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<font size="+1"><i>March 27, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
[Very big decision - BLM loses]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032018/coal-mining-climate-impacts-powder-river-basin-fossil-fuels-wyoming-montana-blm-nepa-ruling">Judge:
Trump Admin. Must Consider Climate Change in Major Drilling and
Mining Lease Plan</a></b><br>
The plan covers 15 million acres in the Powder River Basin of
Montana and Wyoming. The ruling on it is the latest to cite risks of
fossil fuels and global warming.<br>
BY NEELA BANERJEE<br>
A federal court has ruled against a U.S. Interior Department plan to
open more than 15 million acres of public land and mineral rights to
fossil fuel extraction, concluding that the government failed to
adequately consider how the oil, gas and coal development would
affect the climate and other environmental resources.<br>
The <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf">U.S.
District Court decision</a> Friday in Montana throws a new
roadblock before the Trump administration's goal of expanding and
accelerating fossil extraction from federal lands...<br>
- - - - -<br>
The plaintiffs contended that the fossil fuel development plans for
the vast Miles City, Montana, and Buffalo, Wyoming, federal tracts
violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to
account fully for the damage the coal, oil and gas would do to the
environment, including the climate...<br>
- - - - -<br>
The plaintiffs said the decision was an important step in getting
the federal government to calculate more completely the consequences
that increasing development of fossil fuels would have on the
world's climate.<br>
"The court rightly recognized the fundamental disconnect between the
need to rein in carbon pollution and the way BLM has proposed to
manage our public lands and minerals," said Western Environmental
Law Center Attorney Kyle Tisdel, who represents the groups. "We hope
BLM's second chance will lead to better action."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032018/coal-mining-climate-impacts-powder-river-basin-fossil-fuels-wyoming-montana-blm-nepa-ruling">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032018/coal-mining-climate-impacts-powder-river-basin-fossil-fuels-wyoming-montana-blm-nepa-ruling</a><br>
- - - - -<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf">US
Court Decision</a></b><b>
</b><b><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf">https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf</a></b><br>
- - - - - -<br>
[Western Environmental Law Center News Release]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://westernlaw.org/court-rejects-blm-plans-mine-10-billion-tons-coal-install-thousands-oil-gas-wells-15-million-acres-powder-river-basin/">Court
rejects BLM plans to mine 10 billion tons of coal, install
thousands of oil and gas wells over 15 million acres in Powder
River Basin</a></b><br>
Mar 26, 2018 <br>
...The court found that BLM failed to consider alternatives to BLM's
unfettered coal, oil, and gas leasing that would reduce impacts to
air, land, water, wildlife, and the global climate. The case was
brought by a coalition of conservation groups in Montana and
Wyoming...<br>
... He ordered BLM to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement to review climate change impacts and consider options for
the amount of coal the government will make available for sale and
subsequent mining. The judge also called on BLM to do a better
accounting of carbon and methane pollution impacts from coal, oil,
and gas, both in the planning area when the resources are developed
and also "downstream" when the minerals are ultimately burned in
power plants....<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://westernlaw.org/court-rejects-blm-plans-mine-10-billion-tons-coal-install-thousands-oil-gas-wells-15-million-acres-powder-river-basin/">https://westernlaw.org/court-rejects-blm-plans-mine-10-billion-tons-coal-install-thousands-oil-gas-wells-15-million-acres-powder-river-basin/</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[Limnology is the study of lakes]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://news.sky.com/story/green-lakes-could-accelerate-global-warming-new-research-warns-11304674">'Green'
lakes could accelerate global warming, new research warns</a></b><br>
Fertilisers washing into lakes could increase methane emissions,
potentially undoing progress in addressing climate change.<br>
The biggest human influence on climate change and global warming is
the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.<br>
Now research published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography
Letters is the first to show how the size of lakes and the nutrients
in their waters from fertilisers are contributing to that influence.<br>
"Our research pioneers a new way of determining the global
atmospheric effect of lakes using satellite information on lake
greenness and size distribution," said Professor John Downing...<br>
- - - - - -<br>
"The greener or more eutrophic these water bodies become, the more
methane is emitted, which exacerbates climate warming."<br>
Water bodies turn green when agricultural fertilisers such as
phosphorus and nitrogen are washed into them by the rain from farms
