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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>December 25, 2020</b></font></i></p>
[Keep looking]<br>
Kate Aronoff/December 24, 2020<br>
<b>Carbon Capture Is Not a Climate Savior</b><br>
The promise of negative emissions is baked into most “net zero”
pledges. But putting that into practice is easier said than done...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/160754/carbon-capture-not-climate-savior">https://newrepublic.com/article/160754/carbon-capture-not-climate-savior</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[clips from a moving report of toils and travails]<br>
<b>The Tasting Menu at the End of the World</b><br>
SingleThread has been hailed as the pinnacle of farm-to-table
dining. But what happens when the farm is under assault by climate
change?<br>
by Betsy Andrews Dec 23, 2020, <br>
- -<br>
By August 20, the sky above parts of Healdsburg, a small tourist
town in Sonoma County, roughly 70 miles north of San Francisco, was
choked with dark smoke. When they finally decided to escape the
deteriorating air quality, Kyle and Katina Connaughton packed their
two cats, two dogs, and one of their two daughters (the other was in
Boston) and her fiance into a farm truck and headed toward safety in
Washington state.<br>
<br>
Produced with FERN, non-profit reporting on food, agriculture, and
environmental health.<br>
They were familiar with the drill by this point: It was the
Connaughtons’ third wildfire in four years. The first, the 2017
Tubbs Fire, had ripped through the region with a ferocity that made
it, at the time, the most destructive wildfire in California
history. Two years later, the Kincade Fire, the largest ever
recorded in Sonoma County up to that point, scorched nearly 78,000
acres across wine country and forced the Connaughtons to evacuate
for a week.<br>
<br>
In fact, navigating climate disasters has become less an occasional
disruption than a way of life. Between the fires, there were the
floods. The first, in 2017, was caused by one of the wettest winters
in a century, which had followed the state’s historic five-year
drought. In 2019, the Russian River approached record levels,
leaving pockets of Sonoma County, including the Connaughtons’
property, completely submerged. On top of it all, there was a visit
from a hungry bobcat...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eater.com/22187508/single-thread-sonoma-county-climate-change-2020-california-wildfires">https://www.eater.com/22187508/single-thread-sonoma-county-climate-change-2020-california-wildfires</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[go ahead, talk with your family about global warming]<br>
<b>Making sense of your climate-denying cranky uncle</b><br>
By John Cook | November 25, 2020<br>
<br>
One challenge at Thanksgiving dinner is your climate-denying cranky
uncle. You’re likely to hear a string of arguments from how cold it
was last Tuesday to the whole field of climate science being a hoax.<br>
<br>
How do you make sense of your cranky uncle’s arguments? Is there any
rationality in irrational science denial? There are two main ways to
respond to climate misinformation. Both are effective and ideally, a
combination of the two is recommended. But one approach is
particularly powerful, equipping you to make sense of misinformation
across many topics, not just climate change.<br>
<br>
The first approach is what researchers call fact-based correction.
