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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>July 20, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[firewatch]<br>
<b>Calls for outside help as extreme weather fuels Oregon fires</b><br>
The worry is that dry conditions, a drought and the recent
record-breaking heat wave in the region have created tinderbox
conditions, so resources like fire engines are being recruited from
places like Arkansas, Nevada and Alaska.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://apnews.com/article/science-fires-environment-and-nature-oregon-weather-9a8021b4073fc50309ddf9bad479d956">https://apnews.com/article/science-fires-environment-and-nature-oregon-weather-9a8021b4073fc50309ddf9bad479d956</a>
<p>- -</p>
[fire becomes a new type of weather]<br>
<b>How Bad Is the Bootleg Fire? It’s Generating Its Own Weather.</b><br>
Unpredictable winds, fire clouds that spawn lightning, and flames
that leap over firebreaks are confounding efforts to fight the
blaze, which is sweeping through southern Oregon.<br>
<blockquote>
<p>“This fire is a real challenge, and we are looking at sustained
battle for the foreseeable future,” said Joe Hessel, the
incident commander for the forestry department.<br>
<br>
And it’s likely to continue to be unpredictable.<br>
<br>
“Fire behavior is a function of fuels, topography and weather,”
said Craig B. Clements, director of the Wildfire
Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University.
“It changes generally day by day. Sometimes minute by minute.”<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/climate/bootleg-wildfire-weather.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/climate/bootleg-wildfire-weather.html</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[SmokeWatch]<br>
<b>Wildfire smoke forecast, July 20, 2021</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Smoke-forecast-for-3-a.m.-MDT-July-19-2021.jpg">https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Smoke-forecast-for-3-a.m.-MDT-July-19-2021.jpg</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/19/wildfire-smoke-forecast-july-20-2021/">https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/19/wildfire-smoke-forecast-july-20-2021/</a><br>
- -<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://hwp-viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/#">https://hwp-viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/#</a>
<p>- -<br>
</p>
[no Inhaling]<br>
<b>Study Finds Lung Damage in Firefighters Years After a Major
Wildfire</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gizmodo.com/study-finds-lung-damage-in-firefighters-years-after-a-m-1847322117">https://gizmodo.com/study-finds-lung-damage-in-firefighters-years-after-a-m-1847322117</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Yes we are STILL underestimate -- Michael Mann on video]<br>
<b>Floods, Fires & Heat Waves: Michael Mann on the New Climate
War & the Fight to Take Back the Planet</b><br>
Democracy Now!<br>
We speak with leading climate scientist Michael Mann about the
catastrophic impact of the climate crisis around the world. He says
he and other scientists predicted the extreme weather events now
wreaking havoc. “We said that if we don’t stop burning fossil fuels
and elevating the levels of carbon pollution in the atmosphere and
we continue to warm up the planet, we will see unprecedented heat
waves and wildfires and floods and droughts and superstorms,” says
Mann. His new book is titled “The New Climate War: The Fight to Take
Back Our Planet.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFt95wpXJ94">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFt95wpXJ94</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Now that's clear]<br>
<b>It’s Not a Border Crisis. It’s a Climate Crisis.</b><br>
There was a time when rural Guatemalans never left home. But back to
back hurricanes, failed crops and extreme poverty are driving them
to make the dangerous trek north to the U.S. border.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/19/guatemala-immigration-climate-change-499281">https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/19/guatemala-immigration-climate-change-499281</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[more or less, yes]<br>
<b>Climate change and tornadoes: Any connection?</b><br>
As greenhouse gases shuffle the atmospheric deck, where and when
twisters happen is changing.
