<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<font size="+1"><i>March 22, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
[Climate court drama]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/climate-science-lawsuit-san-francisco-sues-chevron">Climate
science on trial as high-profile US case takes on fossil fuel
industry</a></b><br>
Courtroom showdown in San Francisco pitted liberal cities against
oil corporations, and saw judge host unusual climate 'tutorial'<br>
The hearing was part of a courtroom showdown between liberal
California cities and powerful oil corporations, including Chevron,
ExxonMobil, Shell and BP. San Francisco and Oakland have sued the
world's biggest fossil fuel companies, arguing that they are
responsible for damages related to global warming.<br>
While climate change-related cases have entered courtrooms
throughout the US, the judge in the California case, William Alsup,
took the unusual step of convening a formal "tutorial" on the
subject "so that the poor judge can learn some science", allowing
renowned experts and some of the biggest oil companies to answer key
questions.<br>
- - - - - - -<br>
The Chevron attorney also presented a graph showing that China is
burning more coal than the US, saying: "It really goes to the global
nature of this."<br>
Environmentalists, however, pointed out that the assessment ignored
cumulative emissions and that the US is the biggest carbon polluter
in history.<br>
Don Wuebbles, who helped lead the 2013 IPCC assessment of climate
science and 2014 US National Climate Assessment, testified for the
cities and noted that Chevron was relying on outdated reports: "The
science does not stop at 2012 … There's a lot we have learned over
the last five years."<br>
He talked about severe weather incidents becoming more intense and
noted that 2014 was "the warmest year on record", adding: "2015 was
warmer. 2016 was warmer yet." Seventeen of the last 18 years were
the warmest on record, he said.<br>
- - - - - -<br>
Chevron did not present any science from climate deniers, but
climate change contrarians with ties to Donald Trump's
administration have also gotten involved in the litigation, offering
to contribute a presentation.<br>
William Happer, a Princeton University physicist, rumored last year
to be a frontrunner for Trump's science adviser, co-authored a
recent motion in the case that said: "It is not possible to tell how
much of the modest recent warming can be ascribed to human
influences." He has previously described climate scientists as "a
glassy-eyed cult".<br>
- - - - - - -<br>
Although there was no meaningful cross examination, the five-hour
hearing offered a window into how the oil corporations can attempt
to simultaneously acknowledge human-caused climate change while
trying to fight off this type of litigation. Courts across the globe
have increasingly become the new front line for climate action, and
the San Francisco case could also build a factual foundation that
could be cited in future suits.<br>
At one point, Boutrous clarified that he was not speaking for the
other companies, and Alsup at the end of the hearing ordered the
other defendants to file motions saying whether they agreed with the
Chevron attorney: "You can't get away with sitting here in silence."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/climate-science-lawsuit-san-francisco-sues-chevron">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/climate-science-lawsuit-san-francisco-sues-chevron</a></font><br>
- - - - -<br>
[answers]<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/a-judge-asks-basic-questions-about-climate-change-we-answer-them">A
judge asks basic questions about climate change. We answer them</a><br>
California judge William Alsup put out a list of questions for a
climate change 'tutorial' in a global warming case<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/a-judge-asks-basic-questions-about-climate-change-we-answer-them">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/a-judge-asks-basic-questions-about-climate-change-we-answer-them</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Sacking of EPA ]<br>
<b><a
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032018/trump-epa-smog-rules-pruitt-air-pollution-clean-power-plan-air-quality-connecticut-pennsyvlania-power-plants">Pruitt's
Clean Air Promises Ring Hollow as EPA Eases Off Smog Protections</a></b><br>
The EPA has taken at least 15 major actions on air pollution-all to
delay, weaken or repeal protections, and all opposed by leading
public health groups.<br>
By Marianne Lavelle - MAR 21, 2018<br>
It is a seemingly pro-environment promise in an administration with
almost none of them.<br>
In speech after speech, Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency, has vowed to double down on a
pledge to improve America's air and water. He's promised to do so by
working with states and following the "rule of law."<br>
"Let's get back to the fundamentals of what we should be about as an
agency," he declared to supporters at this year's Conservative
Political Action Conference.<br>
Pruitt has repeated the promise even as the EPA has been leading a
unprecedented unraveling of not just climate regulation, but of the
agency's basic clean air and water mandates. Under Pruitt, the EPA
has ignored or denied pleas from several states to address
ground-level ozone, or smog, a pollutant at the core of the agency's
work since its inception 48 years ago.<br>
