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<font size="+1"><i>December 25, 2017<br>
</i></font> <br>
[Santa]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.horizons.gc.ca/en/content/santa-is-moving-to-the-south-pole">Santa
is Moving To South Pole</a></b><br>
<b>What? </b><br>
Thanks to rising global temperatures, rapidly melting Arctic ice and
growing human operations in the North, Santa Claus has signed an
agreement with the International community to relocate his village
next year to operate in an exclusive zone in the South Pole. <br>
<b>So What? </b><br>
Santa's relocation agreement marks the first time that the
international community agrees on a common legal definition of
climate change that includes refugees as corporations, as well as
individuals. This deal is expected to lead to the deployment of a
global climate change refugee visa system that in the near future
could help to more easily relocate individuals and corporations
facing the impacts of climate change. <br>
<b>Who We Are<br>
</b>Policy Horizons Canada, also referred to as Horizons, is an
organization within the federal public service that conducts
strategic foresight on cross-cutting issues that informs public
servants today about the possible public policy implications over
the next 10-15 years.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.horizons.gc.ca/en/content/santa-is-moving-to-the-south-pole">http://www.horizons.gc.ca/en/content/santa-is-moving-to-the-south-pole</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[movie]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.npr.org/2017/12/24/573333354/-downsizing-presents-a-comic-attempt-to-solve-climate-change">Downsizing'
Presents A Comic Attempt To Solve Climate Change</a></b><br>
Hong Chau, star of the movie Downsizing, discusses her role and her
background, which she said prepared her for a career in acting...<br>
Shrink the people, shrink the human footprint on the planet, save
humankind. What starts as a noble idea ends up kitschy and
commercialized, a way for people to escape the big problems of the
big world and live in perfect opulent dollhouse-like leisure
communities where luxury items are a fraction of the price because
they're a fraction of the size...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2017/12/24/573333354/-downsizing-presents-a-comic-attempt-to-solve-climate-change">https://www.npr.org/2017/12/24/573333354/-downsizing-presents-a-comic-attempt-to-solve-climate-change</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[suck out CO2]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40510680/can-we-suck-enough-co2-from-the-air-to-save-the-climate">Can
We Suck Enough CO2 From The Air To Save The Climate?</a></b><br>
If humans stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, we'd still
have a problem: Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuels and
industry have already emitted more than 1.5 trillion tons of carbon
dioxide; another 600 billion tons have come from changing land
use...<br>
To have any chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change... we'll
also likely need to use technology to begin sucking large quantities
of carbon dioxide directly from the air. Trees alone probably can't
do the job. It poses a question: Can the fledgling "direct air
capture" industry scale up quickly enough?<br>
...and to pull enough carbon dioxide from the air to attempt to
preserve a safe climate, we may need, by one estimate, tens of
millions of shipping-container-sized units similar to the one now in
use in Switzerland...<br>
"Once you get onto a learning curve and start increasing capacity,
costs start to drop," says the company's CTO, Peter Eisenberger, who
predicts that their Machines that suck carbon–at rates 1,000 times
more efficiently than trees–will probably also be necessary. <br>
"It's not mitigation or capture, it's and," cost will drop from $100
per ton to $50 per ton...<br>
Certainly, a carbon price, whatever form it comes in, would be very
