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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>August 13, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[Heat 48.8° C = 120° F]<br>
<b>Climate Change: How prepared is Europe for extreme weather? - BBC
Newsnight</b><br>
Aug 11, 2021<br>
BBC News<br>
As wildfires rage in Greece and Italy registers record temperatures,
what impact is climate change already having on Europe and how
prepared are governments for what the future holds? Please subscribe
HERE <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bit.ly/1rbfUog">http://bit.ly/1rbfUog</a><br>
<br>
Two days after the IPCC called climate change a 'code red for
humanity' Europe has reported what would be its 'highest ever'
temperature - 48.8C in Sicily. <br>
How are people already coping with the impact of climate change and
how prepared are European countries for the future? <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdex2J9Q0As">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdex2J9Q0As</a><br>
<p>- -<br>
</p>
[ABC news video report distills the issue well]<br>
<b>UN climate report warns of ‘code red for humanity’</b><br>
Aug 10, 2021<br>
ABC News<br>
ABC News’ Maggie Rulli reports on the new U.N. climate report on the
dire threat warming temperatures pose to the planet, as fires and
extreme weather events spread globally.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ6hcV6lbos">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ6hcV6lbos</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Dr Suess knew 50 years ago - but misinformation made us forget]<br>
<b>'The Lorax' Warned Us 50 Years Ago, But We Didn't Listen</b><br>
Heard on Morning Edition - - August 12, 2021<br>
Elizabeth Blair<br>
Call it fate or an unfortunate coincidence that Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
celebrates its 50th anniversary the same week the United Nations
releases an urgent report on the dire consequences of human-induced
climate change. The conflict between the industrious, polluting
Once-ler and the feisty Lorax, who "speaks for the trees," feels
more prescient than ever.<br>
<blockquote><i>"Once-ler!" he cried with a cruffulous croak.</i><br>
<i>"Once-ler! You're making such smogulous smoke!</i><br>
<i>My poor Swomee-Swans...why, they can't sing a note!</i><br>
<i>No one can sing who has smog in his throat.</i><br>
</blockquote>
"He wanted a book that captured the effects of pollution on
ecosystems and I would say it was really ahead of its time," says
anthropologist and evolutionary biologist Nathaniel Dominy, who
teaches at Dartmouth. "The different species disappear from the
narrative in succession," he notes. "The Bar-ba-loots leave because
they run out of food. The Swomee-Swans leave because the air is
polluted. The humming fish leave because the water's polluted. He's
describing what we would now call a 'trophic cascade,' and for me,
as a scientist, I just find that genius that he anticipated that
concept by a decade or more."<br>
While it might be a children's book, The Lorax's ominous message of
what happens when you harvest nature to death made it an icon of the
environmental movement, spawning movie and stage adaptations not to
mention a gazillion school projects.<br>
<br>
With its mostly gray, scrappy, barren images, the story stood in
sharp contrast to other books by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) such
as The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.<br>
<b><br>
</b><b>The environmental movement takes root</b><br>
Geisel began writing The Lorax at a time of growing concern about
the environment. Images of an oil-slicked river in Cleveland
catching fire in 1969, the first Earth Day in 1970 and other events
helped build the movement and put it front and center. According to
Geisel biographer Donald Pease, the author believed in the movement
but didn't care for its rhetoric. He thought it was "preachy and
bossy," says Pease.<br>
<br>
Geisel was also furious about construction going on in his La Jolla,
Calif., neighborhood. "They were destroying quite beautiful
eucalyptus trees, and he wanted to do something about this, and he
had to find a way to transform what he understood to be a
propaganda-oriented perspective on these matters into a fable that
even children could understand." But, Pease explains, "he also was
confronted with writer's block."<br>
<b>Inspiration strikes during a trip to Kenya</b><br>
His wife, Audrey Geisel, suggested they go on a trip to the Mount
Kenya Safari Club. While they were there, "he caught a view in the
mountains of elephants crossing," says Pease. "He said afterward
'the logjam broke' and he was able to write 90% of The Lorax that
afternoon."<br>
<br>
"It is built on one of the most beautiful landscapes with a
spectacular view of Mount Kenya so I'm not surprised Dr. Seuss was
inspired by that," says Wanjira Mathai, vice president and regional
director for Africa at The World Resources Institute.<br>
What can happen to that beauty is made vividly clear by the end of
