“We are increasingly locked into a world of our own making. We have exchanged planetary stability and the capacity for the world to support life for a growing population, transportation, merchandise and agriculture. Fossil fuels are at the core of this unchecked development. The industrial revolution, agricultural revolution and digital age — along with the tripling of human population that has happened in my lifetime — were all enabled by fossil fuels.
What do we do after an incident like Ida? Storm surge barriers — likely necessary to protect some areas from tidal flooding from the ocean — will do nothing against devastation raining down from above. Hurricane Ida, which dealt Louisiana yet another devastating blow, dropped tornadoes along its path like breadcrumbs as it slowly made its way north. In Central Park, the 3.15 inches of rain that fell in just one hour last night broke the record set only last week by Henri.
Unless we are willing to take sweeping, systemic action to fight the climate crisis and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, we are at the mercy of such merciless weather.”
Carl Safina, NYT Op-Ed 9/2/21 https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/02/opinions/what-happens-if-we-hit-snooze-climate-change-safin/
Five days after Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana, the true damage to the region’s energy infrastructure is only now starting to come to light. https://gcaptain.com/days-after-ida-storms-true-impact-energy-sector-emerges/
(8/30/21): Hurricane Ida pummeled U.S. Gulf Coast energy suppliers, knocking out most of the region’s offshore wells and nearly half its motor fuel production and drove prices broadly higher.
The storm crashed on Sunday into the Louisiana coast, tearing through U.S. offshore oil and gas fields with 150 mile per hour (241 kph) winds and pushing up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) of water ashore. More than 620,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana were without power.
Production losses – including at six Gulf Coast refineries – will lift retail gasoline prices by 5 to 10 cents a gallon, said tracking firm GasBuddy. Crude oil was little changed in Asia trading on Monday after recent gains.
Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline network, halted motor fuel deliveries from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina. Its lines supply nearly half the gasoline used along the U.S. East Coast and an extended May shutdown led to fuel shortages.
Some 1.74 million barrels of oil output were lost to shut-ins on Sunday, an amount greater than Mexico’s daily production. U.S. Gulf of Mexico natural gas also was cut by 94%, or 2 billion cubic feet, according to a government tally.
Six refineries that process 1.92 million barrels per day of oil into gasoline and other petroleum products, either shut or curtailed some production. That includes two Valero Energy plants in Louisiana that combined process 335,000 barrels per day and Phillips 66’s 255,000 bpd Alliance, Louisiana, refinery. https://gcaptain.com/hurricane-ida-pummeled-u-s-gulf-coast-energy-suppliers/
PBS has published a 10-minute video (below) about how fire whirls and fire tornados form. Here is how they summarize it:
“A fire tornado, or “firenado,” is exactly what it sounds like: a tornado made out of fire… and it is truly the stuff of nightmares. The most famous example occurred when the 2018 Carr Fire spawned an EF3 fire tornado with estimated wind speeds of 143 mph! And as climate change drives increasing wildfires around the planet, it only makes sense that we see more fire tornadoes as well.”
Given the ever-increasing frequency of severe weather events, human-made catastrophes and epidemics, piecemeal and fragmented responses will fail to address root causes and may in fact compound the challenges, a new United Nations report argues.
The Interconnected Disaster Risks report analyses 10 disasters of 2020 and 2021, including the Amazon wildfires, the Beirut explosion, and the cold wave in Texas in the United States among others, and makes the case that solving such problems will require addressing their root causes rather than surface challenges. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/9/8/think-disasters-are-isolated-think-again-warns-un
UN: “Disaster Risks in an Interconnected World” https://interconnectedrisks.org/
Spoiler alert: Disasters can compound each other and are also interconnected.
“Why More Climate Change Means More Oil Spills” https://www.vice.com/en/article/93y4ba/why-more-climate-change-means-more-oil-spills
“More than 2,000 reports of waterway pollution, including oil and chemical spills, and a segment of broken pipeline have been found in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida. Experts say this is a sign of the growing untenability of the miles of offshore oil and gas infrastructure that the US operates.
In the two weeks since Ida ravaged Louisiana, leaving more than one million residents without power, divers have located large volumes of oil leaked underwater from infrastructure destroyed in the Category 4 hurricane’s wake. Nearly 90 percent of the region’s oil and gas production shuttered following the storm, and, as of Tuesday, more than 100 production platforms were decommissioned, in what some predict might be the worst-ever recorded damage to the region’s fossil fuel sector by a natural disaster.”
See also: “Oil spill impacts may perturb entire food webs : Study identifies a major new ecological damage pathway following oil spills” (2017) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170710103446.htm
Global supply chains already tangled by the pandemic, labor shortages and sustained consumer demand in the U.S. are getting walloped by another disruptive force: Mother Nature.
Typhoon Chanthu is expected to hover near the mouth of China’s Yangtze River through Wednesday, temporarily shutting operations at major ports. In Texas, the heart of the U.S.’s energy and chemical industries, Tropical Storm Nicholas made landfall overnight, forcing terminals in Houston to curb cargo handling and restrict vessel traffic little more than two weeks after Hurricane Ida barreled into neighboring Louisiana. https://gcaptain.com/storms-global-ship-logistics/
As rising temperatures melt Arctic ice at an alarming rate, the resulting rise in the sea level stands to reshape coastlines around the world. But the effects on the planet itself may be even more dramatic, according to a new study on how melting ice physically reshapes the Earth’s crust. https://futurism.com/the-byte/melting-polar-ice-physically-warping-planet-earth
The outermost layer of our planet is surprisingly elastic, according to research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last month. In the study, Harvard scientists discovered that the crust rebounds outward after the ice on top of it melts away, but doesn’t always return to a perfectly spherical shape.
The study shows that these deformations are not only larger than scientists thought, but also that they can have significant influences on ecosystems in an area for thousands of years.
American Geophysical Union (August 16, 2021) “The Global Fingerprint of Modern Ice-Mass Loss on 3-D Crustal Motion” https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL095477
“Valley Fever Is Spreading Through a Hotter, Drier Western US : Researchers haven’t pinned down exactly what’s behind the rise of the deadly fungal disease. But one thing is nearly certain: Climate change plays a role.” https://www.wired.com/story/valley-fever-is-spreading-through-a-hotter-drier-western-us/
“Valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, is an infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides. The fungus is known to live in the soil in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico and Central and South America. The fungus was also recently found in south-central Washington.” https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/coccidioidomycosis/index.html
Climate change poses a serious threat to U.S. military operations and will lead to new sources of global political conflict, the Department of Defense wrote in its new climate adaptation plan this week.
Water shortages could become a primary source of friction or conflict between U.S. military overseas and the countries where troops are based, it warned.
The DOD was among 20 federal agencies unveiling the plans, which reveal the biggest threats global warming poses to their operations and suggest how they could handle them. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/08/defense-department-warns-climate-change-will-increase-conflicts.html
Department of Defense, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Acquisition and Sustainment). 2021. Department of Defense Draft Climate Adaptation Plan. Report Submitted to National Climate Task Force and Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. 1 September 2021. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/07/2002869699/-1/-1/0/DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-CLIMATE-ADAPTATION-PLAN.PDF?source=GovDelivery
“Climate change is an “emerging threat” to the stability of the U.S. financial system, top federal regulators warned in a report on Thursday, setting the stage for the Biden administration to take more aggressive regulatory action to prevent climate change from upending global markets and the economy.
The report, produced by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, is the clearest expression of alarm to date about the risks that rising temperatures and seas pose to the economy and could herald sweeping changes to the kinds of investments made by banks and other financial institutions.” (NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/us/politics/climate-change-cost-us.html
Climate change impacts on freshwater systems can lower nutrition and increase toxicity at the base of the food web, according to research from Dartmouth College and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932391
The research, published in Scientific Reports, focused on the effects of warming water temperatures and browning—a discoloration of water caused by increased dissolved organic matter—using controlled outdoor environments known as mesocosms.
