<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<font size="+2"><font face="Calibri"><i><b>October 8</b></i></font></font><font
size="+2" face="Calibri"><i><b>, 2023</b></i></font><font
face="Calibri"><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ from AP news ]</i><br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><b>Millions of children are displaced
due to extreme weather events. Climate change will make it worse<br>
</b> </font><font face="Calibri">BY ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL AND CAMILLE
FASSETT<br>
October 5, 2023<br>
Storms, floods, fires and other extreme weather events led to more
than 43 million displacements involving children between 2016 and
2021, according to a United Nations report.<br>
<br>
More than 113 million displacements of children will occur in the
next three decades, estimated the UNICEF report released Friday,
which took into account risks from flooding rivers, cyclonic winds
and floods that follow a storm.<br>
<br>
Some children, like 10-year-old Shukri Mohamed Ibrahim, are
already on the move. Her family left their home in Somalia after
dawn prayers on a Saturday morning five months ago.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">The miseries of long, drawn-out disasters like
droughts are often underreported. Children had to leave their
homes at least 1.3 million times because of drought in the years
covered by the report — more than half of them in Somalia — but
this is likely an undercount, the report said. Unlike during
floods or storms, there are no pre-emptive evacuations during a
drought.<br>
<br>
Worldwide, climate change has already left millions homeless.
Rising seas are eating away at coastlines; storms are battering
megacities and drought is exacerbating conflict. But while
catastrophes intensify, the world has yet to recognize climate
migrants and find formal ways of protecting them.<br>
<br>
“The reality is that far more children are going to be impacted in
(the) future, as the impacts of climate change continue to
intensify,” said Laura Healy, a migration specialist at UNICEF and
one of the report’s authors.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Floods displaced children more than 19 million
times in places like India and China. Wildfires impacted children
810,000 times in the U.S. and Canada.<br>
<br>
Data tracking migrations because of weather extremes typically
don’t differentiate between children and adults. UNICEF worked
with a Geneva-based nonprofit, the International Displacement
Monitoring Center, to map where kids were most impacted.<br>
</font><font face="Calibri">- -</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">In estimating future risks, the report did not
include wildfires and drought, or potential mitigation measures.
It said vital services like education and health care need to
become “shock-responsive, portable and inclusive,” to help
children and their families better cope with disasters. This would
mean considering children’s needs at different stages, from
ensuring they have opportunities to study, that they can stay with
their families and that eventually they can find work.<br>
<br>
“We have the tools. We have the knowledge. But we’re just not
working fast enough,” Healy said.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-child-displacement-extreme-weather-87e933b1ee0d81f9345daa801f311ea6">https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-child-displacement-extreme-weather-87e933b1ee0d81f9345daa801f311ea6</a><br>
</font>
<p>- -<br>
</p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ UN - UNICEF ]</i></font><br>
<b>Children displaced in a changing climate</b><br>
Preparing for a future that’s already underway.<br>
Millions of children are being driven from their homes by weather-
related events, exacerbated by climate change. While the link
between climate change and displacement is complex, it’s clearer
than ever that the climate is shifting patterns of displacement.<br>
<br>
Displacement – whether short-lived or protracted – can multiply
climate- related risks for children and their families. In the
aftermath of a disaster, children may become separated from their
parents or caregivers, amplifying the risks of exploitation, child
trafficking, and abuse. Displacement can disrupt access to education
and healthcare, exposing children to malnutrition, disease, and
inadequate immunization.<br>
<br>
Yet until now, children displaced by weather-related events have
been statistically invisible. Existing displacement data are rarely
disaggregated by age, and factors such as rapid urbanization,
fragility and conflict can mean that children on the move are even
more likely to slip through the cracks.<br>
<br>
‘Children displaced in a changing climate: Preparing for a future
already underway’ analyses the most common weather-related hazards
that lead to the largest number of displacements: floods, storms,
droughts and wildfires. The report notes that there were 43.1
million internal displacements of children linked to weather-related
disasters over a six-year period – the equivalent to approximately
20,000 child displacements per day. Almost all – 95 per cent – of
recorded child displacements were driven by floods and storms.<br>
<br>
To improve outcomes for children and young people at risk of future
