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<i><font size="+1"><b>June 26, 2020</b></font></i><br>
<br>
[The Guardian Opinion - Look to the North]<br>
<b>The Arctic heatwave: here's what we know</b><br>
Tamsin Edwards<br>
It's 38C in Siberia. The science may be complicated – but the need
for action now couldn't be clearer..<br>
- - <br>
[W]e can use this northern heatwave to illuminate the complexity of
our planet. We can break this question into parts, from fast to
slow.<br>
<br>
Fast: the immediate effect is to increase wildfires. Siberia has
seen "zombie fires" reignited from deep smouldering embers in
peatland. This is bad news, releasing particulate air pollution and
more carbon in 18 months than in the past 16 years. The immediate
cause? Here in the mid-high northern latitudes, we live in unstable
weather under the influence of the polar jet stream. This rapid
current of air high above our heads drags weather in a conveyor belt
from west to east, with alternating patches of cold and warm air,
low and high pressure. Sometimes the weather patterns get stuck,
creating a stable period of weather, like a heatwave. This is one
long, severe example...<br>
- -<br>
The real fear around the Arctic for the longer term, I find when
talking to people, comes from the idea of "runaway" warming from
methane release. Warming could release stores of methane – a strong
greenhouse gas – from permafrost or frozen sediments at the bottom
of the ocean, which would add to the warming from our own
activities. There is more than twice the amount of carbon in the
permafrost as in the atmosphere, and thawing has already begun...<br>
- - <br>
Perhaps there is one simple story though: every bit of warming we
avoid will help keep our planet a more familiar and an easier place
to live on.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/25/arctic-heatwave-38c-siberia-science">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/25/arctic-heatwave-38c-siberia-science</a><br>
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<br>
[another serious legal challenge]<br>
<b>DC Is the Latest to Sue Exxon and Big Oil for Climate
Disinformation Campaigns</b><br>
By Dana Drugmand - Thursday, June 25, 2020...<br>
- -<br>
According to D.C.'s Deputy Attorney General in the Public Advocacy
Division, Kate Konopka, the District did not coordinate with
Minnesota and was not even aware of Attorney General Ellison's
lawsuit until it was filed yesterday. The D.C. Attorney General Karl
Racine has been investigating Big Oil and ExxonMobil in particular
for potential fraud for the past several years, as had attorneys
general in New York and Massachusetts.<br>
<br>
The investigations followed groundbreaking investigative reporting
in 2015 revealing the extent of Exxon's early knowledge of climate
change. Over the last five years researchers and journalists have
uncovered even more evidence demonstrating not only what fossil fuel
companies knew about climate science and when, but how they worked
to conceal that knowledge and create a false impression of
scientific uncertainty. <br>
<br>
"The remarkable thing about these cases is how much evidence we have
even before we get to discovery," Kert Davies, founder and director
of the watchdog group Climate Investigations Center, told DeSmog.
"We have a mountain of evidence of what they knew and what they did
to deceive the public about the threat of climate change. And yet
we've only scratched the surface."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/06/25/district-columbia-fraud-lawsuit-exxon-oil-climate-disinformation">https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/06/25/district-columbia-fraud-lawsuit-exxon-oil-climate-disinformation</a><br>
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[BBC Future Planet]<br>
<b>A 'mass experiment' for the climate</b><br>
Has the pandemic helped individuals and leaders get any closer to
tackling the environmental crisis?<br>
"I was so worried about the dangers of going too far," says Sally
Capp, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, when she now thinks about her
pre-pandemic leadership on the environment. The leader of
Australia's second most populated city believes Covid-19 has helped
her clarify what's important to her as an individual and as mayor.
