<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<i><font size="+1"><b>May 26, 2020</b></font></i><br>
<br>
[Map of heatwave]<br>
<b>Red alert for northern Siberia as heat shocks threaten life on
tundra</b><br>
New temperature maps for the endless stretches of Russian Arctic
lands bear witness of unprecedented warming.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/sites/default/files/temperature.jan-april2020.jpg">https://thebarentsobserver.com/sites/default/files/temperature.jan-april2020.jpg</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic-ecology/2020/05/red-alert-northern-siberia-heat-shocks-threaten-life-tundra">https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic-ecology/2020/05/red-alert-northern-siberia-heat-shocks-threaten-life-tundra</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[disinformation wars]<br>
<b>Michael Moore film Planet of the Humans removed from YouTube</b><br>
British environmental photographer's copyright claim prompts website
to remove film that has been condemned by climate scientists<br>
<p>Jonathan Watts - Mon 25 May 2020<br>
</p>
<p>YouTube has taken down the controversial Michael Moore-produced
documentary Planet of the Humans in response to a copyright
infringement claim by a British environmental photographer.</p>
The movie, which has been condemned as inaccurate and misleading by
climate scientists and activists, allegedly includes a clip used
without the permission of the owner Toby Smith, who does not approve
of the context in which his material is being used.<br>
<br>
In response, the filmmakers denied violating fair usage rules and
accused their critics of politically motivated censorship.<br>
<br>
Smith filed the complaint to YouTube on 23 May after discovering
Planet of the Humans used several seconds of footage from his Rare
Earthenware project detailing the journey of rare earth minerals
from Inner Mongolia.<br>
<br>
Smith, who has previously worked on energy and environmental issues,
said he did not want his work associated with something he disagreed
with. "I went directly to YouTube rather than approaching the
filmmakers because I wasn't interested in negotiation. I don't
support the documentary, I don't agree with its message and I don't
like the misleading use of facts in its narrative."<br>
<br>
Planet of the Humans director Jeff Gibbs said he was working with
YouTube to resolve the issue and have the film back up as soon as
possible.<br>
<br>
He said in a statement: "This attempt to take down our film and
prevent the public from seeing it is a blatant act of censorship by
political critics of Planet of the Humans. It is a misuse of
copyright law to shut down a film that has opened a serious
conversation about how parts of the environmental movement have
gotten into bed with Wall Street and so-called "green capitalists."
There is absolutely no copyright violation in my film. This is just
another attempt by the film's opponents to subvert the right to free
speech."<br>
Planet of the Humans, which has been seen by more than 8 million
people since it was launched online last month, describes itself as
a "full-frontal assault" on the sacred cows of the environmental
movement.<br>
<br>
Veteran climate campaigners and thinkers, such as Bill McKibben and
George Monbiot, have pointed out factual errors, outdated footage
and promotion of myths about renewable energy propagated by the
fossil fuel industry. Many are dismayed that Moore - who built his
reputation as a left-wing filmmaker and supporter of civil rights -
should produce a work endorsed by climate sceptics and right-wing
thinktanks.<br>
<br>
Several have signed a letter urging the removal of what they called
a "shockingly misleading and absurd" documentary. Climate scientist
Michael Mann said the filmmakers "have done a grave disservice to us
and the planet" with distortions, half-truths and lies.<br>
<br>
On Moore's official YouTube channel, the usual link to the film has
been replaced by a page noting "Video unavailable. This video is no
longer available due to a copyright claim by a third party." On the
Planet of the Humans website, the link to the full movie is also
dead, though the trailers and other video material are functioning
as normal.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/26/michael-moore-film-planet-of-the-humans-removed-from-youtube">https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/26/michael-moore-film-planet-of-the-humans-removed-from-youtube</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[North West of Washington State]<br>
<b>How the Blob Is Warming British Columbia's Fjords</b><br>
Waters are warming faster than the global average.<br>
by Nicola Jones<br>
May 25, 2020 <br>
For those who have braved swimming in British Columbia's
spectacular, glacier-fed fjords, "warm" is probably not a word that
springs to mind. But at least four of British Columbia's fjords are
real hotspots for climate change. Since the 1950s, they've warmed up
to six times faster than the rest of the ocean, according to new
data.<br>
<br>
Oceanographer Jennifer Jackson of the Hakai Institute* is preparing
the data for publication and has been presenting it in a lecture
tour for the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society that
started this January.<br>
<br>
One cause of the rampant warming is a marine heatwave known as the
Blob that hit the northeast Pacific starting in 2013. About 3 ˚C
warmer than usual, this patch of water stretched all the way from
Alaska to California. No one knows exactly what caused the Blob to
form, though it had something to do with higher air pressures, lower
winds, and calm conditions that didn't mix and cool waters as usual.
