This is a global portal for all novels and movies about climate change and "The Virus," with news links and opeds from blogs to videos to Wikipedia to Twitter to news links and Facebook Groups. See this portal, the only such cli-fi sci-fi portal on the internet. MEDIA inquiries are okay at this point in time, and personal comments may be sent to the editor at danbloom ATMARK gmail DOT com
The long-awaited sequel to 1982's 'Blade Runner' seems inspired by present-day concerns. But amid the grim apocalyptic narratives, authors such as Ed Finn and Neal Stephenson and Cory Doctorow and Kim Stanley Robinson and James Bradley and Jeff VanderMeer and Annalee Newitz argue that futuristic fiction should leave room for optimism and vision.
'Blade Runner 2049,' the long-awaited sequel to 1982’s 'Blade Runner,' seems inspired by present-day concerns. Some critics of science fiction ask whether futuristic films should do more to inspire.
Warner Bros. Pictures/AP
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Stephen Humphries
Correspondent
—In “Blade Runner 2049,” which opens Friday, post eco-disaster Los Angeles has built a massive coastline wall to fend off rising ocean levels. Few of the overpopulated city’s human or android occupants have ever seen a tree or a real animal. The incessant rain is as dour as Harrison Ford’s facial expressions. Worst of all? One character bemoans the fact that there’s no more cheese in the world.
Recent dystopian blockbusters seem to be jostling in a grim race to be the first to reach the seventh circle of hell in Dante’s “Inferno.” But some science-fiction writers are tired of the sorts of pessimistic futures depicted in movies and TV shows such as “The Hunger Games,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Black Mirror,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
In response, influential authors Neal Stephenson, Cory Doctorow, David Brin, and Kim Stanley Robinson argue that futuristic fiction should, instead, offer an inspiring outlook about mankind’s ability to shape its destiny. But do the kinds of stories we tell ourselves have a cultural impact on shaping a better tomorrow?
“I want to nod at something that Jill Lepore wrote in The New Yorker about the dangers of drowning ourselves in dystopian stories,” says Christopher Robichaud, who teaches a class at Harvard Extension School on Utopia and Dystopia in fiction and philosophy. “The utility dystopian fiction used to serve was to bring problems to our attention and seek solutions. But the danger is that these stories can become a collective act of despair in response to current events.”
The long-awaited sequel to the original “Blade Runner” certainly seems inspired by present-day concerns. It’s eerily in sync with Space X and Tesla founder Elon Musk’s claim that artificial intelligence will come to view humanity as an inferior species and destroy us. “Blade Runner 2049” also predicts bad outcomes from genetic editing, neurotechnology, surveillance technology, and energy use. The future’s only bright spot, it seems, is for umbrella manufacturers.
Ryan Gosling stars in a scene from 'Blade Runner 2049.'
Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros. Pictures/AP
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That sort of thinking made Mr. Stephenson wonder whether the pessimistic outlook of his profession had contributed to a defeatist attitude and lack of ambitious vision among scientists. So, in 2011, the author of classics such as “Snow Crash” cofounded the Hieroglyph project with the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. The big idea: Develop science fiction stories with optimistic thought models and imaginative blueprints. The theory is that these narratives will, in turn, inspire scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to tackle major projects such as designing crewed spacecraft or finding viable alternatives to fossil fuels.
“When most people think of the future today, they think of the great dystopian narratives, especially through Hollywood and popular culture,” says Ed Finn, co-editor of the project’s 2014 anthology, “Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future.” “We started to ask how we can use storytelling to create more optimistic futures that are more empowering to people.”
'No such thing as defeating the technology'
But some science-fiction writers, including Ramez Naam (“Nexus”) and Daniel H. Wilson (“Robogenesis”), counter that dystopian tales can be just as valuable in shifting thought paradigms. Case in point: Mr. Wilson’s “Robopocalypse,” a story about a machine uprising so terrifying that readers may decide to leash their Roombas.
“I used that meme as a red cape to get the bulls to chase me,” says Mr. Wilson. “My goal was to subvert that theme. What I wanted people to take away from ‘Robopocalypse’ is that there is no such thing as defeating the technology. We are technology. We don’t survive without technology.”
And while novels such as Emily St. John Mandel’s “Station Eleven,” Maja Lunde’s “The History of Bees,” and Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” offer little respite from apocalypse, they’ve won both critical and popular acclaim.
Science fiction often plays on fears of technology’s unintended consequences. It’s a trope as old as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” Virginia Postrel, author of “The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress,” argues that optimistic science fiction stories don’t create a belief in technological progress. Rather, they reflect an existing, broader cultural outlook.
“If you think that the present is better than the past because of science and technology, then you are much more likely to find optimistic science fiction about the future to be plausible,” says Ms. Postrel. “If you think that science and technology have done nothing but destroy the planet and ruin our health, you will be drawn to pessimistic science fiction.”
Indeed, one puzzling aspect of dystopian science fiction is why stories about dismal futures are so popular during an era of unprecedented human progress. Global poverty is declining, infant mortality rates are falling, and life expectancy is rising.
“People refer to the Golden Age of sci-fi, which was a time of [Robert] Heinlein and ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The Jetsons,’ which reflected a fairly robust belief in the possibility of progress and that things will get better in the future,” says Ron Bailey, author of “The End of Doom: Environmental Renewal in the 21st Century.” But, he says, the new wave of science fiction after the mid-1960s reflected fears of nuclear annihilation, the loss of faith in institutions following the Vietnam War and “a relentless dystopian campaign by ideological environmentalists.”
'The importance of hope'
But perhaps the debate over utopian versus dystopian fiction should be reframed. A more helpful distinction might be the difference between nihilism and existentialism in science fiction. Amid doom-and-gloom scenarios, does the hero or heroine have agency and an ability to win the day?
