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<font size="+1"><i>December 11, 2017</i></font><br>
<br>
[Special Broadcast: Juliana v. U.S. Oral Argument 12/11/17]<br>
<b><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMusuRVQqw&feature=share">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMusuRVQqw&feature=share</a></b><br>
Juliana v. U.S. Oral Argument<br>
Youth are pursuing a climate lawsuit against the U.S. asserting
that, through the government's affirmative actions that cause
climate change, it has violated the youngest generation's
constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and failed to
protect essential public trust resources. The Justice Department
seeks the dismissal of the case at an oral argument hearing which
will be streamed live on Climate Monitor and at ClimateMonitor.tv on
Monday, December 11, 2017 at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern. After the
event, the program will be available on-demand. For more
information, visit OurChildrensTrust.org...<br>
The youth plaintiffs are inspiring and courageous voices in speaking
out for the rights of their generation, and this is a big moment to
show solidarity... <br>
There's a solidarity rally outside the courthouse - if you are in SF
or can invite others:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.facebook.com/events/401656076918607/">https://www.facebook.com/events/401656076918607/</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoBr3dwKlBfs7ojhUVd7L_w">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoBr3dwKlBfs7ojhUVd7L_w</a><br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMusuRVQqw&feature=share">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMusuRVQqw&feature=share</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-thomas-fire-santa-barbara-fire-20171210-story.html">New
evacuations ordered in Santa Barbara County as Thomas fire grows
to more than 200000 acres</a></b><br>
Santa Barbara County was under siege from the Thomas fire Sunday as
fire crews fought to keep the destructive blaze from the region's
picturesque beach communities.<br>
Authorities said the out-of-control blaze had scorched more than
200,000 acres by Sunday afternoon, growing by more than 25,000 acres
during the day and triggering new evacuation orders for residents
east of Mission Canyon and north of Highway 192...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-thomas-fire-santa-barbara-fire-20171210-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-thomas-fire-santa-barbara-fire-20171210-story.html</a><br>
-<br>
</font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.climatesignals.org/resources/chart-rising-cost-fighting-wildfires-california"><b>Chart:
Rising Cost of Fighting Wildfires in California</b></a><font
size="-1"><br>
</font><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.climatesignals.org/resources/chart-rising-cost-fighting-wildfires-california">http://www.climatesignals.org/resources/chart-rising-cost-fighting-wildfires-california</a><br>
-<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/12/10/smoke-from-thomas-fire-affects-air-quality-in-california/">Smoke
from Thomas Fire affects air quality in California</a></b><br>
The Thomas Fire is having a significant effect on the air quality in
California. Some areas downwind of the fire to the northwest had
"unhealthy" conditions at 2 p.m. Sunday, including Santa Barbara and
Goleta. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ThomasFire_Sat_smoke_12-10.jpg">http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ThomasFire_Sat_smoke_12-10.jpg</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/AirQuality_2pmPST_12-10.jpg">http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/AirQuality_2pmPST_12-10.jpg</a><br>
Forecasts show that smoke and ash will continue to affect the
southern part of Santa Barbara County for the next several days.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/12/10/smoke-from-thomas-fire-affects-air-quality-in-california/">http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/12/10/smoke-from-thomas-fire-affects-air-quality-in-california/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[SNOPES truth check=TRUE]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.snopes.com/tax-bill-deduction-losses-wildfires/">The
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 calls for eliminating or severely
curtailing the personal casualty deduction for losses from
wildfires and other natural disasters.</a></b><br>
Provisions in the 2017 tax reform bill that would eliminate or
restrict tax deductions for uninsured personal losses in natural
disasters came under criticism in early December as devastating
wildfires raged out of control in southern California.<br>
One popular social media post made its point by quoting a 7 November
article in the Los Angeles Times:<br>
WHILE CALIFORNIA BURNS: Los Angeles Times<br>
"The House Republican tax bill would eliminate the deduction for
personal losses from wildfires, earthquakes and other natural
disasters."<br>
The larger point remained true...that going forward victims of
natural disasters would no longer have this tool - or at best would
only have limited use of it - to help recoup casualty losses.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.snopes.com/tax-bill-deduction-losses-wildfires/">https://www.snopes.com/tax-bill-deduction-losses-wildfires/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[video 0:59]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2017/dec/09/footage-of-starving-polar-bear-exposes-climate-change-impact-video">Footage
of starving polar bear exposes climate change impact</a></b><br>
