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<font size="+2" face="Calibri"><i><b>March 31, 2023</b></i></font><font
face="Calibri"><br>
</font> <font face="Calibri"> </font> <br>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ stepping up to higher courts ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>U.N. seeks rare legal opinion on climate.
The U.S. abstained.</b><br>
By Sara Schonhardt <br>
</font><font face="Calibri">3/30/2023<i><br>
</i></font><font face="Calibri">The United States declined to
support a historic resolution in the U.N. General Assembly on
Wednesday that asks the world’s highest court to weigh in on the
legal obligation of countries to address climate change.<br>
<br>
The resolution was passed with the help of more than 120 nations,
marking a rare agreement in the General Assembly that could
reverberate worldwide if the International Court of Justice, in
the Hague, issues an opinion that pushes countries to take greater
action to curb their planet-warming emissions. The court is
expected to make a ruling within two years.<br>
<br>
The move stems from a resolution offered by Vanuatu, a Pacific
Island nation that was recently slammed by two back-to-back
cyclones. It asks the U.N. International Court of Justice to
determine whether countries are violating international laws by
polluting the climate and to identify the legal consequences they
could face...</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">- -</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Proponents of the resolution argue that it
doesn’t seek reparations from individual countries or apportion
blame. Rather, many see it as one tool among many in the fight
against global warming. Some activists and climate negotiators see
it working in parallel with efforts to establish a loss and damage
fund.<br>
<br>
“At the heart of the question, is a desire to further strengthen
our collective efforts to deal with climate change, give climate
justice the importance it deserves and bring the entirety of
international law to bear on this unprecedented challenge,”
Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau said in his address to the
general assembly Wednesday.<br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/u-n-seeks-rare-legal-opinion-on-climate-the-u-s-abstained/">https://www.eenews.net/articles/u-n-seeks-rare-legal-opinion-on-climate-the-u-s-abstained/</a></font><br>
<p><font face="Calibri"><b>- -</b></font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ top court and top most question ]</i><b><br>
</b></font><font face="Calibri"><b>World court asked to rule on
climate pollution</b></font><br>
<font face="Calibri">By ARIANNA SKIBELL </font><br>
<font face="Calibri">03/30/2023</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution
this week that asks the world’s top court to weigh in on a
high-stakes question:</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Can countries be sued under international law
for failing to address the climate crisis?</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">If the International Court of Justice answers
“yes,” then super-polluting countries — like the United States and
China — could be subjected to a spate of new, potentially viable
legal claims, writes POLITICO’s E&E News reporter Sara
Schonhardt.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Both the U.S. and China declined to support the
petition. And U.S. courts have historically given little deference
to international decisions.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">The resolution, which passed without opposition
Wednesday, was brought by the small disaster-prone Pacific island
of Vanuatu, which was recently slammed by two back-to-back
cyclones.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>What the resolution does:</b> The resolution
asks the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, to
determine whether governments are legally obligated to protect
people from climate change-fueled hazards and, if so, what legal
consequences nations should face for failing to do so.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">While an advisory opinion from the court would
not be binding, the court has the power to clarify what any
international law — not just climate or environmental ones — says
with regard to climate change. That means, depending on what the
court says, countries could be legally required to reduce
planet-warming pollution under a suite of international doctrines
(such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Already, many countries are seeing a growing
number of climate lawsuits that draw on human rights or
international law. The court’s guidance could lead to even more.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Although the United Nations adopted the
resolution, there is no guarantee that the International Court of
Justice, its main judicial body, will issue a sweeping opinion. It
could say countries have no obligation to address climate change.
