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<p><font size="+2"><i><b>April 29, 2022</b></i></font><br>
</p>
<i>[ PBS - very powerful, important documentary 54 min video -
part 3 on May 3rd ] </i><br>
<b>The Power of Big Oil Part Two: Doubt (full documentary) |
FRONTLINE</b><br>
FRONTLINE PBS | Official<br>
Watch part two of “The Power of Big Oil,” a three-episode FRONTLINE
docuseries investigating the fossil fuel industry’s history of
casting doubt and delaying action on climate change. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMe-BYUIPLU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMe-BYUIPLU</a>
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<i>[ Positive conclusion: choose wisely ]</i><br>
<b>Research Highlights a Choice About the Fate of Ocean Life</b><br>
A new study finds that if fossil fuel emissions continue apace, the
oceans could experience a mass extinction by 2300. There is still
time to avoid it.<br>
- -<br>
To forecast the effects from global warming that is now driven by
human activity, the scientists used the same model, with its
intricate interplay between sunlight, clouds, ocean and air
currents, and other forces like the chemical dances between heat and
oxygen, water and air. They also took into account how much fish
habitats could shift, estimating thresholds for survivability.<br>
<br>
“It’s a lot of time spent on the computer,” Dr. Penn said.<br>
<br>
While the study focused on the effects of warming and oxygen loss,
ocean acidification and other snowball effects could worsen the
species loss it predicted...<br>
- -<br>
The ocean has long acted as a quiet safeguard against climate
change, absorbing vast amounts of the carbon dioxide and trapped
heat as people burned fossil fuels and razed forests. But that
service has come at a cost. Last year, the ocean reached its highest
temperature and lowest oxygen content since humans started keeping
track. Changes to the ocean’s chemistry are already threatening
fish. Coral reefs are in steep decline.<br>
“‘How screwed are we?’ I get that all the time,” Dr. Deutsch said.
“If we don’t do anything, we’re screwed.”...<br>
- -<br>
“This paper adds to the huge body of evidence that unless more is
done to curb our greenhouse gas emissions, our marine systems are on
course to see a massive shift in where marine species live and, as
shown in this paper, significant extinction events that could rival
previous mass extinction events,” she said.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/climate/global-warming-ocean-extinctions.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/climate/global-warming-ocean-extinctions.html</a><br>
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<i>[ careful measurements ]</i><br>
<b>Deforestation Remains High, Despite International Pledges</b><br>
Brazil had the largest share of tree loss last year, followed by the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Bolivia. Indonesia showed
improvement.<br>
By Henry Fountain - - April 28, 2022<br>
Halting deforestation was one of the major commitments to come out
of the international climate talks last year in Glasgow, but there
was scant evidence of progress in 2021, according to a report
released Thursday...<br>
- -<br>
“No one should even think anymore about planting trees instead of
reducing emissions from fossil fuels,” she said. “It’s got to be
both, and it’s got to be now before it’s too late.”<br>
<br>
The report found that overall in the tropics, more than 27 million
acres of forest cover was lost. But in its analysis the institute
focuses on older primary forests in humid regions, which play by far
the greatest role in keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere
and in maintaining biodiversity.<br>
<br>
The report is a collaboration between the institute and the Global
Land Analysis and Discovery laboratory at the University of
Maryland, which has developed methods to analyze satellite imagery
to determine the extent of forest cover.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/climate/deforestation-tree-loss.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/climate/deforestation-tree-loss.html</a>
<p>- -</p>
<i>[ See the data ] </i><br>
<b>World Resources Institute|GLOBAL FOREST REVIEW</b><br>
As the quality and availability of spatial data improve, we will
expand and improve existing content, especially as it relates to
forest gain, drivers of loss, and net forest change. The Global
Forest Review is fluid by design, and the contents of the report
will be continually updated as relevant. Our hope is that providing
timely, independent, and globally comprehensive insights will
facilitate a future of more sustainable forest ecosystems. <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends">https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends</a><br>
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<i>[ Spillover is a new euphemism ] </i><br>
<b>Climate Change Will Accelerate Viral Spillovers, Study Finds</b><br>
In a warming world, bats in Southeast Asia will be especially prone
to spreading viruses to other mammals, researchers found.<br>
By Carl Zimmer<br>
April 28, 2022<br>
