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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>January 11, 2021</b></font></i><br>
</p>
[scientific optimism in a new book ]<br>
<b>"Cautious optimism" about fighting climate change: Salon talks
with author of "The New Climate War"</b>Climate scientist Dr.
Michael E. Mann tells Salon that we aren't doomed — but we need to
hold polluters accountable<br>
By MATTHEW ROZSA - JANUARY 11, 2021 <br>
- -<br>
In his career, Mann has repeatedly worked to break down the science
of global warming in comprehensive but accessible ways. His efforts
to raise public awareness have always struck a balance between
emphasizing the gravity of the situation facing the planet and
expressing cautious optimism that, if we implement the right
policies, we can stave off ecological catastrophe.<br>
<br>
This is the goal of his new book, "The New Climate War: The Fight To
Take Back Our Planet." Mann's thesis is clear: We must fight the
people who lie about the threat of man-made global warming, whether
out of financial self-interest, ideological dogmatism, or because
they have been duped by others. At the same time, we must also avoid
succumbing to the temptation to assume that all is lost. Instead it
is necessary to push for bold policies that will address climate
change in a meaningful way, from a revised version of the Green New
Deal, effective carbon pricing, and making it so that renewable
energy can compete fairly against fossil fuels...<br>
- -<br>
It's the fact that we see this nefarious, and in many ways more
insidious, attack on climate action today, even as the impacts of
climate change become so obvious to the person on the street that
it's not credible to deny that it happened. The same powerful vested
interests in the fossil fuel industry and those who do their
bidding, I call them being activists because their agenda is one of
climate inaction. For decades they've been denying that climate
change is real, attacking the science, trying to undermine public
understanding of the problems. And now that that's really not
possible, they have turned to a whole new set of tactics in their
efforts to block progress on climate. And that's really what the
book is about. I felt it was important to talk about that as one who
had sort of been in the cross hairs of climate change deniers for
decades and witnessed firsthand their tactics and how they've
evolved, sort of as a warning to people.<br>
<br>
The battle isn't won yet. The forces of inaction are no longer
denying the basic science, but they're doing all these other things
to prevent action. And that's what the book is about. [There is]
deflection of attention from the needed policies and systemic
changes to individual behavior — as if it's just about us and our
diet and how we travel, and the way to solve the climate problem is
for us to just be better people. Of course, individual action is
important. We should all do things that serve to decrease our
environmental footprint and often they make us healthier. They save
us money. There are lots of good reasons to do them, but they're no
substitute for the needed policies at the very top, the massive
decarbonization of our economy, which is necessary.<br>
<br>
Now also by focusing attention on individual behavior, they get us
fighting with each other, shaming people, pointing fingers at each
other about their carbon impurity, and that divides the community.
So they get climate advocates arguing with each other. That means
there is no longer a unified voice calling for action. There is doom
and despair-mongering, an attempt to convince some that it's too
late to do anything about it anyway, so why even bother?
Unfortunately a lot of climate advocates of good intentions and of
goodwill have been hoodwinked and taken in and weaponized in that
effort to despirit them to the point of disengagement, so they're no
longer on the frontlines demanding action. There is also the
promotion of false solutions like geoengineering or carbon capture,
basically anything but solving this problem at its source, which is
getting off fossil fuels, because that's inconvenient to the fossil
fuel industry. So they'd rather have the discussion of solutions
focus on all these distracting, fake solution to the problem...<br>
- -<br>
<b>Let's not be distracted or fooled. Let's focus on the matter at
hand, which is making progress.</b><br>
<br>
I completely agree, but I actually do want to focus for a moment on
the mob in Washington, because here is the thing: I would assume
that people would get that passionately angry about the fact that a
handful of wealthy people are emitting all of these greenhouse
gasses, and are pushing for policies that make it harder for us to
restrict greenhouse gas emissions, and that is gradually destroying
the planet. My nephew is going to grow up in a world that is very
different from the one that I grew up in as a result. Do you think
that would be the sort of thing that makes people angry, and instead
they're angry because President Donald Trump isn't allowed to steal
an election?<br>
<br>
It's a mnemonic, not a precise, scientific model, but sort of the
reptilian brain and the way that Republicans are particularly
effective at tapping into the circuitry of the reptilian parts of
the human brain, preying on all of our worst instincts —
selfishness, prejudice, all of that — to weaponize this mob that
we're watching on television right now to do their bidding for them.