Video filmed in the Canadian Arctic provides graphic evidence of the
impact of climate change on polar bears in the region, showing an
emaciated animal scrounging for food on ice-free land. The footage
was recorded by the conservation group Sea Legacy during a late
summer expedition in Baffin Island. 'My entire Sea Legacy team was
pushing through their tears and emotions while documenting this
dying polar bear,' the photographer Paul Nicklen wrote on social
media.<br>
'Soul-crushing' video of starving polar bear exposes climate crisis,
experts say<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2017/dec/09/footage-of-starving-polar-bear-exposes-climate-change-impact-video">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2017/dec/09/footage-of-starving-polar-bear-exposes-climate-change-impact-video</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Denialism]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://cleantechnica.com/2017/12/10/conspiracy-theorists-climate-change-deniers-rejection-science/">Conspiracy
Theorists, Climate Change Deniers, & The Rejection of
Science</a></b><br>
December 10th, 2017 by Michael Barnard <br>
Research and publications about conspiracy ideation from 2012 and
2013 are newly relevant in today's political climate. The US is led
by a Denier in Chief who rose to power in part based on his strident
trumpeting of conspiracy theories about Obama's birth. He's appeared
on Alex Jones's Infowars, conspiracy theory central in 2017. His
followers believe things which boggle the imagination, including
that some of the most respected news agencies in the world are
leftist providers of fake news.<br>
The focus of CleanTechnica, of course, is on the climate change
angle. Cleantech is a major part of the solution to the problem, and
climate change denial is a major reason why we haven't made more
progress on this critical issue...<br>
The research shows a strong overlap between climate change deniers
and conspiracy theorists, and many of them are happy about it. Not
all climate change "skeptics" are conspiracy theorists, but belief
in one or more conspiracy theories is a very strong predictor of
denial of climate science, and denial of climate science is a decent
predictor of belief in conspiracy theories.<br>
The pre-eminent researcher on this topic is <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_Lewandowsky">Professor
Stephan Lewandowsky, PhD,</a> chair of cognitive psychology at the
University of Bristol in the UK. Professor Lewandowsky has published
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-research-papers-or-books-on-climate-change-denial/answer/Michael-Barnard-14">over
20 studies</a> on the phenomenon of climate change denial. It's
directly in his area of expertise as a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science">cognitive
scientist,</a> someone who studies how the mind processes
information and assesses data...<br>
...Reality can be ignored for only so long.<br>
These attacks are part and parcel of the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/02/climate-change-deniers-getting-angrier-heres/">increasing
anger of climate change deniers</a> as they are forced off
position after position, with their tissue-thin intellectual
pretensions becoming apparent even to them. It's part and parcel of
the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.quora.com/What-instances-of-attempted-murder-or-significant-violence-have-occurred-against-wind-industry-personnel/answer/Michael-Barnard-14">increasing
violence</a> seen among anti-wind protestors.<br>
The USA especially is in a challenging place right now. A
significant portion of the populace, although not a majority,
believes a variety of things which are provably false and appear
immune to reason and fact. They are supported by a president who has
ridden their willful ignorance to a powerful position, and in turn
he continues to feed their warped world view. The USA was built as
much on engineering and science as on capitalism. Rejecting it will
only hurt a great country, and by extension, the world.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://cleantechnica.com/2017/12/10/conspiracy-theorists-climate-change-deniers-rejection-science/">https://cleantechnica.com/2017/12/10/conspiracy-theorists-climate-change-deniers-rejection-science/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/10/climate-change-intensifies-winter-extremes/">Climate
Change Intensifies Winter Extremes</a></b><br>
by greenman3610<br>
<blockquote><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://youtu.be/H9G7UnTCjPg">Snow, Water, Ice and
Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA 2017)</a></b><br>
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme's Snow, Water, Ice
and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA) assessment focuses on changes
to the Arctic cryosphere (the portion of the Arctic land and water
that is seasonally or perennially frozen), and the implications of
those changes. The second SWIPA assessment, which covers the
period 2011–2015, with some updates to include observations from
2016 and early 2017, was published in 2017. Fact sheet report on
2017's findings related to recent observed changes in the Arctic <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/swipa-2017-press-material/1544">https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/swipa-2017-press-material/1544</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/H9G7UnTCjPg">https://youtu.be/H9G7UnTCjPg</a><br>
</blockquote>
First four minutes of above video is relevant to current weather
extremes across the US. I'm in New Orleans and they were canceling
flights due to snow friday December 8. Still quite cold tonight.
