This is the 622nd edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the Dec. 7 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
boatsie writes—Negotiators Blame US for Stalled Talks at COP25: “As COP25 negotiations stall in Madrid, the United States is being called out for its role in thwarting negotiations to finalize the Paris Rulebook. ‘The overall assessment is, this is not a good situation,’ Seyni Nafo, the former chair of the African Group of Negotiators on climate change, told reporters on Friday. ‘Not having a decision on some of those issues might be better than having a bad decision.’ One big hurdle is the set of rules around creating an international carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris agreement. Most countries agreed on the guidelines, and negotiators have been reluctant to name the holdouts. But on Friday, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Costa Rica’s minister for energy and environment, called out the United States, Brazil, and Australia as the parties thwarting closure on the issue. Vox. Climate activists are lashing out at the powerful polluting nations for their attempts to stymie the meager progress on the Paris Agreement. Negotiations, after all, remain committed to a 2degree C increase in global temperature, while experts are now leery that even a 1.5 degree C commitment is aggressive enough to adequately stave off the worst case scenarios. ‘Just as we thought the slow pace and weak ambition shown at the climate talks couldn't get worse, along comes COP 25,’ said Sara Shaw, Climate Justice and Energy Program coordinator for Friends of the Earth International (FOEI). She also criticized ‘the advance of dodgy carbon trading that will only exacerbate the climate crisis and harm Southern communities." [See boatsie’s other posts covering COP25 below.]
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Future story of the present past (about bats): “My mama told me this story, as her mama told her, and all the mamas for ten generations or more. It’s from the time big roads and buildings covered the land, when everyone lived in separate boxes and travelled through the sky. Mama said this story should have been important but not enough people noticed or cared. Back then, even though all the stuff we built covered earth, so many plants and animals lived on the land that special people studied them just because they wanted to learn about their lives. The animals weren’t as important as humans, but these people studied them anyway … like bats. Seems to me bats would be important because mama said they ate mosquitoes, but most people didn’t pay attention. Large groups of bats lived together in caves and flew out at night to catch insects. I wish we still had bats. Bet people then didn’t get as many mosquito bites as I do. Mama says these special people went into the caves every December to count bats. As more roads and buildings spread across the land, they counted fewer bats. Then the bats began to die from a sickness that gave them white noses. All across the land, bats were dying fast, millions in only a few years. Because the sickness came from far away, bats weren’t strong against it. One winter, they decided not to count bats.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—New Study Finds Blog Comments Influence Readers’ Perceptions Of Climate Consensus: “A new study published in November’s issue of the journal Memory & Cognition found that comments on blog posts can influence a reader’s perception of the content. The study by lead author Stephan Lewandowsky had subjects look at blog posts that either endorsed or rejected climate science, and then read comments either in agreement with or in opposition to the initial content. Researchers set out to study the influence of commenters because of the valuable role that perception of consensus plays in shaping how we think. Put simply, what you believe other people think shapes what you think. If most people believe something, human brains are generally hardwired to also believe that. On the flip side, if we see people united in opposition, we’re going to be a little more skeptical. Therefore, changing whether commenters appear to be in consensus about a post could influence how readers perceive that post.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Dan Bacher writes—CA Fish and Game Commission will discuss Delta fishery management plan on December 11: “The California Striped Bass Association (CSBA), the Nor-Cal Guides & Sportsmen’s Association (NCGASA), the NCGASA Delta Anglers Coalition and other groups are mobilizing people to attend the California Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento on Wednesday, December 11, at 9:30 a.m. to make sure that the Delta fishery management policies being proposed continue to protect striped bass, black bass and other gamefish. On August 7, the California Fish and Game Commission at its meeting in Sacramento directed staff to continue working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and stakeholders to revise a draft Delta fisheries management policy, including potential revisions to the existing striped bass policy.”
CaptBLI writes—The Daily Bucket-- A place called Home: “I recently wrote an article about chicks and young birds that I photographed around my home in Oxford, Mississippi. Here is the link: www.dailykos.com/… After some thought, I decided I should explain the different choices and environments the birds (I highlighted in the article and a few different ones) make for their nests. I’ll start with the title photograph of the Red Head. The hole-nest is 18 feet off the ground. It is facing south. The power pole is at the corner of an intersection of two roads (road on the north side of the pole and on the east side of the pole. There is not another tree within thirty feet of the pole. The Red Heads feel safe from predators and have easy access to food and protective cover. These birds are easy to observe.”
CaptBLI writes—The Daily Bucket - A December Dusting: “The rain was light and steady Tuesday morning. Then the temperature dropped, the snow flurries began. Whirling in the light winds, the flakes clung to everything except the warm ground. Some time in the night, the wind stopped blowing and the sky cleared. The picture above was my yard at dawn on Wednesday. The snow rested on my carpet of leaves. The picture below was my neighbor’s yard. Under the pines, the lawn rejected any flakes that filtered through the needles above. There is a single Loblolly Pine across the street that I call the “nesting tree”. It is surrounded by a Red Maple, a Black Cherry, a Sassafras and a Red Oak. Birds trust the pine to provide cover with close by food when they want to raise a family. This is how the morning greeted that Pine.”
