Climate Horizons 11 (I’m Not Screaming Into the Void Anymore & Happy Thanksgiving!)
News, Views and Solutions in an All-of-the-Above World
Greetings!
We’ve vetted and selected a range of worthwhile climate-related news and information and resources for you.
We’ve departed from our usual format a bit to highlight an outstanding essay in the New York Times from Dr. Kate Marvel, to give some space to the release and some coverage of the important Fifth National Climate Assessment from the US Government.
At the end — after a little news — we share Thanksgiving-related messages from Katharine Hayhoe and Kate Marvel, who authored the piece we highlight immediately below.
We hope you will take a few moments to read the very compelling and hopeful essay (excerpted below, with a link to the NY Times): I’m a Climate Scientist. I’m Not Screaming Into the Void Anymore. The essay was written by Dr. Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at the environmental nonprofit Project Drawdown, and a lead author on the Fifth National Climate Assessment (also highlighted below).
“I don’t just want to talk about the problems anymore. I want to talk about the solutions. Consider this your last warning from me.” -- Dr. Kate Marvel
Dr. Marvel is an associate research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, and she has committed herself to clearly communicating the facts about climate change to the public.
In this short essay, she is arguing that due to the tireless work of the policymakers, engineers, activists, and others who listened to the science, we now have a fighting chance for a better world.
I’m a Climate Scientist.
I’m Not Screaming Into the Void Anymore.
EXCERPT:
Something has changed in the United States, and not just the climate. State, local and tribal governments all around the country have begun to take action. Some politicians now actually campaign on climate change, instead of ignoring or lying about it. Congress passed federal climate legislation — something I’d long regarded as impossible — in 2022 as we turned in the first draft.
And while the report stresses the urgency of limiting warming to prevent terrible risks, it has a new message, too: We can do this. We now know how to make the dramatic emissions cuts we’d need to limit warming, and it’s very possible to do this in a way that’s sustainable, healthy and fair. The conversation has moved on, and the role of scientists has changed. We’re not just warning of danger anymore. We’re showing the way to safety.
I was wrong about those previous reports: They did matter, after all. While climate scientists were warning the world of disaster, a small army of scientists, engineers, policymakers and others were getting to work. These first responders have helped move us toward our climate goals. Our warnings did their job.
To limit global warming, we need many more people to get on board. This will be hard: It will require large-scale changes in infrastructure and behavior as well as removing carbon from the atmosphere. And not everyone is on board yet. In particular, the fossil fuel industry is still ignoring the science. Oil, gas and coal companies have already made plans for infrastructure that, if used as intended, would cause the world to blow past the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next few decades.
To prevent this, we need to reach those who haven’t yet been moved by our warnings. I’m not talking about the fossil fuel industry here; nor do I particularly care about winning over the small but noisy group of committed climate deniers. But I believe we can reach the many people whose eyes glaze over when they hear yet another dire warning or see another report like the one we just published.
The reason is that now, we have a better story to tell. The evidence is clear: Responding to climate change will not only create a better world for our children and grandchildren, but it will also make the world better for us right now.
Eliminating the sources of greenhouse gas emissions will make our air and water cleaner, our economy stronger and our quality of life better. It could save hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives across the country through air quality benefits alone. Using land more wisely can both limit climate change and protect biodiversity. Climate change most strongly affects communities that get a raw deal in our society: people with low incomes, people of color, children and the elderly. And climate action can be an opportunity to redress legacies of racism, neglect and injustice.
I could still tell you scary stories about a future ravaged by climate change, and they’d be true, at least on the trajectory we’re currently on. But it’s also true that we have a once-in-human-history chance not only to prevent the worst effects but also to make the world better right now. It would be a shame to squander this opportunity. So I don’t just want to talk about the problems anymore. I want to talk about the solutions. Consider this your last warning from me.
Read the full guest essay here.
Kate Marvel on the Web
Kate Marvel on Threads
• SELECTED NEWS and INFORMATION:
A few recent news items, usually in the form of a headline and link, along with a short description or excerpt.
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U.S. Government (November 9, 2023)
The Fifth National Climate Assessment
The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States.
About This Report
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President not less frequently than every four years that “integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program and discusses the scientific uncertainties associated with such findings; analyzes the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and analyzes current trends in global change, both human-induced and natural, and projects major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years.”
Read more ABOUT the report here.
How the United States Is Addressing Climate Change
The effects of human-caused climate change are already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States. Rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions can limit future warming and associated increases in many risks. Across the country, efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce emissions have expanded since 2018, and US emissions have fallen since peaking in 2007. However, without deeper cuts in global net greenhouse gas emissions and accelerated adaptation efforts, severe climate risks to the United States will continue to grow.