displacement, the report calls on governments, donors, development
partners and private sector to take the following actions:<br>
<br>
Protect children and young people from the impacts of climate change
and displacement by ensuring child-critical services are
shock-responsive, portable and inclusive, including for children
already uprooted.<br>
Prepare children and young people to live in a climate changed world
by improving their adaptive capacities, resilience and enabling
their participation.<br>
Prioritize children and young people – including those already
uprooted from their homes – in climate, humanitarian and development
policy, action and investments.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.unicef.org/reports/children-displaced-changing-climate">https://www.unicef.org/reports/children-displaced-changing-climate</a><br>
<p><font face="Calibri">- -</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ UNICEF report ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Weather-related disasters led to 43.1
million displacements of children over six years - UNICEF</b><br>
River floods alone projected to displace almost 96 million
children over next 30 years, new analysis shows<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">06 October 2023<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">NEW YORK, 6 October 2023 – Weather-related
disasters caused 43.1 million internal displacements of children
in 44 countries over a six-year period – or approximately 20,000
child displacements a day - according to a new UNICEF analysis
released today.<br>
<br>
Children Displaced in a Changing Climate is the first global
analysis of the number of children driven from their homes between
2016 and 2021 due to floods, storms, droughts and wildfires, and
looks at projections for the next 30 years.<br>
<br>
According to the analysis, China and the Philippines are among the
countries that recorded the highest absolute numbers of child
displacements, due to their exposure to extreme weather, large
child populations and progress made on early warning and
evacuation capacities. However, relative to the size of the child
population, children living in small island states, such as
Dominica and Vanuatu, were most affected by storms, while children
in Somalia and South Sudan were most affected by floods.<br>
<br>
“It is terrifying for any child when a ferocious wildfire, storm
or flood barrels into their community,” said UNICEF Executive
Director Catherine Russell. “For those who are forced to flee, the
fear and impact can be especially devastating, with worry of
whether they will return home, resume school, or be forced to move
again. Moving may have saved their lives, but it’s also very
disruptive. As the impacts of climate change escalate, so too will
climate-driven movement. We have the tools and knowledge to
respond to this escalating challenge for children, but we are
acting far too slowly. We need to strengthen efforts to prepare
communities, protect children at risk of displacement, and support
those already uprooted.”<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Floods and storms accounted for 40.9 million -
or 95 per cent - of recorded child displacements between 2016 and
2021, due in part to better reporting and more pre-emptive
evacuations. Meanwhile, droughts triggered more than 1.3 million
internal displacements of children - with Somalia again among the
most affected, while wildfires triggered 810,000 child
displacements, with more than a third occurring in 2020 alone.
Canada, Israel and the United States recorded the most.<br>
<br>
Decisions to move can be forced and abrupt in the face of
disaster, or as the result of pre-emptive evacuation, where lives
may be saved but many children still face the dangers and
challenges that come with being uprooted from their homes, often
for extended periods.<br>
<br>
Children are especially at risk of displacement in countries
already grappling with overlapping crises, such as conflict and
poverty, where local capacities to cope with any additional
displacements of children are strained...</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">- -<br>
</font><font face="Calibri">As leaders prepare to meet at the COP28
Climate Change Summit in Dubai in November, UNICEF urges
governments, donors, development partners, and the private sector
to take the following actions to protect children and young people
at risk of future displacement and prepare them and their
communities: <br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Calibri"><b>PROTECT </b>children and young
people from the impacts of climate change-exacerbated disasters
and displacement by ensuring that child-critical services –
including education, health, nutrition, social protection and
child protection services – are shock-responsive, portable and
inclusive, including for those already uprooted from their
homes.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> </font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>PREPARE </b>children and young people to
live in a climate-changed world by improving their adaptive
capacity and resilience, and enabling their participation in
