#James Scott climate impact
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envirotechaccelerator · 2 years ago
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Electric Vehicles: Overcoming Barriers to Mass Adoption
by Envirotech Accelerator
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In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs) have gained traction as a sustainable transportation solution to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, achieving mass adoption of EVs faces formidable challenges. James Scott, founder of the Envirotech Accelerator, states, “Electric vehicles are crucial for a sustainable future, but the path to widespread adoption is paved with obstacles that require innovative solutions and collaborative efforts.”
One of the primary barriers to EV adoption is the current limitations of battery technology (Nykvist & Nilsson, 2015). The energy density, charging speed, and lifespan of batteries need to improve to make EVs more competitive with conventional vehicles. Emerging research in solid-state batteries and other advanced chemistries may provide the necessary enhancements (Egbue & Long, 2012).
The availability and accessibility of charging infrastructure also play a critical role in the mass adoption of EVs. A comprehensive charging network is needed to address range anxiety, a common concern among potential EV buyers (Neaimeh et al., 2017). Governments, utility companies, and private organizations must collaborate to expand the charging infrastructure, both in urban and rural areas. Innovative charging solutions such as wireless charging and battery swapping stations could further ease this concern.
The upfront cost of EVs remains another significant barrier to their widespread adoption. Although the total cost of ownership for EVs may be lower than that of conventional vehicles, the higher initial price can deter potential buyers (Hackbarth & Madlener, 2013). To address this, financial incentives such as tax credits, rebates, and subsidies should be implemented to make EVs more affordable. Additionally, the development of cost-effective battery production techniques and economies of scale in manufacturing can contribute to reducing the cost of EVs over time.
Furthermore, public perception and awareness of EVs must be improved to encourage their mass adoption. Misconceptions regarding the performance, maintenance, and environmental impact of EVs can hinder their acceptance (Egbue & Long, 2012). Educational campaigns and targeted marketing strategies can help dispel myths and promote the advantages of EVs, such as lower operating costs, reduced emissions, and a smoother, quieter driving experience.
In conclusion, overcoming the barriers to mass adoption of electric vehicles is essential for achieving a sustainable transportation future. Advances in battery technology, the expansion of charging infrastructure, financial incentives, and increased public awareness will be crucial in surmounting these challenges. As James Scott aptly said, “Innovation and collaboration are the keys to unlocking the full potential of electric vehicles.”
References:
Egbue, O., & Long, S. (2012). Barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles: An analysis of consumer attitudes and perceptions. Energy Policy, 48, 717–729.
Hackbarth, A., & Madlener, R. (2013). Consumer preferences for alternative fuel vehicles: A discrete choice analysis. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 25, 5–17.
Neaimeh, M., Salisbury, S. D., Hill, G. A., Blythe, P. T., Scoffield, D. R., & Francfort, J. E. (2017). Analysing the usage and evidencing the importance of fast chargers for the adoption of battery electric vehicles. Energy Policy, 108, 474–486.
Nykvist, B., & Nilsson, M. (2015). Rapidly falling costs of battery packs for electric vehicles. Nature Climate Change, 5(4), 329–332.
Read more at Envirotech Accelerator.
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reasoningdaily · 1 year ago
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The Conversation: The importance of shining a light on hidden toxic histories
Indianapolis proudly claims Elvis’ last concert, Robert Kennedy’s speech in response to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, and the Indianapolis 500. There’s a 9/11 memorial, a Medal of Honor Memorial and a statue of former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.
What few locals know, let alone tourists, is that the city also houses one of the largest dry cleaning Superfund sites in the U.S.
From 1952 to 2008, Tuchman Cleaners laundered clothes using perchloroethylene, or PERC, a neurotoxin and possible carcinogen. Tuchman operated a chain of cleaners throughout the city, which sent clothes to a facility on Keystone Avenue for cleaning. It was also the location where used solution was stored in underground tanks.
Inspectors noted the presence of volatile organic compounds from leaking tanks and possible spills as early as 1989. By 1994, an underground plume had spread to a nearby aquifer. By the time the EPA became involved in 2011, the underground chemical plume had seeped more than a mile underneath a residential area, reaching a well that supplies drinking water to the city.
When geographer Owen Dwyer, earth scientist Gabe Filippelli and I investigated and wrote about the social and environmental history of dry cleaning in Indianapolis, we were struck by how few people outside of the dry cleaning and environmental management fields were aware of this environmental damage.
There are no markers or memorials. There is no mention of it – or any other accounts of contamination – in Indianapolis’ many museums. This kind of silence has been called “environmental amnesia” or “collective forgetting.”
Societies celebrate heroes and commemorate tragedies. But where in public memory is environmental harm? What if people thought about it not only as a science or policy problem, but also as a part of history? Would it make a difference if pollution, along with biodiversity loss and climate change, was seen as part of our shared heritage?
The slow violence of contamination
Environmental harm often takes place gradually and out of sight, and this could be one reason why there’s so little public conversation and commemoration. In 2011, Princeton English professor Rob Nixon came up with a term for this kind of environmental degradation: slow violence.
As underground storage tanks leak, shipwrecks corrode, coal ash ponds seep and forever chemicals spread, the creeping pace of poisoned soil and water fails to garner the attention that more dramatic environmental disasters attract.
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Certain interests benefit from hiding the costs of pollution and its remediation. Sociologists Scott Frickel and James R. Elliott have studied urban pollution, and they highlight three reasons for its pervasiveness and persistence.
First, in cities, small factories, auto repair shops, dry cleaners and other light industries sometimes only stay open for a decade or two, making it challenging to regulate them and track their environmental impacts over time. By the time contamination is discovered, many facilities have long been shuttered or purchased by new owners. And the polluters have a direct financial interest in not being connected with it, since they could be held liable and forced to pay for cleanup.
Similarly, urban neighborhoods tend to have shifting demographics, and local residents are often not aware of historical pollution.
Finally, it can simply be politically expedient to look the other way and ignore the consequences of pollution. Cities may be concerned that publicizing toxic histories discourage investment and depress property values, and politicians are hesitant to fund projects that may have a long-term benefit but short-term costs. Indianapolis, for example, tried for decades to avoid mitigating the raw sewage flowing into the White River and Fall Creek, arguing it was too expensive to deal with. Only when required by a consent decree did the city start to address the problem.
Toxic legacies are also difficult to track because their effects may be hidden by distance and time. Anthropologist Peter Little traced the outsourcing of electronics waste recycling, which is shipped from the places where electronics are bought and used, to countries such as Ghana, where labor is cheap and environmental regulations lax.
Then there are the toxic traces of military conflicts, which linger long after the fighting has stopped and troops have returned home. Historian and geologist Daniel Hubé has documented the long-term environmental impact of World War I munitions.
At the end of the war, unused and unexploded bombs and chemical weapons had to be disposed of. In France, at a site known as Place à Gaz, hundreds of thousands of chemical weapons were burned. Today, the soils have been found to have extraordinarily high levels of arsenic and other heavy metals.
More than a century after the end of the war, little grows on the contaminated, barren land.
Toxic tours and teaching moments
There’s a growing movement to make toxic histories more visible.
In Providence, Rhode Island, artist Holly Ewald founded the Urban Pond Procession to call attention to Mashapaug Pond, which was contaminated by a Gorham Silver factory. She worked with community partners to create wearable sculptures, puppets and giant fish, all of which were carried and worn in an annual parade that took place from 2008 to 2017.
Cultural anthropologist Amelia Fiske collaborated with artist Jonas Fischer to create the graphic novel “Tóxico,” which will be published in 2024. It depicts petroleum pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon, as well as the struggles of those fighting for environmental justice.
Toxic tours can educate the public about the histories, causes and consequences of environmental harm. For example, Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark, New Jersey, offers a tour of severely contaminated sites, such as the location of the former Agent Orange factory, where the sediment in the sludge is laced with the carcinogen dioxin. The tour also goes by a detention center that’s built on a brownfield, which has only undergone industrial-level remediation because that’s the standard all prisons are held to.
In 2017, the Humanities Action Lab organized “Climates of Inequality,” a traveling exhibit co-curated by more than 20 universities and local partners exploring environmental issues affecting communities around the world. The exhibit brings attention to polluted waterways, the impacts of climate change, ecological damage on Indigenous lands and the ways in which immigrant agricultural workers experience heat stress and chronic pesticide exposure. The exhibits also explore the affected communities’ resilience and advocacy.
These stories of pollution and contamination, and their effects on people’s health and livelihoods, represent only a sampling of current efforts to curate toxic heritage. As sociologist Alice Mah writes in her foreword to “Toxic Heritage”: “Reckoning with toxic heritage is an urgent collective task. It is also unsettling work. It requires confronting painful truths about the roots of toxic injustice with courage, honesty, and humility.”
I see public commemoration of hidden toxic histories as a way to push back against denial, habituation and amnesia. It creates a space for public conversation, and it opens up possibilities for a more just and sustainable future.
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ailtrahq · 1 year ago
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James Comer, chair of the United States House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee, has threatened Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler with a subpoena. He wrote in the letter dated Oct. 12, that the committee will have “no choice” but to use compulsory measures to obtain documents if the SEC does not start cooperating with it.Comer also expressed concern about SEC “actions taken to circumvent Congress to further an agenda that harms American taxpayers.” Cryptocurrency proponents in Congress have often complained about Gensler in similar terms, but this letter is not about crypto. Rather, Comer was writing about coordination with the European Union (EU) on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and climate-related issues, as well as SEC stonewalling.Gensler is before the SEC’s oversight committee. The Chairman opened by threatening him with a subpoena as they haven't been responding to requests from this committee Chairman McHenry is going after him hard Also this... pic.twitter.com/uYLhyCyLRG— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilners) October 12, 2023 Comer and Senator Tim Scott, who is now running in the Republican presidential primary, wrote to Gensler in June asking for information about United States’ cooperation with the EU on climate legislation that could impact U.S. companies. They sent a similar letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. In his latest letter, Comer said:“To date, the SEC has not produced documents that are substantively responsive, and to date the overwhelming majority of documents produced have been publicly available on the SEC’s website, […] or documents that were already released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.” These words practically mirror Patrick McHenry’s letter of April 12, where he wrote, “The 232 pages of documents provided by your staff after the briefing are publicly available and not responsive to the request.” McHenry was writing about his information request relating to the prosecution of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. McHenry also threatened Gensler with a “compulsory process.” McHenry repeated that threat in person in a House Financial Services Committee hearing. Crypto supporters will also hear echoes of themselves in Comer’s phrase “it is not clear that the law provides such authority and we must determine whether legislation is necessary.” In his first letter, Comer reminded Gensler of the Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. EPA ruling, which pertained to the major questions doctrine and could have an impact on the SEC’s activities in the crypto sphere as well.
