AUGUST 16, 2020
Note these book reviews.
McKibbon warns of catastrophe. He says about "Our Final Warning": With the climate crisis, returning to “normal” is not a feasible goal—no one is going to produce a vaccine.
Bill McKibben, August 20, 2020 Issue
“Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency”, By Mark Lynas
Stiglitz says to "False Alarm": This book proves the aphorism that a little knowledge is dangerous. It’s nominally about air pollution. It’s really about mind pollution. Lomborg doesn’t use the term “fake news,” but it’s there if you read between the lines.
Are We Overreacting on Climate Change?
By Joseph Stiglitz
“FALSE ALARM”, By Bjorn Lomborg
How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet
climate article links
extreme weather
Hurricane, Fire, Covid-19: Disasters Expose the Hard Reality of Climate Change
Twin emergencies on two coasts this week — Hurricane Isaias and the Apple Fire — offer a preview of life in a warming world and the steady danger of overlapping disasters.
A Quarter of Bangladesh Is Flooded. Millions Have Lost Everything.
The country’s latest calamity illustrates a striking inequity of our time: The people least responsible for climate change are among those most hurt by its consequences.
Massive Floods in India Spark Denial on Twitter
August 8, 2020
Never forget: more intense rainfalls is one of the oldest and most robust predictions of climate science.
Heading for New Record? Arctic Ice Record Low for July
National Snow and Ice Data Center:
wildfires
Climate, Environment and Wildfire Coalition
Belle Cole
Wildfires, record warmth and rapidly melting ice: Arctic climate goes further off the rails this summer
Records shattered in Siberia, Svalbard, Nunavut and other areas as study points to historic shifts.
elections, legislation, regulations
With the Biden-Harris Ticket, Environmental Justice Is a Focus
Climate change leaders said the choice of Harris signaled that Democrats will try to ensure that communities burdened by pollution would benefit from a transition to clean energy.
Letter from economists: to rebuild our world, we must end the carbon economy
Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Mariana Mazzucato, Clair Brown, Indivar Dutta-Gupta, Robert Reich, Gabriel Zucman and others
The carbon economy amplifies racial, social and economic inequities, creating a system that is fundamentally incompatible with a stable future
Fight on the Green New Deal. So Do We.
By Varshini Prakash and John Podesta
It’s not just the right thing to do. Climate action is a winning issue for Democrats—and a point of vulnerability for Trump.
Big Tech Has a Big Climate Problem. Now, It’s Being Forced to Clean Up.
Apple said on Tuesday its devices would be carbon-neutral by 2030, making it the latest tech giant to ramp up voluntary climate targets.
Corporate America’s Investments In Clean Energy Fell 30% So Far This Year
New data shows the risk of leaving an overdue energy transition to companies.
By Alexander C. Kaufman
… As a result, the gap between corporate pledges to use 100% clean electricity and inked deals to fulfill them has widened. Since the start of this year, 21 new companies joined the RE100, a voluntary club of 242 firms vowing to use 100% renewable power that includes such behemoths as Apple, the insurance giant Anthem and Bank of America. The group’s total demand for clean electricity is projected to reach 247 terawatt hours by 2030, but the lack of deployments and contracts has left a 224 terawatt-hour shortfall, Bloomberg NEF’s analysis found.
In Electric Car Market, It’s Tesla and a Jumbled Field of Also-Rans
Most traditional carmakers are struggling to produce and market electric vehicles even as Tesla sells hundreds of thousands of its luxury models.
E.P.A. to Lift Obama-Era Controls on Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas
The reversal is the latest move in the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to weaken environmental rules, but it could be quickly undone after the November election.
climate science
How Much Will the Planet Warm if Carbon Dioxide Levels Double?
Hurricane will Ride East Coast Marine Heat Wave
August 1, 2020
The Boylans would soon learn Terrence had hooked a houndfish, a warm-water species that may never have been caught before along the Massachusetts shore.
By itself, the catch would be just a fluke. But it is one of a slew of unusual fish reports from the shores of New England in recent years. Scientists studying the warming waters in the region say it is part of a pattern and an ominous signal of climate change.
impacts
E.P.A. Inspector General to Investigate Trump’s Biggest Climate Rollback
By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman (New York Times) The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog said Monday it had opened an investigation into the agency’s weakening of Obama-era regulations that would have limited automobile emissions by significantly raising fuel economy standards.
Panasonic: Driving Toward the No-Cobalt Battery
By greenman3610
TechCrunch: Panasonic has developed new battery technology for the “2170” lithium-ion cells it produces and supplies to Tesla, a change that improves energy density by 5% and reduces costly cobalt content.
Capping Wells to Employ Oil Workers
August 5, 2020
Workers laid down Wyoming’s last operating gas rig this week in Sweetwater County, dropping the state’s total rig count to zero, a jolting reminder of the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state’s rig count temporarily reached zero on June 26, according to Baker Hughes, but inched back up to one rig the week after.
events
Tuesday, August 25, 6:00 pm
Community Organizing for Fire Preparedness & Incorporation of Ecologically Sound Practices
Speakers: Firewise Liaison John Hansen; Belle Cole, Ecologically Sound Practices Steering Committee
Saturday, August 29: Call to action! Organize or join a local FFF ShoeStrike. Information and registration.
Put people and the environment first. Prioritize incentive measures that quickly create more jobs in sustainable future sectors. Introduce safety nets and measures to help people retrain and quickly get into work in clean industries that do not emit CO2.
Leave the fossil economy. Ensure that all the financial incentives now being rolled out contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Global Sustainability Goals. Remove fossil subsidies and tax relief for fossil energy. Discontinue all public funding of - or investment in - fossil activities. Set a higher price for carbon dioxide. The link is here.
Monday, September 21, 4:00-6:00 pm, on Zoom, "How the Earth Won This Election," Lead on Climate. Details to follow.
Citizens's Climate Lobby, Citizens' Education