finding inclusive solutions.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> </font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>PRIORITIZE</b> children and young people –
including those already uprooted from their homes – in disaster
and climate action and finance, humanitarian and development
policy, and investments to prepare for a future already
happening.</font><br>
</blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/weather-related-disasters-led-431-million-displacements-children-over-six-years">https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/weather-related-disasters-led-431-million-displacements-children-over-six-years</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<br>
<font face="Calibri"> <i>[ Beckwith explains the latest Hansen
paper ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Acceleration of Global Temperature Rise and
Climate Mayhem Expected over the Next Year</b><br>
Paul Beckwith<br>
</font><font face="Calibri">Oct 2, 2023<br>
James Hansen is arguably the giant of all climate scientists. I
was very fortunate to meet him a few years ago at a COP climate
conference, and chat with him on a CEF (Climate Emergency Forum)
video. <br>
<br>
He has just published a new paper on updates on the climate
system: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailing">http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailing</a>...<br>
<br>
About a month ago, I covered his August 14th paper, and this video
is an update on his newest stuff.<br>
<br>
This paper is vitally important in giving us a clear picture of
what we can expect in the next few years.<br>
<br>
A confluence of factors is driving up global average temperatures
of the atmosphere and oceans and we can expect warming and climate
extremes to notch up to much higher record setting levels. <br>
<br>
We ain’t seen nothing yet. We are only getting a taste this summer
of what is to come in the next year or two.<br>
<br>
1) Average global temperatures trended upwards at 0.18 degrees C
per decade before 2010. With less aerosol forcing, since 2010 to
now it has risen between 0.27 and 0.36 degrees C (this was all in
the previous paper “Global Warming in the Pipeline”)<br>
<br>
2) We can expect an additional rise from El Niño; it is really
just getting started. A super El Niño will easily drive global
average temperatures well above 1.5 C perhaps later this year but
highly probably for the first six months of 2024. El Niño is much
more powerfully warming the planet in the year after it starts, so
in 2024 since it started this year. <br>
<br>
3) Solar irradiation is peaking soon, and basically adds a forcing
of +0.1 W per m**2 on top of everything else.<br>
<br>
4) We are missing a vast area of sea ice around Antarctica, but
Antarctica is still in its winter darkness. Come Fall and Winter
for Northern Hemisphere dwellers, the sun rises in the Southern
Hemisphere and the huge extra area of dark open ocean around
Antarctica will absorb huge amounts of extra sunlight.<br>
<br>
5) The Earth Energy Imbalance was 0.6 W or m**2 ten years ago
(400,000 Hiroshima bombs a day) but is now 1.22 W per m**2 (more
than double; namely 800,000 Hiroshima bombs per day); the most
recent value is a staggering 1.46 W per m**2.<br>
<br>
6) By May of 2024, it looks increasing likely (almost certain)
that the 12 month average global temperature will exceed 1.5C,
with the monthly value close to 1.8C or maybe even as high as 2C.<br>
<br>
It is already rapidly rising and the additional effects listed
above will greatly accelerate the rise. <br>
<br>
As a result of this unfortunate confluence of events, we can
expect the global climate turmoil in the last few months to
substantially worsen. When it does, expect the media and
mainstream scientists and politicians to espouse their excuses and
concerns, but none of that matters if they do not slash fossil
fuels. <br>
<br>
Last month Lahaina in Hawaii was incinerated and many people are
still missing (I think they have returned to ashes and dust), and
also 90-95% of the town of Enterprise in Canada’s Northwest
Territories was incinerated. Global floods are ongoing (look at
the inundation of NYC a few days ago), heatwaves are killing
countless people, and global governments just don’t give a damn,
since they are subsidizing fossil fuels at record high levels of
7.1 Trillion Dollars per year.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNaA7WrQnTE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNaA7WrQnTE</a></font>
<p><font face="Calibri">- -</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ original paper ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Global Warming is Accelerating. Why? Will We
Fly Blind?</b><br>
14 September 2023<br>
James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Reto Ruedy, and Leon Simons</font><br>
<blockquote><font face="Calibri"><b>Abstract. </b><br>
Global temperature in the current El Nino exceeds temperature in
the prior (2015-16) El</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Nino by more than the expected warming
(0.14°C in 8 years) for the global warming rate since</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">1970 (0.18°C/decade). Proximate cause of
accelerated warming is an increase of Earth’s Energy</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Imbalance (EEI), but what caused that?
