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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>December 14, 2020</b></font></i></p>
[Blackrock warning]<br>
<b>A $7 trillion climate change warning to the stock market from its
biggest shareholder</b><br>
Eric Rosenbaum - SUN, DEC 13 20207<br>
- BlackRock, which has significant influence on proxy battles
against corporations, signalled this week it would support more
shareholder resolutions on issues including climate change.<br>
- The world’s biggest investor has been criticized in the past for
not following the words of its CEO Larry Fink, who has said climate
will “fundamentally reshape finance,” with enough action.<br>
- In the past week, Exxon Mobil was targeted by activist investors
and a $200 billion New York pension fund threatened to divest from
fossil fuel companies...<br>
- -<br>
BlackRock has a large staff working on direct engagement with
companies, and that will continue. In fact, the new report says it
will more than double the number of companies with which it engages
on climate issues to over 1,000. BlackRock announced a list last
year of roughly 200 companies that it put on “watch” for climate
inaction. “That’s not an insignificant term to use,” Smith said, and
he added that engagement remains a relevant tool for a company the
size of BlackRock.<br>
<br>
The new direction and attitude from BlackRock on voting is something
investors will monitor carefully to make sure it is being
institutionalized. “We’ve had resolutions to BlackRock on this topic
and each time they put some new steps forward but the result in
proxy season was they didn’t move, they voted for a minority of
resolutions,” Smith said. “This year they need to improve their
record and I think there’s a real chance.”<br>
<br>
But shareholder advocates should not fall into their own narrow view
that resolutions are the only way to move companies. Direct
engagement, pressure from suppliers like a Walmart, as well as from
a firm’s own employees and industry peers, are important mechanisms
for change, Smith said.<br>
<br>
“Maybe this report is their signal they will join the community of
shareholder advocates that vote. I am hopeful, sincerely hopeful and
think we will see action, but we will see,” Behar said. At this
point, he added, it is just more “great words.”<br>
<br>
General guidelines aren’t detailed enough to predict votes or
changes in voting patterns. In fact, Cook had thought that one of
BlackRock’s changes to the wording of its 2020 guidelines, about
expecting companies to issue reports aligned with carbon accounting
standards known as TCFD or SAS, signaled a stronger inclination to
support climate risk disclosure resolutions.<br>
<br>
“I was clearly wrong about that,” Cook said. “But after issuing this
report, it would be very tricky for BlackRock to explain next year
why they rubber-stamped management’s position on E&S resolutions
yet again.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/13/climate-change-a-7-trillion-warning-from-markets-biggest-investor.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/13/climate-change-a-7-trillion-warning-from-markets-biggest-investor.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[because everyone checks the weather]<br>
<b>Bandwidth issues at the National Weather Service could reshape
how we use weather apps</b><br>
How we use weather apps might soon change for the worse<br>
By Shawn Knight on December 10, 2020<br>
<br>
Why it matters: The National Centers for Environmental Prediction
(NCEP) is considering putting restrictions in place that would limit
how often its websites could be accessed by the public. Ultimately,
it could result in less accurate forecasts and delays in delivering
severe weather warnings.<br>
In a memo dated November 18 that largely flew under the radar until
now, Brian Gross, acting director at NCEP, proposed new limits to
safeguard their web services. According to Gross, the frequency at
which the public is accessing its services has created
infrastructure constraints and limitations.<br>
<br>
“To add new or upgraded streams of data, there has to be a reduction
in the number of connections into our system,” Gross added.<br>
<br>
For example, one potential mitigation would lower the number of
connections to 60 per minute for users accessing specific NCEP sites
and services.<br>
<br>
That’s great, but what does all of it mean for you?<br>
<br>
Many weather-focused sites and apps pull data from the NCEP to power
their offerings. Limiting access by such “power users” could have a
substantial impact on third parties’ ability to provide accurate and
timely forecasts and severe weather warnings.<br>
<br>
The logical solution would be for the NCEP to simply bolster their
bandwidth / serving capabilities but without additional funding,
that likely isn’t an option. Could this mean that third parties
might have to start chipping in to pay for the data they access? How
would they generate those funds? Would the end user wind up footing
the bill and have to pay for access to weather apps?<br>
<br>
The NCEP is seeking public comments on the matter through December
18.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.techspot.com/news/87924-national-weather-service-bandwidth-restrictions-could-disrupt-how.html">https://www.techspot.com/news/87924-national-weather-service-bandwidth-restrictions-could-disrupt-how.html</a><br>
<p> - - <br>
</p>
[Washington Post]<br>
<b>Weather Service faces Internet bandwidth shortage, proposes
limiting key data</b><br>
Agency floats a solution to problems that could hobble private
companies and affect popular weather apps.<br>
By Jason Samenow and Andrew Freedman<br>
Dec. 9, 2020.<br>
For the past decade, the National Weather Service has been plagued
by failures in disseminating critical forecast and warning
information that is aimed at protecting lives and saving property.
