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<font size="+1"><i>January 15, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/14/california-mudslides-montecito-verdugo-los-angeles">'It
was like Niagara Falls': how California's rich and poor united
against a tide of mud</a></b><br>
After wildfire and floods, nature has again taken its toll in
California, from the rustic Verdugo mountains to Montecito's
celebrity homes<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/14/california-mudslides-montecito-verdugo-los-angeles">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/14/california-mudslides-montecito-verdugo-los-angeles</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[TED Radio/Video Hour]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577435746/tim-kruger-how-do-we-slow-climate-change-before-its-too-late">Tim
Kruger: How Do We Slow Climate Change Before It's Too Late?</a></b><br>
To tackle climate change, geoengineer Tim Kruger is developing
technology that could remove large quantities of CO2 from the
atmosphere. But he says it takes unprecedented cooperation to make
it work.<br>
Could we cure climate change? Geoengineering researcher Tim Kruger
wants to try. He shares one promising possibility: using natural gas
to generate electricity in a way that takes carbon dioxide out of
the air. Learn more - both the potential and the risks - about this
controversial field that seeks creative, deliberate and large-scale
intervention to stop the already catastrophic consequences of our
warming planet.<br>
<blockquote>KRUGER: And what most people don't realize is that the
climate models that are used to understand how we can avoid
crossing the 2-degree threshold, they assume that we have
technologies that can take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.<br>
They assume it, at a massive scale. They assume that we can remove
between 600 and 800 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the
atmosphere in the decades ahead. And these models are ones that
also assume heroically optimistic levels of mitigation. So in
reality we are going to need to remove trillions of tons,
trillions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the
decades ahead.<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1">Video:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_kruger_can_we_stop_climate_change_by_removing_co2_from_the_air?language=en">https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_kruger_can_we_stop_climate_change_by_removing_co2_from_the_air?language=en</a><br>
Audio:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577435746/tim-kruger-how-do-we-slow-climate-change-before-its-too-late">https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577435746/tim-kruger-how-do-we-slow-climate-change-before-its-too-late</a><br>
Transcript:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577435746">https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577435746</a><br>
</font>-<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436354/ian-bremmer-what-happens-when-the-worlds-superpower-no-longer-wants-to-lead"><br>
<b>Ian Bremmer: What Happens When The World's Superpower No Longer
Wants To Lead?</b></a><br>
Americanization and globalization have basically been the same thing
for the last several generations. But the US's view of the world --
and the world's view of the US - is changing. In a fast-paced tour
of the current state of international politics, Ian Bremmer
discusses the challenges of a world where no single country or
alliance can meet the challenges of global leadership and asks if
the US is ready to lead by example, not by force.<br>
<font size="-1">Video:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.ted.com/talks/ian_bremmer_how_the_us_should_use_its_superpower_status?language=en">https://www.ted.com/talks/ian_bremmer_how_the_us_should_use_its_superpower_status?language=en</a><br>
Audio:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436354/ian-bremmer-what-happens-when-the-worlds-superpower-no-longer-wants-to-lead">https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436354/ian-bremmer-what-happens-when-the-worlds-superpower-no-longer-wants-to-lead</a><br>
Transcript:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436354">https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436354</a><br>
</font>-<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.ted.com/talks/sara_menker_a_global_food_crisis_may_be_only_a_decade_away?language=en"><br>
<b>Sara Menker: How Can We Farm Enough Food to Feed the World?</b></a><br>
We discovered that the world will be short 214 trillion calories by
2027. The world is not in a position to fill this gap an alternative
way to think about this is to think about it in Big Macs.