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embassyrowproject2 · 2 years ago
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Quantum Leap Technology Trade Mission Series
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Quantum Leap Technology Trade Mission Series by the Embassy Row Project
embassy row project "The Quantum Leap Technology Trade Mission Series is designed to offer public and private sector stakeholders direct access to the most hyper-evolved technologies in the energy, infrastructure, and net zero space," explains James Scott, Embassy Row Project founder. Scott continues, "And to offer clean energy technology innovators, and net zero-focused platform providers a direct audience with the government and commercial sector stakeholders who can utilize these next-generation solutions." They've been telling you for years that technologies were in development to accelerate the reversal of climate change. But where are these innovations? The wait is over!
embassy row project
Through its network of international institutes, think tanks, research labs, and institutes, the Embassy Row Project works with labs all over the world, and we're going to begin introducing these technologies right now, from the top down to the agency and ministry stakeholders to commercial sector c-suite in more than 47 countries. Are you interested? "Environmentally focused NGOs have been doing the same thing for years and with no long-lasting results, says Scott, "It's time to think, differently."
The Embassy Row Project has a strategy in motion to internationalize a selection of the most hyper-evolved technologies ever designed to combat the impact of climate change, and we are also working with international stakeholders to launch carbon reduction education programs in heavily polluting industries, with measurable, and immediate results.
We've been told that clean, cheap, and abundant energy is a myth. Yet there are several next-generation technologies that not only exist but have been waiting to be deployed. You will hear that there are no carbon capture and removal technologies that can draw down carbon into the gigatons, but these technologies also exist. And ERP is going to show them to you. These, and several other climate technologies, as well as carbon reduction education and training programs, will be launched in 2023 as the Embassy Row Project introduces the international Quantum Leap Technology Trade Mission Series.
The Embassy Row Project is meeting with public, and private sector stakeholders to introduce the next generation of climate and clean energy technologies. Through the Netzero Incubator & Accelerator, we're launching our global, commercial-sector carbon reduction training programs throughout the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The Embassy Row Project's Quantum Leap Technology Trade Missions will launch clean energy and sustainable infrastructure projects in the United States and Europe. And through the Envirotech Pre-Accelerator, we will be taking next-generation technologies on trade missions throughout the United States, Southern, and Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus region for public and private sector presentations, introductions, commercially focused networking, strategic partnering, and rapid deployment of technology in real-world infrastructure projects.
The Embassy Row Project is introducing tomorrow's technologies today, in the sectors of hydrogen, battery storage, small modular reactor, decarbonization, carbon capture and removal, environmental commodities platforms, blockchain, big data, biotechnology, aerospace, artificial intelligence, agritech, and other tested and proven climate technologies that can be utilized as solutions to climate change problems globally. To join our trade mission or to gain access to our briefings and technology presentations, contact the Embassy Row Project at www.embassyrowproject.org
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bikerjackets54 · 4 years ago
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Biker Jacket Debut
First the meaning of biker jackets, from the World English Dictionary, a short, snug biker jackets with zips and studs, regularly worn by motorcyclists.
The biker jackets really began in the 1920-1930 time, worn by pilots in the military in WWII. The coats were known as plane coats. They were made out of one or the other goatskin or generally horse stow away, which is the thing that the ranchers gave to the dress business during that time.
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In 1928, the Scott siblings presented the main bike coat, the Perfecto, which was produced using steer stow away. This was a more excellent cover up than the pony stow away, which gave better security from the horrendous street rash.
 It wasn't until the 1950's the point at which the biker coat got mainstream. The film "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando depicting Johnny Storable, wore the Perfecto coat. We should not fail to remember the film "Dissident without a Cause". Which liquefied ladies’ hearts when James Dean, with the main part of Jim Stark, depicting a grieved young person, additionally wore a Perfecto biker Jacket? With this terrible kid picture, folks needed to resemble him.
 Rock artists like Elvis Presley, and film big names, Peter Fonda" Easy Rider" and John Travolta in Grease a.k.a the T-winged creatures, and remember the Fonz, all began wearing the cowhide biker coat in an assortment of styles in the 1960's-1970's. Cowhide cruiser coats have been famous for more than 60 years. Because of their exemplary styling and rough development, calfskin bike coats will keep on being utilized as chic attire and defensive stuff long into the future today we've made considerable progress, yet with a similar impact as some will call the renegade look, from the Perfect, to the style and solace of the biker coat today!
 Defensive Features of Leather Biker Jackets
 Of a wide range of mechanized types of transportation, the engine bicycle rider is the person who is generally presented to threat and therefore, they need more defensive stuff than the rest. Engine cycle stuff and clothing comes in numerous structures however the essential ones incorporate the cap, cowhide pants and a coordinating coat just as riding boots. The primary motivation behind why riders wear the cowhide biker coat is the way that it has defensive highlights and will cover the rider and shield them from all way of wounds on the off chance that they fall or are associated with a mishap.
 Biker jackets got famous during the 1940s and particularly when they included in the film "The Wild One" played by Marlon Brando. Aside from basically looking a la mode and well known, they are likewise intended to totally secure a rider's arms and middle. A rider wearing a coat can be certain that they are shielded from all way of scraped spots, breezes and ice while out and about. There are essentially two kinds of defensive biker coats; the consistently pant and coat type or the polished kaleidoscopic single piece that you probably seen hustling riders wearing on tracks. A portion of the awesome ones are likewise cushioned on the elbows and shoulders hence giving them additional assurance.
 A decent quality cowhide biker coat needs to accompany stuffing on the back and chest and will likewise have some semi-inflexible cushioning; this guarantees that it is sufficiently able to give the mush required assurance. Since the rider is constantly presented to the components of nature, it additionally should be made of waterproof calfskin so you can even use during the downpours without essentially putting on a downpour coat. Likewise pay special mind to other trademark, for example, prevalent customization, all climate security and that it has a utilitarian pocket hole. Indeed, even with all these prevalent characteristics, the coat will stay as light as conceivable without settling on the well being viewpoints.
 There are numerous different highlights that the calfskin biker jackets profits that you will cherish and this is the reason it will give you esteem for your cash. This is on the grounds that even the basic plan guarantees that the rider beats opposition from the breeze at whatever point they are out and about including when they slant their heads on twists and corners. You need to pay special mind to probably the best brands accessible in light of the fact that the makers have utilized long stretches of involvement to think of a portion of the world beating defensive cowhide coats for engine bicycle riders.
 This article has been composed by Avisha Jain who composes for Rumbler's Gear. Rumbler's Gear is an online store devoted to selling the best cruiser gear garments, protective caps, boots and gloves. In the event that you are somebody who is specific about the cog wheels and caps you use.
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Select L.A. County/California Races, March 3, 2020
Hi friends, it’s me again. I am here to offer my opinions on how you should vote. As before I am up front about my biases: I am a Warren supporter, I live in L.A. and I am actively pro-density (Yay SB50, you deserved better) and pro-transit. I live in the east Valley, so I tend to focus more closely on the issues that directly impact my side of town, though I try to keep an ear out on things countywide. 
Last time I did this a couple of folks reached out to give me gifts to say thanks for doing this guide. This year, I would encourage anybody who wants to say thanks to donate $5 to Fair Fight,  a group founded by Stacey Abrams to fight voter suppression in the 2020 election. We’re gonna need all the help we can get in November to defeat the GOP, and Abrams is doing it in a smart way. 
Other voting guides
This is my voting guide and reflects my general opinion on things. However, I am indebeted to many other guides, including the Knock L.A. Voter Guide and the L.A. Podcast Voter Guide for their takes. I don’t always agree with them, but both of these are invaluable resources for the progressive voter in Los Angeles. 
L.A. City Council 
This year the even numbered seats are up for re-election. Half of them are effectively uncontested, a couple are very much contested, and two are free for all because of term limits. 
CD2: Ayinde Jones
Look none of these candidates set my heart afire. I work with Councilmember Krekorian’s office a lot (remember, I live in the east Valley) and he’s a competent politician with a ton of endorsements and community ties, I have no illusion he’s going to win his full term comfortably on March 3. However, I believe it’s good to encourage competition, and Ayinde Jones did a good (not great) job at the candidate forum I attended hitting on themes of how the parts of CD2 north of Victory are being left behind as the area evolves. I wish he were better on S50, but then again all three candidates were opposed, so that’s kind of a wash. I look forward to hearing more from Jones in the future. 
CD4: Sarah Kate Levy
From a paucity of options to a surplus of options next door. CD4 is currently represented by David Ryu, a politician who came out of the Neighborhood Council system and went on to become...a city hall politician. Both his opponents are great. Nithya Raman is the founder of SELAH, a group that does amazing work helping the unhoused in Los Angeles, and recently led Times Up! Hollywood for a year. I’d vote for her in a heartbeat, but I am encouraging people to vote for Sarah Kate Levy for two reasons: first, Levy is unabashedly supportive of SB50 and we need this kind of leadership, and second I am hoping these two excellent women will get so many votes that they overwhelm Ryu and leave him in third place. Fingers crossed. 
CD6: Bill Haller 
This is another shoo-in. Nury Martinez is the City Council president and has the backing of the County party and all the local clubs. I am endorsing Bill Haller because he supports an agenda that includes more public funding for affordable housing, more and better transit, and climate justice.  
CD8: Marqueece Harris-Dawson 
There are no other candidates in this race, so congratulations on your re-election Councilmember Harris-Dawson. 
CD10: Aura Vasquez 
This is an open seat, and the smart money has Mark Ridley-Thomas as the frontrunner. Ridley-Thomas is a current member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (more on them later) who is termed out of that position. I’m endorsing Aura Vasquez, a progressive activist with ties to Mid-City who has served as a commissioner for LADWP and led fights for renewable energy, banning single use plastics, and housing affordability in her community. 
CD12: Loraine Lundquist 
Dr. Lundquist rules. She takes public transit to debates, she is an honest to goodness scientist, and she nearly beat a Republican in what is the most conservative district in L.A. during a special election. I have donated money to this lady because we need to win this one. Her opponent, John Lee, wasted no time in trying to block housing for the homeless in his district and in attacking a successful safer streets project on Reseda Blvd. The city has a chance - a really great chance thanks to the realigned municipal elections - to toss out the worst possible councilmember in favor of the most progressive voice, don’t mess it up. 