Climate change is making marine heatwaves like the Blob more likely
and more frequent.<br>
<br>
In 2016, researchers declared the Blob dead. But the data Jackson
analyzed suggests this was premature. The Blob actually sank, she
says: the mass of warm water dropped more than a hundred meters
below the surface. At depth, the warmth of the Blob lingered until
at least March 2018. And that deep, warm water has seeped into the
fjords.<br>
<br>
Jackson has data from four of the more than 50 fjords that cut into
the BC mainland. These four--Rivers Inlet, Knight Inlet, Bute Inlet,
and Douglas Channel (see map)--are among the best-studied fjords in
the world. From 1951 to 2019, the deep water (at a depth of more
than 200 meters) warmed by around 0.18 ˚C per decade, a rate six
times higher than the global average for water at that depth.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.hakaimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/map-tale-4-fjords.png">https://www.hakaimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/map-tale-4-fjords.png</a><br>
Unfortunately, that accumulated heat is unlikely to go away anytime
soon. Though winter storms typically cause water to mix, which
brings the heat trapped in deeper water up to the surface, the warm
masses in these fjords are lurking too deep for storms to reach,
Jackson says. This is bad news for the salmon that swim through the
fjords because it means their food supply may shift to smaller, less
nutritious zooplankton that thrive in warmer water. "Those are like
junk food for salmon," she says.<br>
<br>
Warm waters are a challenge for salmon off the BC coast, confirms
William Cheung, a marine ecologist at the University of British
Columbia; they can't tolerate too much heat, he says. Cheung's
recent modeling work shows that in a marine heatwave year, the mass
of sockeye salmon off the coast of Alaska and British Columbia is
expected to decline by 10 percent.<br>
<br>
Jackson says forces other than marine heatwaves are making life
difficult for salmon. She has as-yet unpublished data showing that
some of these fjords also suffer from having layers of water with
basically no oxygen, probably because of spring algae blooms. "Some
of it is really alarming," says Jackson.<br>
<br>
Fjords around the world are vulnerable to the effects of climate
change given their intimate connections to the ocean, their long
fingers inland, and the glaciers at their heads. In Greenland, for
example, melting ice has made fjord water much fresher, creating a
cap that prevents deep water from being refreshed. In Patagonia, an
increase in organic matter flowing down rivers into fjords seems to
have lowered the oxygen content in the water. In British Columbia,
the Blob added a particular twist to the tale.<br>
<br>
In the summer of 2019, researchers noted another "blob" off the west
coast. It was actually even warmer than the Blob, though the warm
layer was relatively thin and didn't last nearly as long, says
climatologist Nick Bond of the University of Washington.<br>
<br>
Bond, who gave the warming phenomenon its nickname, says he suspects
we'll be seeing a lot more marine heatwaves like the Blob in the
future. Bond applauds Jackson's team for keeping tabs on what's
going on at depth because while changes in ocean surface
temperatures are easier to spot, he says, "the deeper effects can
last longer."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/how-the-blob-is-warming-british-columbias-fjords/">https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/how-the-blob-is-warming-british-columbias-fjords/</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Paul Beckwith video]<br>
<b>World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Report: The Global
Climate in 2015 - 2019</b><br>
May 25, 2020<br>
Paul Beckwith<br>
Recently the World Meteorological Organization published their 5
year update: "The Global Climate in 2015 - 2019", comparing this
period with the previous 5 year period and historical records.
Clearly, key climate change elements including greenhouse gas
levels, atmospheric and ocean temperatures, Greenland, Antarctica,
and alpine glacier ice mass loss, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and
extreme events including tropical cyclones, floods, tornadoes, etc.
are rapidly worsening. I chat on the main findings of this report by
focusing on the figures, both in this video and the next.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzdxUH3gEhY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzdxUH3gEhY</a><br>
- - <br>
[Source matter Press Release]<br>
<b>Global Climate in 2015-2019: Climate change accelerates</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/global-climate-2015-2019-climate-change-accelerates">https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/global-climate-2015-2019-climate-change-accelerates</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Classic rants]<br>
<b>Can meaningful hope spring from revealing the depth of our
climate failure? Kevin Anderson</b><br>
Jan 29, 2020<br>
Extinction Rebellion<br>
Peel away the layers of dangerously naïve hope and unfounded
optimism and the mitigation challenge posed by the Paris Agreement
now demands the rapid and profound re-shaping of contemporary
society. Whilst the models dominating the mitigation agenda employ
evermore exotic and speculative technologies to remain 'politically
palatable', the arithmetic of emissions increasingly embeds equity
at the heart of any mathematically cogent strategy. Dress it up
however we may like, the Parisian mitigation agenda is ultimately a
rationing issue. Until we are prepared to acknowledge this, we will
continue our reckless pathway towards a 3-5°C future. <br>
<br>
Against such a depressing backdrop, do the rapid emergence of new
and vociferous constituencies and the heightened profile of climate
change suggest early cracks and the prospect of new light?<br>
<br>
Professor Kevin Anderson - University of Manchester (UK) and Uppsala
University (Sweden) - speaking at St. Mary's Church Welcome Centre
Walthamstow hosted by XR Waltham Forest. Tuesday 21st January 2020.