Walter Einenkel writes—After Mongolian president meets with Trump, Junior goes and shoots an endangered animal in Mongolia: “In August, Donald Trump Jr. went to Mongolia to hunt. While there, Junior reportedly killed an argalis mountain sheep. The wild sheep are found throughout central Asia and are considered endangered, as their numbers have been significantly decreasing over the past couple of decades. Because they are protected by the Mongolian Laws on Fauna and Hunting, few permits for hunting them are given out, and they cost a lot of money. ProPublica reports that Trump Jr. has the extra dubious distinction of receiving his permit retroactively. ‘It’s unusual for permits to be issued after a hunter’s stay. It was one of only three permits to be issued in that hunting region, local records show.’ The trip, which the Mongolian government and the U.S. government had to provide security for, will have cost tax payers quite a bit of money. ProPublica explains that the process of getting a permit like the one Trump Jr. belatedly received is already dubious and ‘political,’ But the fact that Trump Jr. is … Donald Trump the president’s son makes it a special kind of terrible. They also report that after Junior’s trip into the mountains to kill endangered wild sheep, he met “privately” with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga.”
Lenny Flank writes—Photo Diary: Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida: “In the early 1970s, there were ambitious plans to build a big airport in the middle of the Big Cypress Wetlands—next to the Everglades national park and one of the various Seminole Reservations in Florida. Public reaction was swift, a massive environmentalist effort was launched to oppose it, and in the end, the environmentalists won. An area about the size of Rhode Island was set aside and legally protected. Rather than incorporating it into the existing Everglades National park, the national Park Service incorporated the area as the Big Cypress National Preserve, which would allow more public access than a National Park would. Today the Preserve protects habitat for a wide variety of wildlife including endangered Florida Panthers and Florida Black Bears. And it’s a birder’s paradise. ”
Lenny Flank writes—Photo Diary: The Botanical Garden at Lakes Park: “Lakes Park has a nice little botanical garden that visitors can walk through. It is in the process of being expanded.”
Ojibwa writes—Silver Falls State Park: Nature trail (photo diary): “Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park was opened to the public in 1933 on land that had been set aside in 1931 by the Oregon State Highway Commission. The Silver Falls State Park infrastructure was built between 1935 and 1942 by the men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the skilled workers of the Works Projects Administration (WPA). The park is located in a temperate rainforest that gets about 80 inches of rain each year. There is a nature trail around the campground.”
OceanDiver writes—Dawn Chorus: Skagit Wildlife Area's Hayton Reserve: “I’ve been stopping along the roads of the Skagit River delta in northwest Washington state for years to see winter birds but it’s only after I discovered the Skagit Wildlife Area sites a few years ago that I realized how many birds there are in this area. It’s such a rich birding destination I’m breaking this report into two parts, since I’m hosting the Dawn Chorus both this week and next. I’ll save most of the story about how the Wildlife Areas came to be for next week since I’m a little short on time, with this week’s edition being a photodiary of some winter sights at Hayton Reserve and Fir Island Farms, one of the Wildlife Areas. Every day in winter the weather is different, so these pictures show the site in sun, rain, wind, clouds, and everything in between. I’m generally there in mid afternoon.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - mom's 2019 calendar: Northwest Wildlife: “For the past few years I’ve been creating a wall calendar for my mom as a xmas present using nature photos I’ve taken. She’s one of the few people who still actually uses a wall calendar to write down coming events — possibly because she didn’t grow up with smartphones and iCal 📚 Each year I choose a theme and upload photos to an online photo-print company. I’ve been posting my calendars here at the Daily Bucket for the past few years. Here are the current year’s photos, taken around my home in the PacificNorthwest.”
Pandala writes—The Daily Bucket: Grime Does Not Pay! “Who doesn’t love a detective story? Patricia Wiltshire reveals how she helps to solve crimes in The Nature of Life and Death, Tales of a Forensic Ecologist. Wiltshire defines the scope of forensic ecology as including botany, palynology, mycology, bacteriology, entomology, parasitology, human/animal/plant anatomy, soil and sediment science, statistics, and more. With all that expertise, we’re lucky she’s on our side of the law! We pay little attention to the pollen, fungal spores, and other subtle traces we pick up on and in our clothing, shoes, hair, skin and nasal cavities, not to mention our autos, but a trained observer can use these to learn a lot about where we have been. Pollen profiles are so strongly local that assemblages ten yards apart can be very different. And, pollen is durable. ‘If the activity of bacteria and fungi is suppressed by lack of oxygen, or by acidity, pollen can remain preserved for thousands of years.’ It has been extracted from Otzi the Iceman’s gut, from the dung of woolly mammoths, and from a fossilized, Cretaceous bee. Fun fact: Pollen carries a negative charge. Bees carry a positive charge.”
user4242 writes—How I stay hopeful in a broken world: words from a conservation biologist: “As a conservation biologist, my career is one constantly up against overwhelming odds: to conserve wildlife in the face of global degradation and consequently improve the world's ecosystems. To do so, one needs a very strong mindset that can stand up to the adversity, and work to make the world a better place. In recent years, I've seen a scary loss of hope among people, who see the world breaking without believing that things can be done to enact change. In this video, I want to give my perspective as a conservation biologist how I maintain hope in a world affected by habitat loss, climate change, and other features of the Anthropocene. Hope you find this useful, and can find ways to adopt these ideas into your own lives, to make the world better at whatever scale you can.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Dahr Jamail via TomDispatch writes—Dealing With Climate PTSD: “The thought of the ever-receding glaciers in my former home state pained me and somehow drew me from America’s forever wars to another kind of war -- on the planet itself -- and into nearly a decade of climate reporting. I told the audience all of this, occasionally pausing so as not to cry again thanks to a sadness born in part from the convulsions of wildfires, droughts, rapidly thawing permafrost, native coastal villages melting into the seas, and fast-shrinking glaciers. And don’t forget a Trumpian lapdog of a governor who, just like his darling president, seems unable to cut services fast enough or work hard enough to open yet more of this great state to drilling, logging, and pollution (despite his growing unpopularity). The evening before, November 20th, I'd spoken at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and it was 48 degrees Fahrenheit (and raining, not snowing), a full 20 degrees warmer than the normal high temperature for that month. And that’s a reality that has become ever more the new normal there, even though the top third of the state lies inside the Arctic Circle. That, in turn, reflects another new reality: “Arctic amplification,” which means that the higher latitudes of this planet are warming roughly twice as fast as the mid-latitudes. In other words, Alaska is in the crosshairs of climate disruption.”