Two-hundred-fourteen trillion calories - a single Big Mac has 563
calories. That means the world will be short 379 billion Big Macs in
2027. That is more Big Macs than McDonald's has ever produced. So
how did we get to these numbers in the first place? This map shows
you where the world was 40 years ago.<br>
<font size="-1">Video:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.ted.com/talks/sara_menker_a_global_food_crisis_may_be_only_a_decade_away?language=en">https://www.ted.com/talks/sara_menker_a_global_food_crisis_may_be_only_a_decade_away?language=en</a><br>
Audio:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436550/sara-menker-how-can-we-farm-enough-food-to-feed-the-world">https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436550/sara-menker-how-can-we-farm-enough-food-to-feed-the-world</a><br>
Transcript:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436550">https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436550</a><br>
</font>-<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436190/david-miliband-whose-responsibility-is-it-to-solve-the-global-refugee-crisis">David
Miliband: Whose Responsibility Is It To Solve The Global Refugee
Crisis?</a><br>
<font size="-1">audio:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436190/david-miliband-whose-responsibility-is-it-to-solve-the-global-refugee-crisis">https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436190/david-miliband-whose-responsibility-is-it-to-solve-the-global-refugee-crisis</a><br>
Video: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.ted.com/talks/david_miliband_the_refugee_crisis_is_a_test_of_our_character?language=en">https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436190</a><br>
Transcript:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436190">https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436190</a></font><br>
-<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="Video:%20https://www.ted.com/talks/rutger_bregman_poverty_isn_t_a_lack_of_character_it_s_a_lack_of_cash?language=en">Rutger
Bregman: Is A Universal Basic Income The Answer To Ending Poverty?</a><br>
<font size="-1">audio:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436742/rutger-bregman-is-a-universal-basic-income-the-answer-to-ending-poverty">https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436742/rutger-bregman-is-a-universal-basic-income-the-answer-to-ending-poverty</a><br>
Video:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.ted.com/talks/rutger_bregman_poverty_isn_t_a_lack_of_character_it_s_a_lack_of_cash?language=en">https://www.ted.com/talks/rutger_bregman_poverty_isn_t_a_lack_of_character_it_s_a_lack_of_cash?language=en</a><br>
Transcript:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436742">https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=577436742</a></font><br>
-<br>
<a
href="https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/577435207/the-big-five">(The
Big Five What are the five biggest global challenges we face right
now</a> - and what can we do about them? This hour, TED speakers
explore some radical solutions to these enduring problems. <br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/577435207/the-big-five">https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/577435207/the-big-five</a>)</font><br>
<br>
<br>
[where our 'decision-makers' get the news]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/gov-inslees-climate-change-advisers-draw-attention-as-his-national-profile-rises/">Gov.
Inslee's climate-change advisers draw scrutiny as his national
profile rises</a></b><br>
OLYMPIA — As Gov. Jay Inslee presses an ambitious carbon-tax plan
for Washington state, two of his climate-change policy advisers have
drawn scrutiny.<br>
The attention to Inslee's office also comes as his national profile
rises. He's been a vocal a critic of President Donald Trump, and
even named as a possible contender for the Democratic presidential
or vice-presidential nomination in 2020.<br>
One Inslee staffer, Chris Davis, a senior adviser for climate and
energy affairs, has been with the governor's office since 2014 — but
has recently been working remotely from Africa...Jaime Smith,
Inslee's executive director of communications, defended the
telecommuting arrangement. Davis has been a trusted adviser on
climate issues, she said, for example working on Inslee's recently
proposed carbon tax.<br>
"We didn't actually send him to Morocco and it turns out he can work
for us from there," she said, citing "the amazing invention called
the internet."<br>
Smith said the governor's office is monitoring the work "to make
sure it works well for him and well for us — and so far it has."...<br>
The spotlight on Inslee's advisers comes amid the governor's push
for Washington lawmakers to approve his sweeping carbon-tax plan in
this year's legislative session.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/gov-inslees-climate-change-advisers-draw-attention-as-his-national-profile-rises/">https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/gov-inslees-climate-change-advisers-draw-attention-as-his-national-profile-rises/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Special to the Press & Sun-Bulletin ]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/education/2018/01/14/binghamton-university-can-we-overcome-global-warming-ask-scientist/1032431001/">Ask
a Scientist from Binghamton University: Can we overcome global
warming?</a></b><br>
Michael LIttle<br>
Jan. 14, 2018<br>
<b>QUESTION: Can humans overcome global warming at this point?</b><br>