Days before Pruitt's CPAC speech, the EPA rejected a petition from
Connecticut to cut smog pollution from a coal-fired power plant in
Pennsylvania that's been one of the largest sources of East Coast
smog. It was the seventh time Pruitt denied or missed a deadline to
act on state petitions over smog from coal-fired plants...<br>
- - - - -<br>
Over the past 13 months, Pruitt's EPA has taken at least 15 major
actions on air pollution-all to delay, weaken or repeal protections,
and all opposed by the American Lung Association and other health
groups-according to an analysis by the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley
(D-Ore.). The list includes the Clean Power Plan, the Obama
administration's signature initiative to address climate change,
which also would dramatically reduce smog, particulate matter,
mercury and other dangerous air pollutants by slashing the amount of
coal the country burns...<br>
- - - - - <br>
chart
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_centered_medium/public/epa-environment-rollbacks529px.png?itok=TFdBVqsq">https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_centered_medium/public/epa-environment-rollbacks529px.png?itok=TFdBVqsq</a><br>
- - - - - -<br>
It remains to be seen how the fight over smog in places like
Connecticut will play out at Pruitt's EPA. He has repeatedly said
ozone needs to be regulated. But he has said that achieving the more
stringent ozone standard set by the Obama administration will be
costly.<br>
After he was sued by health groups and 16 states, Pruitt set a
timetable to designate which areas of the country failed to meet the
new Obama-era ozone standard. He will do so by April 30. Pruitt told
Congress that he is looking at implementing the new standard in a
way that takes into account "background levels"-meaning, ozone that
is already in the air (either naturally or due to international
sources)-that can't be controlled. It's the same argument used in a
lawsuit by coal company Murray Energy when it challenged the Obama
ozone standard-a case Pruitt joined as a co-litigant when he was
Oklahoma's attorney general.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032018/trump-epa-smog-rules-pruitt-air-pollution-clean-power-plan-air-quality-connecticut-pennsyvlania-power-plants">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032018/trump-epa-smog-rules-pruitt-air-pollution-clean-power-plan-air-quality-connecticut-pennsyvlania-power-plants</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[From Earth, Climate, Dreams Symposium - video interview]<br>
<b><a href="https://youtu.be/KTP4qem2hAY">We Need to Talk about
Climate Change, with Depth-Sally Gillespie, Earth Climate Dreams
Symposium</a></b><br>
Depth Psychology / Depth Insights - Published on Jan 29, 2018<br>
Over time, humans in western cultures have undergone a profound
restructuring of the psyche resulting in a traumatic sense of
separation. In modern day, we face a growing set of challenges on
the ecological and social fronts. Industrial development,
technological advancement, the rise of consumerism, and increasing
populations combined with a tendency to value science and rational
thought over tending nature are among the key contributors to the
complex situation at hand.<br>
The era of "the Anthropocene," a term alluding to the significant
global impact of human activity on the planet, has arrived.<br>
The current crisis requires that we reflect on our situation from a
depth psychological perspective, contemplating how we might tap into
the underlying archetypal themes at work in the culture, and begin
to articulate them in ways that inspire and move us to personal and
collective action.<br>
This series includes depth dialogues by the following psychologists,
scientists, and educators, in conversation with Bonnie Bright,
Ph.D.. for the <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO">Earth,
Climate, Dreams Symposium</a><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO">,</a>
hosted by Depth Insights and Depth Psychology Alliance, and which
aired in 2017: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O_9_P0cq7bULdR4CqW1mhmbiNsPFmGO</a><br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/KTP4qem2hAY">https://youtu.be/KTP4qem2hAY</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Ars Technica]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/when-will-the-us-feel-the-heat-of-global-warming/">When
will the US feel the heat of global warming?</a></b><br>
For the Great Plains, natural variability will dominate until late
this century.<br>
John Timmer -<br>
A team of researchers has now looked at heat waves in the US, trying
to determine when a warming-driven signal will stand out above the
natural variability. And the answer is that it depends. In the West,
the answer is "soon," with climate-driven heat waves becoming the
majority in the 2020s. But for the Great Plains, the researchers
show that a specific weather pattern will push back the appearance
of a warming signal until the 2070s.<br>
The study, performed by researchers at three different institutions
in Florida, focuses on what they term the Time of Emergence, which
they define as the point when "the signal of anthropogenic climate
change will emerge against the background natural variability." For
this work, they focused on heat waves, which they defined as an
extended period of time with temperatures 5 degrees Celsius or more
