The Friday Video: Climate Narrative: 3 Climate Message That Win

In case you didn't attend the lecture and didn't see the story earlier this week in the Times, HERE is the story again about the Udall lecture at UTEP on climate change and drought in the Southwest.  According to the Times, Udall "explained how climate change and future water scarcity in the West are inextricably linked."

Yet, there is still a large population of climate change deniers who influence policy and marketing decisions in the United States and around the world.

A strategy to persuade climate deniers is conversation. Check out climatenarrative.org. Download their free guide.  Grist.org discusses climatenarrative's conversational approach in How to convince the climate slacker to get serious. and tells us everything they know about how to talk about climate change. 

So here's our Friday video, Climate Narrative: 3 Climate Messages That Win:

For further reading and thought:

We’re running out of water, and the world’s powers are very worried (Thank you, Marshall Carter-Tripp for this link.)

Sea Life in Pacific Ocean Will Start to Suffocate by 2030 Thanks to Climate Change

Monday Links on Tuesday

[Monday (or, in this case, Tuesday - again) is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.]


Water:

Rio Grande runoff forecast: 44 percent at Otowi

Bus Shelters in Austin Will Harvest Rainwater in Pocket Park

10 Must-see water documentaries that provide insight into the future water crisis

Starbucks Wants You to Feel Good About Drinking Up California's Precious Water



Climate Change:

The Solution to Climate Change Right Under Our Feet


Fracking and Oil Spills:

Bill to limit Texas cities’ rules on fracking heads to governor

GOPer Slams Texas Guv For 'Pandering To Idiots' On Possible Military Takeover (and this is the idiot governor the anti-banning bill is going to)

Study: Gas Activities "Most Likely" Caused Texas Quakes

The Brief: New Studies Link Injection Wells, Earthquakes

Frack-Happy Texas Forced to Face the Reality of Fracking-Related Earthquakes

Fracking Chemicals Detected in Pennsylvania Drinking Water

Trading Paradise for a Pipeline


Resilient Cities:

City of El Paso Resilient City Roundtables

The Friday Video: NASA A Year in the Life of Earth's CO2

The Friday Videos: Megadroughts Projected for American West and "Cool Water"

Today is a double feature. First a video by NASA about megadroughts. And the second - a Hank Williams song sung by Marty Robbins.




All the talk now about droughts and water scarcity and fracking and ground water, etc. reminds me of this old song:

The Monday Links (and Updates): Water, Green Infrastructure, the Commons and a Laugh

"This is part of a long, wide arroyo running through the new Desert Springs subdivision in far West El Paso. Some areas have concrete, as shown here, but rocks and wire were used to line much of the arroyo to lessen erosion. The aim is for it to return to its natural state with natural plants and soil. Rock walls and iron fences enclose the arroyo. (VICTOR CALZADA — EL PASO TIMES)"

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.

New on the bottom: Story Updates - updates to stories that we have posted about.]


Water Issues:

Water Loss: An Invisible Global Crisis

West's snowpack improves, still not great

Rio Grande forcast improves, but that's not saying much

Measuring Groundwater in Texas


Green infrastructure:

More Benefits of Green vs. Gray Stormwater Infrastructure


Climate Change:

Climate Change Impacts in the United States: Highlights


The Commons:

The Commons as a Source of Renewal

How Much is the Commons Worth?


Tar Sands:

The Nightmarish Normalcy of Canada's Tar Sands Mines


Story Updates:

$25 million for Stormwater Drainage (You will recall the urgent need by the Mayor and Rep. Niland to take 3 year's worth of open space funds for stormwater improvements. Well . . . seems there was other money all along for the projects thanks to the PSB.)


Arroyo featured in Desert View's biggest El Paso subdivision (Actually, this story should be under the category of "laugh of the month". The picture accompanying the story is above. Do you see a "wide arroyo" OR concrete? Truth is that the developer destroyed the mountain to river arroyo by severely narrowing it and concreting the sides. Rather than building a bridge ("too expensive"), he put in a box culvert. Never mind Mule Deer wanting to get to the river or even hikers wanting to follow the arroyo.)

