Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics over the last week. This is a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI.
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Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Are Airborne, Exposing Millions — A team of researchers from the U.S., China, South Korea, Switzerland, and France examined air samples from nearly two dozen cities, including San Francisco, Paris, Warsaw, Zurich, Beijing, Brisbane, and Seoul. They discovered airborne concentrations of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in each of the cities at varying levels, produced by concentrated animal feeding operations, hospitals, wastewater treatment plants and other sources. Their findings indicate that antibiotic-resistant genes can spread from one bacterium to another, and that this bacteria has the ability not only to travel through the air, but to travel across continents, even across the globe – exposing millions of people to antibiotic-resistant genes whether they live in proximity to those sources or not. “Common everyday human activities such as car traffic can kick up the bacteria and make them airborne,” Dr. Maosheng Yao, a collaborating author of the study, Global Survey of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Air, and professor of environmental sciences and engineering at Peking University, told Sierra. “Natural winds can also suspend these biologicals into the air.” For wastewater treatment, there is an aeration process that can make biologicals airborne. They are prevalent in areas where human consumption of antibiotics is widespread, such as in hospitals, or where agricultural practices rely heavily on the use of antibiotics. San Francisco topped the list of the cities with the highest readings of antibiotic-resistant genes in the air.
U.S. “most dangerous” place to give birth in developed world, USA Today investigation finds — A USA Today investigation finds the United States is the “most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world.” Every year in the U.S., more than 50,000 mothers are severely injured during or after childbirth and 700 die. USA Today’s investigation, “Deadly Deliveries,” claims women are dying and suffering life-altering injuries during childbirth because hospitals are not following long-known safety measures. Maternal death in the United States has been steadily rising. The U.S. now has the highest rate in the developed world. USA Today conducted a four-year investigation into the nation’s hospital maternity wards and spoke to several families who lost loved ones and to women who were permanently harmed during their deliveries.In one example, Ali Lowry had internal bleeding after having a baby by C-section. It took medical staff hours to act on the warning signs, and in that time she nearly bled to death. Ali needed a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. She and her husband, Shaun, sued Knox Community Hospital in Ohio and settled out of court. “Experts say that about 50 percent of the deaths of women from childbirth-related causes could be prevented if they were given better medical care and that’s a really surprising thing given that we’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world and we spend so much on medical care. We’re not just talking about the women who die, we’re talking about 50,000 U.S. women who are suffering life-altering harms,” USA Today investigative reporter Alison Young told “CBS This Morning” on Thursday.
Chemicals in Food May Harm Children, Pediatricians’ Group Says — A major paediatricians’ group is urging families to limit the use of plastic food containers, cut down on processed meat during pregnancy and consume more whole fruit and vegetables rather than processed food. . The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) issued the guidelines in a statement and scientific technical report yesterday. The AAP joins other medical and advocacy groups that have expressed concern about the growing body of scientific evidence indicating that certain chemicals that enter foods may interfere with the body’s natural hormones in ways that may affect longterm growth and development. The paediatricians’ group, which represents some 67,000 children’s doctors in the country, is also calling for more rigorous testing and regulation of thousands of chemicals used as food additives or indirectly added to foods when they are used in manufacturing or leach from packaging and plastics. Among the chemicals that raised particular concern are nitrates and nitrites, which are used as preservatives, primarily in meat products; phthalates, which are used to make plastic packaging; and bisphenols, used in the lining of metal cans for canned food products. Also of concern to the paediatricians are per€uoroalkyl chemicals, or PFCs, used in grease-proof paper and packaging, and perchlorates, an anti-static agent used in plastic packaging. “ Dr Trasande suggested wrapping food in wax paper in lieu of plastic wrap.
These scientists think plastics are shrinking penises –Penises are shrinking, and more boys are being born with genital defects, two Melbourne scientists claim. They think chemicals in plastics are to blame. Their controversial stance is based on studies of animals exposed to the chemicals, as well as human data they say shows rates of hypospadia – a penis birth defect causing a range of functionality problems – have doubled in Australia. “Exposure to these chemicals, this is the No.1 reproductive issue for men,” says Associate Professor Andrew Pask, who leads a lab at Melbourne University researching male reproduction. However, government regulators say the best-available science shows these chemicals are not having an effect on humans. Other experts say a link is possible but that the evidence is a long way from settled.Some plastics can release chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors, that can mimic human sex hormones. In animal studies, exposure when pregnant can have profound effects on an animal’s offspring, including infertility, undescended testes and hypospadia.There is no strong evidence about what they do to humans.
Potential DNA Damage from CRISPR Has Been ‘Seriously Underestimated’ –Via: STAT News: From the earliest days of the CRISPR-Cas9 era, scientists have known that the first step in how it edits genomes – snipping DNA – creates an unholy mess: Cellular repairmen frantically try to fix the cuts by throwing random chunks of DNA into the breach and deleting other random bits. Research published on Monday suggests that’s only the tip of a Titanic-sized iceberg: CRISPR-Cas9 can cause significantly greater genetic havoc than experts thought, the study concludes, perhaps enough to threaten the health of patients who would one day receive CRISPR-based therapy.The results come hard on the heels of two studies that identified a related issue: Some CRISPR’d cells might be missing a key anti-cancer mechanism and therefore be able to initiate tumors. The DNA damage found in the new study included deletions of thousands of DNA bases, including at spots far from the edit. Some of the deletions can silence genes that should be active and activate genes that should be silent, including cancer-causing genes.