<b>ANSWER: A simple answer to your question, Harrison, and as agreed
on by expert climatologists around the world, is 'no'! </b><br>
As you probably know, global warming is caused by elevations in
greenhouse gases. Increased temperatures of the Earth's surface
result from increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other "greenhouse
gases" (water vapor, methane, ozone, etc.) that trap solar radiation
in the atmosphere.<br>
Since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, when we began
burning lots of carbon-based fossil fuels (e.g., wood, coal, oil),
CO2 levels have been rising in the atmosphere. In the year 1700,
atmospheric CO2 was around 270 parts per million (ppm) of air; it is
now greater than 400 ppm, and is expected to rise to more than 500
ppm by the end of this century.<br>
It is also clear that this speeded-up pattern of global warming is
anthropogenic, that is, it has been caused by human action. Some
have argued that climate change is a "natural" process over which we
have no control. But there is abundant evidence now that the
accelerated warming is a human event.<br>
Although there is a move to use more non-fossil fuel energy, such as
solar and wind energy, our excessive use of fossil fuels has set in
motion a pattern of global warming that cannot be overcome and will
persist for at least a thousand years. We can, however, slow down
the process somewhat by a greater reliance on solar and wind energy.
Yet this is difficult to do because some governments (such as the
United States) do not fully recognize the problem and have not
exercised their political power to slow the use of fossil fuels and
encourage the development of other energy sources. Many industries
are unwilling to voluntarily reduce fossil fuel use because it might
reduce their profits.<br>
Increased global temperatures are not the only problem associated
with climate change. We will experience more extreme weather events
(e.g., storms, droughts, floods) and sea level rise due to melting
Greenland and Antarctic glaciers, and expanding (warming) ocean
water. This will flood coastal areas around the world and leave less
land for agriculture and human habitation. Other changes include
less food being produced and the planet being unable to support as
many people as it can at this time.<br>
A number of years ago, when it was believed by scientists that we
could control and reduce the long-range effects of climate change,
the focus was on mitigation, that is, ways to lessen the effect of
climate change on the planet. Now, most scientists and knowledgeable
leaders are focusing on adaptation, or ways that we can acclimate to
the changes that are now inevitable.<br>
Humans are smart and adaptable and will probably find ways to deal
with some of these problems. But the challenges for individuals in
this century will be quite formidable and different from those that
we have encountered in the past.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/education/2018/01/14/binghamton-university-can-we-overcome-global-warming-ask-scientist/1032431001/">http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/education/2018/01/14/binghamton-university-can-we-overcome-global-warming-ask-scientist/1032431001/</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[Arctic drilling]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2018/01/lundin-drills-dry-again">Lundin
drills dry, again</a></b><br>
2018 starts like 2017 ended. Yet another dry well in the Barents
Sea.<br>
No lucky start of the new year for oil trio Lundin Petroleum, Aker
BP and DEA Norge. Drilling of the Hurri exploration well in the
Barents Sea, northwest of Hammerfest, gave no results, license
operator Lundin announced on Wednesday.<br>
"The well was dry," a short statement reads.<br>
"Extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out," Lundin
ensures. The Swedish oil company's Norwegian subsidiary is operator
of the license, in partnership with Aker BP and DEA Norge.<br>
The Hurri exploration well is located south of Statoil's up-coming
Johan Castberg field, estimated to hold 450 - 650 million barrels of
oil equivalents. In December, Statoil announced a Euros 5 billion
investment plan on the development of Johan Castberg, Norway's
northernmost oil discovery in the Barents Sea.<br>
2017, however, turned out to be a big disappointment for the oil
industry on hungry-hunt for new offshore Arctic findings.<br>
All Statoil's five prospects drilled in the Barents Sea failed to
prove oil. ENI's Goliat platform, the only operating oil-production
north of mainland Norway, was shut down for longer periods during
the year due to safety concerns. And Lundin, who starts 2018 by
announcing a dry-well, had to close the drilling calendar 2017 with
zero findings...<br>
While 26 companies submitted bids for the 57 blocks in the 23rd
round, only 11 companies want to take part in the 24th round.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2018/01/lundin-drills-dry-again">https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2018/01/lundin-drills-dry-again</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[Princeton University]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/01/04/better-decision-making-planet">Better
decision-making for the planet</a></b><br>
We might think we have control of the mix of decisions we make
during the day. But it turns out that our brain gives us
subconscious nudges, preferring some choices over others. <br>
Elke Weber, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the
Environment, studies how the science of human behavior can inform