(Dartmouth): “Biology Team Studies Climate’s ‘Hidden’ Effects : A new research paper finds double damage in freshwater systems.” https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2021/10/biology-team-studies-climate-effects-aquatic-food-web
Scientific Reports https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-95742-9
You can't tell the players without a scorecard says:
Executives from Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc were urged by U.S. lawmakers to abandon the leading oil-industry trade group and cut off funds to any groups sowing doubts about climate science.
During a congressional hearing Thursday, U.S. Representative Ro Khanna pressed Gretchen Watkins, the president of Shell’s U.S. unit, and other executives to quit the American Petroleum Institute, which he said actively opposed government subsidies for electric vehicles.
They declined to make such a commitment. The demand came amid a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing during which executives were quizzed about what they knew about the causes of global warming and when, and whether they worked to undermine climate-protection efforts.
Last month, lawmakers requested documents and internal communications related to climate disinformation but “to date all the fossil fuel entities have failed to adequately comply with the Committee’s request,” the committee said on its website. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/10/28/bb-oil-giants-urged-to-cut-off-funds-to-climate-skeptic-groups
Rising sea levels paired with recent storm surges have been causing faster than usual erosion on Hawaii’s beaches and shorelines. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hawaiis-beaches-disappearing-due-climate-change/story?id=80875435
“The coastal issues that are related to climate change are sort of the canary in the coal mine,” coastal hazards specialist Tara Owens told This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “Everybody who lives here in Hawaii is an oceanographer. … You’re looking at the tides … you’re paying attention to the waves. You can’t ignore or bury the problems, because you see them every day.”
According to a recent ProPublica report, three of Hawaii’s major islands have lost roughly one-quarter of their beaches. https://projects.propublica.org/hawaii-beach-loss/ Sea levels are also rising about one inch every four years, threatening 70% of Hawaii’s coastline, according to Hawaii’s state website.
Owens said that in Maui alone, 85% of shorelines are eroding and beaches are “narrowing” as a result.
“Meet Six People Fighting Water Scarcity Across the Globe
The water crisis that experts have long warned about has arrived. A scientist, activist, and entrepreneur are among those on the front lines of the efforts to provide clean water.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-10-27/global-water-crisis-meet-6-people-on-the-front-lines
Scroll down to: “Ed Peter : Buys up water rights and leases them to farmers”
“…Last year, California opened the first futures market for water, placing it alongside gold and oil to be traded on Wall Street. Australia’s market is considered among the most advanced. Water can be traded via entitlements that have different tiered values. Its defining feature is the separation of land from ownership, meaning anyone can purchase water rights; asset managers, hedge funds, and farmers alike can sell them for a profit.”
(Dec 6, 2020): “California Water Futures Begin Trading Amid Fear of Scarcity” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-06/water-futures-to-start-trading-amid-growing-fears-of-scarcity
“Just four days after landmark climate talks in Scotland in which Joe Biden vowed the US will “lead by example” in tackling dangerous global heating, the president’s own administration is providing a jarring contradiction – the largest ever sale of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
The US federal government is on Wednesday launching an auction of more than 80m acres of the gulf for fossil fuel extraction, a record sell-off that will lock in years, and potentially decades, of planet-heating emissions.
The enormous size of the lease sale – covering an area that is twice as large as Florida – is a blunt repudiation of Biden’s previous promise to shut down new drilling on public lands and waters.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/17/biden-administration-gulf-of-mexico-oil-gas-drilling-leases
Rising sea levels threaten the lives and livelihood of those on a fragile U.S. coast https://www.npr.org/2021/11/07/1051529051/rising-sea-levels-climate-change-south-carolina-coast
In Iraq’s famed marshlands, climate change is upending a way of life https://www.npr.org/2021/11/07/1051468823/iraq-marshes-climate-change-cop26
This once-fertile land of reed thickets and deep waterways was part of ancient Mesopotamia, often referred to as the cradle of human civilization. For thousands of years, people have lived off the fish and water buffalo of these fertile marshes.
This year, extreme heatwaves and low rainfall are turning parts of these fragile wetlands into a place so hostile that the communities who’ve lived here for generations are finding it impossible to remain. The entire marshlands area, which once covered up to 7,000-plus square miles, has shrunk significantly over time. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/2240/mesopotamian-marshes
The Middle East and North Africa is already the hottest and driest region on the planet but climate change could make some areas uninhabitable in the coming decades with temperatures potentially reaching 60 degrees Celsius [140℉] or higher.
The repercussions throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region would be devastating including chronic water shortages, the inability to grow food because of extreme weather and resulting drought, and a surge in heat-related deaths and health problems.
Thousands protest in Iran’s Isfahan to demand revival of river : Protesters gather on the dried up riverbed of the Zayandeh Rud River, demanding action to return water to the river.
The river’s dryness is thought to directly affect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers in the province, state TV said, in addition to adversely affecting the environment. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/19/thousands-protest-in-irans-isfahan-to-demand-revival-of-river
“…Ninety-seven percent of all scientists agree that global warming is the result of human activity. And the human population is growing exponentially.
In 1900, there were fewer than 1 billion people. By 1950, there were about 2.5 billion. When Paul Ehrlich wrote “The Population Bomb” in 1973, there were more than 3 billion people and the population has more than doubled since then.
Now there are about 8.4 billion people and in 12 years there will be another billion people belching carbon and consuming Earth’s resources.
The global population has a net increase of 80 million people every 365 days — the equivalent of two Californias. Scientists and biologists believe people could live sustainably if Earth’s population were stabilized around 2.5-3.5 billion.
The exponential growth of population and the burning of fossil fuels have placed us in a death spiral.” https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/saturday-soapbox-the-urgent-need-to-lower-global-population-quickly-and-humanely/article_50f58ec4-5c1f-5e5e-8065-183fa0cf719b.html
The most pristine parts of the Amazon rainforest devoid of direct human contact are being impacted by human-induced climate change, according to new research by scientists. New analyses of data collected over the past four decades show that not only has the number of sensitive resident birds throughout the Amazon rainforest declined, but the body size and wing length have changed for most studied species. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933790
Hidden Losses Deep in the Amazon Rainforest https://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2020/10/26rnr_stouffer_ecologyletters.php
“If animal patterns are changing in the absence of landscape change, it signals a sobering warning that simply preserving forests will not maintain rainforest biodiversity.”
“Royal Dutch Shell announced a major overhaul of its legal and tax structure that will see the company walk away from the Netherlands amid deteriorating relations with what’s been its home country for a century.
The changes come as Shell is battling an activist investor who’s demanding the company split itself into two to attract shareholders leaving the energy sector because of concerns over climate change.
Shell said Monday that it planned to eliminate its current dual share structure, drop “Royal Dutch” from its name, relocate its tax residence to the U.K. and move its top executives from The Hague to London. The Dutch government immediately said it was “unpleasantly surprised” by the announcement.” https://gcaptain.com/royal-dutch-shell-abandons-netherlands/
“Rising ocean temperatures in the Pacific are at the core of the West Coast’s precipitation patterns, driving winter storms, and could wind up causing the climate of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest to switch, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado have determined that ocean temperatures and not the planet’s ice sheets, are ‘directly responsible’ for changing the North Pacific’s atmosphere and the West Coast’s precipitation patterns.
This happened during the Last Glacial Maximum, which occurred between 31,000 and 16,000 years ago and is currently happening now.