<blockquote>
<p>Fortunately, human-warmed climate isn’t making violent U.S.
tornadoes any more frequent. However, climate change may be
involved in some noteworthy recent shifts in the location and
seasonal timing of the tornado threat.<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/07/climate-change-and-tornadoes-any-connection/">https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/07/climate-change-and-tornadoes-any-connection/</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[We're gonna need a bigger computer]<br>
<b>Climate change: Science failed to predict flood and heat
intensity</b><br>
By Roger Harrabin<br>
BBC environment analyst<br>
Top climate scientists have admitted they failed to predict the
intensity of the German floods and the North American heat dome.<br>
<br>
They've correctly warned over decades that a fast-warming climate
would bring worse bursts of rain and more damaging heatwaves.<br>
<br>
But they say their computers are not powerful enough to accurately
project the severity of those extremes.<br>
<br>
They want governments to spend big on a shared climate
super-computer.<br>
<br>
Computers are fundamental to weather forecasting and climate change,
and computing will underpin the new climate science “Bible”, from
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) next month.<br>
<br>
But former Met Office chief scientist Prof Dame Julia Slingo told
BBC News: "We should be alarmed because the IPCC (climate computer)
models are just not good enough.<br>
<br>
"(We need) an international centre to deliver the quantum leap to
climate models that capture the fundamental physics that drive
extremes.<br>
<br>
"Unless we do that we will continue to underestimate the
intensity/frequency of extremes and the increasingly unprecedented
nature of them."<br>
<br>
She said the costs of the computer, which would be in the hundreds
of millions of pounds, would "pale into insignificance" compared
with the costs of extreme events for which society is unprepared...<br>
- -<br>
Most importantly researchers need to assess whether places such as
North America or Germany will face extremes like the heat dome and
the floods every 20 years, 10 years, five years – or maybe even
every year. This level of accuracy currently isn’t possible.<br>
<br>
Some scientists argue that it's futile to wait for the IPCC to say
how bad climate change will be.<br>
<br>
That's partly because the panel's "Bible", which is supposed to
gather in one place the sum of knowledge on climate change, will
actually already be out of date when it’s published because review
deadlines closed before the German and American extreme extremes
(sic).<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57863205">https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57863205</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[another factor]<br>
JULY 19, 2021<br>
<b>Global satellite data shows clouds will amplify global heating</b><br>
A new approach to analyze satellite measurements of Earth's cloud
cover reveals that clouds are very likely to enhance global heating.<br>
<br>
The research, by scientists at Imperial College London and the
University of East Anglia, is the strongest evidence yet that clouds
will amplify global heating over the long term, further exacerbating
climate change.<br>
The results, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, also suggest that at double atmospheric carbon dioxide
(CO2) concentrations above pre-industrial levels, the climate is
unlikely to warm below 2°C, and is more likely on average to warm
more than 3°C.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://phys.org/news/2021-07-global-satellite-clouds-amplify.html">https://phys.org/news/2021-07-global-satellite-clouds-amplify.html</a>
<p>- -</p>
[Journal]<br>
<b>Observational evidence that cloud feedback amplifies global
warming</b><br>
Paulo Ceppi and Peer Nowack<br>
PNAS July 27, 2021 <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026290118">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026290118</a><br>
Edited by Isaac M. Held, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and
approved June 10, 2021 <br>
<b>Significance</b><br>
A key challenge of our time is to accurately estimate future global
warming in response to a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide—a
number known as the climate sensitivity. This number is highly
uncertain, mainly because it remains unclear how clouds will change
with warming. Such changes in clouds could strongly amplify or
dampen global warming, providing a climate feedback. Here, we
perform a statistical learning analysis that provides a global
observational constraint on the future cloud response. This
constraint supports that cloud feedback will amplify global warming,
making it very unlikely that climate sensitivity is smaller than 2
°C.<br>
<br>
<b>Abstract</b><br>
Global warming drives changes in Earth’s cloud cover, which, in
turn, may amplify or dampen climate change. This “cloud feedback” is
the single most important cause of uncertainty in Equilibrium
Climate Sensitivity (ECS)—the equilibrium global warming following a
doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Using data from Earth
observations and climate model simulations, we here develop a
statistical learning analysis of how clouds respond to changes in
the environment. We show that global cloud feedback is dominated by
the sensitivity of clouds to surface temperature and tropospheric
stability. Considering changes in just these two factors, we are
able to constrain global cloud feedback to 0.43 ± 0.35 W⋅m−2⋅K−1