policies that encourage people to make good choices for the
environment. <br>
"For far too long, we've assumed that people's decisions are
rational," said Weber, who is also a professor of psychology and
public affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs, as well as the associate director for
education at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
"My research asks, in what ways can we understand what goes on in
the brain and use that knowledge to help us all make better
decisions?" <br>
Weber researches how to design solutions to society's greatest
problems, such as climate change. "It turns out we can do some
psychological jiujitsu to convert seemingly negative choices into
something positive," Weber said. <br>
In the field of psychology, this is called "choice architecture."<br>
For example, merely renaming a choice to avoid negative associations
can make an impact on people's decisions. Weber and colleagues found
that airline passengers were far more willing to pay a surcharge to
combat climate change if the fee was called a "carbon offset"
instead of a "carbon tax." <br>
Another aspect of choice architecture comes into play when talking
about present versus future activities. Climate change seems far off
to many people. But people tend to make choices based on the present
or the immediate future, which psychologists call presence bias. "We
focus on the here and now, which makes evolutionary sense," Weber
said. "If you might not survive until tomorrow, what's the point of
planning for next year?" <br>
One way to combat presence bias is by tapping into people's desires
to be remembered in a positive light, Weber and colleagues at
Columbia University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
found. If first prompted with questions about how they would like to
be remembered, individuals are more likely to think about their
future rather than their present selves, and therefore make
pro-environmental choices. The research, funded in part by the
National Science Foundation, was published in Psychological Science
in 2015. <br>
Then there's our inability to concentrate on more than one option at
a time when we are presented with a choice. Weber and her colleague
Eric Johnson, a business and marketing professor at Columbia, coined
the "query theory" to explain how people internally generate more
arguments favoring the first option they consider, temporarily
inhibiting arguments in favor of all other options. <br>
Magazine design by Matilda Luk, Office of Communications; image
courtesy of Benjamin Engel, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry<br>
When a "default" option is given, it becomes the option we think of
first, which puts it at an advantage. Weber gives the example of a
hypothetical electric utility company that offers customers the
opportunity to switch to "green" energy. Typically, fossil fuel
energy is the default option, and few customers end up switching to
the cleaner though somewhat more expensive green power. In contrast,
when in lab and field studies the company made it the default option
to choose "green" energy, a large majority of customers did just
that. "In terms of what influences people's decisions, the
million-dollar question is which option gets considered first,"
Weber said. <br>
Weber's research demonstrates that changing the way choices are
presented can play a role in conserving the environment through
influencing people, the instigators of our warming planet.<br>
<font size="-1">Yasemin Saplakoglu for the Office of the Dean for
Research<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/01/04/better-decision-making-planet">https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/01/04/better-decision-making-planet</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Speaking Notes #6]<br>
OXFORD CHANGE AGENCY EVENT - REPORT<br>
<b><a
href="http://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/explorations/papers/257-oxford-change-agency-event-report">Agency
in individual and collective change</a></b><br>
Climate Psychology Alliance with Living Witness<br>
Written by Laurie Michaelis<br>
A day for psychological and social practitioners to share our
experiences of enabling positive<br>
responses to climate change. We'll explore how our different
approaches connect and complement<br>
each other, hoping to form a stronger community of practitioners. <br>
<b>Understanding Positive Change, Sophy Banks</b><br>
I spent 10 years at the heart of the Transition movement, for
creating community scale positive<br>
change to a sustainable, thriving, just and inclusive future. It was
striking meeting hundreds of people<br>
from groups doing Transition around the world and seeing how often
there was an absence of the<br>
basic inner practices that bring about sustainable and healthy
culture, for individuals and groups - to<br>
consciously create the feelings of being resourced, valued,
connected, empowered and safe. Few<br>
included the basic tools of change that have been pointed to already
by our speakers - space for<br>
reflection, for noticing symptoms of dysfunction, for responding to
them. Many people and groups<br>
ended in states of exhaustion and burnout, and some in conflict.<br>
I learnt that burnout has been endemic in environmental movements
for decades. What does it mean<br>
that organisations that are all about sustainability were creating
exhaustion - depleting the human<br>
resources of those involved? I got very interested in this,
believing that the dynamics that show up in<br>
