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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>April 17, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[ultimatum opinion]<br>
<b>‘This is it. If we don’t amp up, we’re goners’: the last chance
to confront the climate crisis?</b><br>
Jeff Goodell - Fri 16 Apr 2021...<br>
Now, our luck is running out. The industrialized nations of the
world are dumping 34bn tons or so of carbon into the atmosphere
every year, which is roughly 10 times faster than Mother Nature ever
did on her own, even during past mass extinction events. As a
result, global temperatures have risen 1.2C since we began burning
coal, and the past seven years have been the warmest seven years on
record. The Earth’s temperature is rising faster today than at any
time since the end of the last ice age, 11,300 years ago. We are
pushing ourselves out of a Goldilocks climate and into something
entirely different...<br>
- -<br>
As a recent paper in Nature pointed out: “On current trends, the
probability of staying below 2C of warming is only five percent.”<br>
<br>
The great danger is not climate denial. The great danger is climate
delay.<br>
<br>
What’s needed is action now. As climate envoy John Kerry put it at
the World Sustainable Development Summit in February: “We have to
now phase out coal five times faster than we have been. We have to
increase tree cover five times faster than we have been. We have to
ramp up renewable energy six times faster than we are. We have to
transition to [electric vehicles] 22 times faster.”<br>
<br>
Demanding action now will also require shutting down the
international financing schemes that support fossil fuels. China,
Japan, and South Korea all claim to be doing their part in making
carbon reductions at home, while at the same time they are financing
70,000 megawatts of coal power in places like Bangladesh, Vietnam
and Indonesia.<br>
<br>
The goal of net-zero emissions is also problematic. “Net zero” is
not the same thing as zero. It means that carbon pollution is either
eliminated or offset by other processes that remove carbon from the
atmosphere, such as forests or machines that capture CO2. Some of
these offsets and technologies are more legit than others, opening
the door to scams that claim to eliminate more carbon than they do.<br>
- -<br>
If political leaders don’t take the climate crisis seriously now,
with all they know, with all they have been through already, will
they ever? “Climate advocates keep saying, ‘This is it, this is it,
this is it,’ ” warns Podesta. “But this really is it. If we don’t
amp up and accelerate the energy transformation in this decade,
we’re goners – really goners.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/16/climate-crisis-last-chance-emergency">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/16/climate-crisis-last-chance-emergency</a><br>
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</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Fleet of electric airplanes]<br>
<b>Cold weather perfect to pioneer electric aviation says Finnair
and signs intention to purchase 20 battery planes</b><br>
The Swedish-developed 19-seater ES-19 electric aircraft for
short-haul routes could be ready for take-off with passengers by
2026.<br>
ByThomas Nilsen - March 30, 2021<br>
With zero-emissions, low-noise and possible to operate on 750-meter
runways, the first generation electric planes will be perfect for
commuter flights between small airports close to city centers. Such
airports are numerous in the Nordic countries.<br>
<br>
In mid-March, Norwegian-based regional airliner Widerøe announced
its intention to be launch-operator of the Rolls-Royce and Tecnam
developed P-Volt passenger aircraft.<br>
<br>
Now, Finland’s flag carrier Finnair says it has signed a letter of
interest with pioneering Swedish aviation company Heart Aerospace
and intends to buy up to 20 of its ES-19 battery-powered aircraft.<br>
<br>
Heart Aerospace says it will deliver the first ES-19 certified for
commercial flights by 2026.<br>
<br>
Finnair’s Head of Sustainability, Anne Larilahti says cold weather
in the Nordic region makes it a perfect place to pioneer electric
aviation technology.<br>
<br>
“Our cold climate has an impact on batteries and operating a light
plane. If we know how to do it here, it’s easier to do it
elsewhere,” Larilahti says.<br>
<br>
CEO and founder of Heart Aerospace, Anders Forslund, says it makes
sense to bring electric planes to the Nordic market first.<br>
- -<br>
Every airport will need a charger. <br>
<br>
The ES-19 plane, currently under development, can be fully charged
1,000 times over its lifetime and the plane’s batteries will need to
be topped up every time they land.<br>
<br>
Up north, battery-powered transportation is nothing new. Norway has
for years been leading the electrification of cars. Electric
vehicles now count for more than half of all new sales, and the
