UN report: Effects of climate change even more severe than we thought

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concordtom
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5:57a, 10/2/25
People in this thread may want to research her work.

Naomi Oreskes (born 1958) is an American historian of science, professor at Harvard University, and author. She's best known for studying how scientific consensus forms and how industries sometimes create doubt about science.

Some key points about her:

Expertise: History of science, especially climate science and earth sciences.

Famous work: Merchants of Doubt (2010, with Erik Conway) showed how a small group of scientists, often with ties to industry, cast doubt on evidence about tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, and climate change.

Influence: Her 2004 paper in Science analyzed published research and showed a clear scientific consensus on human-caused climate change widely cited in climate policy debates.

Other books: Why Trust Science? (2019), The Collapse of Western Civilization (2014, with Conway).

She is a leading voice in explaining how science works, why consensus matters, and how misinformation spreads.



SHORT:








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concordtom
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6:44a, 10/2/25
Wow, I'm fascinated because I've always felt there was a major problem with this one aspect of our marketplace: JUNK MAIL!

Every day I open my mailbox and someone has put a bunch of trash in it which I must pay trash service to take away.
Not only is it an intrusion upon me, but then the truck drives away and takes it to a landfill - which is a blight upon all of society.

And I wondered, why is this junk mail industry not taxed for their pollution and imposition upon all of us?

This activity is what's known in economics as a NEGATIVE EXTERNALITY.

And another negative externality is climate change brought upon by the fossil fuel industry. Enter Harvard's Naomi Oreskes and her book THE BIG MYTH.

Quote:
Naomi Oreskes' The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market (written with Erik M. Conway, published 2023) is a sweeping history of how U.S. corporations and allied groups promoted the ideology of "free market fundamentalism."

Here's a breakdown:



Core Argument

The book argues that what many Americans see as "natural" the belief that markets are inherently efficient, self-correcting, and morally superior to government is actually the product of a deliberate, decades-long campaign by businesses and industry associations.

This "big myth" was spread to resist regulation, taxation, labor protections, and environmental safeguards, even when markets failed to address real harms (like pollution, unsafe products, or financial crashes).



Key Themes

1. Origins of the Myth
Traces back to the early 20th century when corporations, facing regulation of railroads, child labor, and monopolies, began promoting the idea that government intervention was dangerous.

2. Propaganda & Messaging
Industries used movies, radio programs, school curricula, and public campaigns to teach Americans that capitalism and freedom were synonymous, and that regulation was un-American.

3. Business vs. Democracy
Oreskes and Conway show how big business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers actively shaped public opinion to align economic liberty with political liberty even though unregulated markets often undermined workers and communities.

4. Climate Change as a Case Study
In modern times, fossil fuel companies leveraged this myth to block carbon pricing, emissions regulation, and climate policies. The belief in unfettered markets helped delay action on climate change.



Style and Scope

It's not just a climate book. It's a political, cultural, and economic history, ranging from the Gilded Age to the present.

The style is historical storytelling, backed by archival research, similar in spirit to their earlier Merchants of Doubt, but broader.



Reception

Widely praised as a powerful work of intellectual and cultural history.

Some critics note that it's very U.S.-centric, but that's intentional, since it's tracing how American business shaped American attitudes toward markets and government.



In short:
The Big Myth is about how the ideology of the "free market" especially the idea that government regulation is inherently bad was consciously manufactured by American business interests, and how that myth continues to shape debates about issues like climate change.
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smh
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12:29p, 10/2/25
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2498509-antarctica-may-have-crossed-a-tipping-point-that-leads-to-rising-seas

dateline october 2nd, most easily read with javascript mode switched off in your favorite browser.


> The satellite record for sea ice measurements only began in 1979. Using proxy data from Antarctic weather stations, Raphael and her colleagues extended the time series back to the start of the 20th century.
>
They concluded that, based on historical data alone, the chance of 2023's sea ice minimum happening was less than 0.1 per cent. "We really are looking at extreme behaviour in terms of sea ice," she said in a presentation at the Royal Society meeting.
>
The sudden decline in ice formation has the hallmarks of a climate tipping point, says Alexander Haumann at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany. He told delegates that the change happened suddenly, affected the entire continent and will cause outsized impacts on the wider climate and ecology of Antarctica.
>
"What we are seeing now is that the entire Antarctic sea ice is responding as a whole," he told New Scientist at the meeting. "And the changes that we are observing are very long term and seem to be retained in the system for a long time."

# eat dessert first
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bearister
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11:53a, 10/10/25
"An enormous solar power project in the Nevada desert that would have been one of the world's largest has been canceled, according to the Interior Department.

The reason for the cancellation was not immediately clear. But the project appeared to be the latest casualty of the Trump administration's efforts to thwart the construction of solar and wind energy projects on millions of acres of public lands, predominantly in the American West.

The project, known as Esmeralda 7, would have comprised a sprawling network of solar panels and batteries across 118,000 acres of federally owned land in the Nevada desert northwest of Las Vegas. It was expected to produce up to 6.2 gigawatts of energy, enough to power nearly two million homes……

The move comes as the Trump administration has taken a rapid-fire series of steps to slow or stop the construction of renewable energy projects on public and private lands across the country…….

At the same time, the Trump administration has continued to approve permits for new oil and gas drilling and to encourage coal mining. The burning of fossil fuels is a main driver of climate change.