The Monday Links: Trees, Bad Legislation, Best council money can buy

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.] 

City of El Paso Government, Sprawling and Water:

Best council money can buy (I too missed out on developing our city's strategic goals. However, I'm being told that, as a member of the Open Space Board, I need to follow in lockstep with it.)


Another Reason to Keep the PSB:

Thanks to PSB for Rescue Mission solution


Trees, Smart Growth, Resiliency and Mental Health

Trees and Green Infrastructure Key to “Climate Smart” Cities (". . . using green infrastrucure to make communities 'climate smart,' which can also help improve resilience to natural disasters.) 

Living Near Trees May Reduce Antidepressant Use


Climate Change

Climate Change Indicators in the United States


Learn more:

Water in the Western United States (a free online course)


Get involved:

Restore the Rule of Law in Our Borderlands!
(Proposals in Congress could expand the border waivers. Click for a larger image. A small group of lawmakers have introduced militarization-only bills that would spend $10 billion building a massive industrial complex of walls, roads, towers, drones, bases and other unnecessary infrastructure in our U.S.–Mexico an U.S.–Canada borderlands. Please urge Congress to oppose this destructive proposal.) 

Tell Congress: Reject the “No More National Parks” Bill

Environmenatally damaging border security legislation (Hat tip to Professor Liz Walsh for sharing this info sheet with many links)


Visit, bookmark and surf these sites:

Common Dreams


I Love Parks.com

The Friday Video: Another Double Feature!

Short videos but powerful - one on climate change the other on democracy or rather the end of it and the rise of oligarchy in our governments. Hat tips to Judy Ackerman and Michelle Tan. Enjoy.





Goodnight Democracy from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

The Monday Links: World Wetlands Day, Bottled Water and Why Greg Abbott is an Idiot

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.] 

Today is World Wetlands Day. Although it is late in the day, it is always good to understand wetlands and their importance to us, our health, and the sustainability of water.

UNESCO's Wetlands take care of water

Why are Wetlands So Important to Preserve?

Why are Wetlands Important?

Environmental Defense Fund petition

Another water issue: bottled water 

American Dream's resources about bottled water

Take Back the Tap

The Story of Bottled Water (an Annie Leonard video)


Better Communities/Better Living:

Office tenants choose mixed-use centers

Walking is Going Places

Tiny House Living, Off the Grid? Here's How to Do It in Style


Climate Change

Mourning Our Planet: Climate Scientists Share Their Grieving Process

(Keep an eye out for this Friday's video.)


Politics and Government 

Abbott Targets Local Bans

Gov.-elect Abbott: End local bans on bags, fracking, tree-cutting

(I can't let this one go without some comment. 2 points: 1. Word from Senator Rodriguez's office is that this ban on banning has a good chance of passing. So much for the good old-fashioned conservative value of local control. 2. Great! Since private property is so sacrosanct in Texas, I'm going to open up a whore house in my home and also drill for water which I will then mine and bottle as Franklin Mountain Water and sell all over the world (through WalMart of course). Hell, it's my property! I'll do whatever I want. Never mind sucking the Hueco Bolson dry.)


Bookmark and surf these sites:

Food & Water Watch

Shareable

Buy Nothing

The Monday Links: Rio bosque, PSB, City Planning and More

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.] 

The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park

Austin bird lover had great visit to El Paso, wetlands (A must read proving the point so many of us have made. Austinite writes: "The Rio Bosque wetlands were a real jewel that the whole city can be proud of. Please appreciate the intrinsic and economic value of your unique local wildlife, and preserve and restore habitat where they can continue to flourish."

New projects to save water, help bisque [sic] park,

EPWU, irrigation district working together on pipeline, drain, new lake Looks like the Rio Bosque will finally get a steady, permanent supply of water. Birds and birders will flock to El Paso now.