The changes are noteworthy given the fact it does not require an ice sheet to occur, the researchers said.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10203887/Rising-ocean-temperatures-Pacific-changing-West-Coasts-precipitation-patterns.html
“Although there is no chance that a 3-km-tall ice sheet will suddenly appear over North America, modern climate can produce similar changes in North Pacific ocean temperatures that could temporarily swap the climates of the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest,” said Dillon Amaya, a former CIRES Visiting Fellow and lead author on the paper.” https://phys.org/news/2021-11-ocean-temperature-patterns-west-wintertime.html
The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado Boulder.
It is one of 16 NOAA Cooperative Institutes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_Institute_for_Research_in_Environmental_Sciences
Climate change fuels a water rights conflict built on over a century of broken promises https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/klamath-river-basin-drought/
A historic dry spell has parched a region once dubbed the “Everglades of the West,” leaving thousands without water and worsening tensions between Native Americans, farmers, ranchers and the federal government.
“Climate tipping points: The Arctic is a bellwether for irreversible change” https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/583115-climate-tipping-points-the-arctic-is-a-bellwether-for-irreversible
“…The term “tipping point” is often applied to a moment of critical change in human history. In ecology, tipping points describe small changes that, over time, force an irreversible change. Yearly lows of sea ice and a startling increase in permafrost thaw in a warming climate signal that the tipping point has already been crossed. We have already lost the frozen Arctic.
At this critical moment of loss, we must use the Arctic tipping point as a hard lesson — as ecosystems worldwide approach tipping points.”
Climate danger grows in ‘vulnerable’ Myanmar after military coup : Fears that military could step up exploitation of resources to shore up finances, putting one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations at increased risk. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/1/myanmar-climate
“The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said that the U.S. should consider measures that could get oceans to remove more carbon dioxide from the air as a means of combating climate change.
A panel of scientific advisers recommended that the federal government allocate over $1 billion in the next 10 years to looking into the most effective ways to use the ocean to remove more carbon from the atmosphere and learning about possible drawbacks of such measures, according to The Associated Press.
The group listed six strategies that could potentially help oceans absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, the costs, efficacy and potential negative impacts of the suggestions remain unknown, per the AP.
The strategies noted by the panel included decreasing oceanic acidity through the use of minerals or electric jolts, adding phosphorus or nitrogen to the oceans, encouraging plankton growth and creating large-scale seaweed farms that would suck up carbon before sinking into the deep ocean, according to the wire service.” https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584926-panel-suggests-us-tinker-with-oceans-to-fight-climate-change
…the costs, efficacy and potential negative impacts of the suggestions remain unknown.
“It was banned as a weapon of war by the United Nations in 1978. It has sparked concern over the potential for ‘rain theft.’ And scientific confidence that it truly works has always been scattered. Even so, a number of countries, like China and the United Arab Emirates, and U.S. states, like Texas and Arizona, have thrown their weight behind cloud seeding—a form of geoengineering that involves planting molecules in clouds that encourage water droplets to clump together and fall as rain—as a tool for combating drought, averting storms, and keeping hydro power plants running.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg3kb/scientists-are-altering-weather-to-fight-droughts
A team of researchers using Los Alamos National Laboratory’s supercomputers developed a model for projecting tree kills by bark beetles as the climate warms .
Looking at forests in California, the team of researchers found that western pine beetle infestations killed 30 percent more trees due to warmer temperatures than they would have killed under drought conditions alone.
While the study focused on California forests, study author Chonggang Xu, a senior LANL scientist, said he anticipates the trend will hold true for forests throughout the western United States, including in New Mexico.
Xu said that the number of trees killed because of warmer temperatures surprised him.
“It’s much larger than I had previously perceived,” he said. https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2021/12/23/study-warming-climate-leads-to-more-bark-beetles-killing-trees-than-drought-alone/
Bark beetles have killed millions of acres of trees in western North America in recent years. This is predicted to increase the extent and severity of wildfires. In addition, firefighters have observed unusual and erratic fire behaviors in bark-beetle affected forests. https://www.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/projects/bark-beetles-tree-chemistry-and-wildfires
“While the entire world focuses on achieving carbon neutrality – zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – a new research shows climate change in some regions is inevitable even if the already increased CO2 level is reduced. As CO2 decreases, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) shifts southwards, which can trigger persistent El Niño conditions. El Niño refers to a phenomenon in which the sea surface temperature near the equator rises by 1 to 3°C above its surroundings, causing droughts, storms, and floods around the world.” https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/938765
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said Monday if human-caused global warming isn’t limited to just another couple tenths of a degree, an Earth now struck regularly by deadly heat, fires, floods and drought in future decades will degrade in 127 ways with some being “potentially irreversible.”
“The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health,” says the major report designed to guide world leaders in their efforts to curb climate change. https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-europe-united-nations-weather-8d5e277660f7125ffdab7a833d9856a3
‘Delay means death’: We’re running out of ways to adapt to the climate crisis, new report shows. Here are the key takeaways https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/world/un-ipcc-climate-report-adaptation-impacts/index.html
“Big banking is saying little on how they will combat climate change through their financing, shows a new study which finds minimal, clear commitments to aid financing away from fossil fuels.
The top 10 banks – ranked as the largest funders of fossil fuel organizations – are talking more about climate change in general. However, in an analysis of annual reports, these banks were found to be vague when it comes to initiatives to counter it.
In 2020 alone, $425.92bn was spent financing fossil fuels by this group – which includes banks from the US, such as JP Morgan Chase; the UK, Barclays; Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank; and Japan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Published today in the peer-reviewed journal Climate Policy, the findings of this new study include a plea from the experts to change the way banks support the fossil fuel industry. The team, based at the University of Gothenburg, also set a three-point list of recommendations.” https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944097
See “If money talks, what is the banking industry saying about climate change?” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2022.2036090
‘Vicious cycle’: Storms intensify in the Gulf as climate changes : Ecologically disastrous conditions in the Gulf are the latest sign of the dangers that climate change and other related factors pose to the Middle East. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/2/a-vicious-cycle-intensifying-storms-in-gulf-as-climate-changes
“…In an increasingly climate-stressed planet, storms in these mostly desert countries, which exist in a dust belt, are set to intensify. What comes with these exacerbated ecological crises are increasingly dire threats to human health, economies, and security in the Gulf.
These transregional issues also have much potential to be a driver of future interstate conflicts across the greater Middle East.
Last month’s temporary closure of ports, airports, and schools in Iran, Iraq, and some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states underscored the extent to which recent SDSs (sand and dust storms) have taken a major toll on trade, travel, and daily life for the people of these countries.”
A great majority of Americans have been affected by extreme weather in recent years, and many suffer long-term financial problems as a result, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
More than three-quarters of adults in the United States say they have experienced extreme weather in the last five years, including hurricanes, wildfires, floods and heat waves, the survey found. And most people who suffer major weather damage or financial problems do not receive money from the federal government.
People who experience extreme weather are also more likely to consider climate change a crisis or major problem, according to the survey, titled “The Impact of Extreme Weather on Views About Climate Policy in the United States.” https://www.npr.org/2022/06/21/1102389274/climate-change-costs-extreme-weather
“Scientists at MIT think they may have finally found a way to reverse climate change. Or, at the least, help ease it some.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mit-scientists-think-ve-discovered-180800050.html
“The idea revolves heavily around the creation and deployment of several thin film-like silicon bubbles. The “space bubbles” as they refer to them, would be joined together like a raft. Once expanded in space it would be around the same size as Brazil. The bubbles would then provide an extra buffer against the harmful solar radiation that comes from the Sun.”
More than one third of Pakistan is underwater, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA), as deadly floodwaters threaten to create secondary disasters.
