WHAT TIME DOES THE RUNWAY WALK STOP AT THE NEXT GUILLOTINE?

Teen Vogue Is Good

DAVID PALUMBO INTERVIEWS 

SAMHITA MUKHOPADHYAY

Could Condé Nast be publishing the best mainstream forum for progressive views?

Yes, it’s still owned by Condé Nast. But Teen Vogue has been publishing writers who’ve managed to spread progressive and radical views to a new audience...  with political primers like “Everything You Need to Know About General Strikes” and “Who Is Karl Marx: Meet the Anti-Capitalist Scholar.”...

The New Statesman has just declared Teen Vogue to be a “champion of democratic socialism,” the interest in the new Teen Vogue is attributable to a sense of urgency in the air and also the growing awareness of the bankruptcy of neoliberalism… 

To understand things a bit better, I sat down with Samhita Mukhopadhyay, the magazine’s executive editor.

DP

...name a couple of articles that show the kinds of things Teen Vogue wants to do.

SAMHITA MUKOPADHAY

I’m really proud... we did an entire package on fat bodies...we shot a size twenty-four model for one of the main features.

I was very excited about everything we did for Covering Climate Now. We were part of that initiative. 

We put Greta on the cover, which I thought was fantastic. And we did that cover in literally fifteen minutes. She’s a very, very busy young woman...

All of our verticals reflect in some way... an awareness of class difference. And it’s an awareness of sustainability and climate change.
  

The right wing thinks we are brainwashing a new generation. I put one such quote from a right-winger on my Twitter bio, “The most insidious form of teen communist propaganda,” or something like that.

DPL

That’s nice. I like that.

BLUE JEANS: THE NEXT BIG THING IN RENEWABLE FUEL

China endorsed replacing fossil fuel with renewables at COP26, but didn't say what coal substitutes its citizens might turn to. 

General Secretary Xi's 's Falun Gong opponents, who think chi energy the best way to keep warm, say rising coal prices along China's chilly northern frontier have driven locals to burn more affordable alternative fuels, like food & clothing :

SIXTH TURKEY EXTINCTION FEARED IF CLIMATE BORES BALK AT THANKSGIVING BOAR

THE WASHINGTON POST 

Climate change has officially arrived at our Thanksgiving tables. 

As the past year has made even more clear, the consequences of a warming world have challenged farmers and food systems throughout the United States...

In the Northeast, the fastest-warming region in the country, cranberries are budding earlier, making them more vulnerable to frost damage. And in the Southeast, intensifying hurricanes, driven by warming oceans, are forcing farmers to move turkeys northward to drier ground... To mitigate the effects of global warming, we need to change agricultural practices. But food is already changing because of the warming climate..

“You can bet that under climate change scenarios, corn, cranberries, leafy greens like creamed spinach [and] turkey — all of these commodities are going to be constrained,” said Jessica Fanzo, professor of global food and agricultural policy and ethics at Johns Hopkins University...

So what does this mean for the future of our Thanksgiving tables? Let’s start planning the feast, First, the centerpiece

Feral pigs, also known as wild boar... have rapidly expanded across at least 35 states
 because a lack of natural predators and an ability to adapt to a multitude of climates. As a holiday showstopper, wild boar could take the form of a whole roast or a decadent ragu, as is custom in Tuscany. 

Turkeys of the future could come from a lab instead of a farm..

NEWTON'S GOBBLE

 

The New Yorker's  
Newtonian Halloween cartoon notwithstanding,
 pumpkins don't grow on trees

CAN THE CLIMATE APOCALYPSE SAVE CHE'S REVOLUTION?

 

CO2 MITIGATION: HOEING SHORTER ROWS WITH GMO'S

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

CRISPR and the Climate

How Gene Editing Can Help Cut Emissions

 Emma Kovak and Robert Paarlberg

November 17, 2021 ...many other states are exempting CRISPR crops from GMO-style rules. Following the 2018 court ruling in Europe, a coalition of ten countries… sent a signed statement to the World Trade Organization arguing that gene-edited plants should be regulated the same way as conventional ones. 