The Public Service Board (PSB)

David Nemir: City Council must leave El Paso PSB alone (online the Times now has it right)

Keystone Pipeline and Climate Change

Heinrich Speech In Opposition To Keystone Pipeline (It's not just the pipeline that's bad. What's worse is the vast ecosystem destruction caused by tar sands mining. We need to realize that we are part of these vast ecosystems that have evolved with us. Destroy them, and we undermine our survival.)

This chart of rising ocean temperatures is terrifying (Drives home more of what Sen. Heinrich was saying)

City Planning

System A and System B

When the research favors compact, mixed-use neighborhoods, why does government favor sprawl? 

Why small will go big in 2015

Green Cities Provide Demonstrable Health Benefits (Note to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez: trees work.)

Brand new apartments planned near the Downtown El Paso ballpark?

Brand new apartments planned near the Downtown El Paso ballpark? (An infill project here in El Paso)

Online course and webinar

Water in the Western United States

WEBINAR: Green Infrastructure and Flood Resiliency – Land Use Management as an Adaptation Strategy in the Built Environment 

January 29, 2015 – 12:00 PM EST

This webinar addresses assessment, planning, and adaptation to not only better prepare for the next emergency, but to sustainably manage flooding, and stormwater to maintain human health and a vibrant local economy. Participants will leave this webinar with knowledge about the latest innovative approaches to understand the effects of inland flooding and apply low-impact development (LID), site design, and smart growth practices at different scales of implementation. There will be reference to pioneering hydrology-based, sub-watershed approaches that have shown mitigation potential not only for storm water and flooding, but to the loss and degradation in water quality. 

Learn more and register here.

A Carbon Dioxide Tax IS the Most Conservative Thing to Do

My new hero, Henry Paulson: Goldman Sachs Chairman, George W. Bush Treasury Secretary, Republican, Climate-Change Warrior

Do you support fiscally conservative risk management? Do you support less big government and more local control? Then, you should be for a carbon dioxide tax in response to the overwhelming evidence of a coming climate "crash". All of this according to Henry M. Paulson Jr., former Goldman Sachs Chairman and former Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush when the credit bubble burst in 2008. 

READ (and I mean READ) his jaw-dropping, game-changing op-ed piece published in the NY Times yesterday. READ it word for word. It makes HUGE sense.

HERE it is.

Texas Unlikely to Act Soon Due to TCEQ Director and Solicitor General

Click to enlarge. Visit America's leaking natural gas system needs a fix, study finds.

Check out the story below from the Texas Tribune. Key paragraph:

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality does not officially recognize greenhouse gas as a danger to the environment, and the state refused for years to issue federally required greenhouse gas permits to companies that needed them. Last month, the state’s solicitor general, Jonathan Mitchell, argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that the permits are illegal. And the TCEQ's director, Bryan Shaw, has repeatedly questioned whether climate change is caused by humans. 

[Emphases mine]

Sad. Sad. These same guys probably also believe that Adam walked with TRex. "Here, Rex, Rex. Good dino. Fetch the bone. Atta boy. Oh God! My rib cage aches so. What the..."

The subtitle should have been: "But Texas Is Unlikely to Act Soon".

Texas Could Lead on Methane Reduction, Report Says

• by Jim Malewitz and Neena Satija, The Texas Tribune
• March 6, 2014

Oil and gas companies could play a major role in slashing emissions of methane, and Texas, the nation’s top energy producer, could help lead the way, environmental advocates say.

The industry could curb projected emissions by as much as 40 percent in the U.S. by 2018 through actions that could save it money in the long run, according to a report released this week by the Environmental Defense Fund. 
But it is unlikely that Texas environmental regulators will embrace the message. And industry representatives disagree about the urgency of curbing methane emissions at a time when cows — through their flatulence — are actually a larger emitter.