Food is in short supply after water covered millions of acres of crops and wiped out hundreds of thousands of livestock. Meanwhile, aid agencies have warned of an uptick in infectious diseases, leaving millions vulnerable to illness caused by what the United Nations has called a “monsoon on steroids.”
Pakistan’s monsoon season usually brings heavy downpours, but this year’s has been the wettest since records began in 1961, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department
Torrential monsoon rainfall — 10 times heavier than usual — has caused the Indus River to overflow, effectively creating a long lake, tens of kilometers wide, according to images from the ESA on August 30.
In the southern Sindh and Balochistan provinces, rainfall has been 500% above average as of August 30, according to the NDMA, engulfing entire villages and farmland, razing buildings and wiping out crops. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/asia/pakistan-floods-climate-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html
“The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe, leading scientists have said.
Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the United in Science report published on Tuesday [link]. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/13/world-heading-into-uncharted-territory-of-destruction-says-climate-report
“Tribe seeks to adapt as climate change alters ancestral home” (AP) https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-business-new-mexico-forests-climate-and-environment-bbe8930abed9107b8d2c35cfe4a573cd
“With unsettling speed, climate change has taken a toll on the Santa Clara Pueblo’s 89 square miles that climb from the gently rolling Rio Grande Valley to Santa Clara Canyon in the rugged Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. The people are trying to adapt by returning to their roots: embracing natural methods to restore their watershed and make the forests more resilient, growing trees and crops from native seeds that evolved to withstand drought. But they’re also willing to embrace new ways if that helps them stay.”
Eideard 
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/ee5ce0e3-a6b0-4fa3-babd-3f6b4e7b66d4
“Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?”
Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)
‘Tuvalu is sinking’: Island nation threatened by sea level rise looks for salvation https://news.yahoo.com/tuvalu-is-sinking-island-nation-threatened-by-sea-level-rise-looks-for-salvation-100037771.html
How ‘Climate Migrants’ Are Roiling American Politics : Refugees fleeing weather-related disasters are changing the political equation in Florida, Virginia, California, Idaho and beyond. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/11/27/how-climate-migrants-are-roiling-american-politics-523295
“Almost a third of world’s tree species face extinction: Report
Conservation group says the number of threatened tree species is double the number of threatened mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles combined.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/1/a-third-of-worlds-trees-are-at-risk-of-extinction-says-report
The landmark study, published by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) on Wednesday, said some 17,500 tree species – or 30 percent of the total – are at risk of extinction, while 440 species have fewer than 50 specimens left in the wild. https://www.bgci.org/news-events/bgci-launches-the-state-of-the-worlds-trees-report/
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 2nd
“We are increasingly locked into a world of our own making. We have exchanged planetary stability and the capacity for the world to support life for a growing population, transportation, merchandise and agriculture. Fossil fuels are at the core of this unchecked development. The industrial revolution, agricultural revolution and digital age — along with the tripling of human population that has happened in my lifetime — were all enabled by fossil fuels.
What do we do after an incident like Ida? Storm surge barriers — likely necessary to protect some areas from tidal flooding from the ocean — will do nothing against devastation raining down from above. Hurricane Ida, which dealt Louisiana yet another devastating blow, dropped tornadoes along its path like breadcrumbs as it slowly made its way north. In Central Park, the 3.15 inches of rain that fell in just one hour last night broke the record set only last week by Henri.
Unless we are willing to take sweeping, systemic action to fight the climate crisis and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, we are at the mercy of such merciless weather.”
Carl Safina, NYT Op-Ed 9/2/21 https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/02/opinions/what-happens-if-we-hit-snooze-climate-change-safin/
“How Climate Change Is Fueling Hurricanes Like Ida” https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032442544/how-climate-change-is-fueling-hurricanes-like-ida
“Meteorologists were amazed by how fast Ida strengthened.
The storm had evolved swiftly from a worrisome disturbance to possibly the most devastating to strike Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/us/hurricane-ida-explained.html
“The Storm Warnings Were Dire. Why Couldn’t the City Be Protected?
New York City and state officials knew heavy rains were coming, but their preparations couldn’t save the city from death and destruction.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/nyregion/nyc-ida.html
Five days after Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana, the true damage to the region’s energy infrastructure is only now starting to come to light. https://gcaptain.com/days-after-ida-storms-true-impact-energy-sector-emerges/
(8/30/21): Hurricane Ida pummeled U.S. Gulf Coast energy suppliers, knocking out most of the region’s offshore wells and nearly half its motor fuel production and drove prices broadly higher.
The storm crashed on Sunday into the Louisiana coast, tearing through U.S. offshore oil and gas fields with 150 mile per hour (241 kph) winds and pushing up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) of water ashore. More than 620,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana were without power.
Production losses – including at six Gulf Coast refineries – will lift retail gasoline prices by 5 to 10 cents a gallon, said tracking firm GasBuddy. Crude oil was little changed in Asia trading on Monday after recent gains.
Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline network, halted motor fuel deliveries from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina. Its lines supply nearly half the gasoline used along the U.S. East Coast and an extended May shutdown led to fuel shortages.
Some 1.74 million barrels of oil output were lost to shut-ins on Sunday, an amount greater than Mexico’s daily production. U.S. Gulf of Mexico natural gas also was cut by 94%, or 2 billion cubic feet, according to a government tally.
Six refineries that process 1.92 million barrels per day of oil into gasoline and other petroleum products, either shut or curtailed some production. That includes two Valero Energy plants in Louisiana that combined process 335,000 barrels per day and Phillips 66’s 255,000 bpd Alliance, Louisiana, refinery. https://gcaptain.com/hurricane-ida-pummeled-u-s-gulf-coast-energy-suppliers/
PBS has published a 10-minute video (below) about how fire whirls and fire tornados form. Here is how they summarize it:
“A fire tornado, or “firenado,” is exactly what it sounds like: a tornado made out of fire… and it is truly the stuff of nightmares. The most famous example occurred when the 2018 Carr Fire spawned an EF3 fire tornado with estimated wind speeds of 143 mph! And as climate change drives increasing wildfires around the planet, it only makes sense that we see more fire tornadoes as well.”
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 4th
Given the ever-increasing frequency of severe weather events, human-made catastrophes and epidemics, piecemeal and fragmented responses will fail to address root causes and may in fact compound the challenges, a new United Nations report argues.
The Interconnected Disaster Risks report analyses 10 disasters of 2020 and 2021, including the Amazon wildfires, the Beirut explosion, and the cold wave in Texas in the United States among others, and makes the case that solving such problems will require addressing their root causes rather than surface challenges. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/9/8/think-disasters-are-isolated-think-again-warns-un
UN: “Disaster Risks in an Interconnected World” https://interconnectedrisks.org/
Spoiler alert: Disasters can compound each other and are also interconnected.
Climate change could displace 216 million by 2050: Report
World Bank warns ‘climate migrants’ will be in the tens of millions in three decades even if urgent action is taken. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/14/climate-change-could-displace-216-million-by-2050-report
“Why More Climate Change Means More Oil Spills” https://www.vice.com/en/article/93y4ba/why-more-climate-change-means-more-oil-spills
“More than 2,000 reports of waterway pollution, including oil and chemical spills, and a segment of broken pipeline have been found in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida. Experts say this is a sign of the growing untenability of the miles of offshore oil and gas infrastructure that the US operates.
In the two weeks since Ida ravaged Louisiana, leaving more than one million residents without power, divers have located large volumes of oil leaked underwater from infrastructure destroyed in the Category 4 hurricane’s wake. Nearly 90 percent of the region’s oil and gas production shuttered following the storm, and, as of Tuesday, more than 100 production platforms were decommissioned, in what some predict might be the worst-ever recorded damage to the region’s fossil fuel sector by a natural disaster.”