You can see through misinformation if you have sufficient
understanding of the science. In other words, debunk your cranky
uncle’s arguments by explaining the facts.<br>
<br>
For example, when you encounter the argument that the weather is
cold therefore global warming isn’t real, explain how global warming
spans the whole planet (the clue is in the word global). Individual
locations may experience bursts of cold weather but overall, the
planet is warming due to more heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. This means hot days are becoming more frequent and cold
days are happening less often.<br>
<br>
A limitation of the fact-based approach is each response only
applies to a specific myth. Explaining the concept of global average
temperature helps understand the “cold weather disproves global
warming” myth. But it doesn’t necessarily help you make sense of
other climate myths.<br>
<br>
That brings us to the other way of making sense of cranky uncles’
arguments – using logic. Most misinforming arguments employ
reasoning fallacies to get to a false conclusion. Identifying
fallacies is an elegant and user-friendly way to show that
misinformation is misleading. There’s an additional benefit to the
logical approach. Learning the techniques of science denial extends
beyond a single topic. Understanding a misleading technique in
climate change helps you spot the same technique in misinformation
in other topics such as COVID-19 or vaccination. I’ll come back to
this later.<br>
<br>
But first, let’s look at some concrete examples.<br>
<br>
There are five overarching categories of misleading techniques in
misinformation, summarized with the acronym FLICC: fake experts,
logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking, and
conspiracy theories.<br>
<br>
<b>Fake experts</b> are people who convey the impression of
expertise but don’t have the actual relevant expertise. The clearest
example of this strategy is the Global Warming Petition Project, an
online petition claiming humans aren’t disrupting climate, signed by
31,000 science graduates. The petition is open to anyone with a
science degree so it’s populated by graduates in computer science,
medical science, engineering, and a variety of other fields. But
over 99 percent of the signatories have no expertise in climate
science. The petition is fake experts in bulk.<br>
<br>
<b>Logical fallacies </b>are found in arguments where the
conclusion doesn’t logically follow from the premises. The most
common example in climate misinformation is single cause fallacy –
assuming only one factor is causing something when there can be
multiple causes. The argument “climate is changing because climate
has always changed” assumes that because climate has changed
naturally in the past, it must be natural now. That’s like finding a
murder victim and arguing “people have died of natural causes in the
past so this person must have died of natural causes.”<br>
<br>
<b>Impossible expectations</b> involve demanding unrealistic levels
of proof from science. For example, the argument “scientists can’t
predict the weather next week so how can we expect them to predict
climate a century from now?” commits false equivalence—another
logical fallacy—as weather is chaotic and hard to predict while
climate is weather averaged over time and hence predictable. I can’t
predict a coin toss but I can predict a million coin tosses will
result in roughly half heads and half tails. Demanding you can
predict a single coin toss before predicting a million coin tosses
is an impossible expectation.<br>
<br>
<b>Cherry picking</b> involves narrowly focusing on evidence that
seems to confirm your beliefs while ignoring the bigger picture.
Anecdotal thinking is a common form of cherry picking, such as the
cold weather argument examined earlier. Who among us hasn’t heard a
curmudgeon mutter on a cold day “What happened to global warming?”
This is like arguing after Thanksgiving dinner “I feel full.
Whatever happened to global hunger?!”<br>
<br>
<b>Conspiracy theories</b> and science denial are bosom buddies. How
else would a cranky uncle explain why the global scientific
community disagrees with him? There are telltale red flags of
conspiratorial thinking. Watch out for overriding suspicion: “all
the data has been faked.” Conspiracy theorists see nefarious intent
everywhere: “scientists are in it for the money!” And they are
immune to evidence: “Of course there’s no proof of my conspiracy
theory, the conspirators did such a good job covering it up!”<br>
<br>
Should we respond to our cranky uncle with facts or logic? I
recently published research testing both approaches. We found if
people read a fact, then afterwards read a myth countering the fact,
the myth cancelled out the fact. But an explanation of the myth’s
logical fallacy was effective in neutralizing the myth whether it
came before or after the myth. In other words, facts are vulnerable
when we send them out into a hostile world but logical explanations
are more robust, equipping us with the critical thinking to make
sense of misleading arguments.<br>
<br>
Other research finds both approaches work. A German study found both
the logic and fact-based approaches (which they called technique and
topic rebuttals) were effective in neutralizing misinformation. But
the researchers also pointed out a key advantage of the logical
approach – it could work across domains. Understanding the
misleading techniques in one topic helps identify the same
techniques in another area.<br>
<br>
I found in a 2017 study that explaining the fake expert strategy
used by the tobacco industry effectively inoculated participants
against climate misinformation in the form of the Global Warming
Petition Project. Critical thinking is like a universal vaccine
against misinformation, conveying immunity across topics.<br>
<br>
But how can this help you at the dinner table during Thanksgiving?
