[HCCN] World Climate Strike Day: September 20, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Fri Sep 20 08:32:53 EDT 2019

In recognition of World Climate Strike, we forward today’s digest/links to a variety of related news/analyses. — JR

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Richard Pauli <richard at theclimate.vote>
> Subject: [TheClimate.Vote] September 20, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
> 
> 
> /September 20, 2019/
> 
> [Friday strike day]
> *Climate strikes see students worldwide demand action*
> "I'm here because leaders aren't doing enough"
> https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/global-climate-strike-2019/index.html
> - - -
> [NPR radio 3:53]
> *Global Youth Climate Strike Expected To Draw Large Crowds*
> Organizers predict this climate strike will be the largest yet. More than 2000 scientists around the world have pledged to join. Some companies also have signed on, including Patagonia and Seventh Generation.
> https://www.npr.org/2019/09/20/761916356/global-youth-climate-strike-expected-to-draw-large-crowds
> - - -
> [Belfast Times]
> *Climate strikes expected to be largest environmental protest in history*
> Millions of people all over the world are preparing to get involved.
> - - -
> The protests are part of a snowballing movement sparked by teenage activist Greta Thunberg's school strikes outside the Swedish parliament.
> 
> It comes ahead of a climate action summit in New York convened by UN secretary general Antonio Guterres to urge countries to up their climate efforts.
> 
> Much steeper measures are needed across the globe to prevent temperature rises of more than 1.5C (2.7F) or 2C (3.6F) to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
> https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/climate-strikes-expected-to-be-largest-environmental-protest-in-history-38515984.html
> 
> 
> [Graphic cartoon instructions - click below to view in your browser]
> *Global climate strikes: Don't say you're sorry. We need people who can take action to TAKE ACTUAL ACTION*
> First Dog on the Moon
> Brenda the civil disobedience penguin gives some handy dos and don'ts for your civil disobedience
> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/20/the-global-climate-strike-dont-say-youre-sorry-we-need-people-who-can-take-action-to-take-actual-action 
> 
> 
> [Financial Times video - Nicola Walker lends sensitivity and philosophical depth ]
> *Climate Change: what do you want me to say? | FT*
> Published on Sep 18, 2019
> Financial Times
> 'The future has come to meet us'. Ahead of climate strikes started by Greta Thunberg, the FT and the Royal Court collaborate on a short drama exploring inaction on climate change. Actress Nicola Walker, transmitting news from 2050, asks why we 'never really learnt how to talk about this'.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43XK0wzMd4
> 
> 
> 
> [ferocious storm strikes Houston]
> *''Catastrophic Flooding'' Threatens Heart Of Texas Oil Industry*
> https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Catastrophic-Flooding-Threatens-Heart-Of-Texas-Oil-Industry.html
> - -
> [YouTube video]
> *Storm Imelda lashes Texas with 'life-threatening' amounts of rainfall*
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2F7R7yWo0E
> 
> 
> [apres moi, le deluge]
> *Climate Change Is Devastating the Lush Gardens of Versailles*
> Traditional elms, chestnuts and birches are being replaced by trees that can survive climate change.
> "Visually, the palace visitors won't see any major changes, but silently everything is changing."
> --Alain Baraton, chief gardener at the Versailles Palace. Climate change is devastating its legendary gardens.
> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/versailles-palace-leads-battle-to-save-europe-s-dying-forests
> 
> 
> [Surprise! Amazon joins in with promises]
> *Ambitious goals. Immediate action.*
> Amazon is co-founding The Climate Pledge, a goal to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early. Amazon is also pledging to be net zero carbon by 2040, and use 100% renewable energy by 2030, and more.
> Committed to a sustainable future
> Amazon is making big changes to protect the planet.
> On September 19, 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism announced The Climate Pledge, a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early. Amazon is the first signatory of this pledge. The Climate Pledge calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040--a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement's goal of 2050.
> *100% Net zero carbon by 2040*
> Deploying our technology and people to reach net zero carbon across Amazon by 2040, one decade ahead of the Paris Agreement.
> *80% Renewable energy by 2024*
> Investing in wind and solar to reach 80% renewable energy across all business operations by 2024. We expect to reach ~40% renewable energy by the end of 2019.
> *100% Renewable energy by 2030*
> Investing in wind and solar to reach 100% renewable energy across all business operations by 2030.
> *50% Shipments net zero carbon by 2030*
> Our vision to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments net zero carbon by 2030.
