Climate change fuels food insecurity

CGTN America– Sep 13, 2022

Many parts of the United States have endured extreme heatwaves in recent weeks. The agriculture industry in particular, has faced crippling challenges as a result of record-high temperatures, drought and historically-low water supplies. Experts are worried about the combination of climate change and food security not just in the U.S. but in other parts of the world as well. CGTN’s Ediz Tiyanşan reports from Los Angeles.

Food-matters,

Why Have False Beliefs and Conspiracy Theories Become So Powerful?

Commonwealth Club of California – Sep 6, 2022

First in a Series on False Narratives.

Why does a lie travel around the world while the truth is still lacing up its boots? In all areas, not just politics, science, and medicine, outrageous or fascinating false information outpaces truth, which is often more nuanced. False narratives pose a real danger to democracy, to our health, and to society. This series will discuss the reasons for that destructive state of affairs and what we can do about it, as individuals and as a society.

In this first part of our series, Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at UCLA and specialist in delusional thinking and conspiracy theories, will discuss the age-old psychological reasons that conspiracy theories and other false narratives have been successful throughout human history. He will also look at how false narratives have been noticeably empowered and accelerated during the past few years by COVID isolation and modern technologies, among other factors.

This will be an intense, information-packed event; be sure to bring your questions or send them to us in advance at personalgrowthmlf. Also look for the next events in this series, which will use the insights from this event to discuss how we can reach out to a friend who has become ensnared in a conspiracy theory, and actions we can take as individuals and as a society.

SPEAKERS

Joe Pierre
M.D., Health Sciences Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA. Author; Expert Witness; Legal Consultant

Eric Siegel
Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator

My Friend Is A Science Denier; What Can I Do?

Commonwealth Club of California – Sep 13, 2022

In this second part of our series on conspiracy theories and other false narratives, we’ll look at practical actions we can take and tools we can use to have fruitful discussions with friends and family who have been misled.

There are ways that we can help untangle the snare of a mind-gripping false narrative. They’re usually not easy, and they’re usually not fast, but they can work in most cases. To help us learn how, Dr. Lee McIntyre, author of How to Talk to a Science Denier, will provide detailed recommendations for countering science denial and other false narratives in one-on-one discussions with friends and family.

This will be an intense, information-packed event; be sure to bring your questions or send them to us in advance at personalgrowthmlf. You may also want to review the first event in this series, “Why Have False Beliefs and Conspiracy Theories Become So Powerful?” before attending. And be sure to look for the next event in this series, which will discuss actions society can take to defend itself.

Photo courtesy the speaker.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

SPEAKERS

Lee McIntyre
Ph.D., Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, Former Executive Director, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University; Author, How To Talk To A Science Denier and Post-Truth

Eric Siegel
Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator

The Vanishing River: USA’s Mega Drought | Foreign Correspondent

ABC News In-depth – Sep 8, 2022

The once mighty Colorado River is in trouble. Stretching from the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains all the way down to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, its’ waters are a lifeline to tens of millions of people. Subscribe: https://ab.co/3yqPOZ5

But the pressures of the decades-long megadrought in America’s Southwest and a warming planet mean the water levels in the river and its dams are dropping.

“I’m not going to say it’s too late, but we are in true crisis’, says renowned river scientist, Professor Jack Schmidt.

The pressures on the river are largely man-made.

The building of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s tamed the waters of this once wild river, harnessing its flows to make hydropower and feed a massive agricultural industry across the Southwest.

But the water was over allocated from the start. Now as dam levels drop to their lowest ever, the survival of farms and industries are threatened.

‘I feel every day of my life that my son will not be able to share in this magnificence …and the beauty of this profession’, says Jace Miller, an Arizona farmer of five generations.

He grows feed for livestock, but next year, his water allocation will be cut to zero.

US correspondent Barbara Miller travels along this spectacular river to meet the communities whose livelihoods depend on it.

Miller rafts down the Colorado rapids with the Native American tribe which depends on tourism for a dollar.

She visits the thriving desert city of Las Vegas, which has become a US leader in urban water conservation.

And there’s a silver lining. As waters in the dam reservoirs recede, natural wonders which were flooded for decades are emerging.

‘We’re seeing this flowing waterfall and this trickling creek. We’re seeing the vegetation start to come back’, says environmentalist Eric Balken.

The vanishing river is a wake-up call for all those who depend on it.

