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<font size="+1"><i>February 21, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
[future risk]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/21/climate-change-will-push-european-cities-towards-breaking-point">Climate
change 'will push European cities towards breaking point'</a></b><br>
Study highlights urgent need to adapt urban areas to cope with
floods, droughts and heatwaves<br>
Major British towns and cities, including Glasgow, Wrexham, Aberdeen
and Chester, could be much more severely affected by climate change
than previously thought, according to new research.<br>
The study, by Newcastle University, analysed changes in flooding,
droughts and heatwaves for every European city using all climate
models.<br>
Looking at the impact by the year 2050-2100, the team produced
results for three possible outcomes - low, medium and high-impact
scenarios.<br>
But even the most optimistic case showed 85% of UK cities with a
river, including London, would face increased flooding.<br>
In the high-impact scenario, some cities and towns in the UK and
Ireland could see the amount of water per flood as much as double.
The worst affected is Cork, which could see 115% more water per
flooding, while Wrexham, Carlisle, Glasgow, and Chester could all
see increases of more than 75%.<br>
The increase in severity in the predicted impact has come after the
team, in a first of its kind, examined all three climate hazards
together in the largest study of its kind ever undertaken...<br>
The team used projections from all available models associated with
the high emission scenario RCP8.5, which implies a 2.6C to 4.8C
increase in global temperature.<br>
They found the British Isles have some of the worst overall flood
projections, with the high scenario predicting half of UK cities
could see at least a 50% increase on peak river flows.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/21/climate-change-will-push-european-cities-towards-breaking-point">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/21/climate-change-will-push-european-cities-towards-breaking-point</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Legal]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/20/17031676/climate-change-lawsuits-fossil-fuel-new-york-santa-cruz">IF
CLIMATE CHANGE WRECKS YOUR CITY, CAN IT SUE EXXON?</a></b><br>
Scientists can now link disasters to climate change, opening the
door to lawsuits against fossil fuel companies<br>
By Josh Dzieza Feb 20, 2018<br>
In a sense, we're currently conducting a planet-wide experiment in
what happens when you pump billions of tons of carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere, but there's no control group — an untouched planet
against which we can measure the effects — so attribution
researchers use models to simulate on<br>
Friederike Otto, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford and
a lead scientist on the<span> </span><a
href="https://wwa.climatecentral.org/" style="box-sizing:
border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;
font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit;
line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color:
transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125); transition: color 0.1s,
background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s; border-bottom: 1px solid
currentcolor;">World Weather Attribution</a><span> </span>project,
compares the process to figuring out whether dice are loaded. You
roll a clean die and a loaded one over and over and compare the
results. You won't be able to point to a particular winning roll and
say it happened because the die was loaded, but you can quantify how
much more likely loading made it.<br>
The first major attribution studies were done on heat waves, like
the ones that killed tens of thousands of people in<span> </span><a
href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03089"
style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding:
0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125);
transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s;
border-bottom: 1px solid currentcolor;">Europe in 2003</a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/21/climate-change-russian-heatwave"
style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding:
0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125);
transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s;
border-bottom: 1px solid currentcolor;">Russia in 2010</a>. The
studies captured public attention and scientists began researching
more events and delivering results more quickly. Since 2014,
researchers at the World Weather Attribution project have been
publishing assessments of heat waves, droughts, floods, and other
events often weeks after they occur...<br>
The better attribution science gets, the easier it will be to argue
that governments should have foreseen climate risks and prepared for
them — and to hold them liable if they fail to. In the journal<span> </span><a
href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo3019.epdf?author_access_token=OJyOF8biyt7xV-JsaU6a7NRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PM6YSPpYVStdF73lrDnowLWi-vlbDKpkHtU4Y5_VPnMsIQHd4aIu7mPTAlc_5BXz7EhlGqpReudxFw6skRewY4"