Over the next 50 years, climate change will drive thousands of
viruses to jump from one species of mammal to another, according to
a study published in Nature on Thursday. The shuffling of viruses
among animals may increase the risk that one will jump into humans
and cause a new pandemic, the researchers said.<br>
<br>
Scientists have long warned that a warming planet may increase the
burden of diseases. Malaria, for example, is expected to spread as
the mosquitoes that carry it expand their range into warming
regions. But climate change might also usher in entirely new
diseases, by allowing pathogens to move into new host species.<br>
<br>
“We know that species are moving, and when they do, they’re going to
have these chances to share viruses,” said Colin Carlson, a
biologist at Georgetown University and a co-author of the new study.<br>
To understand what that sharing will look like, Dr. Carlson and his
colleagues built a computer model of potential spillovers in a
warming world. The researchers started by projecting how thousands
of mammals might shift their ranges as the climate changes between
now and 2070...<br>
- -<br>
Climate-driven spillovers may start long before 2070. After all, the
planet is already 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the 19th
century. In their computer model, the researchers found that there
has already been sufficient climate change to start mixing viruses
up, although their model doesn’t let them point to particular
viruses that have made a jump.<br>
<br>
“The amount of warming we’ve had has been enough to set it in
motion,” Dr. Carlson said.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/science/climate-change-virus-spillover.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/science/climate-change-virus-spillover.html</a><br>
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<br>
<i>[ audio of two wise women philosophizing about activism ] <br>
</i><b>The Future of Activism | Gail Bradbrook</b><br>
Apr 28, 2022<br>
Planet: Critical<br>
Dr Gail Bradbrook joins me to discuss how activist groups can evolve
their messaging and their mission to identify a new goal: solutions.
Gail is one of the original members who set up Extinction Rebellion
and has now transitioned to Being The Change which empowers both
activists and the public to connect with one another around the
world and do something. <br>
<br>
Interview Transcript available for Patrons:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://patreon.com/planetcritical">https://patreon.com/planetcritical</a><br>
<br>
Extinction Rebellion drew attention to the climate crisis like no
other group before them. Founded in just 2018, they’ve forced the
climate conversation into the mainstream, and their organisation is
an inspiring reminder of what citizens can achieve when mobilized.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7aBeNOmN4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7aBeNOmN4</a><br>
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<i>[Political discussion ]</i><br>
<b>Rising authoritarianism and worsening climate change share a
fossil-fueled secret</b><br>
Published: April 27, 2022<br>
Around the world, many countries are becoming less democratic. This
backsliding on democracy and “creeping authoritarianism,” as the
U.S. State Department puts it, is often supported by the same
industries that are escalating climate change.<br>
<br>
In my new book, “Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the
Climate Crisis,” I lay out connections between these industries and
the politicians who are both stalling action on climate change and
diminishing democracy.<br>
<br>
It’s a dangerous shift, both for representative government and for
the future climate.<br>
<br>
<b>Corporate capture of environmental politics</b><br>
In democratic systems, elected leaders are expected to protect the
public’s interests, including from exploitation by corporations.
They do this primarily through policies designed to secure public
goods, such as clean air and unpolluted water, or to protect human
welfare, such as good working conditions and minimum wages. But in
recent decades, this core democratic principle that prioritizes
citizens over corporate profits has been aggressively undermined.<br>
<br>
Today, it’s easy to find political leaders – on both the political
right and left – working on behalf of corporations in energy,
finance, agribusiness, technology, military and pharmaceutical
sectors, and not always in the public interest. These multinational
companies help fund their political careers and election campaigns
to keep them in office.<br>
<br>
In the U.S., this relationship was cemented by the Supreme Court’s
2010 decision in Citizens United. The decision allowed almost
unlimited spending by corporations and wealthy donors to support the
political candidates who best serve their interests. Data shows that
candidates with the most outside funding usually win. This has led
to increasing corporate influence on politicians and party policies.<br>
<br>
When it comes to the political parties, it’s easy to find examples
of campaign finance fueling political agendas.<br>
<br>
In 1988, when NASA scientist James Hansen testified before a U.S.