Power plants that burn natural gas spew far less carbon dioxide than traditional coal-fired plants, helping to reduce impacts on the climate. But extracting oil and gas through hydraulic fracturing releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide.

The new report suggested several ways for drillers to curb those releases, such as by finding and repairing pipeline leaks, replacing compressor equipment and capturing the gas before it escapes. Those changes would cost the industry some $2.2 billion up front but would yield savings in the long run as companies capture and reuse the stray methane, the study said.
“There are balanced, real solutions available that can make natural gas a less risky fuel source,” said Mark Brownstein, an energy expert at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Brownstein said that drillers could achieve some of the goals through voluntary actions that some companies have already taken, but that state regulations would also be important.

His group and others have hailed rules recently implemented in Colorado, another hotbed of drilling. That state now strictly regulates greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas extraction, and if Texas were to follow suit, the impact on emissions would be much larger.

“What happens in Texas can have a great deal of influence in what can happen in the states and federally,” Brownstein said.

But Texas is unlikely to act soon.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality does not officially recognize greenhouse gas as a danger to the environment, and the state refused for years to issue federally required greenhouse gas permits to companies that needed them. Last month, the state’s solicitor general, Jonathan Mitchell, argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that the permits are illegal. And the TCEQ's director, Bryan Shaw, has repeatedly questioned whether climate change is caused by humans. 

Meanwhile, opinions within Texas' oil and gas industry differ.
Bill Mintz, a spokesman for Apache Corporation, a Houston-based oil and gas producer, called the EDF report “an important contribution to the discussion of cost effective opportunities to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas industry.”

Apache, he said, has already implemented some of the practices mentioned in the report, but “we know there is a lot more work to do, and we encourage all of our industry colleagues engage in the race to minimize methane emissions in the oil and gas business.”

Deb Hastings, executive vice president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, said she knew of several drilling companies that are working to reduce methane emissions largely through capture and recovery techniques.
She said her group was still reviewing the new study, but worried that researchers underestimated the cost of regulations and overestimated the benefits.

“We aren’t one of the biggest emitters of methane, but we try to reduce it,” she said. “We do believe that our emissions are dropping.”

Nationally, industry members have widely cited newly released data from the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting that the U.S. is emitting less greenhouse gases overall, and that emissions can be attributed not to oil and gas drilling but to the cattle industry — in other words, cow farts. (For years, experts have worked with cattle farmers to reduce animal emissions through grazing techniques and better nutrition.)

Estimates on exactly how much methane is emitted during fracking vary widely. Last fall, a high-profile study from the University of Texas at Austin measured emissions directly from oil and gas producing wells across the country. The results suggested that environmental rules have already helped to reduce emissions, and that without proper regulation, fracking might cancel out the benefit of natural gas to the health of the climate. But Texas researchers cautioned that the study focused only on the drilling process itself and do not measure pipeline leaks, another source of emissions.
Other scientists have come to very different conclusions, however, when studying the amount of methane in the atmosphere, rather than measuring emissions on the ground.

A peer-reviewed study published late last year by scientists from Harvard University and elsewhere suggests that the federal government has been vastly underestimating methane emissions in the U.S., especially those coming from the south-central portion of the country, where fossil fuel extraction is most prevalent. 

The scientists said methane emissions from oil and gas drilling could be underestimated by as much as five times.


Disclosure: At the time of publication, Apache Corporation and the University of Texas at Austin were corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. (You can also review the full list of Tribune donors and sponsors below $1,000.)

Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/03/06/texas-could-lead-methane-reduction-group-says/.


