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<font size="+1"><i>December 30, 2017<br>
</i></font> <br>
[theguardian.com] <br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/28/chinas-sponge-cities-are-turning-streets-green-to-combat-flooding">China's
'sponge cities' are turning streets green to combat flooding</a></b><br>
Replacing concrete pavements with wetlands, green rooftops and rain
gardens means stormwater is absorbed back into the land, making
water work for the city instead of against it...<br>
Rapid concrete development in China has often blocked the natural
flow of water with hard, impervious surfaces; to reverse this, the
sponge city concept focuses on green infrastructure, such as wetland
areas, rooftop plants and rain gardens.<br>
"In the natural environment, most precipitation infiltrates the
ground or is received by surface water, but this is disrupted when
there are large-scale hard pavements," says Wen Mei Dubbelaar,
director of water management China at Arcadis. "Now, only about
20-30% of rainwater infiltrates the ground in urban areas, so it
breaks the natural water circulation and causes waterlogging and
surface water pollution."..<br>
"In the past, humans have taken the land away from the water; now we
need to give the land back."...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/28/chinas-sponge-cities-are-turning-streets-green-to-combat-flooding">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/28/chinas-sponge-cities-are-turning-streets-green-to-combat-flooding</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Washington Post]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/12/29/to-round-out-a-year-of-rollbacks-the-trump-administration-just-repealed-key-regulations-on-fracking/">To
round out a year of rollbacks, the Trump administration just
repealed key regulations on fracking</a></b><br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/12/29/to-round-out-a-year-of-rollbacks-the-trump-administration-just-repealed-key-regulations-on-fracking/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/12/29/to-round-out-a-year-of-rollbacks-the-trump-administration-just-repealed-key-regulations-on-fracking/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[New York Time$]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/climate/google-search-climate-change.html">How
Climate Change Deniers Rise to the Top in Google Searches</a></b><br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/climate/google-search-climate-change.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/climate/google-search-climate-change.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Peter Sinclair]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/29/jess-phoenix-why-a-scientist-for-congress/">Jess
Phoenix: Why a Scientist for Congress? </a></b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/jessphoenix2018/status/946230474594140160">Geologist
and House candidate Jess Phoenix</a> posted a tweet thread the
other day explaining why <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/348143/jess-phoenix">scientists
in congress is a good idea</a>.<br>
<blockquote> One question I hear a lot is "why should we send a
scientist to Congress since you don't know anything about making
laws?" Our soundbite century shows its flaws here for 2 reasons.
1) scientists would kick ass at making laws, and 2) I'm much more
than "just a scientist.<br>
<br>
All scientists are by definition trained in the scientific method.
It's the process of using data gained through observations to
remove uncertainties around a hypothesis in an effort to ascertain
the truth. In other words, we use facts to understand our world.<br>
<br>
In addition, field scientists like me are not white-coated lab
dwellers (although I do love lab work & my lab-based friends).
My work is done in the most extreme, dangerous conditions on the
planet. Literally. Active volcanoes, remote mountains, scorching
deserts, etc.<br>
<br>
I lead expeditions of people who've never even camped before. It's
my job to keep them safe & do good science. Creative problem
solving is the key to field research. I've fixed a blown tire
sidewall with bubblegum, a ball point pen, and duct tape. Other
scientists have too.<br>
<br>
Scientists are adaptable, creative, and logical. We are trained to
look at all available facts to work towards eliminating
uncertainties. It's our job, and it's the job of a field scientist
to find information that will save lives. Sounds like a good
skillset for Congress to me...<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/29/jess-phoenix-why-a-scientist-for-congress/">https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/29/jess-phoenix-why-a-scientist-for-congress/</a></font><br>
-<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/348143/jess-phoenix">Rise
Up and Send an Earth Scientist to Congress</a></b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/348143/jess-phoenix">https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/348143/jess-phoenix</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://twitter.com/jessphoenix2018">https://twitter.com/jessphoenix2018</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[Media Matters for America (blog)]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/12/28/10-most-ridiculous-things-media-figures-said-about-climate-change-and-environment-2017/218869">The
10 most ridiculous things media figures said about climate
change and the environment in 2017</a></b><br>
The Daily Mail claimed government researchers "duped" world leaders
with "manipulated global warming data." Daily Mail reporter David
Rose alleged that climate scientists "rushed" to publish an
"exaggerated" paper in an attempt to convince leaders to support the
Paris agreement and spend billions ...<br>
<b>1. Breitbart's James Delingpole claimed 400 new scientific papers
show global warming is a myth.</b><br>
The fact-checking website Snopes <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.snopes.com/400-papers-published-in-2017-prove-that-global-warming-is-myth/">roundly
debunked</a> Delingpole's article, giving it a "False" verdict
after speaking with authors of some of the cited papers who said
their work was grossly misinterpreted or misrepresented.<br>
<b>2. The Daily Mail claimed government researchers "duped" world
leaders with "manipulated global warming data."</b><br>
Independent Press Standards Organization (IPSO), an independent
media regulator in the U.K., <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements/ruling/?id=01032-17">issued
a ruling</a> that "the newspaper had failed to take care over the
accuracy of the article ... and had then failed to correct ...