style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding:
0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125);
transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s;
border-bottom: 1px solid currentcolor;"><em style="box-sizing:
border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;
font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic;
line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Nature</em></a><span> </span>this
fall, a group of environmental lawyers listed a range of actors,
from local governments to construction companies, that could face
litigation for continuing to operate under a 20th century
understanding of risk. "Advances in the science of extreme weather
event attribution have the potential to change the legal landscape
in novel ways," they wrote.<br>
The science can also bolster litigation against greenhouse gas
emitters themselves. Robert Glicksman, a professor of environmental
law at the George Washington University Law School, points out that
when states sued tobacco companies, they relied on a form of
causation similar to that provided by attribution studies. They
couldn't say definitively that a particular cancer was caused by
smoking, but states could say smoking increased the probability of
cancer among their residents, which was translating to higher health
care costs that the tobacco companies were liable for. An analogous
case is now being made by a growing number of cities and counties
around the US: climate change has made certain disasters more
likely, and local governments are bearing the costs...<br>
The native Alaskan town of Kivalina sits on a narrow barrier island
80 miles above the Arctic circle. Rising temperatures have melted
the sea ice that once protected it from fierce storms, resulting in
rapid erosion, and it's been evident for over a decade that the town
will have to move. But relocating a town, even one of just 400
people, is<span> </span><a
href="https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/relocating-kivalina"
style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding:
0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125);
transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s;
border-bottom: 1px solid currentcolor;">expensive</a>: between
$100 and $400 million, and it's unclear where the money will come
from. So in 2008, the town decided to sue fossil fuel companies for
the moving costs.<br>
Kivalina's case is the one that most closely resembles the current
round of lawsuits, and its fate is inauspicious. It was<span> </span><a
href="http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2012/09/26/9th-circuit-affirms-dismissal-in-kivalina-v-exxonmobil/"
style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding:
0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125);
transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s;
border-bottom: 1px solid currentcolor;">ultimately dismissed</a><span> </span>on
the grounds that greenhouse gas emissions are regulated on the
federal level by the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection
Agency...<br>
Santa Cruz's suit, for instance, cites attribution research on the
role climate change played in the recent California <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/13/3931">drought</a> and <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/11770">wildfires</a> as
part of its case that greenhouse gas emissions are making these
disasters more likely. New York's suit says the city is <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12591/full">already
experiencing</a> rising temperatures and more extreme
precipitation. All the current lawsuits focus on sea level rise, the
impact of climate change that's been best understood the longest.
But that too has seen improvements in the ability to link climate
change with specific local damage, like <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-increases-sunny-day-floods-20784">coastal
flooding</a> and erosion, key facts to prove in litigation...<br>
"I think that, certainly, we will see attribution science front and
center in all of these cases, whether it's attribution of specific
levels of sea level rise in specific places or attribution of
extreme events," says Burger, who is currently<span> </span><a
href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3051178"
style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;
font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding:
0px; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(229, 18, 125);
transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s;
border-bottom: 1px solid currentcolor;">working on a paper</a><span> </span>on
the role of attribution research in litigation...<br>
It's standard practice for fossil fuel companies to push back
fiercely against attempts to hold them accountable for climate
change, but it's easy to see why the current round of lawsuits would
be worrisome. Research keeps finding a stronger climate signal in
more and more disasters, from drought and wildfire to floods and
avalanches. "If these cases survive, there's a long list of climate
change impacts that could become the subject of such litigation,"
Burger says. The bill for adapting to them, whoever ends up paying
it, will be large...
