Why Climate Change Isn’t Our Biggest Environmental Problem, and Why Technology Won’t Save Us

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-08-17/climate-change-isnt-biggest-environmental-problem-technology-wont-save-us/

Why Climate Change Isn’t Our Biggest Environmental Problem, and Why Technology Won’t Save Us

By Richard Heinberg, originally published by Post Carbon Institute
August 17, 2017

Our core ecological problem is not climate change. It is overshoot, of which global warming is a symptom. Overshoot is a systemic issue. Over the past century-and-a-half, enormous amounts of cheap energy from fossil fuels enabled the rapid growth of resource extraction, manufacturing, and consumption; and these in turn led to population increase, pollution, and loss of natural habitat and hence biodiversity. The human system expanded dramatically, overshooting Earth’s long-term carrying capacity for humans while upsetting the ecological systems we depend on for our survival. Until we understand and address this systemic imbalance, symptomatic treatment (doing what we can to reverse pollution dilemmas like climate change, trying to save threatened species, and hoping to feed a burgeoning population with genetically modified crops) will constitute an endlessly frustrating round of stopgap measures that are ultimately destined to fail.

The ecology movement in the 1970s benefitted from a strong infusion of systems thinking, which was in vogue at the time (ecology—the study of the relationships between organisms and their environments—is an inherently systemic discipline, as opposed to studies like chemistry that focus on reducing complex phenomena to their components). As a result, many of the best environmental writers of the era framed the modern human predicament in terms that revealed the deep linkages between environmental symptoms and the way human society operates.

•••••

However, in recent decades, as climate change has come to dominate environmental concerns, there has been a significant shift in the discussion. Today, most environmental reporting is focused laser-like on climate change, and systemic links between it and other worsening ecological dilemmas (such as overpopulation, species extinctions, water and air pollution, and loss of topsoil and fresh water) are seldom highlighted. It’s not that climate change isn’t a big deal. As a symptom, it’s a real doozy. There’s never been anything quite like it, and climate scientists and climate-response advocacy groups are right to ring the loudest of alarm bells. But our failure to see climate change in context may be our undoing.

Why have environmental writers and advocacy organizations succumbed to tunnel vision? Perhaps it’s simply that they assume systems thinking is beyond the capacity of policy makers.

•••••

Of course, ignoring the systemic nature of our dilemma just means that as soon as we get one symptom corralled, another is likely to break loose.

•••••

Any systems thinker who understands overshoot and prescribes powerdown as a treatment is effectively engaging in an intervention with an addictive behavior. Society is addicted to growth, and that’s having terrible consequences for the planet and, increasingly, for us as well. We have to change our collective and individual behavior and give up something we depend on—power over our environment. We must restrain ourselves, like an alcoholic foreswearing booze. That requires honesty and soul-searching.

•••••

The good news is that systemic change is fractal in nature: it implies, indeed it requires, action at every level of society. We can start with our own individual choices and behavior; we can work within our communities. We needn’t wait for a cathartic global or national sea change. And even if our efforts cannot “save” consumerist industrial civilization, they could still succeed in planting the seeds of a regenerative human culture worthy of survival.

There’s more good news: once we humans choose to restrain our numbers and our rates of consumption, technology can assist our efforts.

•••••

But machines won’t make the key choices that will set us on a sustainable path. Systemic change driven by moral awakening: it’s not just our last hope; it’s the only real hope we’ve ever had.

