[MCN] Some climate-relevant reads

Thu Jun 25 11:26:00 EDT 2020

First, my thanks to everyone who responded to my “ ‘I can’t breathe’ - if ocean fish could speak” subject line in a recent post. That thanks includes many thanks to my critics for emphasizing issues that definitely needed it. 

My thanks too to Patty, Ari, and Jeremy for seeing that my post, despite its quote of a dying man’s last words, didn’t detract from his death in a brutishly thuggish murder.

The controversy about that subject line was a good thing. I didn’t intend to stir it up, but I’m glad for all who stepped up as they did

Now for the reading list. 

You might want to quickly scroll down through the list before selecting which one(s) you’ll want to read.

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Vox — Why it’s so damn hot in the Arctic right now
Siberia’s triple-digit heat wave and wildfires are a glimpse into the future of the Arctic. [ and the world ]

By Umair Irfan <https://www.vox.com/authors/umair-irfan>  Jun 23, 2020, 4:00pm EDT

An excellent review of the combined proximal and distal drivers of recent years’ Arctic heat- and fire-extremes
<<https://www.vox.com/2020/6/23/21300279/arctic-siberia-temperature-heat-wave-record-russia-fire-climate-change <https://www.vox.com/2020/6/23/21300279/arctic-siberia-temperature-heat-wave-record-russia-fire-climate-change>>>
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Authorities urge caution as forest fires break out around Sweden <https://u1979483.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=gpcU8zfFoigi7RQPHPkrq6zVJ5J1XwhJISG9Zq8gM9BS7xfb4bx3RuCBSR-2B3kUyH7IOzm72T92cf4TYDflTk1n4lL0OkVSmD7Cer4l2tIH8kmFpFa-2FiW5qAUdK4MAVA3hZzF_u583kkVvv4ObthBh89G3bagHwhEDNAN3-2FWTEInXNsIucUdDsC69D9nUI7Bu1zf9QVI3D3VZrcRxmHkMaMvveZLRYxs3wrt1-2FXCVuZs1WFRdJ9hhV6YF48-2FOqWGMMm74-2FN6gOGsuYu5CM-2Bibp-2Fhngi5WY9ZcS-2BM-2Bwt6RUV-2FTerQgHVIUHzg1YCQPYhYM4boK590Vu6bWfIJ4Q0n4iLw42SrxYrr-2F3TVDDCSOr2xfy-2F4FQ9K2rQbTXNYO74KHiU-2FEvWqb-2B-2FjTllxD5i5tQEcBBu-2FSORcRNINHCqGujKy5TwEhgJ2Oij6Ta84P4-2Fhg5UdGuOQxfc5Al8CadysHm50bBoA-3D-3D>
Radio Sweden / June 17, 2020
The state weather forecaster, SMHI, has issued forest fire warnings for nearly all of Sweden.

Read article on Radio Sweden <https://u1979483.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=gpcU8zfFoigi7RQPHPkrq6zVJ5J1XwhJISG9Zq8gM9BS7xfb4bx3RuCBSR-2B3kUyH7IOzm72T92cf4TYDflTk1n4lL0OkVSmD7Cer4l2tIH8kmFpFa-2FiW5qAUdK4MAVA3c98w_u583kkVvv4ObthBh89G3bagHwhEDNAN3-2FWTEInXNsIucUdDsC69D9nUI7Bu1zf9QVI3D3VZrcRxmHkMaMvveZLRYxs3wrt1-2FXCVuZs1WFRdJ9hhV6YF48-2FOqWGMMm74-2FN6gOGsuYu5CM-2Bibp-2Fhngi5WY9ZcS-2BM-2Bwt6RUV-2FTerQjUInIz3NDtTxO1vuV-2Bhkkd-2Bjsr4T2macRjtOUGZrqJgxgZuxnTMTH7SJSFylzytnAjw24EjO1ScaH6JsDMUE3Etj6gW8EArPvkVvJ4jdrefyDa3dphO1Kb0kauMoPPDlQCApOiScUsDLDOtzC7CsthyVKZyzMRf6ajYLsXjOgseg-3D-3D>
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Excerpts : “It was the spring of 2011, and I had managed to corner a very senior member of IPCC during a coffee break at a workshop. 

“‘Oh, I think we’re heading towards 3°C, at least,’ he said.”

“But what about the many millions of people directly threatened,” I went on. “Those living in low-lying nations, the farmers affected by abrupt changes in weather, kids exposed to new diseases?”

He gave a sigh, paused for a few seconds, and a sad, resigned smile crept over his face. He then simply said: “They will die.”