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit;
text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;
vertical-align: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit; margin:
0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; color: rgb(66, 66, 66);
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font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="-1"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/20/17031676/climate-change-lawsuits-fossil-fuel-new-york-santa-cruz">https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/20/17031676/climate-change-lawsuits-fossil-fuel-new-york-santa-cruz</a></font><br>
</p>
<br>
[Animals at risk]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/how-human-coping-mechanisms-for-climate-change-are-impacting-endangered-animals/70004192">How
human coping mechanisms for climate change are impacting
endangered animals</a></b><br>
A serious, mostly unknown impact of climate change on animals is the
way in which humans react to climate change, according to Nikhil
Advani, a lead specialist on climate, communities and biodiversity
at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Humans and wildlife compete
for diminishing sources of water and, according to Advani, this is
happening in many places around the world.<br>
Advani has found that certain human actions are negatively affecting
at-risk species, including giant pandas, snow leopards and mountain
gorillas.<br>
Due to rising temperatures, communities are shifting their
activities to higher elevations, according to Advani. This movement
causes people and agriculture to encroach on giant panda territory.
Giant pandas, which are considered vulnerable, live at these higher
elevations mainly in the mountains of western China...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/how-human-coping-mechanisms-for-climate-change-are-impacting-endangered-animals/70004192">https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/how-human-coping-mechanisms-for-climate-change-are-impacting-endangered-animals/70004192</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Economics lecture video]<br>
<b><a>London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)</a></b><br>
Published on Feb 13, 2018<br>
How does new information about climate change impact our existing
beliefs? Cass Sunstein identifies some surprising biases and
findings.<br>
<b>Cass Sunstein (@CassSunstein) </b>is the Robert Walmsley
University Professor at Harvard Law School. From 2009 to 2012, he
was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs. <br>
<b>Nicholas Stern (@lordstern1) </b>is IG Patel Professor of
Economics and Government at the LSE and has been Chair of the
Grantham Research Institute since it was founded in 2008.<br>
The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the
Environment (@GRI_LSE ) was established by the London School of
Economics and Political Science in 2008 to create a world-leading
centre for policy-relevant research and training on climate change
and the environment, bringing together international expertise on
economics, finance, geography, the environment, international
development and political economy.<br>
"How people incorporate knowledge. "<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGCHeZ_TSYg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGCHeZ_TSYg</a><br>
LSE Events | How do People Really Think about Climate Change?<br>
-</font><br>
[Book Blurb]<br>
<b><a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-Are-We-Waiting-Tackling/dp/026252998X/ref=sr_1_1">Why
Are We Waiting?: The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling
Climate Change (Lionel Robbins Lectures)</a></b><br>
by Nicholas Stern (Author)<br>
An urgent case for climate change action that forcefully sets out,
in economic, ethical, and political terms, the dangers of delay and
the benefits of action.<br>
The risks of climate change are potentially immense. The benefits of
taking action are also clear: we can see that economic development,
reduced emissions, and creative adaptation go hand in hand. A
committed and strong low-carbon transition could trigger a new wave
of economic and technological transformation and investment, a new
era of global and sustainable prosperity. Why, then, are we waiting?