The United Kingdom is now freeing itself from the EU ruling and pushing forward with research on CRISPR crops. Japan has signaled that it intends not to classify gene-edited plants as modified organisms under the Cartagena Protocol. China has yet to publicly speak up, but the country has invested heavily in genome editing, so it will also probably defend CRISPR. These governments clearly understand that addressing the challenges climate change poses for agriculture requires all the tools the world has, including gene editing... 

GMOs can accomplish tremendous good—including by making emission-friendly products that CRISPR can’t. Genetic modification is better than gene editing at producing crops resistant to pests and diseases, which increases yields and allows for the production of more food on less land, decreasing deforestation. 

The use of insect-resistant, genetically modified Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) crops, for example, has increased yields by an average of 25 percent globally. Genetic modification is also more effective than gene editing at making herbicide-resistant crops, which improves weed control and increases yields. And insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant GMO plants have reduced tractor use for insecticide spraying and tillage, dramatically cutting yearly greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, the yearly reduced usage is equivalent to taking 1.6 million cars off the road. States clearly shouldn’t limit modern crop improvement to CRISPR.

WHAT DID THEY KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT ?

 We are fast approaching the centennial of what should have been the end of The Climate Wars. Although quantum mechanics was in its infancy in 1925, atmospheric optics and spectrophotometry were far enough advanced to ground basic calculations of the radiative equilibrium of climate relative to the concentration of CO2 in the air. As Arrhenius' contemporary Mellor noted in:

The bottom line can be fairly put as being that, today as in 1925, the blackboard calculations of Tyndall, Angstrom, Roentgen & Arrhenius remain basically right, and those of Kayser, Abbot and Fowle woefully wrong-  their understanding of aerosol cooling did not translate into an equally coherent understanding of atmospheric radiation: 

VOLCANOES AND CLIMATE
By C. G. ABBOT and F. E. FOWLE
During- the summer of 191 2 we were engaged, respectively, at Bassour, Algeria, and at Mount Wilson, California, in measuring with the pyrheliometer and spectrobolometer the intensity of the radiation of the sun. On June 19 Mr. Abbot began to notice in Bassour streaks resembling smoke lying along the horizon, as if there were a forest fire in the neighborhood of the station. These streaks continued all summer, and were very marked before sunrise and after sunset covering the sky then towards the sun nearly to
the zenith. After a few days the sky became mottled, especially near the sun. The appearance was like that of the so-called mackerel sky, although there were absolutely no clouds. 

In the months of July, August, and so long as the expedition remained in September, the sky was very hazy, and it was found that the intensity of the radiation of the sun was greatly decreased by the uncommonly great haziness. Mr. Fowle noted similar appearances at Mount Wilson especially noting the streakiness beginning with June 21.

Publications in European Journals and elsewhere have indicated that this haziness was world-wide. We adopt the view expressed by Dr. Hellmann 1 that the haze in question was due to the eruption of the volcano of Mount Katmai in Alaska in June, 1912. In the present paper we give the effects of the haze on the quantity and quality of the solar radiation as determined by our measurements, and also the effect which the presence of the haze and that of similar occurrences in former years appear to have had on the climate of the earth. Before passing to the Numerical results it will be interesting to recall briefly the circumstances attending the eruption of Mount Katmai and of other extraordinary volcanic outbreaks which resulted in periods of prolonged haziness similar to that of the summer of 1912.
1 Zeitschrift fur Meteorologie, January, 1913. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol 60, No. 29

FIFTY THOUSAND MEGAWATTS CAN'T BE WRONG

"  Le changement climatique est l’un des plus grands défis de notre temps. Il change déjà nos vies quotidiennes, à l‘échelle mondiale. Chacun d’entre nous est impacté.  Et si nous ne faisons rien, nos enfants  vont connaître  un monde de migrations, de  guerres, et  de  pénuries. Peu importe où nous vivons, nous partageons la même responsabilité: Make our planet great again! "

-- Emmanuel Macron addressing Donald Trump

France Building Nuclear Reactors Again

November 15, 2021 by Brian Wang

French President Emmanuel Macron said France will build six new nuclear reactors.