<br>
- - - <br>
<b>Kevin Anderson discusses negative emissions at UNFCCC</b><br>
Nov 21, 2017<br>
Nick Breeze<br>
Find more on <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://climateseries.com">http://climateseries.com</a> &
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://envisionation.co.uk">http://envisionation.co.uk</a><br>
Youba Sokona (Chair), University College London, UK and South
Centre, Switzerland<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqjRk8pDnzY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqjRk8pDnzY</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[a mystery of glacier science]<br>
<b>Say Hello to 'Glacier Mice,' a Herd of Mysterious Moving Moss
Balls</b><br>
In some places around the world, you can find bright green balls of
moss scattered across glaciers. That picture is incredible all by
itself, but what is truly mind-boggling is that this colony of moss
balls moves. All at about the same speeds and in the same
directions.<br>
<br>
The glacier moss balls are commonly referred to as "glacier mice,"
and were the subject of a recent study published online in Polar
Biology this month. According to a report from NPR, each ball
resembles a soft, wet and squishy pillow of moss. The study's
authors believe that they develop from impurities on ice surfaces
and represent a relatively rare phenomenon.<br>
<br>
One of the authors, Tim Bartholomaus, a glaciologist at the
University of Idaho, told NPR that he remembered thinking, "What the
heck is this!" when he first stumbled upon the mice in 2006 around
the Root Glacier in Alaska.<br>
<br>
"They're not attached to anything and they're just resting there on
ice," Bartholomaus said. "They're bright green in a world of white."<br>
They don't stay at rest for long, though. Bartholomaus said that the
glacier moss balls in the study moved about an inch per day on
average. Sophie Gilbert, a wildlife ecologist at the University of
Idaho and another one of the study's coauthors, noted that movement
is a necessity for the glacier moss balls because the entire surface
of the ball must periodically get exposed to the sun.<br>
<br>
"These things must actually roll around or else that moss on the
bottom would die," Gilbert said.<br>
<br>
If you're like me and also wanted to see these mice moving, you can
check out a video of glacier mice from the Root Glacier below. The
video is not related to the study but is still very cool to watch.
It also shows glacier mice in some pretty funny (and inappropriate)
positions. Make your own conclusions.<br>
Glacier mice aren't new and have been spotted in Alaska, Iceland,
Svalbard and South America. Scientists have known about them since
at least the 1950s. However, despite knowing that these mysterious
glacier moss balls exist, scientists still have a lot to learn about
them.<br>
<br>
One of the biggest questions is why the mice, which can live for at
least six years, move the way they do. Some scientists believed the
key could be in ice pedestals, which could form because the ball
protects the ice underneath it and prevents it from melting as fast
as the surrounding ice. According to this theory, the ball would
eventually fall off the ice pedestal and roll away.<br>
<br>
To try to get to the bottom of this, the researchers decided to
track 30 glacier moss balls in Alaska and tagged each ball with a
small loop of wire with colored beads. Per NPR, they tracked the
location of each ball for 54 days in 2009 and then returned to check
on them in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Although they expected that the
balls would be in random places from rolling off ice pedestals, this
was not the case.<br>
The glacier moss balls moved together. Bartholomaus compared this to
a herd of wildebeest stampeding the Serengeti, a school of fish, or
a flock of birds. The researchers tried to explain this strange
finding in many ways. First, they thought the balls had rolled
downhill, but later found that they weren't going down a slope.
Then, they thought the wind was blowing them in consistent
directions. But when they measured the dominant direction of the
wind, that didn't explain it either.<br>
<br>
And finally, they considered the sun, which melts the ice and makes
the glacier moss balls move, but the direction of incoming solar
radiation didn't align with the direction the balls were going in.
The researchers still don't know why the glacier moss balls move the
way they do.<br>
<br>
"It's always kind of exciting, though, when things don't comply with
your hypothesis, with the way you think things work," Gilbert said.<br>
<br>
Bartholomaus said that he hopes that one day, future generations
will "get to the bottom of these great mysteries." As for him, he's
eager to know why glacier moss balls move in herd motions and how
old they are<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/say-hello-to-glacier-mice-a-herd-of-mysterious-moving-1843646913">https://earther.gizmodo.com/say-hello-to-glacier-mice-a-herd-of-mysterious-moving-1843646913</a><br>
- - -<br>
[source material]<br>
<b>Rolling stones gather moss: movement and longevity of moss balls
on an Alaskan glacier</b><br>
Scott Hotaling, Timothy C.Bartholomaus, Sophie L. Gilbert<br>
29 April 2020 Springer Nature <br>
<b>Abstract</b><br>
Glaciers support diverse ecosystems that are largely comprised of
microbial life. However, at larger, macroscopic scales, glacier moss
balls (sometimes called "glacier mice") can develop from impurities
on ice surfaces and represent a relatively rare biological
phenomenon. These ovoid-shaped conglomerations of dirt and moss are
only found on some glacier surfaces and provide key habitats for
invertebrate colonization. Yet, despite their development and
presence being widely reported, no studies of their movement and
persistence across years have been conducted. This knowledge gap is
particularly important when considering the degree to which glacier
moss balls may represent viable, long-term biotic habitats on
glaciers, perhaps complete with their own ecological succession
dynamics. Here, we describe the movement and persistence of glacier
moss balls on the Root Glacier in southcentral Alaska, USA. We show
that glacier moss balls move an average of 2.5 cm per day in
herd-like fashion initially to the south and later towards the
southwest, and their movements are positively correlated with
glacier ablation. Surprisingly, the dominant moss ball movement
direction does not align with the prevailing wind or downslope
directions, nor with the dominant direction of solar radiation.