In this book, Nicholas Stern explains why, notwithstanding the great
attractions of a new path, it has been so difficult to tackle
climate change effectively. He makes a compelling case for climate
action now and sets out the forms that action should take.<br>
Stern argues that the risks and costs of climate change are worse
than estimated in the landmark Stern Review in 2006 -- and far worse
than implied by standard economic models. He reminds us that we have
a choice. We can rely on past technologies, methods, and
institutions -- or we can embrace change, innovation, and
international collaboration. The first might bring us some
short-term growth but would lead eventually to chaos, conflict, and
destruction. The second could bring about better lives for all and
growth that is sustainable over the long term, and help win the
battle against worldwide poverty. The science warns of the dangers
of neglect; the economics and technology show what we can do and the
great benefits that will follow; an examination of the ethics points
strongly to a moral imperative for action. Why are we waiting?<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.amazon.com/Why-Are-We-Waiting-Tackling/dp/026252998X/ref=sr_1_1">https://www.amazon.com/Why-Are-We-Waiting-Tackling/dp/026252998X/ref=sr_1_1</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Heros or Villains?]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250?8ej">Environmentalists
Say They're Averting Climate Disaster. Conservatives Say It's
Terrorism.</a></b><br>
The post-9/11 rhetoric vilifying environmentalists is making a
comeback.<br>
By Alexander C. Kaufman<br>
But policymakers are sharpening their knives on the state level,
too. Late last year, the conservative American Legislative Exchange
Council drafted model legislation calling for severe punishments for
anyone caught trespassing on or tampering with an oil, gas or
chemical factory. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act even
includes a clause that any "conspirator" organization would be fined
10 times more than a trespasser, opening the door to crippling
penalties for environmental groups...<br>
Lawmakers in Ohio and Iowa are now considering bills based on the
proposal. The Iowa bill is backed by Energy Transfer Partners, the
company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. In all, 31 states have
considered 58 bills to crack down on protesters since November 2016,
according to a database maintained by the International Center for
Not-for-Profit Law. Eight have been enacted, and 28 are pending...<br>
The American Chemistry Council and the American Gas Association -
trade associations for chemical manufacturers and gas-burning
utilities - did not respond to requests for comment. ALEC did not
reply to an email requesting an interview...<br>
While industry groups quietly work to lay sharper legal snares for
environmentalists, people like Johnston, the woman who turned a
pipeline valve in Minnesota, are fighting to reshape the narrative
over fossil fuel sabotage in court...<br>
In October, a district court judge in Minnesota ruled that Johnston
and her two co-defendants would be allowed to argue that the
"necessity" of confronting climate change justified temporarily
shutting down the pipeline. Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin
Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, called the
defense "extremely unusual," according to InsideClimate News. But,
if successful, it could set a legal precedent used in the past by
political activists on issues including the Vietnam War, nuclear
weapons and abortion. <br>
Either way, Johnston said she is prepared to make an example of
herself.<br>
"I'm not afraid to go to jail," she said. "I'm afraid of climate
change."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250?8ej">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250?8ej</a><br>
See industry letter from ACC, AFPM, EEI, AGA, Energy Policy Network
and Marathon oil promoting the approval of the draft ALEC
"criminalization of protest" model bill in December.<br>
The letter insinuates that five examples of attacks on
infrastructure were rabid environmentalists.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250?8ej">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250?8ej</a></font><br>
-<br>
[ALEC = American Legislative Exchange Council]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/12/11/alec-model-bill-pipeline-protesters">ALEC,
Corporate-Funded Bill Mill, Considers Model State Bill Cracking
Down on Pipeline Protesters</a></b><br>
By Steve Horn • Monday, December 11, 2017 - 12:19<br>
(States & Nation Policy Summit), The American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that connects state legislators
with corporations and creates templates for state legislation, voted
on a model bill calling for the crack down and potential
criminalization of those protesting U.S. oil and gas pipeline
infrastructure.<br>
Dubbed the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, the model
legislation states in its preamble that it draws inspiration from
two bills passed in the Oklahoma Legislature in 2017. Those bills,
House Bill 1123 and House Bill 2128, offered both criminal and civil
penalties which would apply to protests happening at pipeline sites.