and similar locations.<br>
- - - - - -<br>
"When we analysed the data, we found that emissions of greenhouse
gases to the atmosphere were influenced by the amount of
eutrophication but also that lake size matters a lot for carbon
dioxide and nitrous oxide."<br>
If the world's bodies of water become more eutrophic they could
release so much methane it may negate the emissions reductions made
by humanity moving away from fossil fuels.<font size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://news.sky.com/story/green-lakes-could-accelerate-global-warming-new-research-warns-11304674">https://news.sky.com/story/green-lakes-could-accelerate-global-warming-new-research-warns-11304674</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[Liability without proof of cause]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/26/canada-climate-damages-peter-tabuns-toronto/">New
Canadian Bill Would Help Cities Sue Oil Industry for Climate
Damages</a></b><br>
By Karen Savage<br>
A Canadian legislator will introduce a bill to protect Ontario
residents from the costs of climate change-related damages and to
make it easier to force fossil fuel companies to pay for
infrastructure improvements needed to protect communities from
climate impacts.<br>
"This act will give Ontarians the legal means to seek compensation
from the world's major polluters for their fair share of those
costs," said Peter Tabuns, a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP)
representing Toronto-Danforth, who will introduce the bill on
Monday.<br>
Known as the Liability for Climate-Related Harms Act of 2018, Tabuns
said the bill is similar to tobacco liability legislation used to
hold tobacco companies liable for the health costs of tobacco use.<br>
"This bill defines the nature of evidence to be produced and it
simplifies this whole action," said Tabuns, who said the bill is
structured to assume strict liability on the part of producers.<br>
"There is an assumption in this bill that climate change is caused
by man-made action-the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere-and it
sets a threshold for determining whether a particular event has
caused damage," said Tabuns, adding that the threshold would be
consistent with the one established internationally.<br>
"This Bill appears to be the first in the world to directly impose
strict liability - liability without proof of fault-on fossil fuel
companies for climate impacts," said Andrew Gage, staff lawyer for
the West Coast Environmental Law Association (WCEL), which endorsed
the bill....<br>
more at:<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/26/canada-climate-damages-peter-tabuns-toronto/">https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/26/canada-climate-damages-peter-tabuns-toronto/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Facing it directly]<br>
<b>George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf">The
Concensus Handbook</a></b><br>
<div><span lang="EN-GB">Numerous efforts are currently underway to
confuse the public about the scientific consensus on
human-caused global warming. Various opponents of climate action
have<span> </span><a
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032018/climate-change-denial-monckton-soon-koonin-california-cities-lawsuit-judge-science-tutorial?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
shape="rect"
alt="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032018/climate-change-denial-monckton-soon-koonin-california-cities-lawsuit-judge-science-tutorial?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
target="_blank">submitted legal briefs<span> </span><span
style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">in a court
case over climate change-related costs,</span><span> </span>attacking
the 97% consensus</a>. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt
continues to look for ways to ignore or<span> </span><a
href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/03/14/stories/1060076249?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
shape="rect"
alt="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/03/14/stories/1060076249?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
target="_blank">undermine the scientific consensus</a>. And a
Heartland Institute spokesman has recently been<span> </span><a
href="http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/fiu-hosts-climate-change-denier-james-taylor-10189772?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
shape="rect"
alt="http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/fiu-hosts-climate-change-denier-james-taylor-10189772?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
target="_blank">invited to publicly debate climate change</a><span> </span>at
a Florida university.</span></div>
<div><span lang="EN-GB">Why has manufacturing doubt about the
scientific consensus been such a priority for opponents of
climate action? What kind of strategies have they employed? Most
importantly, how should science-based climate communicators
respond?</span></div>
<div><span lang="EN-GB">To answer these questions, 4C researchers
John Cook and Ed Maibach in collaboration with colleagues at
Cambridge University and Bristol University developed<span> </span><a
href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