Pakalolo writes—Rapid sea-level rise likely as Greenland ice-melt accelerates towards the worst-case scenario: “And what seems clear now is that Greenland is no longer changing in geological time. It is changing in human time. Jon Gertner, Yale Environment 360. In Madrid at the COP 25 (Conference of the Parties consists of two hundred negotiators that signed onto the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), climate negotiators are attempting to limit the sea-level rise to six and a half feet of sea-level rise. Research on past climates, however, suggests that 65 feet of sea-level rise are inevitable. Sixty-five feet is roughly the height of a six-story building. James White of the University of Colorado has expertise in ancient climates, and he states unequivocally that ‘the coast is toast.’ White has warned that “large climate changes tend to occur in the natural system as abrupt and rapid shifts in mode probably driven by internal adjustments in the Earth climate system, rather than slow and gradual adjustments to changing external conditions, such as the amount of energy received from the sun.” In other words, the planets’ coast will see flooding and storm surge that is dramatic, disruptive, and abrupt.”
Pakalolo writes—We always knew they would be first: “The horrors of climate change are unfolding around the world with smothering heatwaves, agricultural losses from flooding, and drought — higher storm surge along with powerful and deadly cyclonic windstorms that are armed with heavy rainfall and, wildfire. The United States and other developed nations experience every single impact listed, we do. As the world gets drier and hotter, we in the developed world still have resources to prepare for disasters. We have the most sophisticated warning systems available, but that is not true in developing nations. Though warning systems have improved, developing countries are still plagued by “illiteracy, lack of awareness and poor communication.” The poor and people of color in the third world suffer more as a result. Honestly, many of us don’t hear or choose not to listen to the screams of terror as their world collapses around them. Billions of people in the global south are vulnerable to climate change enhanced natural disasters. They are also the least likely to have contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and, they have the least amount of resources to cope with the aftermath of catastrophic events.”
EvanJellicoe writes—Is it possible to go too far when discussing climate change? “Interesting article by Michael Shellenberger in Forbes. [...] [T]he main point of his article is that while the danger is real and action is necessary, inaccurate or unfounded assertions are counterproductive. As examples of unfounded assertions, he says: Environmental journalists and advocates have in recent weeks made a number of apocalyptic predictions about the impact of climate change. Bill McKibben suggested climate-driven fires in Australia had made koalas ‘functionally extinct.’ Extinction Rebellion said ‘Billions will die’ and ‘Life on Earth is dying.’ Vice claimed the ‘collapse of civilization may have already begun’. [...] to which he replies: … let’s look whether the science supports what’s being said. First, no credible scientific body has ever said climate change threatens the collapse of civilization much less the extinction of the human species.”
stonehenge writes—Planet Earth Sizzles While Politicians Fiddle: “I’m afraid the race against the climate change clock is lost. The international community has too long ignored the empirical evidence showing that the climate crisis is real and is largely caused by man. This is not a theory; it is a fact. If someone tells you this is untrue, then they are lying or ignorant or stand to benefit by ignoring it. It was a promising sign that 176 countries and the European Union signed the Paris Climate Accord in 2015, but Trump undermined this international effort by pulling the U.S. from the accord. By withdrawing from the Accord, the U.S. is effectively saying the global climate crisis is not our problem. Unfortunately other countries are following our lead. Emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuels hit a record high in 2019, putting countries farther off course from their goal of halting global warming. [...] Assuming the scientists’ assumptions are correct, we shouldn’t give up. We can still ameliorate the effects of climate change. But we must also learn to live with the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels, raging forest fires, thawing permafrost and extreme weather.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Roy Spencer Admits 2019 3rd “Least Chilly” Year On Record, As He Denies Being A Denier: “University of Alabama-Huntsville’s Roy Spencer, one of the only deniers with any real working knowledge of climate science, recently posted his attempt to convince followers that there’s no reason for worry. At his blog, Spencer wrote that in the 41-year satellite record, ‘2019 will come in as 3rd least-chilly.’ His reasoning for using the awkward ‘least-chilly’ was to protest journalists using the term ‘hottest’ to describe the year. Very mature and intelligent commentary here, folks. Spencer’s post continues by downplaying the 0.15ºC (0.33ºF) of warming in the satellite record between 2010 and 2019 as something ‘no one would even notice over 10 years.’ Putting aside the fact that Spencer’s satellite record is notorious for lowballing warming, that third of a degree F of warming is still a big deal! It puts us easily on track to fail the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5ºC (3ºF) by the end of the century.”
Angmar writes—"Greenland's ice sheet melting seven times faster than 1990s,speed of loss higher than predicted": ”Greenland’s ice sheet is melting much faster than previously thought, threatening hundreds of millions of people with inundation and bringing some of the irreversible impacts of the climate emergency much closer. Ice is being lost from Greenland seven times faster than it was in the 1990s, and the scale and speed of ice loss is much higher than was predicted in the comprehensive studies of global climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to data. That means sea level rises are likely to reach 67cm by 2100, about 7cm more than the IPCC’s main prediction. Such a rate of rise will put 400 million people at risk of flooding every year, instead of the 360 million predicted by the IPCC, by the end of the century.www.theguardian.com/...”
