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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>January 13, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[strong words in the Guardian]<br>
<b>Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and
climate disruption</b><br>
Sobering new report says world is failing to grasp the extent of
threats posed by biodiversity loss and the climate crisis<br>
Phoebe Weston - 13 Jan 2021 <br>
The planet is facing a “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining
health and climate-disruption upheavals” that threaten human
survival because of ignorance and inaction, according to an
international group of scientists, who warn people still haven’t
grasped the urgency of the biodiversity and climate crises.<br>
<br>
The 17 experts, including Prof Paul Ehrlich from Stanford
University, author of The Population Bomb, and scientists from
Mexico, Australia and the US, say the planet is in a much worse
state than most people – even scientists – understood.<br>
<br>
“The scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms –
including humanity – is in fact so great that it is difficult to
grasp for even well-informed experts,” they write in a report in
Frontiers in Conservation Science which references more than 150
studies detailing the world’s major environmental challenges.<br>
<br>
The delay between destruction of the natural world and the impacts
of these actions means people do not recognise how vast the problem
is, the paper argues. “[The] mainstream is having difficulty
grasping the magnitude of this loss, despite the steady erosion of
the fabric of human civilisation.”...<br>
- -<br>
The effects of the climate emergency are more evident than
biodiversity loss, but still, society is failing to cut emissions,
the paper argues. If people understood the magnitude of the crises,
changes in politics and policies could match the gravity of the
threat.<br>
<br>
“Our main point is that once you realise the scale and imminence of
the problem, it becomes clear that we need much more than individual
actions like using less plastic, eating less meat, or flying less.
Our point is that we need big systematic changes and fast,”
Professor Daniel Blumstein from the University of California Los
Angeles, who helped write the paper, told the Guardian.<br>
<br>
The paper cites a number of key reports published in the past few
years including:<br>
<blockquote>-- The World Economic Forum report in 2020, which named
biodiversity loss as one of the top threats to the global economy.<br>
-- The 2019 IPBES Global Assessment report which said 70% of the
planet had been altered by humans.<br>
-- The 2020 WWF Living Planet report, which warned the average
population size of vertebrates had declined by 68% in the past
five years.<br>
-- A 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report which
said that humanity had already exceeded global warming of 1C above
pre-industrial levels and is set to reach 1.5C warming between
2030 and 2052....<br>
</blockquote>
“We certainly should not be in any doubt about the huge scale of the
challenges we are facing and the changes we will need to make to
deal with them,” he said.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/13/top-scientists-warn-of-ghastly-future-of-mass-extinction-and-climate-disruption-aoe">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/13/top-scientists-warn-of-ghastly-future-of-mass-extinction-and-climate-disruption-aoe</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[UN news speaks out]<br>
<b>UN chief calls for ‘urgent transition’ from fossil fuels to
renewable energy </b><br>
- -<br>
<b>Adaptation ‘ a moral imperative’ </b><br>
Against this backdrop, Mr. Guterres repeated his appeal to developed
nations to fulfill their annual pledge for $100 billion dollars to
support mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. <br>
<br>
Pointing to vulnerabilities faced by Africa – from prolonged
droughts in the Sahel and Horn of Africa to devastating floods in
the continent’s south – he underscored “the vital importance of
adaptation” as “a moral imperative”. <br>
<br>
The UN chief said that while only 20 per cent of climate finance is
earmarked for it, adaptation requires “equal attention and
investment”. <br>
<br>
“The forthcoming climate adaptation summit on 25 January is an
opportunity to generate momentum in this much neglected area”, he
added. <br>
<b><br>
</b><b>Reversing a dangerous trend </b><br>
Despite huge amounts of money that have been reserved for COVID-19
recovery and stimulus measures, the Secretary-General noted that
“sustainable investments are still not being prioritized”. <br>
<br>
He outlined the need for an annual six per cent decrease in energy
production from fossil fuels through renewables, transition
programmes, economic diversification plans, green bonds and other
instruments to advance sustainability. <br>
<br>
He reiterated the need to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5
degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, stating emissions
needed to fall by 7.6 per cent every year between now and 2030. <br>
<br>
However, he noted that “some countries are still going in the
opposite direction. “We need to reverse this trend”, he said. <br>
<br>
<b>Aligning with Paris </b><br>
He said all public and private financing should support the Paris
Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with
training, reskilling and providing new opportunities that are “just
and inclusive”. <br>
<br>
He noted that a sustainable economy means better infrastructure, a
resilient future and millions of new jobs – especially for women and
young people, maintaining that “we have the opportunity to transform
our world”. <br>
<br>
“But to achieve this we need global solidarity, just as we need it
for a successful recovery from COVID-19”, the Secretary-General
said, reminding everyone that “in a global crisis we protect
ourselves best when we protect all”. <br>
<br>
“We have the tools. Let us unlock them with political will”,
concluded the UN chief.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/1081802">https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/1081802</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<b> </b>[deceit watch]<br>