Informative links

Facebook worker living in garage to Zuckerberg: challenges are right outside your door
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/24/facebook-cafeteria-workers-wages-zuckerberg-challenges


Charities Pull Fundraisers Planned for Trump's Mar-A-Lago
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544482897/charities-turn-away-from-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-their-fundraisers


To reduce postoperative pain, consider sleep -- and caffeine
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/mmu-trp081817.php


Vitamin D deficiency linked to increased heart failure risk in older adults
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/w-vdd081817.php


New study rebuts the claim that antidepressants do not work
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uog-nsr081817.php


Antibiotics found to weaken body's ability to fight off disease
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uovh-aft081717.php


College freshmen who weighed themselves daily lost body fat
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/du-cfw081717.php


Smoking linked to frailty in older adults
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/oupu-slt081617.php


Outdoor light at night linked with increased breast cancer risk in women
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/htcs-ola081617.php


First evidence that e-cigarettes may be prompting UK teens to try the real thing
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/b-fet081617.php


Community health workers lead to better health, lower costs for Medicaid patients
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uops-chw081517.php

Schoolchildren who use e-cigarettes are more likely to try tobacco

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uol-swu081517.php

Public Release: 17-Aug-2017
Schoolchildren who use e-cigarettes are more likely to try tobacco
University of Leeds

Vaping - or the use of e-cigarettes - is widely accepted as a safer option for people who are already smoking.

The research published in the Tobacco Control journal raises questions about the role e-cigarettes may play in the progression adolescents make to smoke their first cigarette.

It identified a 'robust association' between e-cigarette use and the increased probability of smoking a cigarette within year.

•••••

Businesses that once opposed nicotine replacement therapy now sell it, the 'Tobacco Papers' reveal

Public Release: 17-Aug-2017
Study shows cigarette makers shifted stance on nicotine patches, gum
Businesses that once opposed nicotine replacement therapy now sell it, the 'Tobacco Papers' reveal
University of California - San Francisco

The use of nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers or nasal sprays -- together called "nicotine replacement therapy," or NRT -- came into play in 1984 as prescription medicine, which when combined with counseling, helped smokers quit. But in 1996, at the urging of pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed those products to be sold over-the-counter.

Now, a new study conducted by scientists at UC San Francisco reports that tobacco companies have known for decades that, without counseling, NRT hardly ever works, and that consumers often use it to complement smoking. This insight from the formerly secret industry documents known as the "Tobacco Papers" reveals why companies that once viewed nicotine patches and gum as a threat to their cigarette sales now embrace them as a business opportunity, the researchers said.

"It was surprising to discover the industry came to view NRT as just another product," said UCSF's Dorie Apollonio, PhD, associate professor in clinical pharmacy and lead author of the study. "The tobacco companies want people to get nicotine -- and they're open-minded about how they get it."

•••••

Smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths every year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and another 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related disease. The costs of such illnesses total more than $300 billion each year, when including both costs of direct medical care and lost productivity due to secondhand smoke exposure.

•••••

Clinical trials show that NRT can help people quit smoking, but only if used in conjunction with counseling and in tapering doses. Over-the-counter availability of NRT made it easy for smokers to get a nicotine fix in non-smoking environments like offices and flights, for example, with the net result that they were less likely to quit.

•••••

Experts sound alarm over news websites' fake news twins

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/18/experts-sound-alarm-over-news-websites-fake-news-twins

Graham Ruddick
Aug. 18, 2017

Fake articles made to look like they have been published by legitimate news websites have emerged as a new avenue for propaganda on the internet, with experts concerned about the increasing sophistication of the latest attempts to spread disinformation.

Kremlin supporters are suspected to be behind a collection of fraudulent articles published this year that were mocked up to appear as if they were from al-Jazeera, the Atlantic, Belgian newspaper Le Soir, and the Guardian.

The creators of the articles made them look genuine at first glance by building doppelganger sites that have domain names extremely similar to the news organisations they are purporting to be. The stories were then pushed out to the world through sharing on social media and other websites – often Russian – following up on the article.

•••••

Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council digital forensic research lab and an expert in the spread of disinformation, warned that the fake articles were still having an impact even after they have been debunked and that the misuse of English might not even matter if the main target of the propaganda were Russian speakers.

•••••

Even after the articles are proven to be fake they are still being spread. Ren TV, which has a history of producing pro-Kremlin content, did a piece portraying the removal of the article as a deletion by the Guardian of a true article, an angle also taken by an Armenian outlet following the fake Haaretz piece on the Azerbaijani first family.

