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Friday, July 25th, 2014

Is Climate Change Changing You?

Author:     DANIELLE PAQUETTE
Source:     The Washington Post
Publication Date:     23-Jul-14
 Link: Is Climate Change Changing You?
Stephan:   This article, one of the first I've seen with this slant begins to humanize what is coming with climate change. The election of 2014 is crucial because if it goes to the Theocratic Right, that has now captured the Republican Party, nothing will be done at least not before 2016's election. By then a whole series of tipping points will have been passed. Note particularly, the Chicago story. This introduces an aspect not previously discussed much, if at all: the failure of our aging infrastructure under the stress of climate change, particularly the underground part such as sewers. We are at a point of compounding errors, shown in the confluence of the failure to maintain infrastructure in favor of war, and climate change. If you have a bond issue on your ballot to improve infrastructure, you would be wise to vote for it.

Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” scientists proclaimed in the Obama administration’s National Climate Assessment, released in May. It’s touching every corner of the U.S., the report claims: We can’t escape inland.

I wrote about Lori Burns, a 40-year-old Chicago woman whose basement keeps flooding with raw sewage. During the past century, downpours that force human waste up pipes and into homes, a particularly devastating effect of combined sewer overflow, have struck the Midwest metropolis more often. And it’s projected to get worse. That means more cleanup costs for residents like Burns.
1. Not everyone worries about climate change. That worries people who worry about climate change.

The data: Only 40 percent of Americans believe climate change is a major threat, according to Pew research. And only 42 percent of Americans think human activity is causing climate change. Meanwhile a review of 12,000 scientific papers that address the causes of climate change found that 97 percent of the studies agree that the phenomenon is being driven by human activity.

The story: Former journalist Wen Stephenson wrote an essay about confronting his old colleagues in the Boston Globe’s editorial department. He believed they weren’t […]

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