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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>July 3, 2021</b></font></i><br>
</p>
[worse than modeled]<br>
<b>Canadian inferno: northern heat exceeds worst-case climate models</b><br>
Scientists fear heat domes in North America and Siberia indicate a
new dimension to the global crisis<br>
Jonathan Watts - - Fri 2 Jul 2021 <br>
<br>
If you were drawing up a list of possible locations for hell on
Earth before this week, the small mountain village of Lytton in
Canada would probably not have entered your mind.<br>
<br>
Few people outside British Columbia had heard of this community of
250 people. Those who had were more likely to think of it as
bucolic. Nestled by a confluence of rivers in the forested foothills
of the Lillooet and Botanie mountain ranges, the municipal website
boasts: “Lytton is the ideal location for nature lovers to connect
with incredible natural beauty and fresh air freedom.”<br>
<br>
Over the past seven days, however, the village has made headlines
around the world for a freakishly prolonged and intense temperature
spike that turned the idyll into an inferno...<br>
- -<br>
After the insufferable heat came choking fire. First the forest
burned, then parts of the town. On Wednesday evening, the mayor, Jan
Polderman, issued the evacuation order. “It’s dire. The whole town
is on fire,” he said on TV. “It took, like, a whole 15 minutes from
the first sign of smoke to, all of a sudden, there being fire
everywhere.” By Thursday, satellite images showed an eruption of
blazes around the village and a widening smoke cloud across the
region...<br>
- -<br>
Experts at the Potsdam Institute and elsewhere believe the rapid
heating in the Arctic and decline of sea ice is making the jet
stream wiggle in large, meandering patterns, so-called Rossby
resonance waves, trapping high- and low-pressure weather systems in
one location for a longer time.<br>
<br>
This theory remains contested, but Michael Mann, director of the
Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said
this week’s unexpectedly fierce heat at Lytton and elsewhere should
prompt climatologists to consider additional impacts of human
activity.<br>
<br>
“We should take this event very seriously,” he wrote in an email.
“You warm up the planet, you’re going to see an increased incidence
of heat extremes. Climate models capture this effect very well and
predict large increases in heat extremes. But there is something
else going on with this heatwave, and indeed, with many of the very
persistent weather extremes we’ve seen in recent years in the US,
Europe, Asia and elsewhere, where the models aren’t quite capturing
the impact of climate change.”<br>
<br>
Regardless of which interactions are to blame, scientists are agreed
that the simplest way to reduce the risk of further temperature
jolts is to cut fossil fuel emissions and halt deforestation.<br>
<br>
“It appears that this heatwave is still a rare phenomenon in the
current climate, but whether it stays that way depends on our
decisions,” Friederike Otto, associate director of the Environmental
Change Institute at the University of Oxford, said. “If the world
does not rapidly eliminate fossil fuel use and other sources of
greenhouse gas emissions like deforestation, global temperatures
will continue to rise and deadly heatwaves such as these will become
even more common.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/02/canadian-inferno-northern-heat-exceeds-worst-case-climate-models">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/02/canadian-inferno-northern-heat-exceeds-worst-case-climate-models</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Media blunder of the month -- public opinion forces a speedy
back-track]<br>
<b>BBC Lists ‘Positive’ Climate Change Impacts in Study Guide for
Kids, Immediately Regrets It</b><br>
Benefits of climate change could include, per the website, "new
crops such as oranges, grapes and peaches flourish[ing] in the UK."<br>
Molly Taft -July 2, 2021<br>
The BBC is getting widespread criticism for creating a study guide
for teens that includes arguments about how climate change could
make our world better, actually.<br>
<br>
On Thursday, climate writer George Monbiot tweeted a link to a
webpage that lists “positive impacts” of climate change housed on
the BBC’s Bitesize. According to the site, it exists to provide
“simple-to-follow lessons and videos for pupils aged 4 to 14.” The
copy in question was part of a study guide on climate change, which
was included in a section of study guides for the GSCE exam, tests
in different topic areas that British teenagers take to qualify for
university.<br>
<br>
The BBC has since edited the copy out, but you can see a version
here, courtesy of the Wayback Machine. The section is titled
“Positive and negative impacts of climate change,” and gives a list
of possibilities of what’s going to happen as fossil fuels keep
warping our planet. A lot of it is familiar to anyone keeping track
of the eco-apocalypse, including rising seas, extreme weather,
desertification, and widespread disease. But those familiar
catastrophic scenarios are accompanied with neat bullet lists of
“positives” that feel like they were lifted from the Heartland
Institute’s website. Here’s bullet list of the joys of climate
change, according to the BBC:<br>
<blockquote>- warmer temperatures and increased CO2 levels, leading
to more vigorous plant growth<br>
- some animals and plants could benefit and flourish in a changing
climate<br>
- new shipping routes, such as the Northwest passage, would become
available<br>
- more resources, such as oil, becoming available in places such
as Alaska and Siberia when the ice melts<br>
- energy consumption decreasing due to a warmer climate<br>
- longer growing season leading to a higher yields in current
farming areas<br>