Creating fake foreign articles and then seeing them followed up by domestic news providers is a propaganda technique that Russia is accused of using before. In 1983 the KGB allegedly placed a story in a Indian journal that claimed Aids was a product of US military research. This story was then followed up by Soviet organisations and spread around the world.

•••••

For now the most effective approach appears to be ensuring that the articles are swiftly taken down from the internet after they are published and ensuring Google and the social media giants remove references and links to the article.

But even then, the propagandists may have already achieved their aim. “With any fake all it takes is for one genuine outlet to broadcast and you have laundered the narrative,” Nimmo said. “Once it’s out there its hard to convince people it’s a fake.”

As Arctic Sea Ice Disappears, 2,000 Walruses Mob Remote Alaska Beach

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17082017/walrus-alaska-haul-out-climate-change-sea-ice-temperature-records

By Phil McKenna
Aug. 17, 2017

A remote barrier island off Alaska's northwest coast has been mobbed by thousands of Pacific walruses in recent weeks in the earliest known "haul out" for the species.

Their arrival is tied to shrinking Arctic sea ice and follows one of the hottest months on record. It also comes as Arctic sea ice extent is near a record low for this time of year.

•••••

Walruses rely on the ice as they hunt for food. They typically dive from floating blocks of ice to feed on clams on the ocean floor. As the ice floes melt, however, this vanishing habitat recedes farther north, beyond the shallow waters of the continental shelf and into Arctic waters too deep for the foraging animals. Then they haul up on shore, crowding together, sometimes in herds of thousands, where deadly stampedes can occur.

As of last week, approximately 2,000 of the marine mammals were on shore, U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Andrea Medeiros wrote in an email. Observers from the nearby Native village of Point Lay say they have already seen dead animals this year.

"This early haul out shows that Pacific walruses are in terrible trouble," Emily Jeffers, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity said in a written statement. "The walrus, within the foreseeable future, will be at risk of extinction due to the loss of sea ice."

The environmental advocacy organization has petitioned the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Pacific walruses under the Endangered Species Act. A decision is expected by the end of September.

Mass walrus haul-outs were first observed off Point Lay in 2007, when Arctic sea-ice extent dropped 1 million square miles below average — an area the size of Alaska and Texas combined.

President Donald Trump's efforts to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and to open the Arctic to offshore drilling would exacerbate sea ice loss and other threats to Pacific walruses, Jeffers said.

•••••

'It's Not Worth Taking a Chance.' Man Who Experienced Eye Damage During 1962 Solar Eclipse Warns Others

http://time.com/4906156/solar-eclipse-2017-eye-damage/

Jason Duaine Hahn / People
Aug 17, 2017

A man who damaged his eyes 55 years ago while looking at a partial solar eclipse is warning others about the risks of looking at the sun without protection.

In 1962, Lou Tomososki walked home from Marshall High School in Bend, Oregon, with his friend Roger Duval, when the two stopped to watch the partial eclipse occurring in the sky. While they only looked with their naked eyes for a few seconds, the damage the sun caused to Tomososki’s vision would stay with him for the rest of his life.

According to Today, Tomososki began to see flashes in his vision, similar to the spots that occur when a picture is taken with a flashbulb. Tomososki, now 70, has experienced vision problems since then, and he is warning those who want to enjoy the Great American Eclipse on August 21 to wear eye protection while looking at the celestial event.

•••••

“When you partially obscure the sun with the moon, it’s not so bright, and it’s not so painful to actually look at it,” Dr. G. Baker Hubbard of the Emory Eye Center in Atlanta told FOX5. “But, even though it’s not painful, those harmful rays are still getting in your eyes and focused right onto the center of your retina, and that’s where it does the damage.”