above the typical temperature.<br>
- - - - - - <br>
For the West Coast, the two appear to be related. Our warming
climate is expected to produce wind patterns that reduce the
frequency of storms and thus lower the amount of moisture in the
soil. This, in turn, would reduce evaporation, leading to enhanced
heat-which may explain why the climate signal appears there
earliest.<br>
For the Great Plains, however, the researchers identified a specific
weather pattern that prevailed during the summer months called the
Great Plains Low-Level Jet. The LLJ draws moist air up from the Gulf
of Mexico, allowing it to fall as rain over the Plains. The
evaporation of this rain would then offset some of the heat.<br>
As a bit of science, this is some nice work, as the researchers have
not only identified a case where natural variability has large
influence on climate change, but they've identified the source of
that variability. But they also point out that the findings could be
helpful for policy. Over the last three decades, they note,
heat-related fatalities have been the biggest weather-related cause
of death in the US. Identifying the areas most at risk of increased
heat would help us prepare for a future where that's looking
increasingly inevitable.<br>
And, in the case of the West Coast, it may be arriving in as little
as a decade.<font size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/when-will-the-us-feel-the-heat-of-global-warming/">https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/when-will-the-us-feel-the-heat-of-global-warming/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[heat and disease]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180320141326.htm">A
method for predicting the impact of global warming on disease</a></b><br>
Scientists have devised a method for predicting how rising global
temperatures are likely to affect the severity of diseases mediated
by parasites. Their method can be applied widely to different
host-pathogen combinations and warming scenarios, and should help to
identify which infectious diseases will have worsened or diminished
effects with rising temperatures.<br>
The proof-of-concept method, which was road-tested using the water
flea (Daphnia magna) and its pathogen (Ordospora colligata) as a
model system, uses a long-standing biological concept known as the
metabolic theory of ecology to predict how a wide range of processes
-- all of which influence host-parasite dynamics -- are affected by
temperature.<br>
The scientists, led by William C. Campbell Lecturer in Parasite
Biology at Trinity College Dublin, Professor Pepijn Luijckx, and
graduate student Devin Kirk from the University of Toronto, have
just published their results in leading international journal PLOS
Biology.<br>
Professor Luijckx said: "Rising temperatures due to global warming
can alter the proliferation and severity of infectious diseases, and
this has broad implications for conservation and food security. It
is therefore really important that we understand and identify the
diseases that will become more harmful with rising temperatures,
with a view to mitigating their impacts."<br>
<b>The solution -- the metabolic theory of ecology</b><br>
The metabolic theory of ecology can be used to predict how various
biological processes respond to temperature. It is based on the idea
that each process is controlled by enzymes, and that the activity
and temperature dependence of these enzymes can be described using
simple equations. Even with limited data, the theory thus allows for
the prediction of the temperature dependence of host and pathogen
processes.<br>
Professor Luijckx said: "By using the metabolic theory of ecology we
can estimate the thermal dependence of each individual process, step
by step, and calculate a final prediction of disease severity at
different, changing temperatures. Until now, no study has shown if
this works for simple -- unicellular -- pathogens growing within
their host, but we have been able to show that the method works very
well in the model system we used."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180320141326.htm">https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180320141326.htm</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[geologist video briefing at AGU] 49:11<br>
<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNWGlzHC2ss">Waking the
Climate Giant</a></b><br>
Bill McGuire (University College London) speaks about responses from
the Earth crust in this 2016 lecture. He wrote a book on the
subject, available at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Publications/Bookshop/Search?k=waking&sortexpr=Publication%20Date%20Desc">https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Publications/Bookshop/Search?k=waking&sortexpr=Publication%20Date%20Desc</a><br>
<font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNWGlzHC2ss">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNWGlzHC2ss</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[video documentary]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4KBWDWwUrk">Politics,
power and pipelines - Europe and natural gas | DW Documentary</a></b><br>
DW Documentary Published on Mar 20, 2018 - 42 mins<br>
Russia hopes a new Baltic Sea pipeline will strengthen its gas
market position in Europe. But the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is
highly controversial.<br>
Poland and the US are against its construction, Germany is in favor.