Analogies are an elegant technique that help you turn abstract logic
explanations into concrete examples. Critical thinking philosophers
call this parallel argumentation, an approach used often by late
night comedians. “Cold weather disproves global warming? That’s like
saying nighttime disproves the sun.” “Climate change is natural
because climate has always changed? That’s like arguing smoking
doesn’t kill because people have always died of cancer.”<br>
<br>
Cranky uncles can be challenging. But responding to their climate
denial arguments can also be an opportunity to explain the reasoning
fallacies in climate misinformation, potentially increasing people’s
critical thinking skills.<br>
<br>
So, critical thinking can help get you through Thanksgiving [and
Xmas]. And help you deal with your own climate-denying, cranky
uncle.<br>
John Cook is a research assistant professor at the Center for
Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. He founded
Skeptical Science, co-authored college textbooks ...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://thebulletin.org/2020/11/making-sense-of-your-climate-denying-cranky-uncle/">https://thebulletin.org/2020/11/making-sense-of-your-climate-denying-cranky-uncle/</a><br>
<br>
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</p>
<p> </p>
<br>
[updating some 2018 explorations]<br>
<b>Scientists descended into Greenland’s perilous ice caverns — and
came back with a worrying message</b><br>
Vertical ice caves in Greenland, called ‘moulins,’ drain water from
the ice to the sea — and they’re even bigger than we thought<br>
- -<br>
Human exploration is necessary in the case of the moulins, Gulley
said, because it is extremely difficult to navigate drones in such
small and unpredictable spaces. Beneath the surface of the ice sheet
you can’t use GPS to guide them. Plus, he noted, sending a drone
just isn’t the same as being in a cave in person, seeing an
interesting feature, and getting closer to try to study and
understand it.<br>
<br>
The first results of these moulin descents have been published in
the journal Geophysical Research Letters. They combine observations
of the breathtaking extent of the caves with scientific modeling of
the water levels contained within them, and what that might mean.<br>
<br>
The key finding: Moulins can be huge.<br>
<br>
In particular, the Phobos moulin in western Greenland, which Gulley
and Gadd explored in 2018, was not simply a narrow hole penetrating
downward. Instead, it opened into a vast cavern that reached nearly
100 meters in depth before the water level began and extended
horizontally outward as well. The group calculated that, at the
water’s surface, the spatial area of the cave was some 5,000 square
feet, or the size of several houses next to one another.<br>
<br>
This volume is much larger than previous models assumed. It suggests
the moulin can store much more water than previously thought. This,
in turn, might mean the water in the moulins can exert more pressure
on the surrounding ice and cause it to slide faster — which would be
bad for sea level rise, and Greenland’s future...<br>
- -<br>
Granted, the researchers have only extensively explored two moulins
so far, making it hard to generalize about thousands more that
pockmark the Greenland ice sheet.<br>
<br>
“Since this study is only able to examine two moulins in one region
of the ice sheet, I think it’s too soon to say whether this finding
might change our perspective on future variability of ice motion,”
said Twila Moon, a Greenland expert at the National Snow and Ice
Data Center in Colorado who was not involved in the research.<br>
<br>
“The finding that larger-than-expected moulins are present in
Greenland is significant, as these moulins provide a buffer between
surface melting and the subglacial drainage system,” added Ádam
Ignéczi, who studies moulins at Sheffield University in the United
Kingdom and also was not involved in the latest research.<br>
<br>
But Ignéczi added that scientists don’t know if “systematic
differences” in the size of moulins can be found across the enormous
ice sheet.<br>
<br>
That may mean scientists will have to study more moulins in coming
years — carefully, of course.<br>
<br>
“These are really beautiful places,” Gulley said. “As you drop in,
you’re in this intensely blue chamber. And you can see all the
layering of the ice. You’re basically looking at the inside of the
