[GWSG] Children's Bible; conference & kids; FL's heat problem; gas is over; Pete's project; SLR yardstick; McKibben's blog

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Martha Backer recommends Lydia Millet’s 2020 novel A Children’s Bible. The dark and witty satire contrasts adults, blasé about the climate crisis and besotted with consumer culture, to their children, contemptuous (but innocent) vandals desperate at the prospect of a future forestalled. May the generations prove wiser, as we are at our best. The book has dirty angels and a parade of playful biblical parallels. I recommend it too.

2. Next Monday a virtual conference of world leaders will discuss serving climate adaptation in Covid-19 recovery plans. More than a million children have signed a letter urging them onto strong action. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/22/a-million-young-people-urge-governments-to-prioritise-climate-crisis

3. Arizona is not the only state with a heat problem. Floridians are already suffering, especially those whose work is outdoors. “Florida currently has an average of 25 dangerous heat days, when the temperatures reach 103 degrees Fahrenheit or more, each year. By 2050, it is projected to see 130 such days each year, more than any other state, according to Climate Central.” Dr. Todd Sack recommends this unusually detailed account from the Orlando Sentinel. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-ne-health-heat-illnesses-florida-20210119-v6ialou3gvawljvab2tar3neoa-story.html

4. The chief officer of the EU Investment Bank says “Gas is over.” The bank intends to phase out all fossil fuel funding by the end of the year. They will work to cut indirect as well as direct investment. For example, they will avoid backing enterprises which do not themselves use renewable energy and will not invest in infrastructure which encourages use of fossil fuels.  https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/gas-is-over-eu-bank-chief-says/?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_content=20210121&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20Daily

5. Pete Buttigieg, incoming Secretary of Transportation, is equipped by his experience as mayor of a medium-sized city to imagine what it will take to electrify transport. He sees the department as a climate agency. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/ann-shikany/secretary-pete-transportation-should-be-climate-agency

6. A team led by U of South FL researchers has found a way to calculate sea levels at crucial periods in the past 6.5 million years by measuring deposits in a Mallorcan cave. That will help us to anticipate more accurately sea levels to come. https://phys.org/news/2021-01-geoscientists-reconstruct-million-years-sea.html

7. Bill McKibben’s rule of thumb for dealing with the climate crisis: stop burning things. That includes wood. His blog which follows the piece on wood makes good reading, too.   https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/to-counter-climate-change-we-need-to-stop-burning-things

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