helpful...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40510680/can-we-suck-enough-co2-from-the-air-to-save-the-climate">https://www.fastcompany.com/40510680/can-we-suck-enough-co2-from-the-air-to-save-the-climate</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[UN Comic book contest]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42436745">The
Indian artist behind a climate change warrior</a></b><br>
23 December 2017<br>
A 21-year-old artist from Chennai (formerly Madras) in southern
India is the winner of the first ever Unicef Climate Comic Contest
for creating a character that is half-human and half-tree.<br>
Sathvigha Sridhar, a fresh graduate in visual arts, hadn't really
considered producing a comic book. But when her sister found a call
out for the contest on Instagram and encouraged Ms Sridhar to apply,
she knew she had to do it.<br>
The contest, created by Unicef and its partner Comics Uniting
Nations, received nearly 2,900 submissions by young people from 99
different countries. More than 21,000 votes were cast to determine
the winner. "The tremendous level of engagement sends a loud message
to world leaders that young people take the threat of climate change
seriously," said Unicef communications director Paloma Escudero in a
press release.<br>
"I submitted my application twenty minutes before the deadline, and
hoped that what I had was enough," Ms Sridhar told the BBC, adding
that she was "very excited by the superheroes theme".<br>
Her creation, which goes by the name Light, will come to life in a
comic that will be published and released early next year.<br>
[ <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/F1CD/production/_99310916_cc2.png">https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/F1CD/production/_99310916_cc2.png</a>
]<br>
The story is set in 2025, by which time "man has burnt through all
the oil reserves, the ice caps have melted and islands are getting
submerged," she said.<br>
A rogue scientist decides to do something about it, and injects an
embryo with DNA from a plant. And this is how the superhero Light is
born, whose powers include the ability to breathe in carbon dioxide
and breathe out oxygen.<br>
"Essentially, he can mimic the process of photosynthesis." This, she
said, allows the character to empathise with and form a connection
to nature.<br>
When she began sketching out her idea, she drew inspiration from
recent environmental calamities in India and wanted a superhero that
represented a creative solution. "Chennai has seen its share of
climate change problems," she said.<br>
"We are still dealing with the effects of floods and cyclones that
have destroyed so many lives and trees in the past few weeks."<br>
In the past, Chennai has experienced frequent disarray due to
flooding and heavy rain fall. Earlier this month, Cyclone Ockhi
swept across southern states in India, and hundreds of fishermen
remain missing in the aftermath of the storm. And devastating
rainfall in Chennai two years ago killed over a hundred, and brought
the city to a standstill.<br>
Ms Sridhar doesn't think a cartoon is going to solve these problems
but she hopes that her character sparks further dialogue around the
issue, especially among children and younger people.<br>
"The choice to make him half-human and half-tree was important," she
said, adding that "in a sense, this allows him to see both sides of
the human development versus natural resources argument when it
comes to climate change."<br>
She hopes that once the comic is published next year, it can be
distributed to classrooms. "I want it to be accessible to children -
I think it's an issue that is often heavy to understand, and so
maybe in a comic, it can be fun and interesting," Ms Sridhar said.<font
size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42436745">http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42436745</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Reindeer] <br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-lapland-santa-claus-father-christmas-reindeer-global-warming-a8113041.html">Climate
change in Lapland: The impact of global warming in the land of
Santa Claus</a></b><br>
The Independent<br>
Lapland occupies a happy space in the popular imagination as a
winter wonderland, occupied by reindeer, elves and Father Christmas.