Indirect evidence points to a decline in the cooling effect of</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">human-made aerosols. Failure to measure
aerosol climate forcing is partly compensated by precise</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">monitoring of EEI details. However, there are
no adequate plans to continue even this vital EEI</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">monitoring – which will become even more
important as humanity realizes its predicament and the</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">fact that we must cool the planet to avoid
disastrous consequences and restore a bright future for</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">young people – let alone plans for adequate
aerosol monitoring.</font></blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2023/FlyingBlind.14September2023.pdf">https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2023/FlyingBlind.14September2023.pdf</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ Disinformation understanding -- Facebook ]</i><br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><b>Facebook is WORSE than You Think:
Whistleblower Reveals All | Frances Haugen x Rich Roll<br>
</b></font><font face="Calibri">Rich Roll <br>
</font><font face="Calibri">Sep 7, 2023 The Rich Roll Podcast<br>
Rich sits down with 2021 Facebook Files whistleblower Frances
Haugen to talk about transparency and accountability in Big Tech,
why algorithms prioritize extreme content, <br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYhSUdphPvQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYhSUdphPvQ</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ Opinion - snark to the nuclear industry ]</i><br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><b>Nuclear power has long stifled
renewables. Now it needs to go extinct</b><br>
By Linda Pentz Gunter<br>
We needn’t have had Fukushima at all, now 12 years old and still
emitting radiation, still not “cleaned up”, still responsible for
forbidden zones where no one can live, play, work, grow crops. We
needn’t have had Chornobyl either, or Three Mile Island, or Church
Rock. We needn’t have almost lost Detroit.<br>
<br>
We could have avoided climate change as well. Not just by
responding promptly to the early recognition of the damage fossil
fuels were doing. But also by heeding one sensible plan that, if
it had been acted upon, would have removed the nuclear power
elephant from the energy solutions room and possibly also saved us
from plunging into the climate catastrophe abyss in which we now
find ourselves.<br>
<br>
Right from the beginning, nuclear power made a significant
contribution to the climate crisis we now face. <br>
<br>
And unfortunately, as is often the case, the United States played
the starring role.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Nuclear power was never the answer to climate
change and it’s only pretending to be now as a desperate,
last-ditch survival tactic. Renewables were always the answer and
we’ve known this for decades. <br>
<br>
Since the 1950s, nuclear power has been on the table for one
reason only and it has nothing to do with reducing carbon
footprints or sound science or strong economics.<br>
<br>
What the nuclear power choice has always been about is the
misguided caché given to nuclear weapons, to which nuclear power
is inextricably linked. That caché prevented an early, rapid and
widespread implementation of renewable energy. And that, in turn,
has resulted in the climate crisis we have now.<br>
<br>
There is growing recognition and acceptance of the role fossil
fuels have played in our downfall and the imperative to eliminate
their use. But there is little to no recognition of the impediment
nuclear power has always been —and continues to be —when it comes
to prioritizing renewable energy, along with energy efficiency and
conservation.<br>
<br>
Studies today clearly show that the choice of nuclear power over
renewable energy impedes progress on carbon reductions, and of
course costs far more. But nuclear power was always in the way.
Arguably, nuclear power is far more a contributor to climate
change than it could ever be a solution to it. How can that be so?
Surely, using nuclear power all these years has spared us carbon
emissions? <br>
<br>
That would be true if the competition had been between nuclear and
coal or nuclear and gas. But when nuclear power got started in the
US, it was part of a very different agenda and what it supplanted
was solar energy.<br>
<br>
On July 2, 1952, President Harry Truman sent a report to Congress
that had been completed a month earlier. It was called the
President’s Materials Policy Commission “Resources for Freedom”.
The Commission was chaired by William S. Paley, so it is commonly
referred to as the Paley Commission.<br>
<br>
Chapter 15 was entitled “The Possibilities of Solar Energy”. It
went through many technical and economic scenarios, showing great
potential and also flagging some stumbling blocks, most of which
have since been solved. Here is what it concluded. In 1952.<br>
<br>
“If we are to avoid the risk of seriously increased real unit
costs of energy in the United States, then new low-cost sources
should be made ready to pick up some of the load by 1975.” <br>
<br>
Even at that early date, the Paley Commission’s authors recognized
the abundance offered by solar energy, observing that, “the United
States supply of solar energy is about 1,500 times the present
requirement.”<br>
<br>
But here is what they were not looking to for when it came to a
“new low-cost source” of energy. <br>
<br>
The Commission concluded that: “Nuclear fuels, for various
technical reasons, are unlikely ever to bear more than about
one-fifth of the load. We must look to solar energy.”<br>
<br>
“We must look to solar energy.” Those words must surely give one
pause.<br>
<br>
And then the big what-might-have-been:<br>
<br>
“Efforts made to date to harness solar energy economically are
infinitesimal. It is time for aggressive research in the whole
field of solar energy — an effort in which the United States could
make an immense contribution to the welfare of the free world.”