(90% confidence), implying a robustly amplifying effect of clouds on
global warming and only a 0.5% chance of ECS below 2 K. We thus
anticipate that our approach will enable tighter constraints on
climate change projections, including its manifold socioeconomic and
ecological impacts.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/30/e2026290118">https://www.pnas.org/content/118/30/e2026290118</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[Models are now judged less perfect]<br>
<b>In summer of apocalyptic weather, concerns emerge over climate
science blind spot</b><br>
Andrew Freedman - July 20, 2021<br>
The rapid succession of precedent-shattering extreme weather events
in North America and Europe this summer is prompting some scientists
to question whether climate extremes are worsening faster than
expected.<br>
<br>
<b>Why it matters:</b> Extreme weather events are the deadliest,
most expensive and immediate manifestations of climate change. Any
miscalculations in how severe these events may become, from
wildfires to heat waves and heavy rainfall, could make communities
more vulnerable.<br>
<br>
<b>Driving the news: </b>The West is roasting this summer, with
heat records falling seemingly every day. Forests from Washington
State to Montana to California are burning amid the worst drought
conditions of the 21st century.<br>
<blockquote>Authorities in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are
still searching for victims of a devastating flood event that
killed at least 180.<br>
</blockquote>
<p><b>The big picture: </b>The discussions and studies under way
focus on just how unusual each of the recent extreme events have
been, and whether current advanced computer models and statistical
techniques can properly anticipate them beforehand.</p>
<blockquote>Another set of questions revolves around scientists'
ability to evaluate these events' rarity as well as causes in
hindsight.<br>
<p>For example, the Pacific Northwest heat wave in late June into
early July, which sent temperatures soaring to 116°F in Portland
and 108°F in Seattle and 121°F in British Columbia, was so far
from the norm for these areas that it's causing experts to
reevaluate what's possible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><b>The intrigue:</b> Axios spoke to nine leading scientists
involved in extreme event research for this report. The Pacific
Northwest heat wave is being viewed with more suspicion than the
European floods as a possible indicator of something new and more
dangerous that researchers have missed: a climate science blind
spot.</p>
<blockquote>For example, Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at
Texas A&M University, said he is no longer sure if climate
models are accurately capturing how global warming is playing out
when it comes to regional extremes specifically.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>"If you'd asked me this three months ago, I would have said
'models are doing fine,'" he said. "But this last string of
disasters has really shaken my confidence in the models'
predictions of regional extremes," he said.</p>
<p>"Perhaps we've just been very unlucky, but I think this is an
open scientific question," he said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><b>Zoom in:</b> Some scientists, such as Michael Mann of Penn
State and Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate
Impact Research in Germany, have shown that even the most
up-to-date climate models fail to capture one of the main
mechanisms that's contributing to some of these extremes — a
phenomena known as "planetary wave resonance."</p>
<blockquote>Such weather patterns feature stuck, sharply undulating
jet stream patterns, like a meandering river of air at high
altitudes, which can lock weather systems in place for long
periods. This type of weather pattern existed across the Northern
Hemisphere in the run-up to and during the Pacific Northwest heat
wave.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>"We can either assume that the [Pacific Northwest heat] event
was a remarkable fluke, or that the models are still not
capturing the relevant processes behind these events," Mann told
Axios. "Occam's razor, in my assessment, supports the latter of
these two possibilities."</p>
Meanwhile, Michael Wehner, who studies extreme events at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, said part of the problem may be the
tendency for climate scientists to be overly conservative in their
"projection and attribution statements," lest they be labeled
alarmist. That may soon change, he said.<br>
</blockquote>
<b>Of note: </b>Society's vulnerability to extreme events is to
some extent independent of whether climate scientists are missing a
new dynamic in heat waves or heavy rain events.<br>
<blockquote>
<p>Friederike Otto, a climatologist at the University of Oxford,
told Axios the extreme weather events in Europe and the Pacific
Northwest were exactly the types that scientists had been
warning would become more likely and intense due to human-caused
climate change.</p>
<p>Policy makers should act to improve public warning systems, she
said. Failures of the warning network in Germany may have
contributed to the high flooding-related death toll there.</p>
</blockquote>
<b>The bottom line:</b> Philip Duffy, the executive director of the
Woodwell Climate Research Center, told Axios that any faster
deterioration of extreme weather events "would only reinforce the
message that current actions are not commensurate with the threat we
face."<br>
<blockquote>"We already know what we need to do: initiate rapid