> https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/
> - - -
> [Amazon employees will keep pressuring for real zero emissions and not net zero]
> *Criticism of Amazon*
> From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> Amazon.com has attracted criticism from multiple sources, where the ethics of certain business practices and policies have been drawn into question. Amazon has also faced numerous allegations of anti-competitive or monopolistic behavior.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon
> 
> 
> 
> [TV Bee's sarcastic indictment - Samatha Bee stings hard]
> *Meet the Rich: The Koch Brothers | Full Frontal on TBS*
> Published on Sep 18, 2019
> Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
> The Koch brothers may not have started climate change-induced fire that's about to engulf the Earth--but they definitely poured gasoline on the flames!
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Rdo3jmjTk
> 
> 
> 
> [Trees are not so simple]
> *Climate change: the trouble with trees | The Economist*
> Published on Sep 18, 2019 [text=video]
> The Economist
> *Tree-planting has been hailed as a solution to climate change. But how much can trees really do to tackle global warming? *
> See our research here: https://econ.st/32HXvXY
> 
> Summer 2019 - More than 38,000 fires raged across the Amazon. Fires that were man-made. Over the past 50 years almost 17% of the world's largest rainforest has been cleared. And globally deforestation has almost doubled in just five years.
> 
> Since the start of human civilisation it's estimated that the number of trees around the world has fallen by almost half. Clearing forests increases carbon-dioxide levels but planting them could store away some of the carbon already in the atmosphere.
> 
> This woman runs safaris in England. Guests are not only here to see wild animals - they're here to see wild trees.
> 
> Almost 20 years ago Isabella Tree--yes that is her real name-handed 1,400 hectares of Sussex farmland back to nature, by doing, well nothing. She thinks this is the best way to use the land to help tackle climate change.
> 
> To stabilise the climate global carbon emissions need to drop to net zero by 2050. Simon Lewis is a professor of global change science.
> 
> And there's never been more global ambition to plant trees. In 2014, 51 countries pledged to plant over 3.5m square kilometres of forest by 2030 - an area slightly larger than India. The 2030 target looks likely to be met. But there's a catch…
> 
> Monoculture tree plantations like eucalyptus grow quickly but the trees are harvested every ten or so years releasing much of the carbon stored in the tree back into the atmosphere - which means that, according to some studies they'll store only around one-fortieth of the carbon natural forests do over the long term.
> 
> In fact, those pledges to plant millions of trees actually promise to store 26bn tonnes less carbon than they could. Sometimes the motives for planting forests are less green than they might appear. By 2020 Ireland ought to have cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% below 2005 levels. But at current rates it will have reduced them by only 5%. Planting forests might help Ireland avoid massive penalties for missing EU targets because the potential carbon these forests could store in the future can be counted as a carbon credit today. In the 1920s Ireland had the lowest forest cover in Europe at around 1%. That's now risen to 11% and the government has set a target to cover 18% of the land with forest by 2046.
> 
> And now local community groups are protesting against these monoculture tree plantations. They say they're doing more harm than good.
> 
> Tree-planting programmes invariably have an impact on the people living nearby. In east Africa one project is demonstrating what can be achieved
> when there's genuine buy-in from the local communities. Green Ethiopia is a mixed-tree planting charity.
> 
> The land is communally owned and co-operatives of local women receive benefits for planting trees which are protected from being harvested. Here conserving is just as important as planting. Green Ethiopia assesses whether the condition of the land is good enough to regenerate by itself. When it is--on about a third of the area the charity runs they leave it alone. Just like Isabella Tree, back in England.
> 
> Monoculture plantations are often preferred because they make money. So some experts are looking to a future where carbon payments could create financial incentives for natural forests. Ultimately though, the trouble with trees tackling climate change is space
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXkbdELr4EQ
> 
> 
> [indigenous village used to be icebound year round]
> *The Impact of Climate Change on Kivalina, Alaska*
> ALAN TAYLOR - SEP 18, 2019 - *28 PHOTOS *IN FOCUS
> Along Alaska's west coast, about 80 miles above the Arctic circle, sits the village of Kivalina, situated on a narrow strip of land between a lagoon and the Chukchi Sea--one of several native coastal villages dealing with problems due to the warming of the Arctic. Joe Raedle, a photographer for Getty, recently flew to Kivalina to spend some time with the villagers and photograph their lives and surroundings. The warming climate has led to troubles such as the accelerated erosion of the land the village sits on, which used to be mitigated by sea ice (which is vanishing), and permafrost (which is melting). Fish and wildlife that villagers rely on for food have been forced to change their migration patterns--and poor hunting means more food must be bought from a store, further increasing the cost of living. Raedle: "The residents of Kivalina are hoping to stay on their ancestral lands, where they can preserve their culture, rather than dispersing due to their island being swallowed by the rising waters of the ocean."