CD14: Cyndi Otteson
This race is Kevin de Léon’s to lose, but he won’t commit to serving a full term since he really wants to be mayor. I say let him have his spare time to run for mayor and select Ms. Otteson, a grassroots activist who has the support of the UTLA and who is the only voice in favor of the Colorado Blvd alignment of the NoHo to Pasadena BRT project. Transit equity matters, and Ms. Otteson deserves your vote this March. 
LAUSD School Board 
Deferring to the teachers’ endorsements on this one. 
Board Seat 1: George McKenna
Board Seat 3: Scott Schmerlson
Board Seat 5: Jackie Goldberg
Board Seat 7: Patricia Castellanos
Glendale City Council: Dan Brotman 
An environmental activist with progresive views, Brotman will be a useful voice in Glendale’s city hall. 
District Attorney: Rachel Rossi 
George Gascón and Rachel Rossi will both be light years better than the current county D.A., Jackie Lacey. Both have promised to make substantial reforms in the office. I am really torn on this one, since I think Gascón’s experience as a Deputy DA in San Francisco is a big deal, and since he has the backing of the County Party. I am endorsing Rossi in a tilt-at-windmills hope that somehow she and Gascón make it to the final ballot in November and give us a thoughtful debate between a career prosecutor bent on reform and a public defender whose goal is reform about methods and ideas. Anyway, don’t vote for Jackie Lacey is all I am saying here. 
Superior Court
Voting for judges is stupid. We shouldn’t be doing this, but since we have to, I’ll make some suggestions. My math is based on other progressive endorsements, Party endorsements, and reverse-engineering some well known conservative voting guides to, if nothing else, make sure I am not voting for their endorsement. 
Office 17: Shannon Kathleen Cooley (the race is uncontested) 
Office 42: Linda Sun
Office 72: Myanna Dellinger
Office 76: Emily Cole (Cole is a prosecutor, but her opponent is a man who literally changed his name to “Judge” after serving as a judge in Stanislaus County) 
Office 80: Klint James McKay
Currently an administrative law judge, he impressed Public Defender Union representatives with his thoughtful and articulate answers to their questioning.
Office 97: Sherry L. Powell (Powell’s opponent ran as a conservative Republican for state assembly in 2018, this is a defensive vote)
Office 129: Kenneth Fuller
Office 131: Michelle Kelley (the race is uncontested)
Office 141: Lana Kim (the race is uncontested)
Office 145: Troy Slaten (Slaten’s opponent has a troubling history of misconduct and should not be elected to a judgeship) 
Office 150: Tom Parsekian
Office 162: David D. Diamond
L.A. County Board of Supervisors
The Supervisors oversee policy for the County, including all unincorporated areas, the LASD, County Health services, etc. For a county of TEN MILLION PEOPLE, there are only five supervisors, so they have a hugely outsized influence. 
Seat 2: Jorge Nuno 
A lot of progressives are endorsing Holly Mitchell in this seat. Me, I just can’t go there when she’s speaking at events for Livable California and when she gave a floor speech opposing SB50. Though he’s the front runner, Herb Wesson doesn’t deserve your vote - he was City Council president when the homelessness crisis exploded and he’s done little to address it. Nuno is a progressive and has an ambitious platform. 
Seat 4: Janice Hahn 
She’s solid, and nobody’s pushing her from the left. 
Seat 5: John Harabedian 
Kathryn Barger, the incumbent, is a Republican who supports Trump’s immigration policies. John Harabedian is a solidly Center Left Democrat who has the backing of the county party and who could, in this presidential election year, win an upset in what is traditionally a Republican stronghold of L.A. County. Vote for him. 
County Ballot Measures
Measure R: YES YES YES 
This will provide crucial tools to the already existing civilian oversight committee for the LASD, including subpoena powers. It also requires the commission to study ways to divert offenders from jail. You need to vote yes on this. 
State Ballot Measures 
Prop 13: Yes
$15B in bonds to invest in public schools and “local control” to allow local school districts to issue larger bonds. The only real opposition is from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a revanchist organization that is singlehandedly responsible for much of our state and local problems in the past few decades. Don’t listen to them. 
Congressional Elections 
Despite some misgivings, I am generally supporting the progressive challengers here to hopefully lead to a Progressive/Center Left election in the fall. 
CD 25: Christy Smith 
She has a good track record in the state assembly and a strong local support network. She’s not a carpetbagger with a YouTube show, and she’s not a Republican. 
CD 28: Adam Schiff 
He’s not the most progressive guy in Congress but he’s been critical to holding Trump accountable. He’s earned this vote. 
CD 29: Angelica Duenas 
Tony Cardenas is a bit of a non-entity on the national stage but he does good local work and he was an early vote in favor of impeachment. The rape allegations against him which troubled me last time were dismissed with prejudice in 2019. Cardenas has a progressive challenger, Angelica Marie Duenas, who has run in the past as a Green Party candidate. I don’t trust her decision to abandon that label and come into the Democrats after getting drubbed in 2018, but overall I like her ideas and I’d be happy to see her and Cardenas in a runoff this year. 
CD 30: CJ Berina 
Brad Sherman is an okay Congressmember. CJ Berina is a young, progressive challenger who’s attracted the attention of the Sunrise Movement. I’d vote for him to try to push the GOP out of the runoff and make this a race between the Center Left and the Progressive Left. 
CD 34: Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla
Jimmy Gomez is solid; let’s push the GOP out of the runoff though by supporting this progressive. 
State House 
District 39: Luz Rivas
District 41: Chris Holden 
District 43: Laura Friedman 
District 44: Jacqui Irwin
District 45: Jesse Gabriel 
District 46: Adrin Nazarian
District 48: Blanca Rubio 
District 49: Edwin Chau 
District 50: Richard Bloom
District 51: Wendy Carillo
District 53: Godfrey Plata
District 54: Tracey Jones
District 55: Andrew Rodriguez
District 58: Margaret Villa
District 59: Reggie Jones-Sawyer
District 62: Autumn Burke
District 63: Anthony Rendon
District 64: Fatima Iqbal-Zubair
District 66: Al Muratsuchi
District 70: Patrick O’Donnell
State Senate
SD 21: Kipp Mueller
SD 23: Abigail Medina
SD 25: No Endorsement - I rarely do this but honestly Anthony Portantino does not deserve your vote. Write in Mickey Mouse. 
SD 27: Henry Stern
SD 29: Josh Newman
SD 31: Richard Roth
SD 33: Lena Gonzalez
SD 35: Steven Bradford
County Committees 
Look this is getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaay into the weeds. What I am going to say is this: I know that a lot of “progressive” slates are out there and I encourage you to try your best to vet them. In my district, one of the candidates is somebody I know personally - she actively campaigned for Jill Stein, she circulated the decades-old “Clinton Death List” to voters, and she pushed Pizzagate theories. I am not voting for this person, but she is endorsed by “Progressive California” so...just be careful. 
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phroyd · 6 years ago
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WASHINGTON — President Trump has rolled back environmental regulations, pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, brushed aside dire predictions about the effects of climate change, and turned the term “global warming” into a punch line rather than a prognosis.
Now, after two years spent unraveling the policies of his predecessors, Mr. Trump and his political appointees are launching a new assault.
In the next few months, the White House will complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration. It will expand its efforts to impose Mr. Trump’s hard-line views on other nations, building on his retreat from the Paris accord and his recent refusal to sign a communiqué to protect the rapidly melting Arctic region unless it was stripped of any references to climate change.
And, in what could be Mr. Trump’s most consequential action yet, his administration will seek to undermine the very science on which climate change policy rests.
Mr. Trump is less an ideologue than an armchair naysayer about climate change, according to people who know him. He came into office viewing agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency as bastions of what he calls the “deep state,” and his contempt for their past work on the issue is an animating factor in trying to force them to abandon key aspects of the methodology they use to try to understand the causes and consequences of a dangerously warming planet.
As a result, parts of the federal government will no longer fulfill what scientists say is one of the most urgent jobs of climate science studies: reporting on the future effects of a rapidly warming planet and presenting a picture of what the earth could look like by the end of the century if the global economy continues to emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels.
The attack on science is underway throughout the government. In the most recent example, the White House-appointed director of the United States Geological Survey, James Reilly, a former astronaut and petroleum geologist, has ordered that scientific assessments produced by that office use only computer-generated climate models that project the impact of climate change through 2040, rather than through the end of the century, as had been done previously.
Scientists say that would give a misleading picture because the biggest effects of current emissions will be felt after 2040. Models show that the planet will most likely warm at about the same rate through about 2050. From that point until the end of the century, however, the rate of warming differs significantly with an increase or decrease in carbon emissions.The administration’s prime target has been the National Climate Assessment, produced by an interagency task force roughly every four years since 2000. Government scientists used computer-generated models in their most recent report to project that if fossil fuel emissions continue unchecked, the earth’s atmosphere could warm by as much as eight degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. That would lead to drastically higher sea levels, more devastating storms and droughts, crop failures, food losses and severe health consequences.
Work on the next report, which is expected to be released in 2021 or 2022, has already begun. But from now on, officials said, such worst-case scenario projections will not automatically be included in the National Climate Assessment or in some other scientific reports produced by the government.
“What we have here is a pretty blatant attempt to politicize the science — to push the science in a direction that’s consistent with their politics,” said Philip B. Duffy, the president of the Woods Hole Research Center, who served on a National Academy of Sciences panel that reviewed the government’s most recent National Climate Assessment. “It reminds me of the Soviet Union.”
In an email, James Hewitt, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, defended the proposed changes.
“The previous use of inaccurate modeling that focuses on worst-case emissions scenarios, that does not reflect real-world conditions, needs to be thoroughly re-examined and tested if such information is going to serve as the scientific foundation of nationwide decision-making now and in the future,” Mr. Hewitt said.
However, the goal of political appointees in the Trump administration is not just to change the climate assessment’s methodology, which has broad scientific consensus, but also to question its conclusions by creating a new climate review panel. That effort is led by a 79-year-old physicist who had a respected career at Princeton but has become better known in recent years for attacking the science of man-made climate change and for defending the virtues of carbon dioxide — sometimes to an awkward degree.
“The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler,” said the physicist, William Happer, who serves on the National Security Council as the president’s deputy assistant for emerging technologies.
Mr. Happer’s proposed panel is backed by John R. Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, who brought Mr. Happer into the N.S.C. after an earlier effort to recruit him during the transition.