The real life Lapland, however, is increasingly facing up to the
grim reality of global warming. Besides being the name of Swedish
and Finnish provinces, Lapland is ...<br>
The entire Sami culture circulates around nature and the reindeer,"
said Jannie Staffansson, an environmental chemist and indigenous
rights activist at the Saami Council. "We are herders, fishers,
gatherers and hunters."<br>
Sami society has always revolved around reindeer, but today Ms
Staffansson estimates only 10 per cent of Sami people are still
reindeer herders or owners.<br>
"It's extremely difficult work to do, both physically and mentally,
because you are so challenged keeping the reindeer safe and happy,
and trying to combat climate change at the same time," says Ms
Staffansson...<br>
Reindeer, which typically feed by digging into the snow and grazing
on lichen, are unable to either smell food under the ice or dig to
access it.<br>
"You can have herds starving to death just because they didn't dig
for food," said Ms Staffansson.<br>
She emphasised the role that reindeer have in shaping everything
from the Sami language to their handcrafting traditions, which rely
on products like reindeer skin and antlers. <br>
"It's an entire culture that would disappear with the reindeer," she
said.<br>
The Sami are not the only people of Lapland affected by climate
change. In northern Finland, tourism is a cornerstone of the
regional economy, but warming temperatures are beginning to threaten
its "winter wonderland" image.<br>
With Santa Claus Village attracting 300,000 visitors annually,
Rovaniemi can ill afford to lose its tourism, but according to Dr
Tervo-Kankare this is a possibility for popular Lapland tourist
destinations.<br>
"Tourists may head further north or east, where snow security is
higher," she said. <br>
"The image may suffer to the extent where Lapland is no longer
recognised as a Christmas destination."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-lapland-santa-claus-father-christmas-reindeer-global-warming-a8113041.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-lapland-santa-claus-father-christmas-reindeer-global-warming-a8113041.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[misinformation]<br>
<b><a
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-science-misinformation-campaign-koch-api-trump-infographic">How
Big Oil Lost Control of Its Climate Misinformation Machine</a></b><br>
One of the longest and most consequential campaigns against science
in modern history is becoming more extreme - and turning against its
originators.<br>
By Neela Banerjee<br>
...Hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations such as
ExxonMobil and wealthy individuals such as the billionaires Charles
and David Koch have supported the development of a sprawling
network, which includes Heartland and other think tanks, advocacy
groups and political operatives. They have cast doubt on consensus
science, confused public opinion and forestalled passage of laws and
regulations that would address the global environmental crisis. It
is one of the largest, longest and most consequential misinformation
efforts mounted against mainstream science by an industry. <a
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/climate-denial">Climate
denial</a>, thanks to the network's influence, has become a core
message of the Republican Party, now in control of the White House
and Congress....<br>
But now, just like the Republican upstarts that threaten the party
establishment, Heartland is taking climate denial farther than many
fossil fuel companies can support. While ExxonMobil today publicly
accepts the reality of human-caused climate change and the need to
address the problem, Heartland argues for the benefits of a warming
world. The group is pushing the EPA to overturn its official
conclusion—known as the endangerment finding—that excessive carbon
dioxide is a danger to human health and welfare. The finding,
affirmed by the Supreme Court, is what empowers the agency to
regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases....<br>
This rift was on display at a recent meeting of the American
Legislative Exchange Council, a group that influences state
governments to adopt conservative priorities. Heartland wanted ALEC
to approve a resolution calling on the EPA to withdraw the
endangerment finding. But ExxonMobil, once at the forefront of
climate denial, was among several corporations and utilities that
convinced ALEC to shelve a vote on the resolution...<br>
ExxonMobil had become just another member of "the discredited and
anti-energy global warming movement," complained Heartland's
president, Tim Huelskamp, a former Republican congressman from
Kansas. "They've put their profits and 'green' virtue signaling
above sound science."<br>
ExxonMobil is among an early group of donors that slowed or ended
its funding of climate denial. But the misinformation apparatus the
corporations helped create is now so independent and robust, it no
longer needs—or trusts—them...Social scientists are still trying to
gauge the full breadth of spending on climate denial because of the
large number of players involved, the growth of money from secretive
sources, and the wide range of public relations tactics fossil fuel
companies use to delay action, according to Robert Brulle, professor
of sociology at Drexel University....<br>
Doubts about climate change were echoed by think tanks that the
corporations nurtured with donations starting in the 1990s. Boosted
by a grant from Exxon, the Competitive Enterprise Institute