"I have become much more resolute about my values, prioritising
humanity and protecting the environment, so they can play a larger
role in driving my agenda."<br>
<br>
The pandemic has created the most significant economic shock since
the Great Depression, besides being a public health crisis like no
other in living memory. The existential threat that it has posed has
set many individuals, cities and national leaders on a new track. In
Capp's case, it has meant taking very different decisions on the
environment, leading in a way that focuses on what's truly
important. Capp believes this trend needs to continue post Covid-19.<br>
<br>
There is indeed a large movement to "build back better" from the
pandemic in a way that confronts the climate crisis. Attitudes are
changing. But however good our intentions as individuals, it will
take determined moves by industry, national and local government to
modify the environment so that we can all build on any attitude
changes. Has the pandemic helped us make the changes needed to
tackle the environmental crisis?<br>
- -<br>
Turning point<br>
<br>
However, Wood believes the massive disruption in our routines caused
by the pandemic may present an opportunity for us to move to a more
sustainable lifestyle, but only if leaders are willing to take
decisive steps to alter the cues around us. Otherwise, we are likely
to slip into old patterns. Wood is on an advisory board of the Los
Angeles Metro and focuses on helping get people in LA out their cars
and into the habit of using mass transit. However, as mass transit
is not a healthy option right now, there is a search for other
sustainable alternatives. "My impassioned appeal to the transit
authority is to start opening the streets to scooters, cycles and
pedestrians," she says, "but so far, they've only agreed to open 20
miles of road, a drop in the ocean of LA's freeways"....<br>
- - -<br>
A recent global Ipsos Mori poll found a recognition by the public
that individuals aren't the biggest actors in the story of climate
change.<br>
<br>
"There has always been a huge focus on behaviour change when it
comes to global warming mitigation, but now the public is demanding
that industry and government pull their weight," says Jessica Long,
the pollster's head of sustainability. In the May 2020 poll, three
in four people polled across 16 countries expect their government to
make protection of the environment a priority when planning a
recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. <br>
- - <br>
Long says across the countries that Ipsos Mori polled in 2019 "the
number one global issue was the environment. <b>Four out of five
people polled felt that we are headed towards an environmental
disaster". </b>What took Long and her pollster colleagues by
surprise were the results of the recent polling which indicates that
Covid-19 hasn't detracted from this. "Over 70% of respondents across
the world report that, in the long term, climate is as serious a
crisis as Covid-19. In April 2020 poll, well over half of the
international sample said that they would be put off voting for a
political party whose policies didn't deal seriously with climate
change.<br>
<br>
Are political leaders ready to take more radical action to protect
the planet and address man-made climate change? This challenge is
especially pertinent when many of them are negotiating one the most
challenging economic landscapes in living memory alongside mass
unemployment. In addition, with many people feeling public transport
is no longer safe, there are pressures to allow private cars greater
freedom in the city, which could roll back sustainable city
improvements made over decades...<br>
- - <br>
Perhaps the change will be driven by cities, not countries. Mark
Watts leads C40, a network of the world's megacities committed to
addressing climate change. Since Covid-19 he has been convening a
bi-weekly meetings of the big city mayors to discuss tackling the
epidemic and how to manage a green recovery. Watts told me the sense
of possibility is palatable, even in a virtual meeting. "The mayors
are treating this time as a massive game-changing moment. This
epidemic experience will have been the greatest pressure that most
of these individuals have been under, as hundreds of thousands of
people have been dying in their cities. But with increased public
trust in government, they are sensing this is the moment they have
to be strong and bold to take radical steps to protect our
environment."...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200624-has-covid-19-brought-us-closer-to-stopping-climate-change">https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200624-has-covid-19-brought-us-closer-to-stopping-climate-change</a><br>
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<p><br>
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<p>[opinion - because wood burns]<br>
<b>THE TRAGEDY OF NORTH AMERICAN DEFORESTATION</b><br>
Mike Roddy - Alameda, Ca<br>
Americans' habit of building houses with lumber is a 19th century
relic, and a method rarely used in the rest of the world...Our
houses last an average of 60 years. Houses in Asia, Europe, and
South America are designed to last for centuries, since they
feature concrete, steel, and masonry. American houses are cheap,
but are they really?