charging infrastructure in the northernmost regions assures for no
range limitations even mid-winter in minus 30 degrees Celsius.<br>
<br>
The world’s northernmost battery-powered commercial bus routes are
operated in Luleå, Sweden and in northern Norway, even a
whale-watching cruise boat is hybrid-powered. Another will sail
towards Svalbard to serve tourism in a post-pandemic world.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/travel/2021/03/cold-weather-perfect-pioneer-electric-aviation-says-finnair-and-signs-intention">https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/travel/2021/03/cold-weather-perfect-pioneer-electric-aviation-says-finnair-and-signs-intention</a><br>
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</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[We're gonna need darker glasses]<br>
<b>Whitest-ever paint could help cool heating Earth, study shows</b><br>
New paint reflects 98% of sunlight as well as radiating infrared
heat into space, reducing need for air conditioning<br>
Damian Carrington -- Environment editor -- 15 Apr 2021 <br>
The whitest-ever paint has been produced by academic researchers,
with the aim of boosting the cooling of buildings and tackling the
climate crisis.<br>
<br>
The new paint reflects 98% of sunlight as well as radiating infrared
heat through the atmosphere into space. In tests, it cooled surfaces
by 4.5C below the ambient temperature, even in strong sunlight. The
researchers said the paint could be on the market in one or two
years.<br>
<br>
White-painted roofs have been used to cool buildings for centuries.
As global heating pushes temperatures up, the technique is also
being used on modern city buildings, such as in Ahmedabad in India
and New York City in the US.<br>
Currently available reflective white paints are far better than dark
roofing materials, but only reflect 80-90% of sunlight and absorb UV
light. This means they cannot cool surfaces below ambient
temperatures. The new paint does this, leading to less need for air
conditioning and the carbon emissions they produce, which are rising
rapidly.<br>
“Our paint can help fight against global warming by helping to cool
the Earth – that’s the cool point,” said Prof Xiulin Ruan at Purdue
University in the US. “Producing the whitest white means the paint
can reflect the maximum amount of sunlight back to space.”...<br>
- -<br>
Three factors are responsible for the paint’s cooling performance.
First, barium sulphate was used as the pigment which, unlike
conventional titanium dioxide pigment, does not absorb UV light.
Second, a high concentration of pigment was used – 60%...<br>
<br>
Third, the pigment particles were of varied size. The amount of
light scattered by a particle depends on its size, so using a range
scatters more of the light spectrum from the sun. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/15/whitest-ever-paint-could-help-cool-heating-earth-study-shows">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/15/whitest-ever-paint-could-help-cool-heating-earth-study-shows</a><br>
<br>
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</p>
[Beckwith lecture on mesoscale weather]<br>
<b>Linking Mid-Latitude Extreme Weather Events to Arctic
Amplification; Complexities Abound: 1 of 2</b><br>
Apr 16, 2021<br>
Paul Beckwith<br>
One of the obvious consequences of abrupt climate system change is
the large increase we have experienced in the frequency, severity,
and duration of extreme weather events. In addition, these events
are happening in regions where they did not happen before, for
example, we have had large, previously unheard of snowfalls in some
of the driest deserts in the world. <br>
<br>
The top down, elevator pitch that I have used for many years is
based on the fundamental physics of why the Jet Stream exists in the
first place, which is due to the cold Arctic - warmer lower
latitudes temperature difference creating a pressure difference
driving the high altitude winds (jet streams) along with the
Coriolis force effects deflecting winds to the right in the Northern
Hemisphere. As the Arctic warms at much greater rates than lower
latitudes, the lower temperature gradient (thus pressure gradient)
means the jet streams must slow, and thus they become much wavier in
the North-South direction. Under the ridges of the Jet stream waves
(Rossby Waves) there is high pressure and heat that has moved
northward, while in the troughs of the waves cold dry air spills
southward. If the wave locations are persistent (blocked) we can get
long duration anomalously hot conditions under the ridges, and long
duration storms, torrential rainfall, and flooding in the troughs. <br>
<br>
This explains why the tremendously rapid Arctic warming is leading
to increases in the frequency, severity, and duration of extreme
weather events, from a top-down viewpoint.<br>
<br>
Bottom-up is more difficult, and the devil is always in the details.