organized the Cooler Heads Coalition in 1998, which over time has
brought together more than 30 conservative groups into an
influential echo chamber of climate denial. The group still
exists...<br>
Halting climate action has been a leading priority of this coalition
and its allies, not reluctant to promote questionable information if
it supports their cause...<br>
"The basic parameters of the long-term threat posed by climate
change were well described and known by 1979," Brulle of Drexel
said, referring to a major report on climate change issued by the
National Academy of Sciences. "But here we are, coming up on nearly
40 years, and there still is confusion and a lack of willingness to
act. So I guess in that sense, the effort to stop climate action has
won, as if this is a winning position in any sense of the term."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-science-misinformation-campaign-koch-api-trump-infographic">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-science-misinformation-campaign-koch-api-trump-infographic</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Movie review - Studio 360 PRI radio - audio and text]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-12-21/alexander-payne-sizes-world-downsizing">Alexander
Payne sizes up the world in 'Downsizing'</a><br>
</b>Director Alexander Payne is best known for his satirical,
razor-sharp comedies like "Citizen Ruth" and "Election," as well as
his humanist character studies like "Sideways" and "The
Descendants." Payne combined those elements to create the new sci-fi
film "Downsizing."...<b><br>
</b>video <b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://youtu.be/_POpCkJToEQ">Downsizing (2017) - Official
Trailer #2 - Paramount Pictures</a></b><font size="-1"> <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/_POpCkJToEQ">https://youtu.be/_POpCkJToEQ</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-12-21/alexander-payne-sizes-world-downsizing">https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-12-21/alexander-payne-sizes-world-downsizing</a></font><b><br>
</b><br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-12-25/news/36892488_1_climate-change-ice-sheets-sea-level-rise">This
Day in Climate History December 25, 2008</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
December 25, 2008: The Washington Post reports: <br>
<blockquote type="cite"><font size="2">
<div id="byline">By Juliet Eilperin</div>
Washington Post Staff Writer
<br>
Thursday, December 25, 2008
</font>
<p>
</p>
<div id="article_body" style="padding-left:10px;">
<p>
The United States faces the possibility of much more rapid
climate change by the end of the century than previous studies
have suggested, according to a new report led by the U.S.
Geological Survey.
</p>
<div id="body_after_content_column">
<p>
The survey - which was commissioned by the U.S. Climate
Change Science Program and issued this month - expands on
the 2007 findings of the United Nations Intergovernment
Panel on Climate Change. Looking at factors such as rapid
sea ice loss in the Arctic and prolonged drought in the
Southwest, the new assessment suggests that earlier
projections may have underestimated the climatic shifts that
could take place by 2100.
</p>
<p>
However, the assessment also suggests that some other feared
effects of global warming are not likely to occur by the end
of the century, such as an abrupt release of methane from
the seabed and permafrost or a shutdown of the Atlantic
Ocean circulation system that brings warm water north and
colder water south. But the report projects an amount of
potential sea level rise during that period that may be
greater than what other researchers have anticipated, as
well as a shift to a more arid climate pattern in the
Southwest by mid-century.
</p>
<p>
Thirty-two scientists from federal and non-federal
institutions contributed to the report, which took nearly
two years to complete. The Climate Change Science Program,
which was established in 1990, coordinates the climate
research of 13 different federal agencies.
</p>
<p>
Tom Armstrong, senior adviser for global change programs at
USGS, said the report "shows how quickly the information is
advancing" on potential climate shifts. The prospect of
abrupt climate change, he said, "is one of those things that
keeps people up at night, because it's a low-probability but
high-risk scenario. It's unlikely to happen in our
lifetimes, but if it were to occur, it would be
life-changing."
</p>
<p>
In one of the report's most worrisome findings, the agency
estimates that in light of recent ice sheet melting, global
sea level rise could be as much as four feet by 2100. The
IPCC had projected a sea level rise of no more than 1.5 feet
by that time, but satellite data over the past two years
show the world's major ice sheets are melting much more
rapidly than previously thought. The Antarctic and Greenland
ice sheets are now losing an average of 48 cubic miles of
ice a year, equivalent to twice the amount of ice that
exists in the Alps.
</p>
<p>
Konrad Steffen, who directs the Cooperative Institute for
Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of
Colorado at Boulder and was lead author on the report's
chapter on ice sheets, said the models the IPCC used did not
factor in some of the dynamics that scientists now
understand about ice sheet melting. Among other things,
Steffen and his collaborators have identified a process of
"lubrication," in which warmer ocean water gets in
underneath coastal ice sheets and accelerates melting.