<br>
- -<br>
It's time to take a good look at ourselves. Avoiding construction
of death traps in forested areas is a good place to start.<br>
<a
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xjr6VA3jVi-pn1osziTKup46GoxXP55mRRZE1UXJJZs/edit"
target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xjr6VA3jVi-pn1osziTKup46GoxXP55mRRZE1UXJJZs/edit</a>
</p>
<p><br>
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<p> </p>
[Resilience discussions]<br>
<b>What Could Possibly Go Right? | Episode 2 with Bill McKibben</b><br>
postcarboninstitute<br>
In today's episode, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben shares
his perspectives on "What Could Possibly Go Right?" including:<br>
<br>
Learning from the pain and trauma of the current crises in a
destabilized planet.<br>
<br>
Reconnecting with the physical reality of the world outside of our
online lives.<br>
<br>
Knowing speed matters in our response to climate change, as well as
understanding that actions will be disruptive but necessary.<br>
<br>
Recognizing that social solidarity and a unified, fair society is
what's required to tackle big issues like climate change.<br>
<br>
Being aware of the new scariest words in the English language.<br>
<br>
Realizing the opportunity in channeling the large unemployed labor
force towards activities to transform our energy system and response
to climate<br>
Learn more: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://bit.ly/pci-wcpgrseries">https://bit.ly/pci-wcpgrseries</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnx0OiOnnHw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnx0OiOnnHw</a>
<p> </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[3rd UK serious discussion to reach zero emissions]<br>
<b>Net Zero Home School Day 3: Nature and Land in Net Zero</b><br>
June 25, 2020<br>
Oxford Climate Society<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vopEyqhmNE4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vopEyqhmNE4</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
June 26, 2006 </b></font><br>
The Associated Press reports:<br>
<blockquote>"The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether the
Bush administration must regulate carbon dioxide to combat global
warming, setting up what could be one of the court's most
important decisions on the environment.<br>
<br>
"The decision means the court will address whether the
administration's decision to rely on voluntary measures to combat
climate change are legal under federal clean air laws.<br>
<br>
"'This is the whole ball of wax. This will determine whether the
Environmental Protection Agency is to regulate greenhouse gases
from cars and whether EPA can regulate carbon dioxide from power
plants,' said David Bookbinder, an attorney for the Sierra Club.<br>
<br>
"Bookbinder said if the court upholds the administration's
argument it also could jeopardize plans by California and 10 other
states, including most of the Northeast, to require reductions in
carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.<br>
<br>
"There was no immediate comment from either the EPA or White House
on the court's action.<br>
<br>
"’Fundamentally, we don't think carbon dioxide is a pollutant, and
so we don't think these attempts are a good idea,’ said John
Felmy, chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute, a
trade group representing oil and gas producers.<br>
<br>
"A dozen states, a number of cities and various environmental
groups asked the court to take up the case after a divided lower
court ruled against them.<br>
<br>
"They argue that the Environmental Protection Agency is obligated
to limit carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles under the
federal Clean Air Act because as the primary ‘greenhouse'’ gas
causing a warming of the earth, carbon dioxide is a pollutant.<br>
<br>
"The administration maintains that carbon dioxide -- unlike other
chemicals that must be controlled to assure healthy air -- is not
a pollutant under the federal clean air law, and that even if it
were the EPA has discretion over whether to regulate it.<br>
<br>
"A federal appeals court sided with the administration in a
sharply divided ruling.<br>
<br>
"One judge said the EPA's refusal to regulate carbon dioxide was
contrary to the clean air law; another said that even if the Clean
Air Act gave the EPA authority over the heat-trapping chemical,
the agency could choose not to use that authority; a third judge
ruled against the suit because, he said, the plaintiffs had no
standing because they hadn't proven harm.<br>
<br>
"Carbon dioxide, which is release when burning fossil fuels such
as coal or gasoline, is the leading so-called 'greenhouse' gas
because as it drifts into the atmosphere it traps the earth's heat
-- much like a greenhouse. Many scientists cite growing evidence
that this pollution is warming the earth to a point of beginning
to change global climate."<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/washington/AP-Scotus-Greenhouse-Gases.html?pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/washington/AP-Scotus-Greenhouse-Gases.html?pagewanted=print</a>
<br>
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