In the latter section of my Part 1 video, and in all of my Part 2
video, I discuss a new peer reviewed scientific paper called “How do
intermittency and simultaneous processes obfuscate the Arctic
influence on midlatitude winter extreme weather events?”. <br>
<br>
Since extreme weather events are presently affecting billions of
people around the planet, getting at the details is vitally
important, in fact it was mentioned that there were 146 recent
papers looking into the details of these connections. There is a lot
of complexity and confusion, and the connections vary critically
depending on the season, for example late fall/early winter the lack
of Arctic sea ice in the Barent-Kara Sea, the Chuckhi-Beaufort Sea,
and Baffin Bay have been connected to extreme winter cold and
snowfall in Eurasia, extreme weather conditions in North America,
etc... In late winter, the Stratospheric Polar Vortex often
radically undergoes Sudden Stratospheric Warming, leading to large
outbreaks of cold Arctic air infiltrating into much lower latitudes
in North America and Eurasia. <br>
<br>
Clearly, we still have a lot to learn, but it seems impossible to me
that rapid Arctic changes can occur without having profound effects
on lower latitude weather extremes. I think these connections will
become more obvious and resolved as we get closer and closer to
complete loss of Arctic sea ice within the next few years.<br>
<br>
Please donate to my blog <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://paulbeckwith.net">http://paulbeckwith.net</a> to support my
research and videos as I bring you the latest science connecting the
dots on abrupt climate system change and it’s consequences to
humanity.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0F4EGxyuyc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0F4EGxyuyc</a><br>
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</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p> </p>
[big names, big brains - free video - worth hearing]<br>
<b>Daniel Kahneman and Yuval Noah Harari: 'Global Trends Shaping
Humankind'</b><br>
Apr 12, 2021<br>
Yuval Noah Harari<br>
Daniel Kahneman and Yuval Noah Harari in: 'Global Trends Shaping
Humankind', a conversation moderated by Kara Swisher.<br>
This session was a part of the 2021 Nexus Online Summit, organized
by the American Friends of The Hebrew University.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yhg7NmTeVg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yhg7NmTeVg</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Extinction Rebellion activism - contempt of court - video
statement]<br>
<b>'I am Acting out of Radical Love' | Stefania Morosi | Disobey the
Dock | Extinction Rebellion UK</b><br>
Apr 16, 2021<br>
Extinction Rebellion<br>
Livestreamed court video
here:<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/XRebellionUK/status/1383069093054545927">https://twitter.com/XRebellionUK/status/1383069093054545927</a><br>
Stefania Morosi, an XR Rebel in court today extending
non-cooperation at the City of London <br>
- -<br>
[Tweet]<br>
Extinction Rebellion UK 🌍<br>
@XRebellionUK<br>
·<br>
<b>BREAKING: Stefania Morosi, XR, has been arrested live-streaming
from City of London Magistrates' Court. </b> Stefania is a mother
of two small children, and is the 11th rebel to commit contempt of
court. She is likely to be sentenced to up to three weeks in prison.
#ClimateAction<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/XRebellionUK/status/1383069093054545927">https://twitter.com/XRebellionUK/status/1383069093054545927</a><br>
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</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Yale talks future planning]<br>
<b>Sustainable Development on an Urbanizing Planet</b><br>
Apr 16, 2021<br>
YaleUniversity<br>
Human density has often been presented as a problem – from
mid-twentieth-century fears of a “population explosion” inhibiting
development, to contemporary alarm that urban growth is driving the
climate crisis. However, both historical and contemporary examples
show us that cities can be spaces of biodiversity and provisioning,
places where density mitigates sprawl and reduces carbon emissions.
In any search for “green” solutions to poverty, cities must play a
large role. The sixth Yale Development Dialogue focused on the
features of cities that are most conducive to sustainable
development, and on those that are not. Panelists: Sunil Amrith,
Kate Brown, Edward Glaeser, and Rory Stewart. Moderator: Catherine
Cheney.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDXG8haf8o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDXG8haf8o</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[an important new book by Julia Galef]<br>
<b>The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others
Don't Hardcover – April 13, 2021</b><br>
by Julia Galef (Author)<br>
"...an engaging and enlightening account from which we all can
benefit."—The Wall Street Journal<br>
<br>
A better way to combat knee-jerk biases and make smarter decisions,
from Julia Galef, the acclaimed expert on rational decision-making.<br>
<br>
When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see.