Critics viewed these bills as an outgrowth of the heavy-handed law
enforcement reaction to protests of the Dakota Access pipeline.<br>
At the time the bills were still under proposal, the Oklahoma
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized them, saying they
had the potential to quash free speech and the right to assemble as
protected by the First Amendment...<br>
"The First Amendment protects our right to stand in the Capitol
rotunda," Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the Oklahoma ACLU, told
the Oklahoma Gazette in March. "It also protects the rights of
Oklahomans and Americans to engage in speech and activity, knowing
that if they engage in civil disobedience, that the penalties they
face should not be disproportionate. If we chill and keep people
home, away from the cameras and away from the public they are trying
to wake up on any number of issues, we are doing a real disservice
to our democracy."..<br>
Alyssa Hackbarth, a spokesperson for ALEC, did not respond to
multiple requests for comment clarifying whether the model bill
actually passed through the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task
Force. Officials working for the Task Force also did not respond to
a request for comment. ALEC's website still lists the bill as a
draft proposal introduced on December 7...<br>
Hackbarth formerly worked as a research assistant for Off the Record
Strategies, one of the public relations firms hired by the National
Sheriffs' Association during the protests against the Dakota Access
pipeline in North Dakota. In a set of Off the Record Strategies
talking points obtained by DeSmog via open records law, the firm
compared anti-pipeline protesters to violent "anarchists" and
"Palestinian activists" who possessed "guns, knives, etc."<br>
Off the Record was founded and is run by Mark Pfeifle, who worked
for the George W. Bush administration on its communications
strategies to garner public support for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.<br>
ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force is now run by
recent hire Grant Kidwell, who previously worked as a senior policy
analyst for Americans for Prosperity, the lobbying, advocacy, and
electioneering group funded and founded by money from the Koch
Family Foundations and Koch Industries. Kidwell also formerly worked
as a policy analyst for the Charles Koch Institute and attended
graduate school at George Mason University, a key intellectual
laboratory for Koch-funded economic and regulatory ideology.<br>
<b>Model vs. Original Bills</b><br>
The ALEC model bill combines the two pieces of Oklahoma legislation
by breaking them up into separate sections, one for criminal
penalties and another for civil penalties. <br>
Oklahoma's HB 1123 calls for citizens to receive a felony
sentencing, $100,000 fine, and/or 10 years in prison if their
actions "willfully damage, destroy, vandalize, deface, or tamper
with equipment in a critical infrastructure facility."<br>
The ALEC model bill, by comparison, calls for those who "willfully
trespass or enter property containing a critical infrastructure
facility without permission by the owner of the property or lawful
occupant thereof shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not less than {dollar figure}, or by
imprisonment in the county jail for a term of {length of time}, or
by both such fine and imprisonment."...<br>
<b>Anti-Protest Bills Nationwide</b><br>
Even before the ALEC model bill's introduction, dozens of
anti-protest bills were introduced in statehouses nationwide in
2017.<br>
While all of the bills mandated different things, with some more
similar than others, what they share in common are the implications
for what First Amendment proponents call a threat to free speech and
freedom of assembly. Including Oklahoma, the bills have passed in
four states.<br>
Among the other states which saw bills pass was North Dakota, the
epicenter of the uprising against the Dakota Access pipeline. North
Dakota's legislation included increased criminal penalties for
"riot" offenses and additional criminal punishment for wearing a
mask while committing a crime.<br>
The ACLU, which created a map tracking where various anti-protest
bills were introduced and their status, sees this trend as a threat
to essential democratic rights enshrined in the First Amendment.<br>
"Is this spate of anti-protest bills a coincidence? We think not,"
wrote the ACLU in a blog post. "State representatives around the
country should be celebrating the fact that their constituents are
getting out into the streets and making their voices heard. Instead,
state representatives are … proposing bill after bill that would
criminalize protest or even put the lives of protesters in danger."<br>
After these bills appeared in various statehouses, David Kaye, the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of
the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Maina Kiai, the
UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly
and of association, came out in opposition to such legislation. The
two pointed to the Oklahoma bill as particularly problematic.<br>
"We are concerned this Bill would target peaceful protests in
certain contexts, such as protests which focus on environmental
rights, imposing disproportionate penalties on protesters," wrote
Kaye and Kiai. "We are even more concerned that the Bill reportedly
was prompted by the Dakota Access pipeline protests in North
Dakota."<br>
If the ALEC model bill draft proposal does indeed become an official
model, the template will be distributed to legislators in
statehouses across the country. Put another way, what happens in
Oklahoma won't necessarily stay in Oklahoma in 2018.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/12/11/alec-model-bill-pipeline-protesters">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/12/11/alec-model-bill-pipeline-protesters</a></font><br>
-<br>
[ALEC]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/critical-infrastructure-protection-act/">CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION ACT</a></b><br>
Summary<br>
Drawing inspiration from two laws enacted in 2017 by the State of
Oklahoma, this Act codifies criminal penalties for a person
convicted of willfully trespassing or entering property containing a
critical infrastructure facility without permission by the owner of
the property, and holds a person liable for any damages to personal
or real property while trespassing. The Act also prescribes criminal
penalties for organizations conspiring with persons who willfully
trespass and/or damage critical infrastructure sites, and holds
conspiring organizations responsible for any damages to personal or
real property while trespassing. <br>
Section 3. {Civil Penalties.}<br>
A. Any person who is arrested for or convicted of trespass may be
held liable for any damages to personal or real property while
trespassing.<br>
B. Any person or entity that compensates, provides consideration to
or remunerates a person for trespassing as described in subsection A
of this section may also be held vicariously liable for any damages
to personal or real property committed by the person compensated or
remunerated for trespassing...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/critical-infrastructure-protection-act/">https://www.alec.org/model-policy/critical-infrastructure-protection-act/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[rising denial]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.desmog.uk/2018/02/19/donald-trump-s-first-year-climate-science-denial-group-gwpf-sees-membership-income-double">In
Year of Trump, Climate Science Denial Group GWPF sees Membership
Income Double</a></b><br>
By Chloe Farand • Monday, February 19, 2018<br>
The UK's main climate science denier thinktank has seen its income
from membership fees double over the last year, its latest accounts
show.<br>
The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has consistently argued
against the climate science consensus and was set-up by former
Chancellor Nigel Lawson to combat what it describes as "extremely
damaging and harmful policies" designed to mitigate climate change.<br>
GWPF's latest accounts published on Companies House last week show a
rise in the income generated from membership fees from 5,479 (pound
sterling) in 2016 to 11,937 in 2017.<br>
Donations were also reported to have increased from 257,044 in 2016
to 284,141 (pound sterling) last year — raising the foundation's
total funds to 743,959 (pound sterling).<br>
GWPF also paid a fundraising consultancy fee worth 4,380, which
appeared for the first time in the 2017 accounts...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.desmog.uk/2018/02/19/donald-trump-s-first-year-climate-science-denial-group-gwpf-sees-membership-income-double">https://www.desmog.uk/2018/02/19/donald-trump-s-first-year-climate-science-denial-group-gwpf-sees-membership-income-double</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Standing Rock]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/red-clouds-revolution-oglalla-sioux-freeing-themselves-from-fossil-fuel/">Red
Cloud's Revolution: Oglalla Sioux freeing themselves from fossil
fuel</a></b><br>
by Saul Elbein on 19 February 2018<br>
Henry Red Cloud, like so many Oglalla Sioux young men, left the
reservation to work in construction. When he returned home in 2002,
he needed a job, and also wanted to make a difference. He attended a
solar energy workshop and saw the future.<br>
Today, Red Cloud runs Lakota Solar and the Red Cloud Renewable
Energy Center, which have become catalysts for an innovative new
economic network - one that employs locals and connects tribes,
while building greater energy independence among First Nations.<br>
The company is building and installing alternative energy systems,
and training others to do the same, throughout remote areas of U.S.