And just as you alluded to earlier, Matt, the irony being that they
are mobilizing, weaponizing, this army rabble to engage in actions
that are completely detrimental to their own interests, in the
present and ultimately down the road. I like to think that even
these mob protesters in DC care about their children, they care
about their grandchildren. They want a better life for them.<br>
<br>
And so in a sense, they've been manipulated. They are victims of a
misinformation campaign. It's a disinformation campaign, enticed by
red meat thrown out by Republican operatives to prey on their worst
instincts. Sadly in many cases they are beyond help at this point,
and we have to fight on knowing that for many cases they're not to
be on the right side of this issue, but we don't need them. They're
a fringe, they're not a majority. We can solve this problem without
them. We just can't allow them to get in the way.<br>
<br>
With the favorable change in winds and in Washington DC, we'll see
what happens. I think that we're going to move away from this over
the next couple of years. It will be rocky. It won't be easy, but I
see the reason for cautious optimism that we're steering the ship in
a different direction now...<br>
- -<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.salon.com/2021/01/10/cautious-optimism-about-fighting-climate-change-salon-talks-with-author-of-the-new-climate-war/">https://www.salon.com/2021/01/10/cautious-optimism-about-fighting-climate-change-salon-talks-with-author-of-the-new-climate-war/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[serious problem]<br>
<b>Bushfires in Australia to Become More Frequent, Prolonged,
Severe: Experts</b><br>
By IANS 4 days ago TWC India<br>
Experts have warned that Australia's devastating 2019-20 "Black
Summer" bushfires were a "wake up call" to the extreme effects of
climate change in the country.<br>
<br>
In a study published on late Thursday, a team from the Australian
National University (ANU) and the Australian Research Council (ARC)
Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes warned that bushfires will
become increasingly more severe in the country as a result of global
warming, reports Xinhua news agency....<br>
- -<br>
"When we look to the future we see southeast Australia continuing to
become even hotter because of human-caused climate change. On top of
that, climate change is altering our patterns of year-to-year
climate variability so that we expect extremely hot and dry years to
occur more often," she said.<br>
<br>
"There are also indications that southeast Australia could continue
to become drier in winter and experience more frequent weather
fronts in summer that cause dangerous fire weather, but more
research is needed to fully understand how these fire-relevant
impacts of climate change might develop.<br>
<br>
"All of those expected and possible climate change indicators point
towards a rapidly increasing risk of catastrophic bushfires that are
beyond anything we have experienced in the past."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2021-01-08-bushfires-in-australia-to-become-more-frequent-prolonged-severe">https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2021-01-08-bushfires-in-australia-to-become-more-frequent-prolonged-severe</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[video recorded Sunday]<br>
<b>His Holiness the Dalai Lama In Conversation with Greta Thunberg
and Leading Scientists</b><br>
Jan 10, 2021<br>
Dalai Lama<br>
His Holiness the Dalai Lama in conversation on The Crisis of Climate
Feedback Loops with Greta Thunberg (environmental activist), William
Moomaw (lead author on reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change/IPCC, and the co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace
Prize) and Susan Natali (a renowned Arctic scientist) from his
residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on January 10, 2021. The
conversation is moderated by Diana Chapman Walsh, President emerita
of Wellesley College and is organized by the Mind & Life
Institute.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9GXgOMMeTg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9GXgOMMeTg</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[from GIZMODO]<br>
<b>There Is Such a Thing as Too Late</b><br>
Andrew Couts - 1-8-2021<br>
No one needed to predict a frothing horde of Trump supporters would
lay siege to the Capitol on Wednesday because they told us that was
the plan all along.<br>
<br>
They told us not just on Twitter, TikTok, and TheDonald in the weeks
