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<i><font size="+1"><b>May 1, 2020</b></font></i><br>
<br>
[view from above]<br>
<b>A Satellite Lets Scientists See Antarctica's Melting Like Never
Before</b><br>
By Kendra Pierre-Louis, Henry Fountain and Denise Lu - April 30,
2020<br>
<br>
New data from space is providing the most precise picture yet of
Antarctica's ice, where it is accumulating most quickly and
disappearing at the fastest rate, and how the changes could
contribute to rising sea levels.<br>
The information, in a paper published on Thursday in the journal
Science, will help researchers better understand the largest driver
of ice loss in Antarctica, the thinning of floating ice shelves that
allows more ice to flow from the interior to the ocean, and how that
will contribute to rising sea levels. Researchers have known for a
long time that, while the continent is losing mass over all as the
climate changes, the change is uneven. It is gaining more ice in
some areas, like parts of East Antarctica, and losing it quickly in
others, in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula...<br>
- - -<br>
Floating ice shelves accounted for 30 percent of the ice loss in
West Antarctica, the researchers found.<br>
<br>
Floating ice is lost in two ways: by calving of icebergs and through
melting from underneath by a deep current of warmer water that
circulates around the continent.<br>
<br>
Floating ice is, by definition, already in the water, so when it
calves or melts it does not add to sea level rise. But ice shelves
act as buttresses against the grounded ice behind them; when they
thin they allow that ice to flow faster. And when the previously
grounded ice reaches the water, it adds to rising seas.<br>
<br>
Scientists are increasingly concerned that the loss of floating ice
in West Antarctica is causing more rapid flow of grounded ice in the
West Antarctic ice sheet, and that a portion of the sheet could
collapse over centuries, greatly increasing sea levels.<br>
<br>
The study looked at changes in the Greenland ice sheet as well.
Unlike Antarctica, where little ice is lost through surface melting
and runoff, as much as two-thirds of Greenland's ice is lost this
way.<br>
<br>
Using their elevation data, the researchers found that Greenland is
losing about 200 billion tons of mass each year on average. That's
enough to raise sea levels by about eight millimeters, or a third of
an inch, over the study period.<br>
<br>
The mass loss figure is roughly similar to other recent estimates.<br>
<br>
The study is the first to be published using data from ICESat-2,
which was designed to have an operating life of at least three
years. Many more studies are expected that should add to the
understanding of Earth's frozen expanses.<br>
<br>
"Where we're at in ice sheet science is, there are still a lot of
unknowns," Dr. Gardner said. One advantage of ICESat-2, he said, is
its ability to measure changes in some of the smallest ice sheet
features. That will help scientists better understand how the
changes are occurring and improve forecasts of future impacts as the
climate continues to shift.<br>
<br>
ICESat-2, he said, "reveals the process of change, and without
understanding those processes you have no ability to make
predictions."<br>
<br>
"It really just gives us this incredibly crisp, unified picture."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/30/climate/antarctica-ice-climate-change.html">https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/30/climate/antarctica-ice-climate-change.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[the New Yorker]<br>
<b>How to Combat Climate Depression</b><br>
By Bill McKibben<br>
April 30, 2020<br>
- - -<br>
The only way to combat this kind of depression may also be the only
way to combat the Depression now threatening our economy: an
all-encompassing, society-wide effort to build out renewable energy,
retrofit houses and offices for energy efficiency, and safeguard and
nurture our remaining working ecosystems. If we don't do it fast,
then the gloom of young people will be justified—and it's hard to
think of a more powerful indictment of older generations than that.
Their childlessness must not be our legacy.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/how-to-combat-climate-depression">https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/how-to-combat-climate-depression</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[information cartoon]<br>
<b>Debunking Cranky Uncle on the CO2 lag</b><br>
Apr 30, 2020<br>
John Cook<br>
Debunking of the "global warming has stopped over the last few
decades" myth, using cartoons from the Cranky Uncle vs. Climate
Change book: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://crankyuncle.com/book">http://crankyuncle.com/book</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTJ3MRsULVc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTJ3MRsULVc</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[a few reactions from Yale Climate Connections]<br>
<b>Michael Moore's 'Planet of the Humans' documentary peddles
dangerous climate denial</b><br>
The YouTube film offers outdated and wildly misleading information
on renewable energy, sacrificing progress in pursuit of unachievable
perfection.<br>
By Dana Nuccitelli - Friday, May 1, 2020<br>
Environmentalists and renewable energy advocates have long been
allies in the fight to keep unchecked industrial growth from
irreversibly ruining Earth's climate and threatening the future of
human civilization. In their new YouTube documentary "Planet of the
Humans," director Jeff Gibbs and producer Michael Moore argue for
splitting the two sides. Their misleading, outdated, and
scientifically sophomoric dismissal of renewable energy is perhaps
the most dangerous form of climate denial, eroding support for
renewable energy as a critical climate solution.<br>
<br>
"Planet of the Humans" by the end of April had more than 4.7 million
views and fairly high scores at the movie critic review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes. The documentary has received glowing reviews from
numerous climate "deniers" whose names are familiar to those in the
climate community, including Steve Milloy, Marc Morano, and James
Delingpole. Some environmentalists who have seen the movie are
beginning to oppose wind and solar projects that are absolutely
necessary to slow climate change.<br>
<br>
The film by these two "progressive" filmmakers may succeed where Fox
News and right-wing talk radio have failed: to undermine humanity's
last best hope for positive change. As energy journalist Ketan Joshi
wrote, the film is "selling far-right, climate-denier myths from
nearly a decade ago to left-wing environmentalists in the 2020s."<br>
<br>
The film follows Gibbs as he visits various green technology sites
in the United States and ostensibly learns that each one is just as
bad as the fossil fuel infrastructure that it would replace.