Gene-Edited Products Now Classified as GMOs in European Union – The European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that organisms obtained by mutagenesis, or gene editing, are considered genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which mean they fall under the same strict EU rules that govern GMOs. The decision is a victory for organic farming associations and environmentalists wary of “GMO 2.0” techniques such as CRISPR gene editing that alter an organism’s DNA. “These new ‘GMO 2.0’ genetic engineering techniques must be fully tested before they are let out in the countryside and into our food,” Mute Schimpf, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said in a press release. “We welcome this landmark ruling which defeats the biotech industry’s latest attempt to push unwanted genetically-modified products onto our fields and plates.” The biotech industry and other gene editing proponents believe the novel technique can revolutionize food production, medicine and other areas. Compared to older GMO technology, which typically involves inserting genetic material from one species to another, gene editing uses “molecular scissors” to edit DNA of live organisms. For instance, scientists have created a mushroom that resists browning by using the genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. The German chemical industry association VCL, which represents companies such as Bayer, BASF and Merck KGaA, was disappointed by the court’s ruling, calling it “backward looking and hostile to progress,” Reuters reported. “It is damaging to the ability of the EU’s biotech hub to innovate and disconnects it from developments in the rest of the world,” VCL continued.
Man Dying of Cancer Testifies in Landmark Case Against Monsanto – A former school groundskeeper in California testified Monday in a landmark lawsuitclaiming that repeated exposure to Monsanto‘s popular Roundup weedkiller caused his terminal cancer.”I would never have sprayed the product around school grounds or around people if I thought it would cause them harm,” the 46-year-old Dewayne “Lee” Johnson told the San Francisco Superior Court jury, as quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle. “They deserve better.”Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto Company is considered a “bellwether” case. If Johnson is successful, it could open the door for roughly 4,000 other similar lawsuits against Monsanto. Conversely, if he loses, it could discourage the other cases.The plaintiffs claim that exposure to Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide caused them or their loved ones to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The lawsuits also allege that the company suppressed scientific evidence related to the health risks of its weedkillers.In 2015, glyphosate was classified as a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. However, Monsanto and other government authorities, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have concluded that glyphosate is safe.
The Challenge of ‘Chronic Lyme’ — In the state of Idaho, where I cared for this child, there were nine confirmed cases of Lyme disease in 2016. The year before, there were three. I’d bet most of these cases were documented in-state but contracted elsewhere – people who had traveled to the East Coast or the Upper Midwest, where Ixodes scapularis lives.. Borrelia goes from mice to ticks to humans after a bite from infected Ixodes ticks, but only about 5 percent of people bitten by infected ticks will contract Lyme disease. I shared these data with the mother. “Well,” she said, “I got it. I got chronic Lyme here in the 1970s.” My heartbeat quickened a notch when she said “chronic Lyme.” Physicians are able to identify several stages of Lyme disease: early localized disease (the rash of erythema migrans), early disseminated disease (which may include joint pain and fevers), and late disseminated Lyme disease. Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) describes persistent symptoms in a person who had Lyme disease but has been fully treated. And then, there’s chronic Lyme. Chronic Lyme is as nebulous as gender, an identity as much as a biological category. It describes a constellation of enduring symptoms – joint pain, fatigue, muscle pain, brain fog, fevers, blurry vision, and much more – occurring in a person who attributes these symptoms to an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, but who may have no plausible laboratory, clinical, or epidemiological evidence of exposure to the bacterium. Thousands of Australians identify as chronic Lyme patients, for example, despite the fact that Ixodes does not live in Australia and there has never been a laboratory-verified case of Lyme contracted there. I did not want to debate the biological reality of chronic Lyme, so I nodded toward the child and said, “It’s true there are some cases in Idaho. And if this rash looked like erythema migrans, I would treat it. (In areas where the disease is not endemic but the fear of it is, physicians are advised not to test unless the patient’s symptoms are highly consistent with Lyme.) In cases where symptoms have been present for more than four weeks, physicians perform a two-tier blood test to confirm the diagnosis: an enzyme assay, followed by a Western Blot, which looks for antibodies to Borrelia. Western Blot produces some false positives. False negatives are rare.
Roundworms Just Came Back to Life After 40,000 Years Frozen in Siberian Permafrost — Samples of permafrost sediment frozen for the past 40,000 years were recently thawed to reveal living nematodes. Within weeks the roundworms began to move and eat, setting a record for the time an animal can survive cryogenic preservation. Aside from revealing new limits of endurance, it just might prove useful when it comes to preserving our own tissues. Russian biologists dug up more than 300 samples of frozen soil of different ages and locations throughout the Arctic and took them back to their lab in Moscow for a closer look. Samples retrieved from remote parts of north eastern Russia contained nematodes from two different genera, which the researchers placed into Petri dishes with a nutrient medium. The worms were left for several weeks at a relatively warm 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) as they gradually showed signs of life. Some of the worms – belonging to the genus Panagrolaimus – were found 30 metres (100 feet) underground in what had once been a ground squirrel burrow which caved in and froze over around 32,000 years ago. Others from the genus Plectus were found in a bore sample at a depth of around 3.5 metres (about 11.5 feet). Carbon dating was used to determine that sample to be about 42,000 years old.
Business students more likely to have a brain parasite spread by cats — An analysis of students in the US has found that those who have a certain type of brain parasite are more likely to be majoring in business studies. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite carried by cats. It can infect people through contact with cat faeces, poorly cooked meat, or contaminated water, and as many as one-third of the world’s population may be infected. The parasite doesn’t make us feel sick, but it forms cysts in the brain where it can remain for the rest of a person’s life. Some studies have linked infection with the parasite to slower reaction times, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, suicidal behaviour, and explosive anger. Now an assessment of almost 1300 US students has found that those who had been exposed to the parasite were 1.7 times more likely to be majoring in business. In particular, they were more likely to be focusing on management and entrepreneurship than other business-related areas. The study also found that professionals attending business events were almost twice as likely to have started their own business if they were T. gondii positive, and that countries with a higher prevalence of T. gondiiinfection show more entrepreneurial activity. The team behind the study say their data suggests that the parasite may be involved in reducing a person’s fear of failure and high-risk, high-reward ventures. Rodents infected with T. gondii are known to become less fearful of encountering cats.