Greenland ice sheet.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/23/climate-moulins-greenland/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/23/climate-moulins-greenland/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[warming and awaking]<br>
DECEMBER 22, 2020<br>
<b>A groggy climate giant: subsea permafrost is still waking up
after 12,000 years</b><br>
by Institute of Physics<br>
<br>
In the far north, the swelling Arctic Ocean inundated vast swaths of
coastal tundra and steppe ecosystems. Though the ocean water was
only a few degrees above freezing, it started to thaw the permafrost
beneath it, exposing billions of tons of organic matter to microbial
breakdown. The decomposing organic matter began producing CO2 and
CH4, two of the most important greenhouse gases.<br>
<br>
Though researchers have been studying degrading subsea permafrost
for decades, difficulty collecting measurements and sharing data
across international and disciplinary divides have prevented an
overall estimate of the amount of carbon and the rate of release. A
new study, led by Ph.D. candidate Sara Sayedi and senior researcher
Dr. Ben Abbott at Brigham Young University (BYU) published in IOP
Publishing journal Environmental Research Letters, sheds light on
the subsea permafrost climate feedback, generating the first
estimates of circumarctic carbon stocks, greenhouse gas release, and
possible future response of the subsea permafrost zone.<br>
<br>
Sayedi and an international team of 25 permafrost researchers worked
under the coordination of the Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN), which
is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The
researchers combined findings from published and unpublished studies
to estimate the size of the past and present subsea carbon stock and
how much greenhouse gas it might produce over the next three
centuries.<br>
<br>
Using a methodology called expert assessment, which combines
multiple, independent plausible values, the researchers estimated
that the subsea permafrost region currently traps 60 billion tons of
methane and contains 560 billion tons of organic carbon in sediment
and soil. For reference, humans have released a total of about 500
billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere since the Industrial
Revolution. This makes the subsea permafrost carbon stock a
potential giant ecosystem feedback to climate change.<br>
<br>
"Subsea permafrost is really unique because it is still responding
to a dramatic climate transition from more than ten thousand years
ago," Sayedi said. "In some ways, it can give us a peek into the
possible response of permafrost that is thawing today because of
human activity."<br>
<br>
Estimates from Sayedi's team suggest that subsea permafrost is
already releasing substantial amounts of greenhouse gas. However,
this release is mainly due to ancient climate change rather than
current human activity. They estimate that subsea permafrost
releases approximately 140 million tons of CO2 and 5.3 million tons
of CH4 to the atmosphere each year. This is similar in magnitude to
the overall greenhouse gas footprint of Spain.<br>
<br>
The researchers found that if human-caused climate change continues,
the release of CH4 and CO2 from subsea permafrost could increase
substantially. However, this response is expected to occur over the
next three centuries rather than abruptly. Researchers estimated
that the amount of future greenhouse gas release from subsea
permafrost depends directly on future human emissions. They found
that under a business-as-usual scenario, warming subsea permafrost
releases four times more additional CO2 and CH4 compared to when
human emissions are reduced to keep warming less than 2°C.<br>
<br>
Artistic diagram of the subsea and coastal permafrost ecosystems,
emphasizing greenhouse gas production and release. Credit: Original
artwork created for this study by Victor Oleg Leshyk at Northern
Arizona University.<br>
"These results are important because they indicate a substantial but
slow climate feedback," Sayedi explained. "Some coverage of this
region has suggested that human emissions could trigger catastrophic
release of methane hydrates, but our study suggests a gradual
increase over many decades."<br>
<br>
Even if this climate feedback is relatively gradual, the researchers
point out that subsea permafrost is not included in any current
climate agreements or greenhouse gas targets. Sayedi emphasized that
there is still a large amount of uncertainty about subsea permafrost
and that additional research is needed.<br>