Angmar writes—Arctic In Dire Condition As Climate Change Ravages Long-Frozen Region, Report Warns: “Climate change is transforming Arctic ecosystems in unprecedented and troubling ways, causing vast sheets of ice to melt, impacting local wildlife and threatening not just indigenous populations who live there, but communities around the world, researchers warned in a dramatic new report issued on Tuesday. The findings were laid out in the 14th annual Arctic Report Card, compiled by more than 80 scientists for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.Researchers observed many troubling trends in the region: Temperatures in the Arctic were the second-warmest on record for an 11-month period ending in August. The permafrost continues to thaw, potentially releasing up to 600 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. And some fish populations in the Bering Sea, which supplies about 40 percent of the American seafood catch, have begun to migrate north as waters warm, threatening food webs.www.huffpost.com/...”
COP25
boatsie writes—"We Don't Know A Planet Like This": “As the usual suspects convene in Madrid for the annual UNFCCC meeting, people across the world are demanding rapid and comprehensive action in the Climate Crisis. Inspired by Greta Thunberg's ‘Our House is on Fire’ and actress Jane Fonda’s #FridayFireDrill” campaign, #ClimateStrike trended atop Twitter for some time yesterday with tens of thousands participated in ongoing Friday climate strikes. ‘We don’t know a planet like this,’ said meteorologist Eric Holthouse. in an Independent article Climate crisis: CO2 levels rise to highest point since evolution of humans.”
boatsie writes—"We are out of time!" @COP25: “UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa addressed delegates at COP25 this morning, warning that ‘the window of opportunity is closing now. On both a professional and personal level, my message to you is this: We need your decisions. We need your leadership. We are out of time.’ Hours later climate activist Australian climate Daisy Jeffrey activist apologized to the world on behalf of her country. ‘We should and could do better.’ The real negotiations at the Climate Talks began this Monday as official delegates and high level political representatives arrived in Madrid to begin working on the details of what this year’s concluding document will set forth. Former NYC Mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg arrived this morning, with America’s Pledge, a response from the American Cities Initiative in response to the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.”
boatsie writes—Protestors Take Over Plenary Stage at COP25: “In an unprecedented action at COP25 in Madrid today, protestors representing Fridays For Future took over the plenary stage demanding aggressive action from delegates as they negotiate on the climate crisis. Just hours later, representatives from countries around the world flooded the halls outside the main meeting room expressing their frustration with the negotiations and the need for dramatic action. The last time the UNFCCC encountered so many demonstrations was at COP15 in Copenhagen. The movement then was not driven by the power of the voice of youth from around the globe.[...] ‘We are desperate for any sign of hope,’ Greta Thunberg told UN climate negotiators in a speech earlier this morning. ‘Finding holistic solutions is what the COP should be all about, but instead it seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and to avoid raising their ambition.’ Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, a 22-year-old activist from Uganda told a high-level plenary session “You’ve been negotiating for the last 25 years, even before I was born. I’d rather fail my exams than fail my generation,” explaining her choice to skip school on Fridays to join fellow students in weekly climate strikes.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Monday: New Climate Models Give Hope; COP25 Update: “Don't bother feeding the trolls who always bleat that climate models are wrong. Of course they're wrong. Everything is necessarily wrong at some level of detail. The demand for perfect climate models is every bit as much pseudo-science as Creationists going on about missing links. Every gap in the fossil record is a missing link. And if you find an intermediate fossil within such a gap, you now have two gaps, one on each side of it. Creationism is, in the memorable words of Wolfgang Pauli, Not even wrong. We have a new set of climate models coming out, and new techniques for validating and improving them, under the name Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects.”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Xtreme outlier write—Greta Thunberg FULL speech in response to COP(out)25 - Time called it right: “Watch the video—The transcript is highly abbreviated and doesn’t remotely do it justice. This is the FULL speech. The excerpts posted on youtube don’t remotely do it justice. EVERY WORD is important. truthout.org/…How is it that a 16 year old woman can say exactly what desperately needs to be said when all the media and, especially, the politicians are dancing around making empty gestures at the issue without ever once actually touching it? All the media and the politicians have their jobs as their first priority. Greta has her future (and ours) as her first priority. It is, IMHO, the best and by far the most important speech of the decade. For once, Time magazine made the best call.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—The Greta-est Generation: Deniers Definitely Not Mad About Time Making Thunberg Person Of The Year: "This year, Time magazine chose Greta Thunberg as its Person of the Year, a recognition of her incredible success in growing a one-person school strike into the largest ever climate protests. Unsurprisingly, deniers did not exactly take the news in stride. A WUWT post called her an ‘angry, whiny, self-righteous high-school dropout.’ At the Washington Examiner, they asked if Greta has succeeded in pushing through policies reducing emissions. (This fundamentally misunderstands the premise of her activism: that governments need to act to reduce emississions! If they were doing it already, she wouldn’t need to protest!) And then the very intelligent folks at the Daily Caller asked Time what its carbon footprint is, doing everything it can to keep Mr. Gotcha relevant. Rush Limbaugh was predictably outraged that the ‘indoctrinated propagandized teenager’ was chosen, claiming that the climate movement is ‘slowly suffering great damage from the poisonous hatred that is coursing through their very existence.’ Meanwhile, The National Review ran a piece by David Harsanyi describing her as ‘a finger-wagging teen bereft of accomplishment,’ and asks ’if there has ever been a less consequential person’ to be picked. (Yes, considering 2006’s person of the year was ‘You,’ David Harsanyi.)”
eeff writes—Greta Thunberg's Speech at COP 25, Greta named Time's Person of The Year:
AKALib writes—Greta Thunberg is TIME's 2019 Person of the Year: “Greta Thunberg is TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year! This is perhaps not totally unexpected, but it is a great honor and recognition for this amazing person and for the climate change movement she has helped propel to the forefront of our collective consciousness. The TIME shortlist had included Nancy Pelosi, the Whistleblower, the Hong Kong protestors, and trump (really). You can expect the right-wing to go apoplectic over this — so be it. But, this honor will certainly help raise awareness about her and about the subject of Climate Change among many Americans.”
