[GWSG] Media sins; legislature dithers; a gentle warming; wild prairie strips; Losing Earth; finding earth

[Tilley, Al]

1. Neil Armingeon sends this meditation on the failure of our news media to report on the patterns of a climate in transformation which lie behind recent heatwaves and fires. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/climate-change-wildfires-heatwave-media-old-news-end-of-the-world.html
[https://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/26/26-wildfire-sweden.w1200.h630.jpg]<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/climate-change-wildfires-heatwave-media-old-news-end-of-the-world.html>

How Did the Climate Apocalypse Become Old News?<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/climate-change-wildfires-heatwave-media-old-news-end-of-the-world.html>
nymag.com
This month, the world saw an unprecedented global heat wave, wildfires in the Arctic Circle – and virtually no headlines about climate change.



2. The US House has passed an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program through November, $25b debt and all. Until the program is rendered adequate to its mission meaningful climate planning for coastal areas will be impeded. https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/07/30/flood-insurance-reform-climate-change/
[https://i0.wp.com/www.climateliabilitynews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/GettyImages-846213444-e1532977902270.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1]<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/07/30/flood-insurance-reform-climate-change/>

Congress again punts flood insurance reform into future<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/07/30/flood-insurance-reform-climate-change/>
www.climateliabilitynews.org
Climate change-driven storms cost more than $250 billion in 2017 and the National Flood Insurance Program is mired in debt, but reform is nowhere in sight.


(The Senate also passed the extension on July 31.)

3. An upwelling of deep water in the Antarctic beginning 11,000 years ago raised atmospheric CO2 levels about 20 ppm and promoted a warmth and growth of vegetation which fostered the growth of human civilizations. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180730120316.htm

4. Only 4% of the original US prairie remains. It can be restored, even in small parcels: “. . . covering just 10 percent of cropland in prairie strips — planted in ribbons about 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) wide, perpendicular to the land’s slope as a barrier to runoff — cut soil loss from fields where they were planted by 95 percent and reduced phosphorus and nitrogen runoff by 77 and 70 percent, respectively. The strips also more than doubled the abundance of birds and pollinators.” Soil health improves. Rewilding need not be complete or on a large scale to be effective. About fifty farms in five states have already planted the prairie strips.  https://ensia.com/notable/prairie-strips/
[https://ensia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Notable_prairiestrips_Main.jpg]<https://ensia.com/notable/prairie-strips/>

Small strips of prairie hold hope for reducing farms ...<https://ensia.com/notable/prairie-strips/>
ensia.com
Tallgrass prairie, and the rich diversity of plants and animals it supports, covered 150 million acres (61 million hectares) of the central United States…



5. The New York Times Magazine’s special issue Losing Earth describes US science and policy on climate 1979-89. It is a Washington-focused story of opportunities missed and avoided. The story lacks a proper assessment of the current developments in climate action. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html?emc=edit_ma_20180801&nl=magazine&nlid=4362837420180801&te=1
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/08/05/magazine/5mag-climate-promo-FIRE/5mag-climate-promo-FIRE-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg]<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html?emc=edit_ma_20180801&nl=magazine&nlid=4362837420180801&te=1>

Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html?emc=edit_ma_20180801&nl=magazine&nlid=4362837420180801&te=1>
www.nytimes.com
We knew everything we needed to know, and nothing stood in our way. Nothing, that is, except ourselves. A tragedy in two acts.


Peter Gleick complains about the Times’ failures in the article. https://www.yahoo.com/news/don-apos-t-fall-climate-212326048.html
[https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/aLLNzthCyvEys91lKTViMQ--~B/aD0yNzA4O3c9NDgzNTtzbT0xO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/huffpost_opinion_775/99e946584008cfacd1b5639ca16080f2]<https://www.yahoo.com/news/don-apos-t-fall-climate-212326048.html>

Saving Earth: Don't Fall Into Climate Change Fatalism<https://www.yahoo.com/news/don-apos-t-fall-climate-212326048.html>
www.yahoo.com
You reap what you sow. The chickens have come home to roost. The ship has



6.  Vice News has supplied a proper coda to the New York Times story. “An Optimists Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World” outlines some features, such as affordable housing and improved education for women, which will help define a world we would like to live in at the end of the energy transition now well underway.  https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kyp8y/an-optimists-guide-to-solving-climate-change-and-saving-the-world
[https://video-images.vice.com/articles/5b5f803d0592810008332aad/lede/1532993395998-cleancity-1.jpeg?crop=0.9977777777777778xw:1xh;center,center&resize=1200:*]<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kyp8y/an-optimists-guide-to-solving-climate-change-and-saving-the-world>

An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kyp8y/an-optimists-guide-to-solving-climate-change-and-saving-the-world>
www.vice.com
We asked experts what policies they would put in place to fight climate change and got some unexpected answers.




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