Mr. Happer and Mr. Bolton are both beneficiaries of Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the far-right billionaire and his daughter who have funded efforts to debunk climate science. The Mercers gave money to a super PAC affiliated with Mr. Bolton before he entered government and to an advocacy group headed by Mr. Happer.
Climate scientists are dismissive of Mr. Happer; his former colleagues at Princeton are chagrined. And several White House officials — including Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser — have urged Mr. Trump not to adopt Mr. Happer’s proposal, on the grounds that it would be perceived as a White House attack on science.
Even Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House strategist who views Mr. Happer as “the climate hustler’s worst nightmare — a world-class physicist from the nation’s leading institution of advanced learning, who does not suffer fools gladly,” is apprehensive about what Mr. Happer is trying to do.
“The very idea will start a holy war on cable before 2020,” he said. “Better to win now and introduce the study in the second inaugural address.”
But at a White House meeting on May 1, at which the skeptical advisers made their case, Mr. Trump appeared unpersuaded, people familiar with the meeting said. Mr. Happer, they said, is optimistic that the panel will go forward.
The concept is not new. Mr. Trump has pushed to resurrect the idea of a series of military-style exercises, known as “red team, blue team” debates, on the validity of climate science first promoted by Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator who was forced to resign last year amid multiple scandals.
At the time, the idea was shot down by John F. Kelly, then the White House chief of staff. But since Mr. Kelly’s departure, Mr. Trump has talked about using Mr. Happer’s proposed panel as a forum for it.
For Mr. Trump, climate change is often the subject of mockery. “Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!” he posted on Twitter in January when a snowstorm was freezing much of the country.
His views are influenced mainly by friends and donors like Carl Icahn, the New York investor who owns oil refineries, and the oil-and-gas billionaire Harold Hamm — both of whom pushed Mr. Trump to deregulate the energy industry.
Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka made a well-publicized effort to talk him out of leaving the Paris accord in 2017. But after being vanquished by officials including Mr. Bannon, Mr. Pruitt, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II, there is little evidence she has resisted his approach since then.
The president’s advisers amplify his disregard. At the meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council this month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismayed fellow diplomats by describing the rapidly warming region as a land of “opportunity and abundance” because of its untapped reserves of oil, gas, uranium, gold, fish and rare-earth minerals. The melting sea ice, he said, was opening up new shipping routes.
“That is one of the most crude messages one could deliver,” said R. Nicholas Burns, who served as the NATO ambassador under George W. Bush.
At the National Security Council, under Mr. Bolton, officials said they had been instructed to strip references to global warming from speeches and other formal statements. But such political edicts pale in significance to the changes in the methodology of scientific reports.
Mr. Reilly, the head of the Geological Survey, who does not have a background in climate change science, characterized the changes as an attempt to prepare more careful, accurate reports. “We’re looking for answers with our partners and to get statistical significance from what we understand,” he said.
Yet scientists said that by eliminating the projected effects of increased carbon dioxide pollution after 2040, the Geological Survey reports would present an incomplete and falsely optimistic picture of the impact of continuing to burn unlimited amounts of coal, oil and gasoline.
“The scenarios in these reports that show different outcomes are like going to the doctor, who tells you, ‘If you don’t change your bad eating habits, and you don’t start to exercise, you’ll need a quadruple bypass, but if you do change your lifestyle, you’ll have a different outcome,’” said Katharine Hayhoe, the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University and an author of the National Climate Assessment.
Not all government science agencies are planning such changes. A spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, asked if its scientists would limit the use of climate models, wrote in an email, “No changes are being considered at this time.”
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The push to alter the results of at least some climate science reports, several officials said, came after November’s release of the second volume of the National Climate Assessment.
While the Trump administration did not try to rewrite the scientific conclusions of the report, officials sought to play it down — releasing it the day after Thanksgiving — and discredit it, with a White House statement calling it “largely based on the most extreme scenario.”
This summer, the E.P.A. is expected to finalize the legal rollback of two of President Barack Obama’s most consequential policies: regulations to curb planet-warming pollution from vehicles and power plants.CreditGeorge Etheredge for The New York Times
Still, the report could create legal problems for Mr. Trump’s agenda of abolishing regulations. This summer, the E.P.A. is expected to finalize the legal rollback of two of President Barack Obama’s most consequential policies: federal regulations to curb planet-warming pollution from vehicle tailpipes and power plant smokestacks.
Opponents say that when they challenge the moves in court, they intend to point to the climate assessment, asking how the government can justify the reversals when its own agencies have concluded that the pollution will be so harmful.
That is why officials are now discussing how to influence the conclusions of the next National Climate Assessment.
“They’ve started talking about how they can produce a report that doesn’t lead to some silly alarmist predictions about the future,” said Myron Ebell, who heads the energy program at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-funded research organization, and who led the administration’s transition at the E.P.A.
A key change, he said, would be to emphasize historic temperatures rather than models of future atmospheric temperatures, and to eliminate the “worst-case scenarios” of the effect of increased carbon dioxide pollution — sometimes referred to as “business as usual” scenarios because they imply no efforts to curb emissions.
Scientists said that eliminating the worst-case scenario would give a falsely optimistic picture. “Nobody in the world does climate science like that,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton. “It would be like designing cars without seatbelts or airbags.”
Outside the United States, climate scientists had long given up on the White House being anything but on outlier in policy. But they worry about the loss of the government as a source for reliable climate research.
“It is very unfortunate and potentially even quite damaging that the Trump administration behaves this way,” said Johan Rockström, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “There is this arrogance and disrespect for scientific advancement — this very demoralizing lack of respect for your own experts and agencies.”
Phroyd
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garudabluffs · 3 years ago
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The ten top recipients of fossil fuel money in Congress so far this year are:
Manchin, Joe (D-WV)              $724,270 McCarthy, Kevin (R-CA)          $396,284 Lankford, James (R-OK)          $275,148 Pfluger, August (R-TX)             $268,011 Kennedy, John (R-LA)              $264,788 Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)           $249,808 Sinema, Kyrsten (D-AZ)           $230,160 Fletcher, Lizzie (D-TX)             $191,765 Cuellar, Henry (D-TX)              $191,450 Scott, Tim (R-SC)                     $181,291 Scalise, Steve (R-LA)                $181,263 Gonzales, Tony (R-TX)             $174,461 Rubio, Marco (R-FL)                $165,636
Amazing how little it costs to buy a member of Congress to keep your multi-billion-dollar-a-year profits flowing, isn’t it?
The Climate Emergency We Worried About is Here - Our “Normal” Climate is Dead
For much of the past four decades, climate activists have been warning us that we’re approaching tipping points that will alter how Americans live - now we’re there
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READ MORE https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-climate-emergency-we-worried
6 Comments “Mr. Hartman is pointing out that the Polar Jet Streams (Massive air movements above normal atmospheric clouds) have been changing patterns and are hitting lower latitudes all over the world, with impressive temperature and rainfall impact https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/what-jet-stream. He should have added that similar massive ocean currents are slowing down and are anticipated having a high statistical chance of reversing themselves, with attendant huge climate impacts. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2950/arctic-ice-melt-is-changing-ocean-currents/.Personally, I worked two years in Northern Greenland and lived in Alaska for 26 years; the climate changes I witnessed were dramatic: 1. Greenland has lost a significant portion of its ice cover and the Chinese are mining in Greenland. https://www.rexsac.org/publications/chinese-mining-greenland-arctic-access-access-minerals/. 2. Alaska's Arctic ocean access used to be 20-24 days/year and is now close to 180 days/year. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/88597/a-nearly-ice-free-northwest-passage. 3. January temperatures in Anchorage area 1970-1995 in some areas went from -20 Degrees F to +20 degrees F. 4. Hundreds of thousands of Alaska's forests have burned. 5. The perma frost is melting, subsiding and methane spouts have increased in Alaska, Canada and Siberia. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2785/unexpected-future-boost-of-methane-possible-from-arctic-permafrost/According to Vaclav Smil and his research in How the World Really Works, the global energy system requires at least 50 years to convert efficiently from our current energy basis to a green system; the inertia composed of 8 -12 billion people who all want to live in urban centers and have Western amenities is a similar scientific problem to the physical inability of Exxon Valdez to change its course 1/2 degree and avoid causing one of the world's most significant environmental events. While the US and EU, Scandinavia and New Zealand are doing some good work on Greening the economy China and Africa and other developing countries with massive populations are simply cancelling the total global greening efforts. Looking at Mr. Hartman's citation it is noteworthy that Barack Obama and other Democratic legislators in taking huge amounts of funding from the Global Oil & Gas Industry. Again, voters have allowed everything we are experiencing during the last 50 years, and NOTHING WILL CHANGE TILL VOTERS AUTOMATICALLY REFUSE TO VOTE FOR ANY INCUMBENT POLITICIAN, https://ballotpedia.org/Election_results,_2020:_Incumbent_win_rates_by_state
"The Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case That Could Gut Voting Rights"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-case-that-could-gut-voting-rights/ar-AAZ3l5t#:~:text=Supreme%20Court%20Agrees%20to%20Hear%20Case%20That%20Could%20Gut%20Voting%20Rights
"On its way out the door at the end of its fateful 2021–22 term, the U.S. Supreme Court raised alarms by agreeing to hear, when it returns in the fall, Moore v. Harper. The North Carolina redistricting case could wind up all but abolishing the right of state courts to interpret state laws and constitutions in election cases."
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/53-pick-up?r=6ptqj&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Extreme heat, drought will permanently scar California and its social fabric  
READ MORE https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-06-30/aridification-kills-civilizations-is-california-next?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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newsfact · 3 years ago
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Democrats in disarray as Pelosi fails to say she has votes for social spending spree: ‘I’ll let you know’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday wouldn’t reveal any information about the timing of a potential vote on Democrats’ reconciliation bill and the bipartisan infrastructure bill – and dodged questions about whether Democrats have the votes to pass reconciliation at this point. 
“I’ll let you know as soon as I wish to,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told a reporter who asked when votes on President Biden’s two major agenda items may happen. “You’re just worried about your own schedule.”
Further asked whether party leaders will have the support of “Blue Dog” Democrats who earlier this week demanded a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score and 72 hours to review the bill text – which was released Wednesday afternoon – Pelosi didn’t give a clear answer. 
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
SPANBERGER, MANCHIN HIT BIDEN, PROGRESSIVES FOR MASSIVE RECONCILIATION DEMANDS: ‘NOBODY ELECTED HIM TO BE FDR’
“We have been all along… we’ve been sending things to CBO. This is not new to them,” Pelosi said. “The CBO also has been… They have most of the information now they have new information, but they have to correlate it.”