After attaining a mature size, glacier moss balls persist for many
years, likely in excess of years. Finally, we observed moss ball
formation on the Root Glacier to occur within a narrow, low albedo
stripe downwind of a nunatak, a potential key source of moss spores
and/or fine-grained sedi-ment that interact to promote their
formation..<br>
- -<br>
<b>Conclusion </b><br>
In this study, we extended previous research on glacier moss balls
to quantify their movement and persistence on an Alaskan glacier. We
showed that glacier moss balls move relatively quickly, at a rate of
centimeters per day, in herdlike fashion. However, we could not
explain the direction of moss ball movement by considering the
physical surface of the glacier (i.e., the downslope direction), the
intensity of glacier ice ablation, and patterns of solar radiation.
Thus, it appears a still unknown external force influences glacier
moss ball movement on the Root Glacier.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6?sharing_token=HN75pdcTvlF-_qsfv-ejJPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5WBKeqwPhH-J_RhmuMGX2k3CByeg6kB7QTeIlLQSOoB6DjLsODKdvpBOXYhu0izw-R4ZZso2efOF9pMLeCch14qWcomyhamEEkykx_VMBcm4ktfWg4Zvv0uPCad7ye94s%3D">https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02675-6?sharing_token=HN75pdcTvlF-_qsfv-ejJPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5WBKeqwPhH-J_RhmuMGX2k3CByeg6kB7QTeIlLQSOoB6DjLsODKdvpBOXYhu0izw-R4ZZso2efOF9pMLeCch14qWcomyhamEEkykx_VMBcm4ktfWg4Zvv0uPCad7ye94s%3D</a><br>
[perhaps related to dust bunnies?]<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Two books - one question]<br>
<b>Book Review: Why Science Denialism Persists</b><br>
REPUBLISH<br>
Two new books explore what motivates people to reject science -- and
why it's so hard to shake deep-seated beliefs.<br>
BY ELIZABETH SVOBODA<br>
05.22.2020<br>
<br>
TO HEAR SOME EXPERTS tell it, science denial is mostly a
contemporary phenomenon, with climate change deniers and vaccine
skeptics at the vanguard. Yet the story of Galileo Galilei reveals
just how far back denial's lineage stretches.<br>
<br>
BOOK REVIEW -- "Galileo and the Science Deniers," by Mario Livio
(Simon & Schuster, 304 pages).<br>
<br>
Years of astronomical sightings and calculations had convinced
Galileo that the Earth, rather than sitting at the center of things,
revolved around a larger body, the sun. But when he laid out his
findings in widely shared texts, as astrophysicist Mario Livio
writes in "Galileo and the Science Deniers," the ossified Catholic
Church leadership -- heavily invested in older Earth-centric
theories -- aimed its ire in his direction.<br>
<br>
Rather than revise their own maps of reality to include his
discoveries, clerics labeled him a heretic and banned his writings.
He spent the last years of his life under house arrest, hemmed in by
his own insistence on the expansiveness of the cosmos.<br>
<br>
Nearly 400 years later, the legacy of denial remains intact in some
respects. Scientists who publish research about climate change or
the safety of genetically modified crops still encounter the same
kind of pushback from deniers that Galileo did. Yet denialism has
also sprouted some distinctly modern features: As Alan Levinovitz
points out in "Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to
Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science," sometimes we
ourselves can become unwitting purveyors of denial, falling prey to
flawed or false beliefs we may not realize we're holding.<br>
<br>
Levinovitz passionately protests the common assumption that natural
things are inherently better than unnatural ones. Not only do people
automatically tend to conclude organic foods are healthier, many
choose "natural" or "alternative" methods of cancer treatment over
proven chemotherapy regimens. Medication-free childbirth, meanwhile,
is now considered the gold standard in many societies, despite mixed
evidence of its health benefits for mothers and babies...<br>
- - <br>
"The art of celebrating humanity and nature," he concludes, depends
on "having the courage to embrace paradox." His quest to puncture
the myth of the natural turns out to have been dogmatic in its own
way.<br>
<br>
In acknowledging this, Levinovitz hits on something important. When
deniers take up arms, it's tempting to follow their lead: to use
science to build an open-and-shut case that strikes with the
finality of a courtroom witness pointing out a killer.<br>
<br>
But as Galileo knew -- and as Levinovitz ultimately concedes --
science, in its endlessly unspooling grandeur, tends to resist any
conclusion that smacks of the absolute. "What only science can
promise," Livio writes, "is a continuous, midcourse self-correction,
as additional experimental and observational evidence accumulates,
and new theoretical ideas emerge."<br>
<br>
In their skepticism of pat answers, these books bolster the case
that science's strength is in its flexibility -- its willingness to
leave room for iteration, for correction, for innovation. Science is
an imperfect vehicle, as any truth-seeking discipline must be. And
yet, as Galileo would have noted, it moves.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/24/why-science-denialism-persists_partner/">https://www.salon.com/2020/05/24/why-science-denialism-persists_partner/</a><br>
<br>
- - <br>
<br>
[forget that, here's what the Church says]<br>
<b>The Galileo Controversy</b><br>
It is commonly believed that the Catholic Church persecuted Galileo
for abandoning the geocentric (earth-at-the-center) view of the
solar system for the heliocentric (sun-at-the-center) view.<br>
<br>
The Galileo case, for many anti-Catholics, is thought to prove that
the Church abhors science, refuses to abandon outdated teachings,
and is not infallible. For Catholics, the episode is often an
embarrassment. It shouldn't be.<br>
<br>
This tract provides a brief explanation of what really happened to
Galileo.<br>
<br>
<b>Anti-scientific?</b><br>
The Church is not anti-scientific. It has supported scientific
