<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">I recently had an interview for an endorsement by a “progressive” group that was openly talking whether a lawsuit I won in 2011 that stopped a $550 million coal railroad from being built would send the right message. Evidently we need a message of yes—we have the technology to power our economy with clean energy instead of “no”—don’t do this or that. <div><br></div><div>Even though I’m still in my thirties, the comments made me feel like a dinosaur. When I was a kid, cell phones didn’t exist and solar panels could never have kept up with fossil fuels. </div><div><br></div><div>I still think we need leaders that are willing to say “no”. We need Bullock to say no more coal instead of hiding behind the market and not making a peep. We need U.S. Senators that say That we are not going to capitalize the Land and Water Conservation Fund with royalties from off-shore drilling, but with the subsidies that we were giving to off-shore drillers. </div><div><br></div><div>As a new parent of twins, I understand that sometimes I need to say no to protect Rex and Wiley. That’s part of the job of being a trusted servant to the next generation. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">John Meyer</span></div><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Executive Director & General Counsel <br class="">Cottonwood Environmental Law Center<br class=""><a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1/1" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="address" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1/1" style="-webkit-text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.258824);">P.O. Box 412 Bozeman, MT 59771</a><br class=""><a href="mailto:John@Cottonwoodlaw.org" class="">John@Cottonwoodlaw.org</a><br class=""><a href="tel:(406)%20546-0149" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1/3" style="-webkit-text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.258824);">(406) 546-0149</a><br class=""><br class="">The information contained herein is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you must delete this email and inform the sender of the error.<br class=""><br class="">Like what we're doing? <a href="http://www.cottonwoodlaw.org/#donate" class="">Click here</a> to donate. </span></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On May 10, 2020, at 8:43 AM, Lance Olsen via Missoula-Community-News <missoula-community-news@bigskynet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b class="">Excerpt : </b>Worse, campaigns to protect the environment have long been painted as an enemy of the economy. That old habit won’t change easily. Even at grassroots level, many still believe that blaming humans for a hotter world is “<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/27/climate-change-politics-224295" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. economy</a>.” </p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the joke’s on them, because we’ve come to point of endangering the environment and the economy at the same time. </p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Indicating the worldwide scale of threat to the economy, <a href="https://www.worldfinance.com/markets/climate-change-continues-to-wreak-havoc-on-the-global-economy" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">World Finance</a> magazine recently pointed out that, “It is becoming more and more apparent that the developing threat of climate change is not simply damaging the earth’s natural ecosystem, but is also harming the world economy.”</p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Indicating this risk specifically for the US economy, a 2018 Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond <a href="https://doi.org/10.21144/wp18-09" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">staff analysis</a> found that even a modest one degree Fahrenheit temperature increase begins to take the wind out of the economy’s sails. In fact, the study found evidence that “rising temperatures could reduce U.S. economic growth by up to one-third over the next century.”</p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The concern didn’t stop with that one report. In January 2019, <a href="https://www.americanbanker.com/news/why-banks-should-stress-test-for-climate-change" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">American Banker</a> magazine warned that “The planet is warming at an alarmingly rapid rate, and unless swift action is taken to curb the emission of greenhouse gases, the economic costs will be severe”.</p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Citing “huge costs seen in climate inaction,” <a href="https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/00010101/NEWS06/912325939/Huge-costs-seen-in-climate-inaction" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Business Insurance</a> magazine points directly to what we all face if we fail to stop “the potential dire economic consequences of climate change.</p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Bloomberg Climate Changed newsletter summarized the situation on February 7, 2019: “The last five years were collectively <a href="https://link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/15941830.21105/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMTktMDItMDYvMjAxOC13YXMtdGhlLWZvdXJ0aC13YXJtZXN0LXllYXItb24tcmVjb3JkP3V0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV90ZXJtPTE5MDIwNyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249Y2xpbWF0ZWNoYW5nZWQ/58ffbaf7dd4c29967b8b4646Be4f6e8fd" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">the world’s hottest on record</a>. That warming, which NASA and NOAA directly link to human activity, has immediate financial consequences.” The summary added that “Climate change isn’t just an expanding threat to the environment; it’s already a massive drag on the economy.”</p><div class=""><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It’s not just banks and insurance companies at risk from a hotter world. Households and individuals galore will take direct hits, some from rising seas that destroy homes once regarded as the epitome of the the American Dream, others from the heat and drought so basic to fires that burn homes to the ground, and yet others when drought dries up household wells — what’s a house worth when it loses its water? </p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Household and personal exposure to climate risk doesn’t end there. Thanks to low interest rates, many households pulled money out of savings accounts and used it to buy shares in the stock market. Pointing out that households are exposed to climate risk from this quarter, too, <a href="https://www.fa-mag.com/news/climate-change-could-threaten-investments-42339.html" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Financial Advisor</a> magazine recently warned that “Climate change could sandbag investment portfolios in 2019”.</p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As if all that isn’t risky enough for individuals and households, their pension funds are exposed to climate risks. A pensions industry newsletter, <a href="https://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/3027746/parliamentary-committee-probes-uks-top-25-pension-funds-over-climate-risk-mitigation" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">P</a><a href="https://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/3027746/parliamentary-committee-probes-uks-top-25-pension-funds-over-climate-risk-mitigation" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">rofessional Pensions</a>, has warned of “the major economic impact of climate change and the serious long-term threat that it poses to pension funds’ investments.”</p><p class="" style="margin: 0px 3px 20px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5em; max-width: 560px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Something’s happening here, and what it is is becoming increasingly clear. After decades of claims that protecting the environment endangers the economy, it turns out that we’ve been endangering both. I have to count myself among those who see this emergent risk as an emergency. If our politicians won’t tell us that, we have to be telling it to them.</p><div class="">Counterpunch <span class="" style="color: rgb(30, 30, 30); letter-spacing: 1px; orphans: 2; text-transform: uppercase; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FEBRUARY 14, 2019</span></div><span class="" style="color: rgb(30, 30, 30); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></span><h1 class="headline" itemprop="headline" style="margin: 3px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 34px; max-width: 570px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/14/heat-and-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/" rel="bookmark" class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; font-size: 14px;">Heat and the End of the World as We Know It</a></h1><span class="post_author_intro" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(30, 30, 30); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">by</span><span class="" style="color: rgb(30, 30, 30); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span class="post_author" itemprop="author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; color: rgb(30, 30, 30); display: inline-block; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/lance-olsen/" rel="nofollow" class="" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 1px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(30, 30, 30);">LANCE OLSEN</a></span><div class=""><<<a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/14/heat-and-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/" class="">https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/14/heat-and-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/</a>>></div></div><div class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class="">————————————————————————————————————======<br class="">“A new area of study is the field that some of us are beginning to call <u class="">social traps</u>. The term refers to situations in society that contain traps formally like a fish trap, where men or whole societies get themselves started in some direction or some set of relationships that later prove to be unpleasant or lethal and that they see no easy way to back out of or to avoid."</span></div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><br class="">John Platt. Social Traps. American Psychologist, August 1973</span><div class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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