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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>June 1, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[Slideshow news report]<br>
<b>California's Drought Is So Bad, Farmers Are Ripping Up Almond
Trees</b><br>
Molly Taft - May 31, 2021<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gizmodo.com/californias-drought-is-so-bad-farmers-are-ripping-up-a-1846993225">https://gizmodo.com/californias-drought-is-so-bad-farmers-are-ripping-up-a-1846993225</a><br>
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[That's <u>CHO</u> to you]<br>
<b>Miami’s chief heat officer calls for action on ‘silent killer’ in
climate crisis</b><br>
Jane Gilbert urges greater federal and state response to lethal
threat posed by rising temperatures<br>
Oliver Milman- 27 May 2021<br>
<br>
Miami’s new chief heat officer has called for greater federal and
state action on the lethal threat posed by rising temperatures after
becoming the first official in the US appointed to focus solely on
heatwaves.<br>
<br>
Jane Gilbert, who has been tasked by Miami-Dade county with
coordinating and accelerating efforts to protect lives from extreme
heat, said that more focus was needed on what has been called the
“silent killer” of the climate crisis.<br>
<br>
“In Miami it doesn’t take much of a temperature increase for things
to get dangerous,” she said. “I hope that heat is integrated into
all sorts of thinking on dealing with climate change and
infrastructure. We are seeing a growing awareness of this threat
across the US from cities, it’s really bubbling up.”<br>
<br>
Heat is the deadliest of all the maladies spurred by the climate
crisis, with more than 700 people on average now dying each year
from its effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. An independent study last year estimated this death toll
is actually much higher, at about 5,600 fatalities a year.<br>
<br>
Cities in traditionally cooler climes are at particular risk from
the growing threat of heatwaves as residents there often lack air
conditioning and other adaptations to deal with the onset of hot
temperatures. In many US cities, low-income neighborhoods of color
are regularly far hotter than nearby, leafier areas where white
residents are in the majority.<br>
<br>
Gilbert said that even places traditionally used to heat, such as
Miami, will need to do more to provide cool-down centers for
vulnerable people, generate more shade via increased tree cover and
educate people of the dangers posed by sweltering temperatures.<br>
<br>
Miami-Dade currently experiences about 40 days a year that feel like
100F (37C) but it’s estimated this total will rocket to 134 such
days a year by mid-century if planet-heating emissions are not
slashed.<br>
<br>
Democrats in Congress have pushed for a law that would force the US
Department of Labor to draw up new national standards to protect
people who work outside in the heat. A bill demanding this has been
named after Asunción Valdivia, a farm worker in California who died
in 2004 after picking grapes for 10 hours without a break in 105F
(40C) temperatures. He was eventually driven home but started
foaming at the mouth and died.<br>
<br>
According to labor department figures, more than 800 US workers have
been killed and 70,000 have been seriously injured by heat stress
since the 1990s but there is no national heat mandate and only a
handful of states, such as California, where workers must be
supplied with filtered drinking water and shaded areas once
temperatures hit 80F (26C), have standards in place to protect those
working outside.<br>
<br>
In May, Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a new bill to
help Florida deal with sea level rise but proposals to ensure
workers get adequate shade, regular breaks and plenty of drinking
water have languished. “At the state level we are moving from very
little action to some action related to sea level rise, which we are
thrilled about, but we need the state to start looking at increasing
heat,” said Gilbert.<br>
<br>
“There could be investment in green infrastructure, rehabbing
substandard housing and action for outdoor workers. There’s a lot
more to do.”<br>
<br>
Gilbert will jointly lead a new heat taskforce that will look at
crafting a series of measures, such as an outdoor worker heat
standard and a new alert system for when temperatures soar. Cheryl
Holder, a Florida doctor who will co-lead the taskforce, said action
was required to deal with the growing number of heat-related
conditions she is now dealing with.<br>
<br>
“The number of dangerous days are increasing and we are seeing more
complaints over the heat, more skin problems, more instances of
diabetes not being as controlled, more injuries when workers get hot
and dizzy on the job,” she said. “It will be hard to get change but
this is urgent. We really need to address this now.”<br>
<br>
Holder said she had raised the prospect of a barely livable Florida
with lawmakers, suggesting to aides of Marco Rubio, the Republican
senator, that even Disney World will become unattractive to visitors
if temperatures regularly breach 100F.<br>
<br>
“Florida sells itself on tourism, the outdoor life,” she said. “If
it becomes unbearably hot, who will want to be outside? It’s crucial
Florida gets serious about heat and how to manage it.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/27/miami-chief-heat-officer-jane-gilbert-climate-crisis">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/27/miami-chief-heat-officer-jane-gilbert-climate-crisis</a><br>
- -<br>
[Florida]<br>
<b>Sharp rise in Florida manatee deaths as algal blooms hasten food
depletion</b><br>
Death toll at 749, on course to pass high mark set in 2018<br>
Pollution including nutrient runoff kills seagrass<br>
<br>
Environmental groups in Florida are warning that unusually high
numbers of manatee deaths in the first five months of the year,
blamed in part on resurgent algal blooms contaminating and
destroying food sources, could threaten the long-term future of the
species...<br>
- -<br>
Two members of Congress, Democrat Stephanie Murphy and Republican
Brian Mast, have proposed legislation to increase federal funding
for manatee protection.<br>
<br>
A hard-hitting editorial in the Orlando Sentinel earlier this month
blamed the increase in manatee deaths on “contempt for the
environment” among Florida politicians and assailed former governor
Rick Scott, now a US senator, for slashing environmental budgets
when in office.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/31/sharp-rise-florida-manatee-deaths-algal-blooms-food-depletion">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/31/sharp-rise-florida-manatee-deaths-algal-blooms-food-depletion</a><br>
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[Britain plans ahead]<br>
<b>Heatwave deaths set to soar as UK summers become hotter</b><br>
Met Office warning over impact of global heating prompts calls for
action to protect elderly and vulnerable<br>
Robin McKie - 30 May 2021<br>
Britain is failing to protect its vulnerable citizens from the
threat of intensifying heatwaves, health experts warned last week.