“Dystopian fiction is pleasurable because we can enter from the side of the hero and track the hero’s journey and their statement,” says William Warner, a professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Hieroglyph contributors and supporters Mr. Robinson (“New York 2140”) and Mr. Doctorow (“Walkaway”) have each written stories set in dystopian (and thus inherently dramatic) worlds that, paradoxically, often feel utopian. Crucially, their stories don’t leave readers feeling akin to Charlton Heston at the end of “Planet of the Apes.”
“New York 2140,” the latest book by Robinson, posits a future in which post-climate change Manhattan is partly submerged underwater. But his dystopian scenario is, in many ways, utopian. New York is flourishing as a "SuperVenice" in which, Robinson writes, “Not a few experienced an uptick in both material circumstances and quality of life.”
“Cory Doctorow likes to talk about the importance of hope – that you could hope for a better future,” says Mr. Finn. “That’s part of what differentiates our work from pure utopianism. We’re not so much focused on a perfect world. The work we do is trying to make our world better.” Correction: The Hieroglyph project is run out of The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.
''Looking beyond 2050, it becomes more difficult to assess risks to human health. But one thing is clear. The impacts of increasing temperatures upon human health are not linear. In a world in which temperatures are 4°C warmer than the pre-industrial base, we are likely to see health impacts many times more severe than those which will prevail in a world 2ºC warmer.''
Atmosphere of Hope: Searching For Solutions to the Climate Crisis by Tim Flannery in Australia Text Publishing, $30
When I wrote The Weather Makers, I laid out the state of climate science as it was understood in 2005. The book received much acclaim, but it was also criticised by climate-change sceptics as extremist and alarmist.
Since the book was published, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has completed two major summaries, in the form of its fourth and fifth assessment reports, and thousands of scientific publications have added to our understanding of how Earth’s climate system responds to carbon pollution.
As a result, many details of climate science have been clarified. Not only are the scientific projections of major trends more certain than ever, but today many of us also have firsthand experience of living in a strongly shifted climate. With climate change an experienced reality, and the science verified, the room for climate change denialism keeps shrinking.
Despite their vast increase in computational power, the models remain consistent in telling us that our Earth is warming, and will continue to warm in proportion to the volume of fossil fuel we burn. What has changed is the detail they reveal about the things that will unfold.
While no climate model can predict the future – simply because the future is impossible to predict – the increasing computational power of the models means that they are becoming ever more useful at explaining how climatic changes are being influenced by humanity. Studies of past climates are also becoming ever more informative. One that examines over 1,000 years of temperature records has shown that climate trends have sometimes differed markedly in the northern and southern hemispheres.
One example of hemispheric difference, which the sceptics used to cast doubt on the fact that CO2 causes warming, concerns the medieval warm period. The new study demonstrates unequivocally that this warm period was restricted to the northern hemisphere.
But such is the unprecedented volume of greenhouse gases that humans have released into the atmosphere that the climate system is being overwhelmed, and today warming is occurring in both hemispheres. The contemporary world is changing fast; few changes have been as profound or disturbing as the increases in extreme weather experienced right across the planet. For that dwindling band who continue to deny anthropogenic climate change, this is the new battleground – albeit one which is becoming ever more difficult for them to defend.
The sun seen through the steam and other emissions coming from funnels of the brown coal Loy Yang Power Station in the Latrobe Valley near Melbourne. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/Reuters When, in late 2013, Australian prime minister Tony Abbott and his environment minister Greg Hunt argued that there is no link between the warming trend and extreme bushfires, they were arguing not only against science, but also contrary to common sense.
The link between extreme weather and climate change is a critical area for public understanding, because it’s the devastating extremes, rather than a shift in averages, that have the greatest impact. To deny the link also permits people to believe that climate change is something only for future generations to worry about. It is not.
Our climate has already changed, and over the last decade we have begun to witness more frequently the consequences of our profligate burning of coal, oil and gas. Very recent advances have allowed scientists to quantify the human impact on individual extreme weather events. Extremes in the weather are therefore a good place to begin looking at what has changed in climate science over the past decade.
Poland’s Jerry Janowicz is sprayed with cool water at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia in 2014. Photograph: Fiona Hamilton/AP The Australian Open Tennis Championships are Melbourne’s moment in the sun, and during the fortnight of the competition there’s hardly another topic of conversation in the city. When, during the 2014 Open, a heatwave of unprecedented ferocity struck Melbourne, bringing a record-breaking four days in a row of temperatures over 41°C, as well as the city’s hottest-ever 24-hour period, the stadium built to host the event turned into a furnace.
Despite the long and loud warnings of the climate scientists that extreme heatwaves were all but inevitable, Rod Laver Arena had not been built to cope with the threat, and lives and money were put at risk. With millions of dollars at stake, the tournament organisers were reluctant to call an end to play. For day after scorching day the players slogged it out in 40°C+ temperatures on the courts. The fans stuck around too, though more than 1,000 had to be treated for heat stress. Finally, the health risks to both players and spectators became too much, and the multi-million dollar tournament was suspended.
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In late 2014 Dr Thomas Knutson of the US Geophysical Fluids Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University, New Jersey, and colleagues vpublished an analysis demonstrating that it is virtually impossible that the extreme heat experienced over Australia in 2013 could have occurred without the influence of human-emitted greenhouse gases. The analysis used a large series of computer models, some of which exclude human influence, while others include it.
The Australian heat of 2013 was so extreme than in the 12,000 simulations generated by the models that included only natural factors, in all but one simulation it lay outside the range of probabilities.
Moreover, human influence tripled the odds that heatwaves that year would occur as frequently as they did, and doubled the odds that they would be as intense as they were. Our ability to link some kinds of extreme weather to climate change in this way is very new, and is likely to revolutionise our understanding of how we are influencing Earth’s climate system.