<br>
The coastline of the Bykovsky Peninsula in the central Laptev Sea,
Siberia retreats during summer, when ice-rich blocks of permafrost
fall to the beach and are eroded by waves. Credit: 2017, P. Overduin<br>
"Compared to how important subsea permafrost could be for future
climate, we know shockingly little about this ecosystem," Sayedi
said. "We need more sediment and soil samples, as well as a better
monitoring network to detect when greenhouse gas release responds to
current warming and just how quickly this giant pool of carbon will
wake from its frozen slumber."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://phys.org/news/2020-12-groggy-climate-giant-subsea-permafrost.html">https://phys.org/news/2020-12-groggy-climate-giant-subsea-permafrost.html</a>
<p> </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Hydrogen comes from fossil fuels - hence the information
battleground]<br>
<b>THE HYDROGEN HYPE: GAS INDUSTRY FAIRY TALE OR CLIMATE HORROR
STORY?</b><br>
The European Commission and its quest to let the gas industry write
the book on hydrogen in Europe<br>
“The gas lobby has massive influence on the<br>
EU hydrogen strategy. While the Commission<br>
makes it clear that clean hydrogen must<br>
come from renewable energies, it still<br>
wants to invest in fossil hydrogen.” <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/2020-12/hydrogen-report-web-final_0.pdf">https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/2020-12/hydrogen-report-web-final_0.pdf</a><br>
- -<br>
[Notice the PR push]<br>
<b>Major Fossil Fuel PR Group is Behind Europe Pro-Hydrogen Push</b><br>
By Justin Mikulka • December 9, 2020<br>
The recent deluge of pro-hydrogen stories in the media that tout
hydrogen as a climate solution and clean form of energy can now be
linked in part to FTI Consulting — one of the most notorious oil and
gas industry public relations firms.<br>
<br>
According to a new report, titled The Hydrogen Hype: Gas Industry
Fairy Tale or Climate Horror Story?, released by a coalition of
groups in Europe including Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and
Food and Water Action Europe, details the work of FTI to push
hydrogen as a clean climate solution in Europe. So far it appears
FTI is being quite successful in this endeavor. As the report notes,
the “European Commission is most definitely onboard” with the idea
of a hydrogen-based economy.<br>
<br>
FTI Consulting’s previous and ongoing work promoting the fossil fuel
industry’s efforts to sell natural gas as a climate solution were
recently featured in an article by the New York Times. <br>
<br>
Among FTI’s misleading claims which it defended to the New York
Times was that the Permian region in Texas — the epicenter of the
U.S. shale oil industry’s fracking efforts — was reducing methane
emissions. This claim, however, was based on government data that
did not include emissions for actual oil and gas wells, which are
major emitters of methane emissions. FTI's argument is easily
disproved as methane emissions in Texas continued to break records
in 2019. <br>
<br>
And now FTI is taking the same approach for hydrogen as it has for
natural gas — promoting it as a climate solution despite the
evidence to the contrary...<br>
- -<br>
“No one has any true idea what is going on here,” Ben Gallagher, an
energy analyst for consultant group Wood McKenzie, said about green
hydrogen. “It’s speculation at this point. Right now it’s difficult
to view this as the new oil. However, it could make up an important
part of the overall fuel mix.”<br>
<br>
Pushing fossil fuel based hydrogen as a climate solution is a
strategy by the oil and gas industry to delay the implementation of
true climate solutions. It is based on the widespread continued use
of methane and existing gas infrastructure instead of spending money
to transition to the electrification of the European and global
economy.<br>
<br>
The natural gas (methane) industry is currently struggling
financially and looking to hydrogen as a lifeline. Just this week, a
major natural gas pipeline in the U.S. that was being built to
export liquefied natural gas was cancelled because “current market
conditions do not support the economic thresholds” that were
required. In other words, it makes no sense to build new gas
infrastructure — unless hydrogen can become a substitute for
methane.<br>
<br>
If hydrogen was truly the clean energy climate solution being pushed
by the favorite lobbyists of the oil and gas industry, the lobbyists