This will keep France’s energy costs at a “reasonable” level and reduce dependence on imports.France will save energy and invest in domestic carbon-free energy production. Nuclear power was at the heart of Macron’s France 2030 plan for re-industrialization which was announced last month.

According to a report published by RTE in late-October, the cheapest way for France to achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2050 would be through the construction of 14 large new reactors, plus a fleet of small modular reactors, as well as significantly investing in renewables.

 

GLASGOW UNLEASHES WAVE OF CATSUP CAPTURE & SEQUESTRATION

 

To Fight Climate Change, Los Angeles Bans Unsolicited Ketchup Packets

Businesses that give customers condiments without them first asking for them could receive fines totaling $300.

CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI | 11.17.2021 10:00 AM

(Enriscapes/Dreamstime.com)

Some LA politicians seem to relish micromanaging the behavior of businesses and consumers.

Beginning this week, a new city law goes into effect forbidding restaurants with 26 or more employees from handing out ketchup and mustard packets without the customer first requesting them. Come April 2022, it will apply to all restaurants.

The intent of the new ordinance—which also restricts the distribution of other single-use items like napkins and utensils—is to prevent waste and combat climate change, according to its authors.

A HOT WIND FROM SCOTLAND

 

Wall Street is starting to talk about “greenflation” to describe rising prices tied to companies reducing carbon emissions or building out clean energy technology with a limited supply of critical minerals.

'Greenflation': Could climate action overheat the economy? By Jael Holzman and Heather Richards, E&E News reporters Going green could save the world, but we're all going to have to pay up for it. At least, that's the view of some on Wall Street.

JEFF AND ELON'S XCELLENT SPACE ADVENTURE

FORGET TEN MINUTE ROCKET RIDES 

NOTHING SIGNALS VIRTUE BETTER 24/7 THAN A METHANE IMAGING SPUTNIK:

THE PLUMBERS' CONVENTION

 

What Happened in Glasgow at COP26? Ever since I attended my first COP – COP13 in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007 – I have described these annual get-togethers via an analogy to a plumbing industry convention, where the core function is to negotiate an agreement among plumbers (the Parties to the agreement) about standards for such things as moving from old-style metal pipes to newer PVC pipes.    That’s the major explicit function of the annual plumbers’ convention, but in addition to those negotiations, the convention attracts many other interested people and organizations (Observers) – including the businesses that provide and support the newer types of pipes, and those who provide and support the older styles.  Beyond this, there are various non-profit organizations that advocate for the new pipes, and some that worry about the impacts of phasing out the old pipes.   ...I assume I don’t need to state the ways in which this is analogous to what we have been experiencing for many years at the annual COPs regarding climate change. What is most striking to me is that… over time this has gradually evolved to the point where the side shows have sometimes become the featured attractions.

VEGANS FLEE SCIENCE REBELLION GLUTEN ATTACK

FORGET THE POLAR BEARS - SAVE THE PARROTFISH !

Climate Non-Change

By Willis Eschenbach from Honiara

Tuesday, 10 November 2009 08:01 AM

In your article "Solomon Islands Makes Strong Statement on Climate Change" you repeat the incorrect claim that rapidly rising sea levels are threatening low-lying coral atolls.

First, there has been absolutely no increase in the rate of sea level rise. In fact, in the last few years it has slowed down... 

The first and most important fact, discovered by none other than Charles Darwin, is that coral atolls essentially "float" on the surface of the sea… The problems in the low-lying atolls are not from rising sea levels. 

They are from coral mining and reef destruction… and killing of the parrotfish that produce the sand required to keep the atolls afloat ... 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this letter are those of Willis Eschenbach and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Solomon Times Online.

 

THE FUTURE'S SO BRIGHT YOUR TREES WILL NEED SHADES

EARTH SYSTEM DYNAMICS

Exploration of a novel

 geoengineering solution:

 lighting up tropical forests at night

Abstract. 

