petroleum Institute and its members (which
includes all of the defendants) that sea level rise and changes to
the earth's environment were almost certain. "There seems to be no
doubt that the potential damage to our environment could be severe,"
the report reads. <br>
"They made a choice to pursue a business strategy for their profit
motive," San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera says. "Now
they're going to have to pay."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/10/san-franciscos-sea-level-rise-daniel-herrera-port-seawall/">http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/10/san-franciscos-sea-level-rise-daniel-herrera-port-seawall/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/14/geoengineering-is-not-a-quick-fix-for-climate-change-experts-warn-trump">Geoengineering
is not a quick fix for climate change, experts warn Trump</a></b><br>
Leading researchers and campaigners express concern that
geoengineering research could be used as an excuse not to reduce CO2
emissions<br>
Leading climate scientists have warned that geoengineering research
could be hijacked by climate change deniers as an excuse not to
reduce CO2 emissions, citing the US administration under Donald
Trump as a major threat to their work.<br>
"At the best climate engineering is a supplement, and it could be
that we shouldn't do it," he insisted. "Our work is to inform better
choices and it would actually be very useful to know for sure it
didn't work. Right now there are heads of state and others in
leadership who are explicitly assuming it could work, that it's
there if we need it. But let's say we found something deep in the
climate models which suggested we were overoptimistic about solar
geoengineering, then I would say 'abandon it'. That would be great.
I'd love to publish that."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/14/geoengineering-is-not-a-quick-fix-for-climate-change-experts-warn-trump">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/14/geoengineering-is-not-a-quick-fix-for-climate-change-experts-warn-trump</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/10/16/reposting-jimmy-stewart-on-solar-energy-1938/">Reposting:
Jimmy Stewart on Solar Energy – 1938</a></b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://youtu.be/bxWI6HEvyDQ">https://youtu.be/bxWI6HEvyDQ</a><br>
Clip from "You Can't Take it With You", directed by Frank Capra in
1938. Perrenial staple of high school drama clubs.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/10/16/reposting-jimmy-stewart-on-solar-energy-1938/">https://climatecrocks.com/2017/10/16/reposting-jimmy-stewart-on-solar-energy-1938/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/us/politics/17climate.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print">This
Day in Climate History October 17, 2007</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
October 17, 2007: The New York Times reports:<br>
"While many conservative commentators and editorialists have mocked<br>
concerns about climate change, a different reality is emerging among<br>
Republican presidential contenders. It is a near-unanimous
recognition<br>
among the leaders of the threat posed by global warming.<br>
"Within that camp, however, sharp divisions are developing. Senator<br>
John McCain of Arizona is calling for capping gas emissions linked
to<br>
warming and higher fuel economy standards. Others, including Rudolph<br>
W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney, are refraining from advocating such<br>
limits and are instead emphasizing a push toward clean coal and
other<br>
alternative energy sources.<br>
"All agree that nuclear power should be greatly expanded.<br>
"The debate has taken an intriguing twist. Two candidates appealing
to<br>
religious conservatives, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and<br>
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, call for strong actions to ease the<br>
effects of people on the climate, at times casting the effort in<br>
spiritual terms just as some evangelical groups have taken up the<br>
cause.<br>
"The emergence of climate change as an issue dividing Republicans<br>
shows just how far the discussion has shifted since 1997, when the<br>
Senate voted, 95 to 0, to oppose any international climate treaty
that<br>
could hurt the American economy or excused China from<br>
responsibilities."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/us/politics/17climate.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/us/politics/17climate.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print</a></font><br>
<br>
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