•••••

Be Smart: A Partial Eclipse Can Fry Your Naked Eyes

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/18/543745409/be-smart-a-partial-eclipse-can-fry-your-naked-eyes

New Android malware can secretly steal your credit card data, calls and texts

http://bgr.com/2017/08/18/android-malware-faketoken-steal-credit-card-info/

Jacob Siegal @JacobSiegal
August 18th, 201

•••••

This week, security firm Kaspersky detailed a relatively new Android malware called Faketoken in a blog post on Thursday morning. Faketoken has actually been around for at least a year, but it has evolved into something especially sinister. Once it infects an Android device, Faketoken is capable of recording phone calls, intercepting text messages and stealing data from various apps, including banking apps.

Worst of all, you’ll probably never know that the malware is active on your device. Kaspersky says that once the Trojan initiates, “it hides its shortcut icon and starts to monitor all of the calls and whichever apps the user launches.” The Trojan contains an overlay mechanism that can lift data from over 2,000 apps, including Android Pay, the Google Play Store, apps to book flights, taxis and hotel rooms and even apps used to pay traffic tickets. As soon as you open one of those apps, Faketoken replaces the user interface with a fake one asking users to input their financial information.

But what if a bank asks the user to input a code sent by SMS message in order to access the account? Faketoken’s creators have an answer for that too. The malware can steal any incoming SMS messages and send them to command-and-control servers, where hackers can use them to gain access.

According to Kaspersky, the evidence suggests that Faketoken is being targeted at Russian users for now, but this serves as a valuable reminder that you shouldn’t ever download anything from a source you don’t trust or recognize. Otherwise, you might end up suffering the consequences.

Pediatricians say Florida hurt sick kids to help big GOP donors

I suggest reading the whole article at the following link:

http://wgno.com/2017/08/18/pediatricians-say-florida-hurt-sick-kids-to-help-big-gop-donors/

Posted 6:08 PM, August 18, 2017

•••••

In the spring and summer of 2015, the state switched more than 13,000 children out of a highly respected program called Children’s Medical Services, or CMS, a part of Florida Medicaid. Children on this plan have serious health problems including birth defects, heart disease, diabetes and blindness.

The state moved the children to other Medicaid insurance plans that don’t specialize in caring for very sick children.

Stroud says that for her son, the consequences were devastating. Despite hours of phone calls, she says, she couldn’t find surgeons on his new insurance plan willing to do the highly specialized procedures he needed. Over the next seven months, her son lost 10 pounds, quit the football team and often missed school.

“He was in pain every day,” Stroud said. “I just felt so helpless. It’s such a horrible feeling where you can’t help your kid.”

LJ filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida, and he was eventually placed back on Children’s Medical Services and received the care he needed. But some Florida pediatricians worry about other children with special health care needs who, two years later, are still off the program.

The doctors aren’t just worried; they’re angry.

First, the data analysis the state used to justify switching the children is “inaccurate” and “bizarre,” according to the researcher who wrote the software used in that analysis.

Second, the screening tool the state used to select which children would be kicked off the program has been called “completely invalid” and “a perversion of science” by top experts in children with special health care needs.

Third, in fall 2015, a state administrative law judge ruled that the Department of Health should stop using the screening tool because it was unlawful. However, even after the judge issued his decision, the department didn’t automatically re-enroll the children or even reach out to the families directly to let them know that re-enrollment was a possibility.

Finally, parents and Florida pediatricians raise questions about the true reasons why Florida’s Republican administration switched the children’s health plans. They question whether it was to financially reward insurance companies that had donated millions of dollars to the Republican Party of Florida.

“This was a way for the politicians to repay the entities that had contributed to their political campaigns and their political success, and it’s the children who suffered,” said Dr. Louis St. Petery, former executive vice president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

•••••

July 2017: Earth's 1st or 2nd Warmest July on Record

All-time national heat records set or tied in 2017 : 10
All-time national cold records set in 2017 : 2

Dr. Jeff Masters · August 17, 2017, 10:19 PM

July 2017 was the planet's second warmest July since record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) on Thursday. NASA rated July 2017 as the warmest July on record, which means it was also tied for first place as Earth’s warmest month in recorded history (see Joe Romm’s report on this at climateprogress.org.) The only warmer July, according to NOAA, came during the strong El Niño of 2016. Minor differences can occur between the NASA and NOAA rankings because of their different techniques for analyzing data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.