During the ongoing government shutdown, the Interior Department has designated employees who process oil drilling permits as essential, enabling them to keep working while other workers are furloughed."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/climate/nevada-solar-esmerelda7.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU8.KKYx.y0lNyCGcEsqD&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

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“I love Cal deeply. What are the directions to The Portal from Sproul Plaza?”
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Cal88
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In reply to bearister • 12:06p, 10/10/25
bearister said:
"An enormous solar power project in the Nevada desert that would have been one of the world's largest has been canceled, according to the Interior Department.

The reason for the cancellation was not immediately clear. But the project appeared to be the latest casualty of the Trump administration's efforts to thwart the construction of solar and wind energy projects on millions of acres of public lands, predominantly in the American West.

The project, known as Esmeralda 7, would have comprised a sprawling network of solar panels and batteries across 118,000 acres of federally owned land in the Nevada desert northwest of Las Vegas. It was expected to produce up to 6.2 gigawatts of energy, enough to power nearly two million homes……

The move comes as the Trump administration has taken a rapid-fire series of steps to slow or stop the construction of renewable energy projects on public and private lands across the country…….

At the same time, the Trump administration has continued to approve permits for new oil and gas drilling and to encourage coal mining. The burning of fossil fuels is a main driver of climate change.

During the ongoing government shutdown, the Interior Department has designated employees who process oil drilling permits as essential, enabling them to keep working while other workers are furloughed."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/climate/nevada-solar-esmerelda7.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU8.KKYx.y0lNyCGcEsqD&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


I bet Trump will go back on his decision after the billionaire AI tech bros give him a talk, and if that won't do it then the upcoming brownouts from new data centers and spiking electricity costs will force his hand next year.
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smh
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In reply to Cal88 • 12:25p, 10/10/25
Quote:
..and if that won't do it then the upcoming brownouts from new data centers and spiking electricity costs will force his hand next year..

88 -> from your lips to his bu**
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smh
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9:47p, 10/12/25
just for fun, hey-hey, a post of the day swiped from Nick Anderson's freebie substack..

https://nickanderson.substack.com/
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Cal88
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11:23a, 10/13/25



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oski003
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11:41a, 10/13/25
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a64147503/china-solar-station-space/

China Is Building a Solar Station in Space That Could Generate Practically Endless Power

... Also posted earlier in the Energy thread
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smh
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In reply to oski003 • 11:54a, 10/13/25
oski003 said:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a64147503/china-solar-station-space/
China Is Building a Solar Station in Space That Could Generate Practically Endless Power

yeahbut (tnx for the link btw) according to me and master Robert A Heinlein [TANSTAAFL] ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch
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Cal88
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In reply to smh • 12:58p, 10/13/25
smh said:
oski003 said:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a64147503/china-solar-station-space/
China Is Building a Solar Station in Space That Could Generate Practically Endless Power

yeahbut (tnx for the link btw) according to me and master Robert A Heinlein [TANSTAAFL] ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch


I had a long distance relationship for a while back in the early 90s, my phone bill was around $400-$500 monthly. Today you have unlimited videoconferencing for free. That's one free lunch every day in savings, with a much better tool.

Technology progress = free lunches.
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smh
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In reply to Cal88 • 1:10p, 10/13/25


Cal88 said:
smh said:
I had a long distance relationship for a while back in the early 90s, my phone bill was around $400-$500 monthly. Today you have unlimited videoconferencing for free. That's one free lunch every day in savings, with a much better tool.

Technology progress = free lunches.

my tool's swingin just fiine, tnx '88 # live'n learn
with fond glances (a few years ago) into our rear view mirror..
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PAC-10-BEAR
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1:14p, 10/13/25


The face of Climate Change.

On Facebook, Rinderknecht regularly shared political and environmental content. He posted memes mocking Trump supporters, linked to a Harris-Biden fundraiser, and frequently shared headlines about climate change and veganism.
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smh
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1:50p, 10/13/25
no thanks, nope, but backatcha from shelves a couple years ago, stilll worth the price (umm, free?) from better public libraries everywhere..
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smh
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In reply to PAC-10-BEAR • 2:12p, 10/13/25
< duplicate post deleted, so soury >
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Cal88
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2:25p, 10/13/25


Atlantic Coast Conference will realign, according to the Dan Rather in 1982.
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bearister
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In reply to Cal88 • 2:35p, 10/13/25
"CBS News report by Dan Rather warns that if we don't stop digging up ancient carbon and burning it, 25% of Florida will be underwater."

Had that been an accurate statement on the date Dan made it, my response would have been:

Then start digging like a gravedigger on meth.
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“I love Cal deeply. What are the directions to The Portal from Sproul Plaza?”
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smh
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In reply to bearister • 2:50p, 10/13/25
bearister said:
"CBS News report by Dan Rather warns that if we don't stop digging up ancient carbon and burning it, 25% of Florida will be underwater."
Had that been an accurate statement on the date Dan made it, my response would have been:
Then start digging like a gravedigger on meth.

thing is, kinda/sorta like old age, as the luckiest of us not-dead-yets will eventually realize, there's No Quit in the default future: gradual up up-ity up, and so forth, till most of pretty florida (etc) is a fond memory
# vote as if life depends on it, because our grand kiddies' do-do
signed, lifelong child-less by choice
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Cal88
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4:57p, 10/13/25
The records dating back from nearly 100 years ago show that there has been no significant change in the rate of sea rise in Florida:




I know we disagree on this, but at the rate things are going, demand for fossil fuels is going to trend down then collapse as clean new energy sources and technologies come to fruition, including solar, thorium molten salt, fusion and other out of the box solutions like solar from satellite stations.

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