In other words, we have what Julia Galef calls a "soldier" mindset.
From tribalism and wishful thinking, to rationalizing in our
personal lives and everything in between, we are driven to defend
the ideas we most want to believe—and shoot down those we don't.<br>
<br>
But if we want to get things right more often, argues Galef, we
should train ourselves to have a "scout" mindset. Unlike the
soldier, a scout's goal isn't to defend one side over the other.
It's to go out, survey the territory, and come back with as accurate
a map as possible. Regardless of what they hope to be the case,
above all, the scout wants to know what's actually true.<br>
<br>
In The Scout Mindset, Galef shows that what makes scouts better at
getting things right isn't that they're smarter or more
knowledgeable than everyone else. It's a handful of emotional
skills, habits, and ways of looking at the world—which anyone can
learn. With fascinating examples ranging from how to survive being
stranded in the middle of the ocean, to how Jeff Bezos avoids
overconfidence, to how superforecasters outperform CIA operatives,
to Reddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why
our brains deceive us and what we can do to change the way we think.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.amazon.com/Scout-Mindset-Perils-Defensive-Thinking/dp/0735217556/ref=sr_1_2">https://www.amazon.com/Scout-Mindset-Perils-Defensive-Thinking/dp/0735217556/ref=sr_1_2</a><br>
<p>- -<br>
</p>
[videos with Julia Galef]<br>
<b>Julia Galef Discusses Intellectual Honesty</b><br>
Sep 12, 2019<br>
South Park Commons<br>
Julia Galef visited South Park Commons on August 14 to share
insights from her upcoming book on intellectual honesty.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_E9-7t8QMI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_E9-7t8QMI</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[already, globally cut]<br>
<b>Climate change has cut food production by 20 percent</b><br>
This is how badly climate change has hurt food production<br>
A new study shows more than a fifth of global food output growth has
been lost to climate change since the 1960s, while an estimated 34
million people live on the brink of famine.<br>
Bloomberg.com, April, 2021<br>
<br>
Climate change has been holding back food production for decades,
with a new study showing that about 21% of growth for agricultural
output was lost since the 1960s.<br>
<br>
That’s equal to losing the last seven years of productivity growth,
according to research led by Cornell University and published in the
journal Nature Climate Change. The study was funded by a unit of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.<br>
<br>
The revelation comes as the United Nations’ World Food Programme
warns of a “looming catastrophe” with about 34 million people
globally on the brink of famine. The group has cited climate change
as a major factor contributing to the sharp increase in hunger
around the world. Food inflation is also on the rise as farmers deal
with the impact of extreme weather at a time of robust demand.<br>
<br>
This is the first study to look at how climate change has
historically affected agricultural production on a global scale,
using econometrics and climate models to figure out how much of the
sector’s total productivity has been affected, across crops and
livestock.<br>
<br>
The loss of productivity comes even as billions has been poured into
improving agricultural production through the development of new
seeds, sophisticated farm machinery and other technological
advances.<br>
<br>
“Even though globally agriculture is more productive, that greater
productivity on average doesn’t translate into more climate
resilience,” said Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, an author of the paper and
associate professor at Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied
Economics and Management.<br>
<br>
The damages to productivity growth aren’t evenly spread across
regions. Warmer areas — especially those in the tropics — are more
detrimentally affected. Ortiz-Bobea said that coincides with many
countries where agriculture makes up a bigger share of the economy.<br>
<br>
He was also warned that current research into improving production
may not enough consider the pace of climate change.<br>
“I worry that we’re breeding or preparing ourselves for the climate
we’re in now, not what is coming up in the next couple of decades.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/4/2/this-is-how-badly-climate-change-has-hurt-food-production">https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/4/2/this-is-how-badly-climate-change-has-hurt-food-production</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
April 17, 2008 </b></font><br>
<p>• Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection releases a commercial
featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, calling for a bipartisan
effort to address human-caused climate change. Gingrich is
rhetorically flogged by right-wing bloggers for participating in
the commercial, and later disavows it.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1COYhkzEXPI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1COYhkzEXPI</a><br>
<br>
• TIME magazine releases its April 28, 2008 issue, with the cover
story: "How to Win the War on Global Warming."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20080428,00.html">http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20080428,00.html</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1730759_1731383_1731363,00.html">http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1730759_1731383_1731363,00.html</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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