- frozen regions, such as Canada and Siberia, could be able to
grow crops<br>
- new tourist destinations becoming available<br>
</blockquote>
For the UK, the BBC writes that “positive” impacts could be:<br>
<blockquote>- higher year-round temperatures and longer growing
seasons could mean that new crops such as oranges, grapes and
peaches flourish in the UK<br>
- higher yields of many outdoor crops such as cereals, potatoes
and sugar beet due to a longer growing season and higher
temperatures<br>
- warmer temperatures would reduce winter heating costs<br>
- accidents on the roads in winter could be less likely to occur<br>
- warmer temperatures could lead to healthier outdoor lifestyles<br>
- some plant and animal species would thrive and be able to grow
and survive further north and at higher altitudes<br>
- growth in the UK tourist industry, particularly seaside resorts,
with warmer, drier summers<br>
</blockquote>
Grapes and peaches?? In the UK??? Totally seems worth all that other
stuff. Sign me up.<br>
<br>
In response to Monbiot’s tweet, the official Bitesize account said
that it “passed this on to the relevant team and are assessing the
guides in relation to the latest ed specs from the relevant exam
boards.” On Thursday, the BBC said it had “reviewed the page and
[is] amending the content to be in line with current curricula.”<br>
<br>
This isn’t the Beeb’s first brush with getting too cozy with climate
denial. The broadcasting network has come under fire in the past for
granting airtime to climate deniers, particularly Lord Nigel Lawson,
a member of the Conservative party who served as Margarate
Thatcher’s Secretary for State Energy. The network has had on
multiple times, and Lawson falsely claimed that global temperatures
have fallen in the past 10 years. In a review, the network admitted
it did not challenge him on his viewpoints enough in a 2017
interview.<br>
<br>
In 2018, the BBC sent guidance to journalists on writing about
climate change, including what top brass said was the news
organization’s “editorial policy” and “position” on the issue.
Copies of the documents were obtained and posted by Carbon Brief.<br>
<br>
“Climate change has been a difficult subject for the BBC, and we get
coverage of it wrong too often,” the editorial policy begins, adding
that journalists “do not need a ‘denier’ to balance the debate”.
However, it doesn’t totally rule out including them altogether:
“There are occasions where contrarians and sceptics should be
included within climate change and sustainability debates,” the
editors write. “These may include, for instance, debating the speed
and intensity of what will happen in the future, or what policies
government should adopt.”<br>
<br>
The overwhelming body of literature shows that the world’s current
policies of delay are putting it on a collision course with
disaster. We’ve already seen the horrors of climate change through
events such as the Pacific Northwest heat wave this week, and those
impacts will only worsen the longer we delay action.<br>
<br>
The forces behind climate denial aren’t stagnant; they’re evolving
and changing course as more people wake up to the reality we need to
end fossil fuel use. Fossil-fuel-funded organizations and oil and
gas companies themselves have shifted tactics in recent years,
pivoting away from flat-out denial to more insidious forms of it.
That includes creating false equivalences like the very Bitesize
page the BBC has now taken down. I’d like to think that a 15- or
16-year-old reading this list would be able to recognize that
growing new crops in their town isn’t exactly worth the cost of
melting our planet. But you can never be too careful.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gizmodo.com/bbc-lists-positive-climate-change-impacts-in-study-gu-1847218954">https://gizmodo.com/bbc-lists-positive-climate-change-impacts-in-study-gu-1847218954</a><br>
- -<br>
[See for yourself in the Internet Archive - text only saved]<br>
<b>The BBC has now removed the "positives" of climate change but
they can still be found (albeit with poor page formatting) through
the Internet Wayback Machine:</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210603180522/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcn6k7h/revision/5">https://web.archive.org/web/20210603180522/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcn6k7h/revision/5</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Bloomberg reporter needs a microphone - video]<br>
<b>The Western U.S. Might be Heading Towards a Semi-Permanent State
of Dryness</b><br>
Jun 27, 2021<br>
Bloomberg Quicktake: Now<br>
Drought is back. The U.S. is facing another summer of parched
farmland, dwindling water supplies and the potential for another
record wildfire season.<br>
<br>
Nearly 90% of the land across 11 western states is withered and
brittle from a lack of rain and snow. And while there have been
years and months of respite, the decades since the start of the
current century haven’t been kind to the western U.S. Egged on by
climate change, facing rising demands from a growing population, the
U.S. West continues to march toward a potentially semi-permanent
state of dryness.<br>
<br>
Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows
spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of
the stories changing your business and your world.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enWyS2uUs1k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enWyS2uUs1k</a><br>
<p> - -</p>
[DW video report]<br>
<b>Western US in grips of hottest, driest summer in 1000 years? | DW
News</b><br>
Jun 21, 2021<br>
DW News<br>
It may be the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but
for some 50 million people in the US summer has arrived early and
hotter than ever before. In just the last week, high temperature
records have been shattered all across the western half of the US.
