Al Gore at SXSW: We Need to 'Punish Climate-Change Deniers' and 'Put a Price on Carbon'
The South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival is happening now in Austin, Texas. Running from March 9 to 22, it's a massive film, interactive and music festival that is nearly 20 years old. The festival brings together designers, developers, investors, entrepreneurs and politicians for panels and discussions about technology and innovation.
For the third time in the last few years, Al Gore, founder and chairman of the Climate Reality Project, spoke at the festival on Friday. Naturally, his interactive discussion focused on addressing the climate crisis. The former vice president focused on the need to "punish climate-change deniers, saying politicians should pay a price for rejecting 'accepted science,'" said the Chicago Tribune.
Gore said forward-thinking investors are moving away from companies that invest in fossil fuels and towards companies investing in renewable energy. "We need to put a price on carbon to accelerate these market trends,” Gore told the Chicago Tribune, referring to a proposed federal cap-and-trade system that would penalize companies that exceeded their carbon-emission limits. “And in order to do that, we need to put a price on denial in politics."
He called on the tech-minded SXSW crowd, which is dominated by Millenials, to harness technology to launch a grassroots movement to tackle climate change and call out climate deniers. “We have this denial industry cranked up constantly,” Gore said. “In addition to 99 percent of the scientists and all the professional scientific organizations, now Mother Nature is weighing in.”
Years from now, Gore said the next generation will look back at us and ask: "How did you change?," according to Macworld. “Part of the answer may well be that a group of people came to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas in 2015 and helped to make a revolution,” Gore said.
Gore wanted these young, tech-savvy attendees to start a grassroots movement using social media like they did when "net neutrality was threatened or when the Stop Online Piracy Act threatened to blacklist websites that offered so-called illegal content," said Macworld. That means signing petitions to fight climate change, utilizing social media to call out climate deniers in Congress and streaming the Live Earth Road to Paris concert on June 18, an event designed to draw attention to the climate talks in Paris this December.
The former Veep even gave a nod to Pope Francis during his talk, showing a slide of the pontiff and saying "How about this Pope?" Pope Francis celebrated his two-year anniversary as Pope on Friday, riding a wave of popularity "that has reinvigorated the Catholic Church in ways not seen since the days of St. John Paul II," said the Chicago Tribune. Gore said he was looking forward to the Pope's highly anticipated encyclical on the environment which is due to be released in June or July. “I’m not a Catholic,” Gore said, “but I could be persuaded to become one.”
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Julia Roberts is Mother Nature
Pope Francis: Acting on Climate Change Is Essential to Faith
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Trump's Post Office Chaos Leads to Deaths of Thousands of Chicks Shipped to Maine Farmers
Trump administration cuts to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) have had tragic consequences for Maine farmers and their chicks.
- Opinion | Trump's post office blunder will test GOP loyalty - The ... ›
- 10 Things to Know About Trump's Post Office Scandal – BillMoyers ... ›
- Opinion | Trump's Post Office Mess Is Meant to Exhaust You - The ... ›
- Susan Collins helped cripple the USPS: Now Maine farmers are ... ›
- The latest problem caused by delayed mail deliveries: Dead chicks ›
An unusual meal some 240 million years ago was preserved in stone, and now it's changing the way scientists think about the eating habits of marine reptiles in the prehistoric ocean.
- Skull of Smallest Known Dinosaur Found in 99-Million-Year Old Amber ›
- Antarctica Was a Rainforest During the Times of Dinosaurs, New ... ›
- World's Second-Largest Egg Found in Antarctica Probably Hatched ... ›
By Luke Montrose
If I dare to give the coronavirus credit for anything, I would say it has made people more conscious of the air they breathe.
What’s in Wildfire Smoke?
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-018-0064-7" target="_blank">What exactly is in a wildfire's smoke</a> depends on a few key things: what's burning – grass, brush or trees; the temperature – is it flaming or just smoldering; and the distance between the person breathing the smoke and the fire producing it.</p><p>The distance affects the ability of smoke to "age," meaning to be acted upon by the sun and other chemicals in the air as it travels. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b01034" target="_blank">Aging can make it more toxic</a>. Importantly, large particles like what most people think of as ash do not typically travel that far from the fire, but small particles, or aerosols, can travel <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.06.006" target="_blank">across continents</a>.</p>Smoke from wildfires obscures the California sky on Aug. 19, 2020. Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory
<p>Smoke from wildfires contains <a href="https://www3.epa.gov/airnow/wildfire-smoke/wildfire-smoke-guide-revised-2019.pdf" target="_blank">thousands of individual compounds</a>, including carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. The most prevalent pollutant by mass is particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, roughly 50 times smaller than a grain of sand. Its prevalence is one reason health authorities issue air quality warnings using PM2.5 as the metric.</p>What Does That Smoke Do to Human Bodies?