Senate committee about the greenhouse effect, both the Republican
and Democratic parties took climate change seriously. But this
attitude quickly diverged. Since the 1990s, the energy sector has
heavily financed conservative candidates who have pushed its
interests and helped to reduce regulations on the fossil fuel
industry. This has enabled the expansion of fossil fuel production
and escalated CO2 emissions to dangerous levels.<br>
<br>
The industry’s power in shaping policy plays out in examples like
the coalition of 19 Republican state attorneys general and coal
companies suing to block the Environmental Protection Agency from
regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.<br>
<br>
At the same time that the energy sector has sought to influence
policies on climate change, it has also worked to undermine the
public’s understanding of climate science. For instance, records
show ExxonMobil participated in a widespread climate-science denial
campaign for years, spending more than US$30 million on lobbyists,
think tanks and researchers to promote climate-science skepticism.
These efforts continue today. A 2019 report found the five largest
oil companies had spent over $1 billion on misleading
climate-related lobbying and branding campaigns over the previous
three years.<br>
<br>
The energy industry has in effect captured the democratic political
process and prevented enactment of effective climate policies.<br>
<br>
Corporate interests have also fueled a surge in well-financed
antidemocratic leaders who are willing to stall and even dismantle
existing climate policies and regulations. These political leaders’
tactics have escalated public health crises, and in some cases,
human rights abuses.<br>
<br>
<b>Brazil, Australia and the US</b><br>
Many deeply antidemocratic governments are tied to oil, gas and
other extractive industries that are driving climate change,
including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and China.<br>
<br>
In “Global Burning,” I explore how three leaders of traditionally
democratic countries – Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Scott Morrison of
Australia and Donald Trump in the U.S. – came to power on
anti-environment and nationalist platforms appealing to an
extreme-right populist base and extractive corporations that are
driving climate change. While the political landscape of each
country is different, the three leaders have important
commonalities.<br>
<br>
Bolsonaro, Morrison and Trump all depend on extractive corporations
to fund electoral campaigns and keep them in office or, in the case
of Trump, get reelected.<br>
<br>
For instance, Bolsonaro’s power depends on support from a powerful
right-wing association of landowners and farmers called the União
Democrática Ruralista, or UDR. This association reflects the
interests of foreign investors and specifically the
multibillion-dollar mining and agribusiness sectors. Bolsonaro
promised that if elected in 2019, he would dismantle environmental
protections and open, in the name of economic progress,
industrial-scale soybean production and cattle grazing in the Amazon
rainforest. Both contribute to climate change and deforestation in a
fragile region considered crucial for keeping carbon out of the
atmosphere.<br>
<br>
Bolsonaro, Morrison and Trump are all openly skeptical of climate
science. Not surprisingly, all have ignored, weakened or dismantled
environmental protection regulations. In Brazil, that led to
accelerated deforestation and large swaths of Amazon rainforest
burning.<br>
<br>
In Australia, Morrison’s government ignored widespread public and
scientific opposition and opened the controversial Adani Carmichael
mine, one of the largest coal mines in the world. The mine will
impact public health and the climate and threatens the Great Barrier
Reef as temperatures rise and ports are expanded along the coast...<br>
- -<br>
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (left) faced protests over
his support for the Adani Carmichael mine, one of the largest coal
mines in the world. AP Photo/Rick Rycroft<br>
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement – a move
opposed by a majority of Americans – rolled back over 100 laws meant
to protect the environment and opened national parks to fossil fuel
drilling and mining.<br>
<br>
Notably, all three leaders have worked, sometimes together, against
international efforts to stop climate change. At the United Nations
climate talks in Spain in 2019, Costa Rica’s minister for
environment and energy at the time, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, blamed
Brazil, Australia and the U.S. for blocking efforts to tackle
climate injustice linked to global warming.<br>
<br>
Brazil, Australia and the U.S. are not unique in these responses to
climate change. Around the world, there have been similar
convergences of antidemocratic leaders who are financed by