<br>
Salt Lake City, Utah, just saw its hottest day since record keeping
began in 1870. 107 degrees Fahrenheit. 42 degrees Celsius. Wyoming
also saw new records. In Nevada, Las Vegas continues to flirt with
its all-time high of 47 degrees Celsius. But the US city melting
most is Phoenix, Arizona, which just set an all-time record of five
consecutive days of 115 degrees or higher. That is 46 degrees
Celsius. <br>
The heat is making severe droughts across the western US go from bad
to worse. The federal government is already planning to declare an
official water shortage at Lake Mead in August. Lake Mead's waters
power Hoover Dam. As of last week, Lake Mead's water level is at a
record low, and there is n .relief in sight. <br>
The Western US is in what scientists describe as a climate-change
induced megadrought. Some even say this summer could be the hottest
and driest in a millennium. And less water means more fire. <br>
2020 saw a record number of wildfires in California, Oregon and
Washington. 2021 is expected to be worse.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLBc_PXDaOE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLBc_PXDaOE</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[A Nick Breeze video - a great philosophical discussion -
tremendously relevant]<br>
<b>[Books] Plastic - An Autobiography | Allison Cobb discusses
facing existential threats</b><br>
Jun 15, 2021<br>
Nick Breeze<br>
Visit: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://genn.cc">https://genn.cc</a><br>
Cambridge Climate Series: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://climateseries.com/climate-cha">https://climateseries.com/climate-cha</a>...<br>
<br>
In this episode of Shaping The Future, I speak with the author,
Allison Cobb, about her new book titled ‘Plastic - An
Autobiography’.<br>
<br>
With poetic sensitivity, Allison explores the complexity of how
plastic has become part of our lives and how this material, which
can endure for generations, has been wilfully categorised as a
‘single use’ disposable product becoming as ubiquitous as food with
a highly toxic indigestible after-life.<br>
<br>
This autobiography is also personal, linking the horrendous WW2
invasion of Poland with her ancestors who also worked at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory on the now infamous Manhattan Project to
create the first atomic bomb.<br>
<br>
This is a story about complexity, personal journey and the
plasticity of of all life as we venture forth into the next big
existential challenge of preventing climate and ecological collapse.
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVqu6QWgETc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVqu6QWgETc</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[plastic is made from petroleum]<br>
<b>We Now Know How Exxon Secretly Fights Crackdowns on Plastic
Pollution</b><br>
In a sting operation by Greenpeace UK, a top Exxon official admits
Exxon's producing PFAS products and lobbying against anti-plastic
laws.<br>
Dharna Noor - July 2, 2021<br>
A senior Exxon lobbyist was caught on tape admitting that the
company has been running a behind-the-scenes campaign to combat
regulation on plastics and PFAS, a video released Thursday shows.
The tape is the second installment of an undercover investigation
conducted by Unearthed, the investigative arm of Greenpeace UK, and
it confirms environmentalists’ worst fears...<br>
- -<br>
“We think if word got out that ExxonMobil manufactured those
chemicals, that ExxonMobil uses those chemicals, it’s a talking
point. You know, it becomes ‘the ExxonMobil chemical,’ and that is
just going to hurt the effort,” he said.<br>
<br>
When Judith Enck, former Environmental Protection Agency regional
administrator and founder of advocacy group Beyond Plastics, saw the
tape, she said, “holy cannoli.” But though the footage was shocking,
she said she felt no one should have been surprised.<br>
<br>
“I’m happy that the public gets a glimpse behind the curtain,” she
said. “But it ultimately just confirms what we’ve known for years,
which is that Exxon and other fossil fuel companies are deceiving
the public. They want to see more production of plastics despite all
of the environmental and public health harm that goes along with it.
So the revelations were not surprising to me, but it’s still
startling to hear their playbook.”<br>
<br>
Enck has spent years raising the alarm about how as nations eschew
oil and gas in favor of renewables and encourage electric vehicles,
energy majors are increasing plastic production in an attempt to
secure a substitute market. That’s a primary reason, she said, that
the U.S. rate of plastic production is increasing so rapidly.
American production of the most common plastic, polyethylene, is on
track to increase more than 40% by 2028, according to one estimate.