our movements for change often have meaning, showing us something of
our own shadow in relation<br>
to our core purpose.<br>
How we perceive the world to which we are responding is determined
by our inner state, primarily by<br>
our emotions. One major system (of many) which governs our inner
state is the unconscious<br>
autonomous nervous system - whose two main systems are the
sympathetic nervous system,<br>
responsible for mobilisation into action and in emergencies reacting
into fight / flight, and the<br>
parasympathetic, responsible for resting / digesting, and reacting
into emergency inhibition and<br>
ultimately freeze.<br>
The result of my enquiry was to see that our western culture is
largely run by people who are in a kind<br>
of enduring fight / flight state, valuing action and strength over
reflection and sensitivity, highly<br>
attuned to dynamics of power, and defended against inner process. I
see that these are some of the<br>
endemic characteristics of "normal organisational culture" in the
modern world - and that they show<br>
up in our organisations for change, too.<br>
There are two basic states which operate within all of us, and at
the core of creating positive and<br>
lasting change is the need to understand how these states are
evoked. This understanding links<br>
psychology, neuroscience and culture to language and frames. We need
to understand where our<br>
focus on the material world, on carbon and climate, on jobs and the
economy evoke an outer<br>
dominated frame which supports the status quo, and how to speak
about relationship, support and<br>
loving holding at the core of meaningful, sustainable human
existence.<br>
The last part of my enquiry led me to George Lakoff's work around
frames, finding that the frame he<br>
described the right wing neoliberal communications evoking, which he
called "strict father" precisely<br>
mapped onto the fear based, strength valuing, power over system that
is run by a chronically activated<br>
sympathetic nervous system I was seeing; and his "nurturing parent"
frame was equivalent to the<br>
relaxed balance and flow between action and rest that is our
healthy, functioning state.<br>
So the nature of the change we need is to move away from cultures
which over-value action, strength<br>
and outer, and create conflict and burnout, which marginalise love,
relationships, stillness, depth and<br>
inner; we need to move towards cultures which balance action and
reflection, which put relationships<br>
before tasks, and which embed these values in their structures and
processes.<br>
I will share the model and ideas more in the afternoon workshop.<br>
I believe the neoliberal communications strategists are absolutely
aware of these deep frames, and<br>
are expert at evoking fear based responses that lead to contraction,
conservatism, separation, short<br>
termism and so on. I have met few people in progressive
organisations who have done the depth work<br>
to include this kind of psychological understanding - even those who
are working with frames, and are<br>
experts in communication often don't understand the relevance of
psychological and neurological<br>
states. When we frame our movements around the new economy or job
creation, around action and<br>
change, we are repeating the frames which value productivity or work
above human relationships as if<br>
this were the purpose of life, rather than creating the secure
loving holding connections that enable<br>
life us to feel and live rich and satisfying lives.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/explorations/papers/257-oxford-change-agency-event-report">http://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/explorations/papers/257-oxford-change-agency-event-report</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Recovering Data]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/">CHANGING
THE DIGITAL CLIMATE</a></b><br>
HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WEB CONTENT IS BEING CENSORED UNDER THE TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION<br>
<b> I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY</b><br>
EDGI's website monitoring working group monitors changes to tens of
thousands of federal webpages that relate to environment, climate,
and energy. In the first year of the Trump administration, we have
observed alterations to many federal agency Web resources about
climate change. Although there is no evidence of any removals of
climate data, we have documented overhauls and removals of
documents, webpages, and entire websites, as well as significant
language shifts.<br>
<b>Key Findings:</b><br>
<blockquote>- The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.2xw1l1cdg70r">removal
and subsequent ongoing overhaul of its climate change website </a>raises
strong concerns about loss of access to valuable information for
state, local, and tribal governments, and for educators,
policymakers, and the general public.<br>
- Several agencies <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.megtib4xde09">removed
or significantly reduced</a> the prominence of climate change
Web content, such as webpages, documents, and entire websites, and
the White House <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.6mrmr2xmih09">omitted
climate change</a> as an issue highlighted on its website.<br>
- The Department of State, Department of Energy (DOE), and the EPA
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.5apjn836y9u6">removed
information </a>about the federal government's international
obligations regarding climate change, downplaying U.S.