The average temperature of Earth’s lower atmosphere has risen by just under 1°C during the past 200 years. How, you might ask, can such a small average increase have a large effect on extreme weather? There are several aspects that must be considered. One is that, because around 90% of the extra heat captured by greenhouse gases is transferred to the oceans, the oceans are warming dramatically. This alters evaporation, which influences the intensity of rainfall as well as the intensity of cyclones, and indeed the water cycle as a whole. But a second, more important, answer lies in the simple observation that if you plot weather for any location it looks like a bell curve.
Greville Blank scours for possessions around his destroyed home following the devastating Cyclone Yasi in Tully Heads, north Queensland, in February 2011. Photograph: Dave Hunt/EPA We will still experience some cold days in our warmer climate. But we will get many more hot days, as well as a number of record-breaking hot days.
During the summer of 2013, more than 3,000 weather records were broken in the US, while 123 such records were broken in Australia (which has far fewer weather stations). In 2014 a further 156 records were broken in Australia. We’re seeing the climate change before our eyes.
A well-documented heatwave experienced in Melbourne in January 2009 shows in detail how heat affects health. After four days of high night-time as well as daytime temperatures, many people’s bodies had become overstressed and unable to shed the excess heat. Mortality records reveal that, on average, around 90 people die annually in Melbourne between 26 January and 1 February.
But during the heatwave of 2009, 374 “excess deaths” were recorded, the great majority occurring after four days of the extreme heat. Bushfires and hurricanes might gain the headlines, but it’s easy to understand why doctors have come to dread what they call “the silent killer”.
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Heatwaves have, of course, always occurred. The dustbowl-era American heatwave of 1936 was the hottest on record until 2012. The great Chicago heatwave of 1995, which killed about
HALLOWEEN in Taiwan 2017 -- In Taiwan, the kids in kindergarten have little Hallowween marches near the schools visiting the local stores and getting candy from the owners,. and yesterday I followed them: In Chinese the kids chant "Trick or treat: bu gei tan, jiuo dao dan" -- and they say Trick or Trick in English and the Chinese words mean: "Give me candy, or I will give you a raw egg on your doorstep!" ( or so they kids told me......)
''From recently popularized genres like climate fiction, or “cli-fi,” to novels, short stories, poetry, and film from multi-ethnic and indigenous writers and artists like Karen Tei Yamashita, Linda Hogan, and Juan Carlos Galeano..''
Program note for new cli-fi movie from Europe by Olivier Marchal, a Franco-Belge production 2017
Antoine Roca’s firm is going bankrupt. His rich father-in-law wants to take his wife and son away for their safety. In his desperation, Antoine hears from his lawyer that there is a way to buy and sell carbon tax on line. He earns a ton of money with a few clicks, but soon draws the attention of the police. He is implicated in an organized crime mob, and is caught in a whirlpool of betrayal, murder, and revenge.
Former police officer and actor-director Olivier Marchal directs Carbon, a French ''cli-fi noir'' 'crime thriller.
It is about the abuse of carbon tax, an environmental policy created to cope with global warming. Social reality is reflected in the theme and adds to genre convention: individual’s struggle while stuck between the police and organized crime.
Based on a true story that was dubbed “the heist of the century,” Carbon’s leading role is played by Benoît Magimel, awardee of Best Actor Prize at Cannes Film Festival with Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher.
A Paris court jailed 12 people for terms of up to nine years on Wednesday for their part in a gigantic carbon tax credit fraud that cost the French state 146 million euros. Another 36 people are to face trial in a related case in a series of scams worth an estimated 1.6 billion euros in total.
Millions of euros were swindled between 2006 and 2009 through a scam on the carbon quota market carried out largely by French-Israeli citizens in what has been dubbed the "fraud of the century".
In an attempt to find a free-market solution to climate change, the European Union introduced carbon credits, which established quotas for carbon emissions and allowed companies that do not reach them to sell their credits to companies who have exceeded theirs.
France's finance ministry slapped sales tax on the credits, which was not the case in other countries.
That allowed the fraudsters to buy credits abroad through dummy companies, sell them in France with VAT added but never paying the VAT to the French government.
The illicit profits were laundered through complex webs of more dummy companies and bank accounts in tax havens.
The scam took some time to come to light and Wednesday's sentences follow eight-year jail terms handed down to Marco Mouly and Arnaud Mimran in June.
The heaviest sentence - nine years in prison and a million-euro fine - went to Cyril Astruc, described as the "instigator and primary beneficiary". Most defendants not in court
But he and nine of the other defendants were not present in court and an arrest warrants have been issued for them.
Richard Touil, who is also on the run, was sentenced to eight years and a million-euro fine for being "one of the organisers and beneficiaries", while Kévin El Ghasouani and Grégory Zaoui, who were found responsible for much of the mechanics of the operation, were sentenced to seven years and a million-euro fine and six years and a million-euro fine respectively.
Another participant, Eddie Abittan, also received a six-year sentence and a million-euro fine.
Seven other defendants, most of them nominal heads of companies set up for the scam, were given sentences ranging from one to four years in prison, along with million-euro fines.
All those found guilty were ordered to collectively pay 146 million euros in damages and interest to the government.
Three defendants were found not guilty.
Turkish bank Garanti Bankasi was fined eight million euros for its role in laundering the proceeds. New trial over bigger fraud
A further 36 people are to face trial in an even bigger carbon tax fraud case.
Judges believe the Marseille-based gang pocketed 385 million euros in unpaid VAT.
The alleged leader was former teacher Christiane Melgrani, who is in prison awaiting trial, as is her alleged lieutenant Gérard Chétrit, while a warrant has been issued for another key defendant, Eric Castiel.
Lawyer Arié Goueta is also believed to have played a key role in the swindle and Grégory Zaoui, who was sentenced in Wednesday's judgement, is also named in the forthcoming case.
The French government scrapped VAT on carbon credits in June 2009.