significantly misleading statements." The Daily Mail was required to
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4891046/IPSO-adjudication-upheld-against-MoS-climatesciencearticle.html">publish
IPSO's reprimand</a>.<br>
<b>3. Radio host Rush Limbaugh said he was "leery" of hurricane
forecasts because they advance a "climate change agenda."</b><br>
As Hurricane Irma barrelled toward Florida, Limbaugh spun <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/09/06/rush-limbaugh-doubles-down-his-hurricane-conspiracy-theories/217854">conspiracy
theories </a>and told his listeners that hurricane warnings are
part of a scheme to benefit retailers, the media, and people like Al
Gore who want to "advance this climate change agenda." <br>
<b>4. New York Times columnist Bret Stephens argued that because
political operatives were wrong in predicting Hillary Clinton
would win the election, people should be skeptical of climate
science.</b><br>
<b>5. Conservative media commentator Stephen Moore claimed that
Trump created tens of thousands of coal jobs in the first few
months of his presidency.</b><br>
Had Moore bothered to look at the actual coal mining jobs category,
he would have seen that it had only grown by <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/05/05/white-house-spokesperson-echoes-cnn-s-misfire-manufacturing-jobs-growth/216316">approximately
200</a> jobs through April, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=dGWP">barely moving</a>
since Election Day.<br>
<b>6. Radio host Hugh Hewitt recommended appointing Rush Limbaugh to
a national commission to study climate change.</b><br>
Limbaugh has repeatedly called climate change <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2011/12/19/rush-limbaugh-climate-change-misinformer-of-the/185495">a
hoax</a>...<br>
<b>7. Fox hosts attacked a journalist and called him "stupid" for
asking a Trump official about the links between hurricanes and
climate change.</b><b><br>
</b><b>8. Rush Limbaugh argued that the historic BP oil spill caused
no environmental damage.</b><br>
<b>9. Fox News' Jesse Watters claimed, "No one is dying from climate
change."</b><br>
But an independent report commissioned by 20 governments in 2012
concluded that climate change <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://newrepublic.com/article/121032/map-climate-change-kills-more-people-worldwide-terrorism">already
kills more people</a> than terrorism, with an estimated 400,000
deaths linked to climate change each year.<br>
<b>10. Radio host Alex Jones said it was "suspicious" that Hurricane
Irma came along shortly before the release of a climate disaster
movie.</b><br>
Here it is, Geostorm." The action movie <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981128/">Geostorm</a> featured
satellites that controlled the global climate. Jones' speculation
about the film is just one of the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/12/04/video-conspiracy-theories-alex-jones-and-infowars/218732">countless
conspiracy theories</a> he has promoted over the years...<br>
<font size="-1">tps://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/12/28/10-most-ridiculous-things-media-figures-said-about-climate-change-and-environment-2017/218869</font><br>
<br>
<br>
[ARCTIC CHAR]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://grist.org/article/let-it-go-the-arctic-will-never-be-frozen-again/">Let
it go: The Arctic will never be frozen again</a></b><br>
By Eric Holthaus on Dec 18, 2017...<br>
That the Arctic is now a relic of a time gone by - the first major
part of the planet on a countdown clock - should shock us. It's
one of those facts that those of us who closely follow climate
change knew was coming. And with its arrival, it is devastating in
its totality.<br>
The loss of the Old Arctic is as close as humanity has come so far
to irreversibly transforming its planet into something fundamentally
different than what has given rise to civilization over the past
10,000 years. This is a terrifying transition, and one worth
mourning. But it's also a reminder that our path as individuals and
as a society is not fixed...<br>
If the Arctic can change this quickly, then so must we.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://grist.org/article/let-it-go-the-arctic-will-never-be-frozen-again/">http://grist.org/article/let-it-go-the-arctic-will-never-be-frozen-again/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Wired.com]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.wired.com/story/planning-climate-change/">Adam
Rogers: Fighting climate change, and building a world to
withstand it</a></b><br>
The past year was one of the worst on record for natural disasters.