‘We just pretended the Colorado River is just a check account’, says Professor Schmidt. ‘There are gonna be limits…and we’re gonna have to deal with them.’

Read more here: https://ab.co/3QFuULD
About Foreign Correspondent: Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC’s television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval – through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.

Watch more ABC News content ad-free on iview: https://ab.co/2OB7Mk1

For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY

Is THIS the Real Reason Weather is Getting Wilder?

PBS Terra– Jan 26, 2022

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateTerra. ↓

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateTerra.
↓ More info below ↓

If you feel like the weather has been getting a lot weirder and wilder lately, you’re not alone. While it’s easy to blame climate change, we need to dive deeper. There has been a recent increase in polar vortex events bringing arctic air far enough south to cause snow in places like Texas, extreme heat waves like in the Pacific Northwest, and extreme rain like we saw after Hurricane Ida. Even fires in Siberia and drought hint at a new dust bowl. NOAA’s 2020 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster report showed a notable uptick in extremes. And 2021 was no exception, with 10.6% of all weather stations reporting record temperatures. And with the continued emission of carbon into the atmosphere, this should come as no real surprise.

But some new scientific research shows that there is a surprising thread that connects nearly all of these weather events. Tune in to learn why it feels like our weather is spiraling out of control and what we might have in store.

Weathered is a show hosted by weather expert Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare.

Greenland photo/video credit: Dr. Sarah Das, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Doomsday Glacier in Antarctica Could Melt Faster Than Anticipated | Florida-Sized Thwaites Glacier

Science Fellow– Sep 10, 2022

Doomsday Glacier in Antarctica Could Melt Faster Than Anticipated. Florida-Sized Glacier in Antarctica is melting much faster than we initially anticipated. The glacier is named Thwaites. It is shrinking twice as fast as anticipated first.

See Bill Nye’s warning about ‘doomsday’ glacier

CNN – Dec 19, 2021

Scientist and TV personality Bill Nye discusses climate change and Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, which scientists say could collapse in the next five years. (edited)

The ‘Doomsday Glacier’s’ Disastrous Potential (Featuring Dr. Richard Alley)

The Climate Pod– Jan 6, 2022

#ThwaitesGlacier #DoomsdayGlacier #ClimateChange #SealevelRise
This week, we spoke with Dr. Richard Alley, a glaciologist and member of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaborative, about why this particular glacier – dubbed the ‘Doomsday Glacier by Jeff Goodell – could raise sea levels beyond catastrophic levels and cause so much damage to coastal communities around the world. We also discuss how soon and how likely that might actually happen, and the latest findings that his group recently published. Dr. Richard Alley is the Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, where he focuses on glaciology, ice sheet stability, and understanding how Earth’s climate has changed by examining ice cores.

Antarctica latest research: Doomsday Glacier ice shelf will be gone in 5 years!

Just Have a Think– Jan 16, 2022

Antarctica is a ‘game of two halves’. East Antarctica is a mile thick ice sheet on top of solid bedrock. But the ice on West Antarctica sits precariously above and below the sea line on a series of islands. The country sized glaciers on it’s outer edges, that keep the ice flow at bay, have been receding for years, but now new research has shown the disintegration of Thwaites, or Doomsday, Glacier is accelerating fast.

Jamaica, Antigua & Barbuda May Cut Ties to British Monarch; Renew Call for Reparations for Slavery

Sep 13, 2022

We look at how the death of Queen Elizabeth II is prompting former British colonies in the Caribbean to replace the British monarch as their head of state. Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister has vowed to hold a referendum soon on whether to become a republic, and Jamaica’s ruling Labour Party also plans a vote. The Caribbean at one point formed the heart of England’s first colonial empire in North America, with millions of enslaved Africans taken to the islands, where many were worked to death. Dorbrene O’Marde, chair of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Commission, says he is not personally mourning Queen Elizabeth’s death because her reign helped to “cloak the historical brutality of empire in this veneer of grandeur and pomp and pageantry.” We also speak with renowned Jamaican poet and musician Mutabaruka, who says the British monarchy “represents criminal activity” and that the British state needs to make reparations to former colonies like Jamaica to redress the history of abuses. “Actions speak louder than words,” he says.

Advocates call on U.S. to help flooded Pakistan in the name of climate justice : NPR

NPR’s Steve Inskeep talks to Huma Yusuf, columnist for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, about climate justice following the flooding that put one third of Pakistan under water.