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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>March 30, 2020</b></font></i></p>
[Bloomberg]<br>
<b>Professor Sees Climate Mayhem Lurking Behind Covid-19 Outbreak</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/coronavirus-can-t-keep-the-world-s-climate-satellites-down">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/coronavirus-can-t-keep-the-world-s-climate-satellites-down</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[Important thinking]<br>
<b>Nafeez Ahmed on Synchronous Failure and Post-Pandemic Systems
Change</b><br>
By Asher Miller, Nafeez Ahmed, originally published by
Resilience.org<br>
March 30, 2020<br>
As the pandemic grows, governments and communities are not only
struggling to minimize loss of life and protect our fragile
healthcare and economic systems, they are wrestling with questions
about how we can recover when this storm eventually passes.<br>
<br>
But how many people are thinking about the larger context of this
crisis? How many recognize that this pandemic--or some other shock
to our interconnected and brittle global systems--could trigger a
massive "phase change," and utterly remake the world as we know it?<br>
<br>
I spoke with investigative journalist and systems thinker Nafeez
Ahmed about these critical questions.<br>
<br>
Nafeez and I discuss frameworks for understanding how the pandemic
relates to the larger, systemic environmental, energy, economic, and
political challenges we face--including Thomas Homer-Dixon's concept
of "Synchronous Failure," Joseph Tainter's "Collapse of Complex
Societies," C.S. Holling's "Adaptive Life Cycle," and Naomi Klein's
"Shock Doctrine." But far from being an abstract, academic
exploration, Nafeez and I explore the real-world implications of
these forces at play, and provide a call-to-action when we re-enter
a world that has been transformed by COVID-19.<br>
<br>
Please give it a watch or if you'd rather give it a listen on your
favorite podcasting app, we've also released the interview on Crazy
Town. Oh, and share with your friends and loved ones if you find it
worth a listen.<br>
<br>
We at Post Carbon Institute are closely monitoring the global
COVID-19 pandemic and encouraging our staff, volunteers, and broader
community to take great caution and practice social distancing.
We'll do our best to share insights and resources--ones grounded in
PCI's dedication to helping humanity address the broader
sustainability crises of the 21st century and build a just and
resilient future.<br>
<br>
Our team at resilience.org has and will continue to publish
important and timely essays on what the pandemic means for our
communities and the larger, systemic crises our societies face.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-03-30/nafeez-ahmed-on-synchronous-failure-and-post-pandemic-systems-change/">https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-03-30/nafeez-ahmed-on-synchronous-failure-and-post-pandemic-systems-change/</a><br>
- - -<br>
[long video interview]<br>
<b>Synchronous Failure: Nafeez Ahmed on the cascading effects of
COVID-19 and the whole system changing</b><br>
Mar 26, 2020<br>
postcarboninstitute<br>
PCI Executive Director Asher Miller speaks with investigative
journalist Nafeez Ahmed about how the coronavirus pandemic could
trigger a massive "phase change," and utterly remake the world as we
know it.<br>
<br>
Nafeez has been an investigative journalist for nearly 20 years.
He's formerly a Guardian environment writer who has also written for
The Independent, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, New Statesman, and
others. He's currently 'system shift' columnist at VICE, and
Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute. Check out his article
on the topics discussed in this interview here: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://t.ly/qmgxm">https://t.ly/qmgxm</a>.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ef-XDFlRZM4&feature=emb_logo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ef-XDFlRZM4&feature=emb_logo</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Krugman Opinion]<br>
<b>Covid-19 Brings Out All the Usual Zombies</b><br>
Why virus denial resembles climate denial.<br>
By Paul Krugman<br>
March 28, 2020<br>
Let me summarize the Trump administration/right-wing media view on
the coronavirus: It's a hoax, or anyway no big deal. Besides, trying
to do anything about it would destroy the economy. And it's China's
fault, which is why we should call it the "Chinese virus."<br>
<br>
Oh, and epidemiologists who have been modeling the virus's future
spread have come under sustained attack, accused of being part of a
"deep state" plot against Donald Trump, or maybe free markets.<br>
<br>
Does all this give you a sense of deja vu? It should. After all,
it's very similar to the Trump/right-wing line on climate change.
Here's what Trump tweeted back in 2012: "The concept of global
warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S.
