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<i><font size="+1"><b>August 14, 2020</b></font></i><br>
<br>
[Fires]<br>
<b>Extreme wildfire rips through California, forcing evacuations<br>
</b>An explosive fire is threatening more than 200 homes located
north of Los Angeles. The pandemic is complicating evacuation
procedures, and a dangerous heat wave is moving in. <b><br>
</b><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/extreme-wildfire-rips-through-california-forcing-evacuations/">https://www.cbsnews.com/video/extreme-wildfire-rips-through-california-forcing-evacuations/</a><b><br>
</b><b>- -<br>
</b><b>Denver weather: Expect smoky skies Friday as multiple
wildfires burn in Colorado</b><br>
An air quality alert for the Denver metro area and the Front Range
has been issued through 4 p.m. Friday<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/14/denver-weather-smoky-skies-colorado-wildfires/">https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/14/denver-weather-smoky-skies-colorado-wildfires/</a><br>
- -<br>
<b>Pine Gulch fire update: Wildfire outside Grand Junction grows to
68,000 acres overnight</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/13/pine-gulch-fire-update-august-13/">https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/13/pine-gulch-fire-update-august-13/</a><br>
- - <br>
<b>Columbia River Gorge wildfire prompts evacuations, grows to over
800 acres</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/08/columbia-river-gorge-wildfire-prompts-evacuations-grows-to-800-acres.html">https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/08/columbia-river-gorge-wildfire-prompts-evacuations-grows-to-800-acres.html</a>-
-
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[NYTimes]<br>
<b>How Facebook Handles Climate Disinformation</b><br>
Critics say a company policy that exempts opinion articles from
fact-checking amounts to a huge loophole for climate change deniers.<br>
<br>
That's because, under the company's guidelines, climate content can
be classified as opinion and therefore exempted from fact-checking
procedures.<br>
<br>
The policy means that peer-reviewed science can be lumped into the
same category as industry statements and even blatant
disinformation. In September, for example, the CO2 Coalition, a
nonprofit group that says increased carbon emissions are good for
the planet, successfully overturned a fact-check when Facebook
quietly labeled its post as "opinion."<br>
- -<br>
Facebook said in a statement that it has tripled the number of staff
working on safety and security issues since 2016. Mr. Stone noted
that the company produces quarterly, publicly-available reports that
describe how much policy-violating content it removes.<br>
<br>
"When someone posts content based on false facts -- even if it's an
op-ed or editorial -- it is still eligible for fact-checking," Mr.
Stone said in a statement in response to this article. "We're
working to make this clearer in our guidelines so our fact checkers
can use their judgment to determine whether it is an attempt to mask
false information under the guise of opinion."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/climate/climate-facebook-fact-checking.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/climate/climate-facebook-fact-checking.html</a><br>
<p>- - -<br>
</p>
[Oh really?]<br>
<b>Facebook tells Elizabeth Warren it has two different standards
for climate fact-checking</b><br>
Warren is still pushing back<br>
By Justine Calma - Aug 13, 2020, <br>
Facebook says its third-party fact-checking partners "do review and
rate climate misinformation, and there has never been a prohibition
against them doing so," in a response to criticism from Democratic
senators. Facebook will continue its policy of exempting "clear
opinion content" from fact-checking, the letter says. The senators
are unsatisfied.<br>
<br>
In the response, which was shared exclusively with The Verge, the
tech behemoth says it does not consider all climate change content
"opinion." But opinion articles about climate change don't receive
fact-checking, a policy Facebook says it began in 2016...<br>
<p>"We asked Facebook leadership to close the loopholes that let
climate disinformation spread on their platforms," Senators
Elizabeth Warren, Tom Carper, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Brian Schatz
said in a statement. "Their response: we should trust them to make
and follow their own rules and procedures, even if it results in
the distortion of facts and the mass dissemination of falsehoods.
The future of our planet is at stake, and there should be no
company too big, too powerful, and too opaque to be held
accountable for its role in the climate crisis. Facebook is no
exception."</p>
<p>Facebook has been accused of allowing climate denial to fester on
its platform. Last August, it removed a "false" rating from an
op-ed published by the Washington Examiner that cast doubt on the
accuracy of climate change models. Initially, Facebook's
independent fact checker flagged the article as "highly
misleading" because it included inaccurate information and
cherry-picked data. But the CO2 Coalition, a non-profit group
created by former Trump advisor William Happer, protested the
rating.Facebook ultimately caved, E&E News reported in June.