In some cases, its websites have gone down during severe weather
events, unable to handle the demand.<br>
<br>
Other agency systems, including information and data streams that
deliver vital weather modeling data to broadcast meteorologists and
commercial users, have also suffered periodic outages.<br>
<br>
‘This is not rocket science.’ Years after a fix was promised,
National Weather Service website still unreliable.<br>
<br>
Now, during a year that featured record California wildfires and the
busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record, the Weather Service
says it has an Internet bandwidth problem and is seeking to throttle
back the amount of data its most demanding users can access. The
Weather Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announced the proposed limits in
a memo dated Nov. 18...<br>
- - <b><br>
</b><b>Only $1.5 million to fix?</b><br>
The Weather Service held a public forum Tuesday to discuss the
proposal and answer questions. When asked about the investment in
computing infrastructure that would be required for these limits to
not be necessary, agency officials said a one-time cost of about
$1.5 million could avert rate limits. The NOAA budget for fiscal
2020 was $5.4 billion.<br>
<br>
Buchanan, however, stated the actual cost to address the issue would
be higher because the $1.5 million “would comprise just one
component of what has to be a multifaceted solution.”<br>
<br>
The officials at the forum also said that senior management at the
Weather Service was aware of the relatively small cost of addressing
the issue but that the agency faced “competing priorities.”<br>
<br>
Buchanan said data dissemination is a priority for Weather Service
leadership but that it is “continuously weighed” against others.<br>
<br>
When officials at the forum were asked if Congress was aware of the
agency’s data dissemination challenges, they said that they did not
know.<br>
<br>
Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce
Committee, which oversees NOAA, said a request to upgrade the
Weather Service’s computing infrastructure would probably find
bipartisan support.<br>
<br>
“From wildfires in Washington to hurricanes on the Gulf Coast,
seconds count to save lives and property, and weather data plays a
critical role in getting our emergency managers and first responders
the information they need,” she said. “The United States should be
striving to be the best in the world when it comes to weather data
and forecasts, and with everything we’ve seen this year, a request
to upgrade servers at the National Weather Service would find
support on both sides of the aisle in Congress. Telling people to
limit their use of this critical data is not an acceptable answer.”<br>
<br>
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee “is aware of the
proposal” and monitoring its potential impacts, according to the
committee’s staff. “We are looking into how these proposed
restrictions could impact NOAA’s ability to ensure free and open
public access to the Agency’s data and models,” a spokesperson said.<br>
<br>
The Weather Service is accepting public comments on its proposal
through Dec. 18. Buchanan said that the agency believes 75 percent
of its users will not be affected by the proposed change.<br>
<br>
“If we learn differently, we will change our approach,” Buchanan
said. “We are committed to work with users to mitigate to the
maximum extent feasible the impacts of any necessary changes.”<br>
<br>
If changes are ultimately made, officials at the forum assured users
they would be rolled out slowly with advanced notification, probably
starting in about three months.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/12/09/nws-data-limits-internet-bandwidth/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/12/09/nws-data-limits-internet-bandwidth/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[innovation - video]<br>
<b>Fossil free steel. Another giant step towards net carbon zero?</b><br>
Dec 13, 2020<br>
Just Have a Think<br>
Steel has become an essential material in our modern world. But the
steel making industry is responsible for 7% of all global greenhouse
gas emissions. That has to be reduced by at least 60% by 2050 if we
are to meet our net carbon zero targets. A solution has been found
though, and it replaces carbon with hydrogen. The question is, can