decarbonization, remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and improve
resilience to future extreme events," he said. "The severity of
recent weather-related events only underscores the urgency of this
message."<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.axios.com/extreme-weather-heat-waves-floods-climate-science-dba85d8a-215b-49a1-8a80-a6b7532bee83.html">https://www.axios.com/extreme-weather-heat-waves-floods-climate-science-dba85d8a-215b-49a1-8a80-a6b7532bee83.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[In the Pacific. Reported by the Atlantic]<br>
<b>California’s Cliffs Are Collapsing One by One</b><br>
Researchers are stepping up their efforts to understand why—and
when—bluffs come crashing down.<br>
By Ramin Skibba and Hakai Magazine<br>
- -<br>
Collapsing coastal bluffs are a threat wherever waves, earthquakes,
and intense rainstorms can destabilize steep seaside terrain, and
with sea levels rising, this risk is increasing. It is a pronounced
risk throughout many areas along the Pacific Coast of North America,
especially in Southern California. Considering that many lives,
homes, and vital infrastructure are at stake, scientists have been
trying to figure out exactly what causes such cliffs to fall.<br>
- -<br>
Adam Young, a marine geologist at Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at UC San Diego, is developing a tool that could
eventually be used to predict bluff collapses in order to better
protect lives and property. He and his team have spent three years
driving up and down a 2.5-kilometer stretch of the coast near Del
Mar, firing a sensitive lidar laser mounted atop their research
truck at the cliff sides. Through repeat measurements, the equipment
can track tiny shifts in the ground, and by taking measurements over
years the team intends to give a warning of potentially vulnerable
coastal areas.<br>
<br>
Young and his team have focused on two main processes as they map
the coastal bluffs: the relentless erosion of the lower layers of
rock by the crashing waves, and the gradual wearing away of the
upper layers of soil by rainstorms and seeping groundwater. Both can
undermine, sometimes subtly, the stability of a cliff...<br>
<br>
While using lidar is a common approach to studying unstable terrain,
with measurements often taken from research airplanes once or twice
a year, Young’s efforts have added a new twist. “The main thing new
here is doing the high-resolution survey every week, which allows us
to isolate time periods of when waves are hitting the cliff, or when
there’s rainfall, giving us a better idea of how these different
processes are acting on the cliff,” he says.<br>
<br>
It’s important to understand the particular qualities of rainstorms,
waves, and groundwater that result in erosion and trigger
landslides, especially in the context of the coastal changes
scientists anticipate as sea levels rise farther, Young says...<br>
- -<br>
According to a 2018 study led by Colgan, the economic threat to
Southern California stems less from big storms than frequent small
ones, which are becoming more common. “The combination of erosion
and sea level rise is what’s going to do in much of the San Diego
County coast. It makes sense, considering you have a lot of
high-value property sitting up on those cliffs.”...<br>
- -<br>
Historically, says Griggs, people along the California coastline
have used armor, such as wooden, concrete, or riprap seawalls and
other structures, to fortify eroding cliffs, while adding sand to
beaches that are being washed away. This armor is costly to build
and requires periodic maintenance, and in many areas, even the
densest armoring won’t be sufficient. “I think those days are over
in California, and in some other states as well,” he says.<br>
<br>
That means people now have to decide between retreating or
continually rolling the dice with coastal landslides. “In the long
run, there’s no way to hold back the Pacific Ocean,” Griggs says. It
comes down to one question, he says: “What risk are you willing to
accept?”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/californias-cliffs-are-collapsing-one-one/619462/">https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/californias-cliffs-are-collapsing-one-one/619462/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Leave it to Time (magazine) to awaken and make a list]<br>
<b>The Climate Crisis Is a Call to Action. These 5 Steps Helped Me
Figure Out How to Be of Use</b><br>
At the age of 16, perched on a ridge in western North Carolina, I
scrawled these words into a handbound journal: Want to help the
world. Be connected with the Earth. Change the way I live. ..<br>
- -<br>
I hear in the question a craving for simple answers to an enormously
complex challenge—but even more so because I feel responsible for
providing a good answer. Science tells us that wholesale
transformation of society is urgent. I want all minds, hearts, and
hands to be able to make their best contributions, and I understand
the agony that not knowing how can brew.<br>
<br>
There is no simple formula, no fact sheet or checklist, for figuring
out our roles in the vital work to forge a just, livable future. But
I have found a series of reflections can help us arrive at some
clarity and uncover ways to be of use. Rather than stipulating
actions that are one-and-done or one-size-fits-all, I’ve found that
these five steps are a way to hold the question and work our way
into answers.<br>
- -<br>
<b>Feel Your Feelings</b><br>
There’s no getting around it: the climate crisis brings with it big
feelings. If we’re awake to what’s unfolding on this planet,...
