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<font size="+2"><i><b>December 15, 2021</b></i></font><br>
<br>
<i>[ now is the best time to change ] </i><br>
<b>Despite His Promises, Biden Is Still Serving Fossil Fuel
Interests</b><br>
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout<br>
December 14, 2021...<br>
- -<br>
November’s COP 26 international environmental summit in Glasgow was
an unsurprising disappointment on pretty much every level: A bunch
of world leaders beholden to the global energy industry came
together in the rain to pretend they were making progress on the
existential threat hovering over us all, but the act wore thin in a
hurry. An environmental summit whose participants cannot summon the
will to admit that burning coal is bad for the air and water is an
environmental summit that should have stayed in bed.<br>
<br>
Adding insult to injury, the Biden administration held a massive
lease sale for oil and gas drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico
scant days after the conclusion of the summit. Some 80 million acres
of sea floor — which could contain more than a billion barrels of
oil and more than 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — were up for
grabs. According to an analysis by The Center for American Progress,
“[T]he offshore lease sale alone has the potential to emit 723
million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere over its lifetime,
equivalent to operating more than 70 percent of the United States’
coal-fired power plants for a year.”...<br>
- -<br>
President Biden campaigned hard on salvaging the climate fight
before it is too late. While he is no Donald Trump, Biden has been
revealed in this oil lease fiasco as yet another lying politician
willing to eat dirt for the fossil fuel industry. Trump would have
done these things and then claimed he didn’t, but would’ve said that
even if he had done them, which he didn’t, they were the right
things to do. Biden just does them, and moves on down the line.<br>
<br>
The president has broken the First Rule of Birds. The trouble is,
this nest belongs to all of us, and we are well and truly screwed
without it.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://truthout.org/articles/biden-campaigned-on-climate-wheres-the-bold-action/">https://truthout.org/articles/biden-campaigned-on-climate-wheres-the-bold-action/</a><br>
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</p>
<p><i><br>
</i></p>
<i>[ important short video talk about the power of misinformation -
from John Cook ]</i><br>
<b>The Science of Cranky Uncle Part 1: Why We Can't Ignore
Misinformation</b><br>
Dec 14, 2021<br>
John Cook<br>
Part 1 of the Science of Cranky Uncle looks at research into the
damaging impact of climate misinformation and why we can't afford to
ignore it.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7LroDUf-s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7LroDUf-s</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[ James Hansen is the grandfather scientist and activist of
American global warming ]</i><br>
<b>“Don’t Look Up,” the American Dream, and An Appeal</b><br>
14 December 2021<br>
James Hansen<br>
“Imagine a giant asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth.
That’s the equivalent of what we face now.”<br>
That’s what I said in my TED talk on global warming a decade ago.
Don’t Look Up, to be released December<br>
24 on Netflix, uses the same idea to telescope time by two orders of
magnitude – from half a century needed to<br>
change global energy systems down to half a year to divert an
asteroid. Six months is an action timescale that<br>
can engage the public. (I took the photo above of the stellar cast1<br>
of Don’t Look Up at its world premiere.)<br>
Scientists are frustrated as they try to communicate the emergency
in both the asteroid story and the real-world<br>
climate story. Villains in the asteroid story include greedy
industrialists, incompetent and corrupt government,<br>
media that abdicate responsible reporting in favor of ratings, and a
public focused on tabloid entertainment.<br>
With all that headwind, can the asteroid story have a happy ending?