Nearly 300 Sea Turtles Dead as Red Tide Plagues Southwest Florida – Hundreds of sea turtles have washed up dead along the southwest Florida coast as an ongoing red tide event persists in the waters. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has logged 287 sea turtle deaths since the virulentalgal bloom started in October, the Associated Press reported.That figure is twice the average number of turtle deaths in those waters each year, Allen Foley of the commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute told the AP on Thursday.Foley explained that the turtles get sick and die when their food gets contaminated by toxic bloom. The most vulnerable species affected include loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, both of which are federally protected, the AP reported.
Thousands of scientists endorse study on border wall’s threat to wildlife | TheHill: Thousands of scientists have endorsed research finding that President Trump;s proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border would harm biodiversity in the region. Earther reported that as of Wednesday, more than 2,700 scientists have signed onto the study “Nature Divided, Scientists United: US – Mexico Border Wall Threatens Biodiversity and Binational Conservation.” The report was published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal BioScience. More than 2,500 scientists had signed on at the time of its publication. The paper found that efforts to build the wall “threaten some of the continent’s most biologically diverse regions,” and that the already constructed segments of the wall “are reducing the area, quality, and connectivity of plant and animal habitats and are compromising more than a century of binational investment in conservation.” The research found that a wall would likely cut animals off from parts of their habitats, including endangered species like the Peninsular bighorn sheep and the Mexican gray wolf, and could impact those species’ ability to help grow their populations. And the study’s authors also argue that the wall could impact scientific research itself, which they call “especially concerning given that the waiving of environmental laws means independent research may provide the best source of scientific insight into the wall’s impacts on biodiversity.” “We call on fellow scientists to join us in expressing unified concern over the border wall’s negative impacts on wildlife, habitat, and binational collaboration in conservation and Âscientific research,” the paper reads.
Lawmakers working to support administration efforts to overhaul Endangered Species Act – As the Trump administration moves closer to undoing protections for endangered species that conservation groups say could “slam a wrecking ball” into wildlife preservation, Republican-led efforts to bolster the agencies’ efforts are quietly making their way through both chambers of Congress. Supporters say the surge of legislation, which includes more than a dozen bills and amendments, will help modernize the Endangered Species Act, while detractors, including environmental advocacy groups, warn they will weaken it. “They’re not updating the law. They’re gutting its protections,” Rebecca Riley, a legal director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told ABC in an interview. Passed in 1973, the Act provides states with financial assistance and incentives to prevent the extinction of native and foreign animals. It is credited with preventing the extinction of distinctly American species including the bald eagle, taken off the Endangered Species list in 2007, and the grizzly bear, delisted just last year.
Is the Great Indian Bustard About to Go Extinct? – This month scientists in India warned that a three-foot-tall bird known as the great Indian bustard is perilously close to extinction, with a remaining population of just 150 birds.Even worse, this year researchers have observed just a single male bird – a juvenile too young to mate – at the bustards’ traditional breeding grounds in the Kutch district of the Indian state of Gujarat. This youngster is the only male to visit the grassland site in some time. “No adult breeding males have been observed on their known breeding territories in last two years,” said Devesh Gadhvi, deputy director of the Corbett Foundation, a nonprofit engaged in great Indian bustard conservation efforts. A few males have been previously confirmed in the neighboring state of Rajasthan, and Gadhvi says there may be a handful of additional males elsewhere in Gujarat, although there is no data to verify that.So why has this massive species nearly died out? Sadly, it appears to be a case of decades of neglect, and in some cases outright hostility toward the species. As Ali warned, the birds have lost most of their historic habitat – currently about 95 percent of where they used to fly – to roadways, mines, canals and other development. In addition, many projects have converted grasslands – which the Indian government classifies as “wasteland” – into wooded areas, inhospitable to the ground-dwelling species. Poaching has also continued to take a toll, especially on birds that have flown into neighboring Pakistan, where the species may or may not still exist.
High levels of toxic chemicals found in drinking water of west Michigan community – Approximately 3,000 residents in and around Parchment, Michigan, a city north of Kalamazoo, were told by city officials Thursday to immediately stop consuming water from the municipal supply after it was found to contain high levels of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which have been linked to severe health effects. The announcement was made after testing conducted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) measured PFAS levels at 1410 parts per trillion (ppt), over 20 times greater than the 70 ppt defined as the official “advisory level” by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). City officials announced that the water was unsafe for drinking, cooking, using for baby formula, or even washing fruits and vegetables. Boiling the water does not remove the chemicals, nor do most drinking water filters. PFAS chemicals have been linked to a wide array of health problems, including kidney and testicular cancer, liver and thyroid damage, increased cholesterol levels, immune system suppression, and developmental delays in children. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to health effects from PFAS exposure, which can lead to pregnancy-induced hypertension, infertility, and low fetal birth weight. City officials announced that the Parchment water supply would be “flushed” and that affected residents would be connected to Kalamazoo’s water supply until PFAS levels were lowered. A water distribution site was set up at Parchment High School, where residents have been receiving cases of bottled water. However, as of this writing, no announcement has been made as to the source of the contamination, nor of any plans to address this source.