"I think we should start thinking about taking all the cars and trucks and taxis and buses off the roads, all around the world, in order to lower our CO2 emissions," said Moot, an 8-year-old Dutch girl who lives in a small village outside Amsterdam.
"But Moot, that's just not possible, said her mother. "People need cars and taxis and buses to go to work, and take children to school, and for families to go on vacations in the summer.
And in Amsterdam and London and Paris and New York, taxis are in-dis-pen-sable," said her father, enunciating each syllable in that long adult word so that Moor could understand it better. "Your idea is a good one and is to be commended, but Moot, it's a moot question. We just can't do it."
Moot didn't look in-dis-pen-sable but she did look in-con-sol-able. Every time she had a new idea about how to save the Earth from CO2 overload, her idea was mooted by the grown-ups.
"They just don't understand me," said Moot, trying to console herself.
But Moot had other ideas and she was not one to give up quietly and go away without a fight.
Moot was trembling, as she often did when she felt misunderstood.
"What are you doing?" her older sister Lila asked.
"I'm trembling, can't you see?" Moot replied. "I just can't stand it when nobody understands me!"
"I do!" said her grandmother Bella. "I do. Don't give up. Think of another idea and another and another that nobody can moot."
So Moot came up with a new idea, and she explained it this way.
"Why don't we ask the government to paint the atmosphere pink!" she shared. "Yes, let's paint the planet pink!"
Mother was perplexed and Father was confounded.
"What?" they both said in unison.
"If we paint the planet pink, and if we paint the atmosphere pink, then we will be able to see all the CO2 emissions in the air," Moot said, happy that she had come up with another brainstorm of an idea. "I read about this in a book. I think it's a sterling idea. It could really wake people up if they saw all the pink CO2 molecules all over the place, in our homes and outside where we play and work and go to school and drive and fly."
Older sister Lila put her hands up in the air.
"I hate to tell you this, Moot, but your idea is just not possible to do," she said. "First of all, there is not enough pink paint in the Universe to do what you are proposing. And two, the government would never allow it. Maybe Disneyland in Florida will allow it for one day a year, but that's all. Sorry, sis, but I've got to moot your idea before it goes any further."
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"Well, if we cannot stop all the cars and if we cannot paint the CO2 pink, then how about if we stop flying airplanes?" Did you know that airplanes, both commerical jets and cargo jets -- and military jets too! -- contribute tons and tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere every day? We need to stop flying altogether. Are you with me or against me?"
Professor Octaviasdottir who was visiting Amsterdam and was a friend of Moot's parents said: "But Moot, if we stop flying, how am I going get back to Iceland from Holland? How are business people going to conduct global business if they cannot fly to meetings and conventions and forums worldwide? How will academics deliver keynote addresses in all four corners of the globe if we do away with airplanes altogether. It's a sterling idea, of course, but it's not practical. It's a moot question, that."
Moot was getting tired of getting mooted every time she spoke up, but she was not one to give up easily and she heeded her grandmother's advice to never never give up.
"I won't give up," she said to the professor. "I have more ideas where these first three ideas came from. Just you wait."
"I have a good idea about bicyles," said Moot. "Since I'm only 8 years old I like to ride my bicycle, and I know that many grown-ups also like to ride their bicycles for fun and exercise and even to get to work and go shopping."
"What's your idea?" asked Lila, Moot's older sister.
"Well, since cars and trucks and buses and taxis and airplanes put alot of CO2 intro the atmosphere every day, tons and tons of CO2, what if more and more people around the world started using bicycles to go to school, to get to work, to go shopping, to get some exercise, and just to have fun exploring the countryside and even the local city streets," Moot said. "In fact, I think using bicycles for trans-por-ta-tion is a capital idea! What do you think?"
Lila nodded her head and said she agreed. Grandma also said yes. Mother and Father also said yes. In fact, everyone in the house where Moot lived agreed with her, and no one mooted her idea.
But then visiting Professor Octaviasdottir from Iceland chimed in: "Moot, your idea is great, and I also love to ride my bicycle in the summertime in Iceland, but think of the people who live in very cold climates in the winter, like in northern Norway or northerm Sweden or Lapland or Moscow or St. Petersburg in Russia. Or in Alaska or Hokkaido in Japan. It's so cold in the winter and it snows a lot. How can people ride bicycles on streets covered with snow and ice?"
The professor said: "I am sorry to say this, Moot, but I must moot your bicyle idea as a year-round idea to save the planet from excessive CO2 emissions, but as a summertime idea, it's perfect. I like your idea, Moot. So I am only half-mooting it."
Moot seemed happy that the professor had only half-mooted her bicycle idea and was satisfied that she was making progress in coming up with ideas to save the planet.
"I know, I know," said Moot. "Let's all go for hikes in nature more often! Let's go on more nature hikes and walks in the meadows and hills and mountains, near river and lakes."
Lila her older sister seemed to think that was a boring idea. "Why on Earth would that help save the planet, Moot"? she asked.
"Well, to begin with, Lila, by getting out into nature more, we humans can make direct contact with the world around us, the natural world, instead of being cooped up in our homes and office and classrooms, right? The more we know and learn about nature the more we will be prone to make decisions in the future that will help protect and save the Earth," Moot said.
"You can't moot that can you?" she added.
Lila thought about what her younger sister was saying and said that all in all, all things considered, she had to agree with Little Sis.
You are right," said Lila. "For once I agree with you. The closer we get to nature, the closer we will get to understanding why our planet is in such dire straits."
"So you are not going to moot my idea this time?" Moot asked.
"Well, I am only going to half-moot it, Moot, because just walking in nature is boring, and walking along a river or near a lake is boring. For me, at least, I prefer to stay indoors and play with my computer," Lila added.
Moot could not hold back her feeling any longer and blurted out: "Aha, it's you who are boring, Lila. You've been cooped up inside too long. Let's go out for a nature hike right now. Are you coming?"