shape="rect"
alt="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration:
underline;">The Consensus Handbook</a>. This concise,
practical booklet examines how opponents of climate action have
been attempting to misinform the public and policy makers about
the consensus for decades, and it explains why. Drawing on
numerous scientific studies, the handbook also recommends how to
respond to this misinformation campaign by effectively
communicating the extent of the scientific consensus, and it
provides guidance to climate scientists who are invited to
"debate" about climate change.</span></div>
<div><span lang="EN-GB">We encourage you to download and read<span> </span><a
href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
shape="rect"
alt="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email"
target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration:
underline;">The Consensus Handbook</a>, and share it with
others.</span></div>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf">https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Photos]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/portraits-of-suffering-and-resilience-in-puerto-rico-six-months-after-hurricane-maria/">Portraits
of Suffering and Resilience in Puerto Rico Six Months After
Hurricane Maria</a></b><br>
See how the storm has displaced thousands and transformed life on
the island.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/portraits-of-suffering-and-resilience-in-puerto-rico-six-months-after-hurricane-maria/">https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/portraits-of-suffering-and-resilience-in-puerto-rico-six-months-after-hurricane-maria/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Oops, more methane]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://climatenewsnetwork.net/23579-2/">Methane from
permafrost melt more than thought</a></b><br>
A key source of a powerful greenhouse gas, methane emissions from
permafrost, is producing much more than realised, scientists report.<br>
By Alex Kirby<br>
LONDON, 26 March, 2018 - Methane emissions are the source of the
greenhouse gas which, after carbon dioxide, probably causes
climatologists more sleepless nights than any of the other gases.
And now it appears they have quite a lot more to bother them than
they had realised.<br>
Methane is reckoned to be at least 30 times more powerful than CO2
at warming the Earth, with some estimates putting its potency much
higher still. The good news, research has suggested, is that there
is far less methane than CO2 in the atmosphere to worry about.<br>
The bad news, announced by an international research team, is that
previous calculations may have been seriously wrong, and that
thawing permafrost is likely to be producing appreciably more
methane than anyone had thought.<br>
The researchers were headed by Christian Knoblauch of the Centre for
Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) at the University of
Hamburg, Germany. Their findings, published in the journal Nature
Climate Change, make it possible to predict better how much of this
significant gas may be released by the thawing of the Arctic
permafrost.<br>
"Our study shows for the first time that the methane-forming
micro-organisms in the thawing permafrost have significant influence
on the greenhouse gas budget"<br>
Methane and carbon dioxide are both produced in thawing permafrost
as dead animal and plant remains decompose. But methane is formed
only in the absence of oxygen. Until now, scientists had also
thought that more greenhouse gases were formed when the ground was
dry and well aerated - in other words, when oxygen was available.<br>
So they did not expect much methane to be produced by the thawing
permafrost.<br>
What Dr Knoblauch and his colleagues have now shown is that
water-saturated permafrost soils without oxygen can be twice as
harmful to the climate as dry soils - which means the role of
methane has been greatly underestimated.<br>
They have, for what they say is the first time, measured in the
laboratory the long-term production of methane in thawing
permafrost. The team had to wait for three years before their
roughly forty-thousand-year-old samples from the Siberian Arctic
finally produced methane.<br>
They observed the permafrost for a total of seven years and found
that, without oxygen, equal amounts of methane and CO2 were
produced.<br>
A co-author of their report, Susanne Liebner, from the Helmholtz
Center Potsdam - GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, said:
"By combining process-based and molecular-microbiological methods,
our study shows for the first time that the methane-forming
micro-organisms in the thawing permafrost have significant influence
on the greenhouse gas budget."<br>
The team used the new data to improve a computer model that
estimates how much greenhouse gas is produced in permafrost in the
long term - and they compiled a first forecast: the permafrost soils
of northern Europe, northern Asia and North America, they say, could
produce up to one gigaton (one billion tons) of methane, and 37
gigatons of carbon dioxide, by 2100.<br>
Earlier studies have expressed concern about the interplay between
permafrost and global warming, and this latest research will be