Thousands of preventable deaths could be triggered every year
because simple measures to keep houses and care homes cool have not
been implemented.<br>
<br>
As global heating worsens and heatwaves become more frequent, the
problem is likely to worsen significantly – unless urgent action is
taken, they say. Those most likely to suffer include the very young,
the elderly and people suffering from chronic conditions such as
asthma.<br>
<br>
Last week, the Met Office revealed there was now a more than 40%
chance the annual average global temperature will reach 1.5C above
pre-industrial levels at some time in the next five years as
greenhouse gas emissions from factories, power plants and cars
continue unabated...<br>
- -<br>
An NHS Heatwave Plan for England was set up in 2004 but was
dismissed as “demonstrably inadequate” by Bob Ward, policy director
at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the
Environment.<br>
<br>
“Summer heatwaves are natural disasters for the UK that have killed
thousands of people over the past few years, and many lives could
have been saved by a better strategy for managing heat risks,” Ward
said in a letter to the prime minister last week.<br>
<br>
King added that it was predicted that by 2050, the country could see
three times as many heat-related deaths as there are today. “This is
something that the Committee on Climate Change has been banging on
about ever since it produced its first reports on the subject 10
years ago but we have seen very little progress.”<br>
<br>
An expected problem outlined by health experts concerns the
longstanding drive to insulate homes so that they use energy more
efficiently and don’t waste heat.<br>
<br>
“Energy efficiency measures can actually exacerbate overheating
risk,” said Professor Paul Wilkinson, of the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.<br>
<br>
“You have a lot of insulation installed and the dwelling gets sealed
up, so heat becomes difficult to dissipate during a heatwave. The
problem can become quite severe. We need to keep homes warm in
winter but that must be done in a way that ensures they are kept
cool in summer.”<br>
<br>
Measures to permit such cooling should include provision of
shutters, blinds and adequate ventilation as well as protection for
trees – particularly in cities – which provide shade. However, these
steps are not being prioritised in new houses and schemes that are
being built in Britain, it is argued.<br>
<br>
The problem is expected to get worse for another reason, added King.
“After the Covid pandemic is over, it is likely that a lot more
people will work from home, and most houses – especially in cities,
which can become extremely hot at night – are not easy to keep cool.
So the problem is likely to become exacerbated in the next few
years.”<br>
<br>
Care homes in towns and cities were another problem area, Wilkinson
added. “These are buildings that are not easy to keep cool and have
fire door and ventilation regulations that make it difficult to keep
air flowing.<br>
<br>
“Very often, temperatures can become a substantial threat to health.
These issues can be tackled but it takes effort and planning.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/30/heatwave-deaths-set-to-soar-as-uk-summers-become-hotter">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/30/heatwave-deaths-set-to-soar-as-uk-summers-become-hotter</a><br>
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[Yes there will be]<br>
<b>Will there be resource wars in our renewable energy future?</b><br>
The post-petroleum resource race and what to make of it<br>
By MICHAEL KLARE - MAY 31, 2021 <br>
- -<br>
Unfortunately, think again: while the sun and wind are indeed
infinitely renewable, the materials needed to convert those
resources into electricity — minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium,
nickel, and the rare-earth elements, or REEs — are anything but.