the story. The greedy Once-ler ravages the land by chopping down
Truffula Trees. He needs them to make his "thneed" garment.<br>
<br>
The Lorax is apoplectic.<br>
<blockquote><i>"I speak for the trees, for the trees have no
tongues.</i><br>
<i>And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs" —</i><br>
<i>he was very upset as he shouted and puffed --</i><br>
<i>"What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula tuft?"</i><br>
</blockquote>
Spoiler alert: the land where once upon a time, "the grass was still
green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean" is
destroyed by the Once-ler's insatiable appetite to sell more
"thneeds."<br>
<br>
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot ..."<br>
The parallels with this week's U.N. climate report are stark. "The
report paints a very sobering picture of the unforgiving,
unimaginable world we have in store if our addiction to burning
fossil fuels and destroying forests continues," says Mathai. She
says Dr. Seuss' eco-parable is a "powerful depiction" of this point,
despite being written so many years ago. "The Thneed — read fossil
fuels — is something 'everyone needs.' And sadly with the Lorax, the
damage was done and the environment that was bustling with life,
destroyed."<br>
The Lorax ends with a kind of challenge.<br>
<i>UNLESS someone like you</i><i><br>
</i><i>cares a whole awful lot,</i><i><br>
</i><i>nothing's going to get better.</i><i><br>
</i><i>It's not.</i><br>
"He kind of says 'I told you so,' like, I told you this was going to
be bad and now it's bad," says Mark Gozonsky, a writer and high
school English teacher in Los Angeles whose students have analyzed
The Lorax in the context of global warming. Like Mathai, Gozonsky is
struck by the parallels with this week's report. "The book ends on a
question mark ... 'Well, what are you going to do about it?' And
that's the very question mark that we land on today," he says. So
many years later scientists are still warning, "You've got ... a
couple of years to make a difference ... Time, as we all know, is
ticking away."<br>
<br>
Finding hope in the last seed left<br>
Mathai still believes it's important to be hopeful. Her mother was a
little like the Lorax of Kenya, the very place that so inspired
Geisel's story. Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai founded The
Green Belt movement, which is credited with planting more than 51
million trees across the country, part of a campaign to end poverty.<br>
<br>
"My mother ... always talked about trees as a symbol of hope and so
The Lorax in many ways was that and remains that for me. That each
of us can be such a potent agent of change. We can be custodians of
hope."<br>
<br>
The Once-ler saved that one seed and waited for someone who cared to
come along. It will take each of us doing our part to reverse what
is coming.<br>
<br>
Wanjira Mathai, vice president and regional director for Africa at
The World Resources Institute<br>
<br>
Just as she read The Lorax when she was a girl, Mathai reads it to
her two daughters today.<br>
<br>
"The Once-ler saved that one seed and waited for someone who cared
to come along. It will take each of us doing our part to reverse
what is coming. The latest report indicates we have even less time
to turn things around," she says. Mathai takes heart that "we have a
number of 'Loraxes' spreading the word and sounding the alarm."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1026385429/the-lorax-dr-seuss">https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1026385429/the-lorax-dr-seuss</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[Paper archived by KPMG]<br>
<b>Limits to Growth</b><b><br>
</b><b>What is the balance of the pursuit of economic growth and its
effects on environmental and social factors?</b><br>
<blockquote>
<p>Update to Limits to Growth: Comparing the World3 Model with
Empirical Data<br>
by Gaya Herrington <br>
</p>
<p>Abstract<br>
I conducted a data update to Limits to Growth (LtG), best known
from the 1972 bestseller that<br>
forecasted a scenario of global societal collapse occurring
around the present time if humanity<br>
did not alter its priorities. Empirical data comparisons since
then indicated that the world was<br>
still heading for collapse. My objectives were to examine
whether this was still the case based on<br>
the most recent data, and whether there was opportunity left to
change that trajectory. My<br>
research benefited from improved data availability, and included
a scenario and two variables<br>
that had not been part of previous comparisons. I collected data
from academia, (non-<br>
)government agencies, United Nations entities, and the World
Bank. This was plotted along four<br>
LtG scenarios spanning a range of technological, resource, and
societal assumptions. From these<br>
graphs and two quantitative accuracy measures, I found that the
scenarios aligned closely with<br>
observed global data, which is a testament to the LtG work done
decades ago. The two scenarios<br>
aligning most closely indicate a halt in growth over the next
decade or so, which puts into<br>
question the usability of continuous growth as humanity’s goal
in the 21st century. Both<br>
scenarios also indicate subsequent declines, but only one—the
scenario in which declines are<br>
caused by pollution, including greenhouse gas pollution—depicts
a collapse pattern. The scenario<br>
with the smallest declines aligned least with empirical data,
however, absolute differences were<br>
rarely big and sometimes insignificant. This suggests that it’s
almost, but not yet, too late for<br>
society to change course. <br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://advisory.kpmg.us/articles/2021/limits-to-growth.html">https://advisory.kpmg.us/articles/2021/limits-to-growth.html</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[News from last month]<br>
<b>PNW Heatwave Like ‘One Of Those Post-Apocalyptic Movies’</b><br>
NEXUS MEDIA NEWS<br>
JULY 12, 2021<br>
Less than two weeks after an extreme and deadly heatwave in the
Pacific Northwest, the a heat dome broiled the West again this
weekend as climate change caused by the combustion and extraction of
fossil fuels continues to kill people, especially those who labor in
fields and warehouses. The late-June heatwave, which killed nearly
200 people, would have been “virtually impossible” without climate
change, according to an analysis from the World Weather Attribution
group. Both Oregon and Washington passed new safety laws last week
to protect workers especially vulnerable to heat.<br>
<br>
Not to be outdone, Death Valley hit 130°F on Friday, tying last
year’s record as the hottest temperature reliably recorded on planet
Earth. Meanwhile, well over 1 billion tidal sea creatures have been
cooked to death along the Pacific Coast in scenes University of
British Columbia marine biologist Christopher Harley told the New
York Times was “like one of those postapocalyptic movies.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://nexusmedianews.com/top_story/pnw-heatwave-like-one-of-those-post-apocalyptic-movies/">https://nexusmedianews.com/top_story/pnw-heatwave-like-one-of-those-post-apocalyptic-movies/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[positive tipping points discussed may carry an optimism bias]<br>
University of Exeter<br>
<b>Imperial Climate X Change Seminar: Tipping Points: Looming
Non-linearities in the Climate System.</b><br>
What is a tipping point? Why are they important? Are they connected
to one another? Will we find out in time before we cross one? <br>
Professor Tim Lenton, expert on tipping points and Director of the
Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter to explain
everything there is to know about tipping points!<br>
Date: 7/5/2021<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haG2S0B0aNU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haG2S0B0aNU</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[The news archive - looking back]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming
August 13, 2015</b></font><br>
August 13, 2015:<br>
The Los Angeles Times reports:<br>
<br>
"In another sign that El Niño is gaining strength and could soak
California this winter, sea surface temperatures in the Pacific
Ocean have increased to their highest level so far this year.<br>
"That temperature increase — 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit above the
average — was recorded Aug. 5 by the National Weather Service's
Climate Prediction Center at a benchmark location in the Pacific.
That is slightly higher than it was Aug. 6, 1997, when it was 3.2
degrees Fahrenheit above normal.<br>
<br>
"The summer of 1997 was the prelude to the largest El Niño event on
record. Storms that winter brought widespread flooding and
mudslides, causing 17 deaths and more than half a billion dollars of
damage. Downtown L.A. got nearly a year's worth of rain in February
1998."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-el-nino-20150813-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-el-nino-20150813-story.html</a>
<br>
<br>
The Los Angeles Times also reports:<br>
<br>
"President Obama will become the first sitting commander in chief to
visit the Alaskan Arctic, the White House announced Thursday, the
latest in a string of stops this summer that have been presidential
firsts.<br>
<br>
"In a trip from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, Obama will visit the state's
rapidly melting glaciers and meet with hunters and fishermen whose
livelihoods are threatened by global warming as he seeks to draw
attention to his fight against climate change."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-alaska-20150813-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-alaska-20150813-story.html</a>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://youtu.be/igaz_hm7zKM">http://youtu.be/igaz_hm7zKM</a> <br>
<br>
<br>
<p>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/</p>
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