"Not me," said Lila. "You go for a walk in the woods with Grandma."
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After taking a long walk with her grandmother in the woods, Moot was even more inspired to talk about another idea she had: the need to governments worldwide to plant more trees around the world, because yes, trees are not only pretty and beautiful but they are also absorb CO2 and can help lower the amount of carbon dioxide on the planet. She even knew the name of a British man who loved nature so much that he even wrote books about it, her mother told her once while they were watching a nature programme on BBC-TV from London: His name was Robert Macfarlane and Moot thought she'd like to meet him someday.
Moot took a deep breath and made her next suggestion a short but important one: "Let's plant a million billion trillion trees on the planet starting tomorrow!"
And neither mom nor dad or sister Lila dared to moot that idea.
"Bravo!" they all said in unison.
Moot hugged her grandmother and said: "Wow!"
"I like to eat fish and chicken and beef," Moot said to Grandma Bella, "but as I get older, I am beginning to think more like my sister Lila that maybe our whole family should be become vegetarians, or semi-vegitarians or at least Vegetarians on No-Meat Mondays like many families around the world do. I love vegetables, too, like tomatoes and cucumbers and apples and broccoli. Oh, wait a minute, apples are not vegetables, they are fruit. Sometimes my brain backfires. But yes, if we eat more vegetables and more fruit and let meat, perhaps this new way of living in a sustainable way can help make the world a better place, not just for humans but for animals, too! What do you think of this idea?"
Father weighed in on this issue, telling Moot that while he liked her idea, he felt he had to moot it, too.
"I like the idea of No Meat Mondays," he said, "and that's a good way to introduce the concept of vegetarians to people worldwide, Moot, but there are almost 8 billion humans on Earth now and how can we feed them all? With just vegetables and fruit? Who have you been talking to about this?"
Moot looked over at Lila and then at Grandma Bella. "They have both taught me many things about living in a more sustainable way. Blame them, papa!"
Father laughed and smiled. "Well, I guess thinking about making the world a better place for humans and animals runs in the family," he said. So I won't moot your idea anymore, Moot. Yes, let's try to come vegetarians in this house!"
''My next idea is for people who love the ocean. Do you? I do!" said Moot.
''Everyone should go sea kayaking from time to time to get up close and personal to the ocean and see the problems it is facing like ocean a-ci-di-fi-ca-tion," said Moot, pronouncing that long word very slowly in short syllables so that everyone could understand her and so that she could say in correctly. "In fact, I saw a very good YouTube video by a six year girl in Australia about ocean acidification, and you should watch it here, if you have time. It's just five minutes long. Surely you have 5 minutes to spare to help save the planet! He rname is Ruby -- Ruby the Climate Kid!"
"If more people get out on the ocean with sea kayaks or canoes or ferry boats and fishing boats and kind of boat that floats your boat, we can all learn to care more about the oceans, all seven oceans around the world," Moot said. "Are there seven seas? I need to check that if that is true. Is it?"
"Okay, okay, here's my last idea: Let's not use our air-conditioners so much in the summer. We can help save energy that way, and we can live more sustainably, too." said Moot. "Of course, I know it gets hot sometimes in the summer, especially if you live in warm climates like Mexico and India and Thailand and Taiwan. Amsterdam gets hot in the summer, too. Copenhagen, too. Paris, too. But let's stick together and put our heads together (as my mom and dad like to say) and see if we can find other ways to keep cool in the summer, without using so much energy with our air-conditioners."
Moot wasn't sure if her idea would past muster around the world, so she added one more sentence: "If you children listening to this story or you adults reading this story to your child or your students in school can think of some cool ways that we can lessen our dependency on air-conditioners, let me know. I'm just a little Dutch girl with freckles and red hair, but I have any email adress somewhere, and you look hard enough for it you can find and send me a suggestion or two (or three."
Note: Moot's email address is bikolang@gmail.com She will read your letters and comments and she will reply to you, too.
After putting nine different ideas into the discussion, with little success, little Moot decided to take a different tack. She wanted to suggest something that nobody would moot. So she sat down next to her grandmother Bella in the living room and listed her last suggestion on how to save the planet.
"What if we all worked together, all of us in every nation on Earth, to stop runaway global warming before it runs away with our future? " Moot asked Grandma Bella, who nodded her head as if to say "yes, yes, that's my little Moot talking now!"
"What if we put aside all our differences, nation by nation, and put our shoulders to wheel and our noses to the grindstone, and just worked hard day in and day out for the rest of our lives, always with our chins up and our hearts strong, to solve the problems that are putting our Earth in danger? All of us, just not me and you, but all of us," Moot added.
Her mom and dad were delighted to hear their daughter talking like this, and Mom said:
"You know, Moot, that's a very good suggestion. And it's not moot. You've hit the nail on the head. We do need to work together on all this, and now. Like tomorrow."
"Moot, you're great!" said Dad. "We need to make a sustaibale world, and we need to do it in a positive way. Moot, you're just 8 years old but what you just said sounds the way an adult would speak. You are really growing up fast!"
And with those words from her mother and father, Moot was a very happy little girl.
Imagine there's a red-headed, freckled little Dutch girl named Moot who wants so much to help protect the planet and save the world. She lives just outside Amsterdam, with her mother and father, older sister Lila and Grandma Bell. She asked a grown-up to write a picture book for kids about her interest in creating a sustainable world, and someone did.
Meet Daniel Halevi Bloom, author of the 1985 picture book "Bubbie and Zadie Come to My House," first published in New York by the Villard imprint at Random House and then reprinted in 2006 when Rudy Shur at Square One Publishers brought out a new edition with a new cover and inside art.
The book is available online free of charge, a very short read, just ten or twenty minutes if you read it out loud to your children or students in elementary school. It's a read-out-loud kind of book, with the adult reader using their emotions and voice to project the thoughts and feelings of Moot.