See also: “Oil spill impacts may perturb entire food webs : Study identifies a major new ecological damage pathway following oil spills” (2017) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170710103446.htm
Global supply chains already tangled by the pandemic, labor shortages and sustained consumer demand in the U.S. are getting walloped by another disruptive force: Mother Nature.
Typhoon Chanthu is expected to hover near the mouth of China’s Yangtze River through Wednesday, temporarily shutting operations at major ports. In Texas, the heart of the U.S.’s energy and chemical industries, Tropical Storm Nicholas made landfall overnight, forcing terminals in Houston to curb cargo handling and restrict vessel traffic little more than two weeks after Hurricane Ida barreled into neighboring Louisiana. https://gcaptain.com/storms-global-ship-logistics/
“World on ‘catastrophic’ path to 2.7C warming, UN chief warns : Countries’ latest pledges to cut emissions would fail to avert disastrous climate change, UN report says.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/17/world-on-catastrophic-path-to-2-7c-warming-un-chief
Coastal Erosion Is Shutting Down Infrastructure. It’s Going to Get Worse.
“A slow-rolling erosion shitstorm is coming to coastal SoCal. In fact, it already started.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqgqy/coastal-erosion-is-shutting-down-infrastructure-its-going-to-get-worse
As rising temperatures melt Arctic ice at an alarming rate, the resulting rise in the sea level stands to reshape coastlines around the world. But the effects on the planet itself may be even more dramatic, according to a new study on how melting ice physically reshapes the Earth’s crust. https://futurism.com/the-byte/melting-polar-ice-physically-warping-planet-earth
The outermost layer of our planet is surprisingly elastic, according to research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last month. In the study, Harvard scientists discovered that the crust rebounds outward after the ice on top of it melts away, but doesn’t always return to a perfectly spherical shape.
The study shows that these deformations are not only larger than scientists thought, but also that they can have significant influences on ecosystems in an area for thousands of years.
American Geophysical Union (August 16, 2021) “The Global Fingerprint of Modern Ice-Mass Loss on 3-D Crustal Motion” https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL095477
“Valley Fever Is Spreading Through a Hotter, Drier Western US : Researchers haven’t pinned down exactly what’s behind the rise of the deadly fungal disease. But one thing is nearly certain: Climate change plays a role.” https://www.wired.com/story/valley-fever-is-spreading-through-a-hotter-drier-western-us/
“Valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, is an infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides. The fungus is known to live in the soil in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico and Central and South America. The fungus was also recently found in south-central Washington.” https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/coccidioidomycosis/index.html
Climate change poses a serious threat to U.S. military operations and will lead to new sources of global political conflict, the Department of Defense wrote in its new climate adaptation plan this week.
Water shortages could become a primary source of friction or conflict between U.S. military overseas and the countries where troops are based, it warned.
The DOD was among 20 federal agencies unveiling the plans, which reveal the biggest threats global warming poses to their operations and suggest how they could handle them. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/08/defense-department-warns-climate-change-will-increase-conflicts.html
Department of Defense, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Acquisition and Sustainment). 2021. Department of Defense Draft Climate Adaptation Plan. Report Submitted to National Climate Task Force and Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. 1 September 2021.
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/07/2002869699/-1/-1/0/DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-CLIMATE-ADAPTATION-PLAN.PDF?source=GovDelivery
An ancient people with a modern climate plan : After a brutal storm in 2006, the Swinomish tribe off the coast of Washington state launched a strategy to deal with the effects of a warming planet. Now, 50 other native tribes have followed suit. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/11/24/native-americans-climate-change-swinomish/
“Seventy-Two Hours Under the Heat Dome : A chronicle of a slow-motion climate disaster that became one of Oregon’s deadliest calamities.” (The New Yorker, October 18, 2021 issue) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/seventy-two-hours-under-the-heat-dome
A ‘noxious odor’ caused by climate change and decaying sea creatures has terrorized Carson, California for two weeks, causing some residents to flee the city. https://www.vice.com/en/article/4awg4q/it-could-take-out-a-herd-of-rhinoceroses-bad-smell-terrorizes-carson-california-city
“Climate change is an “emerging threat” to the stability of the U.S. financial system, top federal regulators warned in a report on Thursday, setting the stage for the Biden administration to take more aggressive regulatory action to prevent climate change from upending global markets and the economy.
The report, produced by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, is the clearest expression of alarm to date about the risks that rising temperatures and seas pose to the economy and could herald sweeping changes to the kinds of investments made by banks and other financial institutions.” (NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/us/politics/climate-change-cost-us.html
Climate change impacts on freshwater systems can lower nutrition and increase toxicity at the base of the food web, according to research from Dartmouth College and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932391
The research, published in Scientific Reports, focused on the effects of warming water temperatures and browning—a discoloration of water caused by increased dissolved organic matter—using controlled outdoor environments known as mesocosms.
(Dartmouth): “Biology Team Studies Climate’s ‘Hidden’ Effects : A new research paper finds double damage in freshwater systems.” https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2021/10/biology-team-studies-climate-effects-aquatic-food-web
Scientific Reports https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-95742-9
The dirty dozen: meet America’s top climate villains (Guardian UK) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/27/climate-crisis-villains-americas-dirty-dozen
Re: current events, scroll down to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and gatekeeper for proposed climate change measures during President Biden’s administration.
Executives from Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc were urged by U.S. lawmakers to abandon the leading oil-industry trade group and cut off funds to any groups sowing doubts about climate science.
During a congressional hearing Thursday, U.S. Representative Ro Khanna pressed Gretchen Watkins, the president of Shell’s U.S. unit, and other executives to quit the American Petroleum Institute, which he said actively opposed government subsidies for electric vehicles.
They declined to make such a commitment. The demand came amid a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing during which executives were quizzed about what they knew about the causes of global warming and when, and whether they worked to undermine climate-protection efforts.
Last month, lawmakers requested documents and internal communications related to climate disinformation but “to date all the fossil fuel entities have failed to adequately comply with the Committee’s request,” the committee said on its website. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/10/28/bb-oil-giants-urged-to-cut-off-funds-to-climate-skeptic-groups
Rising sea levels paired with recent storm surges have been causing faster than usual erosion on Hawaii’s beaches and shorelines. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hawaiis-beaches-disappearing-due-climate-change/story?id=80875435
“The coastal issues that are related to climate change are sort of the canary in the coal mine,” coastal hazards specialist Tara Owens told This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “Everybody who lives here in Hawaii is an oceanographer. … You’re looking at the tides … you’re paying attention to the waves. You can’t ignore or bury the problems, because you see them every day.”
According to a recent ProPublica report, three of Hawaii’s major islands have lost roughly one-quarter of their beaches. https://projects.propublica.org/hawaii-beach-loss/ Sea levels are also rising about one inch every four years, threatening 70% of Hawaii’s coastline, according to Hawaii’s state website.
Owens said that in Maui alone, 85% of shorelines are eroding and beaches are “narrowing” as a result.
“Meet Six People Fighting Water Scarcity Across the Globe
The water crisis that experts have long warned about has arrived. A scientist, activist, and entrepreneur are among those on the front lines of the efforts to provide clean water.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-10-27/global-water-crisis-meet-6-people-on-the-front-lines
Scroll down to: “Ed Peter : Buys up water rights and leases them to farmers”
“…Last year, California opened the first futures market for water, placing it alongside gold and oil to be traded on Wall Street. Australia’s market is considered among the most advanced. Water can be traded via entitlements that have different tiered values. Its defining feature is the separation of land from ownership, meaning anyone can purchase water rights; asset managers, hedge funds, and farmers alike can sell them for a profit.”