leading up to the attack. They’ve been telling us for years from the
racists who showed up in Charlotteville in 2017 to the armed
“protesters” who took over the Michigan Capitol last year. Experts
listening sounded the alarm, and yet when the wave crashed into the
Capitol, there was still a sense of shell shock and now, a scramble
for justice.<br>
- -<br>
This scramble is not victory, it’s the luxury allowed by this
particular crisis. The comforting self-righteousness of those who
warned that Trump would lead us to disaster is the sour reward of
waiting too long. But if we continue this opulent pattern of
collective inaction, it will one day destroy not the windows of the
Capitol building but life on Earth as we know it.<br>
<br>
The climate crisis has followed a seemingly similar path. Just as
the evidence of the past four years made clear the ugly culmination
of Trump’s presidency, more than 100 years of scientific research
has made clear that carbon emissions are warming our planet,
resulting in rising seas, widespread wildfires, catastrophic weather
events, mass extinction, human suffering, and death. Just like
today, opportunistic politics and craven corporate greed have
grease-stained the truth, creating a shimmering illusion that there
is more than one side to reality.<br>
<br>
But unlike a political crisis, with climate change, there is no
voting out the problem, no bringing in new leadership, no
investigation that will clarify a path forward. There is no last
straw that allows you to realize the errors of your ways and make up
for them. Climate change is a different kind of crisis—there is no
going back once we’ve failed.<br>
<br>
There is such a thing as too late.<br>
<br>
If we allow carbon emissions to follow their current trajectory, the
global temperature will rise roughly 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3
degrees Celsius) by century’s end, resulting in catastrophe the
world over. The planet would be hotter, the weather (and society)
more violent, and conditions would be unlike anything remotely close
to resembling the one that humanity has thrived on. That’s the
trajectory we’re on now.<br>
<br>
The greatest contributor to the current warming is the extraction,
production, and use of fossil fuels. To retain a habitable planet
and prevent as much pain as possible, we must rapidly stop using
oil, gas, and coal, which requires historic investment.<br>
<br>
We can choose to make that investment to save ourselves before the
unthinkable happens. We can choose to create a just transition for
workers in polluting industries. We can choose to create safety nets
for communities that will be impacted regardless of what steps we
take today and tomorrow because of the inaction we’ve chosen to take
thus far.<br>
<br>
What we cannot do is wait until we pass critical warming thresholds
and then scramble to fix the problem because with climate change,
there is no quick fix. Once emitted, greenhouse gases stay in the
atmosphere for decades, further warping the climate. That’s not say
we just throw up our hands later—every ton of carbon not emitted
matters—but our best option is to act now.<br>
<br>
The challenges of meeting this moment stretch the limits of
comprehension. The slow-burn nature of the climate crisis means
devastating wildfires, monster hurricanes, and disappearing glaciers
become normalized—just the way things are. The contentious divide in
America—even with the White House and Congress about to be under the
control of a single party that wants to implement climate
policy—pushes desperately needed policy solutions to the edge of
impossible. And even as a growing majority of Americans see climate
change as a defining challenge, deniers, liars, and enablers stand
in the way, ready to deflect your attention away from the truth
about what’s needed in this moment.<br>
<br>
Perhaps the most pressing and monumental challenge we face is that
reality itself is a partisan choice. This, to me, is the most
shocking element of Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol: The entire
thing is, at least on its surface, founded on the lie of a stolen
election. But no matter what the seditionist senators said to
justify disputing President-elect Biden’s victory, believing
something is true does not make it so. The same is true for climate
change; Earth is warming regardless of what you believe.<br>
<br>
As this week has made abundantly clear, there are
always—always—justifications for failure. In this shocking moment,
please, do not let this shock go to waste—hold onto it and fear it.