Angmar writes—Greta:'School strikes achieved nothing' 4% rise in gasses since 2015-we need more activists: “The global wave of school strikes for the climate over the past year has “achieved nothing” because greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise, Greta Thunberg has told activists at UN climate talks in Madrid. www.theguardian.com/… [...] Global Carbon Emissions Will Hit A Record High in 2019... Again. A new report held a few silver linings, however, as the growth was slower than in recent years and the use of coal declined. www.huffpost.com/… But the research also included a few silver linings. The year-over-year increase in 2019 will be much slower than past changes; in 2017, there was a 1.5% rise in emissions from the previous year, and in 2018 the number was 2.1%. Researchers also found a surprising decline in the use of coal around the world — by far the greatest emitter of carbon — due to a rise in the use of natural gas and a smaller uptick in renewable energy.”
Dan Bacher writes—Two Indigenous Leaders, Firmino Guajajara and Raimundo Guajajara, Murdered in Brazilian Amazon: “On the afternoon of December 7, an unidentified individual shot and killed two indigenous men, Firmino Prexede Guajajara and Raimundo Guajajara, and injured two others, in the Brazilian Amazon. ‘The men were shot from a moving vehicle on Brazilian highway BR 226, which crosses the indigenous land of Canabrava, of the Guajajara people in Maranhão state, between Boa Vista and El Betel villages, located between the cities Grajaú and Barra do Corda,’ according to a statement from Amazon Watch. ‘The indigenous men had been riding a motorcycle on the road. The group of indigenous men was returning from a meeting with Eletronorte, Brazilian electric utilities company, and Funai (Brazilian National Indigenous Foundation) where they had been advocating in defense of their rights.’ An indigenous person recorded a video at the scene asking people to share the message: ‘Please spread this video so that people can know the state of vulnerability we are in, for lack of security, for illicit acts that some people practice, and now our relatives have had to pay with their own lives. This can't keep happening. Brazilian authorities and responsible bodies must take action on this’.”
Aldous J Pennyfarthing writes—Fox host upset that teen climate change deniers aren't famous, too: “For the next few days, I’m going to apply the Barron Trump standard to anything conservatives say about Greta Thunberg, the young climate change activist who was just named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. [...] Katie Pavlich, co-host The Five: ‘The hard truth is that the liberal media only cares about her because she serves their climate change agenda. If this was a young person who had questions about climate change or is doing other things in reversal of what the left wants everyone to believe, she wouldn’t be as famous as she is.’ HOW DARE YOU MENTION A CHILD ON NATIONAL TELEVISION! FOR SHAME! Okay, now that that’s out of my system, uh … what the fuck?” ”
Don Bolognese writes—How Art Can Defeat The Climate Deniers: “Global warming and its inevitable affect on humanity, our civilization and the Earth itself is the central subject of PORTALS. The future well-being of everyone us is at stake and everyone has to become aware that right now our warning cries are continually being shouted down by the well-funded voices of “climate deniers” whose shameless greed knows no bounds. During a recent exhibition of the PORTALS painting I was heartened by the visceral response of viewers as they begin to see the painting for what it is: A wake-up call for all of us: get involved or suffer the inevitable consequences of fundamental and unprecedented climate-caused upheaval. I have always been aware of what I call ‘journalistic art’— a socially oriented art that for centuries had been the sole province of painters and print-makers (like Peter Breugel, Francesco Goya and Kathe Kollwitz to name only a few). The advent of photography allowed many more visual artists to add their talents to the task of observing and commenting on society; “photo journalism” is renowned for its contributions to the reformation of corrupt and inhuman activities. But, now, contemporary, socially conscience artists are adding their particular insights to that cause. I just hope we are not too late.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
melharte writes—Want To Vote For Your Tribe? For God? Support A Climate Change Leader: “We were discussing candidates. My active, intelligent friend was talking about one particularly thoughtful, intelligent candidate, who had a good plan to address climate change but then said, ‘Yes, but…’ his stance on Israel wasn’t as good as she could wish. The unspoken question echoing inside me was, ‘Are you considering supporting candidates who have less effective climate plans … or even supporting the current United States leader?’ The current US leader adamantly ignores the apocalyptic changes underway via climate change. These changes are rooted in unalterable facts and observations, not cultural values. For nature, cultural values are irrelevant. But at this point, having grown up in a conservative Christian household, I feel the need to slide from the language of politics and science into the language of God, even if it falls uneasily upon Christian ears. Polls indicate that although most people understand that climate change is occurring, many choose to ignore or deny how fast and apocalyptic those changes will be for themselves and their children – or simply pretend they can do nothing about it. All of these excuses are sins that God will not ignore.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels & Emissions Controls
Michael Brune writes—Priorities: “Thanks to generations of industry lobbying, government subsidies mask the true price we pay for fossil fuels. Renewable energy already saves money for consumers and taxpayers; by ending subsidies for fossil fuels we would save even more. The Trump administration continues to lavish corporations with incentives to spew carbon, which means they are incentivizing irreparable harm to our homes, our health, our beloved wild places, and the planet we will leave our children.In fact, this administration has had the audacity to increase fossil fuel subsidies -- while cutting funding for programs that help people live dignified, secure lives. This year, the Trump administration spent nearly ten times more on subsidizing fossil fuels than on education, according to the International Monetary Fund’s estimates. Again and again, the Administration has put the priorities of their fossil fuel donors ahead of the needs of the American people -- including our need for a habitable climate.”