But some legal analysts told Sara there’s a good chance the court
takes a stronger position.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Sitting this one out: </b>The Biden
administration has said that addressing climate change is a top
priority for the United States. But it believes diplomacy, not an
international judicial process, is the best way to tackle the
crisis.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Earlier this month, climate envoy John Kerry
said on a press call that the United States had concerns about the
resolution’s process and that Vanuatu was “jumping ahead” by going
to the International Court of Justice. Still, more than 120
countries sided with Vanuatu and supported the resolution.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">The high court is expected to make a decision
in the next one to two years.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2023/03/30/world-court-asked-to-rule-on-climate-pollution-00082767">https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2023/03/30/world-court-asked-to-rule-on-climate-pollution-00082767</a></font><br>
<br>
<p><font face="Calibri"><i><br>
</i></font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ National Academies discusses the lesser
known and little described possible rapid social change ] </i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> </font> <font face="Calibri"><b>Climate
Conversations: Tipping Points</b></font><br>
<font face="Calibri">National Academies - Earth and Life Studies</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">March 30, 2023</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">You can sign up for our newsletter here:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/top">https://www.nationalacademies.org/top</a>...</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">About this Event</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">... a conversation about how to prepare for the
consequences of abrupt changes in human and natural systems, and
how to encourage positive social tipping points.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">With continued climate change, elements of the
Earth system may reach tipping points of abrupt, dramatic change
with irreversible consequences, like the rapid collapse of ice
sheets or dieback of the Amazon rainforest. Tipping points also
exist in human systems; devastation from extreme weather and major
stresses on food, energy, and water could accumulate and tilt
society into radically new dynamics such as mass migration or
major economic shifts. However, tipping points in human systems
can also be positive, and stem from rapidly spreading norms,
behaviors, and technologies, such as how battery storage could tip
the power sector irreversibly towards renewable energy. Laurie
Goering (Thomson Reuters Foundation) will moderate a conversation
between Ilona M. Otto (University of Graz) and Rachael Shwom
(Rutgers University) about the tipping points we are approaching,
how to prepare for those we may reach, and how to encourage
positive social tipping points for action on climate change.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">The conversation will be webcast on this page
on Thursday, March 30, 2023 from 3-4:15pm ET. Closed captioning
will be provided. The conversation will include questions from the
audience and will be recorded and available to view on the page
after the event.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a
monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level,
cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to
policy action on climate change.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Participant Bios</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Laurie Goering is a journalist and the climate
change editor for Context, the award-winning Thomson Reuters
Foundation’s daily news website. She has written on climate change
for more than two decades, and previously worked as a foreign
correspondent for the Chicago Tribune based in New Delhi, Kuwait,
Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Mexico City and London.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Rachael Shwom is Professor in the Department of
Human Ecology at Rutgers University and Acting Director of the
Rutgers Energy Institute. She conducts research that links
sociology, psychology, engineering, economics, and public policy
to investigate how social and political factors influence
society’s responses to energy and climate problems.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Calibri">Ilona M. Otto holds the Professorship in
Societal Impacts of Climate Change at the Wegener Center for
Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, Austria. She leads
a research group that analyzes the social dynamic processes and
interventions that are likely to spark the rapid social changes
necessary to radically transform the interactions of human
societies with nature and ecosystem services in the next 30 years.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/03-30-2023/climate-conversations-tipping-points">https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/03-30-2023/climate-conversations-tipping-points</a></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"></font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>["If climate isn't in your story, it's
science fiction" Dorothy Fortenberry</i><i><br>
</i><i>Writer & Producer, THE HANDMAID'S TALE, EXTRAPOLATIONS
]</i><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>STORYTELLING FOR TODAY’S CLIMATE</b><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Story support for the age of climate change</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">CONSULTING<br>
Work With Us To Integrate Climate Into Your Stories<br>
We’re committed to great stories above all, in part because we’re
huge fans of film and TV, and in part because we know that
audiences will simply change the channel if a story seems
inauthentic. When they snooze, we all lose. We steer clear of
blatant moralizing, shoehorning ideas, and pushing stories in
directions that risk becoming dull, preachy, or forced. Instead,
we help writers apply a Climate Lens™ to their existing stories—no
matter the topic, tone, or genre—to uncover how climate shows up
organically for their characters and heightens the drama.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Read About The Absence Of The Climate Crisis
On-Screen, And How To Change That</b><br>
Check out our groundbreaking report on climate representation in
TV and film, created in collaboration with the USC Norman Lear
Center’s Media Impact Project.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://learcenter.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/GlaringAbsence_NormanLearCenter.pdf">https://learcenter.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/GlaringAbsence_NormanLearCenter.pdf</a><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.goodenergystories.com/">https://www.goodenergystories.com/</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri">- -<br>
</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"> <i>[ Getting the word out ]</i></font><br>
<b>‘The visuals of today help create the reality of tomorrow:’ Why
Hollywood is finally tackling climate change onscreen</b><br>
For decades, fictional on-screen stories about climate have been
apocalyptic, if they’ve existed at all. That’s finally changing.<br>
02-28-23<br>
BY WHITNEY BAUCK<br>
Dorothy Fortenberry has been trying to sneak climate change into the
background of the TV shows she’s worked on for as long as she’s been
in the business. As a writer on The Handmaid’s Tale, she succeeded
in getting subtle details included—her characters drove electric
cars or ate organic food as allusions to the story world’s
ecological reality.<br>
<br>
But for the first decade of her life as a screenwriter, her
preoccupation with the environment and her work life only overlapped
in those small ways. “For a long time, if you said to someone, ‘I’m
doing a show about climate change,’ they would envision some sort of
natural disaster—that was the storytelling shorthand.”<br>
Fortenberry’s experience is indicative of a wider truth about
fictional on-screen stories on climate over the past three decades:
They’ve been rare, and when they’ve existed at all, they’ve been
apocalyptic. Some of that has started to shift in recent years, due
to a changing zeitgeist and organized efforts from inside and
outside the industry, but the transition has been slow to
materialize. ..<br>
In other words, industry professionals are more interested in
integrating climate into their work than the current state of
climate narratives in film and TV might lead you to believe. The
barriers holding them back are as complicated as the set of reasons
that keep anyone, working in any field, from engaging in meaningful
climate action. <br>
<br>
Meredith Milton, creative director of the NRDC’s Rewrite the Future
and a former studio executive who has worked on films like The Eyes
of Tammy Faye, says there can be a misconception that climate
stories are too “depressing, preachy, boring, or political.”