Blame greenhouse gases, and start planning for a hotter future....<br>
Transnational corporations and the most powerful militaries on Earth
are already building to prepare for higher sea levels and more
extreme weather. The FIRE complex - finance, insurance, and real
estate - knows exactly what 2017 cost them (natural and human-made
disasters: $306 billion and 11,000 lives), and can calculate more of
the same in 2018. They know that the radical alteration of Earth's
climate isn't just something that's going to happen in 100 years if
we're not careful, or in 50 years if we don't change our economy and
moonshot the crap out of science and technology. It's here. Now. It
happened. Look behind you...<br>
Let me rephrase: Absent any changes, by 2050 Earth will be a couple
degrees hotter overall. Sea levels will be a foot higher. Now, 2050
seems as impossibly far away to me as 2017 did when I was 12 years
old. I live in the future! And I like a lot of it. I like the magic
glass slab in my pocket and the gene therapy and the robots. I
mention this because in 2050, my oldest child will be the same age I
am today, and I have given him a broken world...<br>
In short: Change, but also adapt. Fire season in the West is now a
permanent condition; don't build buildings that burn so easily in
places that burn every year.... <br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.wired.com/story/planning-climate-change/">https://www.wired.com/story/planning-climate-change/</a><br>
-<br>
</font>[1957 research paper]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000271625730900107">The
Human Being in Disasters: A Research Perspective</a></b><br>
Charles E. Fritz, Harry B. Williams<br>
Abstract<br>
Many groups and agencies have a vital need of accurate informa tion
on how people behave during disasters. This article presents
information which seems to have particular pertinence for disaster
preparedness, control, and amelioration. Among the subjects
discussed are the problem of how to make disaster warnings
effective, behavior during disasters and in the subsequent emergency
period, the problem of people's flocking into the area, the need and
difficulties of co-ordination and control of rescue and relief
activities, the traumatic effects of disaster on its victims, and
the sources of possible conflicts between rescue and relief agencies
and their clients. <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1031933?item_view=read_online">read
online (free)</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1031933?item_view=read_online">https://www.jstor.org/stable/1031933?item_view=read_online</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000271625730900107">http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000271625730900107</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[Yale.edu]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://e360.yale.edu/digest/algae-on-greenland-ice-sheet-significantly-hasten-its-melting">Algae
on Greenland Ice Sheet significantly hasten its melting</a></b><br>
Naturally occurring algae on Greenland's massive ice sheet absorb
large amounts of the sun's energy and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171220122035.htm">speed
up the melting of the ice sheet </a>even more than black carbon
and mineral dust, according to a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075958/full">new
study.</a><br>
An international team of scientists found that algal darkening of
Greenland's ice is responsible for 5 to 10 percent of the total ice
sheet melt each summer, and the researchers said that rapidly
warming temperatures in Greenland could increase algal growth in the
future. The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing an estimated <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/05/climate/greenland-ice-melting.html">270
billion tons </a>of ice each year.<br>
"The novel aspect of our study is that we discovered biological
processes play an important role in ice sheet behavior," said Marek
Stibal, a cryosphere ecologist at Charles University in Prague.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://e360.yale.edu/digest/algae-on-greenland-ice-sheet-significantly-hasten-its-melting">http://e360.yale.edu/digest/algae-on-greenland-ice-sheet-significantly-hasten-its-melting</a></font><br>
-<b><br>
</b><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075958/full">Algae
Drive Enhanced Darkening of Bare Ice on the Greenland Ice Sheet</a></b><br>
Plain Language Summary<br>
Melting of the Greenland ice sheet is enhanced by surface darkening
caused by various impurities. We quantified the contribution of dark
pigment-producing algae to the ice sheet surface darkening, based on
field measurements in the southwestern part of the ice sheet during
the 2014 melt season. Our analysis reveals that the impact of algae
on bare (snow-free) ice darkening was greater than that of other
impurities and, therefore, that algal growth was a crucial control
of bare ice darkening in the study area. Incorporating the darkening
