Citizen Cartwright

Will we act in time to prevent catastrophic climate change?

President Obama is among the leaders of 150 nations gathering in Paris Monday to try.

Quickly, for those who are new to this blog: At least 97 percent of climate scientists agree that global warming trends over the past century very likely are due to human activities.

So what, then, motivates climate skeptics and deniers?

For many, according to The Economist, it’s the belief that action on climate would give the government “new license to waste their taxes or limit their freedoms.”

On top of that, action on climate requires internationally coordinated actions with real costs — a significant portion of which would impact powerful interest groups — in exchange for benefits of unknown size at a far-off date that wouldn’t be distributed among countries in a way remotely proportionate to the costs the various countries would incur, says The Economist.

Also, because the global economy is based on the use of planet-warming fossil fuels, action on climate involves major economic changes.

I might add that, for me, politics is the sum total of human beings behaving humanly, and humans tend to prefer to do what’s easy rather than what’s hard.

All of which explains, to me, at least, why it’s so hard to get global action on climate change.

And that takes us back to the meeting getting underway in Paris where they’re trying to do just that.

Major climate changes that already are happening

As you know, I value The Associated Press and Reuters because their articles are the most likely to be balanced and unbiased.

So I find it sobering when AP cites example after example of ways “it’s a hotter, wetter, wilder Earth that world leaders are trying to save” since the last binding global agreement to combat global warming was agreed to, in 1997, in Kyoto, Japan.

“At the time of Kyoto, if someone talked about climate change, they were talking about something that was abstract in the future,” says Marcia McNutt, editor in chief of the journal Science, who is set to become president of the National Academy of Sciences. "Now, we're talking about changing climate, something that's happening now. You can point to event after event that is happening in the here and now that is a direct result of changing climate.”

Among the changes since 1997:

— The five-year average surface global temperature for January to October has risen by nearly two-thirds of a degree Fahrenheit, or 0.36 degrees Celsius, between 1993-97 and 2011-15, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

— The seas have risen nearly 2 ½ inches, or 6.2 centimeters, on average, according to calculations by the University of Colorado.

— At its low point during the summer, Arctic sea ice is on average 820,000 square miles smaller, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. That’s a loss in area equal to Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona combined.

Nations making big promises on climate, but they’re not enough

The Paris summit already is a success in many ways, says The Washington Post. More than 160 countries have proposed climate action plans, and eight of the largest of those economies have pledged collectively to double their renewable energy supply by 2030, according to the World Resources Institute.

But emissions reduction plans submitted as of three weeks ago by nearly 150 nations would result in a temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius (4.8 Fahrenheit) or more by 2100, according to the U.N. Environment Program.

The global goal has been to stop temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, to prevent dangerous climate impacts.

New clean energy technologies can make a difference, and Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, President Obama and French President Hollande are to launch such a joint initiative on Monday.

Without a breakthrough in technology or major additional cuts in emissions, there is “virtually no chance” that global temperatures will stay below the 2 degrees Celsius target, according to a new paper in the journal Science.

Here are “short answers to hard questions on climate change,” from The New York Times.

Also in the news

Islamic State tightens its grip on Libyan stronghold of Sirte

Islamic State rulers: ‘They fight in the morning and they tax in the afternoon’

Discord between Turkey, Russia fueled by leaders’ similarities

Japan to resume its whaling in Antarctic despite court ruling

Climate change protests take place around the world on eve of Paris summit

Amid new battle, NSA shuts down phone records program

Shooting at Colorado Planned Parenthood facility adds to challenges for Congress

State Department calendars show Clinton's availability to donors, loyalists

Amazon video shows off prototype drone for future delivery service

Might your ‘holiday blues’ be seasonal affective disorder?

Study: People in their 50s now are the largest group battling addiction to narcotics

FDA approves first flu shot with added ingredient to increase immune response

Note to readers

Citizen Cartwright is taking Thanksgiving week off. Warm wishes to you and your loved ones for a happy holiday. As always, I’ll be giving thanks that I get to explore the way the world works with you!