Some of them, in fact, are far scarcer than petroleum, suggesting
that global strife over vital resources may not, in fact, disappear
in the Age of Renewables.<br>
- -<br>
It's possible, of course, to imagine a future in which nations begin
fighting over the world's supplies of critical minerals, just as
they once fought over oil. At the same time, it's perfectly possible
to conceive of a world in which countries like ours simply abandoned
their plans for a green-energy future for lack of adequate raw
materials and reverted to the oil wars of the past. On an already
overheating planet, however, that would lead to a civilizational
fate worse than death. <br>
<br>
In truth, there's little choice but for Washington and Beijing to
collaborate with each other and so many other countries in
accelerating the green energy transition by establishing new mines
and processing facilities for critical minerals, developing
substitutes for materials in short supply, improving mining
techniques to reduce environmental hazards, and dramatically
increasing the recycling of vital minerals from discarded batteries
and other products. Any alternative is guaranteed to prove a
disaster of the first order — or beyond...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.salon.com/2021/05/31/will-there-be-resource-wars-in-our-renewable-energy-future_partner/">https://www.salon.com/2021/05/31/will-there-be-resource-wars-in-our-renewable-energy-future_partner/</a><br>
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<p> </p>
<br>
[The news archive - looking back - (I thought everyone knew this
from the beginning)]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming June
1, 2004</b></font><br>
<br>
June 1, 2004: The Boston Phoenix's Dan Kennedy calls out the Boston
Globe for running an op-ed by Jim Taylor of the Heartland Institute
attacking the film "The Day After Tomorrow" without disclosing that
the Heartland Institute is a front group for the fossil-fuel
industry.<br>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>TUESDAY, JUNE 01, 2004<br>
AND NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY. <br>
The Boston Globe recently announced that it will begin accepting
ads on the op-ed page. A column today that attempts to debunk
concerns about global warming, by one James M. Taylor, would
appear to fall into that category. Unfortunately, the Globe
presents it not as a paid ad but, rather, as an earnest opinion
piece by someone who is identified only by the
respectable-sounding title of "managing editor of Environment
& Climate News."<br>
<br>
More about that in a moment. First, though, a few words about
Taylor's wacky column, written ostensibly to make fun of the
movie The Day After Tomorrow, a global-warming nightmare
thriller. At first I figured Taylor would simply point out that
the various global-warming scenarios are more complicated and
less spectacular than Hollywood would have it. Within a few
paragraphs, though, Taylor was espousing the most extreme views
held by industry and its right-wing supporters. To wit: that if
there is any global warming taking place at all, it is slight,
and in any case will take place at night, while you're sleeping;
and that the concomitant rise in carbon-dioxide levels is good
for you. Taylor writes:<br>
<br>
Most recent and unbiased scientific research indicates that
temperature change caused by rising concentrations of greenhouse
gases will be moderate, perhaps 1 degree Celsius in the next
century; most of the warming will occur at night and during the
winter; and higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide
(which plant life needs to thrive and survive) will lead to a
greening of the planet that will enhance global food production.<br>
Now, in fact, the case for human-caused global warming is a bit
more complicated than environmentalists would have you believe,
which I discovered when I dipped my toe into this turbulent
water nearly three years ago. But the overwhelming consensus of
scientific opinion is definitely not on Taylor's side. The
simple-minded virulence of Taylor's screed should have set off
alarm bells when it arrived at the Globe. It certainly set off
Media Log's alarms. And it took me no more than a few minutes on
Google to learn that Taylor's piece never should have seen the
light of day - except in one of those new op-ads.<br>
<br>
Environment & Climate News, as it turns out, is a
publication of the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, a
right-wing organization founded in 1984 that is "devoted to
turning ideas into social movements that empower people." How
nice. Scroll down its home page, and you will see that it
promotes relatively benign, conservative-oriented causes such as
school choice - and some truly out-there ideas, such as the
notion that genetically modified crops are necessary to preserve
water resources, that new air-pollution standards "will do
significant economic harm but little environmental good," that
the government should do nothing about the obesity epidemic, and
that second-hand cigarette smoke is harmless.<br>
<br>
It gets better. According to Disinfopedia.com, the Heartland
Institute's directors include current and retired officials of
ExxonMobil, Amaco, General Motors, and Philip Morris. Its
funding comes from ExxonMobil and a number of right-wing
foundations, including the notorious John M. Olin Foundation and
the Scaife Foundations. (As in Richard Melon Scaife, who
reportedly once told a journalist attempting to ask him a
question, "You fucking communist cunt, get out of here.") In
addition, Heartland co-founder David Padden is a right-wing
activist long involved in such organizations as the Cato
Institute and the Center for Libertarian Studies.<br>
<br>
According to Bill Berkowitz, writing for WorkingForChange.com,
"The Heartland Institute ... is one of the foremost right-wing
purveyors of the carbon dioxide is good for you theory."<br>
<br>
Op-ed pages are where newspapers publish opinion pieces, and by
their very nature the authors of those pieces are not expected
to be as disinterested as, say, reporters who cover political
campaigns, homicides, or the stock market. On the other hand,
neither are op-ed editors supposed to publish discredited
propaganda that's been bought and paid for by corporate and
right-wing interests, especially when those interests are not
disclosed.<br>
<br>
The Globe has been apologizing a lot lately, even when it
shouldn't have. Well, Taylor's ridiculous piece is something
that's definitely worth an apology.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, the Globe's advertising salespeople must be wondering
how they'll ever manage to sell an op-ad when the editorial side
is giving them away.<br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://medialogarchives.blogspot.com/2004/06/and-now-rest-of-story.asp">http://medialogarchives.blogspot.com/2004/06/and-now-rest-of-story.asp</a> <br>
<br>
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