Plants primarily conduct photosynthesis 

in the daytime, offering an opportunity to

increase photosynthesis and carbon sink

by providing light at night... via lamp networks

above the forest canopy.

 

The energy requirement for capturing one ton 

of carbon is lower than that of Direct Air 

Carbon Capture. 

GREAT MOMENTS IN CLIMATE COMMUNICATION DENIAL

CLIMATE STRIKE PROJECTION 

NET ZERO = NOT ZERO 

                     

TUCKER CARLSON'S IDEA OF A PHYSICS LESSON

 

IF ONLY HAMILTON AND BURR HAD KNOWN

Geoengineering and the Evolution of Dueling Precautions

• Kalyani Robbins Abstract:

2018 witnessed the release of a number of films depicting a new kind of future dystopia. Instead of the usual... horrors of future dystopias, we have begun to see an increasing emphasis on humans surviving in a world with no natural ecosystems left intact. For example, the new Blade Runner film takes place in a future with no remaining trees – not one – and artificial sources of nutrition instead of agriculture...

Seeing healthy surviving protagonists living in a future with a completely-destroyed planet is perhaps the greatest fictional aspect of these films, and yet it is the least noticed. Because of our dependence on ecosystem services for survival, biodiversity is more than just our canary, it is the entire coal mine around us. In other words, we will not be able to save ourselves after failing to save everything else.

THIS IS YOUR BOOK REVIEW ON NAOMI KLEIN

COVERING CLIMATE NOW  

REFUGEES ISSUED PERMANENT VISAS 

BY LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS 

Burning Up the World: ExxonMobil

Luke Mitchell, 8 November 2012

Forecasters in ExxonMobil’s strategic planning department predicted in 2005 that the only thing that would prevent growing demand for oil (and, not incidentally, growing profits for ExxonMobil) would be an unprecedented global carbon tax, and for that to happen, in Steve Coll’s summary of their findings, ‘the world’s governments would have to reach a unified conclusion that climate change presented an emergency on the scale of the Second World War – a threat so profound and disruptive as to require massive national investments and taxes designed to change the global energy mix.’ The forecasters assumed this would not happen. 

Let Them Drown

Naomi Klein, 2 June 2016

Environmentalism might have looked like a bourgeois playground to Edward Said. The Israeli state has long coated its nation-building project in a green veneer – it was a key part of the Zionist ‘back to the land’ pioneer ethos. And in this context trees, specifically, have been among the most potent weapons of land grabbing and occupation. A culture that places so little value on black and brown lives that it is willing to let human beings disappear beneath the waves, or set themselves on fire in detention centres, will also be willing to let the countries where black and brown people live disappear beneath the waves, or desiccate in the arid heat... climate change will ultimately be an existential threat to all of humanity,

The golf course is burning

Karl Whitney, 2 June 2016

With underground fires, cause and effect are split in an unnerving manner: you know that your garden (let’s say) is on fire, but you don’t know how long the ground beneath it has been burning, or who or what sparked the blaze.

El Diablo in Wine Country

Mike Davis, 2 November 2017

Much as I would like for once to be a bearer of good news rather than an elderly prophet of doom, Carveacre demonstrates the hopelessness of rational planning in a society based on real-estate capitalism. Unnecessarily, our children, and theirs, will continue to face the flames.

Smoked Out: Travels in the Apocalypse

McKenzie Funk, 7 February 2019

Disasters like the conflagration that consumed Paradise, California, in November, killing 81 people – the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history – do happen. But the climate disaster facing millions of other residents of the American West is more insidious.

All the News Is Bad: Our Alien Planet

Francis Gooding, 1 August 2019

‘We have already exited the state of environmental conditions that allowed the human animal to evolve in the first place,’ David Wallace-Wells writes, ‘in an unsure and unplanned bet on just what that animal can endure. The climate system that raised us, and raised everything we now know as human civilisation, is now, like a parent, dead.’