[my emphases]<br>
<br>
Instead, Truman’s presidency ended in January 1953, and the next
president, Dwight Eisenhower, effectively tossed the Paley
Commission report in the bin. It was replaced with the now
infamous Atoms for Peace. Which of course was a lie. Because it
was never about atoms for peace. It was really about atoms for
war.<br>
<br>
The arguments for using nuclear power to address climate change
are specious as we know. It’s too slow, too expensive, unsuited to
distributed generation and the coming smart grids, as well as
completely impractical for rural Third World environments. It can
do nothing to reduce emissions from the transportation sector or
agriculture, not to mention its show-stopping liabilities —
safety, security and radioactive waste.<br>
<br>
What nuclear power can boast is that is has slowed progress on
achieving a low-carbon economy; wasted precious time on fruitless
promises of a “renaissance”; stolen funds from renewable energy;
and captured sectors of the energy market at our expense and for
no other reason than to claim continued legitimacy.<br>
<br>
I love elephants. We must do everything we can to save them. But
the nuclear power elephant in the room really does need to go
extinct in a hurry. Otherwise, that is the fate that will instead
befall all of us.<br>
</font><font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2023/10/01/the-solar-world-we-might-have-had/">https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2023/10/01/the-solar-world-we-might-have-had/</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
</font></p>
<font face="Calibri"><i>[ BBC reports ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><b>Portuguese man o' war: Sightings more likely
amid warmer seas<br>
</b></font><font face="Calibri">By Thamayanthi McAllister<br>
BBC News</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">10/7/23</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Climate change is likely to result in larger
tropical sea creatures washing up on UK beaches more often, a
marine expert has said.<br>
<br>
A Portuguese man o' war, normally seen in tropical waters, was
found on Porth Dafarch beach, Anglesey, this week.<br>
<br>
John Whitaker, who stumbled across the creature on a dog walk,
said it was the first he had ever seen.<br>
<br>
Anglesey Sea Zoo has said they have washed up in the past but this
one was bigger than usual.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">Often mistaken as a jellyfish, another of these
siphonophores washed up on a Jersey beach in September.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">"I had to make sure the dog didn't get his nose
too close," said Mr Whitaker.<br>
<br>
"It's the first time I'd seen one up here, usually the water is
too cold."<br>
<br>
The change in water temperature is a factor, as Anglesey Sea Zoo's
Frankie Hobro explained on BBC Radio Wales' Phone In Show on
Thursday.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">"We do occasionally see Portuguese man o' war
washed up, this one looks like it's a little bit bigger than the
ones we've had in the past," she said.<br>
<br>
"Sea temperatures just now are starting to drop a little bit.<br>
<br>
"They were at their highest a month ago and with the changing
weather patterns increasing overall sea temperatures all around
the UK we are likely to see more of these species that are
considered to be tropical - not just more often but larger as
well."<br>
<br>
Portuguese man o' wars live on the surface of the water and they
are a type of animal that is made up of a colony of organisms
working together.</font><br>
<font face="Calibri">"They are quite obvious even from a distance,"
added Ms Hobro.<br>
<br>
"They have this very large float on the surface and the tentacles
can actually go down to one, two or even three metres (3 to 10ft)
in length underneath them in the water."<br>
<br>
She added although they were not deadly to humans, they were best
avoided.<br>
<br>
"While I was working in the tropics, several years before I came
here and bought the business it was this classic scenario where it
was being washed around in the surf.<br>
<br>
"I was standing in the surf and it wrapped itself around my ankle.<br>
<br>
"It was very painful, it takes several weeks to recover from the
marks of the sting that it leaves, it's not pleasant."</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-67028439">https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-67028439</a><br>
</font>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<font face="Calibri"> <i>[ "Within our lifetime" warning - People
Magazine has erased this 1979 text from their server. Thanks
goes to the web.archive for rescuing it-- "Gordon J.F.