</p>
<p>
"This has to be put into models," said Steffen, who
organized a conference last summer in St. Petersburg,
Russia, as part of an effort to develop more sophisticated
ice sheet models. "What we predicted is sea level rise will
be higher, but I have to be honest, we cannot model it for
2100 yet."
</p>
<p>
Still, Armstrong said the report "does take a step forward
from where the IPCC was," especially in terms of ice sheet
melting.
</p>
<p>
Scientists also looked at the prospect of prolonged drought
over the next 100 years. They said it is impossible to
determine yet whether human activity is responsible for the
drought the Southwestern United States has experienced over
the past decade, but every indication suggests the region
will become consistently drier in the next several decades.
Richard Seager, a senior research scientist at Columbia
University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said that
nearly all of the 24 computer models the group surveyed
project the same climatic conditions for the North American
Southwest, which includes Mexico.
</p>
<p>
"If the models are correct, it will transition in the coming
years and decades to a more arid climate, and that
transition is already underway," Seager said, adding that
such conditions would probably include prolonged droughts
lasting more than a decade.
</p>
<p>
The current models cover broad swaths of landscape, and
Seager said scientists need to work on developing versions
that can make projections on a much smaller scale. "That's
what the water managers out there really need," he said.
Current models "don't give them the hard numbers they need."
</p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p>
Armstrong said the need for "downscaled models" is one of the
challenges facing the federal government, along with better
coordination among agencies on the issue of climate change. When
it comes to abrupt climate shifts, he said, "We need to be
prepared to deal with it in terms of policymaking, keeping in
mind it's a low-probability, high-risk scenario. That said,
there are really no policies in place to deal with abrupt
climate change."
</p>
<p>
Richard Moss, who directed the Climate Change Science Program's
coordination office between 2000 and 2006 and now serves as vice
president and managing director for climate change at the World
Wildlife Fund-U.S., welcomed the new report but called it "way
overdue."
</p>
<p>
"There is finally a greater flow of climate science from the
administration," Moss said, noting that the report was
originally scheduled to come out in the summer of 2007. "It
really is showing the potential for abrupt climate change is
real."
</p>
<p>
The report is reassuring, however, on the prospects for some
potentially drastic effects -- such as a huge release of
methane, a potent heat-trapping gas, that is now locked deep in
the seabed and underneath the Arctic permafrost. That is
unlikely to occur in the near future, the scientists said.
</p>
<p>
"It's unlikely that we're going to see an abrupt change in
methane over the next hundred years, but we should worry about
it over a longer time frame," said Ed Brook, the lead author of
the methane chapter and a geosciences professor at Oregon State
University. "All of these places where methane is stored are
vulnerable to leaking."
</p>
<p>
By the end the century, Brook said, the amount of methane
escaping from natural sources such as the Arctic tundra and
waterlogged soils in warmer regions "could possibly double," but
that would still be less than the current level of
human-generated methane emissions. Over the course of the next
thousand years, he added, methane hydrates stored deep in the
seabed could be released: "Once you start melting there, you
can't really take it back."
</p>
<p>
In the near term, Brook said, more precise monitoring of methane
levels worldwide would give researchers a better sense of the
risk of a bigger atmospheric release. "We don't know exactly how
much methane is coming out all over the world," he said. "That's
why monitoring is important."
</p>
<p>
While predictions remain uncertain, Steffen said cutting
emissions linked to global warming represents one of the best
strategies for averting catastrophic changes.
</p>
<p>
"We have to act very fast, by understanding better and by
reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, because it's a
large-scale experiment that can get out of hand," Steffen said.
"So we don't want that to happen."
</p>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1">
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-12-25/news/36892488_1_climate-change-ice-sheets-sea-level-rise">http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-12-25/news/36892488_1_climate-change-ice-sheets-sea-level-rise</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
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