Discuss with a trusted friend or counselor. Let the tears come if
they need to. Our feelings can keep us frozen, or they can be
fuel...<br>
Britt Wray’s Gen Dread newsletter is a clearing house for ideas and
tools at the nexus of climate and psychology.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gendread.substack.com/">https://gendread.substack.com/</a><br>
- -<br>
<b>Scout Your Superpowers</b><br>
Here’s a resource that might help: <br>
The anthology All We Can Save contains a mighty chorus of women
leading on climate, each essay illuminating different knowledge and
skills that can be brought to bear.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.allwecansave.earth/anthology">https://www.allwecansave.earth/anthology</a><br>
<b>- -<br>
</b><b>Survey Solutions</b><br>
The work of climate justice is vast and varied. <br>
The Drawdown Review catalogues the world’s proven climate solutions
and explores critical ways to accelerate them.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://drawdown.org/downloads?tca=7kcJDw6Pw--JZ852ds8YOWVhgaaH0QXFCqN9xd63VCc">https://drawdown.org/downloads?tca=7kcJDw6Pw--JZ852ds8YOWVhgaaH0QXFCqN9xd63VCc</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.drawdown.org/drawdown-review">https://www.drawdown.org/drawdown-review</a><br>
<b>- -<br>
</b><b>Consider Your Context</b><br>
We’re all nested into different contexts—different spaces in which
we have influence and make decisions<br>
Sometimes an invitation is already in hand.<br>
Here’s a resource that might help: The podcast How to Save a Planet
spotlights people taking action in many different spheres, from
farms and coastal communities to startups and halls of power<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/episodes">https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/episodes</a><br>
- -<br>
<b>Cultivate a Climate Squad</b><br>
When facing a planetary crisis, it’s best not to go it alone<br>
<br>
Are you hungry for deeper dialogue about the climate crisis and
building community around solutions? We are too. That’s why we
created All We Can Save Circles — like a book club, but a cooler,
deeper, extended version. Let’s strengthen the “we” in All We Can
Save. Circles were created by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.allwecansave.earth/circles">https://www.allwecansave.earth/circles</a><br>
- -<br>
We keep evolving, the challenges shift shape or become clearer, the
solutions expand, the work unfolds in new ways. Given the enormity
of the task at hand, we need to function like an ecosystem, finding
strength in our diversity. With more and more people stepping off
the sidelines, called to take their place in climate, let’s ask this
question in community and work on figuring out what we can do
together.<br>
read the article
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://time.com/6071765/what-can-i-do-to-fight-climate-change/">https://time.com/6071765/what-can-i-do-to-fight-climate-change/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[The news archive - looking back]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming July
20, 2006</b></font><br>
NPR reports on the GOP's show trials, er, hearings regarding climate
research in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.<br>
<p><b>Global Warming a Hot Topic in Congressional Hearing</b><br>
July 20, 2006</p>
<p>[in 2006 NPR used the scientifically preferred term of 'Global
Warming' ]<br>
</p>
<p>RENEE MONTAGNE, host:</p>
<blockquote>A Congressional committee yesterday returned to the
subject of global warming. At issue were two of the thousands of
studies showing evidence of climate change. Republicans on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee tried to turn shortcomings in
those two papers into a much broader attack on climate science.<br>
<br>
NPR's Richard Harris reports.<br>
<br>
RICHARD HARRIS reporting:<br>
<br>
The focus of this argument is a graph that's shaped like a hockey
stick and which suggests that the planet has warmed abruptly in
recent decades. Last year, Texas Republican Joe Barton attacked
that conclusion and went after the scientists who published the
paper by demanding they turn over their data and their computer
programs.<br>
<br>
Representative JOE BARTON (Republican, Texas): A number of people
basically use that report to come to the conclusion that global
warming was a fact and that the 1990s was the hottest decade on
record. And that one year, 1998, was the hottest year in the
millennium. Now, a millennium is a thousand years. That's a pretty
bold statement.<br>
<br>
HARRIS: Too bold a statement to make on the basis of that study.