Future climate change impacts depend on choices made today
The more the planet warms, the greater the impacts. Without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, the risks of accelerating sea level rise, intensifying extreme weather, and other harmful climate impacts will continue to grow. Each additional increment of warming is expected to lead to more damage and greater economic losses compared to previous increments of warming, while the risk of catastrophic or unforeseen consequences also increases.
However, this also means that each increment of warming that the world avoids—through actions that cut emissions or remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—reduces the risks and harmful impacts of climate change. While there are still uncertainties about how the planet will react to rapid warming, the degree to which climate change will continue to worsen is largely in human hands.
In addition to reducing risks to future generations, rapid emissions cuts are expected to have immediate health and economic benefits (Figure 1.1). At the national scale, the benefits of deep emissions cuts for current and future generations are expected to far outweigh the costs.
Click here to visit the excellent Overview and the very well-organized and information-rich site, which includes the following sections:
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Inside Climate News (November 16, 2023)
US Regions Will Suffer a Stunning Variety of Climate-Caused Disasters, Report Finds
Extreme temperatures; worsening wildfires, hurricanes and floods; infrastructure problems; agricultural impacts: The way you experience climate change will depend on where you live.
If there is one overarching message from the nation’s latest climate assessment, it is that nowhere will be spared.
Hotter temperatures are coming to every corner of the country, as are weather extremes. Many regions are experiencing more frequent, heavier rains, while others are seeing worsening drought. Some are getting both. Everywhere, these changes are translating into greater stresses on Americans’ health through worsening heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods and the psychological toll of mounting disasters.
“There is not a part of the U.S. that gets a pass on climate impacts,” one Biden administration official said during a briefing for reporters on the Fifth National Climate Assessment, or NCA. The sprawling, peer-reviewed federal report, released Tuesday, is mandated by Congress and provides the most comprehensive look at the state of climate change across the country.
How those impacts show themselves will vary greatly, with each region suffering its own particular plagues.
RELATED:
EcoWatch (November 17, 2023)
‘Climate Change Is Here’: Every Part of the U.S. Will Suffer Climate-Related Disasters, Report Finds
Earlier this week, the U.S. Global Change Research Program released the United States’ Fifth National Climate Assessment, an overview of the effects climate change is having on the country.
The main message of the assessment is clear: Every part of the country will experience weather extremes due to climate change.
“There is not a part of the U.S. that gets a pass on climate impacts,” a Biden administration official said, as Inside Climate News reported.
AXIOS (November 14, 2023)
Climate change altering U.S. in profound ways, major report finds
A sweeping new federal report finds the effects of climate change are increasingly evident across the U.S., from the Florida Keys to Alaska, and argues for transformational adaptation policies and steep emissions cuts.
CNN (November 14, 2023)
No place in the US is safe from the climate crisis, but a new report shows where it’s most severe
The effects of a rapidly warming climate are being felt in every corner of the US and will worsen over the next 10 years with continued fossil fuel use, according to a stark new report from federal agencies.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated report due roughly every five years, warned that even though planet-warming pollution in the US is slowly decreasing, it is not happening nearly fast enough to meet the nation’s targets, nor is it in line with the UN-sanctioned goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – a threshold beyond which scientists warn life on Earth will struggle to cope.
This year’s assessment reflects the reality that Americans can increasingly see and feel climate impacts in their own communities, said Katharine Hayhoe, a distinguished climate scientist at Texas Tech University and contributor to the report.
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The Guardian (November 19, 2023)
Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 66%, report says
‘Polluter elite’ are plundering the planet to point of destruction, says Oxfam after comprehensive study of climate inequality
The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, with dire consequences for vulnerable communities and global efforts to tackle the climate emergency, a report says.
The most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever undertaken shows that this elite group, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than US$140,000 (£112,500) a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019 – enough to cause more than a million excess deaths due to heat, according to the report.
For the past six months, the Guardian has worked with Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute and other experts on an exclusive basis to produce a special investigation, The Great Carbon Divide. It explores the causes and consequences of carbon inequality and the disproportionate impact of super-rich individuals, who have been termed “the polluter elite”. Climate justice will be high on the agenda of this month’s UN Cop28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates.
The Oxfam report shows that while the wealthiest 1% tend to live climate-insulated, air-conditioned lives, their emissions – 5.9bn tonnes of CO2 in 2019 – are responsible for immense suffering.
• GOOD NEWS and SOLUTIONS:
One or two or a few items that highlight either real and notable progress being made somewhere or information about a few of the many solutions that are out there and available today.