(Dec 6, 2020): “California Water Futures Begin Trading Amid Fear of Scarcity” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-06/water-futures-to-start-trading-amid-growing-fears-of-scarcity
“Global Climate Change Impact on Crops Expected Within 10 Years, NASA Study Finds” https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2021/global-climate-change-impact-on-crops-expected-within-10-years-nasa-study-finds
“NASA study warns farmers must quickly adapt to climate change” https://www.slashgear.com/nasa-study-warns-farmers-must-quickly-adapt-to-climate-change-01697799/
Fortune Magazine May 15, 2000: “Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century” https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/05/15/279789/index.htm
The disappearing piñons https://www.axios.com/disappearing-pinon-nuts-new-mexico-affe5dd6-701d-4fef-b3cd-a15bb1b94ae9.html
Latino author Russell Contreras speaks about the future of piñons in New Mexico with Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano https://www.latimes.com/podcasts/story/2021-10-18/the-times-podcast-pinyon-tree-pinon-nuts
Infographic: COP26 goals explained in maps and charts : The annual climate change summit is under way in Glasgow as nations try to reach an agreement to limit global warming. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/4/infographic-cop26-climate-summit-goals-explained
World leaders have left the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, and negotiators are getting down to business on how to fund the pledges made in the first few days and make good on past promises.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/11/03/cop26-glasgow-climate-summit-carbon-pricing/
“Just four days after landmark climate talks in Scotland in which Joe Biden vowed the US will “lead by example” in tackling dangerous global heating, the president’s own administration is providing a jarring contradiction – the largest ever sale of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
The US federal government is on Wednesday launching an auction of more than 80m acres of the gulf for fossil fuel extraction, a record sell-off that will lock in years, and potentially decades, of planet-heating emissions.
The enormous size of the lease sale – covering an area that is twice as large as Florida – is a blunt repudiation of Biden’s previous promise to shut down new drilling on public lands and waters.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/17/biden-administration-gulf-of-mexico-oil-gas-drilling-leases
Rising sea levels threaten the lives and livelihood of those on a fragile U.S. coast https://www.npr.org/2021/11/07/1051529051/rising-sea-levels-climate-change-south-carolina-coast
In Iraq’s famed marshlands, climate change is upending a way of life https://www.npr.org/2021/11/07/1051468823/iraq-marshes-climate-change-cop26
This once-fertile land of reed thickets and deep waterways was part of ancient Mesopotamia, often referred to as the cradle of human civilization. For thousands of years, people have lived off the fish and water buffalo of these fertile marshes.
This year, extreme heatwaves and low rainfall are turning parts of these fragile wetlands into a place so hostile that the communities who’ve lived here for generations are finding it impossible to remain. The entire marshlands area, which once covered up to 7,000-plus square miles, has shrunk significantly over time. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/2240/mesopotamian-marshes
The Middle East and North Africa is already the hottest and driest region on the planet but climate change could make some areas uninhabitable in the coming decades with temperatures potentially reaching 60 degrees Celsius [140℉] or higher.
The repercussions throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region would be devastating including chronic water shortages, the inability to grow food because of extreme weather and resulting drought, and a surge in heat-related deaths and health problems.
Extreme hotspot: What 60C means for the Middle East https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/8/climate-hotspot-what-60c-means-for-the-middle-east
Farmers Take on ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ Food Crisis : Across the globe, farmers are using new seeds, adding irrigation and swapping crops in the race against climate change. https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/international/farmers-take-on-post-apocalyptic-food-crisis/
The controversy over Bill Gates becoming the largest private farmland owner in the US https://www.vox.com/recode/22528659/bill-gates-largest-farmland-owner-cascade-investments
https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000040125/download/?_ga=2.52501544.1291705204.1636361010-1351215065.1588076100&_gac=1.16337860.1632923303.CjwKCAjwndCKBhAkEiwAgSDKQc5IN_FtmjvlSi7lnZPTts_Npz7bsxMmldQSLiRNwrj0x9dI7jWdvxoCRdsQAvD_BwE
How much warming can the world bear?
Here’s what different levels of warming would look like (interactive – click worlds)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2021/iframe-globes/globes-temp/
The strong winds of climate change have failed to move the opinions of many Americans : Most believe global warming is a problem, but the partisan divide is growing https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/11/12/strong-winds-climate-change-have-failed-move-opinions-many-americans/
“How climate change is leading to a rise in violence in the Sahel” https://www.aljazeera.com/program/counting-the-cost/2021/11/13/how-climate-change-is-leading-to-a-rise-in-violence-in-the-sahel
The Sahel region is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south in a belt up to 1,000 km (620 mi) wide that spans 5,400 km (3,360 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahel
Thousands protest in Iran’s Isfahan to demand revival of river : Protesters gather on the dried up riverbed of the Zayandeh Rud River, demanding action to return water to the river.
The river’s dryness is thought to directly affect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers in the province, state TV said, in addition to adversely affecting the environment. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/19/thousands-protest-in-irans-isfahan-to-demand-revival-of-river
“…Ninety-seven percent of all scientists agree that global warming is the result of human activity. And the human population is growing exponentially.
In 1900, there were fewer than 1 billion people. By 1950, there were about 2.5 billion. When Paul Ehrlich wrote “The Population Bomb” in 1973, there were more than 3 billion people and the population has more than doubled since then.
Now there are about 8.4 billion people and in 12 years there will be another billion people belching carbon and consuming Earth’s resources.
The global population has a net increase of 80 million people every 365 days — the equivalent of two Californias. Scientists and biologists believe people could live sustainably if Earth’s population were stabilized around 2.5-3.5 billion.
The exponential growth of population and the burning of fossil fuels have placed us in a death spiral.” https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/saturday-soapbox-the-urgent-need-to-lower-global-population-quickly-and-humanely/article_50f58ec4-5c1f-5e5e-8065-183fa0cf719b.html
The most pristine parts of the Amazon rainforest devoid of direct human contact are being impacted by human-induced climate change, according to new research by scientists. New analyses of data collected over the past four decades show that not only has the number of sensitive resident birds throughout the Amazon rainforest declined, but the body size and wing length have changed for most studied species. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933790
Hidden Losses Deep in the Amazon Rainforest https://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2020/10/26rnr_stouffer_ecologyletters.php
“If animal patterns are changing in the absence of landscape change, it signals a sobering warning that simply preserving forests will not maintain rainforest biodiversity.”
“Royal Dutch Shell announced a major overhaul of its legal and tax structure that will see the company walk away from the Netherlands amid deteriorating relations with what’s been its home country for a century.
The changes come as Shell is battling an activist investor who’s demanding the company split itself into two to attract shareholders leaving the energy sector because of concerns over climate change.
Shell said Monday that it planned to eliminate its current dual share structure, drop “Royal Dutch” from its name, relocate its tax residence to the U.K. and move its top executives from The Hague to London. The Dutch government immediately said it was “unpleasantly surprised” by the announcement.” https://gcaptain.com/royal-dutch-shell-abandons-netherlands/
Capitalist-style gratitude…for a century’s worth of butt-kissing.
“Rising ocean temperatures in the Pacific are at the core of the West Coast’s precipitation patterns, driving winter storms, and could wind up causing the climate of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest to switch, a new study suggests.
Researchers from Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado have determined that ocean temperatures and not the planet’s ice sheets, are ‘directly responsible’ for changing the North Pacific’s atmosphere and the West Coast’s precipitation patterns.
This happened during the Last Glacial Maximum, which occurred between 31,000 and 16,000 years ago and is currently happening now.
The changes are noteworthy given the fact it does not require an ice sheet to occur, the researchers said.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10203887/Rising-ocean-temperatures-Pacific-changing-West-Coasts-precipitation-patterns.html
“Although there is no chance that a 3-km-tall ice sheet will suddenly appear over North America, modern climate can produce similar changes in North Pacific ocean temperatures that could temporarily swap the climates of the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest,” said Dillon Amaya, a former CIRES Visiting Fellow and lead author on the paper.” https://phys.org/news/2021-11-ocean-temperature-patterns-west-wintertime.html
The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado Boulder.