For the time being, the book will remain online only and there are no plans to bring the story to a publishing house or an ebook publisher. Bloom likes the book the way it is, and he calls it a blook (for blog + book). However, if someday a publisher in North America or Europe wants to bring the story out as a real, physical, in-your-hands picture book of about 32 pages, the author will be happy to talk about it.
For now, the book is yours to enjoy and use as you wish, and if you find some children you want to hear the book read out loud, then by all means make a hard copy of the story by printing it out on paper and then reading it to your own children or your school class. This book is not about making money, and it will always be free of charge online.
A Paris court jailed 12 people for terms of up to nine years on Wednesday for their part in a gigantic carbon tax credit fraud that cost the French state 146 million euros. Another 36 people are to face trial in a related case in a series of scams worth an estimated 1.6 billion euros in total.
Millions of euros were swindled between 2006 and 2009 through a scam on the carbon quota market carried out largely by French-Israeli citizens in what has been dubbed the "fraud of the century".
In an attempt to find a free-market solution to climate change, the European Union introduced carbon credits, which established quotas for carbon emissions and allowed companies that do not reach them to sell their credits to companies who have exceeded theirs.
France's finance ministry slapped sales tax on the credits, which was not the case in other countries.
That allowed the fraudsters to buy credits abroad through dummy companies, sell them in France with VAT added but never paying the VAT to the French government.
The illicit profits were laundered through complex webs of more dummy companies and bank accounts in tax havens.
The scam took some time to come to light and Wednesday's sentences follow eight-year jail terms handed down to Marco Mouly and Arnaud Mimran in June.
The heaviest sentence - nine years in prison and a million-euro fine - went to Cyril Astruc, described as the "instigator and primary beneficiary". Most defendants not in court
But he and nine of the other defendants were not present in court and an arrest warrants have been issued for them.
Richard Touil, who is also on the run, was sentenced to eight years and a million-euro fine for being "one of the organisers and beneficiaries", while Kévin El Ghasouani and Grégory Zaoui, who were found responsible for much of the mechanics of the operation, were sentenced to seven years and a million-euro fine and six years and a million-euro fine respectively.
Another participant, Eddie Abittan, also received a six-year sentence and a million-euro fine.
Seven other defendants, most of them nominal heads of companies set up for the scam, were given sentences ranging from one to four years in prison, along with million-euro fines.
All those found guilty were ordered to collectively pay 146 million euros in damages and interest to the government.
Three defendants were found not guilty.
Turkish bank Garanti Bankasi was fined eight million euros for its role in laundering the proceeds. New trial over bigger fraud
A further 36 people are to face trial in an even bigger carbon tax fraud case.
Judges believe the Marseille-based gang pocketed 385 million euros in unpaid VAT.
The alleged leader was former teacher Christiane Melgrani, who is in prison awaiting trial, as is her alleged lieutenant Gérard Chétrit, while a warrant has been issued for another key defendant, Eric Castiel.
Lawyer Arié Goueta is also believed to have played a key role in the swindle and Grégory Zaoui, who was sentenced in Wednesday's judgement, is also named in the forthcoming case.
The French government scrapped VAT on carbon credits in June 2009.
Depuis lundi 14 août, Le Monde propose une série en cinq épisodes sur l’escroquerie gigantesque qu’a été l’affaire des « quotas carbone ». Les sommes envolées donnent le tournis : au moins 1,6 milliard d’euros de pertes pour la France en moins d’un an, 6 milliards pour les pays de l’Union européenne.
L’idée de départ se voulait vertueuse : pour limiter l’émission des gaz à effet de serre, l’Etat français crée en 2007 un grand marché des quotas carbone, BlueNext. Chaque année, des quotas étaient attribués aux entreprises les plus polluantes, qui pouvaient les revendre si elles n’avaient pas atteint leur plafond ou racheter ceux des entreprises qui n’avaient pas dépensé les leurs.
Pour être encore plus citoyen, le marché s’ouvre à toutes les sociétés, qu’elles soient ou non identifiées comme pollueuses. Sans contrôles sur la réalité des acheteurs et des vendeurs. On institue une TVA (taxe sur la valeur ajoutée) sur ces quotas achetés hors taxe et revendus toutes taxes comprises (TTC) – l’Etat se chargeant d’avancer la TVA. Personne n’avait prévu que des escrocs familiers de l’arnaque à la TVA se précipiteraient dans cette faille et voleraient systématiquement les 20 % de TVA sur chaque transaction. Jusqu’à gagner, pour certains d’entre eux, plus de 500 000 euros par jour.
Le 9 décembre 2009, Europol, l’organisation européenne des polices, publie un communiqué dévastateur :
Le marché européen des échanges de quotas de CO2 a été victime d’échanges frauduleux depuis dix-huit mois. Dans certains pays, jusqu’à 90 % du marché du carbone était le fait d’activités frauduleuses. »
Née de la délinquance financière, l’affaire s’est hissée au rang de la criminalité organisée avec son lot d’extorsions, de règlements de comptes et d’assassinats… En juin 2017, plusieurs auteurs ont été condamnés en appel, après l’avoir déjà été en première instance. Des nouveaux procès sont prévus à la rentrée et en janvier 2018.