MacDonald was a prominent early scientific advocate of action to
address the threat of global warming from fossil-fuel
combustion. By the 1960s, MacDonald was publicly concerned about
the potential risks of industrial climate change, both
aerosol-induced global cooling and carbon-dioxide driven global
warming." Wikipedia " He served on the original Presidential
Council on Environmental Quality (1970–1972). President Nixon
remarked at the time, "I have three members of the Harvard class
of 1950 on my staff, all summa cum laude." The reference was to
Henry Kissinger, James Schlesinger, and MacDonald... MacDonald
chaired the CIA's MEDEA Committee (1993–1996), a group of
environmental scientists convened by the CIA to study whether
data from classified intelligence systems could shed light on
global environmental issues" ]</i></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> <font size="+2"><i><b>October 8, 1979</b></i></font>
</font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> <b>October 8, 1979: People Magazine reports
on growing concerns about a human-caused climate crisis.</b></font><br>
<blockquote>October 08, 1979 Vol. 12 No. 15CO2 <br>
<b>Could Change Our Climate and Flood the Earth—Up to Here</b><br>
By Michael J. Weiss<br>
If Gordon MacDonald is wrong, they'll laugh, otherwise, they'll
gurgle<br>
<br>
The scenario reads like an Irwin Allen disaster movie. Early in
the 21st century, carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere
thickens ominously. The CO2 admits sunlight but prevents escape of
heat from the planet's surface, creating a situation known as the
"greenhouse effect." Average temperatures increase, from 3 to
20°F, melting ice at the poles. Oceans rise everywhere by perhaps
20 feet, inundating coastal cities. Some 25 percent of the world's
population must flee to higher ground. Food shortages follow. All
is chaos.<br>
<br>
Purveyor of this doomsday theory—the man Charlton Heston would
play in the movie—is Gordon MacDonald, 50, a geology and
environmental sciences professor at Dartmouth. Researchers have
long worried about the effects of carbon dioxide produced by
burning oil, gas and coal. MacDonald says the Carter
administration's proposal to develop synthetic fuels by converting
coal into oil and gas involves a process that will dramatically
increase the CO2 level. With synfuels, atmospheric carbon dioxide
could double by 2020, MacDonald predicts. As a result, new
temperature patterns could begin to change the weather all over
the globe by 1990.<br>
<br>
"The Adirondacks and New England might not get snow," he predicts.
"In Washington, summer highs will jump from the 90s to the 100s.
Some leafy plants like corn and sugar beets will benefit from
increased photosynthesis, but you'll see a 30- to 40-percent drop
in wheat production. That's because the latitudes suitable for
wheat will move north, where the land lacks nutrients to support
intensive agriculture."<br>
<br>
MacDonald has taken his concern to Congress as well as to the
scientific community, and he has credentials in both. At 32, he
was one of the youngest members ever elected to the National
Academy of Sciences in 1962. His résumé lists 134 published
articles, plus 10 major lecture series. He has also been an
adviser to Presidents Eisenhower (on space exploration), Kennedy
(weather), Johnson (ocean pollution), Nixon (coal), Ford
(technology exchange) and Carter (national security). "Nixon,"
MacDonald remembers, "would say he had three summa cum laudes from
the Harvard class of 1950: Jim Schlesinger, Henry Kissinger and
me." (At the National Academy of Sciences in 1963 MacDonald first
ran across statistics relating climate to CO2; since the late
1950s carbon dioxide is up to 10 percent in the atmosphere, but
because the ocean is still absorbing it, no real temperature
changes have occurred.)<br>
<br>
The greenhouse theory continues to be the subject of heated
debate. Some scientists contend the oceans will never become so
saturated with CO2 that the climate is affected. Dan Dreyfus,
staff director of the Senate Energy Committee, dismisses
MacDonald's fears by more or less dismissing him. "He's a
generalist," Dreyfus says. "Carbon dioxide is not the only thing
he's interested in, and it's a very complicated geophysical
problem. I don't think anyone can definitely say what effect
increased CO2 will have on the climate." Yet in July, when
MacDonald and other scientists reported on CO2 to the President's
Council on Environmental Quality, the council called it "an
extremely important, perhaps historic, statement."<br>
<br>
As an alternative to synthetic fuels, MacDonald suggests a mix of
solar energy, fusion, natural gas and biomass (mostly
alcohol-based fuels made from converting trees, sugarcane and
other plants). He prefers natural gas, which produces little
carbon dioxide. He's lobbying for it while on leave from Dartmouth
to work as chief scientist at the MITRE Corporation, a
goverment-funded Washington think tank.<br>
<br>
MacDonald grew up in Mexico City, the son of a British mining
executive and an American embassy clerk. He became a U.S. citizen
in 1955 and taught at UCLA and California (Santa Barbara) before
moving to Dartmouth in 1972. His first marriage ended in divorce.
