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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>January 16, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[Blah, blah, blah says Greta]<br>
<b>LIVE from #OnePlanetSummit in Paris:</b><br>
Bla bla nature<br>
Bla bla important<br>
Bla bla ambitious<br>
Bla bla green investments<br>
Bla bla great opportunity<br>
Bla bla green growth<br>
Bla bla net zero<br>
Bla bla step up our game<br>
Bla bla hope<br>
Bla bla bla...*<br>
<br>
*locking in decades of further destruction<br>
Quote Tweet<br>
One Planet Summit<br>
@oneplanetsummit<br>
· Jan 11<br>
LIVE | At #OnePlanetSummit France is mobilising political and
business leaders from across the world to act against the erosion of
biodiversity. There’s no Planet B.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1BdGYYXReXyGX">https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1BdGYYXReXyGX</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1348630951769878530">https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1348630951769878530</a><br>
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[New political directions]<br>
<b>Most Democrats and Republicans think the government should make
climate change a priority</b><br>
A new survey finds broad support among American voters for doing
more on climate change.<br>
<br>
By Jariel Arvin@jarielarvin Jan 15, 2021,<br>
A new study has found widespread support for climate-friendly energy
policies among registered Republicans and Democrats.<br>
<br>
The study, conducted by Yale University and George Mason
University’s climate change communication programs, surveyed nearly
1,000 registered voters from across the political spectrum —
Republicans, Democrats, and independents — in December...<br>
The survey found 53 percent of registered voters think global
warming should be a high or very high priority for the president and
Congress while 66 percent feel the same about developing clean
energy sources.<br>
<br>
There was also broad support from both Democrats and Republicans for
eight energy policies that would help address climate change...<br>
- - <br>
Once in office, Biden’s climate plan calls for decarbonizing the US
power sector by 2035. He has also made plans to achieve net-zero
emissions by 2050 a cornerstone of his campaign. According to this
study, about two-thirds of registered voters would be on board with
such policies, signaling good news for the Biden administration’s
climate goals.<br>
<br>
So while there is some evidence that climate change is still a
divisive issue, there’s also growing evidence that climate-friendly
policies and taking action on climate change have bipartisan
support.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/15/22233228/democrats-republicans-view-climate-change-global-warming">https://www.vox.com/2021/1/15/22233228/democrats-republicans-view-climate-change-global-warming</a>
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<p><br>
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[family ties, patronage]<br>
<b>Justice Amy Coney Barrett to hear climate lawsuit against Shell –
despite accusations of conflict of interest</b><br>
Despite her father’s long career at Shell, Justice Barrett is due to
hear arguments in a case brought against the oil giant by the city
of Baltimore next week, writes senior climate correspondent Louise
Boyle<br>
Trump’s Supreme Court appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is set
to hear legal arguments in a climate lawsuit against Shell next week
amid conflict-of-interest accusations due to her father’s 30-year
legal career at the oil giant.<br>
<br>
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday before the US’s highest court in
the case brought by the city of Baltimore against Big Oil, including
ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, demanding damages associated with
sea-level rise and other effects of the climate crisis.<br>
<br>
Justice Barrett’s father, Michael Coney, spent three decades as an
attorney for Shell Oil between 1978 and 2007, where he oversaw legal
issues for Shell’s offshore drilling arm.<br>
While Mr Coney was at Shell, the oil giant’s own scientists
published a 90-page, confidential internal memo (which was later
leaked) that asserted "the main cause of increasing C02
concentrations is considered to be fossil-fuel burning". <br>
The 1988 report includes details on the “direct operational
consequences” of global heating on the company’s "offshore
installations, coastal facilities and operations platforms,
harbours, refineries, depots". <br>
<br>
At time of publication, the case docket did not show that Justice
Barrett had recused herself. The Supreme Court told The Independent
in an email that justices generally do not comment on their recusal
in particular cases.<br>
<br>
When she was a lower-court judge, Justice Barrett recused herself
from cases involving Shell Oil due to her father’s former senior
legal role at the company. <br>
“My father worked at Shell Oil Company for many years, and while on
the Seventh Circuit, in an abundance of caution, I have recused
myself from cases involving those Shell entities with which he was
involved,” Justice Barret wrote in a questionnaire during her Senate
confirmation hearings in October.<br>
<br>
Mr Coney also held a top position at American Petroleum Institute
(API), the fossil fuel industry’s powerful lobbying arm. API is
backing the oil firms in the Baltimore case by filing an amicus
brief, a move to allow a non-party to a case to offer information,
expertise, or insight.<br>
There is the possibility that Mr Coney could be deposed in the case,
according to legal experts.<br>
<br>
“Her dad’s role in maximising Shell’s net revenue from drilling grew
even as Shell’s internal documents show it knew burning carbon was
changing our climate and he even sought tax benefits from its
efforts to adapt its drilling platforms to survive sea level rise
and bigger storms resulting from climate change,” Lisa Graves,
executive director of True North Research and a former chief counsel
for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Huffington
Post. <br>
<br>
Earlier this week, a group of science, environmental and legal
advocacy organisations called on Justice Barrett to recuse herself.