Fortenberry notes that “everybody in Hollywood wants to do the last
successful thing, which makes it hard until there’s a successful
thing.” According to the Climate Culture Entertainment Lab at the
environmental nonprofit Rare, it may also be the case that writers
and showrunners want to incorporate more climate content, but don’t
have time for the research that would allow them to do so
confidently. Others, Hinerfeld says, just don’t seem to have a sense
of their own agency; they may be concerned about increasingly
intense fires and floods, but they don’t see how their work can
help.<br>
<p><font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90856208/the-visuals-of-today-help-create-the-reality-of-tomorrow-why-hollywood-is-finally-tackling-climate-change-onscreen">https://www.fastcompany.com/90856208/the-visuals-of-today-help-create-the-reality-of-tomorrow-why-hollywood-is-finally-tackling-climate-change-onscreen</a><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ what happens when a crashes? ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> </font> <font face="Calibri"><b>How Long
Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?</b><b><br>
</b>Practical Engineering<br>
1,894,937 views Nov 22, 2022<br>
A summary of how other systems of infrastructure (like roadways,
water, sewer, and telecommunications) depend on electricity and
how long each system could last under total blackout conditions.<br>
<br>
This video was guest produced by my editor, Wesley, who is also
the actor in the blackout scenes ;)<br>
<br>
Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure
and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and
produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly,
so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit
that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our
videos!<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OpC4fH3mEk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OpC4fH3mEk</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font> </p>
<font face="Calibri"> <br>
<i>[The news archive - looking back]</i><br>
<font size="+2"><i><b>March 31, </b></i></font> <br>
March 31, 2009: <br>
<br>
• MSNBC's Keith Olbermann rips denialist Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL):<br>
<br>
"But our winner, Congressman John Shimkus, Republican of Illinois,
with two fascinating and utterly contradictory statements. A,
Congressman Shimkus on why there isn‘t global warming. 'Today we
have about 388 parts per million of Carbon Dioxide in the
atmosphere. I think in the age of the dinosaurs, when we had most
flora and fauna, we were probably at 4,000 parts per million.
There‘s a theological debate that this is a carbon-starved planet,
not too much carbon.' <br>
<br>
"Number one, Carbon and Carbon Dioxide are not the same thing.
Number two, the only theological debate over how much carbon the
plan needs would be taking place in the church of the Labrea Tar
Pits. Number three, didn‘t the freaking dinosaurs go extinct? Or
do they just have a bad public relations person? <br>
<br>
"But I‘m digressing. B, Congressman Shimkus on why it doesn‘t
matter anyway. 'The Earth will end only when God declares it‘s
time to be over. A man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth
will not be destroyed by a flood. I appreciate having panelists
here who are men of faith, and we can get into the theological
discourse of that position. But I do believe that God‘s word is
infallible, unchanging, perfect.'<br>
<br>
"So a man pressing a button to start a nuclear war, that would be
God‘s infallible word? Why do we bother trying to govern? Can‘t
he do something about the budget deficit? By the way, as you hit
me over the head with your Bible, Congressman, there ain‘t a word
in it about those dinosaurs you mentioned earlier. <br>
<br>
"Congressman John Shimkus of Illinois, today‘s worst person in the
world!"<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBf75v2k3EE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBf75v2k3EE</a><br>
<br>
• MSNBC's Rachel Maddow also mocks Shimkus during her "GOP in
Exile" segment:<br>
<br>
"While the Republican Party continues its search for mean in the
minority, one Republican congressman, John Shimkus of Illinois,
maybe should stop searching. Just sit down, Congressman and take
a breather, honestly. Check this out:<br>
<br>
"REP. JOHN SHIMKUS (R-IL): Today, we have about 388 parts per
million in the atmosphere. I think in the age of dinosaurs, where
we had more flora and fauna, we were probably at 4,000 parts per
million. There is a theological debate that this is a carbon
starved planet, not too much carbon. <br>
<br>
"MADDOW: In other words, we shouldn‘t bother trying to reduce the
amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere because the dinosaurs
did just fine with the tons of carbon that God gave them for their
atmosphere. Also, the dodo bird ate plenty of cholesterol. And
the saber tooth tiger never, ever flossed. Stop worrying,
people."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9z-QkeO-E">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9z-QkeO-E</a><br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
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