<p>There is another reason <a href="https://www.calhospital.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/wildfire_smoke_considerations_for_californias_public_health_officials_august_2019.pdf" target="_blank">PM2.5 is used to make health recommendations</a>: It defines the cutoff for particles that can travel deep into the lungs and cause the most damage.</p><p>The human body is equipped with natural defense mechanisms against particles bigger than PM2.5. As I tell my students, if you have ever <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/mucociliary-clearance" target="_blank">coughed up phlegm</a> or blown your nose after being around a campfire and discovered black or brown mucus in the tissue, you have witnessed these mechanisms firsthand.</p><p>The really small particles bypass these defenses and disturb the air sacks where oxygen crosses over into the blood. Fortunately, we have specialized immune cells present in the air sacks called macrophages. It's their job to seek out foreign material and remove or destroy it. However, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305744" target="_blank">studies</a> have shown that repeated exposure to elevated levels of wood smoke can suppress macrophages, leading to increases in lung inflammation.</p>What Does That Mean for COVID-19 Symptoms?
<p>Dose, frequency and duration are important when it comes to smoke exposure. Short-term exposure can irritate the eyes and throat. Long-term exposure to wildfire smoke over days or weeks, or breathing in heavy smoke, can raise the risk of <a href="https://www.calhospital.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/wildfire_smoke_considerations_for_californias_public_health_officials_august_2019.pdf" target="_blank">lung damage</a> and may also contribute to <a href="https://health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/air/smoke_from_fire.htm" target="_blank">cardiovascular problems</a>. Considering that it is the macrophage's job to remove foreign material – including smoke particles and pathogens – it is reasonable to make a <a href="http://doi.org/10.3109/08958378.2012.756086" target="_blank">connection</a> between smoke exposure and risk of viral infection.</p><p>Recent evidence suggests that long-term exposure to PM2.5 may make the coronavirus more deadly. A nationwide study found that even a small increase in PM2.5 from one U.S. county to the next was associated with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.05.20054502" target="_blank">large increase in the death rate</a> from COVID-19.</p>What Can You Do to Stay Healthy?
<p>The advice I gave my friend who had been running while smoke was in the air applies to just about anyone downwind from a wildfire.</p><p>Stay informed about air quality by identifying local resources for air quality alerts, information about active fires, and recommendations for better health practices.</p><p>If possible, avoid being outside or doing strenuous activity, like running or cycling, when there is an air quality warning for your area.</p><p>Be aware that not all face masks protect against smoke particles. In the context of COVID-19, the best data currently suggests that a cloth mask benefits public health, especially for those around the mask wearer, but also to some extent <a href="https://theconversation.com/cloth-masks-do-protect-the-wearer-breathing-in-less-coronavirus-means-you-get-less-sick-143726" target="_blank">for the person wearing the mask</a>. However, most cloth masks will not capture small wood smoke particles. That requires an N95 mask in conjunction with fit testing for the mask and training in how to wear it. Without a proper fit, N95s do not work as well.</p><p>Establish a clean space. Some communities in western states have offered "clean spaces" programs that help people take refuge in buildings with clean air and air conditioning. However, during the pandemic, being in an enclosed space with others can create other health risks. At home, a person can create clean and cool spaces using a window air conditioner and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5APw_SLUU" target="_blank">portable air purifier</a>.</p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/how-smoke-fires-can-affect-your-health" target="_blank">The EPA also advises</a> people to avoid anything that contributes to indoor air pollutants. That includes vacuuming that can stir up pollutants, as well as burning candles, firing up gas stoves and smoking.</p>- Wildfire Smoke Spreads Across Majority of U.S. States - EcoWatch ›
- Australia Bushfire Smoke Killed 12.6x More People Than Fires ... ›
- How to Protect Your Children From Wildfire Smoke - EcoWatch ›
Yet another extraordinary event could be added to 2020's list of historic disruptions, as two developing hurricanes may make landfall in the U.S. at the same time early next week, according to The Weather Channel.