<br>
Another Supreme Court judge, Justice Samuel Alito, already recused
himself from the Baltimore case, according to filings, as he
reportedly owns stock in oil and gas firms.<br>
“We urge Justice Barrett to heed both precedent and common sense and
join Justice Alito in recusing herself from this case brought
against Big Oil,” said Kathy Mulvey, from the Union of Concerned
Scientists. <br>
<br>
“It’s well known that Justice Barrett’s father worked for decades as
an attorney at Shell Oil, a named defendant in the case. He also
played an active role in the American Petroleum Institute, the
industry’s main US lobby group, which is funded by numerous
defendants in the Baltimore suit and has submitted an amicus curiae
brief in support of their petition to the Supreme Court. <br>
<br>
"These deep and long-standing conflicts of interest have led Justice
Barrett to recuse herself from cases regarding Shell in the past.
Her obligation to judicial impartiality should lead her to do the
same here. Baltimore residents deserve access to impartial justice
for the climate harms they are suffering.”<br>
<br>
In 2018, Baltimore became one of several US cities to try to hold
oil giants financially responsible for the climate crisis, saying
that companies pushed misinformation for decades, despite internal
documents revealing their own scientists knew all too well the
risks.<br>
<br>
The Maryland city says it faces massive costs to protect its
residents, businesses and infrastructure from the escalating impacts
of climate change.<br>
<br>
“For 50 years, these companies have known their products would cause
rising seas and the other climate change-related problems facing
Baltimore today,” Baltimore Solicitor Andre Davis said at the time.
<br>
<br>
“They could have warned us. They could have taken steps to minimise
or avoid the damage. In fact, they had a responsibility to do both,
but they didn’t, and that’s why we are taking them to court.”<br>
<br>
The city battles extended heatwaves, particularly dangerous in
so-called "urban heat islands", which are more likely to be in
predominantly Black and poorer neighbourhoods. In these areas,
doctors point to increased rates of chronic illnesses that are
exacerbated by heat, especially lung diseases like asthma, emphysema
or bronchitis. <br>
<br>
By 2045, Baltimore, located in Chesapeake Bay, is expected to see a
ten-fold increase in tidal floods each year – to more than 225 –
because of sea-level rise alone (compared with today’s average). <br>
<br>
Baltimore originally filed its climate suit in Baltimore Circuit
Court, not federal court. But oil companies have gone to war to move
cases, like the one from Baltimore, to the Supreme Court, believing
they are more likely to have the upper hand there, E&E News
said. <br>
<br>
The city is now asking the Supreme Court to refer the suit, which
seeks unspecified damages, back to state court.<br>
<br>
During his term, President Donald Trump was able to tip the balance
of the land’s highest court by appointing three conservative
justices – Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. But he also
managed to get more than 200 judges onto the federal bench,
reshaping the judiciary for a generation. <br>
<br>
During nomination hearings in October, Justice Barrett insisted that
she would bring no personal agenda to the Supreme Court, instead
deciding cases “as they come”.<br>
<br>
However, she refused to say that climate change is scientific fact,
calling it instead “a very contentious matter of public debate”.<br>
<br>
“I will not express a view on a matter of public policy, especially
one that is politically controversial,” Judge Barrett said.<br>
<br>
“You know, I”m certainly not a scientist,” she also stated. “I mean,
I’ve read things about climate change. I would not say that I have
firm views on it.”<br>
<br>
Her words alarmed environmentalists and brought condemnation from
scientists who have long-established the facts that human-caused CO2
emissions are heating the planet. <br>
<br>
Activist Greta Thunberg tweeted: “To be fair, I don’t have any
‘views on climate change’ either. Just like I don’t have any ‘views’
on gravity, the fact that the earth is round, photosynthesis nor
evolution.<br>
<br>
“But understanding and knowing their existence really makes life in
the 21st century so much easier.”<br>
<br>
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for
Biological Diversity, told The Independent: "It is a typical
conservative, right-wing view that scientific reality is something
that you can have an opinion about."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/amy-coney-barrett-shell-lawsuit-b1788034.html">https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/amy-coney-barrett-shell-lawsuit-b1788034.html</a><br>
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<p><br>
</p>
[Lessons not learned will be repeated]<br>
<b>Hounded by Wildfires, Californians Rethink Their Willingness to
Rebuild</b><br>
In the aftermath, some people are deciding to just begin new lives
elsewhere. The pandemic and longstanding housing problems haven’t
made the choices any easier.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/realestate/california-wildfires-rebuild.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/realestate/california-wildfires-rebuild.html</a><br>
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<p><br>
</p>
[Conjecture where 43C = 109.4 F ]<br>
<b>Climate change: what would 4°C of global warming feel like?</b><br>
January 15, 2021<br>
Feeling the heat<br>
One way of bridging the gap between climate models and the real
world is to draw on personal memories of past extreme heat. Stop to
think about the highest temperatures you’ve ever experienced
outdoors in the shade. For me, it was 43°C in a suburb of Melbourne,
Australia. This felt hot but was much less than the highest
temperature ever reliably recorded above ground – 54.4°C in Death
Valley National Park, California, on August 16 2020. [129.9 F]<br>
<br>
How about the hottest you’ve ever felt indoors? If I ignore saunas,
mine was inside a home in Accra, Ghana. The room had wooden walls, a
metal roof, and no air conditioning. Here, the temperature reached
38°C. Even though this was lower than in Melbourne, with the poor
ventilation and humid air, the heat felt stifling...<br>
- -<br>
Without action, the number of unbearably hot homes is set to grow.