For further reading:
New Study Finds U.S. Has Greatly Underestimated Methane Emissions

Man-made Climate Change Should Be Seen as Established Scientific Fact

Recently, a letter to the editor by Mr. Terry Sunday in the El Paso Times caught my attention. What also caught my attention were follow-up letters disputing the fact that climate change is man-made. We like our fossil fuels. We like to burn them. Much of the unsustainable policies and lifestyles negatively affecting us here in El Paso is caused by the 1950s urban planning models based on automobiles and freeways - planning driven (pun intended) by the oil, coal and natural gas industries. The environmental destruction by Ted Houghton's TxDOT, the active resistance to mass transit and bicycling by them, is the result of an allegiance with and loyalty to the huge industries of oil, gas and corporate agriculture. Right-wing ideologues and fundamentalist religious zealots aid, abet and are putty in the hands of the large corporate interests who are the plutocrats in charge of policy in our states and nation today. 

Terry is an aerospace engineer with degrees from the Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Pittsburgh. He worked for Lockheed Martin and Vought Aircraft. Here is his rejoinder to climate-change deniers which elpasonaturally believes to be quite valuable even if the El Paso Times prefers (seemingly) to cater too often to religious zealots. Please read his piece carefully and thoroughly. Don't just scan it. I've tacked on a thought-provoking video at the end of the post. Here's Mr. Terry Sunday:


It's no fun predicting things if there's absolutely no chance of being wrong.

I recently learned that the Los Angeles Times has a new editorial policy that they will NOT print letters from people who deny the reality of human-caused global climate change. Here's the L.A. Times editorial, written by Paul Thornton and published on October 8, 2013:


A piece this weekend debunking the claim that Congress and the president are exempted from Obamacare has drawn a harsh reaction from some readers and conservative bloggers. But their umbrage wasn't with the piece's explanation of why letters making this claim do not get published.

Rather, they were upset by the statement that letters "[saying] there's no sign humans have caused climate change" do not get printed. Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters blogged about it over the weekend:

"It's one thing for a news outlet to advance the as yet unproven theory of anthropogenic global warming; it's quite another to admit that you won't publish views that oppose it. As amazing as it may seem, that's exactly what the Los Angeles Times did Saturday in an article by editorial writer Jon Healey...So letters to the editor 'that say there's no sign humans have caused climate change ... do not get printed.' That's quite a statement coming from an editorial writer not named Al Gore."

Point of order: Jon Healey didn't write that intro, and neither did Al Gore; as The Times' letters editor, I did. It ran without a byline because it was intended to be a straightforward editor's note introducing the piece; my apologies if that caused any confusion. Healey was responsible for everything beneath the boldface subhead, "Editorial writer Jon Healey explains why this claim in the debate over the healthcare law is off-base."

As for letters on climate change, we do get plenty from those who deny global warming. And to say they "deny" it might be an understatement: Many say climate change is a hoax, a scheme by liberals to curtail personal freedom.

Before going into some detail about why these letters don't make it into our pages, I'll concede that, aside from my easily passing the Advanced Placement biology exam in high school, my science credentials are lacking. I'm no expert when it comes to our planet's complex climate processes or any scientific field. Consequently, when deciding which letters should run among hundreds on such weighty matters as climate change, I must rely on the experts-in other words, those scientists with advanced degrees who undertake tedious research and rigorous peer review.

And those scientists have provided ample evidence that human activity is indeed linked to climate change. Just last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-a body made up of the world's top climate scientists-said it was 95% certain that we fossil-fuel-burning humans are driving global warming. The debate right now isn't whether this evidence exists (clearly, it does) but what this evidence means for us.

Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying "there's no sign humans have caused climate change" is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy.


"Hmmm," I thought after I read that editorial, "I wonder if the El Paso Times would be brave enough to adopt a similar editorial policy. I'm gonna write a Letter to the Editor about it and see what happens." Here's the letter, which ran in the El Paso Times on February 1, 2014:


As surely as day follows night, right-wing ideologues and fundamentalist religious zealots will cite the recent cold spells that brought bone-chilling temperatures to much of the U.S. as proof that global warming is not real. Many of these deniers, burying their heads firmly in the sand, will continue to trumpet their bizarre fantasy that anthropogenic climate change is a nefarious liberal hoax designed to expand government and curtail personal freedoms. Sadly, many Americans lack the scientific knowledge to recognize these claims for the lies they are, so they accept them at face value: "Gee, it was really cold this winter, so that can only mean all the scientists who say the earth is warming up are wrong."