Unfortunately, the movie is littered with misleading, skewed, and
outdated scenes.<br>
<br>
"Planet of the Humans"' approach is fundamentally flawed - Gibbs
focuses almost exclusively on the imperfections of technologies like
solar panels, wind turbines, biomass, and electric cars without
considering their ability to reduce carbon and other pollutants. The
film suggests that because no source of energy is perfect, all are
bad, thus implying that the very existence of human civilization is
the problem while offering little in the way of alternative
solutions.<br>
- - -<br>
In one scene, author and film co-producer Ozzie Zehner falsely
asserts, "You use more fossil fuels [manufacturing renewables
infrastructure] than you're getting benefit from. You would have
been better off burning the fossil fuels in the first place instead
of playing pretend."<br>
<br>
That's monumentally wrong. A 2017 study in Nature Energy found that
when accounting for manufacturing and construction, the lifetime
carbon footprints of solar, wind, and nuclear power are about 20
times smaller than those of coal and natural gas, even when the
latter include expensive carbon capture and storage technology. The
energy produced during the operation of a solar panel and wind
turbine is 26 and 44 times greater than the energy needed to build
and install them, respectively. There are many life-cycle assessment
studies arriving at similar conclusions.<br>
<br>
The film's case is akin to arguing that because fruit contains
sugar, eating strawberries is no healthier than eating a cheesecake.<br>
- -<br>
It's true that natural gas is a fossil fuel. To reach zero
emissions, it must be replaced by renewables with storage and smart
grids. But thus far the path to grid decarbonization in the U.S. has
been a success story that the film somehow portrays as a failure.
Moreover, that decarbonization could be accelerated through policies
like pricing carbon pollution, but the film does not once put a
single second of thought into policy solutions.<br>
<br>
In perhaps its most absurd scene, Gibbs and Zehner visit a former
solar facility in Daggett, California, built in the mid-1980s and
replaced 30 years later. Gazing upon the sand-covered landscape of
the former facility, Gibbs declares in an ominous tone, "It suddenly
dawned on me what we were looking at: a solar dead zone."<br>
<br>
Daggett is located in the Mojave Desert. Sand is the natural
landscape. Solar farms don't create dead zones; in fact, some plants
thrive under the shade provided by solar panels.<br>
<br>
It suddenly dawned on me how hard the film was trying to portray
clean energy in a negative light.<br>
- - -<br>
<b>The bottom line</b><br>
Gibbs asks, "Is it possible for machines made by industrial
civilization to save us from industrial civilization?"<br>
<br>
Why not? Industrial civilization has a non-zero climate and
environmental footprint, but the impact of green technologies like
EVs, wind turbines, and solar panels is much smaller than the
alternatives. They represent humanity's best chance to avoid a
climate catastrophe.<br>
<br>
The filmmakers call for an end to limitless economic growth and
consumption. It's difficult to envision that goal being achieved
anytime soon, but even if it is, human civilization will continue to
exist and require energy. To avert a climate crisis, that energy
must be supplied by the clean renewable technologies pilloried in
the film. To expand on the earlier analogy, the filmmakers seem to
believe we should improve nutrition not by eating healthier foods
like strawberries, but rather by eating a bit less cheesecake.<br>
<br>
Like Fox News and other propaganda vehicles, the film presents one
biased perspective via carefully chosen voices, virtually all of
whom are comfortable white men. It applies an environmental purity
test that can seem convincing for viewers lacking expertise in the
topic. Any imperfect technology - which is every technology - is
deemed bad. It's a clear example of the perfect being the enemy of
the good. In reality, this movie is the enemy of humanity's last
best chance to save itself and countless other species from
unchecked climate change through a transition to cleaner
technologies.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/05/michael-moores-planet-of-the-humans-documentary-peddles-dangerous-climate-denial/">https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/05/michael-moores-planet-of-the-humans-documentary-peddles-dangerous-climate-denial/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[More on Moore - a new turncoat in the propaganda wars]<br>
The Nation has posted Josh Fox's impassioned critique of "Planet of
the Humans" under the headline, "Meet the New Flack for Oil and
Gas: Michael Moore": <br>
<b>Meet the New Flack for Oil and Gas: Michael Moore</b><br>
Planet of the Humans is wildly unscientific, outdated, full of
falsehoods, and benefits fossil fuel industry promoters and climate
deniers.<br>
By Josh FoxTwitter<br>
The Green New Deal lays out not only the route to a rapid
transformation away from fossil fuels but a host of important
transformations. It outlines the retraining of fossil fuel workers,
the creation of 20 million new jobs, delivering environmental
justice and healing to frontline communities, and holding the fossil