Last month, the National Academy of Sciences said the study's
claims were overreaching but largely beside the point in the big
picture of global warming. But Chairman Barton had handpicked his
own reviewers as well, and yesterday he called a hearing to
discuss their results. Democrats wondered why the Energy and
Commerce Committee up till now has all but ignored global warming.<br>
<br>
Jay Inslee is a Democrat from Washington State.<br>
<br>
Representative JAY INSLEE (Democrat, Washington): Instead of
really engaging Congressional talent and figuring out how to deal
with this problem, we try to poke little pinholes in one
particular statistical conclusion of one particular study where
the overwhelming evidence is that we have to act to deal with this
global challenge.<br>
<br>
HARRIS: Inslee pointed out that National Academies of Sciences
from around the world, including that of the United States, have
come to the conclusion from many lines of evidence that global
warming is real and that humans are largely responsible. When the
time came, he turned to the Republicans' key witness, statistician
Ed Wegman.<br>
<br>
Rep. INSLEE: Now, I guess the question to you is do you have any
reason to believe all of those academies should change their
conclusion because of your criticism of one report?<br>
<br>
Professor EDWARD J. WEGMAN (Professor Information Technology and
Applied Statistics, George Mason University): Of course not.<br>
<br>
HARRIS: And the limits of Wegman's expertise became painfully
clear when he tried to answer a question from Illinois Democrat
Jan Schakowsky about the well known mechanism by which carbon
dioxide traps infrared radiation - heat - in our atmosphere.<br>
<br>
Prof. WEGMAN: Carbon dioxide is heavier than air. Where it sits in
the atmospheric profile, I don't know. I'm not an atmospheric
scientist to know that. But presumably, if the atmospheric - if
the carbon dioxide is close to the surface of the earth, it's not
reflecting a lot of infrared back.<br>
<br>
Representative JAN SCHAKOWSKY (Democrat, Illinois): But you're not
clearly qualified to...<br>
<br>
Prof. WEGMAN: No, of course not.<br>
<br>
Rep. SCHAKOWSKY: ...comment on that.<br>
<br>
HARRIS: Republicans on that committee were unmoved by the
discussion. Michael Burgess is a Republican from Texas.<br>
<br>
Representative MICHAEL BURGESS (Republican, Texas): It's false to
presume that a consensus today - exists today where the human
activity has been proven to cause global warming, and that's the
crux of this hearing. I would point out that simply turning off
the electrical generation plants that provide the air conditioning
back in my district would not be a viable option.<br>
<br>
HARRIS: Chairman Barton finally allowed that climate change is a
serious matter and that eminent scientists are deeply concerned
about it.<br>
<br>
Rep. BARTON: My problem is that everybody seems to think that it's
automatically a given and that we shouldn't even debate the
possibility of it and we probably shouldn't debate the causes of
it. And I think that's wrong.<br>
<br>
HARRIS: But if anyone showed up at this hearing room to hear a
true scientific debate on global warming they ended up instead
with just a political debate often far afield from the facts.<br>
</blockquote>
Richard Harris, NPR News.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5569901">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5569901</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/</p>
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