Global ocean temperatures last month were the third warmest on record for any July, according to NOAA, and global land temperatures were the warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the 4th warmest for any July in the 39-year record, according to the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) and Remote Sensing Systems (RSS).

•••••

Second-warmest year on record thus far

Each of the first seven months of 2017 have ranked among the top three warmest such months on record, giving 2017 the second highest January–July temperature in the 138-year record: 0.90°C (1.62°F) above the 20th century average of 13.5°C (56.3°F). This is behind the record year of 2016 by 0.14°C (0.25°F). This near-record warmth is especially remarkable given the lack of an El Niño event this year. Global temperatures tend to be warmer during El Niño years, when the ocean releases more heat to the atmosphere. Given the lack of an El Niño event in 2017, it is unlikely that we will surpass 2016 as the warmest year on record.

•••••

Arctic sea ice extent during July 2017 was the fifth lowest in the 38-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

•••••

Sea ice surrounding Antarctica has been at unprecedented lows in recent months, setting an all-time monthly minimum extent record each month during the five-month period November 2016 – March 2017, and again in July of 2017. Monthly Antarctic sea ice extent in April, May and June of 2017 were the second lowest on record for their respective months.

•••••

Rise In Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Should Not Be a Surprise

https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2017/08/16/record-carbon-dioxide-should-not-be-a-surprise/#763667d1767f

University of Houston Energy Fellows
Post written by Earl J. Ritchie, Lecturer, Department of Construction Management
Aug. 16, 2017

Many recent articles, such as this New York Times piece, have described the flattening in estimated carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels as a possible turning point in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In the face of this flattening, the unabated rise of atmospheric CO2 has been declared a mystery. A number of possible explanations, such as saturation of carbon sinks and El Niño, have been given for the apparent disconnect.

There are two simple explanations: The first is that CO2 emissions from human sources have not actually decreased. The flattening in fossil fuel emissions has been offset by increases due to land use changes, such as logging of forests and increased development. The second is that even if CO2 emissions had flattened, the total amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere would not be greatly reduced. The atmospheric CO2 growth rate would slow, but the difference would likely be undetectable in the short term.

•••••

Carbon dioxide emissions are estimates rather than facts, however, the bigger issue is that fossil fuel emissions are not the only anthropogenic sources of CO2. The graph below shows that when land use is added, emissions steadily increase.

•••••

According to models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, short-term carbon sinks – a forest, ocean or other reservoir that can absorb carbon dioxide – could not keep up even if CO2 emissions were significantly reduced. Therefore, atmospheric CO2 continues to increase even if emissions were to be stabilized. This can be seen by the black line in the graph below. The decrease in growth of atmospheric CO2 after emissions are stabilized is gradual and would be difficult to detect over a few years. Actual decrease in concentration requires emissions reductions on the order of 80%.

•••••

Trump to reverse Obama-era order aimed at planning for climate change

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/15/trump-to-reverse-obama-era-order-aimed-at-planning-for-climate-change/?utm_term=.18da96aa6468

By Darryl Fears and Steven Mufson August 15, 2017

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would streamline the approval process for building infrastructure such as roads, bridges and offices by eliminating a planning step related to climate change and flood dangers.

•••••

The White House confirmed that the order issued Tuesday would revoke an earlier executive order by former President Barack Obama that required recipients of federal funds to strongly consider risk-management standards when building in flood zones, including measures such as elevating structures from the reach of rising water. Obama’s Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, established in 2015, sought to mitigate the risk of flood damage charged to taxpayers when property owners file costly claims.