manufacturing noncompetitive." It's all there: it's a hoax, doing
anything about it will destroy the economy, and let's blame China.<br>
<br>
And epidemiologists startled to find their best scientific efforts
denounced as politically motivated fraud should have known what was
coming. After all, exactly the same thing happened to climate
scientists, who have faced constant harassment for decades.<br>
- - - <br>
But I suspect that the disastrous response to Covid-19 has been
shaped less by direct self-interest than by two indirect ways in
which pandemic policy gets linked to the general prevalence of
zombie ideas in right-wing thought.<br>
<br>
First, when you have a political movement almost entirely built
around assertions that any expert can tell you are false, you have
to cultivate an attitude of disdain toward expertise, one that
spills over into everything. Once you dismiss people who look at
evidence on the effects of tax cuts and the effects of greenhouse
gas emissions, you're already primed to dismiss people who look at
evidence on disease transmission.<br>
<br>
This also helps explain the centrality of science-hating religious
conservatives to modern conservatism, which has played an important
role in Trump's failure to respond.<br>
<br>
Second, conservatives do hold one true belief: namely, that there is
a kind of halo effect around successful government policies. If
public intervention can be effective in one area, they fear --
probably rightly -- that voters might look more favorably on
government intervention in other areas. In principle, public health
measures to limit the spread of coronavirus needn't have much
implication for the future of social programs like Medicaid. In
practice, the first tends to increase support for the second.<br>
As a result, the right often opposes government interventions even
when they clearly serve the public good and have nothing to do with
redistributing income, simply because they don't want voters to see
government doing anything well.<br>
<br>
The bottom line is that as with so many things Trump, the awfulness
of the man in the White House isn't the whole story behind terrible
policy. Yes, he's ignorant, incompetent, vindictive and utterly
lacking in empathy. But his failures on pandemic policy owe as much
to the nature of the movement he serves as they do to his personal
inadequacies.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/opinion/coronavirus-trump-response.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/opinion/coronavirus-trump-response.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[As the air gets cleaner, the temperature rises. Video explains it
well - this is fundamental climate science]<br>
<b>Global Dimming Paradox: Are we facing an abrupt temperature
spike?</b><br>
Mar 29, 2020<br>
Just Have a Think<br>
Global Warming is taking a rare back seat in the news right now, as
we deal with the more immediate existential crisis afflicting our
civilisation and way of life. But as entire countries are getting
shut down around the world, with the rapid reduction of emissions
that this causes, is the global dimming paradox about to be tested?
Will we see an abrupt spike in temperatures that tips our earth
systems into an irreversible cascade of warming feedbacks?<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emn1hBSHUfQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emn1hBSHUfQ</a><br>
- - -<br>
[Double checking the science]<br>
<b>Fact-Check: is "global dimming" shielding us from catastrophe?</b><br>
-<br>
And what about the often-mentioned temperature jump in the US after
September 11th, 2001? This was likely more to do with the impact of
the disappearance in contrail clouds (the thin strips of cloud left
behind by planes) on the temperature difference between night and
day (with warmer days and cooler nights), with no evidence for an
overall warming effect. It also represents an aerosol-cloud effect
that is specific to aeroplanes, and wouldn't apply in the same way
to shutting down power stations.<br>
<br>
Finally, a key problem with avoiding limiting aerosol emissions by
keeping heavy polluters going is that further carbon emissions
guarantees further warming anyway, even if part of it continues to
be hidden by aerosols. Overall it's probably worth experiencing a
decade's worth of global warming from reduced aerosols now instead
of inexorably building up ever more decades of warming from
continued carbon emissions in the future.<br>
<br>
Summary<br>
While the total removal of human-made aerosols theoretically leads
to a short-term warming of up to ~0.4oC (and ~0.6oC by 2100), an
abrupt end to all aerosol emissions at once is very unlikely and
other feedbacks would reduce this warming bump too. Decarbonisation
will take decades, and aerosols come from a wide variety of sources
beyond just the heaviest emitting power stations. Recent IPCC
modelling projects that even a rapid phase out of aerosol emissions
would lead to a temporary ~0.2oC of warming - the equivalent of
around a decade more of the current warming trend - which is
preferable to carrying on emitting carbon indefinitely instead and
is less likely to trigger any tipping points.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://climatetippingpoints.info/2019/04/15/fact-check-is-global-dimming-shielding-us-from-catastrophe/">https://climatetippingpoints.info/2019/04/15/fact-check-is-global-dimming-shielding-us-from-catastrophe/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>[Video interview - grief is change that we did not want]<br>
<b>"We Are Grieving the World We Have Now Lost" Says a Grief
Expert | Amanpour and Company</b><br>
Amanpour and Company<br>
Grief is a natural part of the human condition. Amidst the
pandemic, many people worldwide are united in their sadness. David
Kessler, author of "Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief," is
one of the world's foremost experts on loss and healing. He tells
Michel Martin about how we can share our pain across these new
boundaries, and what he learned from the loss of his own mother
and son.<br>
Originally aired on March 26, 2020.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOZAnbzFuA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOZAnbzFuA</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
March 30, 2011 </b></font><br>
<br>
President Obama addresses energy and climate change in a speech at
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpRTtfmXXLY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpRTtfmXXLY</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/30/remarks-president-americas-energy-security">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/30/remarks-president-americas-energy-security</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/greenfront/2011/03/joseph-romm.html">http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/greenfront/2011/03/joseph-romm.html</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/03/30/207788/drinking-game-for-obama-energy-speech-today/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/03/30/207788/drinking-game-for-obama-energy-speech-today/</a><br>
<br>
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