By 2050, 68% of humanity may live in urban areas and populations in
the tropics will be most exposed to extreme humid heat. We know
surprisingly little about these front lines of climate change,
especially within the streets and homes of low-income communities.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-what-would-4-c-of-global-warming-feel-like-152625">https://theconversation.com/climate-change-what-would-4-c-of-global-warming-feel-like-152625</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[for instance]<br>
<b>The Southwest’s race against the climate clock</b><br>
New Mexico is facing a drier than normal winter—its reservoirs are
nearly tapped out. Things are going to get worse<br>
By LAURA PASKUS - JANUARY 15, 2021<br>
- -<br>
This year, the U.S. Southwest is facing La Niña conditions, which
will bring a drier than normal winter. Already, stream flows are
below normal across the state and many reservoirs are nearly tapped
out. In southern New Mexico, managers with the Elephant Butte
Irrigation District have already warned farmers they should brace
for a "zero allotment" of water in 2021.<br>
<br>
An expert on water issues, state Rep. Melanie Stansbury
(D-Albuquerque) is leading the charge on climate change in the
legislature. And during the 2021 session, she is introducing the
Climate Resiliency and Security Act.<br>
<br>
"We're already seeing the signs of climate change in our water
supplies," says Stansbury, who worked on Capitol Hill and for the
federal Office of Management and Budget before returning home to New
Mexico a few years ago and running for office. (Stansbury is also
planning a run for U.S. Congress, to replace Rep. Deb Haaland, whom
the Biden administration has nominated as Secretary of the U.S.
Department of the Interior.)<br>
And things are going to get worse.<br>
<br>
Recently briefed on a draft federal report, Stansbury says New
Mexico is staring down a 70% to 100% reduction in snowpack that
feeds the state's two largest rivers — the Rio Grande and Pecos —
between 2070 and the end of the century. "Every tiny rural
community, every farm in our state is vulnerable to climate change,"
she says. "And if we don't institutionalize helping our communities,
we're going to be in a lot of trouble."<br>
<br>
If passed, the bill would codify in state statute climate-related
targets set by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to at least 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. The bill would
also expand that goal to net-zero emissions by 2050...<br>
- -<br>
Cracking apart the ties between state government and the fossil fuel
industry is daunting. Romero y Carver says it has been "terrifying"
to witness the power that industry executives and lobbyists wield in
the state.<br>
<br>
"Initially when I looked at it, I felt desperate and defeated," he
says. "But I don't think there is anything more powerful than people
united in community. As powerful as the oil and gas industry is, if
we're organized, and loud, and [if we] say what we want and make our
public servants act as servants to the public, we can stand a
chance."<br>
<br>
But there's not much time.<br>
<br>
Even if politicians act on the timeline to cut greenhouse gas
emissions that the United Nations warned was imperative, it won't
stop climate change — only help the world avoid the worst impacts.<br>
<br>
"We're not ending climate change, just mitigating disaster," says
the 17-year-old. "But we have to act like our lives depend on it.
Because they do."<br>
Copyright 2021 Capital & Main<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.salon.com/2021/01/14/the-southwests-race-against-the-climate-clock_partner/">https://www.salon.com/2021/01/14/the-southwests-race-against-the-climate-clock_partner/</a>
<p><br>
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<p><br>
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[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
January 16, 2006 </b></font><br>
<p>January 16, 2006: At a speech in Constitution Hall, Washington,
D.C., former Vice President Al Gore declares:<br>
<br>
"[T]he American people, who have a right to believe that its
elected representatives will learn the truth and act on the basis
of knowledge and utilize the rule of reason, have been let down.<br>
<br>
To take another example, scientific warnings about the
catastrophic consequences of unchecked global warming were
censored by a political appointee in the White House with no
scientific training whatsoever.<br>
<br>
"Today one of the most distinguished scientific experts in the
world on global warming, who works in NASA, has been ordered not
to talk to members of the press; ordered to keep a careful log of
everyone he meets with so that the executive branch can monitor
and control what he shares of his knowledge about global warming.<br>
<br>
"This is a planetary crisis. We owe ourselves a truthful and
reasoned discussion."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600779.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600779.html</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_2e1dIl2s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_2e1dIl2s</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
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