What will the outcome be? The negotiations are heading into the
final round. At stake is an energy lifeline for Europe - and the
power it implies. Over the coming months in Brussels and Berlin,
Moscow and Washington, the decision will be made on whether or not a
European consortium led by Russian state natural gas company Gazprom
is to lay another pipeline on the Baltic seabed. The carbon steel
pipes bearing the name Nord Stream 2 are projected to cost 10
billion euros and run from Vyborg, Russia, to Lubmin, Germany. This
route could soon be carrying the greater share of Russia's natural
gas exports to the European Union. The project already carries its
share of opposition: Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic republics eye a
direct German-Russian connection with concern - mindful of hundreds
of millions of euros in transport fees they stand to lose. And
Ukraine sees itself at the mercy of Russian interests, should the
West no longer have need of it as an energy corridor. The United
States, with liquefied petroleum gas of its own to sell, has been
threatening more sanctions. The pipeline's opponents in the EU are
doing what they can to hinder its construction and tie it up in the
courts with legal maneuvering. Government spokespeople in Berlin and
Moscow insist the project has only private business motives, those
being to guarantee the supply of natural gas and keep the prices
low. Supporters and opponents agree on one thing: Nord Stream 2
would alter Europe's energy politics for decades to come, which
would in turn affect geo-politics. Energy issues are always
questions of power. Russia's leadership is well aware of that, as
they've repeatedly demonstrated in the past. But in this round of
the "Great Game", the Americans are joining in. This documentary
presents the pros and cons of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Former
German chancellor Gerhard Schroder, now in the employ of Nord
Stream, has been drumming up support. Opponents, such as the former
Polish prime minister and current Member of the European Parliament
Jerzy Buzek, explain their positions. The documentary was shot on
locations in Germany, France, Ukraine, Georgia and in Brussels and
Moscow.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4KBWDWwUrk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4KBWDWwUrk</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Book: Global warming nudges geology]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199678758/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?">Waking
the Giant: How a changing climate triggers earthquakes,
tsunamis, and volcanoes</a></b><br>
by Bill McGuire<br>
Blurb: "Twenty thousand years ago our planet was an icehouse.
Temperatures were down six degrees; ice sheets kilometres thick
buried much of Europe and North America and sea levels were 130m
lower. The following 15 millennia saw an astonishing transformation
as our planet metamorphosed into the temperate world upon which our
civilisation has grown and thrived. One of the most dynamic periods
in Earth history saw rocketing temperatures melt the great ice
sheets like butter on a hot summer's day; feeding torrents of
freshwater into ocean basins that rapidly filled to present levels.
The removal of the enormous weight of ice at high latitudes caused
the crust to bounce back triggering earthquakes in Europe and North
America and provoking an unprecedented volcanic outburst in Iceland.