According to E&E News, Facebook created a de facto loophole
for opinion articles to escape fact checking. But Facebook says
that this was the policy the entire time.<br>
</p>
As a result of the dust-up, the senators wrote a letter to Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg on July 15th. They objected to the alleged
loophole and demanded Facebook explain how the decision to change
the rating was made. "The climate crisis and environmental
degradation are not matters of opinion," they wrote.<br>
<br>
"Placing statements that are verifiably false in an opinion section
shouldn't grant immunity from fact-checking," Scott Johnson, a
science editor at one of Facebook's third-party fact-checkers called
Science Feedback, told The New York Times in July.<br>
<br>
Facebook has told its independent fact-checkers that opinion content
is not subject to fact-checking, the company said in response to the
senators. (The company told The New York Times that the policy has
been in place since 2016.) "However, when someone presents content
based on underlying false information as opinion -- even in the form
of an op-ed or editorial -- it is still eligible for fact-checking,"
it added.<br>
<br>
In their letter, the senators asked if disinformation around climate
change is treated differently than fake COVID-19 posts -- and if so,
why. Climate change misinformation isn't a priority for Facebook,
Andy Stone, Facebook's policy communications director, told The New
York Times in July. Instead, the company is most concerned with more
immediate threats like hate speech or coronavirus disinformation.<br>
<br>
Climate change is expected to lead to an additional 250,000 deaths
every year between 2030 and 2050 because of malnutrition, malaria,
diarrhea, and heat stress, according to the World Health
Organization.<br>
<br>
The Democratic senators aren't the only ones worried about the
damage that lies about climate change could do. A majority of polled
voters think Facebook should label opinion articles containing false
information about climate change as false, according to a recent
survey by the think tank Data for Progress.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21368136/facebook-climate-change-fact-check-senators-warren">https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21368136/facebook-climate-change-fact-check-senators-warren</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Psychotherapist Ro Randall thought you might be interested in some
short videos] <br>
<b>'Coping with the Climate Crisis'</b> where I talk about the
emotional dimensions of our responses to the emergency.<br>
<blockquote>1. Disavowal - everyday denial <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/xMH3SgO4rKY">https://youtu.be/xMH3SgO4rKY</a><br>
2. Climate distress and anxiety <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/sRCPjBYX_dk">https://youtu.be/sRCPjBYX_dk</a><br>
3. Loss and Grief <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/dHIEwsFBvSA">https://youtu.be/dHIEwsFBvSA</a><br>
4. Supporting others <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/HUPZLCPXF78">https://youtu.be/HUPZLCPXF78</a><br>
5. Hope and despair <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://youtu.be/yTjnibYegTM">https://youtu.be/yTjnibYegTM</a><br>
6. Climate journeys <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIlkFrngYL4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIlkFrngYL4</a><br>
</blockquote>
Do circulate/link to them if you find them useful.<br>
all the best<br>
Rosemary Randall<br>
@rorandall2<br>
My new novel 'Transgression' is now available<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Rosemary+Randall+Transgression&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss">https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Rosemary+Randall+Transgression&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss</a>
<br>
Also available from me direct at <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.rorandall.org">www.rorandall.org</a>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[mass extinction has begun]<br>
<b>Extinction Emergency: Naomie Harris, Brian Eno & Extinction
Rebellion</b><br>
Aug 12, 2020<br>
Extinction Rebellion<br>
Voiced by Naomie Harris and scored by Brian Eno for Extinction
Rebellion, the animated explainer video 'Extinction Emergency, and
Why We Must Act Now' summarises the planet's biodiversity loss,
runaway consumerism and the ecological crisis that now faces us, and
how the consequences will affect millions of lives around the world.<br>
Full credits list:<br>
<blockquote>Voice-over: Naomie Harris<br>
Music: Brian Eno<br>
End theme music: Simon Bass<br>
Direction, Design and Animation: Miritte Ben Yitzchak<br>
Script: Mark Ellis<br>
Science and Script: Matthew Shribman<br>
Sound Design and Mix: Jack Hallett at Factory<br>
Producer: Serena Schellenberg<br>
Public Relations: Beverley Luckings and Nic Eliades at theclima.es<br>
Marketing and Distribution: Jonathan Mintram<br>
</blockquote>
Extinction Rebellion is a decentralised, international and
politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action
and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the
Climate and Ecological Emergency.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdNjRdsq1qA&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdNjRdsq1qA&feature=youtu.be</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Classic book recommendation<b> – June 1, 1982</b>]<br>
<b>Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change Paperback</b><br>
by William R. Catton (Author)<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.amazon.com/Overshoot-Ecological-Basis-Revolutionary-Change/dp/0252009886/ref=sr_1_1">https://www.amazon.com/Overshoot-Ecological-Basis-Revolutionary-Change/dp/0252009886/ref=sr_1_1</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive - twelve years ago]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
August 14, 2008 </b></font><br>
<p>Video - GOP presidential candidate John McCain discusses his
views on energy and climate change in Aspen, Colorado.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://youtu.be/BqqZzY0fjC0">http://youtu.be/BqqZzY0fjC0</a><br>
</p>
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