James Dyke, senior lecturer, global systems, University of Exeter.
<<https://www.inverse.com/article/56306-end-of-civilization-global-warming-the-technosphere <https://www.inverse.com/article/56306-end-of-civilization-global-warming-the-technosphere>>>

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Excerpt : “No one wanted to pay attention to the implications of a world four degrees warmer… It's too horrendous to think about.  And no one talked about it. Then a few scientists said let's have a conference and actually talk about it. They held this conference in Oxford and I went along. 

“As the conference started, there was a kind of suppressed emotional intensity, except in the coffee breaks. 

“It was then that I would buttonhole a couple of scientists and say: 'Well, you know we're speculating about this. But what do you really think is the situation?' And one of them just looked at me and said: 'We're f--ked.'" 

Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra. 

Are we f—ked? Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Thursday September 07, 2017
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/are-we-f-ked-decoding-the-resistance-to-climate-change-1.4277614 <http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/are-we-f-ked-decoding-the-resistance-to-climate-change-1.4277614>

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Excerpts : Andrew Simms: Would you like to hear more from your fellow climate scientists now about the speed and scale of action required?  

Prof Kevin Anderson:  I’d like to hear much more of what many academics say in private being said in public.

AS: And what are they saying in private?

KA: Not all, but many had been telling me for years that there’s no hope of staying below 2 degrees centigrade, that we’re heading to three or four degrees. 

What I find most disturbing, is that many of those who previously had told me,   away from any microphones,   that 2°C was not viable, are now coming out in support of meeting 1.5°C.  Worse still, they repeatedly point to idealised technical solutions, yet often with little understanding of either the technologies or their practical delivery, let alone the timelines for making wholesale shifts in technologies and associated infrastructures.
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Domino effect could heat up Earth by 5 degrees Celsius  <https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248>
https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248 <https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248>

Aug 6, 2018 ...

Excerpts :  Even if the Paris agreement is successfully implemented, the planet could still heat up by 5 degrees Celsius, scientists warn.

The lead authors are quoted:

“Our study suggests that human-induced global warming of 2 degrees Celsius may trigger other Earth system processes, often called 'feedbacks,' that can drive further warming — even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases.” 

And:

“These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominos. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth toward another. It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over.” 

The above referenced PNAS article:
Will Steffen et al. Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene. PNAS August 2018. [Open access]
http://www.pnas.org/content/early2018/07/31/1810141115 <http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/31/1810141115>
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Excerpt : “The fact is that we, humans, have changed the composition of the atmosphere with respect to heat-trapping gases enough to start the progression of global climate, not into a new steady state, but into an open-ended warming that is pulling the environment out from under this civilization.”

George Woodwell, PhD, founder and director emeritus of the Woods Hole Research Center
<<https://thinkprogress.org/exclusive-dr-george-woodwell-sets-the-record-straight-455bfcf14412/ <https://thinkprogress.org/exclusive-dr-george-woodwell-sets-the-record-straight-455bfcf14412/>>>

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Excerpt : “Full of recent references and statistics, Harvesting the Biosphere adds to the growing chorus of warnings about the current trajectory of human activity on a finite planet, of which climate change is only one dimension. 

“One can quibble with some assumptions or tweak Smil’s calculations, but the bottom line will not change, only the time it may take humanity to reach a crisis point.”

Stephen Running, forest ecologist, climate scientist. 

“Approaching the Limits” Science 15 March 2013. Book review. Harvesting the Biosphere: What we have taken from Nature. by Vaclav Smil .  MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012. 315 pp. $29, £19.95. ISBN 9780262018562.

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Excerpts : “As a climate scientist, I am often asked to talk about hope. Particularly in the current political climate, audiences want to be told that everything will be all right in the end.” 

“Climate change is bleak, the organizers always say. Tell us a happy story. Give us hope. The problem is, I don’t have any.

“The world we once knew is never coming back.

“I have no hope that these changes can be reversed. We are inevitably sending our children <https://onbeing.org/blog/kate-marvel-we-should-never-have-called-it-earth> to live on an unfamiliar planet. But the opposite of hope is not despair. It is grief.”

“We are all fated to live lives shot through with sadness, and are not worth less for it. Courage is the resolve to do well without the assurance of a happy ending.”

Kate Marvel, physicist, climate scientist

<<https://onbeing.org/blog/kate-marvel-we-need-courage-not-hope-to-face-climate-change/ <https://onbeing.org/blog/kate-marvel-we-need-courage-not-hope-to-face-climate-change/>>>

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"You must do the impossible. Because giving up can never ever be an option." 

Greta Thunberg, climate student

Greta Thunberg - "You must do the impossible. Because ... <https://www.facebook.com/gretathunbergsweden/posts/you-must-do-the-impossible-because-giving-up-can-never-ever-be-an-optionhere-is-/919950758372745/>

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“… the serious meaning in a concept lies in the difference it will make to someone if it is true.”

William James (1842 –1910)
Pragmatism. Meridian Books, 1955

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