involvement.<br>
- Descriptions of agency priorities <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.c8odaxlii89r">shifted
to emphasize job creation and downplay renewable fuels</a> as
replacements for fossil fuels. At the DOE, mentions of "clean
energy" and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.oymmw1hlpkmq">explanations
of harmful environmental impacts of fossil fuels were also
removed</a>.<br>
- <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#h.opkpv51t5wzh">Language
about climate change has been systematically changed </a>across
multiple agency and program websites. In many cases, explicit
mentions of "climate change" and "greenhouse gases" have been
replaced by vaguer terms such as "sustainability" and "emissions".<br>
</blockquote>
While we cannot determine the reasons for these changes from
monitoring websites alone, our work reveals shifts in stated
priorities and governance and an overall reduction in access to
climate change information, particularly at the EPA...<br>
<b>What are <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/#kix.npcqfr6dwcm1">EDGI's
Recommendations</a>?</b><br>
<blockquote><b>Transparency.</b> Especially for major website
overhauls, but for smaller updates to webpages as well, agencies
should detail the scope of the pages that will be affected and
clearly explain the reason for planned alterations in a public
statement, well in advance of the changes actually being made.<br>
<b>Responsible Web archiving</b>. Federal agencies should not
alter or reduce access to Web content before they have created a
log to thoroughly document their intended changes and ensured that
the content is preserved and, for significant alterations, made
accessible through a public archive.<br>
<b>Valuing Web resources.</b> Web resources should be valued in
terms of their educational importance, how much they enable
historical understanding, and their advancement of scientific and
policy research. Records schedules and records governance broadly
should reflect these uses.<br>
<b>Distributed Web archiving</b>. Federal agencies should work
with growing civil society movements to rethink the way we
organize, steward, and distribute data, Web resources, and online
information.<br>
<b>Environmental data justice</b>. Federal environmental agencies
should work to create digital infrastructure through which
communities can determine what kinds of data are collected and
presented about them, in response to which issues. This includes
proactive efforts to identify and accommodate those who access
federal Web information, as well as offering communities the right
to refuse consent to data collection.<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/">http://100days.envirodatagov.org/changing-digital-climate/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[culture journalism]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.salon.com/2018/01/14/an-ancient-art-could-help-us-talk-about-climate-change/">An
ancient art could help us talk about climate change</a></b><br>
An Alaskan storyteller hopes to shake up the narrative<br>
ZAKIYA MCCUMMINGS<br>
This feature is part of Salon's Young Americans initiative,
showcasing emerging journalists reporting from America's red states.