Feel embarrassed by it. Mold that shock in your heart into shame and
let it harden into anger. For enduring, collective, widespread anger
is the only antidote to future inaction as we face an even greater
threat—one that forbids the luxury of hindsight.<br>
Andrew Couts - Deputy Editor, Gizmodo<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/there-is-such-a-thing-as-too-late-1846012076">https://earther.gizmodo.com/there-is-such-a-thing-as-too-late-1846012076</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[ Important notion]<br>
<b>“Bipartisanship” Is Climate Poison</b><br>
The last time Democrats controlled Washington, they blew their
chance to address climate change. Will Joe Biden and Joe Manchin
repeat the party’s mistakes?<br>
Kate Aronoff - January 6, 2021<br>
Democrats are about to enjoy the most power they’ve had in years. A
president has just been elected with a huge popular mandate. The
House and Senate are both under Democratic control. The country is
in the midst of a crisis as great as any since the Great Depression,
and its economic future is far from certain. Public concern about
the climate crisis is higher than ever.<br>
<br>
But this isn’t 2021, when historic runoff wins by Raphael Warnock
and Jon Ossoff seem to have handed Democrats back control of the
Senate. It’s 2009, and it doesn’t end well...<br>
- -<br>
The current moment isn’t identical to 2009. Joe Biden ran on a
promise to Build Back Better and—under pressure—melded his jobs
program and climate program, linking lowering emissions with
economic prosperity in a way Democrats conspicuously failed to in
2009. He’s appointed cabinet-level posts intended specifically to
deal with climate change. Still, there’s not much suggestion he’s
wavered from what may well be his only abiding political commitment:
bipartisan compromise. “I think the nation’s looking for us to be
united, much more united,” he told Stephen Colbert recently. “But
look, I think I can work with Republican leadership in the House and
the Senate. I think we can get things done.” Needless to say, the
GOP doesn’t seem poised to compromise. In Congress, even with what
now looks like double Democratic wins in Georgia’s Senate runoffs,
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s outsized swing vote could be
treated as an excuse for moderation. Manchin himself urged
bipartisanship Wednesday as vote counting continued in Georgia,
hours before right-wing rioters breached the Capitol.<br>
<br>
In their closing arguments on the campaign trail, though, Warnock
and Ossoff voiced as good a model as any for climate policy: give
people stuff. After Mitch McConnell blocked the possibility of
$2,000 checks, they promised voters that a Democratically controlled
Senate would deliver. They won, batting off racist and anti-Semitic
attacks painting both candidates as “radical liberals.” Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer now says he intends to make those checks
happen.<br>
<br>
Climate legislation should operate by a similar ethos. Rather than
making devil’s bargains with industry and Republicans, it can offer
tangible gains through jobs and investments—all in time to keep the
GOP and its fossil fuel backers from retaking the House in 2022.
Biden should sign the $2,000 checks Democrats send out and slap a
federal government plaque on every new infrastructure project
Congress greenlights. The message shouldn’t be that a corporate
executive in a suit endorses a thousand-page bill nobody can
understand. It should be that big government is back and it’ll give
you a job.<br>
<br>
Likewise, instead of watering down climate policy for Manchin’s
benefit, a climate package could deliver concrete gains to West
Virginia—a good in and of itself. Manchin’s state has one of the
highest poverty rates in the country and is sorely in need of the
sorts of federal investment that previous West Virginian Democratic
senators were known for shaking down. A climate bill could be
Manchin’s chance to deliver, promising better, less dangerous jobs
to replace the old coal ones that will never return, climate policy
or no. And such a jobs-forward bill could also give Manchin
incentive to support repealing the filibuster, which otherwise
threatens keep good policy off the table.<br>
<br>
The amount of power Manchin is about to wield over the Senate may be
wildly undemocratic. But climate policy should look out for the coal
mining communities that helped build this country. Democrats should
make the case that it can.<br>
Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at The New Republic.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/160813/bipartisanship-climate-poison">https://newrepublic.com/article/160813/bipartisanship-climate-poison</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[YouTube video discussion]<br>
<b>Michael Dowd - Post-doom Compost Theology</b><br>
Jan 10, 2021<br>
thegreatstory<br>
This video has Michael Shaw interviewing me (Michael Dowd) in
December 2020, as the first installment in his new podcast series,
"Living in the Time of Dying".<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H1fqThnT54">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H1fqThnT54</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[New energy idea from old physical force - see video]<br>
<b>Gravity Energy Storage : A very uplifting technology!</b><br>
Jan 10, 2021<br>
Just Have a Think<br>
Gravity energy storage is not actually a new concept. We've been
doing it with pumped hydro for more than a century. But that's very
expensive to build and needs an awful lot of space. Now though, two
new companies have developed systems that mimic the effect of pumped
hydro by raising and lowering extremely large and heavy weights up
and down over huge height distances. So, do we have yet another
addition to the growing grid scale energy storage family?<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh1--ftWWvY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh1--ftWWvY</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>[Digging back into the internet news archive]</p>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
January 11, 2013 </b></font><br>
<p>Media Matters notes: "After ignoring reports that 2012 was the
hottest year on record in the U.S., Rush Limbaugh and Fox Business
host Stuart Varney tried to push back against well-established
evidence of climate change by citing instances of cold weather."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/01/11/conservatives-once-again-cite-extreme-cold-to-d/192202">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/01/11/conservatives-once-again-cite-extreme-cold-to-d/192202</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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