EPA blames itself for Flint water crisis — On Thursday, more than four years after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan began, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a final report pointing blame right back at the EPA, as well as the state and city.None of this comes as surprise. In 2016, the OIG issued a report that concluded quite similarly: The EPA should’ve and could’ve done more sooner to protect the people of Flint. This latest report, however, provides much more detail on how various agencies failed the city and lots of suggestions on how they can be better next time. Flint’s water system wasn’t meeting the standards required under the federal Lead and Copper Rule, which falls under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). That rule requires the state to keep track of where lead service lines are in order to sample the water for lead (a nationwide problem, the EPA found), as well as using appropriate corrosion control measures to prevent pipes from leaching lead into the water.What’s perhaps the most depressing thing to come out of this report is that the EPA knew as early as 2010 that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was slacking on its implementation of the SDWA.
A father, a daughter and the search for answers in a toxic town – Even before Hassan Amjad’s family buried him on a West Virginia hillside, phone calls flooded his daughter’s office. Ayne Amjad, a doctor like her father, heard the same questions again and again: Who will stand up for us now? Will we be forgotten? Her father had made it his mission to get justice – or at least answers – for the people of this once-thriving coal town an hour south of the state capital. He told anyone willing to listen that industrial chemicals dumped decades ago by the now-defunct Shaffer Equipment Co. had long been poisoning residents. In the final months of his life, the elder Amjad and his wife spent many days in Minden knocking on doors, scribbling detailed medical histories, hoping to document potential links between cancer and the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that had been discovered throughout the area. Local activists say that by their count, roughly a third of Minden residents have died from or been diagnosed with cancer in recent years.
Almost 1 Million Tons of Sewage Dumped into Lake Erie (WKBW News video) About 990,000 gallons of sewage was dumped into Lake Erie over the weekend in Dunkirk. Officials say this happened about 7 a.m. Sunday off of Wright Park Drive at the Dunkirk Wastewater Treatment Plant. The amount of rain that fell across the area played a role in the sewage being leaked into Lake Erie. Officials say the discharge was partially treated with disinfection. The Buffalo National Weather Service reports that over two inches of rain fell in the Dunkirk region over the weekend.
Interior secretary meets with group seeking to drain San Francisco reservoir – WSJ – Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is interested in restoring the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park to its natural state after more than 100 years of providing water to the people of San Francisco and some suburbs. During a visit Sunday to Yosemite, Mr. Zinke met with a group called Restore Hetch Hetchy, formed about two decades ago to pursue a goal of draining the reservoir. “This is still just a fact-finding meeting, but the secretary is very interested in restoring the valley to its natural state,” said an Interior official. The official said Mr. Zinke wants to learn how removing the dam at Hetch Hetchy would “contribute to the reliable operation” of an existing federal water project that supplies water to California farmers, “in addition to the conservation benefits removal would provide.” The damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley by San Francisco a century ago – burying a valley comparable in splendor to the famed Yosemite Valley – has long been regarded as one of the West’s great environmental catastrophes. Restore Hetch Hetchy’s plan is to drain the 360,000-acre-foot reservoir and make San Francisco store its mountain water somewhere else, perhaps even underground.
Ryan Zinke’s War on the Interior – In May 2017, Ryan Zinke, the 52nd United States secretary of the Interior, traveled to Utah on a four-day fact-finding mission.Zinke had come to Utah to tour a pair of national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase – Escalante, as part of a broader review ordered by the Trump administration. Prior to the visit, conservatives had derided the monuments as an example of federal overreach, mockingly referring to Bears Ears as a “midnight monument” because the designation came at the end of Barack Obama’s term. In fact, achieving protected status for Bears Ears – 1.3 million acres that had been inhabited by native peoples for “hundreds of generations,” per Obama’s proclamation – had been years in the making, representing the work of environmental groups and an extraordinary coalition of five sovereign Native nations that historically have not always worked together as allies. Though Zinke’s office had portrayed his visit as an opportunity to hear from all sides of the debate, meetings with opponents of the monuments dominated his schedule.
A Record 207 Environmental Activists Were Killed Last Year – More than 200 environmental activists were killed in 2017, according to the latest report from global rights watchdog Global Witness. The troubling report revealed that 207 men and women across 22 countries were murdered last year defending their land and resources, making it the worst year on record.Agribusiness was the industry most associated with these attacks – highlighting the devastating cost of the food we eat and the products we use.”For the first time, agribusiness surpassed mining as the most dangerous sector to oppose, as 46 defenders who protested against palm oil, coffee, tropical fruit and sugar cane plantations, as well as cattle ranching, were murdered in 2017,” the report said. Global Witness cited Hernfln Bedoya of Colombia, who was shot by a paramilitary group 14 times in December for protesting the expansion of palm oil and banana plantations in his community. In the Philippines, during a December massacre near Lake Sebu, eight villagers were killed by the Philippine army over a coffee plantation expansion. The vast majority of murdered activists were from Latin America, accounting for 60 percent of those killed in 2017. Brazil was ranked the most dangerous with 57 murders alone.
Almost four land activists killed per week in deadliest year on record: campaigners (Reuters) – Nearly four land and environmental activists were killed each week last year, murdered for opposing large-scale agriculture and mining projects in the deadliest year on record, a campaign group said on Tuesday. In 22 countries surveyed by U.K.-based Global Witness, at least 207 activists were killed, making 2017 the deadliest year since 2002 when the human rights organization started collecting data.