Meanwhile watching fire footage from hot, dry, west. Washington
Post: The explosive brush fires<br>
<blockquote> (Washington Post)The overarching weather pattern
responsible for the contrasting extremes between the coasts is
known as the North American Winter Dipole. It is fancy term to
describe abnormally warm conditions in the West and cold
conditions in the East. Under such a pattern, the jet stream, the
super highway for storms that divides cold and warm air, surges
north in the western half of the nation, and crashes south in the
eastern half.<br>
Such a pattern is developing over the United States right now.
It is the same pattern that was responsible for California's
historic drought from 2013 to 2016. UCLA climate scientist Daniel
Swain coined the term "ridiculously resilient ridge" to describe
the bulging jet stream along the West Coast. It blocked
rain-bearing storms from penetrating inland and was associated
with a pool of warm water known as the "blob" - which drew north <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/06/17/red-crabs-swarm-southern-california-linked-to-warm-blob-in-pacific/?utm_term=.ac6903d576ef">a
host of sea creatures seldom or previously never seen along
parts of the Pacific Coast.</a><br>
On the downhill side of this relentless ridge, where the jet
stream plunged in the eastern U.S., the polar vortex was
unleashed, particularly in the winters of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.
Brutal blasts of frigid air punished cities from Minneapolis to
New York.<br>
This dipole pattern has shown a tendency to happen more frequently
in recent decades as the climate has warmed. Swain, author of the
popular <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://weatherwest.com/archives/5982">California Weather
Blog, wrote,</a> "There has indeed been an increase in the
number of days each winter characterized by simultaneously very
warm temperatures across the American West and very cold
temperatures across the East."<br>
"Using climate model simulations, we further found that an
increase in extreme temperature dipole days like those we've
observed in recent years is considerably more likely in a climate
with rising greenhouse gas concentrations than in a hypothetical
climate without human influence," Swain wrote, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016JD025116/full">citing
a study he contributed to last year</a>.<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/10/climate-change-intensifies-winter-extremes/">https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/10/climate-change-intensifies-winter-extremes/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[California Weather Blog]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://weatherwest.com/archives/5982">New insights into
the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge & North American Winter
Dipole</a></b><br>
<b>A timely example: Persistent Western ridge, Eastern trough next
2+ weeks</b><br>
In the coming days, a remarkably persistent weather pattern will
begin to develop across North America and adjacent ocean regions.
Characterized by strong high pressure near the West Coast and low
pressure over the Eastern Seaboard, this "quasi-stationary,"
high-amplitude atmospheric wave pattern will essentially become
locked in place for at least the next 2 weeks. Patterns like this
have a tendency to become self-reinforcing, lasting for much longer
than more typical transient weather patterns and leading to
prolonged stretches of unusual weather. This particular event will
be no exception: California (and much of the West Coast) will almost
certainly experience an extended, multi-week warm and dry spell,
while much of the East Coast shivers through repeated blasts of
cold, Arctic air.<br>
<b>Recap: Origins of the "Triple R" and California's severe drought</b><br>
In 2013, a curious feature began to emerge on the weather maps: a
region of unusually high atmospheric pressure (known as a "ridge" in
meteorological circles) was consistently pushing the Pacific jet
stream to the north of California, resulting in very dry conditions.