Mark Sumner writes—Methane ‘super emitters’ releasing massive plumes after Trump rolled back environmental regulations: “In just a few hours of flying over Texas sites with a small plane, the Times identified hundreds of sites whose level of methane production puts them in the category of ‘super emitters.’ The leaks came not just from wells, but from storage facilities, pipelines, and every stage of natural gas production. Since fracking generated a surprise boom in natural gas production two decades ago, the level of methane in the atmosphere has been increasing. Even though that change corresponded almost exactly with increased production, oil and gas companies have pretended to ignorance over the source of the methane. But it’s clear that methane is leaking in massive amounts. In fact, so much methane is being leaked at such rates that it could be argued that the move from coal to natural gas as the largest source of electricity in the United States has actually created more damage to the climate. But it’s hard to be sure, because so little of this loss is actually measured. And if Trump gets his way, companies will not longer be required to even monitor for methane loss.”
bluewill writes—Major slowdown expected in U.S. shale oil production: “Behind the Boom. The shale-oil tsunami that has flooded New Mexico with a wave of petro dollars in recent years may be receding somewhat as U.S. production faces its first significant decline since the gushers began nearly eight years ago. Signs of trouble are showing up in major basins around the country, with a significant drop in drilling rig activity and sluggish growth this year compared with the spectacular bursts of production in recent years that has transformed the U.S. into the world’s No. 1 oil producer. A new report released in November by global research and consulting firm IHS Markit says the U.S. is headed for a “major slowdown,” reflecting today’s moderate oil prices, investor reluctance to continue pumping huge sums into companies that have shown only modest returns on capital, and significant productivity declines in shale-oil fields.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Imperial Oil Documents Adds Exxon’s Canadian Subsidiary To List of Those Who Knew: “ ‘At [Oil Company], we are committed to fulfilling our environmental responsibilities to society, to being part of the solution.’ Is this a quote from one of the ads the American Petroleum Institute is running these days, claiming that the industry is ‘part of the solution’? Or one of the ads from BP that’s being challenged as misleading? Or from Shell’s social influencer program? Nope! It’s from an Imperial Oil discussion paper-written in 1990! That’s just one of the many documents released last week as part of a collaboration so big it needs three introductions, one each from DeSmogblog, ClimateFiles, and Climate Investigations. The decades of documents are from Imperial Oil, a former Canadian subsidiary of Exxon, and show that like others in the industry, Imperial Oil closely watched as the climate change consensus emerged in the ‘80s and embraced it in the ‘90s, until shifting its PR strategy to denial as the decade ended.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Tuesday: China's Perverse Coal Incentives: “ China is still driving coal use up. The world saw the greatest drop in coal production ever this year, at 3%. When China comes around, coal can fall at something like the rate needed to save us all. So what is holding China back? Its self-contradictory laws and economy. The activists know what to do. Please join them. Perverse Incentive Structure and Policy Implementation Gap [...] Drawing on fieldwork and document analysis, this article argues that the incentives set by the central government regarding environmental policy implementation at local levels are perversely structured, meaning that the central government provides much more incentive for local governments' non-implementation or poor implementation of its environmental policies than it provides for full implementation. The central government's failure to encourage—politically, financially, as well as morally—local government officials to appropriately implement environmental policies can partly explain the production of the policy implementation gap at the local level.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Friday: Oil and Gaslighting IV, Republican Talking Points vs. Greta Thunberg: “Daily on Energy: House GOP meets to discuss climate agenda ‘counter-narrative’. Right. PR, not action. Two-thirds of Americans don't think the Administration is doing enough on climate, according to Pew Research Center polling. Results indicate a generational divide, with 52 percent of 18 to 38-year-old Republicans dissatisfied with government climate action, compared with 41 percent of those aged 38-54, and 31 percent of those aged 55 or above. Related, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has started meeting with other key Republican lawmakers on a package of climate bills. "It's really just setting the foundation to counter people who say, 'Republicans are bad on climate,'" a GOP House source reported to Washington Examiner's Josh Siegel. "Well, here's the counter-narrative." Rep. Garret Graves, who serves as the ranking member of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, is preparing a report that will be the basis of a broader strategy.”
Renewables, Efficiency, Energy Storage & Conservation
Mokurai writes—Renewable Wednesday: Energy Storage Boom Coming, but Denialism Still Flourishes: “We looked at batteries yesterday, and what that means for cars. Today it's grid storage, as it was last March. Various Denialists continue to claim that wind and solar can't get us to 100% because various reasons. I continue to point and laugh. The market continues to explode. (No, not the batteries.) Did you know that nuclear is cheaper and safer than renewables, and is needed for baseload power because renewables are intermittent? Neither did I. Renewable Friday: Grid Storage. Did you know that after getting rid of coal we will have to increase our use of gas and oil, rather than renewables and storage? No, and I still don't. Renewable Thursday: Oil and Gaslighting III, by the ‘EcoRight’ and there's more where those three came from. We'll take another look on Friday, and again next week.”