exhaustively scrutinised as other teams try to corroborate, modify
or contradict it. That is how science works. And there are certainly
uncertainties that need resolving.<br>
For example, how deep will the soil actually have thawed by the end
of the century? Will it be wet or dry? What is certain, the team
concludes, is that the new data will enable more accurate
predictions to be made about the impacts of thawing permafrost on
the climate. - Climate News Network<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatenewsnetwork.net/23579-2/">https://climatenewsnetwork.net/23579-2/</a><br>
</font><br>
<br>
[Storm trauma]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-migration-fiji-psychology/for-uprooted-survivors-of-fijis-deadly-cyclone-mental-scars-linger-idUSKBN1H202S">For
uprooted survivors of Fiji's deadly cyclone, mental scars linger</a></b><br>
Laurie Goering<br>
SUVA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first wave that slammed into
the beach-front community of Nasau, on Fiji's Koro island, swept
away every home in view.<br>
The second tore away most of the concrete house where Rupeni Koto's
family - and eight others - were crammed together to ride out
Cyclone Winston, the southern hemisphere's first Category 5 storm.<br>
"The kids were terrified," he remembered. "I told them to hold onto
whatever you can."<br>
The third wave, the biggest yet, ripped his five-year-old daughter
from his arms, sending her floating away, clinging to a door. Around
her, the sea churned with trees and debris, and injured people swam
desperately toward a steep, brush-covered slope at the back of the
beach.<br>
Koto, 53, was one of the lucky ones. He, his wife and all four of
their children were washed toward the hillside, where they caught
hold of a collapsed tree.<br>
For six hours they clung there, the storm screaming around them,
unsure if they were the only people still alive in the village of
about 350.<br>
"We reached a stage where we were no longer afraid of death," Koto
remembered. "We had gone through so much."...<br>
more at: <font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-migration-fiji-psychology/for-uprooted-survivors-of-fijis-deadly-cyclone-mental-scars-linger-idUSKBN1H202S">https://www.reuters.com/article/us-migration-fiji-psychology/for-uprooted-survivors-of-fijis-deadly-cyclone-mental-scars-linger-idUSKBN1H202S</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-stark/global-warming-phooey_b_44407.html">This
Day in Climate History - March 27, 2007 </a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
March 27, 2007: In a post on CallingAllWingnuts.com about a recent
confrontation with Competitive Enterprise Institute honcho Myron
Ebell, blogger Mike Stark observes:<br>
<br>
"Upon reflection, I really think there are a couple of lessons for
progressives to be found in this five minute exchange.<br>
<br>
"First of all, when arguing with somebody that either has no
credibility or is not arguing a credible position, don't donate the
credibility they need to be seen as your equal."<br>
<br>
"You see, by calling his credibility into question immediately - and
not letting him up for air - well, I've got no proof, but I really
think that everyone in the room knew that Mr. Ebell had been
bettered. When we ask policy or science questions of these
charlatans, we give the impression that we care what they think. We
don't. We know they are rank liars, we're just wondering if they'll
be able to spin a sufficient answer. But these guys get millions of
dollars a year from the largest corporate titans precisely because
they have the skill to ink up the issue. Why let them show off?<br>
<br>
"Secondly, don't go out of your way to be nice or polite. Hell, I
won't afford these profit-gandists any respect on my blog, why the
hell should I do it face to face? A large part of their professional
career derives from their ability to mock me and the things I
believe in. The Competitive Enterprise Institute once liked global
warming to 'being invaded by space aliens' for example. By
addressing these people with the indignant scorn they deserve, you
project the moral superiority of your position. To many times it
seems that Democratic and progressive pundits are more interested in
being our opponents' friends than we are in vigorously arguing the
issues. In this media environment - when equal time is given to
global warming deniers... well, we just can't afford the small talk.<br>
<br>
"In the end, these guys are not good people. This isn't a case of
principled people disagreeing. At this point in the global warming
debate, the only principled disagreements to be had revolve around
what we should be doing to address the crisis. The Myron Ebells of
the world - the die-hard denialists... well, we need to move them
off the stage by marginalizing them at every opportunity."<br>
<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070422015640/http://www.callingallwingnuts.com/2007/03/27/global-warming-phooey/">http://web.archive.org/web/20070422015640/http://www.callingallwingnuts.com/2007/03/27/global-warming-phooey/</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-stark/global-warming-phooey_b_44407.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-stark/global-warming-phooey_b_44407.html</a></font><br>
<br>
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