Climate Change(d)?

[steve_bank]

As the saying goes, how Santa Monica goes so does the world.

High atop a hill in Santa Monica TSwizzle sees all and knows all.

 

[lpetrich]

Conservatives Attack Companies for Being Too ‘Woke’ on Climate - The New York Times - "Conservatives in the U.S. have targeted firms for their environmental policies, but many companies are standing their ground."

Standing before a banner that read, “Government of Laws, Not Woke CEOs,” Mr. DeSantis railed against companies that he said were trying to use their power to advance a liberal agenda.

“From Wall Street banks to massive asset managers and big tech companies, we have seen the corporate elite use their economic power to impose policies on the country that they could not achieve at the ballot box,” he said.

After decades of making a principle of automatically standing by business leaders no matter what, they choose that to complain about?

Conservatives in the United States, closely aligned with the oil and gas industries, have begun calling foul as companies and investment firms embrace efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address international and local inequities. And in recent months, they have pushed beyond rhetoric to punish corporations that they say are unduly focused on issues that they argue are unrelated to a company’s bottom line.

...
Tensions between conservative and corporate America have been growing for years. After the election of former President Donald J. Trump, many chief executives found themselves at odds with the White House on issues including immigration, race relations and efforts to mitigate climate change by reining in oil and gas production and use.

...
Texas became the first state to pass a law that barred major financial institutions from state business if they were deemed to be “boycotting” the oil and gas industry. In truth, the financial firms targeted by the law still do ample business with the fossil fuel industry, but have pulled back lending for some parts of the oil and gas business that they believe to be poor investments.

 

[lpetrich]

A new movie about climate activists: Roadside Attractions on Twitter: "@ToTheEndFilm is “a rallying cry about the climate crisis” and will ignite you to take action. See it in theaters December 9. (vid link)" / Twitter
Starring:

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - Government
• Varshini Prakash - Community
• Alexandra Rojas - Politics
• Rhiana Gunn-Wright - Climate Policy

To The End (@totheendfilm) / Twitter - "Stopping the #ClimateCrisis is a question of political courage.. the clock is ticking. A new film from the team behind @knockdownmovie. In theaters December 9."

That was Knock Down the House (@knockdownmovie) / Twitter - a documentary movie about four progressive candidates for Congress in 2018: AOC, Cori Bush, Paula Jean Swearengin, & Amy Vilela. Knock Down The House | FULL FEATURE | Netflix - YouTube

Mentioning activist organizations

• Sunrise Movement - We Are The Climate Revolution - climate-activist organization - Varshini Prakash: Co-founder & Executive Director
• Justice Democrats - Let's Elect the Next Generation - PAC for electing progressive politicians like AOC - Alexandra Rojas: Executive Director
• The Roosevelt Institute - " A new, more democratic economy is emerging. A once-in-a-generation transformation has begun, and the Roosevelt Institute is at the forefront—advancing policy ideas that rebalance power in our economy and democracy." - Rhiana Gunn-Wright: Director, Climate Policy

 

[lpetrich]

‘To The End’ Trailer Shows AOC, Climate Change Activists In Action – Deadline

The film was revised because of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which had some of Build Back Better in it.

“When the film premiered at Sundance, it was right after [Democratic] Senator Joe Manchin killed the Build Back Better bill. And there was at that point no particular prospect of major climate legislation passing,” Lears tells Deadline. “But as the gears continued churning for a few months, they did reach a deal in July and we knew right away we’ve got to reedit the film, we’ve got to shoot what we can to end the story this way.”

...
“We changed the ending, for one thing,” Lears explains. “The film now ends with historic legislation passing and our protagonists reflecting on this. And it really shows how their work that we see in the film leads to what happens. What they’ve done is to make politically impossible things become possible.”

Not surprisingly, it was made more optimistic.

“The film was inspiring to me and to many people who saw it, even in the previous cut, because our protagonists are so determined and motivated in their work,” Lears says. “But it’s even more inspiring now when you see that their work has resulted in historic material change.”

