[GWSG] US & Syria; EPA closes its ears to own voices; Fox reports GAO on climate; more lightning; Mulkey on necessary grit

[Tilley, Al]

1. Nicaragua has joined the Paris agreement, leaving the US alone with Syria in opposition. Fiji, chair of the coming COP 23 UN meeting in Bonn, has called for an "absolute dedication" to the goal of keeping warming to 1.5C. https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3019699/nicaragua-confirms-it-is-to-join-paris-agreement-leaving-us-further-isolated



2. The EPA has been funding a project on the health of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. The agency has forbidden its scientists from presenting findings from the 500-page technical report to a conference on the project, which deals in part with the effects of climate change on the region. Some EPA staffers on the project were reported forbidden to attend the conference. http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=106462

The conference drew people protesting the EPA's censorship of what was essentially its own report, even though it celebrated some success in cleaning up the bay. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/10/23/let-us-do-our-job-anger-erupts-over-epas-muzzling-of-scientists/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_epascience-440pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.b4ae792b7854



3. Fox News reports that a General Accounting Office Study finds we are spending billions of dollars a year dealing with the effects of climate change, that the amount will grow in the future, and that we are not anticipating the obligations or the risks. Fox also notices the industry hacks appointed to control federal agencies which should be dealing with the issue.  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/24/climate-change-already-costing-us-taxpayers-billions-in-losses-gao-report-says.html



4. A hotter climate is producing more and larger forest fires. One factor is that every degree of heart produces 12% more lightning. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/forest-fires-climate-change-1.4366285



5. Stephen Mulkey considers a situation in which we choose to continue to struggle with open eyes to cope with deteriorating conditions. https://environmentalcentury.net/2017/10/12/the-long-game-facing-reality-in-the-environmental-century/

For example, in Florida it is high time we resolved to face possible retreat from the coasts and to begin discussions of how we would preserve functioning state and local governments if state revenues dwindled. ?

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