endeavors for centuries. During Galileo's time, the Jesuits had a
highly respected group of astronomers and scientists in Rome. In
addition, many notable scientists received encouragement and funding
from the Church and from individual Church officials. Many of the
scientific advances during this period were made either by clerics
or as a result of Church funding.<br>
<br>
Nicolaus Copernicus dedicated his most famous work, On the
Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, in which he gave an excellent
account of heliocentrism, to Pope Paul III. Copernicus entrusted a
preface to Andreas Osiander, a Lutheran clergyman who knew that
Protestant reaction to it would be negative, since Martin Luther
seemed to have condemned the new theory. Ten years prior to Galileo,
Johannes Kepler published a heliocentric work that expanded on
Copernicus's work. As a result, Kepler also found opposition among
his fellow Protestants for his heliocentric views and found a
welcome reception among some Jesuits who were known for their
scientific achievements.<br>
<br>
<b>Clinging to Tradition?</b><br>
Anti-Catholics often cite the Galileo case as an example of the
Church refusing to abandon outdated or incorrect teaching, and
clinging to a "tradition." They fail to realize that the judges who
presided over Galileo's case were not the only people who held to a
geocentric view of the universe. It was the received view among
scientists at the time.<br>
<br>
Centuries earlier, Aristotle had refuted heliocentrism, and by
Galileo's time, nearly every major thinker subscribed to a
geocentric view. Copernicus refrained from publishing his
heliocentric theory for some time, not out of fear of censure from
the Church but out of fear of ridicule from his colleagues.<br>
<br>
Many people wrongly believe Galileo proved heliocentrism. He could
not answer the strongest argument against it, which had been made
nearly two thousand years earlier by Aristotle: If heliocentrism
were true, then there would be observable parallax shifts in the
stars' positions as the earth moved in its orbit around the sun.
However, given the technology of Galileo's time, no such shifts in
their positions could be observed. It would require more sensitive
measuring equipment than was available in Galileo's day to document
the existence of these shifts, given the stars' great distance.
Until then, the available evidence suggested that the stars were
fixed in their positions relative to the earth, and, thus, that the
earth and the stars were not moving in space--only the sun, moon,
and planets were. Most astronomers in that day were not convinced of
the great distance of the stars that the Copernican theory required
to account for the absence of observable parallax shifts. This is
one of the main reasons why the respected astronomer Tycho Brahe
refused to adopt Copernicus fully.<br>
<br>
Galileo could have safely proposed heliocentrism as a theory or a
method to more simply account for the planets' motions. His problem
arose when he stopped proposing it as a scientific theory and began
proclaiming it as truth, though there was no conclusive proof of it
at the time. Even so, Galileo would not have been in so much trouble
if he had chosen to stay within the realm of science and out of the
realm of theology.<br>
<br>
In 1614, Galileo felt compelled to answer the charge that this "new
science" was contrary to certain Scripture passages. His opponents
pointed to Bible passages with statements like, "And the sun stood
still, and the moon stayed . . ." (Josh. 10:13). This is not an
isolated occurrence. Psalms 93 and 104 and Ecclesiastes 1:5 also
speak of celestial motion and terrestrial stability. A literalistic
reading of these passages would have to be abandoned if the
heliocentric theory were adopted. Yet this should not have posed a
problem. As Augustine put it, "One does not read in the Gospel that
the Lord said: 'I will send you the Paraclete who will teach you
about the course of the sun and moon.' For he willed to make them
Christians, not mathematicians." Following Augustine's example,
Galileo urged caution in not interpreting these biblical statements
too literally.<br>
<br>
Unfortunately, throughout Church history, there have been those who
insist on reading the Bible in a more literal sense than it was
intended. They fail to appreciate, for example, instances in which
Scripture uses what is called "phenomenological" language--that is,
the language of appearances. Just as we today speak of the sun
rising and setting to cause day and night, rather than the earth
turning, so did the ancients. From an earthbound perspective, the
sun does appear to rise and appear to set, and the earth appears to
be immobile. When we describe these things according to their
appearances, we are using phenomenological language.<br>
<br>
The phenomenological language concerning the motion of the heavens
and the non-motion of the earth is obvious to us today but was less
so in previous centuries. Scripture scholars of the past were
willing to consider whether particular statements were to be taken
literally or phenomenologically, but they did not like being told by
a non-Scripture scholar, such as Galileo, that the words of the
sacred page must be taken in a particular sense.<br>
<br>
During this period, personal interpretation of Scripture was a
sensitive subject. In the early 1600s, the Church had just been
through the Reformation experience, and one of the chief quarrels
with Protestants was over individual interpretation of the Bible.<br>
<br>
Theologians were not prepared to entertain the heliocentric theory
based on a layman's interpretation. There is little question that if
Galileo had kept the discussion within the accepted boundaries of
astronomy (i.e., predicting planetary motions) and had not claimed
physical truth for the heliocentric theory, the issue would not have
escalated to the point it did. After all, he had not proved the new
theory beyond reasonable doubt.<br>
<br>
<b>Galileo "Confronts" Rome</b><br>
Galileo came to Rome to see Pope Paul V (r. 1605-1621). The pope