I won’t spoil that, but the film achieves a<br>
degree of satisfaction on Earth and on a far-away planet with the
help of colorful, carnivorous animals.<br>
The real climate story faces those headwinds and more. The long
timescale brings intergenerational conflict:<br>
today’s adult leaders fail to take needed actions, but today’s young
people and offspring bear the consequences.<br>
The story is complex because the villain is a hero. Fossil fuels are
remarkable condensed energy that has raised<br>
living standards in most of the world. The world won’t turn its back
on fossil fuels without better alternatives.<br>
The climate story could have a happy ending – but young people must
play a leading role to achieve that.<br>
They have incentive and tools to fight with, but winning requires
understanding the big picture. Perhaps we old<br>
people can provide information, so I address my comments to young
people.<br>
It is helpful to look first at the global picture. China and the
United States together are responsible for almost<br>
half of global fossil fuel carbon emissions today, with China’s
emissions more than double those of the U.S.<br>
However, climate change is driven by cumulative historical
emissions, for which the U.S. is most responsible.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2021/DontLookUp.14December2021.pdf">http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2021/DontLookUp.14December2021.pdf</a><br>
<p>- -</p>
<i>[ -- one of the key TED talks of all time, and the essential
science by Hansen ]</i><br>
<b>James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change</b><br>
Mar 7, 2012<br>
TED<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ted.com">http://www.ted.com</a> Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the
story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global
climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence
that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about
the future.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWInyaMWBY8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWInyaMWBY8</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[ More every year ]</i><br>
<b>Killer heatwaves and floods: Climate change worsened 2021 weather
extremes</b><br>
By Lisa Shumaker and Andrea Januta<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/killer-heatwaves-floods-climate-change-worsened-weather-extremes-2021-2021-12-13/">https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/killer-heatwaves-floods-climate-change-worsened-weather-extremes-2021-2021-12-13/</a><br>
<p>- -<br>
</p>
<i>[ Our globe must go with the flow ]</i><br>
<b>The Atlantic’s vital currents could collapse. Scientists are
racing to understand the dangers.</b><br>
So far, the efforts to observe the currents directly show they're
weirder and more unpredictable than expected.<br>
- -<br>
The Atlantic circulation is, effectively, one leg of the world’s
mightiest river. It runs tens of thousands of miles from the
Southern Ocean to Greenland and back, ping-ponging between the
southwestern coast of Africa, the southeastern US, and Western
Europe. <br>
<br>
The system carries warm, shallow, salty water northward,
transporting about 1.2 million gigawatts of heat energy across
RAPID’s array of moorings at any moment. That’s equivalent to about
160 times the energy capacity of the entire world’s electricity
system. The currents, which heat up the surrounding air as they
travel northward, are a major factor (though not the only one) in
why Western Europe is warmer than eastern Canada even though they
lie at roughly the same latitude.<br>
<br>
The waters become cooler and denser as they reach the high
latitudes, forcing the currents to dive miles below the surface,
spread outward, and bend back southward. That sinking of the water
deep into the ocean helps propel the system.<br>
<br>
The problem is the Atlantic circulation seems to be weakening,
transporting less water and heat. Because of climate change, melting
ice sheets are pouring fresh water into the ocean at the higher
latitudes, and the surface waters are retaining more of their heat.
Warmer and fresher waters are less dense and thus not as prone to
sink, which may be undermining one of the currents’ core driving
forces...<br>
- -<br>
The Atlantic circulation is, effectively, one leg of the world’s
mightiest river. It runs tens of thousands of miles from the
Southern Ocean to Greenland and back, ping-ponging between the
southwestern coast of Africa, the southeastern US, and Western
Europe. <br>
<br>
The system carries warm, shallow, salty water northward,
transporting about 1.2 million gigawatts of heat energy across
RAPID’s array of moorings at any moment. That’s equivalent to about
160 times the energy capacity of the entire world’s electricity
system. The currents, which heat up the surrounding air as they
travel northward, are a major factor (though not the only one) in
why Western Europe is warmer than eastern Canada even though they
lie at roughly the same latitude.<br>
<br>
The waters become cooler and denser as they reach the high
latitudes, forcing the currents to dive miles below the surface,
spread outward, and bend back southward. That sinking of the water
deep into the ocean helps propel the system.<br>
<br>
The problem is the Atlantic circulation seems to be weakening,
transporting less water and heat. Because of climate change, melting
ice sheets are pouring fresh water into the ocean at the higher
latitudes, and the surface waters are retaining more of their heat.
Warmer and fresher waters are less dense and thus not as prone to
sink, which may be undermining one of the currents’ core driving
forces...<br>
- -<br>
So far, what the monitoring programs have largely found is that the
Atlantic circulation is more variable than previously believed, she
says.<br>
<br>
Its strength and speed fluctuate dramatically from month to month,
year to year, and region to region. Most of the deep-water sinking
in the North Atlantic seems to be occurring not in the Labrador Sea,
as long believed, but rather in the basins to the east of Greenland.