June 2018 ties for third warmest June on record – June 2018 continued the warming trend of the past 40 years. According to the monthly analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, the past month surpassed the 1951-1980 June mean by +0.77°C. It tied with June 1998 as the third warmest June in 138 years of modern record-keeping, with only June 2015 and 2016 (+0.80°C and +0.79°C) being warmer.The mean temperature anomalies of +0.77°C for both June 1998 and June 2018 cannot be distinguished from each other given the uncertainty of the measurement. However, June 1998 was exceptionally warm at the time due to the then prevailing strong El Niño conditions – about 0.33°C above the trend line of the late 1990s. In contrast, the current El Niño phase is considered neutral. The temperature anomaly for June 2018 is similar to other recent monthly mean temperature anomalies, and lies within the expected range of +0.75±0.05°C. The monthly analysis by the GISS team is assembled from publicly available data acquired by about 6,300 meteorological stations around the world, ship- and buoy-based instruments measuring sea surface temperature, and Antarctic research stations. The modern global temperature record begins around 1880 because previous observations didn’t cover enough of the planet. Monthly analyses are sometimes updated when additional data becomes available, and the results are subject to change.
Summers Are Getting Hotter Faster, Especially in North America’s Farm Belt – Summers are heating up faster than the other seasons as global temperatures rise, especially in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and the changes carry the clear fingerprints of human-caused climate change, a new study shows.The findings deliver another blow against two refrains commonly repeated by climate deniers: that the satellite record doesn’t show that the planet is warming, and that it’s impossible to know how much warming is from nature and how much is from human beings.Both claims are wrong, say the authors of the study, published Thursday in the journal Science.Opponents to climate action have pointed to satellites in their arguments against global warming, said lead author Benjamin Santer, a climate researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “But in fact, satellite temperature data show very strong signals of human effects on climate.” Santer and his co-authors looked at the satellite record going back to the late 1970s to trace how warming is impacting seasons differently. They found that while year-round temperatures are rising, the rate of that temperature increase is happening faster in the mid-latitudes during the summer than it is during the winter. That’s even more pronounced in the Northern Hemisphere. The scientists ran models to look at rates of warming and separate out the causes, taking into account the greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels and then looking just at natural variability without mankind’s influence. “We show that the human fingerprint is far larger than our best current estimates of natural changes,” Santer said.
Crop failure and bankruptcy threaten farmers as drought grips Europe – Farmers across northern and central Europe are facing crop failure and bankruptcy as one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory strengthens its grip.States of emergency have been declared in Latvia and Lithuania, while the sun continues to bake Swedish fields that have received only 12% of their normal rainfall. The abnormally hot temperatures – which have topped 30C in the Arctic Circle – are in line with climate change trends, according to the World Meteorological Organization. And as about 50 wildfires rage across Sweden, no respite from the heatwave is yet in sight. Lennart Nilsson, a 55-year-old cattle farmer from Falkenberg near Malmo and co-chair of the Swedish Farmers Association, said it was the worst drought he had experienced. “This is really serious,” he said. “Most of south-west Sweden hasn’t had rain since the first days of May. A very early harvest has started but yields seem to be the lowest for 25 years – 50% lower, or more in some cases – and it is causing severe losses.” If no rain comes soon, Nilsson’s association estimates agricultural losses of up to 8bn Swedish kronor (£700m) this year and widespread bankruptcies. The drought would personally cost him around 500,000 kronor (£43,000), Nilsson said, adding that, like most farmers, he is now operating at a loss. The picture is little different in the Netherlands, where Iris Bouwers, a 25-year-old farmer, said the parched summer had been a “catastrophe” for her farm. “Older families around me are comparing this to 1976,” she said. “My dad can’t remember any drought like this.”
European Drought Threatens Harvests From Sweden to the Czech Republic – For farmers in central and northern Europe, this summer’s unusually high temperatures aren’t just uncomfortable, they are putting their harvests at risk, The Guardian reported Friday. The drought, caused by high temperatures and low rainfall since May 2018, is the worst in recent memory for the region, according to The Guardian. “Older families around me are comparing this to 1976,” 25-year-old Dutch farmer Iris Bouwers told The Guardian. “My dad can’t remember any drought like this.”Bouwers said her family stood to lose €100,000, as their potato crop is likely to fall by 30 percent, and their savings won’t cover the loss because of an investment made in a pig stable. They aren’t the only ones. The German Association of the Fruit, Vegetable, and Potato Processing Industry announced Tuesday they expected to see a smaller, less quality potato crop that would lead to a 25 percent revenue loss in the agricultural and potato processing sectors, Earther reported. EU grain growers are also expecting their smallest harvest in six years, Bloomberg reported.
Satellite pictures show a record heat wave turning Britain from green to brown – For much of the year, Britain is wet and dreary, more mystery novel than sparkling beach read. Come summer, though, Britons can feel a bit smug. While Americans sweat and swelter, Brits enjoy warm days and sweater-weather nights. At least that’s usually the case. But not this year. Britain is in the throes of the longest heat wave since 1976. Average summer temperatures usually hover around 78 degrees. This year, it’s been nearly 10 degrees hotter, with spikes well into the 90s. It’s been unusually dry, too – just two inches of rain have fallen between June 1 and July 16, making it the driest summer on record. And experts say the heat will last at least through early August. The Heat Health Watch Service, run by the Met Office and Public Health England, has issued a warning, urging people to stay inside and drink plenty of fluids. Prime Minister Theresa May has urged people to stay out of the sun through Friday, when temperatures are expected to hit 93 degrees. The weather has been so hot and dry that it has turned Britain from green to brown. Satellite images released by the Met Office, Britain’s national weather service, show just how dramatically the weather has changed the country’s topography.
Drought: Farmers forced to shoot livestock they can’t afford to feed – FARMER Les Jones will this month shoot all 1200 of his starving sheep and bury them in a mass grave on his barren farm in northwestern NSW.The sheep are living skeletons, so emaciated the Jones family can’t even use them to feed themselves “unless we ate soup every day”. The cattle are so hungry they are scraping dried moss off rocks with their teeth and chasing stray leaves that blow off trees.The Sunday Telegraph has been visiting farms throughout the rain-starved state, where many areas are suffering the driest conditions since records began in 1900.