turned the matter over to the Holy Office, which issued a
condemnation of Galileo's theory in 1616. Things returned to
relative quiet for a time, until Galileo forced another showdown.<br>
<br>
At Galileo's request, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit--one of
the most important Catholic theologians of the day--issued a
certificate that, although it forbade Galileo to hold or defend the
heliocentric theory, did not prevent him from conjecturing it. When
Galileo met with the new pope, Urban VIII, in 1623, he received
permission from his longtime friend to write a work on
heliocentrism, but the new pontiff cautioned him not to advocate the
new position, only to present arguments for and against it. When
Galileo wrote the Dialogue on the Two World Systems, he used an
argument the pope had offered and placed it in the mouth of his
character Simplicio. Galileo had mocked the very person he needed as
a benefactor. He also alienated his long-time supporters, the
Jesuits, with attacks on one of their astronomers. The result was
the infamous trial, which is still heralded as the final separation
of science and religion.<br>
<br>
<b>Tortured for His Beliefs?</b><br>
In the end, Galileo recanted his heliocentric teachings, but it was
not--as is commonly supposed--under torture, nor after a harsh
imprisonment. Galileo was, in fact, treated surprisingly well.<br>
<br>
As historian Giorgio de Santillana, who is not overly fond of the
Catholic Church, noted, "We must, if anything, admire the
cautiousness and legal scruples of the Roman authorities." Galileo
was offered every convenience possible to make his imprisonment in
his home bearable.<br>
<br>
Galileo's friend Nicolini, Tuscan ambassador to the Vatican, sent
regular reports to the court regarding affairs in Rome. Nicolini
revealed the circumstances surrounding Galileo's "imprisonment" when
he reported to the Tuscan king: "The pope told me that he had shown
Galileo a favor never accorded to another" (letter dated Feb. 13,
1633); "he has a servant and every convenience" (letter, April 16);
and "the pope says that after the publication of the sentence he
will consider with me as to what can be done to afflict him as
little as possible" (letter, June 18).<br>
<br>
While instruments of torture may have been present during Galileo's
recantation (this was the custom of the legal system in Europe at
that time), they definitely were not used. The records demonstrate
that Galileo could not be tortured because of regulations laid down
in The Directory for Inquisitors (Nicholas Eymeric, 1595). This was
the official guide of the Holy Office, the Church office charged
with dealing with such matters, and was followed to the letter.<br>
<br>
As noted scientist and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead remarked,
in an age that saw a large number of "witches" subjected to torture
and execution by Protestants in New England, "the worst that
happened to the men of science was that Galileo suffered an
honorable detention and a mild reproof."<br>
<br>
<b>Infallibility</b><br>
Although three of the ten cardinals who judged Galileo refused to
sign the verdict, his works were eventually condemned.
Anti-Catholics often assert that his conviction and later
rehabilitation somehow disproves the doctrine of papal
infallibility, but this is not the case, for the pope never tried to
make an infallible ruling concerning Galileo's views.<br>
<br>
The Church has never claimed ordinary tribunals, such as the one
that judged Galileo, to be infallible. Church tribunals have
disciplinary and juridical authority only; neither they nor their
decisions are infallible.<br>
<br>
No ecumenical council met concerning Galileo, and the pope was not
at the center of the discussions, which were handled by the Holy
Office. When the Holy Office finished its work, Urban VIII ratified
its verdict but did not attempt to engage infallibility.<br>
<br>
Three conditions must be met for a pope to exercise the charism of
infallibility: (1) he must speak in his official capacity as the
successor of Peter; (2) he must speak on a matter of faith or
morals; and (3) he must solemnly define the doctrine as one that
must be held by all the faithful.<br>
<br>
In Galileo's case, the second and third conditions were not present,
and possibly not even the first. Catholic theology has never claimed
that a mere papal ratification of a tribunal decree is an exercise
of infallibility. It is a straw man argument to represent the
Catholic Church as having infallibly defined a scientific theory
that turned out to be false. The strongest claim that can be made is
that the Church of Galileo's day issued a non-infallible
disciplinary ruling concerning a scientist who was advocating a new
and still-unproven theory and demanding that the Church change its
understanding of Scripture to fit his.<br>
<br>
It is a good thing that the Church did not rush to embrace Galileo's
views, because it turned out that his ideas were not entirely
correct, either. Galileo believed that the sun was not just the
fixed center of the solar system but the fixed center of the
universe. We now know that the sun is not the center of the universe
and that it does move--it simply orbits the center of the galaxy
rather than the earth.<br>
<br>
Had the Catholic Church rushed to endorse Galileo's views--and there
were many in the Church who were quite favorable to them--the Church
would have embraced what modern science has disproved.<br>
<br>
NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials<br>
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.<br>
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004<br>
<br>
IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827<br>
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.<br>
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-galileo-controversy">https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-galileo-controversy</a><br>
<br>
<p> </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[The Guardian article from 2019 still important]<b><br>