Comments and links

Elder Orphans: How to Plan for Aging Without a Family Caregiver
http://www.aarp.org/home-family/caregiving/info-2016/caregiving-tips-when-aging-alone.html?cmp=SNO-ICM-FB-AO-CG&socialid=787791923


Heavily used pesticide linked to breathing problems in farmworkers' children
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uoc--hp081617.php


Why teens take risks: often guided by the desire to learn about the world
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/appc-wtt081617.php


Acupuncture, electrotherapy after knee replacement associated with reduced and delayed opioid use
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/tjnj-aea081517.php


Child's home learning environment predicts 5th grade academic skills
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/nyu-chl081517.php


Same-sex couples do not influence their adoptive children's gender identity
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/s-scd081517.php


The environmental injustice of beauty
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/gwu-tei081017.php


Evolved masculine and feminine behaviors can be inherited from social environment
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uoe-ema081417.php


Racists defend statues honoring confederate leaders as part of our history. So what. Are we supposed to put up statues to Benedict Arnold and other traitors because they are part of our history?
Does Britain have statues honoring American leaders of the American Revolution on government property? Do we have statues honoring those who fought bravely on the side of Britain?


Military Joint Chiefs Denounce Charlottesville Racism
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/military-joint-chiefs-denounce-charlottesville-racism-n793376


The FBI has quietly investigated white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement and the military
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/


http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55695/white-supremacist-law-enforcement/


Nearly All US Trade Deals Were Negotiated, Signed, and Implemented by Republicans
https://piie.com/research/piie-charts/nearly-all-us-trade-deals-were-negotiated-signed-and-implemented-republicans


The Psychology of Hate Groups: What Drives Someone to Join One?
[ Also, my observation is that harsh treatment by parents can damage self-esteem and cause a wellspring of anger, both of which contribute to this problem. Our culture also contributes.]
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/psychology-hate-groups-what-drives-someone-join-one-n792941


Transcript of New Orleans Mayor Landrieu’s address on Confederate monuments
http://pulsegulfcoast.com/2017/05/transcript-of-new-orleans-mayor-landrieus-address-on-confederate-monuments
So when people say to me that the monuments in question are history, well what I just described is real history as well, and it is the searing truth.
And it immediately begs the questions: why there are no slave ship monuments, no prominent markers on public land to remember the lynchings or the slave blocks; nothing to remember this long chapter of our lives; the pain, the sacrifice, the shame … all of it happening on the soil of New Orleans.
So for those self-appointed defenders of history and the monuments, they are eerily silent on what amounts to this historical malfeasance, a lie by omission.


Robert E. Lee opposed Confederate monuments
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/updates/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments
"I think it wiser," the retired military leader wrote about a proposed Gettysburg memorial in 1869, "…not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered."
while he was alive, Lee stressed his belief that the country should move past the war. He swore allegiance to the Union and publicly decried southern separatism, whether militant or symbolic.


Two Bush presidents condemn 'racial bigotry' amid Trump backlash
[I thank both of them, and the other republicans who are condemning racism.]
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/16/george-w-hw-bush-statement-bigotry-antisemitism-trump


First person account of what happened in Charlottesville
http://brianmclaren.net/what-i-saw-in-charlottesville/


CEOs revolt against Trump over Charlottesville
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/346876-ceos-revolt-against-trump-over-charlottesville


Robert E. Lee’s Family Just Gave An Unexpected Response To Trump’s Charlottesville Controversy
http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/16/robert-e-lees-family-just-gave-unexpected-response-trumps-charlottesville-controversy/


VA chief: 'Dishonor' to US veterans for Nazis to go unchallenged
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/346884-shulkin-its-a-dishonor-to-veterans-for-nazis-to-go-unchallenged-in-us


Trump cuts funds to fight anti-right wing violence
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/346552-trump-cut-funds-to-fight-anti-right-wing-violence


‘I'm glad that girl died’ during Virginia protest, says NC KKK leader
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article167303682.html

Trump Asks, ‘What About the Alt-Left?’ Here’s an Answer

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/trump-alt-left-fact-check.html

By LINDA QIUAUG. 15, 2017

•••••

overall, far-right extremist plots have been far more deadly than far-left plots (and Islamist plots eclipsed both) in the past 25 years, according to a breakdown of two terrorism databases by Alex Nowrasteh, an analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.

