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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Many people have been convinced that scientists are corrupted by money and cannot be trusted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The propaganda strategem behind this conviction is to poison the well of science in general so that no scientific information is accepted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>As is often the case, the weakness of the propagandist (corruption by greed) is projected onto the target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>I first ran into it among my students over twenty years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It is easy to roll my eyes at the simplicity of someone vulnerable to such nonsense, but hard to see how to counter it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-21/climate-scientists-biggest-challenge-isn-t-scientific"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-21/climate-scientists-biggest-challenge-isn-t-scientific</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The challenge is not limited to the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Here is a British view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/22/climate-change-deniers-have-won-global-warming"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/22/climate-change-deniers-have-won-global-warming</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>My best response does not counter the fallacy directly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Ask people to investigate the risk they are running from climate change in their area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>At this point do not argue causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
When they understand that the situation is serious, they will be ready to wonder about causes and cures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>In other words, help them become more scientific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>ExxonMobil, under pressure from stockholder groups, has agreed to report on the impact of carbon pricing and unusable “carbon bubble” reserves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-21/exxon-mobil-agrees-to-report-on-plans-for-low-carbon-future-carbon-risks.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-21/exxon-mobil-agrees-to-report-on-plans-for-low-carbon-future-carbon-risks.html</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Commercial solar power is now as cheap as conventional power in Germany, Italy, and Spain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Mexico is closing in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The regulatory situation is too unsteady in the US for renewables to compete generally with fossil fuels, though they do in some areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/24/3418145/solar-grid-parity-italy-germany/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/24/3418145/solar-grid-parity-italy-germany/</font></a><u><font color="#0000ff"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Deutsche Bank estimates that ten US states are already at grid parity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The utilities’ battle against batteries is part of the picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/03/25/grid-parity-why-electric-utilities-should-struggle-to-sleep-at-night/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/03/25/grid-parity-why-electric-utilities-should-struggle-to-sleep-at-night/</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Michael Mann gave a seven minute interview on his article in the April <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">
Scientific American</i>, “Earth Will Cross the Climate Danger Threshold by 2036.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Mann has summarized various lines of evidence as to when we will have incurred 2° of warming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>To avoid the threshold, we will need to peak greenhouse gas emissions in the next few years and begin ramping down at a couple of percent a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>(To keep warming to 1.5°, as it seems we should, we presumably need to embark on drawing carbon from the atmosphere.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://climatecrocks.com/2014/03/26/mike-mann-irreversible-climate-change-a-few-years-away/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://climatecrocks.com/2014/03/26/mike-mann-irreversible-climate-change-a-few-years-away/</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">Here’s the article, but you must battle some annoying popup ads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-e-mann/climate-danger-threshold_b_4994235.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-e-mann/climate-danger-threshold_b_4994235.html</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A new (to me) way of storing energy: drag a railroad car full of rocks up a hill when you have surplus energy, and let it roll back down creating power with its engine when you don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The arrangement has already been piloted in CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://grist.org/news/is-this-train-the-little-engine-that-could-for-clean-energy-storage/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520March%252027&utm_campaign=daily"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://grist.org/news/is-this-train-the-little-engine-that-could-for-clean-energy-storage/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520March%252027&utm_campaign=daily</font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>On April 13 Showtime initiates the climate series “Years of Living Dangerously.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It is said to have good production values and to attempt to convey emotional reactions to scientific findings on climate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2014/03/celebrities-climate-and-showtimes-years-of-living-dangerously/#more-21640"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2014/03/celebrities-climate-and-showtimes-years-of-living-dangerously/#more-21640</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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