The northward- and southward-flowing limbs operate more
independently than previously understood. Local wind patterns seem
to exercise a more influential role than expected. And some findings
are just befuddling. <br>
<br>
It’s very likely that the Atlantic circulation has weakened. Studies
by Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute and others have concluded it’s
about 15% slower than during the mid-20th century and may be at its
weakest in more than 1,000 years. Both findings are based, in part,
on long-term reconstructions of its behavior using records like
Atlantic Ocean temperatures and the size of grains on the ocean
floor, which can reflect changes in deep-sea currents.<br>
<br>
There’s also “strong agreement” in models that the currents will
continue to weaken this century if greenhouse-gas emissions
continue. <br>
<br>
But there’s uncertainty about what state the system is in at the
moment, and whether the direct observations are aligning with the
models...<br>
- -<br>
The general conception of a tipping point is that there’s some fixed
physical threshold beyond which the system trips into a different
state. But they found that a lesser-known phenomenon known as a
rate-induced tipping point, triggered by a sudden increase in the
system’s rate of change, might halt the currents as well. In other
words, too much change occurring too fast could cause the system to
break down.<br>
<br>
The Atlantic circulation could be susceptible to this if the water
flowing from ice sheets increases rapidly enough, according to the
study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences in March.<br>
<br>
It’s just one model and one study, but it suggests that the climate
system could be more fragile than previously appreciated...<br>
- -<br>
“The only thing we can say is that in the course of the last century
the AMOC has moved toward its critical point (which on its own had
not been expected by many),” he wrote in an email. “And that with
every additional ton of emitted greenhouse gases, we’ll likely push
it further.”<br>
<br>
So what happens if the Atlantic circulation collapses?...<br>
- -<br>
A certain amount of weakening may act as a counterforce against
climate change, mitigating to some degree the warming that would
otherwise take place. But how these competing forces balance out
overall and over time would depend on multiple, overlapping layers
of uncertainty: how much the system weakens; whether it shuts down
entirely; how much less carbon dioxide the oceans, forests, and
farms pull down; and how much warmer the planet gets...<br>
- -<br>
“The ocean matters. The ocean carries a huge amount of heat. It
sequesters carbon. It moves nutrients around. If we didn’t have the
ocean circulation or upwelling, you wouldn’t have fish. The whole
ocean matters, and the AMOC, that large circulation, is a big part
of what the ocean is doing.”<br>
<br>
But that is also arguably the biggest reason to worry about how
human actions could alter one of the planet’s most complex—and
exquisite—natural systems. There are, as Lozier and Baringer note,
more imminent climate risks to worry about. But in the long term,
perturbing this immensely powerful network of ocean currents could
be the biggest climate risk the world is taking. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-change-ocean-atlantic-circulation/">https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/14/1041321/climate-change-ocean-atlantic-circulation/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[ Weathercasters as super-heros ] </i><br>
<b>Not just the weather: How TV meteorologists influence the
public’s views on climate</b><br>
By John Morales | December 13, 2021<br>
- -<br>
The climate crisis is, indeed, a wicked problem that requires a
herculean effort. But the known solutions to mitigate climate change
are not fantastical—they are real and actionable. The momentum
towards collective local, national, and international climate action
is stronger than it’s ever been. And thanks to broadcast
meteorologists, a more engaged American public can demand those in
power act on climate now, or face the consequences.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://thebulletin.org/2021/12/not-just-the-weather-how-tv-meteorologists-influence-the-publics-views-on-climate/">https://thebulletin.org/2021/12/not-just-the-weather-how-tv-meteorologists-influence-the-publics-views-on-climate/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[ Academic paper ]</i><br>
Climatic Change <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03244-4">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03244-4</a><br>
<b>The role of public relations firms in climate change politics</b><br>
Robert J. Brulle · Carter Werthman<br>
Abstract<br>
Climate change policy has long been subject to influence by a wide
variety of organizations. Despite their importance, the key role of
public relations (PR) firms has long been<br>
overlooked in the climate political space. This paper provides an
exploratory overview of<br>
the extent and nature of involvement of PR firms in climate
political action by organizations in five sectors: Coal/Steel/Rail,
Oil & Gas, Utilities, Renewable Energy, and the Environmental
Movement. The analysis shows that the engagement of public relations
firms by<br>
organizations in all of these sectors is widespread. In absolute
terms, the Utility and Gas &<br>
Oil sectors engage the most PR firms, and the Environmental Movement
engages the fewest. Organizations in the Utilities Sector show a
statistically significant higher use of PR<br>
firms than the other sectors. Within each sector, engagement of PR
firms is concentrated in<br>
a few firms, and the major oil companies and electrical-supply
manufactures are the heaviest employers of such firms. PR firms
generally specialize in representing specific sectors,<br>
and a few larger PR firms are widely engaged in climate and energy
political activity. PR<br>
firms developed campaigns that frequently relied on third-party
groups to engage with the<br>
public, criticize opponents, and serve as the face of an advertising
campaign. Our analysis<br>
shows that PR firms are a key organizational actor in climate
politics.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03244-4">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03244-4</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[ comparison to another great movie ] <br>
</i><b>“DON’T LOOK UP” IS AS FUNNY AND TERRIFYING ABOUT GLOBAL