House refugee screening bill passes with veto-proof majority

Responding quickly to the terror attacks in Paris, the House voted 289-137 Thursday to erect high hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming to American shores, dividing the president’s own party as lawmakers reflected the anxiety of voters back home.

The legislation would require new FBI background checks and individual sign-offs from three high-ranking U.S. officials before any Syrian or Iraqi refugee could come to the United States.

The White House dispatched Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to Capitol Hill to meet with Democrats before the vote, but lawmakers said those efforts backfired and led more Democrats to vote for the bill.

The administration’s argument wasn’t enough to convince him that extra security layers would cripple the refugee program, says Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

Genetically modified salmon approved for us to eat

We’ve been hearing about this possibility for years and years.

And on Thursday the Food and Drug Administration cleared the faster-growing AquAdvantage Salmon for human consumption.

Critics call it “frankenfish,” and Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target and Kroger have said they aren’t planning to sell it.

FDA officials say the fish won’t have to be labeled as genetically engineered, a policy consistent with its stance on foods made from genetically modified crops.

But the FDA issued draft guidance on wording that companies could use to voluntarily label the salmon as genetically modified or to label other salmon as not genetically engineered.

The FDA was first approached about approval of the fish in the 1990s, and the agency made its initial determination that the fish would be safe for human consumption and the environment more than five years ago.

FDA officials said on Thursday the process took so long because it was the first approval of its kind. People involved in the application suspect that the Obama administration delayed approval because it was wary of a political backlash.

Despite the approval, the salmon won’t be in stores immediately because it will take about two years for even these fast-growing salmon to reach market size.

Also, the approved production facility, in Panama, has the capacity to produce only about 100 tons of fish a year — a tiny amount compared with the more than 200,000 tons of Atlantic salmon the United States imports annually.

There currently is a surge of interest in developing new genetically altered farm animals and pets. New techniques, including one known as Crispr-Cas9, enable scientists to edit animal genomes rather than add genes from other species — making it far easier to create altered animals.

Biggest U.S. health insurer eyes withdrawal from Obamacare

UnitedHealth Group said on Thursday that it’s taken major losses on policies sold on the Obamacare exchanges and will consider withdrawing from them in 2017, adding to questions about the future of the marketplaces at the heart of the Obama administration’s signature health care law.

The exchanges aren’t on the verge of collapse, says The Associated Press.

Insurers are struggling to attract enough healthy customers to their still-new exchange coverage to balance sicker patients who signed up for coverage faster because they use a lot of health care. Until that happens, the exchanges won't be a viable, long-term market for these companies, Morningstar analyst Vishnu Lekraj says.

"The market still needs to mature," he says. “That's the lesson here."

Also in the news

Some expect more Islamic State attacks abroad to divert attention from territorial losses

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Paris suspect killed in shootout, had plotted terror for 11 months

Why it’s hard to draw a line from Snowden disclosures to the Paris attacks

More Mexican immigrants leaving the U.S. than coming, Pew report says

Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel, is being released from prison after 30 years

Study explores children’s ideas of ‘fairness’ in various countries

Brand-name drugs increase in cost but lag generics in patient satisfaction

Report: Drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed among U.S. teens, young adults

FDA approves nasal spray Narcan to reverse narcotic painkiller overdose

Foods may affect each person’s blood sugar differently, researchers say

House to vote on bill to up screening for Syria, Iraq refugees

The fallout from the Paris terrorist attacks will start to play out on the House floor Thursday as lawmakers are set to approve a bill to block any refugees from Syria or Iraq from entering the country unless they pass a strict background check and get government certification.

The bill, introduced on Wednesday by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, would require that the director of the FBI, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the director of national intelligence confirm that each applicant from Syria and Iraq posed no threat.

The White House says President Obama would veto the bill.

So Democrats are caught between their support for the president and public opinion polls that show the bill is popular.

At least 10 of the conservative-leaning Blue Dog Democrats say they’ll vote for the bill.