fuel industry accountable for the damage it has caused. It is an
intersectional call to justice.<br>
<br>
Moore's film ignores all of this and backs itself into a nihilistic,
apocalyptic corner. Then comes its most immoral and damning gambit:
the claim that reducing the population is among the only effective
remedies.<br>
<br>
We see old white male after old white male declaring there is no
solution to climate change except reducing the population. (With
this many white guys, we can only guess which groups of people are
supposed to stop reproducing.) We are told to face up to our own
apocalypse—that humans should "know when it's their time to go."<br>
<br>
The claim that it is all those overpopulated countries that are
causing the problem (especially coming from a boomer white guy in
Michigan) would be deeply problematic even in "normal" times. But in
the middle of a global pandemic that is killing a disproportionate
number of black and brown people, it is more than just racist. It
can be seen as an incitement to eco-fascist population controls.<br>
<br>
We shouldn't be surprised to see the pushers of population control
and the oil industry on the same side. But even this hides a much
darker truth: The fossil fuel industry is already engaged in a form
of population control—the murderous kind. Air pollution from the
fossil fuel industry kills a staggering 5-7 million people a year.
Every year. Jacobson and a team at The Solutions Project have
conducted a worldwide study to measure the health effects of
pollution. They concluded that if the world moved to renewable
energy the planet would collectively save $30 trillion in health
care costs—and more than 5 million lives.<br>
<br>
The fossil fuel industry is a global pandemic. Pollution caused by
the fossil fuels are also an inherent part of that other pandemic,
the coronavirus. From cancer alley in Louisiana to Queens, New
York—the most polluted areas in the country have far higher death
rates from Covid-19. Lung disease and heart disease are at the top
of the list of co-factors in coronavirus deaths—and these conditions
are often related to pollution from fossil fuels.<br>
<br>
Releasing this on the eve of Earth Day's 50th anniversary is like
Bernie Sanders endorsing Donald Trump while chugging
hydroxychloroquine. Planet of the Humans delivers all of the fossil
fuel industry's misinformation points tied up in a bow, sold to us
by one of the progressive left's loudest voices...<br>
- - <br>
Mike has had a lot of time to respond to these criticisms. Instead,
he's chosen to stick cotton in his ears and continue to promote his
campaign of falsehood and smears.<br>
<br>
Advocating population control when poor people are dying in droves
from the fossil fuel industry and the coronavirus is so insensitive
it's almost impossible to fathom. It's actually worse than the snake
oil Donald Trump peddles about Covid-19. Because we actually have a
cure for the fossil fuel pandemic—the Green New Deal and renewable
energy. But instead of advocating this cure, Michael Moore wants you
to join the doomsday death cult and drink the fracked Kool-Aid of
the fossil fuel industry...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/planet-humans-film-moore/">https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/planet-humans-film-moore/</a>.
<br>
<br>
<br>
[United Nations News]<br>
<b>FROM THE FIELD: Women act as 'agents of change' in climate
emergency</b><br>
Although a changing climate affects everyone, it is the world's most
vulnerable people, and especially women and girls, who bear the
brunt.<br>
<br>
They are more likely than men to suffer from the social,
environmental and economic impacts of a warming planet and can face
major barriers in accessing shelter, healthcare, energy and
education for their children.<br>
<br>
But now UN Women is partnering with other United Nations agencies to
demonstrate how women can bring around change.<br>
- -<br>
[Interactive data display site - UN Women]<br>
<b>Climate change is a women's issue</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/photo/climatechange/en/index.html">http://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/photo/climatechange/en/index.html</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[designed to entice]<br>
Become an FT subscriber to read:<br>
<b>FT Interview: Emmanuel Macron says it is time to think the
unthinkable</b><br>
France's president believes the coronavirus pandemic will transform
capitalism — but leaders need to act with humility<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.ft.com/content/3ea8d790-7fd1-11ea-8fdb-7ec06edeef84?segmentId=62dcad5f-4bd9-3cc2-a1e0-b169738e74ee">https://www.ft.com/content/3ea8d790-7fd1-11ea-8fdb-7ec06edeef84?segmentId=62dcad5f-4bd9-3cc2-a1e0-b169738e74ee</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
May 1, 1998 </b></font><br>
<p>The AP reports on a bogus petition allegedly claiming that 15,000
scientists reject the evidence of human-caused climate<br>
change.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?slug=2748308&date=19980501">http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?slug=2748308&date=19980501</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py2XVILHUjQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py2XVILHUjQ</a><br>
<br>
</p>
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