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Episode 1 : L’aubaine (publication lundi 14 août)
L’espace de liberté que les Etats ont créé n’a qu’un seul antécédent, celui de la haute mer. Ce phénomène criminel, ce n’est pas la mafia, c’est la piraterie. »
Patrice Amar, procureur financier de la République de Paris
Pendant que Bercy et le ministère de l’environnement s’autocongratulent sur le succès du marché carbone, les familiers de l’escroquerie à la TVA se frottent les mains. Tous appartiennent au milieu juif séfarade du quartier parisien du Sentier et de Marseille et cela fait des années qu’ils jouent sur les taux de TVA, achètent haut taxe des conteneurs entiers de jeans, de Converse, d’ordinateurs ou de téléphones, les revendent toutes taxes comprises et disparaissent avant que l’Etat ne leur réclame le remboursement de la TVA perçue. Mais c’est lourd, il faut gérer des marchandises par tonnes, multiplier les intermédiaires, corrompre les douaniers…
Avec les quotas carbone, rien de tout cela : tout est immatériel. En quelques clics, on achète et on revend, en empoche et on disparaît. L’aubaine est telle qu’ils n’en reviennent pas. L’un des protagonistes résume ainsi : « J’ai travaillé dur pour mes escroqueries. Mais là, le CO2, c’était pas du boulot. »
Pour s’assurer la plus grosse part du marché, il faut multiplier les sociétés, trouver des gérants de paille : tout fait l’affaire, on recrute les cousins et les oncles et tantes, mais aussi des clochards, des vieilles hôtesses de bar marseillais, des retraités que l’on habille, coiffe et que l’on accompagne dans les banques en France, à Chypre ou à Singapour pour ouvrir des comptes de sociétés aux noms tous plus rocambolesques les uns que les autres : Carbonara, Label 5 Great Luck International, CimesCO2, International Conqueror, Enthousiasm for Life.
Née à Marseille il y a cinquante-huit ans mais d’origine corse, cette ancienne professeuse de mathématique est soupçonnée d’être à la tête de l’équipe qui est parvenue à éluder le plus gros montant de TVA sur les droits à polluer : 300 millions d’euros en moins d’un an. Connue pour des fraudes à la TVA sur la téléphonie, c’est une figure du quartier du Panier, à Marseille. Elle a longtemps tenu un piano-bar dans le quartier de l’Opéra et connaît bien le monde de la nuit, tout comme sa compagne, Angèle Porcaro, une Napolitaine dont la gargote La Cantinette est devenu le lieu de rassemblement de toutes leurs amies anciennes hôtesses de bar. Les relations corses de « la Marraine du panier » suffisent à la fairerespecter. « Tout le monde sait que c’est une personne dont il vaut mieux être l’ami »,dit l’un de ses associés.
Episode 2 : Le jackpot (publication mardi 15 août)
On ne joue pas au poker avec des cartes bleues. »
Marco Mouly, condamné en appel pour escroquerie, en juin 2017
Jamais aucun acteur de la fraude n’aurait cru pouvoir gagner autant d’argent, si facilement et en si peu de temps. « On aurait dit du faux argent », dit l’un d’eux. Les têtes tournent devant ce tombereau de cash. Les escrocs, issus de Belleville, Aubervilliers ou Mantes-la-Jolie, sont mus par un fort esprit de revanche sociale. L’heure est à la fête et à l’insouciance.
Pour transformer cet argent dissimulé sur des comptes offshoreen espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes, une division internationale du travail est très bien rodée : des familles de la communauté juive de Djerba, en Tunisie, font office de banquiers parallèles, des Chinois d’Aubervilliers assurent la « décaisse », les banquiers de Dubaï sont peu regardants sur l’origine des fonds.
Mais le premier « blanchisseur » reste l’Etat français qui, avec la Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC), continue d’avancer sans barguigner les montants hallucinants de TVA qu’elle envoie à des filiales des pseudosociétés du carbone, toutes localisées dans des paradis fiscaux. Les escrocs rigolent : « C’est bien pour ça qu’on l’appelle la Caisse ! »
Pour beaucoup des protagonistes, il est surtout plus urgent de dépenser ce flot continu d’argent. Marco Mouly, Samy Souied et Arnaud Mimran le flambent dans les casinos de Las Vegas ou dans des parties de poker à 400 000 euros le jeton, en montres de grands horlogers et autres Ferrari, Rolls et Lamborghini. Ce qu’ils perdent, ils le regagnent le lendemain. Pour la bar-mitsvah de son fils, Arnaud Mimran s’offre les services de Puff Daddy et de Pharrell Williams, Patrick Bruel et Gad Elmaleh jouent les Monsieur Loyal et chacun des 600 invités reçoit un iPad en guise de carton d’invitation. L’heure est à la démesure.
Fils d’un tailleur et d’une institutrice rapatriés d’Algérie, Cyril Astruc se promet tôt d’échapper à ce monde auquel il appartient : classe moyenne, salaires modestes, budget serré, vies sages, horizons restreints. Simple courtier dans un cabinet d’assurance, il monte à 22 ans sa propre affaire en se spécialisant dans les appartements de prestige et les véhicules de luxe. Il devient l’ami de trafiquants de stupéfiants dont il assure les biens sans être trop exigeant sur l’authenticité de leurs titres de propriété. Après un passage par la case prison, il s’enrichit avec les escroqueries à la TVA dans la téléphonie et partage sa vie entre la Californie et Israël. Devenu ensuite l’une des figures de l’escroquerie au carbone, il dit l’argent a cette vertu, « de lui donner le temps de rendre les femmes amoureuses ». Sans doute est-ce pour cela qu’il a été si pressé d’en gagner.
Episode 3 : La surchauffe (publication mercredi 16 août)
On ne pouvait quand même pas refuser les candidats pour délit de faciès ! »
Serge Harry, directeur général de Bluenext
A mesure que les acteurs de la fraude affichent leur fortune sans complexe, de nouvelles équipes se constituent pour participer à cette immense fête qui se tient sur le marché du carbone. Ça ne durera pas, c’est certain, il faut en profiter au maximum. La concurrence entre les équipes change de nature. Les alliances se font et se défont. Les escrocs commencent à se déchirer entre eux.