FORESTS AND PUBLIC LANDS
Besame writes—Overnight News Digest: 22nd anniversary of julia butterfly's sojourn with redwood goddess Luna: “Hurried effort to find news I could tolerate reading at night. Thanks to marsanges’ comment last night, I began looking for news about sardines in Italy and polar bears occupying a town in Siberia. Long day foraging for food (AKA shopping) in Eureka CA. On the drive home, friends told stories about julia ‘butterfly’ hill’s occupation of the redwood tree Luna as we drove past the slope where Luna still stands today. My friend said that julia’s sojourn in Luna began as a temporary action. She said ‘yes’ when asked to climb the tree as part of a protest. Once in the tree, julia was imbued with redwood magic and remained for 738 days. When she finally climbed down, after negotiating ‘with Pacific Lumber a Deed of Covenant protecting Luna and the surrounding grove in perpetuity, no matter who ‘owns’ the land,’ her feet were curled from living on branches and she couldn’t stand on the ground. Because the Covenant would outlive me, i needed to find an organization that would offer ongoing support for Luna and the grove; Sanctuary Forest stepped up. In the subsequent 20 years, Sanctuary Forest—led by board member Stuart Moskowitz—became angels, stewards and protectors of Luna and the grove. Sanctuary Forest worked diligently to foster trusting relationships—first with Maxxam/Pacific Lumber, and then with Humboldt Redwood Company, who bought them out. This secured the enforcement and intent of the Covenant.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Rei writes—EV Tuesday: Dieselgate Continues - New Suspect VW-Group Defeat Device Leads To Search Warrant: “As discussed previously, the lawsuits against VW working their way through the German court system have uncovered what appears to be a new emissions defeat device introduced at the time that they were supposedly fixing their previous cheating engine, the EA 189. The new engine introduced in 2012, the EA 288, was supposedly defeat-device free. However, it turns out that the pollution control mechanism only gets turned on within a specific temperature range — a range which happens to include temperatures in which the vehicles are tested for emissions. And so Dieselgate continues. In the latest news, the German prosecutors office has issued and executed a search warrant on VW facilities in Wolfsburg related to the case. According to the prosecutor’s office, ‘This measure is in the context of investigations, which are directed against individual accused and refer to diesel vehicles with engines of the type EA 288.’ Many hundreds of thousands of vehicles are considered to be affected.”
Mokurai writes—Electric Vehicle Tuesday: BNEF Battery Report Good News: “A terawatt-hour here, a terawatt-hour there, and soon you're talking about real power. Bloomberg NEF predicts that 2 TwH of batteries will be made in 2024. That means not just affordable electric cars, but electric everything at a profit for the makers and the buyers and the buyers' customers. Battery prices, which were above $1,100 per kilowatt-hour in 2010, have fallen 87% in real terms to $156/kWh in 2019. By 2023, average prices will be close to $100/kWh, according to the latest forecast from research company BloombergNEF (BNEF).”
Nickjlicata writes—Seattle’s Urban Light Rail Needed Transparency to Get Built: “I often read the inspiring tale of The Little Train That Could to my two year old granddaughter. When she gets older, I should read her Bob Wodnik’s book, Back on Track – Sound Transit’s Fight to Save Light Rail, because like that children’s book it is inspiring. Wodnik served as the senior communications specialist from 1999 to 2017, for the Seattle region’s bus-rail agency, Sound Transit. He tells the inside story of how transit advocates fought against an array of formidable critics to build the multi-billion dollar Link Light rail train network, now running from north Seattle to the SeaTac Airport far south of the city for a total of 22 miles. The book is not an analysis of how this system compares to other options that could have been pursued. Seattle would have been the only city in the country with a major monorail system but after passing four ballot votes, it was defeated on the fifth, and construction never began. There have also been proponents for building an alternative Rapid Bus System, using dedicated lanes. But it never came close to a city-wide vote, despite the critics providing details and statistics on how such a system could work. And finally, some relied on just paving more roads instead of laying down rail – a solution attempted in other cities without lasting traffic congestion relief, the roads just fill as soon as they are built.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Magnifico writes—Overnight News Digest: Zambia’s Victoria Falls Shrinks to a Trickle: “ Victoria Falls shrink to a trickle, feeding climate change fears For decades Victoria Falls, where southern Africa’s Zambezi river cascade down 100 metres into a gash in the earth, have drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia for their stunning views. […] ‘In previous years, when it gets dry, it’s not to this extent. This (is) our first experience of seeing it like this,’ Dominic Nyambe, a seller of tourist handicrafts in his 30s said outside his shop in Livingstone, on the Zambian side. […] Yet scientists are cautious about categorically blaming climate change. There is always seasonal variation in levels.”