 

[lpetrich]

Greta Thunberg to skip ‘greenwashing’ Cop27 climate summit in Egypt | Cop27 | The Guardian - "Swedish climate activist says the UN’s climate conference will be ‘used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention’" calling it "greenwashing".

She attended the previous one. She also wasn't happy with this one's venue, it seems.

Thunberg was among those who last week signed a petition by a human rights coalition calling on Egyptian authorities to open up civic space and release political prisoners.

 

[Swammerdami]

Texas became the first state to pass a law that barred major financial institutions from state business if they were deemed to be “boycotting” the oil and gas industry. In truth, the financial firms targeted by the law still do ample business with the fossil fuel industry, but have pulled back lending for some parts of the oil and gas business that they believe to be poor investments.

Can you imagine the constipated rage if libtards passed a similar law for banks that "boycott" mortgage loans in risky neighborhoods? Sales of Preparation H would triple.

 

[Elixir]

sees all and knows [fuck] all.

FIFY

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Texas became the first state to pass a law that barred major financial institutions from state business if they were deemed to be “boycotting” the oil and gas industry. In truth, the financial firms targeted by the law still do ample business with the fossil fuel industry, but have pulled back lending for some parts of the oil and gas business that they believe to be poor investments.

Can you imagine the constipated rage if libtards passed a similar law for banks that "boycott" mortgage loans in risky neighborhoods? Sales of Preparation H would triple.

The odd thing is that a lot of corporate movements to go green and zero emission are so full of crap and are absolute scams, with agreements of carbon neutrality being based on saving forests that were never at risk or planting trees that'll never be planted or double, triple, quadruple dipping green areas. Does Texas go after that part of it, the actual fraud? No, just the alleged eco part. Nothing but reactionaries.

 

[scombrid]

 

[Shadowy Man]

Yes, but what’s the temperature in Santa Monica??

 

[scombrid]

I'm getting the red X on the annual snow total graph from the same location but it is inversely related to temperate and has dropped from an annual average around 180" to 125" over the same time span. This is a rural high elevation location in northern West Virginia that is not influenced by urban effects. There is large inter annual variability driven by interplay between NAO and ENSO but the trend is stark.

 

[scombrid]

Meanwhile the average annual temperature of the Indian River Lagoon down here in Florida has gone up 0.9 degrees C in a time series from 1998 to 2018. Change has been pretty fast in the last 2-3 decades and the property insurance companies are certainly paying attention to it and I've had to modify my workouts in the summer early mornings because the temperature change has come with about a 4-6 degree increase in the dew point which has pushed the wet bulb into the red zone for vigorous efforts.

 

[steve_bank]

Time lapse glaciers retreating.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he5QzhE7_g4

 

[steve_bank]

Another casualty of climate change in the PN. Higher temperatures leading to more longer lasting fies. Smole from fires bind with chemicals in grapes that can not be separated out.

Result, wine that tastes like smoke..

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Green hydrogen appears to be the next fad. India is allegedly in talks to export green hydrogen.

A country who can't supply its entire country with electricity, wants to develop solar based power sources... to create green hydrogen to sell abroad. WTF?!

Costa Rica is just about 100% green thanks to the fact it rains 400 inches of rain every day, so it has a lot of hydro power. Any more hydro power, and they can generate green hydrogen, because that energy isn't needed. Okay. India... massively impoverished nation which is burning lots of coal to inadequately power it's country... wants to build out expensive solar plants... to make green hydrogen at an energy loss... while their population is underserved. Oi!

 

[steve_bank]

Starting in the 90s India has a program to provide rural solar electricity. Locals are trained in maintenance.

Rural families in India are now powered with solar energy | One Earth

Moving away from firewood, villagers in Aharauli, India are using clean solar energy for heating their homes and cooking.

www.oneearth.org

Encouraging solar energy adoption in rural India

An MIT study in rural India suggests ongoing efforts supporting the adoption of “off-grid” energy sources can bring people in remote areas basic energy services from renewable resources.

news.mit.edu

Argentina has or had a program to lease solar systems to rural off grid farmers..