WARMING AS “DR. STRANGELOVE” WAS ABOUT NUCLEAR WAR</b><br>
Adam McKay’s new movie may be the first film in 57 years to equal
the comedy and horror of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece.<br>
Jon Schwarz -- Dec 12 2021,<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/12/12/dont-look-up-review-adam-mckay-dr-strangelove/">https://theintercept.com/2021/12/12/dont-look-up-review-adam-mckay-dr-strangelove/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[ disturbing, elegant coffee-table book ] </i><br>
<b>"The Atlas of Disappearing Places"</b><br>
ABOUT THE BOOK:<br>
A beautiful and engaging guide to global warming’s impacts around
the world.<br>
<br>
Our planet is in peril. Seas are rising, oceans are acidifying, ice
is melting, coasts are flooding, species are dying, and communities
are faltering. Despite these dire circumstances, most of us don’t
have a clear sense of how the interconnected crises in our ocean are
affecting the climate system, food webs, coastal cities, and
biodiversity, and which solutions can help us co-create a better
future.<br>
<br>
Through a rich combination of place-based storytelling, clear
explanations of climate science and policy, and beautifully rendered
maps that use a unique ink-on-dried-seaweed technique, "The Atlas of
Disappearing Places" depicts twenty locations across the globe, from
Shanghai and Antarctica to Houston and the Cook Islands. The authors
describe four climate change impacts—changing chemistry, warming
waters, strengthening storms, and rising seas—using the metaphor of
the ocean as a body to draw parallels between natural systems and
human systems.<br>
<br>
Each chapter paints a portrait of an existential threat in a
particular place, detailing what will be lost if we do not take bold
action now. Weaving together contemporary stories and speculative
“future histories” for each place, this work considers both the
serious consequences if we continue to pursue business as usual, and
what we can do—from government policies to grassroots activism—to
write a different, more hopeful story.<br>
<br>
A beautiful work of art and an indispensable resource to learn more
about the devastating consequences of the climate crisis—as well as
possibilities for individual and collective action—"The Atlas of
Disappearing Places" will engage and inspire readers on the most
pressing issue of our time.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.king5.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/new-day-northwest/climate-change-global-warming-extreme-weather-rising-seas-world-atlas/281-c8c4eabf-9311-45cc-a4ce-23b8f7074c1d">https://www.king5.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/new-day-northwest/climate-change-global-warming-extreme-weather-rising-seas-world-atlas/281-c8c4eabf-9311-45cc-a4ce-23b8f7074c1d</a><br>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.king5.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/new-day-northwest/the-atlas-of-disappearing-places-shows-the-effects-of-our-changing-climate-new-day-nw/281-e567e66e-58eb-480c-9d28-dd3dcd6e3e72?jwsource=em">https://www.king5.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/new-day-northwest/the-atlas-of-disappearing-places-shows-the-effects-of-our-changing-climate-new-day-nw/281-e567e66e-58eb-480c-9d28-dd3dcd6e3e72?jwsource=em</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><i><br>
</i></p>
<i>[ News release - green is the essence, not the color ]</i><br>
<b>Green concrete to help fight global warming</b><br>
These days, topics related to alternative cements and geopolymers
are considered as advanced and up-to-date research areas in the
fields of civil engineering and construction materials.<br>
December 14, 2021 <br>
- -<br>
Though geopolymer concrete technology has been employed in limited
projects in different countries such as China, Australia, France,
and the USA, there are some issues regarding the complexity of this
technology that need to be solved before its extensive application
in the industry. It may take some time before this ‘new’ concrete
will be used more regularly in the construction industry. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/12/14/2351452/0/en/Green-concrete-to-help-fight-global-warming.html">https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/12/14/2351452/0/en/Green-concrete-to-help-fight-global-warming.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<i>[The news archive - looking back only a decade ago ]</i><br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming
December 15, 2010</b></font><br>
Media Matters reports on a leaked memo that reveals the Fox News
Channel's unfairness and imbalance with regard to climate science:<br>
<blockquote> "In the midst of global climate change talks last
December, a top Fox News official sent an email questioning the
'veracity of climate change data' and ordering the network's
journalists to 'refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed
(or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out
that such theories are based upon data that critics have called
into question.'<br>
<br>
"The directive, sent by Fox News Washington managing editor Bill
Sammon, was issued less than 15 minutes after Fox correspondent
Wendell Goler accurately reported on-air that the United Nations'
World Meteorological Organization announced that 2000-2009 was 'on
track to be the warmest [decade] on record.'<br>
<br>
"This latest revelation comes after Media Matters uncovered an
email sent by Sammon to Fox journalists at the peak of the health
care reform debate, ordering them to avoid using the term 'public
option' and instead use variations of 'government option.' That
email echoed advice from a prominent Republican pollster on how to
help turn public opinion against health care reform.<br>
<br>
"Sources familiar with the situation in Fox's Washington bureau
have expressed concern about Sammon using his position to 'slant'
Fox's supposedly neutral news coverage to the right."<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/12/15/foxleaks-fox-boss-ordered-staff-to-cast-doubt-o/174317">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/12/15/foxleaks-fox-boss-ordered-staff-to-cast-doubt-o/174317</a>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://youtu.be/Kh0AmjHke1M">http://youtu.be/Kh0AmjHke1M</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/</p>
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