</b><b>Climate Change Is Making Us Sicker, And We Need to Talk About
It</b><br>
<br>
EMILY HOLDEN IN WASHINGTON, THE GUARDIAN 22 SEPTEMBER 2019<br>
The climate crisis is making people sicker - worsening illnesses
ranging from seasonal allergies to heart and lung disease.<br>
<br>
Children, pregnant people and the elderly are the most at risk from
extreme weather and rising heat. But the impact of the climate
crisis - for patients, doctors and researchers - is already being
felt across every specialty of medicine, with worse feared to come.<br>
<br>
"There's research suggesting that our prescription medications may
be causing harm because of changing heat patterns," said Aaron
Bernstein, a pediatric hospitalist who is the co-director of the
Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard
University.<br>
<br>
"There's evidence that extreme weather events are affecting critical
medical supplies so we can't do things as we normally would do
because IV fluids aren't available.<br>
<br>
"And there's evidence that extreme weather events are knocking out
power more and more, and that is a huge issue for providing care in
healthcare facilities."<br>
<br>
In a recent example, a study in the Journal of the American Medical
Association found that lung cancer patients undergoing radiation
were less likely to survive when hurricane disasters disrupted their
treatments.<br>
<br>
An August article in the New England Journal of Medicine lays out
dozens of similar studies to show how the climate crisis affects
each practice of medicine.<br>
<br>
Renee Salas, a co-author of the report, who teaches emergency
medicine at Harvard Medical School said: "The climate crisis is
impacting not only health for our patients but the way we deliver
care and our ability to do our jobs. And that's happening today."<br>
<br>
Allergies<br>
Climate change makes allergies worse.<br>
<br>
As temperatures increase, plants produce more pollen for longer
periods of time, intensifying the allergy seasons. Increased
concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can make plants
grow more and cause more grass pollen, which causes allergies in
about 20 percent of people. Carbon dioxide can also increase the
allergy-causing effects of pollen.<br>
<br>
Neelu Tummala, an ear, nose and throat specialist at the George
Washington Medical Faculty Associates in Washington DC, said she
sees many patients with allergic rhinitis, or inflammation of the
nasal cavity, congestion and post-nasal drip.<br>
<br>
"It used to be that tree pollens were only in spring, grasses were
just in summer, ragweed was just in fall," Tummala said. "But the
timing of those is starting to overlap more."<br>
<br>
One of Tummala's patients, Kelly Kenney, had minor seasonal
allergies as a child but now suffers from year-round from sinus
pains, ear pressure and congestion.<br>
<br>
"The last four years, my symptoms have gotten increasingly worse,"
Kenney said.<br>
<br>
Pregnancy and newborn complications<br>
Pregnant people are more vulnerable to heat and the air pollution
that is being made worse by climate change.<br>
<br>
Bruce Bekkar, a San Diego-based obstetrician gynaecologist who
stopped practising six years ago to spend more time as a climate
activist, has compiled 68 studies from the continental US on the
association between heat, smog and the tiny particles of pollution
that come from fossil fuels and how they are connected with
premature birth, low birth weight and stillbirth.<br>
<br>
More smog forms when it is hot, and some research suggests
particulate matter also increases with the climate crisis, although
the data is less robust.<br>
<br>
Bekkar said he and his co-authors found a significant association in
58 of the 68 studies. The body of research covers 30 million births
in the US.<br>
<br>
Bekkar said doctors should talk to their patients about how heat
waves could lead to premature births and how staying away from air
pollution can help them keep their children healthy.<br>
<br>
"We're finding that we have increasing numbers of children born
already in a weakened state from heat and air pollution. That's a
totally different story than thinking about climate change as the
cause of hurricanes over Florida … It's a much more pervasive and
ongoing impact."<br>
<br>
In the developing world pregnant people can also suffer from food
and water scarcity. Insect-borne illnesses - such as the Zika virus,
which was spread by mosquitoes - are also a hazard to developing
fetuses.<br>
<br>
Heart and lung disease<br>
Air pollution gets worse as temperatures rise, stressing both the
heart and lungs. The fossil fuel pollution that causes the climate
crisis also is linked with increased hospitalisations and deaths
from cardiovascular disease, and it is connected with more asthma
attacks and other breathing problems.<br>
<br>
More intense wildfires spew dangerous smoke into the air, as
documented in the western US this year. And hotter days make more
smog, which the American Lung Association describes as acting "like
a sunburn on your lungs which may trigger an asthma attack".<br>
<br>
Risks for children<br>
Children under the age of five experience the majority of the health
burden from climate change, according to Salas' report.<br>
<br>
Samantha Ahdoot, a paediatrician in Alexandria, Virginia, treated an
11-year-old and a 13-year-old who moved from Florida after a
hurricane destroyed their community and their medical records at
their doctor's office.<br>
<br>
One needed surgery for a heart condition and had to start from
scratch with a new cardiologist. Both had
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that was harder to
treat amid the major life disruption and without records on
adjustments to medication dosages.<br>
<br>
Ahdoot, who also founded the group Virginia Clinicians for Climate
Action, said she has seen an influx of families moving because of
weather disasters.<br>
<br>
Dehydration and kidney problems<br>
Much hotter days make it harder to stay hydrated. They are linked
with electrolyte imbalances, kidney stones and kidney failure.