At the time, I (somewhat jokingly) termed this anomalous high
pressure zone the "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" due to its
implausible longevity, assuming that it would most likely recede by
the subsequent blog post. Instead, the "Triple R" held strong
straight through the entire winter-and then recurred, in slightly
modified form, throughout the winters of 2014-2015 and 2015-2016...<br>
Average position of the "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" over the
course of the 2012-2015 portion of the California drought. (Adapted
from Swain 2015)<br>
The multi-year persistence of this anomalous atmospheric ridge was
nothing short of extraordinary. The co-occurrence of record low
precipitation and record high temperatures associated with the
Triple R ultimately yielded California's most severe multi-year
drought on record...<br>
Two key points ...<br>
1) Atmospheric pressure patterns similar to the Triple R are now
occurring more frequently than they did in previous decades.<br>
2) The unprecedented magnitude and persistence of recent West Coast
ridging can be traced (at least in part) to regionally-accentuated
warming of the lower atmosphere....<br>
Ultimately, we confirm that unusual ocean temperatures are linked to
seasonally-persistent West Coast winter ridging similar to the
Triple R. Tropical warmth (in the West Pacific) and coolness (in the
East Pacific) are both linked to different patterns of North Pacific
winter ridging, and may offer an early warning of seasons with an
elevated risk of dry conditions in California. Interestingly,
tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures during autumn 2017 were warm in
the west and cool in the east amidst a modest (and ongoing) La Nina
event-a combination that suggests a substantially elevated
likelihood of West Coast ridging this winter. To date, Southern
California has experienced one of its driest starts to the Water
Year on record, and strikingly persistent West Coast ridging is now
expected to last at least two weeks. It will certainly be
interesting to see how this winter plays out in the context of these
new research findings.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://weatherwest.com/archives/5982">http://weatherwest.com/archives/5982</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/the_most_northerly_town_in_the_world_is_at_risk_of_disappearing">THE
MOST NORTHERLY TOWN IN THE WORLD IS AT RISK OF DISAPPEARING...</a></b><br>
LONGYEARBYEN, Norway - It's freezing, snowing and so far north that
the sun won't rise again until March, but the 2,000 residents of the
world's most northerly town wish it were much colder...<br>
That's because the weather here on Norway's Arctic Circle island of
Svalbard is tame in comparison to what it should be, despite the icy
breeze that flows in from the sea.<br>
Residents and experts fear this tight-knit community - where polar
bears outnumber people - is at risk of disappearing because
temperatures are rising at an accelerated pace compared to the rest
of the world.<br>
"Every single consecutive month has been above average," said Kim
Holmen, international director of the Norwegian Polar Institute. "We
have tremendous increase in the wintertime temperatures, almost 10
degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) increase over the past 30
years or so."<br>
"Wherever I look there is change, very obvious change. The snow
melts earlier in the spring, the glaciers are diminishing by a foot,
2 feet per year in thickness," Holmen said from the Svalbard Science
Center in Longyearbyen. "It influences life, it influences the
landscape, and it influences the people, of course."<br>
Melting permafrost and higher temperatures have caused havoc here in
recent years, triggering sometimes deadly avalanches on the steep
mountains that flank the town. Houses have been destroyed, while
roads and some areas have been closed or declared unsafe to live
because of the risk.<br>
Within the past two years, hundreds of residents have been affected,
some having to evacuate from their homes.<br>
...It's a community of misfits from around the world, as one
resident described the town, yet the concern is people may not want
to stay as more parts of town become unsafe and life invariably gets
tougher. <br>
There's also a clear pride in living in such an isolated and unique
part of world, which helps foster the town's remarkable spirit that
transforms the dark, winter months into a period of cozy community
gatherings and communal projects.<br>
While people in other far north communities struggle with seasonal
affective disorder - a winter depression from little sunlight - the
illness is barely seen in Longyearbyen. <br>
Yet with the annual average temperature of Longyearbyen expected to
reach above freezing in the next year or two - a phenomenon never
seen in the town's recorded history - there's frustration and anger.<br>
"Man has changed the atmosphere," Holmen lamented. "There are many
people I hear now who are discussing moving down (to mainland
Norway). But (Longyearbyen) is still a place that many newcomers
find extremely attractive, and many fall in love with it. It is
resilient."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/the_most_northerly_town_in_the_world_is_at_risk_of_disappearing">http://www.joboneforhumanity.org/the_most_northerly_town_in_the_world_is_at_risk_of_disappearing</a></font><br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/11/us/action-is-urged-to-avert-global-climate-shift.html"><br>
</a><font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/11/us/action-is-urged-to-avert-global-climate-shift.html">This
Day in Climate History December 11, 1985</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
December 11, 1985: The New York Times reports:<br>
<br>
"A group of senators and scientists today called for national and<br>
international action to avert a predicted warming of the earth's<br>
climate resulting from a buildup of carbon dioxide and other
man-made<br>
gases in the atmosphere.<br>
<br>
"They warned at a Senate hearing that such an effect, like that of a<br>
greenhouse, would produce radical climate changes and a subsequent<br>
rise in ocean levels that could have catastrophic results in the
next<br>
century unless steps were taken now to deal with the problem.<br>
<br>
"Senator Albert Gore Jr., Democrat of Tennessee, said he would<br>
introduce legislation to expand and focus scientific efforts on this<br>
greenhouse effect.<br>
<br>
"At a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Toxic Substances and<br>
Environmental Oversight, Mr. Gore said his bill would call for 'an<br>
international year of scientific study of the greenhouse effect and<br>
would request that the President take steps to begin this worldwide<br>
cooperative investigation.'"<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/11/us/action-is-urged-to-avert-global-climate-shift.html">http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/11/us/action-is-urged-to-avert-global-climate-shift.html</a><br>
<br>
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