And a recent report found that Exxon is the single biggest
contributor to the world’s plastic waste.<br>
<br>
“The fossil fuel industry is losing their transportation fuel market
and they’re losing their electricity market, so they have shifted to
plastic production in a big way,” she said.<br>
<br>
McCoy said that Exxon has been working closely with the American
Chemistry Council to create model legislation on issues related to
its plastics business. One successful strategy Exxon has used, McCoy
said, has been to push for a government study of the health impacts
of PFAS to delay legislation.<br>
<br>
“Lo and behold we got a study, we got it passed, and that completely
lowered the temperature, there’s been very little talk about PFAS,”
he said.<br>
<br>
McCoy didn’t say exactly what study he was referring to, but Enck
recognized the strategy immediately. “The American Chemistry Council
was very involved in getting a new law on the books called the Save
Our Seas Act at the federal level,” she said, referring to a piece
of legislation signed into law last year. “The name sounds good, but
what did the Save Our Seas bill actually do? Propose as a study to
delay legislative action.”<br>
<br>
Among the worst provisions in the Save Our Seas law was one
directing the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine to investigate chemical recycling, a misleading term that
actually refers to the toxic process of converting plastic to fossil
fuels through gasification or pyrolysis (the application of intense
heat). In the Unearthed video, McCoy said that the company was
“very, very focused on” expanding chemical recycling, specifically
mentioning a gasification facility at Exxon’s Baytown, Texas plant.
Thirteen state legislatures have also passed legislation to boost
chemical recycling. McCoy’s admissions raise questions about the
origin of those bills.<br>
<br>
Plastic production and disposal both emit hundreds of millions of
tons of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change, and
wreak havoc on public health. Every minute, one dump-truck load’s
worth of plastic also ends up in the ocean, where it kills wildlife,
carries diseases, and releases carcinogens.<br>
<br>
World leaders have given oil companies a seat at the table in
crafting climate policy, even welcoming them into international
climate talks. The Unearthed report indicates that Exxon has pushed
to receive the same treatment when it comes to plastic regulations
and that their lobbying has seen successes. As the world grapples
with what to do about plastic production and pollution, policymakers
should be on high alert for Exxon’s bullshit and shut them out of
negotiations.<br>
<br>
“I just think this segment should be a wake-up call for lawmakers,”
said Enck. “It’s not a surprise that Exxon wants to continue to
perpetuate more production of plastic ... but elected officials and
regulators need to look behind the curtain when dealing with trade
groups and ask whose interests they’re really representing. The
answer is, certainly not the public’s.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gizmodo.com/we-now-know-how-exxon-secretly-fights-crackdowns-on-pla-1847220288">https://gizmodo.com/we-now-know-how-exxon-secretly-fights-crackdowns-on-pla-1847220288</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[video report from ITVNews]<br>
<b>Lake Mead: The devastating impact of drought on America's largest
reservoir | ITV News</b><br>
Jun 21, 2021<br>
ITV News<br>
The Western US states are bracing themselves for one of their
worst-ever summer heatwaves.<br>
<br>
Temperatures are surging, reaching a blistering 53 degrees Celsius
in California's Death Valley - that's 128 Fahrenheit. <br>
<br>
The heat, and a lack of rainfall, has led to unprecedented water
shortages.<br>
<br>
Including at America's largest reservoir - Lake Mead, in Nevada,
which powers the mighty Hoover Dam.<br>
And the probable reason for these temperature extremes is, say many
experts, devastatingly simple. Climate change.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuZ2tbgAqbA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuZ2tbgAqbA</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Military leader speaks on video 14 min]<b><br>
</b> <b>Climate As A Driver Of Conflict | Former Pakistani Defence
Minister General Ghazi (Ret)</b><br>
July 1, 2021<br>
Nick Breeze<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://patreon.com/genncc">https://patreon.com/genncc</a><br>
This episode features an interview with former Pakistani Defence
Minister General Ghazi. I recorded this at COP25 in Madrid and am
replaying here because General Ghazi identifies with great clarity,
a stage process that can lead a nation or region into conflict. <br>
<br>
General Ghazi also outlines the critical role of the military as
first responders, when climate extremes create society-wide
suffering. The question is here, what more can we learn from experts
in risk that can help us build societal resilience and promote
cooperation as opposed to conflict in the face of a challenging
future?<br>
General Ghazi is a member of the Global Military Advisory Council On
Climate Change (GMACCC).<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZvc4e18ASw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZvc4e18ASw</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[The news archive - looking back]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming July
3, 2009</b></font><br>
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announces her resignation from office;
shortly thereafter, she sets herself up as a right-wing crusader
against federal climate legislation.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://youtu.be/kM0ZbNA8_ro">http://youtu.be/kM0ZbNA8_ro</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/20/sarah-palin/palin-flips-her-support-cap-and-trade/">http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/20/sarah-palin/palin-flips-her-support-cap-and-trade/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<p>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/</p>
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