Patients who need dialysis as their kidneys fail can have trouble
getting treatment during extreme weather events.<br>
<br>
Skin disease<br>
Higher temperatures and the depletion of the ozone layer increase
the risk of skin cancer. The same refrigerants and gases that damage
the ozone layer contribute to climate change.<br>
<br>
Digestive illnesses<br>
Heat is linked with higher risks for salmonella and campylobacter
outbreaks. Extreme rains can contaminate drinking water. Harmful
algae blooms that thrive in higher temperatures can cause
gastrointestinal problems, too.<br>
<br>
Infectious disease<br>
Changing temperature and rainfall patterns allow some insects spread
farther and transmit malaria, dengue, Lyme disease and West Nile
virus. Waterborne cholera and cryptosporidiosis increase with
drought and flooding.<br>
<br>
Mental health conditions<br>
The American Psychological Association created a 69-page guide on
how climate change can induce stress, depression and anxiety. The
group says "the connections with mental health are often not part"
of the climate-health discussion.<br>
<br>
People exposed to or displaced by extreme weather or violent
conflict are at higher risk for mental health challenges. Extreme
heat can also make some mental illnesses worse.<br>
<br>
The University of Maryland's Howard Center for Investigative
Journalism found emergency calls relating to psychiatric conditions
increased about 40 percent in Baltimore in summer 2018, when the
heat index surged above 103 F (39 C), as reported on NPR.<br>
<br>
And some psychotropic medications interfere with the body's ability
to regulate temperature - increasing vulnerability to heat.<br>
<br>
Neurologic disease<br>
Fossil fuel pollution can increase the risk of stroke. Coal
combustion also produces mercury - a neurotoxin for fetuses.
Diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks increase the chance of
neurological problems.<br>
<br>
Extreme heat is also linked with cerebrovascular disease, a disorder
that affects blood supply to the brain.<br>
<br>
Nutrition<br>
Carbon dioxide emissions are lowering the nutritional density of
food crops, reducing plant levels of protein, zinc and iron and
leading to more nutritional deficiencies. Food supplies are also
disrupted by drought, societal instability and inequity linked with
climate change.<br>
<br>
Trauma<br>
Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, floods and wildfires,
often cause physical injuries. Doctors see minor fractures, crush
injuries and smoke inhalation.<br>
<br>
Extreme heat is also linked with aggression and violence, and the
climate crisis globally is connected with violent conflict and
forced migration.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.sciencealert.com/climate-change-is-making-us-sicker-and-we-need-to-talk-about-it">https://www.sciencealert.com/climate-change-is-making-us-sicker-and-we-need-to-talk-about-it</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p> </p>
<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
May 26, 1990 </b></font><br>
<p>The New York Times covers the release of the First
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report:<br>
<br>
"A panel of scientists warned today that unless emissions of
carbon dioxide and other harmful gases were immediately cut by
more than 60 percent, global temperatures would rise sharply over
the next century, with unforeseeable consequences for humanity.<br>
<br>
"While much of the substance of the report has already been
disclosed, the report had immediate political consequences. Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, breaking with the Bush
Administration's skepticism over the need for immediate action,
said today that if other countries did their part, Britain would
reduce the projected growth of its carbon dioxide emissions enough
to stabilize them at 1990 levels by the year 2005."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/26/world/scientists-urge-rapid-action-on-global-warming.html">http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/26/world/scientists-urge-rapid-action-on-global-warming.html</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/<br>
<br>
/Archive of Daily Global Warming News <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html"><https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html></a>
/<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote">https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote</a><br>
<br>
/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:subscribe@theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request"><mailto:subscribe@theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request></a>
to news digest./<br>
<br>
*** Privacy and Security:*This is a text-only mailing that carries
no images which may originate from remote servers. Text-only
messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and sender.<br>
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for
democratic and election purposes and cannot be used for commercial
purposes.<br>
To subscribe, email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:contact@theclimate.vote">contact@theclimate.vote</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:contact@theclimate.vote"><mailto:contact@theclimate.vote></a>
with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe, subject: unsubscribe<br>
Also you 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><br>
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://TheClimate.Vote">http://TheClimate.Vote</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://TheClimate.Vote/"><http://TheClimate.Vote/></a>
delivering succinct information for citizens and responsible
governments of all levels. List membership is confidential and
records are scrupulously restricted to this mailing list.<br>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>