it be scaled up quickly enough?<br>
Errata : Apologies for the formula on screen at 6:50 - the letter z
should of course have been a number 2 and the Fe203 and H2 numbers
should be subscripts. Sadly my 52 year old eyes are getting worse
every day, and I missed these errors!<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywHJt88H5YQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywHJt88H5YQ</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[part 1 of 3 videos]<br>
<b>The End of the Road for a Cold Arctic: Arctic Report Card 2020
Highlights & Lowlights: Part 1 of 3</b><br>
Dec 12, 2020<br>
Paul Beckwith<br>
Arctic Report Card 2020 (ARC2020):<br>
Result: FAIL<br>
Summary: Out with the Cold; in with the Hot<br>
Consequences: Dire<br>
1) Average annual land surface air temperature north of 60 degrees
for October 2019 - September 2020 was the second highest on record
since at least 1900.<br>
<br>
2) Sea ice loss in Spring 2020 was particularly early in the east
Siberian Sea and Laptev Sea regions; end of summer sea ice melt
extent was second lowest behind 2012.<br>
<br>
3) August mean sea surface temperatures in 2020 were 1 to 3 degrees
C warmer than the 1982-2010 August mean over most of the Arctic
Ocean, with exceptionally warm temperatures in the Laptev and Kara
seas that coincided with the early loss of sea ice in this region.<br>
<br>
4) During July and August 2020, regional ocean primary productivity
in the Laptev Sea was 2 times higher for July and 6 times higher for
August compared to their respective monthly averages.<br>
<br>
5) Bowhead whale populations increased due to increased in ocean
primary productivity.<br>
<br>
6) Shifts in air temperatures, storminess, sea ice and ocean
conditions have combined to increase coastal erosion rates
circumventing the Arctic.<br>
<br>
7) Exceptional warm Spring air temperatures across Siberia resulted
in record low June snow cover extent across the Eurasian Arctic.<br>
<br>
8) Extreme wildfires in 2020 in the Sakha Republic of northern
Russia coincided with unparalleled warm air temperatures and record
snow loss in the region.<br>
<br>
9) Tundra greenness trends diverged strongly with a sharp decline in
North America and rise above long-term average in Eurasia.<br>
<br>
10) Greenland Ice Sheet experienced higher ice loss than 1981-2010
average, but substantially lower than record 2018/19 loss.<br>
<br>
11) Glaciers and ice sheets outside of Greenland have continued a
trend of significant ice loss, dominated largely by ice loss from
Alaska and Arctic Canada.<br>
<br>
more in 3 videos:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOV9QB4c4BA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOV9QB4c4BA</a><br>
- -<br>
<b>Arctic Report Card 2020 Results: Cold Snowy Icy Arctic Out; Hot
Slushy Green Arctic In: Part 2 of 3</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnJHEsHqg4A">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnJHEsHqg4A</a><br>
- -<br>
<b>A tale of woe: Arctic Report Card 2020: Part 3 of 3</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2311oAEO3w">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2311oAEO3w</a><br>
<p><br>
<br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
December 14, 2006 </b></font><br>
December 14, 2006: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann condemns the latest
sleazy action by overrated novelist and climate-change denier
Michael Crichton:<br>
<br>
"In his last novel, he dismissed global warming. So a political
columnist for the 'New Republic' who went to Yale named Michael
Crowley ripped him for it. Now Crichton's got a new book out, in
which he’s created a minor character who is a child rapist, and
described as a political columnist who went to Yale, and who’s named
Mick Crowley. Crichton’s publisher, Harper Collins, is owned by
Rupert Murdoch. <br>
<br>
"The real Michael Crowley is understandably upset that Crichton gave
his name to a child rapist, but look, Mr. Crowley, it could have
been worse; Crichton could have used your name for a character based
on himself. Author Michael 'Vengeance is Mine' Crichton, today's
Worst Person in the World."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIdoaaYklJ8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIdoaaYklJ8</a>
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