and industry would be fighting it like they fight real solutions
such as solar and wind power.<br>
<br>
The oil and gas industry pushed the idea of methane as a clean
energy solution for years. While the idea of methane as a bridge
fuel is no longer widely accepted, the industry is spending heavily
to again deceptively sell the myth that hydrogen — a fossil fuel
based gas just like methane — is the new bridge fuel.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/12/09/fti-consulting-fossil-fuel-pr-group-behind-europe-hydrogen-lobby">https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/12/09/fti-consulting-fossil-fuel-pr-group-behind-europe-hydrogen-lobby</a><br>
- -<br>
[source material]<br>
<b>FTI Consulting</b><br>
Background<br>
FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN) describes itself as “an independent
global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations
manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal,
operational, political & regulatory, reputational and
transactional.” [1]<br>
<br>
FTI offers services for a wide range of industries. For example, its
energy industry services offer “advisory services that address the
strategic, financial, reputational, regulatory and legal needs of
energy and utility clients involved in the production of crude oil,
natural gas, refined products, chemicals, coal, electric power,
emerging technologies and renewable energy” as well as “strategic
communications services across all disciplines.” [2]<br>
<br>
FTI maintains an “Environmental Solutions Group” which focuses on
“the resolution of complex contamination, toxic tort, products
liability and insurance disputes.” [3]<br>
<br>
For the mining industry, they offer “a comprehensive range of
corporate finance, economic consulting and strategic communications
services.” [4]<br>
<br>
FTI Consulting is a public company. It began trading on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol FCN in 2001. The group was initially
known as Forensic Technologies International before changing its
name to FTI Consulting in 1998, and initially went public under the
name Forensic Technologies International (ticker symbol FTIC) in
1996. [5]<br>
<br>
The group was founded in 1982 by Dan Luczak and Joseph Reynolds in
Annapolis, Md. Its initial role would include providing courtroom
evidence and computer models to help staff and jury members assess
cases. In 1995, the company provided courtroom graphics and jury
consultation to the O.J. Simpson trial. [5]<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fti-consulting">https://www.desmogblog.com/fti-consulting</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><br>
</p>
[many governments]<br>
<b>States and companies are now hotbeds of climate action</b><br>
Amy Harder, author of Generate<br>
<br>
In the four years since the U.S. federal government last paid
serious attention to climate change, the problem has become a top
priority across states and corporations.<br>
<br>
Why it matters: Washington, D.C. isn't the only place, or even the
most important place, where meaningful climate change action is
likely to happen in the coming years.<br>
<br>
Where it stands: President-elect Joe Biden will attempt to force
some changes at the federal level, but he's also expected to lean on
states to show America’s progress on the global stage. Meanwhile,
companies’ rhetoric on the problem in recent years will now be put
to a test.<br>
<br>
The big picture: Numerous states, cities and companies have pledged
aggressive climate change goals over the past several years. It’s a
trend driven by a multitude of factors, including growing urgency of
the problem, cheaper clean energy technologies and investors
increasingly concerned about the financial repercussions of a
warming world.<br>
<br>
By the numbers:<br>
<br>
Since 2018, nine states have enacted standards mandating electricity
to eventually emit zero carbon dioxide, which represents more than
20% of U.S. electric sales, according to the Clean Air Task Force,
an environmental group.<br>
Since 2018, nearly 30 utilities have pledged new, aggressive carbon
reduction goals. When combined with the above states, these goals
cover more than 50% of all electricity emissions, according to the
group.<br>
A record number of companies — nearly 10,000 — disclosed their
environmental footprints, including on climate change, according to
a new report by CDP, a nonprofit focused on corporate disclosures.