It is one of 16 NOAA Cooperative Institutes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_Institute_for_Research_in_Environmental_Sciences
Climate change fuels a water rights conflict built on over a century of broken promises https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/klamath-river-basin-drought/
A historic dry spell has parched a region once dubbed the “Everglades of the West,” leaving thousands without water and worsening tensions between Native Americans, farmers, ranchers and the federal government.
‘It’s like hunting aliens’: inside the town besieged by armadillos : Thanks to climate change, armadillos, native to southern America, are making their way up north. And there’s no sign of them stopping their relentless march https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/15/its-like-hunting-aliens-inside-the-town-besieged-by-armadillos
“How climate change and extreme weather are crimping America’s pie supply” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/17/holiday-pies-climate-change/
“Collapse of ancient Chinese Liangzhu culture caused by climate change” https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/935814
Holocene environmental change and Neolithic rice agriculture in the lower Yangtze region of China: A review (2011) http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.849.4367&rep=rep1&type=pdf
It’s time to fear the fungi : Humans have long been protected from fungal infections. Climate change could ruin that. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11/its-time-to-fear-the-fungi/
“Climate tipping points: The Arctic is a bellwether for irreversible change” https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/583115-climate-tipping-points-the-arctic-is-a-bellwether-for-irreversible
“…The term “tipping point” is often applied to a moment of critical change in human history. In ecology, tipping points describe small changes that, over time, force an irreversible change. Yearly lows of sea ice and a startling increase in permafrost thaw in a warming climate signal that the tipping point has already been crossed. We have already lost the frozen Arctic.
At this critical moment of loss, we must use the Arctic tipping point as a hard lesson — as ecosystems worldwide approach tipping points.”
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 29th
New research by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has found climate change has driven a significant increase in forest fires in the country over the past 30 years. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/29/australias-forest-fires-fanned-by-climate-crisis-study
The study, published in Nature Communications, combined analysis of previous forest fire sites with eight drivers of fire activity including climate, fuel accumulation, ignition and fire management (prescribed burning). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27225-4
Climate danger grows in ‘vulnerable’ Myanmar after military coup : Fears that military could step up exploitation of resources to shore up finances, putting one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations at increased risk. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/1/myanmar-climate
Think Climate Change Is Messy? Wait Until Geoengineering
Someone’s bound to hack the atmosphere to cool the planet. So we urgently need more research on the consequences, says climate scientist Kate Ricke. https://www.wired.com/story/think-climate-change-is-messy-wait-until-geoengineering/
“The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said that the U.S. should consider measures that could get oceans to remove more carbon dioxide from the air as a means of combating climate change.
A panel of scientific advisers recommended that the federal government allocate over $1 billion in the next 10 years to looking into the most effective ways to use the ocean to remove more carbon from the atmosphere and learning about possible drawbacks of such measures, according to The Associated Press.
The group listed six strategies that could potentially help oceans absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, the costs, efficacy and potential negative impacts of the suggestions remain unknown, per the AP.
The strategies noted by the panel included decreasing oceanic acidity through the use of minerals or electric jolts, adding phosphorus or nitrogen to the oceans, encouraging plankton growth and creating large-scale seaweed farms that would suck up carbon before sinking into the deep ocean, according to the wire service.” https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584926-panel-suggests-us-tinker-with-oceans-to-fight-climate-change
…the costs, efficacy and potential negative impacts of the suggestions remain unknown.
“It was banned as a weapon of war by the United Nations in 1978. It has sparked concern over the potential for ‘rain theft.’ And scientific confidence that it truly works has always been scattered. Even so, a number of countries, like China and the United Arab Emirates, and U.S. states, like Texas and Arizona, have thrown their weight behind cloud seeding—a form of geoengineering that involves planting molecules in clouds that encourage water droplets to clump together and fall as rain—as a tool for combating drought, averting storms, and keeping hydro power plants running.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg3kb/scientists-are-altering-weather-to-fight-droughts
“A group of scientists say that the Amazon Rainforest is on the brink of collapse — and could transform into a dry savannah in just five years.” https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-rainforest-savannah
(CNN) “How the climate crisis is affecting tornadoes” https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/us/climate-change-tornado-disaster-risk/index.html
(Fox News) “Biden uses tornado tragedy to push climate agenda, suggests storms are ‘consequence of the warming’” https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-uses-tornado-tragedy-push-climate-agenda-suggests-storms-consequence-warming
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 13th
China’s crops at risk: Climate change boosts spread of crop pests and diseases (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/937405
As of this morning (12/13/21) the population of China was 1,447,357,333
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=2021+population+china
Mexico’s cradle of corn is threatened by climate change : In recent years, more frequent and longer droughts have forced Mexican farmers to give up corn and other cereals in favor of alternatives requiring less water https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/mexicos-craddle-corn-threatened-climate-change
Nearly 85 percent of Mexico is experiencing drought, and water sources are dwindling. Mexico’s corn imports reached a new high of 4.2 million metric tons, mainly from the US, during the first quarter of 2021. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148270/widespread-drought-in-mexico
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 16th
“Climate change has destabilized the Earth’s poles, putting the rest of the planet in peril
New research shows how rising temperatures have irreversibly altered both the Arctic and Antarctic. Ripple effects will be felt around the globe.” (Washington Post) https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/climate-change-has-destabilized-the-earths-poles-putting-the-rest-of-the-planet-in-peril/
A team of researchers using Los Alamos National Laboratory’s supercomputers developed a model for projecting tree kills by bark beetles as the climate warms .
Looking at forests in California, the team of researchers found that western pine beetle infestations killed 30 percent more trees due to warmer temperatures than they would have killed under drought conditions alone.
While the study focused on California forests, study author Chonggang Xu, a senior LANL scientist, said he anticipates the trend will hold true for forests throughout the western United States, including in New Mexico.
Xu said that the number of trees killed because of warmer temperatures surprised him.
“It’s much larger than I had previously perceived,” he said. https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2021/12/23/study-warming-climate-leads-to-more-bark-beetles-killing-trees-than-drought-alone/
Bark beetles have killed millions of acres of trees in western North America in recent years. This is predicted to increase the extent and severity of wildfires. In addition, firefighters have observed unusual and erratic fire behaviors in bark-beetle affected forests. https://www.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/projects/bark-beetles-tree-chemistry-and-wildfires
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 25th
“While the entire world focuses on achieving carbon neutrality – zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – a new research shows climate change in some regions is inevitable even if the already increased CO2 level is reduced. As CO2 decreases, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) shifts southwards, which can trigger persistent El Niño conditions. El Niño refers to a phenomenon in which the sea surface temperature near the equator rises by 1 to 3°C above its surroundings, causing droughts, storms, and floods around the world.” https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/938765
(8:02 AM, Dec 31, 2021): BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Hundreds of structures — including homes and businesses — have been destroyed in Boulder County following a fast-moving grass fire that forced evacuations in all of Superior and Louisville. It grew to become the most destructive fire in Colorado history.
The National Weather Service said the peak wind gusts Thursday were between 100 and 110 mph.” [Category 3 hurricanes have maximum sustained winds between 110 and 129 mph] https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/thousands-evacuated-hundreds-of-homes-lost-in-boulder-county-as-firefighting-efforts-continue-friday
See also Wildfire Today (7:05 a.m. MST Dec. 31, 2021) https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/12/31/mapping-shows-marshall-fire-has-burned-thousands-of-acres/
The firestorm was roughly 20 miles from Denver – which is expecting to receive its biggest snowfall of the season tonight on New Year’s Eve.