She added that CBO scores on legislation take slightly longer than scores from the Joint Committee on Taxation, which she also cited during her press conference. But the speaker did not have an answer about whether she may have the support of moderates like Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and Jim Cosa, D-Calif., who demanded the CBO score earlier this week. 
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Chairman Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., speaks as Federal Reserve Board chairman Jerome Powell testifies on the Federal Reserve’s response to the coronavirus pandemic during a House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 22, 2021. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)
SEN. JOE MANCHIN SPEAKS TO FOX NEWS ON IMPACT OF TUESDAY’S ELECTIONS ON BIDEN AGENDA
The offices for Costa and Murphy did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Thursday. 
Pelosi similarly dodged a question about a Thursday morning whip count Democrats put out on the reconciliation and infrastructure bills. She said she’d not seen the results of it yet. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told Fox News shortly after Pelosi’s conference ended he also hadn’t seen the results of the whip count. 
Pelosi was direct about one thing: Democrats will not pass just an infrastructure bill without a vote on reconciliation. 
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the debt ceiling during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, in Washington. Biden was forced to go to a climate summit earlier this week without any victories on his two biggest legislative priorities.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“No,” she said flatly when asked about the possibility of passing just infrastructure this week. 
Some Democrats have been pushing for the House to finally pass the infrastructure bill the Senate passed in August to give President Biden a legislative victory amid his low approval ratings and Democrats’ declining prospects for 2022. But progressives insist both bills must pass at the same time, as they do not trust moderates on the reconciliation bill.
Top House Democrats are aiming to get reconciliation passed as soon as possible so that the Senate can work on it before Thanksgiving. If Democrats allow their negotiations on reconciliation and infrastructure to drag into December, they may be caught up in the morass of urgent government funding and debt limit deadlines that await just on the other side of the holiday. 
Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report. 
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envirotechaccelerator · 2 years ago
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Climate Justice: Addressing Inequality in the Fight Against Climate Change
by Envirotech Accelerator
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Abstract: This article delves into the concept of climate justice, emphasizing the need to address inequality in the fight against climate change. By considering the disproportionate impacts of climate change on marginalized communities, the article advocates for equitable solutions and climate policies. Three academic references are cited to support the information, and a quote by James Scott, founder of the Envirotech Accelerator, is included.
Introduction
Climate change has emerged as an existential threat with far-reaching implications for ecosystems and human societies alike. However, it is crucial to recognize that the consequences of this global phenomenon are not uniformly distributed. Marginalized communities and developing countries often bear the brunt of climate change’s detrimental impacts (Adger, 2006). Consequently, the concept of climate justice has gained momentum, underscoring the necessity for equitable solutions and inclusive climate policies.
Disproportionate Impacts on Vulnerable Communities
The unequal distribution of climate change impacts is primarily driven by the intersection of socio-economic, political, and environmental factors. Low-income communities, indigenous peoples, and those in developing countries face heightened vulnerability due to limited resources and adaptive capacity (Schlosberg, 2013). These populations are more susceptible to climate-induced disasters such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves, which exacerbate existing inequalities.
James Scott, founder of the Envirotech Accelerator, eloquently asserts, “Climate change is not only an environmental crisis but also a social one. We must champion climate justice to ensure that our solutions do not perpetuate existing inequalities but instead foster a fair and inclusive transition to a sustainable future.”
Equitable Solutions and Inclusive Climate Policies
Achieving climate justice necessitates addressing the root causes of inequality and integrating these concerns into climate action. Firstly, climate policies must prioritize the needs and perspectives of marginalized communities. This entails fostering participation in decision-making processes and ensuring that adaptation and mitigation measures align with local socio-cultural contexts (Roberts & Parks, 2007).
Moreover, international climate finance must be directed towards supporting the most vulnerable countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change and transition to low-carbon economies. Wealthier nations must take responsibility for their historical emissions and assist developing countries in their pursuit of sustainable development pathways.
Conclusion
In conclusion, climate justice is a critical aspect of the global fight against climate change. Addressing inequality and fostering an equitable transition to a sustainable future requires incorporating the needs and perspectives of marginalized communities into climate policies and actions. By doing so, the international community can work towards a more just and resilient world in the face of the mounting climate crisis.
References
Adger, W. N. (2006). Vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 16(3), 268–281.
Roberts, J. T., & Parks, B. C. (2007). A Climate of Injustice: Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy. MIT Press.
Schlosberg, D. (2013). Theorising environmental justice: the expanding sphere of a discourse. Environmental Politics, 22(1), 37–55.
Read more at Envirotech Accelerator.
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patriotsnet · 3 years ago
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Why Do Republicans Deny Climate Change
New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-do-republicans-deny-climate-change/
Why Do Republicans Deny Climate Change
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Florida Could Be Underwater In A Few Decades Can Republicans Win The Battleground State If They Refuse To Heed Environmental Warnings
Why Do Republicans Deny Climate Change Science?
Molly OTooleKeith JohnsonForeign Policy
MIAMI Florida is waging a quixotic battle against climate change that becomes immediately and aggravatingly apparent when driving anywhere in Miami. Endless orange traffic cones, flashing detour signs, and car-swallowing pits clog the streets as the city tries to rebuild overloaded sewer systems and literally raise roads above the encroaching flood waters.
Sitting in his cramped, cluttered office at the University of Miami, geophysics professor Chris Harrison squints at a rising red line on his computer monitor. It shows sea levels in Key West, which have risen 2 mm per year on average in the last hundred years or so. No longer: Now theyre rising by 3 mm each year bad news for a place where the highest elevation is 345 feet. So is Miami eventually doomed to a watery death?
Well, yes, he said.
MIAMI Florida is waging a quixotic battle against climate change that becomes immediately and aggravatingly apparent when driving anywhere in Miami. Endless orange traffic cones, flashing detour signs, and car-swallowing pits clog the streets as the city tries to rebuild overloaded sewer systems and literally raise roads above the encroaching flood waters.
Well, yes, he said.
I dont have a plan to influence the weather, he dismissively answered a question about climate change at a town hall in New Hampshire.
People Who Have Changed Their Position
“I used to be a climate-change skeptic”, conservative columnist Max Boot admitted in 2018, one who believed that “the science was inconclusive” and that worry was “overblown”. Now, he says, referencing the Fourth National Climate Assessment, “the scientific consensus is so clear and convincing.”
Climate change doubter Bob Inglis, a former US representative for South Carolina, changed his mind after appeals from his son on his environmental positions, and after spending time with climate scientist Scott Heron studying coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef. Inglis lost his House race in 2010, and went on to found republicEn, a nonprofit promoting conservative voices and solutions on climate change.
Jerry Taylor promoted climate denialism for 20 years as former staff director for the energy and environment task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council and former vice president of the Cato Institute. Taylor began to change his mind after climate scientist James Hansen challenged him to reread some Senate testimony. He became President of the Niskanen Center in 2014, where he is involved in turning climate skeptics into climate activists, and making the business case for climate action.
Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro expressed skepticism or cynicism about anthropogenic global warming for some years, but by 2010, he had become involved in explaining the connections between man-made climate change and extreme weather.”
Farmers And Climate Denial
Seeing positive economic results from efforts at climate-friendly agricultural practices, or becoming involved in intergenerational stewardship of a farm may play a role in turning farmers away from denial. One study of climate change denial among farmers in Australia found that farmers were less likely to take a position of climate denial if they had experienced improved production from climate-friendly practices, or identified a younger person as a successor for their farm.
In the United States, rural climate dialogues sponsored by the Sierra Club have helped neighbors overcome their fears of political polarization and exclusion, and come together to address shared concerns about climate impacts in their communities. Some participants who start out with attitudes of anthropogenic climate change denial have shifted to identifying concerns which they would like to see addressed by local officials.
Also Check: Democrats More Educated Than Republicans
Young Republicans See Shift In Gop: ‘from Outright Denial To Climate Caucus’
Twenty-four-year-old Republican Danielle Butcher is watching with anticipation as GOP leaders move from outright denial to now having a climate caucus a move she sees as the first step in integrating climate action into formal party policy.
Butcher, the executive vice president of the American Conservation Coalition , spoke to The Hills Equilibrium on Tuesday, just a week after Rep. John Curtis ;launched the Conservative Climate Caucus and the same day that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
The partys progress is huge, when you apply the context, Butcher said.; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
This is an excellent first step, she continued. The first thing you have to do in achieving climate action is start talking about these problems.
To Butcher, integrating climate action into Republican politics speaks to her partys historic conservation core the GOP with a deep-seated, rural heritage, was responsible for creation of the National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency under former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon.
I also see this as us reclaiming our heritage, she said.
But with two-thirds of Americans indicating that the government should do more on climate change a stance that Butcher observed is especially true among young people” she said Republicans need to be talking about these issues and involving the younger generation in the discussions.
The GOP has notoriously struggled with young people, she added.
% Of Scientists Agree That Humans Are Causing Global Warming Yet Belief In Climate Change Continues To Depend On Political Beliefs Above All Else
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It is no secret that belief in climate change in America is strongly divided along party lines, a fact we were reminded of in last weeks Republican leadership debates. The relationship was assessed in an experiment by Dan Kahan published in Advances in Political Psychology earlier this year, which demonstrated that there exists an extremely bizarre paradox that is as mind bending as it is troubling. Believe it or not, the more Republicans know about science, the less likely they are to believe in climate change.;
The Ordinary Science Intelligence measure which runs across the bottom of the graphs above measures how likely someone is to answer tests of scientific knowledge and reasoning correctly. For example, someone with an average Ordinary Science Intelligence score has a 70% chance of giving the correct answer to the simple scientific question âelectrons are smaller than atoms â true or falseâ. Someone would have to be a full standard deviation below average to be more likely than not to get this question wrong.
As the graph above shows, a Democrat with an average level of scientific understanding has an 80% chance of believing in global warming, while the equivalent Republican has only a 20% chance. Astonishingly, this number falls even further as Republicansâ scientific literacy increases.
Follow Simon Oxenham on;,;,;,;RSS,;or join the;mailing list;to get each weekâs post straight to your inbox. Image Credit: ;FREDERIC J. BROWN/Getty
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Neither I Nor Any Christian I Knew Really Worried About Things Like Pollution Global Warming Climate Change Or Any Of The Other Seemingly Apocalyptic Scenarios Put Forth By The Scientific Community I Thought I Had Insider Information About The End Of The World And It Had Nothing To Do With Climate Change
When it comes to Christian eschatology, there are numerous end-times scenarios embraced by evangelicals. The details may change but the main plot rarely does. In general, there are three main theories: Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Amillennialism. The first posits that the end of time will bring a tribulation of suffering, that Jesus will return, and that Christians will be raptured, which is when Jesus takes the faithful back up to heaven with him. Within this theory are two types: pre-tribbers and post-tribbers. Pre-tribbers believe that true Christians will be raptured first and that seven years of hellish suffering brought by the Antichrist will follow, after which Jesus will return again to rule over the earth for the remainder of the Great Tribulation and give people one more chance to reject him before destroying the world. Post-tribbers contend that Christians wont be raptured until the tribulation ends and must evangelize during this time.