White nationalists; militia movements; anti-Muslim attackers; I.R.S. building and abortion clinic bombers; and other right-wing groups were responsible for 12 times as many fatalities and 36 times as many injuries as communists; socialists; animal rights and environmental activists; anti-white- and Black Lives Matter-inspired attackers; and other left-wing groups.

Of the nearly 1,500 individuals in a University of Maryland study of radicalization from 1948 to 2013, 43 percent espoused far-right ideologies, compared to 21 percent for the far left. Far-right individuals were more likely to commit violence against people, while those on the far left were more likely to commit property damage.

“We find that the right groups and the jihadi groups are more violent than the left,” said Gary LaFree, one the researchers and the director of the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

•••••

Obama's anti-racism tweet after Charlottesville is most liked ever on Twitter

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/16/barack-obama-anti-racism-most-liked-tweet-ever-charlottesville

Claire Phipps
Aug. 16, 2017

A tweet by Barack Obama condemning racism in the aftermath of a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has become the most liked tweet ever, with more than 3 million social media users so far endorsing the sentiment.

The tweet, quoting the late South African president Nelson Mandela, read: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.”

The former US president followed the tweet with more from Mandela’s autobiographical Long Walk to Freedom: “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.

“For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Each has had more than a million likes, and hundreds of thousands of retweets.

https://twitter.com/BarackObama

•••••

Sierra Leone mudslide leaves hundreds lying 'dead underneath the rubble'

Global warming is causing an increase in extreme precipitation events.

Updated August 15, 2017 08:03:08 (Must be Australia time. It's late Aug. 14 in the U.S.)

More than 200 people have been killed in a mudslide on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown following heavy rains and flooding.

The Red Cross said at least 205 bodies had been taken to the central morgue in Freetown.

Police and military personnel were at the scene in the mountain town of Regent searching for people trapped in the debris.

Standing in the rain, residents sobbed as they mourned family members and waited for news of those missing.

Adama Kamara wept as she described a failed attempt to rescue her seven-week-old child.

"We were inside when we heard the mudslide approaching. I attempted to grab my baby but the mud was too fast. She was covered alive," said Ms Kamara, who escaped with bruises.

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The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are recovered, Red Cross spokesman Abu Bakarr Tarawallie said.

Vice-President Victor Foh said "it is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble".

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[An update]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-40926187

More than 300 people have been killed in mudslides and flooding near Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.

A hillside in the Regent area collapsed early on Monday following heavy rains, leaving many houses covered in mud.

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A Sierra Leonean disaster management official, Candy Rogers, said that "over 2,000 people are homeless" as a result of the mudslide in the Regent area, AFP reports.

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People are wailing uncontrollably; one woman told me she had lost more than 11 members of her family in the disaster, while another man said he had lost his wife, mother-in-law and children.

Hundreds of people are still coming to the area to look for their loved ones. Some of them told me they have not been able to find them.

In fact, there is no sign of the dozens of homes that were built at the foot of Sugar Loaf mountain.

They are covered in mud, with large areas of mire in some parts. It looks strong, but it is flaky. The concern is that if people walk there they risk sinking in the mud.

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'Dodgy' greenhouse gas data threatens Paris accord

By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent
8 August 2017

Potent, climate-warming gases are being emitted into the atmosphere but are not being recorded in official inventories, a BBC investigation has found.

Air monitors in Switzerland have detected large quantities of one gas coming from a location in Italy.

However, the Italian submission to the UN records just a tiny amount of the substance being emitted.

Levels of some emissions from India and China are so uncertain that experts say their records are plus or minus 100%.

These flaws posed a bigger threat to the Paris climate agreement than US President Donald Trump's intention to withdraw, researchers told BBC Radio 4's Counting Carbon programme.