Colorado’s Marshall fire: Climate change and growing population led to disaster in Boulder County, scientists say https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/31/colorado-marshall-wildfire-climate-change/
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 5th
“More than 4 in 10 Americans live in a county that was struck by climate-related extreme weather last year, according to a new Washington Post analysis of federal disaster declarations, and more than 80% experienced a heat wave. In the country that has generated more greenhouse gases than any other nation in history, global warming is expanding its reach and exacting an escalating toll.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/01/05/climate-disasters-2021-fires/
“There is little doubt that the future will be worse. Steadily rising temperatures heighten the risk of wildfires, turbocharge rain storms, exacerbate flooding and intensify drought.”
Alternative access (without links) https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2022/01/05/more-than-40-of-americans-live-in-counties-hit-by-climate-disasters-in-2021/
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said Monday if human-caused global warming isn’t limited to just another couple tenths of a degree, an Earth now struck regularly by deadly heat, fires, floods and drought in future decades will degrade in 127 ways with some being “potentially irreversible.”
“The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health,” says the major report designed to guide world leaders in their efforts to curb climate change. https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-europe-united-nations-weather-8d5e277660f7125ffdab7a833d9856a3
‘Delay means death’: We’re running out of ways to adapt to the climate crisis, new report shows. Here are the key takeaways https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/world/un-ipcc-climate-report-adaptation-impacts/index.html
“Big banking is saying little on how they will combat climate change through their financing, shows a new study which finds minimal, clear commitments to aid financing away from fossil fuels.
The top 10 banks – ranked as the largest funders of fossil fuel organizations – are talking more about climate change in general. However, in an analysis of annual reports, these banks were found to be vague when it comes to initiatives to counter it.
In 2020 alone, $425.92bn was spent financing fossil fuels by this group – which includes banks from the US, such as JP Morgan Chase; the UK, Barclays; Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank; and Japan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Published today in the peer-reviewed journal Climate Policy, the findings of this new study include a plea from the experts to change the way banks support the fossil fuel industry. The team, based at the University of Gothenburg, also set a three-point list of recommendations.” https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944097
See “If money talks, what is the banking industry saying about climate change?” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2022.2036090
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 4th
‘Vicious cycle’: Storms intensify in the Gulf as climate changes : Ecologically disastrous conditions in the Gulf are the latest sign of the dangers that climate change and other related factors pose to the Middle East. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/2/a-vicious-cycle-intensifying-storms-in-gulf-as-climate-changes
“…In an increasingly climate-stressed planet, storms in these mostly desert countries, which exist in a dust belt, are set to intensify. What comes with these exacerbated ecological crises are increasingly dire threats to human health, economies, and security in the Gulf.
These transregional issues also have much potential to be a driver of future interstate conflicts across the greater Middle East.
Last month’s temporary closure of ports, airports, and schools in Iran, Iraq, and some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states underscored the extent to which recent SDSs (sand and dust storms) have taken a major toll on trade, travel, and daily life for the people of these countries.”
A great majority of Americans have been affected by extreme weather in recent years, and many suffer long-term financial problems as a result, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
More than three-quarters of adults in the United States say they have experienced extreme weather in the last five years, including hurricanes, wildfires, floods and heat waves, the survey found. And most people who suffer major weather damage or financial problems do not receive money from the federal government.
People who experience extreme weather are also more likely to consider climate change a crisis or major problem, according to the survey, titled “The Impact of Extreme Weather on Views About Climate Policy in the United States.” https://www.npr.org/2022/06/21/1102389274/climate-change-costs-extreme-weather
“Scientists at MIT think they may have finally found a way to reverse climate change. Or, at the least, help ease it some.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mit-scientists-think-ve-discovered-180800050.html
“The idea revolves heavily around the creation and deployment of several thin film-like silicon bubbles. The “space bubbles” as they refer to them, would be joined together like a raft. Once expanded in space it would be around the same size as Brazil. The bubbles would then provide an extra buffer against the harmful solar radiation that comes from the Sun.”
“Kentucky hit with deadly flooding following 2nd 1,000-year rain event in 3 days” https://news.yahoo.com/kentucky-hit-with-deadly-flooding-following-second-1000-year-rain-event-in-3-days-201510178.html
Climate scientists have shown that for every Celsius degree of temperature rise, the atmosphere holds 7% more moisture in the atmosphere. When conditions are right, that moisture is unleashed in rainfall events like the ones being experienced in Kentucky this week. https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/atmospheric-moisture-increase
Re: The Clausius–Clapeyron relation see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius%E2%80%93Clapeyron_relation
Climate change can exacerbate a full 58% of the infectious diseases that humans come in contact with worldwide, from common waterborne viruses to deadly diseases like plague, new research shows. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/58-of-human-infectious-diseases-can-be-worsened-by-climate-change/
A team of environment and health scientists reviewed decades of scientific papers on all known pathogenic disease pathogens to create a map of the human risks aggravated by climate-related hazards. https://camilo-mora.github.io/Diseases/
‘Cascading’ Climate Disasters Can ‘Destabilize Entire Socio-Economic Systems,’ Study Finds https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3pwpm/cascading-climate-disasters-can-destabilize-entire-socio-economic-systems-study-finds
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 12th
Greenland ice sheet set to raise sea levels by nearly a foot, study finds
New research suggests the massive ice sheet is already set to lose more than 3 percent of its mass, even if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases today https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/29/greenland-ice-sheet-sea-level/
More than one third of Pakistan is underwater, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA), as deadly floodwaters threaten to create secondary disasters.
Food is in short supply after water covered millions of acres of crops and wiped out hundreds of thousands of livestock. Meanwhile, aid agencies have warned of an uptick in infectious diseases, leaving millions vulnerable to illness caused by what the United Nations has called a “monsoon on steroids.”
Pakistan’s monsoon season usually brings heavy downpours, but this year’s has been the wettest since records began in 1961, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department
Torrential monsoon rainfall — 10 times heavier than usual — has caused the Indus River to overflow, effectively creating a long lake, tens of kilometers wide, according to images from the ESA on August 30.
In the southern Sindh and Balochistan provinces, rainfall has been 500% above average as of August 30, according to the NDMA, engulfing entire villages and farmland, razing buildings and wiping out crops. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/asia/pakistan-floods-climate-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html
Meteorologists believe Tropical Storm Kay will create widespread flooding in California, Northern Baja California, and Arizona. The National Hurricane Service is predicting the storm will dump “several months to a year’s worth of rain to a normally arid landscape” on Friday in Southern California. https://ktla.com/news/local-news/tropical-storm-kay-moves-into-southern-california-advisories-issued/
“The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe, leading scientists have said.
Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the United in Science report published on Tuesday [link]. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/13/world-heading-into-uncharted-territory-of-destruction-says-climate-report
The rice capital of California is ‘now just a wasteland.’ Satellite images show how bad it is (interactive) https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/California-rice-farming-Colusa-17428137.php
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 15th
“Tribe seeks to adapt as climate change alters ancestral home” (AP) https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-business-new-mexico-forests-climate-and-environment-bbe8930abed9107b8d2c35cfe4a573cd
“With unsettling speed, climate change has taken a toll on the Santa Clara Pueblo’s 89 square miles that climb from the gently rolling Rio Grande Valley to Santa Clara Canyon in the rugged Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. The people are trying to adapt by returning to their roots: embracing natural methods to restore their watershed and make the forests more resilient, growing trees and crops from native seeds that evolved to withstand drought. But they’re also willing to embrace new ways if that helps them stay.”
“20 climate photographs that changed the world” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/05/20-climate-photographs-that-changed-the-world