<br>
Back in July, the Anchorage Daily News reported that melting
permafrost had caused the sole major roadway in Bethel, Alaska to
become warped and bumpy, making it difficult to drive. Meanwhile, in
West Virginia, environmental regulations and the use of fracking for
fossil fuels production has led to a decline in the coal mining
industry. Both states have a rich history of oral storytelling; both
are at the center of two very different stories about climate
change.<br>
Dylan Harris, a doctoral candidate at Clark University, is using
storytelling to explain the science of climate change to those who
it affects the most. For the next two years, he'll be researching
climate change in Alaska and West Virginia.<br>
"Folks who work with fossil fuels in Alaska and West Virginia are
not the people going to see art shows about climate change in
Brooklyn," Harris said.<br>
Harris focused his work on those states because "If climate change
is this new and complicated problem, storytelling . . . is a way to
make sense of the world."<br>
Harris's research is split into two phases. The first phase is
researching what major factors shape people's understanding of
climate change. "I tend to frame it in terms of cultural politics,"
Harris explained. "Some of that initial data will be digging through
archives, but also doing interviews."<br>
Harris has spent time in both Alaska and West Virginia meeting with
storytellers and people involved in environmental change research
and education. In 2018, he'll begin the year-long process of
interviewing storytellers, looking at archival research and
observing how climate change is talked about in these communities.<br>
Phase two is to run workshops. "The workshop idea is to study how
storytelling develops among people who do storytelling very
differently, and to use those perspectives to engage community
members on how to understand and act on climate change," Harris
said.<br>
Although still in the preliminary phase of his research, Harris has
noted a difference in the way Alaskans and West Virginians perceive
and discuss climate change. There are a lot of conversations about
climate change happening in Alaska, Harris said, in part because the
threat of climate change is so presently real to so many communities
in Alaska. "However, in chatting with folks in Fairbanks, one thing
that's missing in these conversations is connecting those problems
to global climate change, or even economics in the state."<br>
In West Virginia, the discussion around climate change has been
focused on the declining coal mining industry, which has
historically been the state's economical backbone. "When people
think about stereotypical Appalachia, you get this conservative
understanding of that area and assume there's not an interest in
having this conversation," Harris said. "There's an interest. The
way people talk about it, I find very exciting as a researcher."<br>
Harris hopes his research will help facilitate meaningful
conversations about climate change within these small communities
and beyond. Ultimately, he said, the goal is to give those affected
the most by climate change a better understanding of the issue.<br>
"Having someone who feels their jobs may be jeopardized meet and see
the other side is really important," Harris said.<br>
ZAKIYA MCCUMMINGS<br>
<font size="-1">Zakiya McCummings is a senior journalism student at
the University of Alaska Anchorage from Eagle River, Alaska.
Having had a special interest in culture journalism, she joined
the Young Americans fellowship in the hopes of showcasing the vast
cultural landscape of Alaska. Follow her on Instagram
(@realzakiya) and Twitter (@realzakiya). Visit her website for
more of her work: zakiyamcc.com.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.salon.com/g00/2018/01/14/an-ancient-art-could-help-us-talk-about-climate-change/">https://www.salon.com/g00/2018/01/14/an-ancient-art-could-help-us-talk-about-climate-change/</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/01/15/1448711/virginia-waters-down-report-on-impacts-of-climate-change-after-tea-party-complaints/">This
Day in Climate History January 15, 2013</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
Think Progress reports: <br>
Virginia Waters Down Report On Impacts Of Climate Change After Tea
Party Complaints<br>
"Virginia’s legislature commissioned a study to determine the
impacts of climate change on the<br>
state’s shores. After Tea Party complaints, lawmakers [removed] the<br>
words 'climate change' and “sea level rise” from the title.<br>
<br>
"This week, Virginia released its analysis, under the title
'Recurrent<br>
Flooding Study for Tidewater Virginia.' The report discusses the<br>
threat of flooding and rising sea levels to coastal Virginia, but<br>
gives less notice to the causes of climate change."<br>
<font size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/01/15/1448711/virginia-waters-down-report-on-impacts-of-climate-change-after-tea-party-complaints/">http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/01/15/1448711/virginia-waters-down-report-on-impacts-of-climate-change-after-tea-party-complaints/</a></font><br>
<font size="+1"><i><br>
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