But Trump is not simply withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. He is actively cutting back action to block global warming.

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The rules covering how countries report their emissions are currently being negotiated.

But Prof Glen Peters, from the Centre for International Climate Research, in Oslo, said: "The core part of Paris [is] the global stock-takes which are going to happen every five years, and after the stock-takes countries are meant to raise their ambition, but if you can't track progress sufficiently, which is the whole point of these stock-takes, you basically can't do anything.

"So, without good data as a basis, Paris essentially collapses. It just becomes a talkfest without much progress."

Urban floods intensifying, countryside drying up

https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/uons-ufi081417.php

Public Release: 14-Aug-2017
Urban floods intensifying, countryside drying up
University of New South Wales

An exhaustive global analysis of rainfall and rivers shows signs of a radical shift in streamflow patterns, with more intense flooding in cities and smaller catchments coupled with a drier countryside.

Drier soils and reduced water flow in rural areas - but more intense rainfall that overwhelms infrastructure and causes flooding and stormwater overflow in urban centres. That's the finding of an exhaustive study of the world's river systems, based on data collected from more than 43,000 rainfall stations and 5,300 river monitoring sites across 160 countries.

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As expected, it found warmer temperatures lead to more intense storms, which makes sense: a warming atmosphere means warmer air, and warmer air can store more moisture. So when the rains do come, there is a lot more water in the air to fall, and hence, rainfall is more intense.

But there's been a growing puzzle: why is flooding not increasing at the same rate as the higher rainfall?

The answer turned out to be the other facet of rising temperatures: more evaporation from moist soils is causing them to become drier before any new rain occurs - moist soils that are needed in rural areas to sustain vegetation and livestock. Meanwhile, small catchments and urban areas, where there are limited expanses of soil to capture and retain moisture, the same intense downpours become equally intense floods, overwhelming stormwater infrastructure and disrupting life.

"Once we sorted through the masses of data, this pattern was very clear," said Ashish Sharma, a professor of hydrology at UNSW's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "The fact that we relied on observed flow and rainfall data from across the world, instead of uncertain model simulations, means we are seeing a real-world effect - one that was not at all apparent before."

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"It's a double whammy," said Conrad Wasko, lead author of the paper and postdoctoral fellow at UNSW's Water Research Centre. "People are increasingly migrating to cities, where flooding is getting worse. At the same time, we need adequate flows in rural areas to sustain the agriculture to supply these burgeoning urban populations".

Global flood damage cost more than US$50 billion in 2013; this is expected to more than double in the next 20 years as extreme storms and rainfall intensify and growing numbers of people move into urban centres. Meanwhile, global population over the next 20 years is forecast to rise another 23% from today's 7.3 billion to 9 billion - requiring added productivity and hence greater water security. The reduction in flows noted by this study makes this an even bigger challenge than before.

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Informative links and comments

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Spain is one of the countries where more heatwaves are recorded annually

Public Release: 10-Aug-2017
Spain is one of the countries where more heatwaves are recorded annually
A study conducted in 400 cities around the world explores the relationship between heatwaves and mortality
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Spain has been hit by several record-breaking heatwaves this summer. In fact, Spain is one of the regions in the world where more heatwaves are recorded every year, and their effects indicate a rise in the risk of mortality of between 10% and 20% during these extremely hot periods. This is one of the conclusions which can be gleaned from an international study in which the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) participated. The study analysed heatwaves occurring between 1972 and 2012, in 400 cities and across 18 countries, and their effects on people's health, including mortality. The results are published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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Among the study's conclusions is that the higher the temperature, the greater the risk to people's health. However, after analysing the data, researchers point out that the risk is similar whether high temperatures occur over several days or on a single day. In addition, the study considers that the effects on health can last for up to three to four days following a period of excessive heat.

"We have also found that people living in relatively mild or cool areas are more sensitive to hot spells of weather than those in more extreme regions. This suggests that there is some acclimatisation to these extremes of heat", Tobí­as adds.

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