A giant submarine landslide off the coast of Norway sent a tsunami
crashing onto the Scottish coast while around the margins of the
continents the massive load exerted on the crust by soaring sea
levels encouraged a widespread seismic and volcanic rejoinder. <br>
In many ways, this post-glacial world mirrors that projected to
arise as a consequence of unmitigated climate change driven by human
activities. Already there are signs that the effects of climbing
global temperatures are causing the sleeping giant to stir once
again. Could it be that we are on track to bequeath to our children
and their children not only a far hotter world, but also a more
geologically fractious one?"<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199678758/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199678758/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/kids-sue-us-government-climate-change">This
Day in Climate History - March 22, 2017</a> </b></font><br>
'Biggest Case on the Planet' Pits Kids vs. Climate Change<br>
National Geographic - Laura Parker <br>
<blockquote>The case could prove even more consequential with the
change of<br>
administration because of President Trump's efforts to roll back<br>
climate regulations put in place by his predecessor. Last week,
the<br>
Trump administration shifted course on the case and asked that a<br>
federal appeals court review Judge Aiken's decision to proceed to<br>
trial...<br>
"Whatever happens next, this is a case to watch," says Michael<br>
Burger, a Columbia University law professor and specialist in<br>
climate law. "It's out there, ahead of the curve. And given the<br>
change in administration and President Trump's views on climate<br>
change, this may be a potential hook to keep things moving along
the<br>
climate change front. It may be the opening salvo in what will be
an<br>
increasing number of lawsuits that take a rights-based approach to<br>
climate change in the United States."...<br>
The climate change lawsuit makes essentially a straightforward<br>
request. It asks a federal judge to order the government to write
a<br>
recovery plan to reduce carbon emissions to 350 parts per million
by<br>
2100 (down from 400 parts per million) and stabilize the climate
system.<br>
The courts are needed to step in, Olson argued, because the<br>
government has not—despite knowing for more than 50 years that the<br>
burning of fossil fuels causes global warming....<br>
The climate change lawsuit makes essentially a straightforward<br>
request. It asks a federal judge to order the government to write
a<br>
recovery plan to reduce carbon emissions to 350 parts per million
by<br>
2100 (down from 400 parts per million) and stabilize the climate<br>
system...<br>
The courts are needed to step in, Olson argued, because the<br>
government has not—despite knowing for more than 50 years that the<br>
burning of fossil fuels causes global warming...<br>
Two days after the government's motions were filed, EPA<br>
Administrator Scott Pruitt swept aside established science on the<br>
connection between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming and<br>
declared that "carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to the<br>
global warming that we see."<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/kids-sue-us-government-climate-change">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/kids-sue-us-government-climate-change</a></font><br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><i>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
</i></font><font size="+1"><i><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html">Archive
of Daily Global Warming News</a> </i></font><i><br>
</i><span class="moz-txt-link-freetext"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote">https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote</a></span><font
size="+1"><i><font size="+1"><i><br>
</i></font></i></font><font size="+1"><i> <br>
</i></font><font size="+1"><i><font size="+1"><i>To receive daily
mailings - <a
href="mailto:subscribe@theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request">click
to Subscribe</a> </i></font>to news digest. </i></font>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><small> </small><small><b>** Privacy and Security: </b>
This is a text-only mailing that carries no images which may
originate from remote servers. </small><small> Text-only
messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and sender.
</small><small> </small><br>
<small> By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used
for democratic and election purposes and cannot be used for
commercial purposes. </small><br>
<small>To subscribe, email: <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:contact@theclimate.vote">contact@theclimate.vote</a>
with subject: subscribe, To Unsubscribe, subject:
unsubscribe</small><br>
<small> Also you</small><font size="-1"> may
subscribe/unsubscribe at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote">https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote</a></font><small>
</small><br>
<small> </small><small>Links and headlines assembled and
curated by Richard Pauli</small><small> for <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://TheClimate.Vote">http://TheClimate.Vote</a>
delivering succinct information for citizens and responsible
governments of all levels.</small><small> L</small><small>ist
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously
restricted to this mailing list. <br>
</small></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>