That’s a 70% increase since the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and
14% compared to last year.<br>
Driving the news: The incoming Biden administration, led by
international climate change envoy John Kerry, is expected to lean
more heavily on state action, given the limitations of big policy at
the federal level, to make commitments to the Paris Climate
Agreement, according to several people familiar with the transition
team’s thinking.<br>
<br>
Action by states, cities and private business could cut U.S.
emissions up to 37% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, according to a
2019 report by a consortium of environmental groups and former state
leaders.<br>
That percentage could rise to nearly 50% if the federal government
reengaged, the report said.<br>
The intrigue: Since Biden announced his appointment, Kerry has also
already highlighted the shift among businesses.<br>
<br>
“Real business people, real leaders within the business world
understand that this is an imperative,” Kerry said in a recent
interview with NPR. “They also understand that there's money to be
made in producing the products.”<br>
A coalition of U.S. Chamber of Commerce member companies created in
2017 with six companies now has 60, according to Hugh Welsh,
president of DSM North America, whose science-based business spans a
lot of sectors, including climate and energy.<br>
That effort helped spawn an internal task force at the Chamber that
is asking its members about, among other topics, what a carbon tax
would look like.<br>
Welsh says the shift is due to changing membership.<br>
“They [the Chamber] are beginning to see the future of its
enterprise is less coal, natural gas and coal companies and more
tech companies,” says Welsh, adding that tech companies support
action on climate change.<br>
Yes, but: Collaboration is far from guaranteed.<br>
<br>
It’s politically easier for companies to speak positively about
climate change when the threat of big policy is not imminent, which
was the case under President Trump. Under Biden, companies, and
especially oil and gas firms, will be expected to show whether they
actually support tougher climate regulations.<br>
Biden will also face pressure from liberals to target fossil-fuel
companies in different ways, such as investigating organizations
they have funded in the past that sowed doubt about climate change,
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told Axios recently.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.axios.com/states-companies-climate-action-7ab3a11f-da1f-40c7-8ac3-fa3f5b986b4f.html">https://www.axios.com/states-companies-climate-action-7ab3a11f-da1f-40c7-8ac3-fa3f5b986b4f.html</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[look out for this short movie - not yet on the Internet]<br>
<b>‘Migrants’ Wins Best Short Prize at VIEW Fest 2020</b><br>
By Terry Flores<br>
Migrants wins VIEW Fest prize<br>
<br>
“Migrants,” a deeply textured eight-minute animated short about a
polar bear cub and its mother driven to look for a new home because
of climate change, has been named the best short of VIEW Fest, the
short film festival sponsored by the VIEW Conference in Turin,
Italy.<br>
<br>
The story touched the international jury with its interwoven themes
of global warming and immigration told through the experience of the
homeless polar bears, who find themselves the subject of scorn and
ridicule when they reach a new land populated by unfriendly brown
bears. The film was made by fifth-year students at France’s POLE 3D:
Zoé Devise, Lucas Lermytte, Hugo Caby, Aubin Kubiak and Antoine
Dupriez. “Migrants” received the top prize of $2,000 euros.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://variety.com/2020/film/global/migrants-short-view-fest-1234874752/">https://variety.com/2020/film/global/migrants-short-view-fest-1234874752/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
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<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
December 25, 2014</b></font><br>
<p>December 25, 2014: The New York Times reports:<br>
<br>
"A plunge in oil prices has sent tremors through the global
political and economic order, setting off an abrupt shift in
fortunes that has bolstered the interests of the United States and
pushed several big oil-exporting nations — particularly those
hostile to the West, like Russia, Iran and Venezuela — to the
brink of financial crisis.<br>
<br>
"The nearly 50 percent decline in oil prices since June has had
the most conspicuous impact on the Russian economy and President
Vladimir V. Putin. The former finance minister Aleksei L. Kudrin,
a longtime friend of Mr. Putin’s, warned this week of a
'full-blown economic crisis' and called for better relations with
Europe and the United States."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/world/europe/oils-swift-fall-raises-fortunes-of-us-abroad.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/world/europe/oils-swift-fall-raises-fortunes-of-us-abroad.html</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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