Record-breaking Texas heat overwhelms electrical grid and endangers residents – A deadly heat wave across Texas is testing the state’s electrical grid and endangering residents as unrelenting temperatures tick higher. The typically hot Southern state is seeing dramatic conditions during a sweltering summer that has overwhelmed the United States and a number of other countries. Record-breaking heat has hammered the Lone Star State since late last week. A heat advisory is currently in place for more than 34 million people across the country as of Monday morning, with a large concentration based in Texas. The capital city of Austin set a daily heat record on Friday when temperatures climbed to 104 degrees Fahrenheit at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, some 10 degrees warmer than is typical for the city at this time of year.Austin isn’t alone. Multiple Texas cities reported five to six days in a row with temperatures over 100 degrees.
US Southwest Suffering Heat And Drought Not Seen Since The 1930’s Dust Bowl – Despite all of the other crazy news that is happening all around the world, the top headlines on Drudge on Monday evening were all about the record heatwave that is currently pummeling the Southwest. Of course it is always hot during the summer, but the strange weather that we have been witnessing in recent months is unlike anything that we have seen since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. At this moment, almost the entire Southwest is in some stage of drought. Agricultural production has been absolutely devastated, major lakes, rivers and streams are rapidly becoming bone dry, and wild horses are dropping dead because they don’t have any water to drink. In addition, we are starting to see enormous dust storms strike major cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, and the extremely dry conditions have already made this one of the worst years for wildfires in U.S. history.
The big heatwave: from Algeria to the Arctic. But what’s the cause? – Last week, authorities in Sweden took an unusual step. They issued an appeal for international aid to help them tackle an epidemic of wildfires that has spread across the nation over the past few days. After months without rain, followed by weeks of soaring temperatures, the nation’s forests had become tinderboxes. The result was inevitable. Wildfires broke out and, by the end of last week, more than 50 forest blazes – a dozen inside the Arctic circle – had spread across Sweden. A nation famous for its cold and snow found itself unable to cope with the conflagrations taking place within its border and so made its appeal for international help, a request that has already been answered by Norway and Italy who have both sent airborne firefighting teams to help battle Sweden’s blazes. Nor is the nation’s fiery fate particularly unusual at present. Across much of the northern hemisphere, intense and prolonged heatwaves have triggered disruption and devastation as North America, the Arctic, northern Europe and Africa have sweltered in record-breaking temperatures. In Africa, a weather station at Ouargla, Algeria, in the Sahara desert, recorded a temperature of 51.3C, the highest reliable temperature ever recorded in Africa. In Japan, where temperatures have reached more than 40C, people were last week urged to take precautions after the death toll reached 30 with thousands more having sought hospital treatment for heat-related conditions. And in California increased use of air conditioning units, switched on to counter the scorching conditions there, has led to power shortages.
Vietnam flood death toll rises to 27, more rain forecast (Reuters) – The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by tropical storm Son Tinh rose to 27 on Tuesday, and seven people are still missing, the government’s Disaster Management Authority said. With a long coastline, Vietnam is prone to destructive storms and flooding, with 389 people killed last year in natural disasters such as floods and landslides, according to government statistics. Though tropical storm Son Tinh weakened to a tropical depression by the time it reached Vietnam last week, the torrential rains it brought caused heavy flooding and landslides in many parts of northern Vietnam. Some areas in the outskirts of the capital Hanoi remain submerged. Slideshow (6 Images)The remote mountainous province of Yen Bai has suffered the heaviest casualties in the latest floods and landslides, with 13 people reportedly killed, 18 injured and four missing, the disaster management agency said in a statement.
Japanese heat wave pushes temperature to record (Reuters) – The temperature rose to a record 41.1 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) in a city northwest of Tokyo on Monday, as a heat wave in Japan that has killed at least 23 people and sent thousands to hospital showed no sign of significant easing. The temperature was recorded in Kumagaya, in Saitama prefecture, topping the previous high of 41C in the western prefecture of Kochi in August 2013, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Records go back to varying dates for different cities, with data for Kumagaya starting in 1896. Japan has been battered by intense heat for close to two weeks but the mercury soared on Monday, breaking above 40 in one part of the broader Tokyo metropolitan area, while the center of the capital marked a high of 39 in the early afternoon.
Japan’s Record-Breaking Heatwave Declared Natural Disaster, 80 Dead – Hot, dry and fiery conditions are being seen by many parts of the globe right now. This includes Japan, where the nation’s meteorological agency just declared the extreme heat a “natural disaster.” An agency spokesman said that “unprecedented levels of heat” were being felt, as quoted by AFP. The city of Kumagaya, located about 40 miles northwest of Tokyo, even broke the country’s all-time record when it reached 106 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday. The previous record was 105.8 degrees, set on Aug. 12, 2013 in the town of Ekawasaki.
The disturbing reason heat waves can kill people in cooler climates – Already this summer, nine all-time temperature records have been broken and 10 recordshave tied in the United States. Overall, 2018 is on track to be the fourth-warmest year on record. And many other countries are suffering from the heat too. A village in Oman saw temperatures linger above 108°F for 51 hours straight, which likely broke the world record for highest minimum temperature ever. These heat waves comport with what scientists expect from climate change. The body of evidence shows that the world will face longer, more intense heat waves as average temperatures go up, and that they will be deadly. In Canada, at least 70 people have died from the recent heat. Over the weekend, eight died and more than 2,000 were reported injured in Japan from record temperatures. In May, a heat wave killed 65 in Karachi, Pakistan. But while temperatures in Pakistan reached 111°F, in Canada, they only reached 95°F. In Japan, the high this past weekend was 101°F. Which shows that heat waves are often most dangerous not necessarily where it’s hottest, but where it’s hardest to cool off.