reservations, thus allowing the Sioux and others to leap past
outdated fossil fuel technology altogether.<br>
Henry Red Cloud's company has another more radical purpose: it helps
provide energy to remote Water Protector camps, like the one at
Standing Rock protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Solar
power and other alternative energy sources are vital at such remote
sites, as they power up cellphones, connecting resistors to the
media and outside world...<br>
The goal is to build an energy independent First Nation and modern
lifestyle, beyond the reach of oil shortages, price hikes, and the
environmental harm perpetuated by the U.S. fossil fuel-driven
economy...<br>
For more than a decade, Red Cloud has been running Lakota Solar, an
off-grid skills school and solar machine factory - oneof Pine
Ridge's few locally owned business, and the heart of a business
network that extends to a dozen other reservations...<br>
Over a thousand alumni have learned to build solar arrays, solar
furnaces and solar-driven water pumps in his schools. To Red Cloud,
these are practical skills that expand people's economic and
political options. But they're also something mystical - a key to
a new personal and communal future. The two of us settle under a
shade tree, and Red Cloud declares: "Number 45," (that being his way
of referring to U.S. President Donald Trump) "is changing a whole
lot in our country. So we need to start banding together, natives
and non-natives, and if we're going to build this country let's
build it efficient."<br>
For Red Cloud, solar and renewable energy are to the New Economy
what the sun is to an intact ecosystem - the basis of everything,
offering perpetual sustenance. A place as "underdeveloped" and
remote as Pine Ridge, he says, has always presented its First Nation
inhabitants with a devil's choice: either continue in poverty, or
sacrifice your culture to the world coming in from outside - usually
the malls-and-suburban model of 20th Century America...<br>
"But out here we're rural," Red Cloud says, pointing to the far
horizon. "We're the West of the West. At night you have a sky full
of stars. You can see thunderstorms coming from 100 miles away. We
have no Interstate, no banks, no nothing. And that's how I like it -
being able to go to the hills and see as far as the naked eyeball
can see. I wouldn't want to see mainstream America flood this
place."So, Lakota Solar and the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center
have become catalysts for an innovative economic network - one that
employs locals and connects tribes, while building greater
independence...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/red-clouds-revolution-oglalla-sioux-freeing-themselves-from-fossil-fuel/">https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/red-clouds-revolution-oglalla-sioux-freeing-themselves-from-fossil-fuel/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[NASA MEDIA ADVISORY M18-035]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-coverage-set-for-weather-satellite-science-briefing-launch">NASA
Television Coverage Set for Weather Satellite Science Briefing,
Launch</a></b><br>
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S)<br>
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's)
newest weather satellite, Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite-S (GOES-S), is scheduled to launch Thursday, March 1. The
launch, as well as prelaunch and science briefings on Tuesday, Feb.
27, will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.<br>
At 5:02 p.m. March 1, a two-hour launch window will open, during
which GOES-S will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
(CCAFS) in Florida. Launch coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m.<br>
GOES-S is the second in the GOES-R Series of weather satellites that
includes GOES-R (now GOES-16), -S, -T and -U. The satellite will be
renamed GOES-17 when it reaches geostationary orbit. Once the
satellite is declared operational, late this year, it will occupy
NOAA's GOES-West position and provide faster, more accurate data for
tracking wildfires, tropical cyclones, fog and other storm systems
and hazards that threaten the western United States, including
Hawaii and Alaska, Mexico, Central America and the Pacific Ocean,
all the way to New Zealand.<br>
NASA TV will air two GOES-S news briefings on Feb. 27 from the Press
Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<br>
The prelaunch news conference will be held at 1 p.m. <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive">https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive</a><br>
Media can ask questions during the briefings via Twitter, using the
hashtag #askNASA.<br>
Audio of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on
the NASA "V" circuits, which may be accessed by dialing
321-867-1220, -1240, -1260 or -7135. On launch day, mission audio,
the launch conductor's countdown activities without NASA TV launch
commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.<br>
Information on media accreditation for the launch is available at: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goes-s-briefings-and-events">https://www.nasa.gov/content/goes-s-briefings-and-events</a><br>
Join the conversation and follow the GOES-S launch on social media
at: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://twitter.com/NOAASatellites">https://twitter.com/NOAASatellites</a>
and <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.facebook.com/NOAANESDIS/">https://www.facebook.com/NOAANESDIS/</a><font
size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-coverage-set-for-weather-satellite-science-briefing-launch">https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-coverage-set-for-weather-satellite-science-briefing-launch</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b>This Day in Climate History February 21, -
from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><i><br>
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