It is happening.

In the 80s a hydrogen economy was a topic.

 

[bilby]

In the 80s it foundered on the difficulty of storing and transporting hydrogen safely and cheaply.

Hydrogen is difficult to contain without heavy tanks that cost a lot to transport.

It's very good at escaping from containers, and very hazardous when it does, as it forms explosive mixtures in air at a far wider range of concentrations than other gases (particularly methane).

It's almost always easier and cheaper to make and use methane than it is to use hydrogen directly, and it's almost always easier and cheaper to use fossil methane than it is to manufacture it.

We don't need Green Hydrogen; We need a tax on fossil fuels.

 

[southernhybrid]

I found a long article to "gift" that makes the claim, according to climate scientists who certainly know a lot more than the rest of us, that we have only 9 years left to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change.

https://wapo.st/3A8quYd

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Nations will likely burn through their remaining carbon budget in less than a decade if they do not significantly reduce greenhouse gas pollution, a new study shows, causing the world to blow past a critical warming threshold and triggering catastrophic climate impacts.

10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint

But new gas projects — launched in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting global energy crunch — would consume 10 percent of that remaining carbon budget, making it all but impossible for nations to meet the Paris agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, according to another report released Wednesday.

The Global Carbon Budget, an annual assessment of how much the world can afford to emit to stay within its warming targets, found that greenhouse gas pollution will hit a record high this year, with much of the growth coming from a 1 percent increase in carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Emissions in both the United States and India have increased compared to last year, while China and the European Union will probably report small declines, according to the report.

Pongratz said it is still technically possible for the world to avoid temperature rise beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius — which scientists say is needed to avoid disastrous extreme weather, rampant hunger and disease and the collapse of ecosystems on which humanity depends.

I'm not optimistic. Read the entire piece if you want to comment on it.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I found a long article to "gift" that makes the claim, according to climate scientists who certainly know a lot more than the rest of us, that we have only 9 years left to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change.

It's been obvious for a while now that the political will to actually deal with it simply doesn't exist. Nor is there even any point in trying unless places like China and India sign on--and they are showing no inclination to do so. The damage is too far down the road for those in power to care.

 

[southernhybrid]

I found a long article to "gift" that makes the claim, according to climate scientists who certainly know a lot more than the rest of us, that we have only 9 years left to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change.

It's been obvious for a while now that the political will to actually deal with it simply doesn't exist. Nor is there even any point in trying unless places like China and India sign on--and they are showing no inclination to do so. The damage is too far down the road for those in power to care.

I agree with you, although I don't think the damage is that far down the road, at least not in many places. I don' think that humans have enough motivation to make the required changes needed to stop the worst outcomes.

There are already countries who have wide spread famines due to extreme droughts etc. We haven't seen that much damage yet, compared to a lot of the third world countries, but if people are honest with themselves, they can see that change has already started. Who thought the Mississippi River would be drying up in places? What about the extreme flooding from some of the recent hurricanes, including the one earlier this week, that caused lots of homes to literally fall into the sea. It's been in the 70s and low 80s all November in Georgia. Sure, it's going to get colder tonight and return to normal, but I can't remember the weather ever being this warm well into November. Change has come and sadly, despite the denialists, it's going to get worse.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about how when we were children, a lot of things were reused. Milk bottles were made of glass that was reused, and soda was in bottles that could be returned for a few cents, to be reused. Grocery stores used paper bags and things weren't wrapped up in plastics. I told her it reminded me of the line from the movie, "The Graduate", where the father told the son that the future is in plastics. That was in the 60s. We didn't realize how much damage plastic would do to the environment. We had no idea that the cars our parents drove that got 7 mpg were impacting the climate. Hindsight is 20/20.

Besides all of that, humans have a long history of destroying their own habitat, along with many of the animals that are important to the environment.