Climate Change May Cause 26,000 More U.S. Suicides by 2050 – For almost two centuries now, scientists have noticed a place’s suicide rate bears troubling links to the changing of the seasons and the friendliness of its climate.In 1881, the Italian physician Enrico Morselli noted that suicide rates peak in the summer, deeming the effect “too great for it to be attributed to chance of the human will.” Two decades later, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim noticed the same effect – though he also found the suicide rate was higher in Scandinavian countries. Even today, CDC data confirms that suicides peak in the United States in the early summer.
Huge wildfires are spreading in California, Oregon, and Colorado. They’re poised to get worse — Wildfires have almost become a year-round threat in some parts of the western United States. From Colorado to California, it feels like the blazes from last year never went out. Flames ignited forests and chaparral virtually nonstop in 2017, and the year ended with record infernos in Southern California that burned well into 2018.Officials don’t refer to “fire seasons anymore but rather to fire years,” Jennifer Jones, a spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center, told me in an email. The NIFC reports that this year, wildfires have burned more than 3.6 million acres, behind the 4.9 million acres that had burned as of this time last year. The Ferguson Fire near Yosemite National Parkhas already burned more than 33,000 acres, an area more than 35 times the size of Central Park in Manhattan, since igniting on July 13.
Wildfire Closes Yosemite Valley for First Time in More Than a Decade – The iconic Yosemite Valley, home to the most famous vistas in Yosemite National Park, will be evacuated Wednesday to protect visitors from dangerous smoke from the Ferguson fire, The Huffington Post reported.Park officials said the closure would remain in effect until Sunday, according to an announcement Tuesday.”Get yourself out of here if you can,” Yosemite National Park superintendent Michael Reynolds told CNN on Tuesday.The closure means all hotels, campgrounds and visitor services in Yosemite Valley and Wawona will be shuttered, and anyone currently using them has been instructed to leave by noon on Wednesday.This is the first time the valley, home to the national park‘s famous waterfalls and rock features Half Dome and El Capitan, has been closed because of a wildfire since the A-Rock Fire burned 18,000 acres in the area in 1990, according to The Huffington Post.
The Latest: Southern California, Sierra fires keep growing | Fox News: A wildfire in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California has grown to 18 square miles (46 square kilometers). Authorities say just 3 percent of the fire’s perimeter is contained Friday morning. Conditions are calm but gusty winds are expected by afternoon. The fire allegedly was intentionally set Wednesday and quickly spread through timber and brush near the town of Idyllwild and other communities about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. More than 4,900 structures are threatened and an estimated 6,000 people have been evacuated. In the Sierra Nevada, the Ferguson Fire continues to grow just outside Yosemite National Park. Authorities say it is now nearly 72 square miles (186 square kilometers), but containment has increased to 29 percent. Yosemite Valley and the Wawona and Mariposa Grove areas of the national park remain closed. More evacuations have been ordered as a devastating wildfire torches an area in and around the Northern California city of Redding.
Carr Fire: Raging wildfire Northern California turns deadly, reaches Redding, forces “mass evacuations” — An explosive wildfire raged through several Northern California communities, killing two firefighters and destroying dozens of homes after thousands of terrified residents fled in miles-long traffic jams. Sixty-five structures have been destroyed, and 5,000 other buildings were threatened, fire officials said Friday.The Carr Fire is “taking down everything in its path,” said Scott McLean, a CalFire spokesman for the crews battling the blaze.In all, an estimated 37,000 people have fled from the Carr Fire, which began Monday and tripled in size overnight Thursday amid scorching temperatures, low humidity and high winds. Fire officials warned that the blaze would probably burn deeper into urban areas before there was any hope of containing it. Flames that turned the sky orange swept through the communities of Shasta and Keswick before jumping the Sacramento River on Thursday and reaching Redding, a city of about 92,000 people and the largest in the region.
Deadly Calif. wildfire ‘taking down everything in its path,’ spawning ‘firenadoes’ – A raging wildfire in Northern California that swelled in size Friday has killed two people and injured at least three firefighters, officials said. The Carr Fire in Shasta County has since claimed the lives of a bulldozer operator and a city of Redding firefighter, according to officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the U.S. National Park Service and the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office. The “mechanical failure of a vehicle” ignited the blaze in Whiskeytown on Monday, officials said. The fire had burned an area of more than 48,000 acres by Friday night, with a containment of just 5 percent. The flames ripped through northwest Shasta County then spread southeast, sweeping across the Sacramento River overnight and roaring toward the city limits of Redding, which is home to 92,000. At least 500 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed by the fast-moving fire, while 75 others have been damaged. Another nearly 5,000 structures remain threatened, officials said.
Nearly 1,000 homes on evacuation alert in B.C., Canada due to wildfires –Some 123 fires are burning across the province, of which 41 are in the Kamloops Fire Centre, which includes the Okanagan. There are also significant wildfires raging in central and southeast B.C. and in Ontario. People living in nearly 1,000 homes have already been forced to leave or must be prepared to leave at a moments notice as 41 wildfires blaze in British Columbia’s scenic Okanagan region. Located in B.C.’s southern interior, the region is defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of the Okanagan Country, extending into the United States as Okanogan County in north-central Washington state. The Okanagan region, also a wine-growing region, includes the cities of Kelowna, Penticton, and Vernon. According to the BC Wildfire Service, the highest levels of fire activity are in the Okanagan, Prince George, and southeastern regions, reports CBC Canada. A lightning storm earlier last week sparked multiple wildfires that resulted in one major blaze, the Mount Eneas fire near Peachland, growing in size to 10 square kilometers (3.86 square miles). “Things are quite busy right now and the situation down there is pretty volatile,” said Chief Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek, speaking from Kamloops, just north of the Okanagan, reports the National Post. “We are definitely fully engaged down there, but comparing it to where we were at, at this time in 2017, definitely a very different fire season,” he said. “You know at this stage last year the entire city of Williams Lake was evacuated, tens of thousands of people displaced. We had many massive fires burning out of control throughout the Interior.”