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NJ.com / MSNBC (November 20, 2023)
N.J. to require all new car sales to be electric by 2035
New Jersey will require all new car sales to be electric by 2035 with some requirements starting in 2026 as part of a series of new regulations, an administrative official in Gov. Phil Murphy’s office confirmed to NJ Advance Media on Monday.
The rule that will make the mandate possible will be filed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday, officials in the governor’s office added.
The filing of “Advanced Clean Cars II” before a deadline that was looming Wednesday will mean car makers must start to follow some zero emission vehicle requirements, beginning with light duty cars in model year 2027 — the ones that hit the market in 2026.
An official in the governor’s office did not comment further, but more information on how the rule will impact drivers is expected Tuesday.
Still, the rule follows California’s lead — requiring manufacturers that make cars, light trucks and SUVs to fill more and more of their fleets with electric options over several years until reaching 100% zero-emission vehicles in just over a decade.
AND:
“This announcement backs up what voters said loud and clear just a few weeks ago: New Jersey won’t buy the fossil fuel industry’s misinformation,” Ambrose said Monday afternoon ahead of the filing.
“Our state needs to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution and after this announcement, we are no longer sitting in the slow lane while other states pass us by on clean energy.”
RELATED:
electrek (February 16, 2023)
New Jersey will now require all-electric car sales by 2035
All new cars sold in New Jersey will have to be zero emissions from 2035, Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ) announced yesterday.
As Electrek previously reported, New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection called for a gas car sales ban by 2035 in October 2020. Murphy’s new executive orders are the next step. The new EV regulations will be complete by the end of 2023.
New Jersey joins New York, California, and the European Union in ending new gas vehicle sales by 2035.
We are departing from our usual format this week.
“THINGS YOU CAN DO” and “INTERNET RESOURCES & SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS” will be back next week.
In the meantime, we wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving, and offer a couple of Thanksgiving related messages below (one new from Katharine Hayhoe, and one from 2018 — but as relevant today — from Kate Marvel, who authored the piece we highlighted above.
Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe (November 20, 2023)
Bring local impacts into climate conversations
National climate assessments offer local insights that can help you navigate holiday climate conversations
EXCERPT:
Finally, the [Fifth National Climate Assessment] emphasizes that 1.5C isn’t a threshold: instead, the risks increase with every tenth of a degree the world warms. This echoes the conclusions of the IPCC, that “every choice matters, every action matters, and every bit of warming matters.” Our actions matter!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
This week is American Thanksgiving and for many others, the holiday season is coming up next month. This means that, wherever you live, you’ll have lots of opportunities to have a conversation about climate change soon.
I always recommend starting off with something you have in common; so focusing on how climate change is affecting the place where you both live, or care about, or visit, is a good place to begin.
By Kate Marvel in Scientific American (November 21, 2018)
A Thanksgiving Meditation in the Face of a Changing Climate
I feel grief, guilt, anger, determination, hope and sadness all at the same time. But what I feel more than anything is gratitude for what we have.
EXCERPT:
The Universe is not perfect, and that’s why you exist. There were tiny wrinkles at the beginning of space and time, and these led to tiny imperfections in the smooth face of the early Universe. In some regions, there was a bit more matter, in others a bit less. This slight difference multiplied as the gravity of the rich regions pulled in the matter from the poorer regions. As in real life, the rich got richer. But this is why the cosmos is dotted with stars and galaxies. Every single speck of light you’ve ever seen in the nighttime sky is evidence of the Universe’s flaws.
In one small gravity well, dust and gas collapsed and piled on top itself to create a ball, and then a larger ball, and eventually a star. This is our star, and there is nothing special about it. But its ordinariness is the fuel for all the life we’ve ever known. In the sun’s hot center, protons are flung around so violently by the heat that they overcome their natural electrical repulsion. When they come together, they make something less than the sum of their parts. The difference is translated into energy, some of which comes to you. You are fortunate to benefit from an enormous nuclear reactor in the sky. If the sun were made of coal, it would have burned out sixty-five thousand years after it formed. Everything you’ve ever eaten or drunk, every move you’ve ever made, every beautiful thing you’ve ever seen is because of a mediocre star in an unexceptional galaxy.
You live on a small rock not too close and not too far from the Sun. You go around it once per year in an almost perfect circle, the year marked in seasons caused by axial tilt. Your planet can and does wobble in its orbit over tens or hundreds of thousands of years, with the circle becoming an ellipse, the tilt becoming larger or smaller, and the North Star alternating between Polaris and Vega. Any small shift in the orbital parameters can lead to massive climatic shifts, blanketing the planet in glaciers. You are lucky to live in an interglacial, a respite from the Ice Age that has lasted longer than human civilization, and may outlast us, too.
Read the rest of Kate’s “meditation” here.
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