Dan Bacher writes—Humboldt County Asks For New Environmental Review for Sites Reservoir Project: “Yesterday the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to reconsider its support for the proposed Sites Reservoir project in the Central Valley, due to concerns it would have serious impacts on the Trinity River fishery and the counties water rights, according to a news release from Save California Salmon. The board voted to send a letter to the Sites Authority asking for an additional environmental review of the project, and a letter requesting protections for the Trinity River’s water and reservoir carry over storage in all future water rights proceedings. ‘Congratulations to all five Humboldt County Supervisors for doing the right thing to protect Humboldt County's water rights, environment and economy by sending the two letters.’ said Tom Stokely from the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and Save California Salmon. Stokely helped write the letters with the supervisors.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
estreya writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, Vol. 15.50: How To Use It - Lemons! “Now that winter's upon us and our gardens are mostly asleep, i thought it might be a good time to introduce a new and hopefully recurring Saturday Morning Garden Blog feature called, ‘How To Use It.’ In one way or another, so many of us have embraced a ‘garden to table’ philosophy, and at least some of what we grow in our yards eventually makes its way to our bellies. The SMGB ‘How To Use It’ feature is a place where we can officially share our favorite recipes, or other ways we make use of the things we grow in our gardens. Although i'm not among those lucky enough to have lemons ripening in the yard this time of year (i'm looking at you, nkgodfrey), i recently picked a bag of beautiful lemons from the produce section of my local grocery store (i know, but let's just pretend i grew them myself). So, without further ado, let's get this feature started with, ‘How To Use It - Lemons!’ A little over two years ago, i pulled a bottle of homemade limoncello out of the bowels of my mother's freezer. It had been in there so long, she couldn't remember exactly when or how she made it. I can honestly say it was one of the most delicious things i'd ever tasted. I knew right then and there, I would one day make a batch of my own. Limoncello is an Italian liquor made from lemon zest, sugar syrup, and a high proof alcohol. To aid in digestion, it's often served as an aperitif (before a meal) or a digestif (after a meal). Since it's always served ice-cold to fully refresh the palate, it's usually stored in the freezer.”
MISCELLANY
Sarkazein writes—Trump's Water Pressure Problem: “It's become a bit of a running joke, but it's really pretty damn serious. CNN reports that, in addition to thinking energy-saving lightbulbs make him look orange (and not a shitty, probably Trump-branded tanning product), he now thinks that toilets need to use more water, and sinks don't work in newer houses. And I quote: ‘We have a situation where we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on—and in areas where there's tremendous amounts of water, where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it, and you don't get any water,’ the President said during a roundtable with small business leaders about deregulatory actions. I don't know what this means. I'm already 99.9% confident he's an incompetent buffoon, but this is just stupid. He's clearly trying to help people that don't want to build... water saving appliances?”
prophetofpan writes—Earth Day, and not Christmas is my Sacred Holiday: “I have always struggled with Christmas. Even as a child it was a holiday that to my admission did not bring out the best in me as a person. Looking back now upon those memories so much of it seems like engaging in unwanted exercises so that my greed as a child might be satiated. [...] As an adult I became less and less enamored with the holiday. When the focus shifted away from self-gratification I found myself loathe (and I still do to this day) to shop for others and get gifts. [...]There is a holiday that does celebrate the things I believe to be holy, and I am of the belief that as time progresses this holiday will become more important:
Earth Day is my special holiday. Instead of celebrating one religion (or observing another religion or ambiguity over the celebration) I fully celebrate Earth Day as the most important and sacred holiday on this planet, because it specifically is about something all of us share as a species along with all other species: Earth itself. You don’t have to be a Christian to celebrate Earth Day. In fact, you don’t have to have any sort of religious beliefs at all to observe and celebrate Earth Day.”
Mokurai writes—Renewable Thursday: The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative: “As China's investments in Germany grow, so do the ethical pitfalls. Duisburg is now an important terminus on China’s sprawling “Belt and Road” development program, and welcomes 35-40 trains from China each week. The city’s mayor has courted Chinese investors, and at least 60 Chinese companies have opened shop there. Yet this raises questions whether Duisburg – dubbed by local media as ‘Germany’s Chinese city’—is opening itself up to ethical compromises or reputational risk by so openly welcoming Chinese investment. The pressure Beijing exerts on foreign entities is increasing, at a time surveys show the German public is increasingly negative on Chinese investment. What price is paid to engage with China?”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Exposed: Ulterior Motives For Utilities’ Supposed Charity Spending (Spoiler, it’s not charity!) A new study published in November’s issue of the journal Memory & Cognition found that comments on blog posts can influence a reader’s perception of the content. The study by lead author Stephan Lewandowsky had subjects look at blog posts that either endorsed or rejected climate science, and then read comments either in agreement with or in opposition to the initial content. Researchers set out to study the influence of commenters because of the valuable role that perception of consensus plays in shaping how we think. Put simply, what you believe other people think shapes what you think. If most people believe something, human brains are generally hardwired to also believe that. On the flip side, if we see people united in opposition, we’re going to be a little more skeptical. Therefore, changing whether commenters appear to be in consensus about a post could influence how readers perceive that post.”
Lib Dem Fop writes—Trump Is Right - New "Light Bulbs" DO Turn Your Skin Orange .....if… “I realised today that President Trump is correct. New LED lighting does (or rather can) indeed make your skin look orange, but that may be a symptom of another problem. Let me explain. You may know that daylight has a bluer hue than old fashioned tungsten “light bulbs”. It’s the reason you used to get “daylight” and “tungsten” color slide film variants. Well you can broadly get three types of domestic LEDs. The simplest and cheapest are the direct replacements for the old tungsten or compact flourescent bulbs.These are available in broadly two color temperatures to match daylight or the color of old tungsten filament bulbs. They are often marked ‘cool white’ or ‘warm white.’ Now we get fancy. The direct replacements for the old screw-in bulbs are also available with controls which can radically change the color of the light from a range of “whites” to pure red, green or blue, together with a range of intermediate colors controlled by a remote control or a phone app. Typically the latter can also link to smart speakers like the Amazon Echo or its Apple or it Google equivalent. The different colors are achieved by mixing different levels of light from the RGB elements — much in the same way your TV reproduces different colors by varying the brightness of the dots on the screen.”