Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
“For decades, the rangers at Denali National Park in Alaska were easily winning their battle against a slow-moving landslide underneath the park’s only road. Now, due in part to the effects of climate change, they are losing very badly,” Andrew R. Chow reports.
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“It’s been a summer of sweltering heat waves and raging wildfires, and now it’s confirmed: July 2021 was the hottest month on Earth since record-keeping began,” Li Cohen reports.
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“Climate scientists who were not involved in the research say the work holds up to scrutiny,” Seattle Times reporter Evan Bush writes. He interviewed the Washington State climatologist and assistant state climatalogist for his story.
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The Washington Post has taken note of the Pacific Northwest’s extreme weather, observing: “Portland hit 108, an all-time mark, and Seattle 102, a record for June. Loads of new records are anticipated Sunday in the Pacific Northwest as it turns even hotter.”
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“Global ice loss has increased rapidly over the past two decades, and scientists are still underestimating just how much sea levels could rise, according to alarming new research published this month, ” The Washington Post reports.
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British Columbia, Washington and Oregon all aimed to slash emissions. After epic battles, they failed. Read The Tyee’s first installment on creating a zero-CO2 bioregion.
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In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden hosted a discussion to address one of the most pressing issues facing our country and the world with special guest Vice President Al Gore.
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Planet of the Humans is “a documentary that dares to say what no one else will — that we are losing the battle to stop climate change on planet earth because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road.”
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In three years, the administration has diminished the role of science in policymaking while disrupting research projects nationwide.
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The United States isn’t the only prominent democracy with a fossil fuel loving chief executive who refuses to act on climate. Australia’s current prime minister is an ignoramus who has no solutions to offer as the country chokes on horrific smoke from devastating brushfires.
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“It’s become our new reality… I don’t like to say ‘normal,’ because that sounds like a plateau, and we’re on a trajectory where we’ll get more and more fire.”
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There is a real Republican war on science going on and it’s hurting the United States’ efforts to combat climate damage. This war started during the Bush years and is now being escalated by Donald “It’s freezing out, give me some of that global warming” Trump.
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A victory for clean water and climate justice, via The New York Times: “In a major legal blow to [Donald] Trump’s push to expand offshore oil and gas development, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by Mr. Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic coast was unlawful.”
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Bill Gates has thrown his support behind Initiative 1631, spearheaded by a coalition that includes the Northwest Progressive Institute.
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“The Department of Ecology should therefore take a firm stand on behalf of sound science and strike a resounding blow against unreason by denying the permit for this unpopular, poorly conceived project.”
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The BBC talks to climate scientists about the connection between the catastrophic flooding in Texas and Earth’s warming climate. Global warming has resulted in an atmosphere that can hold more moisture and hotter seas, conditions which are making storms like Harvey much more severe.
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Chris Matyszczyk: “After Donald Trump’s staged announcement that the US would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the people who sometimes give you the right weather reacted with a coruscating collage of disbelief.”
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In a groundbreaking rebuke of the company’s management, a supermajority of ExxonMobil shareholders approved a nonbinding resolution that calls for an open, transparent accounting of the risks posed to its business by policies aimed at reversing climate damage.
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“Meanwhile, the nation that landed men on the moon and pioneered so many scientific breakthroughs has pulled into a shell of selfishness and denial. Future generations will curse us.”
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If the Legislature is not prepared to create a carbon tax that is scaled to meet the challenges we face, it will be up to
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The BBC recaps the bad news: “Unprecedented coral bleaching in consecutive years has damaged two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, aerial surveys have shown. The bleaching – or loss of algae – affects a 1,500km (900 miles) stretch of the reef, according to scientists.”
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