<b>Trump official publishes papers questioning seriousness of
climate change without White House approval</b><br>
Papers bearing the presidential seal appear on climate contrarian
websites but were not authorized<br>
By Andrew Freedman and Jason Samenow<br>
Jan. 12, 2021 <br>
Controversial papers questioning the seriousness of climate change
led by David Legates, a senior official at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration appointed by President Trump, have been
published online without White House approval.<br>
<br>
The papers, which were published on nongovernment websites, bear the
imprint of the Executive Office of the President and state they were
copyrighted by the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP). But they were disavowed.<br>
<br>
“These papers were not created at the direction of The White House
Office of Science and Technology Policy nor were they cleared or
approved by OSTP leadership,” OSTP spokeswoman Kristina Baum said in
an email Monday night.<br>
<br>
Reached by phone Tuesday, she added that “OSTP has no intention to
formalize these,” and said that they are being dealt with
internally.<br>
The papers make controversial and disputed claims about climate
science, including that human-caused global warming “involves a
large measure of faith” and that computer models are “too small and
slow” to produce meaningful climate simulations.<br>
<br>
Legates did not reply to requests for comment regarding why the
papers were published bearing the seal of the Executive Office of
the President when they were not approved.<br>
“These misguided and thoroughly erroneous screeds would not have
been issued by any body with a shred of scientific integrity,” wrote
John Holdren, who was the OSTP director under President Obama. “It
is not enough for an offense of this magnitude to be disavowed by an
OSTP spokesperson. It should be forcefully denounced by the OSTP
Director, Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier.”<br>
<br>
Holdren also called for Legates to be fired.<br>
Legates, a climate skeptic and climatology professor at the
University of Delaware, has been a mysterious figure at NOAA since
he started in September. Shortly after joining the agency he was
detailed to a position overseeing the U.S. Global Change Research
Program, which coordinates federal climate change research, while
remaining a NOAA employee.<br>
<br>
Some at NOAA feared Legates, who has a long history of contributing
to the Heartland Institute and its efforts to cast doubt on
mainstream climate science findings, was working on a pet project,
possibly one that could be harmful to NOAA’s climate research
programs.<br>
<br>
The work Legates produced, called “The Climate Change Flyers,”
constitutes nine two- to 10-page essays that question the
reliability of computer models, the human-induced causes of climate
change, and links between climate change and hurricanes, among other
topics...<br>
- - <br>
Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA official and director of the Union
of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Science and Democracy, described
the papers as an effort to “seed the record for the National Climate
assessment and future legal action by circumventing the peer review
and consensus process.”<br>
<br>
“They want to get nonsensical debunked pseudoscience into the
‘official’ government record without subjecting it to independent
evaluation,” Rosenberg wrote in an email.<br>
<br>
The controversial, unapproved papers were published to a website
hosted by the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences,
which calls itself “a multi-disciplinary and independent research
group,” but provides no information as to any individual or
organization that supports it and asks its visitors to provide
donations.<br>
<br>
It appeals for contributions by declaring its independence “from
industry, government, religion, politics or ideology,” despite
posting the documents from Legates bearing the Executive Office of
the President’s seal.<br>
<p>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/01/11/controversial-climate-skeptics-release-papers/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/01/11/controversial-climate-skeptics-release-papers/</a></p>
<p>- -</p>
[Warning - false information - deliberately deceitful]<br>
<b>Can Computer Models Predict Climate?</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.ceres-science.com/files/Flyers/Can%20Computer%20Models%20Predict%20Climate.pdf">https://www.ceres-science.com/files/Flyers/Can%20Computer%20Models%20Predict%20Climate.pdf</a><br>
<b>The Faith-Based Nature of Human Caused Global Warming</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.ceres-science.com/files/Flyers/The%20Faith-Based%20Nature%20of%20Human-Caused%20Global%20Warming.pdf">https://www.ceres-science.com/files/Flyers/The%20Faith-Based%20Nature%20of%20Human-Caused%20Global%20Warming.pdf</a><br>
<p>- -<br>
</p>
[some consequences]<br>
<b>Trump officials reassigned by White House after publishing
controversial climate papers without approval</b><br>
Papers with the presidential seal appear on contrarian websites
without authorization, prompting the reassignment of David Legates
and Ryan Maue<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/01/11/controversial-climate-skeptics-release-papers/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/01/11/controversial-climate-skeptics-release-papers/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
January 13, 2004 </b></font><br>
<p>"The Price of Loyalty," Ron Suskind's profile of former Treasury
Secretary Paul O'Neill, is released. The book recounts O'Neill's
numerous conflicts with the George W. Bush administration, noting
that O'Neill's efforts to have the administration act aggressively
on carbon pollution were met with scorn.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2004/02/09/Climate-CO2-policy-Bush-Cheney-style/UPI-96341076366045/">http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2004/02/09/Climate-CO2-policy-Bush-Cheney-style/UPI-96341076366045/</a>
<br>
</p>
<br>
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