Postmillennialism holds that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will happen after a thousand years of relative peace on earth made possible by the practice of Christian ethics, at which time final judgment and the Rapture will occur and the world will end.
The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.
A Majority Of Republicans Say They Support Policies To Mitigate Climate Change
Percentage of Republicans in each congressional district who agree thatwe should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant
National average:57%
A majority of Republicans in almost every congressional district support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, even when they dont believe those emissions are causing climate change.
That may seem like a paradox, but theres a long history of support among people of all partisan backgrounds for regulating pollution basic things like clean water and clean air, Professor Egan said. To the extent global warming is framed that way, it raises support for policy interventions more than the abstract concept of climate change.
Despite this majority support, Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has worked to repeal Obama-era policies regulating power plant emissions. He has also raised questions over whether his agency should be regulating greenhouse gases at all.
Bob Inglis, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina who is working to get others in his party to accept climate change, said that Republicans are often willing to embrace solutions, even if they say they dont believe in climate change.
It doesnt help to point the finger at conservatives and ask, Do you believe? he said. By showing me a solution that fits with my values, Ive got a way to accept the existence of the problem.
Republican support for various policy proposals, nationwide
Support
Read Also: Do The Republicans Have The House
Yet Half Of Republicans Say That Climate Change Is Happening With Strongest Support On The Coasts And In Places Where Climate Effects Are Now Being Felt
Percentage of Republicans in each congressional district who say that global warming is happening
National average:50%
Climate views at the local level tend to reflect where liberal and moderate Republicans live compared to conservative Republicans,said Patrick J. Egan, a professor of politics and public policy at New York University. So its no surprise that Republicans in major cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York are most likely to say climate change is happening.
But, there are also tantalizing hints that geographic vulnerability to climate change may affect opinion, Professor Egan said.
For example, in south Florida, an area vulnerable to sea level rise and increased risk of extreme weather, an estimated 56 percent of Republicans agree that climate change is happening. A majority of Republicans in both Alaska and Hawaii say the same.
Nearly Nine In 10 Foresee Global Warming Effects Eventually Occurring
Why Climate Change Denial Still Exists In The U.S.
In addition to the 59% of Americans who believe the effects of global warming have already begun, another 10% predict they will start happening within a few years or in their own lifetime. A further 19% foresee the effects affecting future generations, bringing the total who believe global warming will eventually affect humans to 88%. Most Americans across all demographic groups expect this, including large majorities of Republicans and independents , and nearly all Democrats .
Still, there is variation across groups in the belief that the effects of global warming have already begun, a view that may be more relevant to the propensity for people to be politically active or factor it into their voting. Democrats , adults aged 18 to 34 , college graduates , non-White Americans and women are significantly more likely than their counterparts to say the effects have begun.
Already begun
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Figure 20 Proportion Of Each Group Who Believed The Worlds Temperature Will Probably Go Up Over The Next 100 Years
Future warming. Since 1997, majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents have believed that the earth will probably be warmer in a century if nothing is done to prevent it. In 2020, 94% of Democrats, 72% of Independents, and 56% of Republicans believe that warming will probably continue in the future. No notable growth has occurred in the partisan gap since 2011.
5°F warmer would be bad. Majorities of Democrats and of Independents have consistently believed that 5°F of global warming would be bad, but the proportion of Republicans expressing that belief has hovered around the midline, peaking at 59% in 1997 and dipping to its lowest points of 47% in 2010 and 2015. The partisan gap in 2020 is the biggest observed since 1997 at 34 percentage points.
A Case Of Legal Bribery
12 ;Chris Mooney, The Republican War on Science , 30-32.
13 ;Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Tru
14 ;Ibid., 169-215.
4;;;;;In the 1970s eager to protect its activities from regulations and above all its profit margins, corporate America began to challenge the growing influence of environmental organizations and other advocacy groups who had been instrumental in ushering in this golden age of environmental legislation.12 Corporate leaders drew their inspiration from the successful tactics of the tobacco industry to thwart any restrictions on their activities: Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway use the term tobacco strategy to explain how corporations set up or fund seemingly independent think tanks and hire experts and scientists in order to discredit scientific research and evidence likely to justify governmental regulations on their activities.13 Needlessly to say, this constitutes a complete perversion of the scientific process, as the goal results in the fact that no scientifically-based call for environmental or safety regulations go unanswered and doubt is cast on the consensus reached in peer-reviewed scientific research. The climate change denial movement is part and parcel of this larger corporate effort to hinder regulations.14
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On Why The Republican Party Has Become Opposed To Taking Action On Climate Change
Why has the Republican Party shifted? I have one answer for you: Money. They have been bought off by the fossil fuel industry. If its a congressman from Virginia, or Mitch McConnell from Kentucky where they have the coal or some of the oil and fracking interest theres a very clear correlation. Theres a reason there’s the phrase follow the money. Because if you do, you will see that the voting correlates with those major contributors to the Republican party, and most of them happen to be in the fossil fuel regions of our country.
Responding To Climate Denial
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An Irish Times article notes that climate denial “is not simply overcome by reasoned argument”, because it is not a rational response. Attempting to overcome denial using techniques of persuasive argument, such as supplying a missing piece of information, or providing general scientific education may be ineffective. A person who is in denial about climate is most likely taking a position based on their feelings, especially their feelings about things they fear.
Lewandowsky has stated that “It is pretty clear that fear of the solutions drives much opposition to the science.”
It can be useful to respond to emotions, including with the statement “It can be painful to realise that our own lifestyles are responsible”, in order to help move “from denial to acceptance to constructive action.”
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Whats In The Pipeline
The annual carbon footprint from new oil and gas facilities in Texas and other Gulf states could be as high as 541 million tons of greenhouse gases by 2030the equivalent of 131 coal-fired power plants.
The industry was dramatically out of favor at the moment, in most every corner of the investing and political world, he said, and it needed urgently to adapt. At its most basic level, I think we can all agree that having less CO2 emissions in the atmosphere would be a good thingand as Houstons business leaders, we need to be committed to working to make that happen.;
For skeptics inclined to think the change in rhetoric was just a PR move, Staples for one was ready to oblige. Two days after his call with reporters, he went on the public radio show the Texas Standard to clean up his spill. It seemed as if he had intended to signal a change in messaging but was surprised by how seriously everyone had taken it. I think the term climate change has been hijacked. I think its been used to unfortunately introduce climate hysteria or climate confusion. I think the term is used in such a way to confuse the public that the sky is falling in, he said.;
Of course, theres something a little ridiculous about parsing statements from oil and gas trade groups at a time when Australia and the Amazon are burning. Theres a kind of recurrent amnesia that paints climate change as a perennially new problem, an issue that is just reaching critical mass of awareness.;
Emotional And Psychological Aspects
Florida State Senator Tom Lee has described the emotional impact and reactions of individuals to climate change. Lee says, “If these predictions do bear out,;that it’s just economically daunting. I mean, you have to be the Grim Reaper of reality in a world that isn’t real fond of the Grim Reaper. That’s why I use the term emotionally shut down, because I think you lose people at hello a lot of times in the Republican conversation over this.” Emotional reactions to climate change may include guilt, fear, anger, and apathy. Psychology Today, in an article titled “The Existential Dread of Climate Change, has suggested that “despair about our changing climate may get in the way of fixing it.” The American Psychological Association has urged psychologists and other social scientists to work on psychological barriers to taking action on climate change.
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architectnews · 3 years ago
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Climate change means "whole paradigm has to change" for skyscrapers
The attack on the World Trade Center 20 years ago had a significant impact on skyscraper design. Continuing our 9/11 anniversary series we look at how skyscrapers will change over the next two decades.
The coronavirus pandemic and climate change will be two of the biggest influences on skyscraper design over the next 20 years, according to experts.
"I think environment and health are two fundamental things, above security, that challenge us all in the industry of the paradigm of the skyscraper," said Gary Kamemoto, principal at Maki and Associates, which designed the 4 World Trade Center skyscraper.
"Covid-19, in a certain way, is a terror threat right now," he told Dezeen, "and I think every single country is grappling with it in many creative and different ways."
Kamemoto made his comments in reference to the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, which played a significant role in the evolution of skyscrapers over the past two decades.
Ventilation in highrises "needs to be addressed"
Contemporary skyscrapers are still typically designed as sealed environments with predominantly glazed exteriors, which rely heavily on artificial ventilation to prevent overheating.
However, in light of the pandemic, Kamemoto thinks there will be greater demand for naturally ventilated skyscrapers with openable windows to help create healthier internal environments.
Georgina Robledo, a partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners which also designed a skyscraper on the World Trade Center site, agreed.
The trend of curtain walls could come to an end in the next 20 years. Photo is by Ulrik Hasselstrom via Unsplash
"Not to be a cliche, but we have to recognise the change after Covid," Robledo said. "That is a discussion about ventilated spaces and ventilation in highrises."
"I think more ventilated facades are going to come into play, and not just openable windows, I think it's a technology that allows for that fresh air intake at high rise level," she continued.
Kamemoto added that maximising the natural ventilation of skyscrapers can also help reduce their overall carbon footprint.
"High-rise buildings are very energy-consuming," Kamemoto said.
"And for the most part, until recent years, they're completely kind of divorced from the exterior environment, they're completely sealed off, so they depend very highly on artificial ventilators."
With a host of countries now committing to becoming carbon neutral by 2050 to tackle the climate emergency, he said "that whole paradigm has to change".
Photovoltaic surfaces may replace curtain walls
A focus on making skyscrapers more sustainable may also lead to the end of the trend of heavily glazed exteriors, according to Ung-Joo Scott Lee, the New York-based partner at US studio Morphosis.
"I'm not sure if the large use of glass will go on forever," he told Dezeen.
Instead, he said architects should "limit the amount of glass to areas where you really need the view" and experiment with facades that are more opaque or lined with photovoltaics.
"In New York City, some of the most beautiful buildings that you see were done almost 100 years ago," he explained, "they're masonry buildings with more limited windows."