Il est temps pour eux de se faire plus discrets et de se trouver des protections. D’autant qu’au sommet de la chaîne alimentaire du crime, le milieu n’apprécie pas beaucoup ces gens qui gagnent autant d’argent en si peu de temps et surtout sans lui. Le grand banditisme a aussi de l’argent à blanchir et des gros bras pour protéger les hommes et les espèces. Mais chez ces professionnels de la prédation, la protection ne va pas sans le racket. « Je préfère payer la police que les voyous », dit l’un des escrocs, qui se vante d’avoir ses entrées à la police judiciaire. Celle-ci est en effet friande d’informations sur les voyous qu’il arrive désormais aux fraudeurs de côtoyer. C’est une bonne monnaie d’échange. Plusieurs grands policiers se laissent tenter.
En juin 2009, la France siffle la fin de la partie. Les quotas sont exonérés de TVA. Le marché du carbone s’effondre aussitôt.
Le commissaire Neyret, flic aux liaisons dangereuses
A Lyon, le commissaire Michel Neyret, ancien patron de l’antigang, est une figure à laquelle on doit l’arrestation de plusieurs gros trafiquants. C’est un flic à l’ancienne. Il est proche, parfois trop proche de ses informateurs. Pour les escrocs du carbone, le grand flic ne tarde pas à être une proie de choix. En échange de quelques renseignements, ils en obtiennent d’autres, bien plus importants, sur les enquêtes en cours ou les mandats d’arrêt internationaux lancés contre certains d’entre eux. Ils convient Michel Neyret à leurs fêtes sur la Côte d’Azur, lui font essayer leur Lamborghini à Monaco, l’emmènent avec sa femme au Maroc et finissent par lui proposer de déposer un joli magot sur un compte bancaire en Suisse pour sa retraite.
Episode 4 : Morts à crédit (publication jeudi 17 août)
Tant qu’on a des problèmes c’est qu’on est encore vivant. »
Gad Chetrit, associé de Christiane Melgrani
En avril 2010, un cap est franchi. Amar Azzoug, spécialiste du recouvrement de dettes et proches de certains escrocs du carbone, est assassiné en pleine journée à Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne). On ne rit plus. La police criminelle entre dans la danse, les escrocs du Sentier découvrent avec effroi les convoitises qu’ils suscitent et comprennent que leur magot ne se trouve qu’à portée de calibre.
Quatre assassinats suivent, dont celui de Samy Souied, l’un des fraudeurs, tué porte Maillot en septembre 2010. Parallèlement à l’enquête de la brigade criminelle, des membres de son entourage s’autoproclament à la fois recouvreurs de dettes et justiciers.
En Israël, où beaucoup d’escrocs ont trouvé refuge, le climat change. L’opinion publique commence à rejeter ces « Tsarfatim » – comme on appelle les Juifs de France – qui, avec leurs millions d’origine douteuse, font flamber les prix de l’immobilier. La proximité de certains d’entre eux avec des groupes criminels locaux contribue à faire cesser la relative immunité dont ils bénéficiaient de la part des pouvoirs publics.
Contrairement à tous les autres acteurs, il est le seul à être issu d’un milieu bourgeois et il était déjà à la tête d’une belle fortune avant de se lancer dans le carbone. Pour lui, c’est la bascule. La flambe, le sentiment de toute-puissance, la vie privée qui vole en éclats. Il se brouille avec son beau-père, un homme important de la communauté juive parisienne, qui est retrouvé assassiné dans son lit. Il est à côté de Samy Souied quand celui-ci se fait tuer porte Maillot. « Lui, c’est quand même étonnant que chaque fois qu’il a un intérêt avec quelqu’un, l’mec, l’mec y glisse », commente un proche des fraudeurs.
Episode 5 : Fin de partie (publication vendredi 18 août)
Il faudrait me nommer à la tête du pôle financier. »
Cyril Astruc, l’une des figures de la fraude à la TVA
Démasqués, rackettés, menacés… les plus gros fraudeurs n’ont plus que deux options : la cavale ou la prison. En Israël, après avoir acheté des villas à plusieurs millions d’euros, des boîtes de nuit et des boutiques de luxe pour la clientèle russe, ils s’ennuient et se font livrer des pizzas en jouant au tiercé, cadenassés dans leur prison dorée. Les autorités locales décident de coopérer étroitement avec la France, qui envoie demandes d’entraide sur demande d’entraide. Les escrocs ne sont plus en sécurité dans la banlieue clinquante de Tel-Aviv.
En tout, près d’une vingtaine d’instructions sont ouvertes, une équipe du service des douanes travaille à temps plein sur ces escrocs. Certains préfèrent rentrer en France et se présenter à la justice. Ils espèrent encore que la sanction sera, comme elle l’a si longtemps été, un simple « accident du travail ». Mais la dimension pharaonique de l’escroquerie, les liens avec la criminalité organisée et surtout le changement d’état d’esprit à l’égard de la fraude, a modifié les échelles de peines. Les premières condamnations tombent, entre huit et dix ans ferme.
Même si l’argent de la fraude s’est en grande partie évaporée dans des paradis fiscaux, les enquêteurs et les magistrats saisissent tout ce qu’ils peuvent récupérer : biens immobiliers, voitures de luxe, sacs de marque, bijoux, diamants, montres et comptes en banque. « Le parquet financier est devenu une agence de recouvrement »,se lamente un escroc.
Face à la multiplication des cavales en cours d’instruction ou lors des procès, les juges demandent systématiquement des placements en détention et n’accordent des remises en liberté provisoire que contre des cautions faramineuses. Quarante-cinq millions d’euros pour l’un des escrocs marseillais, qui… les verse !
En savoir plus sur http://www.lemonde.fr/festival/article/2017/08/14/l-incroyable-histoire-de-l-arnaque-au-carbone-le-resume-des-cinq-episodes_5172257_4415198.html#4ioxbigw0YI5Q8L6.99
Pollution in ParisReuters/Philippe Wojazer