effect of algal growth is expected to improve future projections of
the Greenland ice sheet melting.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075958/full">http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075958/full</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[old comic strip]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/29/2017-reposting-youll-be-amazed-that-dilbert-doesnt-get-climate-change/">2017
Reposting: You'll Be Amazed that Dilbert doesn't Get Climate
Change </a></b><br>
Climate Science: Data Trumps Models<br>
Video <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/ZY-pO_zTVvU">https://youtu.be/ZY-pO_zTVvU</a><br>
Critics withstanding, scientists point to data and evidence rather
than to models as key to concerns.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/29/2017-reposting-youll-be-amazed-that-dilbert-doesnt-get-climate-change/">https://climatecrocks.com/2017/12/29/2017-reposting-youll-be-amazed-that-dilbert-doesnt-get-climate-change/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/delaware-sized-gas-plume-over-west-illustrates-the-cost-of-leaking-methane/2014/12/29/d34c3e6e-8d1f-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58_story.html">This
Day in Climate History December 30, 2014</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
December 30, 2014: The Washington Post reports:<br>
<blockquote>"The methane that leaks from 40,000 gas wells near this
desert trading<br>
post may be colorless and odorless, but it’s not invisible. It can
be<br>
seen from space.<br>
"Satellites that sweep over energy-rich northern New Mexico can
spot<br>
the gas as it escapes from drilling rigs, compressors and miles of<br>
pipeline snaking across the badlands. In the air it forms a giant<br>
plume: a permanent, Delaware-sized methane cloud, so vast that<br>
scientists questioned their own data when they first studied it
three<br>
years ago. 'We couldn’t be sure that the signal was real,' said
NASA<br>
researcher Christian Frankenberg.<br>
<br>
"The country’s biggest methane “hot spot,” verified by NASA and<br>
University of Michigan scientists in October, is only the most<br>
dramatic example of what scientists describe as a $2 billion leak<br>
problem: the loss of methane from energy production sites across
the<br>
country. When oil, gas or coal are taken from the ground, a little<br>
methane — the main ingredient in natural gas — often escapes along<br>
with it, drifting into the atmosphere, where it contributes to the<br>
warming of the Earth.<br>
<br>
"Methane accounts for about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas<br>
emissions, and the biggest single source of it — nearly 30 percent
—<br>
is the oil and gas industry, government figures show. All told,
oil<br>
and gas producers lose 8 million metric tons of methane a year,
enough<br>
to provide power to every household in the District of Columbia,<br>
Maryland and Virginia.<br>
<br>
"As early as next month, the Obama administration will announce
new<br>
measures to shrink New Mexico’s methane cloud while cracking down<br>
nationally on a phenomenon that officials say erodes tax revenue
and<br>
contributes to climate change. The details are not publicly known,
but<br>
already a fight is shaping up between the White House and industry<br>
supporters in Congress over how intrusive the restrictions will
be.<br>
<br>
"Republican leaders who will take control of the Senate next month<br>
have vowed to block measures that they say could throttle domestic<br>
energy production at a time when plummeting oil prices are cutting<br>
deeply into company profits. Industry officials say they have a
strong<br>
financial incentive to curb leaks, and companies are moving
rapidly to<br>
upgrade their equipment.<br>
<br>
"But environmentalists say relatively modest government
restrictions<br>
on gas leaks could reap substantial rewards for taxpayers and the<br>
planet. Because methane is such a powerful greenhouse gas — with
up to<br>
80 times as much heat-trapping potency per pound as carbon dioxide<br>
over the short term — the leaks must be controlled if the United<br>
States is to have any chance of meeting its goals for cutting the<br>
emissions responsible for climate change, said David Doniger, who<br>
heads the climate policy program at the Natural Resources Defense<br>
Council, an environmental group.<br>
<br>
"'This is the most significant, most cost-effective thing the<br>
administration can do to tackle climate change pollution that it<br>
hasn’t already committed to do,' Doniger said."<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/delaware-sized-gas-plume-over-west-illustrates-the-cost-of-leaking-methane/2014/12/29/d34c3e6e-8d1f-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/delaware-sized-gas-plume-over-west-illustrates-the-cost-of-leaking-methane/2014/12/29/d34c3e6e-8d1f-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58_story.html</a></font><br>
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