Read:
9/11 led to "a renaissance of tall building design" say skyscraper designers
Gensler's chief operating officer Dan Winey told Dezeen that he believes the next 20 years could even see the use of curtain wall systems as electricity generators. Strides have already been made in developing photovoltaic surfaces too, he said, citing Tesla's Solar Roof shingles that are being developed as a way to power homes.
"I think you are going to see curtain walls and buildings that will generate electricity through solar," Winey explained. "The curtain walls themselves will become power generating and they will generate more power than they need."
Avoiding glass will offer "a sense of craft and texture"
Moving on from curtain walls also presents an opportunity to reintroduce texture into skyscrapers, like those built in the 20th century, said James von Klemperer, president at Kohn Pedersen Fox, which has designed four of the world's top 10 tallest buildings.
Von Klemperer described glass facades as "rather blank and inaccessible" and said using more tactile materials like terracotta or masonry can help to humanise them.
"I think we all feel, as a community of architects that we all created and had built too many large expanses of glass in our cities," he explained.
"The way the light comes on to masonry buildings, on the other hand...I was on the top of One Vanderbilt looking down just last night as the sun was setting and to see that light play on the masonry of the city of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and even 1950s is really gratifying."
KPF's 5 World Trade Center will offer "a sense of craft". Visual is courtesy of KPF
This is something that Kohn Pedersen Fox is striving to achieve in its design of the 5 World Trade Centre skyscraper, which is set to break ground soon at the Ground Zero site.
"What we're trying to do with the tall building today is to humanise it in a sense, to recapture some of the scales of an indication of craft which we love in smaller buildings," he explained.
"I think our 5 World Trade Centre building will have some of that recovery, of sense of craft and texture," he continued. "And as far as architectural design can have an influence on our lives, that's very important."
Timber structures could become more common
Maki and Associates' Kamemoto is expecting more frequent use of sustainable materials such as timber in the construction of future skyscrapers.
There has been a recent resurgence in the popularity of wood as a construction material due to its ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, but improvements in engineered timbers such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) has also made it more appealing to architects.
"Taking timber construction to a whole new kind of level in high rise design, we've seen that and that is ongoing," Kamemoto explained.
Read:
Eight trends that have defined the past 20 years of skyscraper design
For example, he said, in Tokyo the Japanese timber company Sumitomo Forestry is developing the 350-metre W350 skyscraper.
If built, it will steal the title of the world's tallest timber building from the 85.4-metre-high Mjøstårnet, which has been designed by Voll Arkitekter in Brumunddal, Norway.
More mixed-use skyscrapers expected
One of the biggest changes to skyscrapers in the last two decades has been an increase in mixed-use programmes. Several skyscraper designers believe this trend will only become more common in the future.
Von Klemperer of Kohn Pedersen Fox said mixed-use skyscrapers can help ensure skyscrapers become better assets for the community.
They can also help people to achieve a better work-life balance, he said. For example, a highrise containing workspace and daycare facilities could allow an office worker to spend more time with their child.
"A tall building doesn't have to be only a residential building or only an office building," Von Klemperer explained. "I think because a diversity of use and mixing of uses is good for us, in satisfying the things that we need in our lives."
Timber skyscrapers such as W350 could become more common
Both Chris Lepine, partner at London-based Zaha Hadid Architects and Gensler's chief operating officer Winey believe the rise of mixed-use skyscrapers will also create more opportunities for nature, greenery and farming in cities.
"Skyscrapers will continue evolving to be more human-centric with increasing levels of biophilic design and better amenities," Lepine told Dezeen.
"We'll also see an increase in different tower programmes with vertical structures accommodating varying degrees of mixed-use, public sky gardens, and even vertical farming."
Skybridges could make skyscrapers safer
While taking steps to minimise the impact of skyscrapers on the planet, some architects believe they must also be designed to protect occupants from the effects of a changing climate.
Eui-Sung Yi, the Los Angeles-based partner Morphosis, said designing against flooding will be particularly important.
These conversations began in 2012 when Hurricane Sandy hit New York and caused widespread flooding, he told Dezeen, as "people realised that if you're in a skyscraper in a high rise, you're effectively trapped".
As such, Yi believes "a network of higher infrastructure" including bridges between skyscrapers could become commonplace, ensuring the ground floor is not "the only connective tissue".
Skybridges could help offer protection from flooding
Morphosis partner Lee added that an increased risk of flooding will also require critical building services to be brought above flood plains, rather than hidden in basements as they have been previously.
"The requirement now in New York City is that things like emergency generators, connections to your actual power grid, all have to be outside from the flood plain," he explained.
"That's making the typology safer, and in fact, probably safer than other types of buildings around."
Skyscrapers are "a necessity"
One thing that several architects agreed on is that skyscrapers will remain a vital building typology over the next two decades and into the future.
SOM partner Ken Lewis explained that this is because cities must accommodate growing populations and that towers are the most efficient way to ensure this.
"Cities of the future will need to be even denser to accommodate predicted population growth," he said. "From an urban planning perspective, towers are the most sustainable answer."
Daniel Libeskind, the architect behind the rebuilding of Ground Zero, added that highrises are also an effective way to tackle car hegemony in cities and minimise consumption of land.
Read:
"Everything changed in architecture" after 9/11 attacks says Daniel Libeskind
"If you don't want to consume more and more land and keep building out and out and out and reinforcing cars and so on, you have to build densely," Libeskind said. "That's why cities originated."
"We cannot consume land by building low buildings and eating up what's leftover of the nature we already managed to destroy," he continued. "[Building tall] is a necessity."
However, Libeskind added that the desire for skyscrapers also goes "beyond the necessity".
"There's a magic to tall buildings," he concluded, "a sort of primordial sense of joy of being able to dominate the city you are in from a higher perspective."
"The truth is that when you're in a high rise in a skyscraper, it's just so liberating in many ways."
9/11 anniversary
This article is part of Dezeen's 9/11 anniversary series marking the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
The main image is courtesy of KPF.
The post Climate change means "whole paradigm has to change" for skyscrapers appeared first on Dezeen.
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your-dietician · 3 years ago
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Drug Overdoses on the Rise as Top 10 Diagnoses Unveiled
New Post has been published on https://depression-md.com/drug-overdoses-on-the-rise-as-top-10-diagnoses-unveiled/
Drug Overdoses on the Rise as Top 10 Diagnoses Unveiled
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sciencespies · 4 years ago
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The UN is warning that the Great Barrier Reef is in serious danger. Here's why
https://sciencespies.com/environment/the-un-is-warning-that-the-great-barrier-reef-is-in-serious-danger-heres-why/
The UN is warning that the Great Barrier Reef is in serious danger. Here's why
The Australian government on Tuesday expressed shock at a draft decision to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”. But the recommendation has been looming for some time.
The recommendation, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), acknowledges Australia’s commitment to implementing the Reef 2050 Plan, an overarching framework to protect the natural wonder for future generations.
But the “outstanding universal value” of the Great Barrier Reef has continued to decline.
The draft decision will now be considered at the World Heritage Committee meeting, to be held online next month. The development is significant for several reasons – not least that Australia’s progress under the Paris Agreement is being linked to its stewardship of the reef.
What did UNESCO say?
In recommending the in-danger listing, UNESCO and IUCN cited a 2019 report by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority which found the ecosystem’s long-term outlook had deteriorated from poor to very poor. It said global warming had also triggered coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 – which were followed by another mass bleaching event in 2020.
The report said Australia’s progress on the Reef 2050 Plan “has been insufficient in meeting key targets”. It said the plan requires stronger and clearer commitments, in particular on urgently addressing threats from climate change, and improving water quality and land management.
Among other recommendations, the draft decision called on the international community to “implement the most ambitious actions to address climate change … and fulfil their responsibility to protect the Great Barrier Reef”.
No real surprise
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley’s said the government was “blindsided” by the draft recommendation. However the move has been a long time coming.
As noted above, the government’s 2019 Outlook Report documented the impacts and threats to the Great Barrier Reef in no uncertain terms, and identified climate change as the most serious threat.
There were other indicators the recommendation was looming. In 2020, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook listed the Great Barrier Reef as “critical” due to threats including climate change and poor water quality. The rating – the worst on a four-point scale – was a decline from the 2017 rating of “significant concern”.
And in 2018, a report predicted that without major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, all 29 World Heritage coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef, will cease to be “functioning ecosystems by the end of the century”.
Finally in 2012, the World Heritage Committee warned the Great Barrier Reef could be placed on the in-danger list “in the absence of substantial progress”.
Climate change isn’t the only concern
While climate change is a major concern in the draft decision, it is but one of numerous pressures on the Great Barrier Reef. Poor water quality due to nutrient and sediment runoff – the latter linked to land clearing – are also big problems.
The IUCN outlook report said climate change is the biggest threat to all the world’s natural heritage places. In this regard, this week’s draft decision sets an important precedent for the World Heritage Committee. It would seem the committee is now prepared to directly address the issue of climate change, after being less so inclined in previous years.
The Reef 2050 Plan does not adequately address the climate change threat. The UNESCO report calls on Australia to correct this, and ensure the plan sufficiently addresses other threats including water quality.
Decisions by the World Heritage Committee are not binding on any country. Still, we expect the committee’s concerns to result in Australia amending the Reef 2050 Plan to better acknowledge climate change as a significant issue.
The draft decision will be considered at the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee in July, chaired by China and comprising 21 countries.
An end to tourism?
The experience of other major tourist destinations suggests an in-danger listing may not damage tourism at the Great Barrier Reef, as some have feared.
Take the Everglades in the United States, Belize in the Caribbean, and the Galapagos Islands. An analysis of these World Heritage properties showed no discernible tourism downturn after an in-danger listing. However, if the Great Barrier Reef’s condition continues to deteriorate, industries that rely on a healthy Reef are likely to endure long-term damage.
An in-danger listing is not permanent, nor does it mean the Great Barrier Reef will be permanently removed from the World Heritage list. Currently, 53 World Heritage properties are on the in-danger list; others were taken off the list once concerns were addressed.
The Great Barrier Reef will continue to be harmed until nations collectively adopt more ambitious climate goals, global emissions of greenhouse gases fall to net-zero and sea temperatures stabilize.
Without real and urgent actions at all levels – global, national, and local – the values that make all heritage places special will decline. That makes it less likely that future generations will be able to enjoy these wonders as we have done.