- Atlantic Faces Fifth 'Above-Normal' Hurricane Season in a Row ... ›
- Hurricanes and the Climate Crisis: What You Need to Know ... ›
By Agostino Petroni and Sandali Handagama
José "Josh" Catzim Castillo, a 25-year-old lobster fisher, circles a hollow concrete box resting on the seafloor, just off the coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. He slips a snare into the box and shakes it. Three spiny lobsters, or langostas, shoot out and try to flee, but Castillo is too quick.
Castillo is left behind in the ocean, as his father, Pech, steers the boat away from the rain to keep the lobsters alive. Agostino Petroni and Sandali Handagama
Fishers of Maria Elena prepare to go to sea. Agostino Petroni and Sandali Handagama
Pablo Catzim Pech measures the tail of a smaller lobster with a 5-inch ruler. If the tail is shorter than the ruler, he will throw the lobster back into the ocean. Agostino Petroni and Sandali Handagama
Lobster tails, cut from the animals that died during capture, are collected in a bucket to be sold separately from the live exports. Agostino Petroni and Sandali Handagama
Coronavirus Pandemic Delays 2020 Earth Overshoot Day by Three Weeks, But It's Not Sustainable
By Stuart Braun
Back in 1970, the earth's biocapacity was more than enough to meet annual human demand for resources. But in the half century since, we have steadily outgrown our single planet. Humanity now consumes around 60% more than Earth can yield in a year, meaning we need 1.6 planets to sustain us.
One Planet Misery or Prosperity?
<p>According to Mathis Wackernagel, founder and president of the Global Footprint Network, this year's contraction is welcomed. But he says the fact that it is accidental means it is not sustainable.</p><p>"The tragedy of this year is that the reduction of carbon emissions is not based on a better infrastructure such as better electricity grids or more compact cities," he told DW. "We need to move the date by design, not by disaster."</p><p>To meet the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-the-ipcc-and-what-does-it-do/a-50552119" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC) targets to limit warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celcius, the current decline in the emissions curve would have to continue at the same rate for the next decade, Wackernagel points out. At present, however, this is being achieved through economic and social suffering.</p><p>"Not doing anything, being stuck at home. That's not the kind of transformation we need. It's not lasting," Wackernagel said.</p>Lowering Emissions for the Benefit of All
<p>A key side effect of disaster-driven emission reductions is the fact that "the pain is going to be unevenly distributed," according Wackernagel. Marginalised groups, especially people of color, have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic's "huge economic impacts," said Sarah George, a senior reporter with Edie, a UK media company that promotes sustainable business practices.</p><p>Edie conducted its first Earth Overshoot webinar in 2019, with the aim of educating organizations to reduce their resource footprint through business models that are sustainable for everyone in the long-term.</p><p>George says this year's webinar on August 22 will also address the misnomer spread by some climate skeptics that a green, low-consumption future is only possible under the deprivations of a lockdown. </p><p>"They have used the situation to say that lockdown is 'what green campaigners want,' and that we cannot enjoy things like international travel, economic growth, etc. in a green future," George told DW. </p><p>But <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/life-after-coronavirus-we-can-shape-a-totally-different-world/a-53496208" target="_blank">post-lockdown</a>, George says the goal is to create a one planet model through which businesses can couple "better economic and social outcomes" with "lower emissions and air pollution."</p>Ecological Debt Balloons in Developing Nations
<p>Earth Overshoot Day is calculated both globally and among individual countries, and reveals how developed nations are eating up the earth's biocapacity at a much faster rate.</p>Trending
The records of Greenland's ice melt date back to 1948 and nothing in that record compares to what happened in 2019. The amount of ice lost was more than double what it has been any year since 2013. The net ice loss in 2019 clocked in at more than 530 billion metric tons for 2019. To put that in context, that's as if seven Olympic-sized swimming pools were dumped into the ocean every second of the year, according to The Guardian.
- Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Creates Huge Waterfalls, Increasing ... ›
- Record Shrinking of Greenland's Ice Sheet Raises Sea Levels ... ›
- 92 Percent of Greenland's Residents Believe Climate Change Is ... ›
- Photo of Greenland Sled Dog Teams Walking on Melted Water Goes ... ›
- Greenland Temps Soar 40 Degrees Above Normal, Record Melting ... ›