extractive corporations and who implement anti-environment laws and
policies that defend corporate profits. New to the current moment is
that these leaders openly use state power against their own citizens
to secure corporate land grabs to build dams, lay pipelines, dig
mines and log forests.<br>
<br>
For example, Trump supported the deployment of the National Guard to
disperse Native Americans and environmental activists protesting the
Dakota Access Pipeline, a project that he had personally been
invested in. His administration also proposed harsher penalties for
pipeline protesters that echoed legislation promoted by the American
Legislative Exchange Council, whose members include lawmakers and
lobbyists for the oil industry. Several Republican-led states
enacted similar anti-protest laws.<br>
<br>
Under Bolsonaro, Brazil has changed laws in ways that embolden land
grabbers to push small farmers and Indigenous people off their land
in the rainforest.<br>
<br>
<b>What can people do about it?</b><br>
Fortunately, there is a lot that people can do to protect democracy
and the climate.<br>
<br>
Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and reducing the
destruction of forests can cut greenhouse gas emissions. The biggest
obstacles, a recent U.N. climate report noted, are national leaders
who are unwilling to regulate fossil fuel corporations, reduce
greenhouse gas emissions or plan for renewable energy production.<br>
<br>
The path forward, as I see it, involves voters pushing back on the
global trend toward authoritarianism, as Slovenia did in April 2022,
and pushing forward on replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy.
People can reclaim their democratic rights and vote out
anti-environment governments whose power depends on prioritizing
extractive capitalism over the best interests of their citizens and
our collective humanity.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://theconversation.com/rising-authoritarianism-and-worsening-climate-change-share-a-fossil-fueled-secret-181012">https://theconversation.com/rising-authoritarianism-and-worsening-climate-change-share-a-fossil-fueled-secret-181012</a>
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<i>[ An important technical breakthrough in energy - mostly for
computers ] </i><br>
<b>Discovery of the one-way superconductor, thought to be impossible</b><br>
by Delft University of Technology - APRIL 27, 2022<br>
<blockquote>In the 20th century and beyond, no one could tackle the
barrier of making superconducting electrons go in just
one-direction, which is a fundamental property needed for
computing and other modern electronics (consider for example
diodes that go one way as well). In normal conduction the
electrons fly around as separate particles; in superconductors
they move in pairs of twos, without any loss of electrical energy.
In the '70s, scientists at IBM tried out the idea of
superconducting computing but had to stop their efforts: in their
papers on the subject, IBM mentions that without non-reciprocal
superconductivity, a computer running on superconductors is
impossible.<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://phys.org/news/2022-04-discovery-one-way-superconductor-thought-impossible.html">https://phys.org/news/2022-04-discovery-one-way-superconductor-thought-impossible.html</a><br>
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<i>[The news archive - looking back]</i><br>
<font size="5"><b>April 29, 2014</b></font><br>
<br>
A Center for American Progress report reveals:<br>
<br>
"As part of a major effort since 2008 to bolster its lobbying and
political power, the oil and gas industry has steadily expanded its
contributions and influence over several major conservative
sportsmen’s organizations, including Safari Club International, or
SCI, the National Rifle Association, or NRA, and the Congressional
Sportsmen’s Foundation. The first two organizations have assumed an
increasingly active and vocal role in advancing energy industry
priorities, even when those positions are in apparent conflict with
the interests of hunters and anglers who are their rank-and-file
members. The third group, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation,
or CSF, is also heavily funded by oil and gas interests and plays a
key role in providing energy companies, SCI, the NRA, gun
manufacturers, and other corporate sponsors with direct access to
members of Congress."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/report/2014/04/29/88712/oil-and-gas-industry-investments-in-the-national-rifle-association-and-safari-club-international/">http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/report/2014/04/29/88712/oil-and-gas-industry-investments-in-the-national-rifle-association-and-safari-club-international/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<p>======================================= <br>
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