> https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/09/photos-impacts-climate-change-kivalina-alaska/598282/
> - - -
> [a once promising lawsuit by Kivalina]
> *Listed Claims against the Carbon Fuel Industry accepted in Federal District Court 2007*
> Kivalina vs. Exxon,et al 2007
> The following claims are directly from the 2007 filing of Kivalina v. Exxon, et al . The facts were never in dispute, but the case was rejected for standing. (numbering 189-282, the first few are:
> 
> 189. There has been a long campaign by power, coal, and oil companies to mislead the public about the science of global warming. Defendants ExxonMobil, AEP, BP America Inc., Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips Company, Duke Energy, Peabody, and Southern ("Conspiracy Defendants") participated in this campaign. Initially, the campaign attempted to show that global warming was not occurring. Later, and continuing to the present , it attempts to demonstrate that global warming is good for the planet and its inhabitants or that even if Geopoliticus child watching the birth of the new manthere may be ill effects, there is not enough scientific certainty to warrant action. The purpose of this campaign has been to enable the electric power, coal, oil and other industries to continue their conduct contributing to the public nuisance of global warming by convincing the public at-large and the victims of global warming that the process is not man-made when in fact it is.
> 
> 190. The campaign has been conducted directly by the Conspiracy Defendants, and through trade associations such as the Edison Electric Institute ("EEI") (which represents the electric power industry), the National Mining Association (which represents the coal industry), and the Western Fuels Association (which represents coal-burning utilities that own Wyoming coal fields). The industries have also formed and used front groups, fake citizens organizations, and bogus scientific bodies, such as the Global Climate Coalition ("GCC"), the Greening Earth Society, the George C. Marshall Institute, and the Cooler Heads Coalition. The most active company in such efforts is and has been defendant ExxonMobil.No danger ahead, OK to pass me!
> 
> 191. The tactics employed in this campaign include the funding and use of "global warming skeptics," i.e. professional scientific "experts" (many of whom are not atmospheric scientists) who regularly publish their marginal views expressing doubts about numerous aspects of climate change science in places like the Wall Street Journal editorial page but rarely, if ever, in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The skeptics are frequently quoted in newspapers such as the Washington Times and are offered up to numerous mainstream unsuspecting, news outlets as scientific experts in order to sow doubt among the public about global warming...
> more at - http://novote4energy.org/
> - - -
> [the community lawsuit]
> Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., No. 4:08-cv-01138 (N.D. Cal.), is a lawsuit filed on February 26, 2008, in a United States district court. The suit, based on the common law theory of nuisance, claims monetary damages from the energy industry for the destruction of Kivalina, Alaska by flooding caused by climate change. The damage estimates made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Government Accountability Office are placed between $95 million and $400 million. This lawsuit is an example of greenhouse gas emission liability.[1]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivalina_v._ExxonMobil_Corp.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Musical anthem collection for this day, for the future, all found on YouTube]
> *Collected Music for Global Warming Anthropocene and changing climate - playlist**
> *122 videos Last updated on Jul 7, 2019
> Search for an Anthem for Global Warming - offering this collection of musical anthems and political and cultural song about our changing future.  This is the Anthropocene - the era where humans have left their mark on the world.   We have a huge mess now, and worse problems for our future.   We have dire science, and now we are on a path of tremendous self-discovery, why are we so willing to tolerate such self harm?   We now bring relentless attention to adapting to our mess and figuring out how to mitigate harm.
> 
> Every struggle has its own music - a body of heroic songs, stirring marches,  and anthems.  Even a dirge or two.
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5dY2n3AbGHCgJ9OiDxG5hjY9QYAkQ55
> - -
> [More music video]
> *Global warming and Climate destabilization Music AGW*
> 163 videos
> Music playlist for topic of global warming and climate change - a global trauma triggers a musical response.  Gathered music, general, in no particular order
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL77C46FF49252AEFD
> - - -
> [Still more]
> *Music Anthems Classics on the Cosmic Quest
> *42 videos Updated today
> Sacred songs of patriotism or devotion.   In modern music there is a general definition that become cultural.   Once you hear some of these, you will get the sense of what this kind of inspirational music means.
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU5dY2n3AbGEL9rs__qaJM06KbVHwMki4
> 
> *This Day in Climate History - September 20, 2013 - from D.R. Tucker*
> September 20, 2013: The Obama administration proposes new EPA regulations intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants in the US.
> http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/13/epa-to-announce-carbonlimitsonnewpowerplants.html
> 
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