We would be well advised to heed the warnings of the overwhelming majority of the world's top climate scientists, who are 95% certain that human activities are changing the earth's climate. We would be equally well advised to ignore the rantings of misguided, ignorant or willfully deceptive deniers. The stakes could not be higher. The future of life on our planet depends on whether we can curtail our releases of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Late last year, the L.A. Times courageously decided to stop publishing factually false letters to the editor that deny the reality of human-caused climate change. Perhaps the El Paso Times should follow suit.


Okay, so maybe I laid it on a little thick with the "right-wing ideologues and fundamentalist religious zealots" stuff. Still, though, those particular subsets of American society ARE the ones that most adamantly refuse to accept the fact that human activities affect the earth's climate. "God created humans to have dominion over the earth and all its species," right?

The ignorance, wanton disregard of facts and utter lack of knowledge of how the scientific method works that some members of these groups demonstrate is simply appalling. If they can't accept the truth due to their close-minded ideological or religious biases, then they should forfeit the right to be taken seriously in discussing matters of public interest.

No responsible newspaper editor would print letters asserting that the earth is flat, or that gravity is "just a theory," or that the airliner contrails that often form above El Paso are really a secret plot by the New World Order to poison us. Why, then, should letters to the editor disputing the settled science of anthropogenic climate change not be similarly rejected out of hand?

As I expected, my original letter spawned a flurry of responses from, you guessed it, climate-change deniers. Imagine that! Three letters followed within a week or so after mine. The only one that warrants comment is the one from Donald Morrill, Jr., that ran on February 6. I won't quote the whole thing, but here's the operative paragraph:


NASA's satellite date from 2000 through 2011 paints a different picture as well. NASA's data revealed that the Earth's atmosphere is allowing much more heat to be released into space than the global-warming "consensus" computer models predicted, according to the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing.


Wow, so an article in a "peer-reviewed science journal" refutes global warming, eh? Sounds like a pretty strong argument that the earth's top climate scientists are wrong, eh? But here's "the rest of the story," in the form of another Letter to the Editor that I wrote but have not yet sent in for publication:


As expected, my letter predicting that this winter's cold weather would bring out climate change deniers proved accurate. Several letters followed from deniers who tried unsuccessfully to refute the fact-not opinion-that the evidence of human-caused climate change is so strong that it is no longer debated in the scientific community. Those deniers merely showed their ideological, political or religion-based biases.

For example, letter writer Donald Morrill, Jr., claimed that a paper in "a peer reviewed science journal" disproves global warming. However, Mr. Morrill did NOT mention that the editor of that journal, Wolfgang Wagner, resigned his position solely because he published the very paper Mr. Morrill cites. Dr. Wagner later said the paper was "fundamentally flawed" and "should not have been published." The "peers" who reviewed it had no expertise in climate science, and thus wrongly endorsed a paper containing methodological errors and false claims. Mr. Morrill didn't mention that, either. Nor did he note that one of the authors of that paper has ties to a right-wing, evangelical Christian, anti-climate-change organization. 

Dr. Wagner took the honorable course of resigning because of his error. Is it possible that Mr. Morrill will also choose the honorable course and admit that he deliberately made a statement that he knew was misleading in order to justify his rejection of human-caused climate change?

I sincerely doubt it.


In fairness, the El Paso Times published a couple of recent letters that support the reality of anthropogenic climate change. I've seen no indication, however, that the Editorial Board is considering adopting a policy of not printing letters from deniers, which I still think is the proper course of action. I've sent Editor Bob Moore links to the relevant factual information, and he said he would review it, but as far as I know there's been no action as yet.

And that's where it stands as of today. - Terry Sunday
______________________________________________


And here's a provocative editorial video from Dennis Trainor, Jr.'s Acronym TV: