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<font size="+2"><i><b>October 9, 2021</b></i></font><br>
<br>
<i>[FiveThiryEight covers polling]</i><br>
<b>Americans Want The Government To Act On Climate Change. What’s
The Hold-Up?</b><br>
Progressive lawmakers have signaled that they’re open to compromise,
but some are warning that there’s at least one area they’ll refuse
to give ground on: climate-related provisions.<br>
Climate change could thus prove to be one of the main sticking
points between progressives and centrists in the party. From the
progressives’ point of view, the reconciliation bill appears to be
the federal government’s best shot at tackling the rapidly
escalating climate crisis in the near future. And New York Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that climate provisions are not
something Congress can “kick down the line.” Meanwhile, West
Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the key centrists needed to pass
the bill who has already successfully blocked some of Biden’s
priority items, has said that he opposes the current bill’s primary
climate provision: paying utilities to switch to clean energy.<br>
<br>
So where does the public stand on combating climate change? Even
before recent devastating weather events, Americans have long said
that the federal government wasn’t doing enough. And polls now
suggest that public opinion is more on the side of progressives. But
the big caveat here is how Americans prioritize action on climate
change versus other issues.<br>
<br>
Overall, a majority of Americans want action on climate. According
to a newly released survey from Monmouth University, 60 percent of
U.S. adults said that climate change was “very” or “extremely”
important for the federal government to address. Furthermore, 56
percent of U.S. adults said climate change was a “very serious”
problem — up from 41 percent in the same poll in December 2015. A
recent study from Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of U.S.
adults said they were worried about the personal impacts of climate
change. ..<br>
- -<br>
In fact, a majority of Republicans — and an overwhelming majority of
Democrats — favored all five climate policies that Pew asked
about...<br>
- -<br>
On top of that, recent research has also shown that the budget
bill’s climate-related proposals are wildly popular with the public.
According to a study from the University of Maryland, which analyzed
several polls on proposals in the reconciliation budget, 85 percent
of registered voters supported reestablishing the Civilian
Conservation Corps and 83 percent supported the creation of a jobs
program hiring unemployed coal workers to close down coal mines and
remediate the landscape.<br>
<br>
But here’s the catch: While Americans believe tackling climate
change is important, that doesn’t mean they see it as the most
important issue. In the Monmouth survey mentioned earlier, issues
like jobs and unemployment (77 percent), the COVID-19 pandemic (72
percent) and racial inequality (65 percent) topped Americans’ list
of “extremely important” or “very important” concerns for the
federal government to address. A Politico/Harvard poll conducted in
mid-September found that climate-related spending did not land in
the top five “extremely important” issues that U.S. adults wanted
included in the budget bill. The highest-priority climate-related
issue — increasing spending on conservation efforts to curb
wildfires and carbon emissions — came in at sixth place, while a
policy to encourage people to buy electric cars ranked dead last in
the list of 20 priorities.<br>
<br>
Politics to address climate change will need to overcome other
obstacles as well. The oil and gas industry is lobbying against some
of the bill’s climate-related proposals, for example. And Manchin,
who will need to sign off on the bill’s final language, represents
West Virginia, which is among the nation’s top producers of coal and
natural gas. He is currently the top recipient of campaign donations
from the coal, mining and oil and gas industries, per OpenSecrets.
He also has personal financial stakes in the fossil fuel industry.<br>
<br>
For now, though, considering that progressive Democrats successfully
stopped the infrastructure bill from passing last week, it’s notable
that they’re already drawing another line in the sand on the
spending bill. We’ll be keeping an eye out for what gets cut and
what goes into the final bill. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-government-to-act-on-climate-change-whats-the-hold-up/">https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-government-to-act-on-climate-change-whats-the-hold-up/</a><br>
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<i>[cough, cough]</i><br>
<b>Smoke from California wildfires increases doctor visits and
blocks sun from crops</b><br>
Bill Gabbert -- October 6, 2021<br>
Study shows N95 masks can reduce hospital visits for smoke
inhalation by up to 40 percent<br>
Dr. Praveen Buddiga, a local allergy and immunology specialist, says
he saw an increase in patient visits on Friday due to the smoke
sitting in the Valley.<br>
<br>
“Today I’ve been seeing a lot of patients with cough, congestion,
difficulty breathing and this is directly related to the air,” said
Dr. Buddiga.<br>
<br>
Dr. Buddiga said many of his patients have difficulty breathing,
which is not surprising considering the smoke is even visible in
satellite images taken from space.<br>
<br>
Some masks can protect against wildfire smoke (Sept. 30, 2021)<br>
<br>
Researchers found that N95 masks often used for protection from
COVID-19, are effective in reducing the inhalation of wildfire smoke
particles, and could reduce hospital visits for wildfire smoke
inhalation by up to 40 percent. They found that surgical masks,
primarily designed to keep sneeze and cough droplets from emerging
in the air, do not not protect the wearer against a dangerous
environment. Cloth masks used alone are also ineffective. While
surgical masks by themselves were ineffective, combining them with a
cloth mask to compensate for the surgical mask’s loose fit was about
as effective as an N95 as long as the seal around mouth and nose was
good.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/10/06/smoke-from-california-wildfires-increases-doctor-visits-and-blocks-sun-from-crops/">https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/10/06/smoke-from-california-wildfires-increases-doctor-visits-and-blocks-sun-from-crops/</a><br>
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<i>[Gee... now we can watch falsehood content without commercial
interruption ] </i><br>
<b>Google's Going to Stop Letting YouTubers Make Money Off Climate
Change Denial</b><br>
The company's advertisers didn't like appearing next to videos
claiming climate change is a hoax.<br>
Florence Ion - - Oct7, 2021<br>
Google is cleaning house: Following last week’s move to demonetize
anti-vaccine content on YouTube, the company has also added climate
change denial to the list of videos that creators can no longer make
money off of.<br>
<br>
Google announced the latest policy change through a support page
where the Ads team lays out why it made this decision. The answer is
much less altruistic than it seems.<br>
<br>
“We’ve heard directly from a growing number of our advertising and
publisher partners who have expressed concerns about ads that run
alongside or promote inaccurate claims about climate change,” Google
said. “Advertisers simply don’t want their ads to appear next to
this content.”<br>
<br>
Who would have thought that Google’s advertisers wouldn’t like their
well-curated, fancy ads appearing alongside conspiracy theories?
Google’s new policy should help combat some of that, though it
doesn’t sound like it’s a complete ban on the topic...<br>
- -<br>
According to the new policy, YouTube creators cannot earn money for
any content that contradicts “well-established scientific consensus
around the existence and causes of climate change.” This includes
content that says climate change is a scam or denies the
increasingly evident warming trend overtaking the planet. It also
includes any content that denies that humans and greenhouse gas
emissions play a significant part in the onset of climate change...<br>
The company plans to enforce its new policy beginning next month
using a combination of algorithms and human moderation. The policy
will apply to any Google-served ads and publisher content and
YouTube videos that are a part of the YouTube Partner Program.
However, there’s no explicit mention about the rest of the YouTube
platform, and whether you’ll still run into the mass of conspiracy
theorist content that plagues YouTube. Sounds like unless it’s
explicitly related to climate change or covid vaccines, conspiracy
theories get free rein.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gizmodo.com/googles-going-to-stop-letting-youtubers-make-money-off-1847822658">https://gizmodo.com/googles-going-to-stop-letting-youtubers-make-money-off-1847822658</a><br>
<br>
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[NPR ]<br>
<b>We need to talk about your gas stove, your health and climate
change</b><br>
October 7, 2021<br>
Americans love their gas stoves. It's a romance fueled by a
decades-old "cooking with gas" campaign from utilities that includes
vintage advertisements, a cringeworthy 1980s rap video and, more
recently, social media personalities. The details have changed over
time, but the message is the same: Using a gas stove makes you a
better cook.<br>
<br>
But the beloved gas stove has become a focal point in a fight over
whether gas should even exist in the 35% of U.S. homes that cook
with it.<br>
<br>
Environmental groups are focused on potential health effects.
Burning gas emits pollutants that can cause or worsen respiratory
illnesses. Residential appliances like gas-powered furnaces and
water heaters vent pollution outside, but the stove "is the one gas
appliance in your home that is most likely unvented," says Brady
Seals with RMI, formerly Rocky Mountain Institute.<br>
<br>
The focus on possible health risks from stoves is part of the
broader campaign by environmentalists to kick gas out of buildings
to fight climate change. Commercial and residential buildings
account for about 13% of heat-trapping emissions, mainly from the
use of gas appliances...<br>
- -<br>
The gas utility industry is fighting to preserve its business by
downplaying existing science on gas stoves and indoor air quality.
It points out that federal regulators have declined to regulate gas
stoves more stringently. And it is investing in a range of campaigns
to remind customers that cooking with gas is cheaper.<br>
<br>
This battle is aimed at influencing your decision the next time you
buy a new cookstove...<br>
- -<br>
The most common pollutants from gas stoves are nitrogen dioxide
(NO2), carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Advocates now are mostly
focused on NO2, which the Environmental Protection Agency says is a
toxic gas that even in low concentrations can trigger breathing
problems for people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1015460605/gas-stove-emissions-climate-change-health-effects">https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1015460605/gas-stove-emissions-climate-change-health-effects</a><br>
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<br>
<i>[EPA gives a lesson - GWP means Global Warming Potential </i><br>
<b>Understanding Global Warming Potentials</b><br>
<blockquote>--CO2, by definition, has a GWP of 1 regardless of the
time period used, because it is the gas being used as the
reference. CO2 remains in the climate system for a very long time:
CO2 emissions cause increases in atmospheric concentrations of CO2
that will last thousands of years.<br>
--Methane (CH4) is estimated to have a GWP of 28–36 over 100 years
(Learn why EPA's U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Sinks uses a different value.). CH4 emitted today lasts about a
decade on average, which is much less time than CO2. But CH4 also
absorbs much more energy than CO2. The net effect of the shorter
lifetime and higher energy absorption is reflected in the GWP. The
CH4 GWP also accounts for some indirect effects, such as the fact
that CH4 is a precursor to ozone, and ozone is itself a GHG.<br>
--Nitrous Oxide (N2O) has a GWP 265–298 times that of CO2 for a
100-year timescale. N2O emitted today remains in the atmosphere
for more than 100 years, on average.<br>
--Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and
sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) are sometimes called high-GWP gases
because, for a given amount of mass, they trap substantially more
heat than CO2. (The GWPs for these gases can be in the thousands
or tens of thousands.)<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials">https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials</a><br>
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<i>[ NYT paying attention]</i><br>
<b>Trams, Cable Cars, Electric Ferries: How Cities Are Rethinking
Transit</b><br>
Urban transportation is central to the effort to slow climate
change. It can’t be done by just switching to electric cars. Several
cities are starting to electrify mass transit.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/climate/cities-public-transit-electric-tram-ferry-bus-cable-car.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/climate/cities-public-transit-electric-tram-ferry-bus-cable-car.html</a><br>
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[Yale Zoom about what to expect at upcoming meeting]<br>
<b>The Urgency For Action at COP-26</b><br>
Oct 8, 2021<br>
Yale University<br>
"The urgency for action at COP-26: What will a fair deal look like?"<br>
Event description: The 26th United Nations Climate Change
conference, also known as COP-26, takes place in the city of
Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021, after a
year's postponement due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The question of
how to equitably distribute the cost of reducing emissions has been
a barrier to global climate action in past meetings. Low-income
countries have done relatively little to cause the problem, but are
the most vulnerable to the devastating consequences of climate
change. Could policies that address the short-term goal of
decreasing air pollution be the key to long-term climate action? <br>
The ninth Yale Development Dialogue focused on what leaders should
consider in trying to reach a “fair deal” for the planet and its
people. <br>
<br>
Panelists: John Haldon, Sunita Narain, Rohini Pande, Nicholas Ryan.<br>
Moderator: Catherine Cheney.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXnaQYLjIZU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXnaQYLjIZU</a><br>
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<br>
[The news archive - looking back]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming
October 9, 1996</b></font><br>
<br>
October 9, 1996: Vice President Al Gore and former Representative
Jack<br>
Kemp discuss the environment in the Vice Presidential debate, with<br>
Kemp bizarrely accusing Gore of promoting "fear of the climate" and<br>
embracing an "anti-capitalistic mentality," while Gore defends the<br>
Clinton administration's first-term environmental accomplishments.<br>
<br>
(60:13--70:50)<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/74250-1">http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/74250-1</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<p>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/</p>
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