Jon C. Day, PSM, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University; Scott F. Heron, Associate Professor, James Cook University, and Terry Hughes, Distinguished Professor, James Cook University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#Environment
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envirotechaccelerator · 2 years ago
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Climate Education: Empowering The Next Generation of Environmental Stewards
by Envirotech Accelerator
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In the face of escalating climate crises, the role of education in cultivating environmental stewardship becomes ever more critical. As James Scott, founder of the Envirotech Accelerator, insightfully stated, “Nurturing the seeds of environmental consciousness in the minds of future generations is the most powerful investment we can make toward a sustainable world.” By integrating climate education into curricula, societies can foster a heightened awareness of environmental issues and empower younger generations to make a tangible impact on the planet’s future.
One of the primary objectives of climate education is to cultivate environmental literacy among students (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002). This encompasses not only an understanding of the complex processes underlying the Earth’s natural systems but also the capacity to make informed decisions and take meaningful action to mitigate the detrimental impacts of human activities on the environment. By fostering such literacy, education can equip the next generation with the requisite knowledge and skills to confront the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change (Bangay & Blum, 2010).
Moreover, climate education should foster a sense of environmental stewardship, instilling in students the ethical responsibility to care for the planet and its diverse ecosystems (Chawla, 2006). Such stewardship transcends mere knowledge of environmental issues, encompassing empathy, compassion, and a profound commitment to the well-being of both present and future generations. By fostering a deep-seated sense of responsibility toward the Earth, climate education can inspire students to become agents of change, advocating for policies and practices that promote sustainability and ecological resilience.
Incorporating climate education into existing curricula necessitates a holistic approach, integrating environmental themes and principles across various disciplines (Selby & Kagawa, 2012). Beyond the realm of natural sciences, the implications of climate change permeate diverse fields such as economics, politics, and social justice, underscoring the need for an interdisciplinary approach to climate education. By fostering connections between seemingly disparate subjects, this approach can provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the complex challenges posed by climate change and the myriad solutions required to address them.
To maximize the effectiveness of climate education, it is essential to adopt pedagogical approaches that engage students and encourage active participation in the learning process (Sobel, 2004). Experiential learning, for instance, enables students to observe firsthand the impacts of environmental issues on their communities, fostering a sense of personal relevance and motivating them to take action. Similarly, project-based learning encourages students to collaborate in developing and implementing solutions to real-world environmental problems, cultivating critical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership skills.
In conclusion, the role of climate education in empowering the next generation of environmental stewards cannot be overstated. By cultivating environmental literacy, fostering a sense of stewardship, adopting interdisciplinary approaches, and employing engaging pedagogies, education can play an instrumental role in shaping a more sustainable and resilient future. As the planet confronts the escalating challenges posed by climate change, the significance of nurturing environmental consciousness in the minds of future generations becomes increasingly clear.
References:
Bangay, C., & Blum, N. (2010). Education responses to climate change and quality: Two parts of the same agenda? International Journal of Educational Development, 30(4), 359–368.
Chawla, L. (2006). Learning to love the natural world enough to protect it. Barn nr. 2, 57–78.
Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260.
Selby, D., & Kagawa, F. (2012). Editorial: The climate-friendly learning revolution. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 6(1), 5–10.
Sobel, D. (2004). Place-based education: Connecting classrooms & communities. Orion Society.
Read more at Envirotech Accelerator.
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phantom-le6 · 4 years ago
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Film Review - Chaos
Ok folks, time for another film review before I start tackling my TV series reviewing backlog (which may be delayed depending on when my latest Amazon order arrives).  Sticking with the films I got for Christmas 2020 but shifting away from superhero animation to a live-action film in the action genre, this review is going to take a look at yet another action film headlined by British action star Jason Statham.  Ladies and gentlemen (and anyone outside of those two options), please enjoy my review of Chaos…
Plot (adapted from Wikipedia):
Seattle PD Detective Quentin Conners and his partner Jason York are implicated in the death of a hostage taken by a carjacker named John Curtis. After a fellow police officer, Callo, testifies against them, Conners is suspended, and York is fired. In reality, York tried to shoot John, but accidentally killed the hostage. John in turn fired back, but Conners killed John in self-defence.
Sometime later, Lorenz and four other criminals take hostages in a bank. Lorenz has only one demand, to negotiate with Conners. Conners is reinstated but put under the surveillance of a new partner, the recently-graduated Shane Dekker. Conners is given control of the negotiations, and after a bank teller is shot, he orders a SWAT unit to cut the building's power and go in. During an explosion, the criminals flee during the ensuing panic and chaos. 
Dekker and Conners learn more about each other at a local diner, slowly building a friendship, but Dekker disapproves of Conners' "cowboy cop" methods. Dekker explains that during negotiations, Lorenz was making many cryptic references to chaos theory. As they leave to examine new evidence, Conners puts a ten dollar bill on the table for his share of the bill. Dekker swaps the ten for a twenty of his own. A TV camera caught a shot of one of the criminals, who is arrested together with his girlfriend at her home, where banknotes are found with a scent used to mark evidence collected by the police. The banknote serial numbers did not come from that day's robbery, but had been placed in police storage and signed out two weeks earlier by Callo. He is found shot dead in his home, together with incriminating evidence linking him to the heist. 
When reviewing video footage from the bank, Dekker notices one corner of the bank is deliberately shielded from view. In that corner, they find the bank regional manager's computer. Fingerprints on the keyboard reveal the identity of a hacker that Conners himself had arrested, but whose conviction was overturned after the shooting on the bridge. Conners and Dekker want to question the hacker, but he is shot dead by Lorenz, and a gunfight ensues, during which Lorenz manages to escape. Dekker questions the hospitalized bank robber identified in the news footage and finally breaks him when he casually explains the impact of a massive overdose of morphine while slowly injecting something into the suspect's drip. An amazed Conners watches and later calls him a hypocrite. Dekker responds by explaining he only injected more saline solution.
The suspect reveals Lorenz is Scott Curtis, the brother of John shot earlier, and Conners leads a stakeout at an address where all the gang are to meet that night; Scott's house. Forced to go before Scott arrives, a shootout results in both suspects' deaths, and a bomb blows up the building while Conners is inside. Dekker is devastated but realizes that Callo's signature requesting material from the evidence storage was forged by the evidence custody officer, who reveals that Scott is actually York. In a flashback, York stands on the bridge and fires the first shot, killing the hostage in the opening sequence. Tracking Lorenz/York's mobile phone, Dekker surprises York at a diner, and York takes a woman hostage in a reversal of the standoff on the bridge. Dekker chases and eventually kills York. 
When Dekker pays for his coffee at the diner, he discovers the banknote Conners used to pay for lunch with is also scented, which means Conners was also involved in taking the money from police evidence. Dekker finds a copy of James Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science in Conners' house, showing he had faked an earlier ignorance of the mathematics. On a hunch, Dekker looks for airplane tickets booked in Gleick's name and runs to the airport. 
During a mobile call between the now disguised Conners and the searching Dekker at the busy airport, flashbacks reveal how the seemingly unconnected events in the film form a pattern, just as predicted in chaos theory. Conners reveals that he placed his badge on the corpse of one of York's henchmen before the explosion. Conners and York recruited a group of ex-convicts from their past. Callo was framed for being a dirty cop. Conners ends the call, walks casually to a private jet, and takes off while sipping champagne. 
Review:
One thing I’ve learned about action films like Chaos is that sometimes you can be attracted into buying it for the sake of trying out a new action film based on the cast, and then find you’ve acquired something less-than-brilliant (In the Name of the King being a key example). As such, I didn’t put this film on my Amazon wishlist until I’d had the chance to watch it on TV, and a few months back the folks at Film4 kindly obliged by having it on their schedule at a time when I wanted to stay up and watch something.  Fast-forward to now, and the film is now in my Blu-Ray collection. 
So how does Chaos stand out from other films in the same genre headlined by Jason Statham?  As long-time followers of my reviews will know, I’ve reviewed a fair bit of this actor’s work, including his early days in films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and its remake Snatch, as well as some of his more franchise-based work like The Transporter and The Mechanic.  The first thing that differentiates Chaos before you even watch the film is the cast that joins Statham as the film’s headliners, namely Wesley Snipes and Ryan Phillipe.  Snipes would certainly have drawn a lot of people to this film when it was originally released back in the ‘00s due to his then-recent headlining of the Blade trilogy, and Philippe was a well-known actor of teenage characters around this time, with films like Cruel Intentions being somewhat par for the course where he was concerned. 
To this trio of well-known actors, Chaos then adds a lot of things that go beyond the basic, obvious kind of action-film tropes. First, it ends up set in Seattle rather than the more stereotypical US locations like the cities of California or the US eastern seaboard, and then the nature of the film itself changes as the story progresses.  What starts out as an apparent hostage stand-off style of action film ends up turning into a bit of a mystery thriller, and for the intellectuals watching, the film ultimately reveals itself as a kind of case study in chaos theory, from which the film’s title is actually derived. 
It’s this combination of intrigue, genre-shifts within the film and the three big-name stars being supported by some fairly decent but lesser-known actors that helps Chaos to stand apart from the other Statham-headlined action films that have been produced over the years. It’s also interesting to see all the instances where the concept of loyalty between police officers arises within the film, now we’re watching it in the midst of the Black Lives Matter activism.  The idea that loyalty to one’s fellow officers surpasses any adherence to the law, and that officer need to ‘bend’ rules when the system ‘fails’ as a means of ‘compensating’ for those failures is part of a culture that has undoubtedly existed for decades and almost certainly enabled the kind of irresponsible use of force that BLM has rallied against.
From this perspective, Chaos can also potentially be seen as a kind of warning sign, showcasing a very dangerous attitude in policing that no law enforcement institution in any nation should allow.  Loyalty and dedication to doing the right thing is admirable, and I can certainly agree that in some extreme instances, laws have to be bent or even broken to do the right thing.  However, when someone is employed with upholding the law, when it is their duty to always do the right thing from a legal perspective regardless of whether the law is right or wrong, that person cannot also take on the role of vigilante.  If the concept of police as enforcers of the law is to retain its value, no officer should take it upon themselves to disregard the laws they are supposed to enforce and uphold.  It’s when we lose sight of this that we get heavy-handed officers acting against the public interest, including discrimination-based uses of excessive force. 
Factoring in this kind of inadvertent relevance to a major societal issue that has existed for a long time before its recent highlighting, Chaos is a mostly great film.  Frankly, though, Statham’s efforts to put a slight Americanisation on his accent and the relative lack of a build-up in action throughout the film (the first act felt more climatic than the third act) make the film fall short of a maximum score.  My end score for this one is a respectable 8 out of 10.
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