He has three children by his second wife, who died of cancer; he
has a son with his third wife.<br>
<br>
With CO2, MacDonald is of course presenting the worst case
scenario with great flair. "He isn't the usual ass-covering
bureaucrat," an Energy Committee staffer marveled after MacDonald
testified against the Carter synfuel proposal. "He provided quite
a show." MacDonald realizes that if he is wrong, his warnings will
sound ridiculous. If not, world catastrophe will result—"not 200
years from now but within our lifetime."<br>
<blockquote><i><font face="Calibri"><strike><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074765,00.html">http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074765,00.html</a></strike></font><br>
<font face="Calibri"> The content that you're looking for is
unavailable.</font></i><br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://people.com/people/archive/article/0%2C%2C20074765%2C00.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://people.com/people/archive/article/0%2C%2C20074765%2C00.html</a></font>
<p><font face="Calibri"> </font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"> </font></p>
<p><font face="Calibri"><br>
=== Other climate news sources
===========================================<br>
</font> <font face="Calibri"><b>*Inside Climate News</b><br>
Newsletters<br>
We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every
day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s
top headlines deliver the full story, for free.<br>
</font> <font face="Calibri"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://insideclimatenews.org/">https://insideclimatenews.org/</a><br>
--------------------------------------- <br>
*<b>Climate Nexus</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatenexus.org/hot-news/*">https://climatenexus.org/hot-news/*</a>
<br>
Delivered straight to your inbox every morning, Hot News
summarizes the most important climate and energy news of the
day, delivering an unmatched aggregation of timely, relevant
reporting. It also provides original reporting and commentary on
climate denial and pro-polluter activity that would otherwise
remain largely unexposed. 5 weekday <br>
================================= <br>
</font> <font face="Calibri"><b class="moz-txt-star"><span
class="moz-txt-tag">*</span>Carbon Brief Daily </b><span
class="moz-txt-star"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/newsletter-sign-up">https://www.carbonbrief.org/newsletter-sign-up</a></span><b
class="moz-txt-star"><span class="moz-txt-tag">*</span></b> <br>
Every weekday morning, in time for your morning coffee, Carbon
Brief sends out a free email known as the “Daily Briefing” to
thousands of subscribers around the world. The email is a digest
of the past 24 hours of media coverage related to climate change
and energy, as well as our pick of the key studies published in
the peer-reviewed journals. <br>
more at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.getrevue.co/publisher/carbon-brief">https://www.getrevue.co/publisher/carbon-brief</a>
<br>
================================== <br>
*T<b>he Daily Climate </b>Subscribe <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://ehsciences.activehosted.com/f/61*">https://ehsciences.activehosted.com/f/61*</a>
<br>
Get The Daily Climate in your inbox - FREE! Top news on climate
impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered week days.
Better than coffee. <br>
Other newsletters at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.dailyclimate.org/originals/">https://www.dailyclimate.org/originals/</a>
<br>
<br>
</font> </p>
<font face="Calibri">
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
<br>
/Archive of Daily Global Warming News <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/">https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:subscribe@theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request"><mailto:subscribe@theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request></a>
to news digest./<br>
<br>
Privacy and Security:*This mailing is text-only -- and carries no
images or attachments which may originate from remote servers.
Text-only messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and
sender. This is a personal hobby production curated by Richard
Pauli<br>
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain cannot be used for
commercial purposes. Messages have no tracking software.<br>
To subscribe, email: <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:contact@theclimate.vote">contact@theclimate.vote</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:contact@theclimate.vote"><mailto:contact@theclimate.vote></a>
with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe, subject: unsubscribe<br>
Also you may subscribe/unsubscribe at <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote">https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote</a><br>
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://TheClimate.Vote">http://TheClimate.Vote</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://TheClimate.Vote/"><http://TheClimate.Vote/></a>
delivering succinct information for citizens and responsible
governments of all levels. List membership is confidential and
records are scrupulously restricted to this mailing list. </font><font
face="Calibri"><br>
</font>
</body>
</html>