A Global Heat Wave Has Set the Arctic Circle on Fire – From Japan to Sweden, and Oman to Texas, a global heat wave is setting records, igniting wildfires, and killing dozens all across the world this week. The south-central region is home to the highest temperatures in the U.S. this week, with nearly 35 million people living under excessive heat warnings issued by the National Weather Service. Temperatures are expected to be in the triple digits across Texas this weekend, marking the most severe heat wave in the state since 2011. Across the globe in Kyoto, Japan, Thursday marked the seventh straight day of temperatures that exceeded 100 degrees, breaking all known records for the ancient capital city. At least 30 people have died in Japan during the heat wave, which has complicated rescue efforts following floods and landslides that killed more than 200 in western Japan earlier this month. On Thursday alone ten people died and 2,605 people were sent to hospitals in Tokyo due to heat, the Japan Times reports. The day before, Tokyo rescue workers set a record by responding to more than 3,000 emergency calls. Meanwhile, in Sweden, the Arctic Circle is on fire. High temperatures and a prolonged drought have caused 49 fires to ignite across Sweden, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees as far north as the Arctic Circle this week. According to the Washington Post, temperatures in Scandinavia typically settle in the 60s and 70s this time of year, meaning the current heat wave is making things around 20 degrees hotter than normal. The list of areas experiencing extreme temperatures keeps going: An Algerian city earlier this month broke the record for the highest temperature ever in Africa when it hit 124.3 degrees and a city in Oman recorded the highest low temperature – 108.7 degrees – ever recorded on Earth. In Quebec, more than 90 people were killed by extreme heat in early July.
The Arctic is on fire, and you can see it from space – Wildfires are ravaging parts of the Arctic Circle, and they’re big enough to see from space. The wildfires started in early June, and more than 50 have now cropped up in parts of Sweden inside the Arctic Circle, according to the European Space Agency, which has kept tabs on the situation with satellites from space. Sweden doesn’t often have to deal with fires, but so far the blazes have swallowed up $70 million worth of land, according to Swedish news agency TT. The country has asked for help from Norway and Italy, which sent along helicopters and planes to help contain the flames, according to the New York Times. To figure out the size of the fires and where they’re spreading, the European Space Agency put four of its Copernicus Sentinel satellites on the job. Without the satellite imagery they’re providing, the agency would have a tough time measuring the fires or even seeing them at all in some of the sparsely populated areas.The wildfires follow the longest sustained drought on record in Sweden and heat waves that have engulfed most of Europe. And to scientists, they look a lot like what you’d expect human-caused climate change to look like. These photos show the west coast of Norway over to central Sweden, where the fires are raging below the clouds. And in a zoomed-in shot, not just the smoke is visible; the satellites caught images where you can see the actual flames.
Wildfires Erupt in Greece, Killing Scores and Injuring More Than 100 – Wildfires that ignited in Greece Monday have killed at least 60 people in the area around Athens, prompting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to declare three days of national mourning, BBC News reported.The fires, which have injured at least 150, are the worst Greece has seen in more than a decade.”Today Greece is mourning, and in memory of those who were lost, we are declaring a three-day period of mourning,” Tsipras said, as ABC News reported. “But we mustn’t let mourning overwhelm us, because these hours are hours of battle, unity, courage and above all solidarity.”The Spanish government sent two planes to help fight the blazes, ABC News reported. France, Italy, Germany and Poland also answered Greece’s request for help with equipment and firefighters, BBC News reported. The firefighters need to work quickly, since temperatures in the area are expected to rise later this week.Greece is prone to wildfires in the hot, dry summer months, according to BBC News, but this year’s are the worst since 2007 blazes killed dozens. There is some speculation among officials that the fires could have been sparked by arsonists looting old homes. A dry winter also helped create the conditions that allowed the current blazes to spread, Al Jazeera reported.
Wildfires kill 74 on Greek coast – At least 74 people have died in wildfires in the Attica region around Athens, in Greece’s worst fire disaster in more than a decade. Flames fanned by strong winds devastated the seaside village of Mati, devouring homes and cars. There rescuers found the bodies of 26 adults and children, who had apparently hugged each other as they died, trapped just metres from the sea. Many calls have been made to the rescue services looking for missing persons. Mati is located in the Rafina region which is popular with local tourists, especially pensioners and children attending holiday camps. Hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blazes and the authorities are seeking international assistance. A fire brigade official confirmed the latest death toll. What is happening here in eastern Attica is a black hell. After I passed by hundreds of burning cars and houses earlier today, I reached the yard where police said so many people had been found dead. I could see some of them lying on the ground as fog covered the place and a toxic smell spread through the atmosphere. Most of them were tourists who had tried to find refuge but did not make it. I could see flames in the trees and on the electricity poles all around. After that, police blocked access to everyone except rescuers. What happened in Mati? Fire swept through the village 40km (25 miles) north-east of Athens on Monday and was still burning in some areas on Tuesday morning. Desperate families trying to reach the safety of the sea were trapped by walls of smoke and flame. Others died in buildings or cars. After the 26 bodies were found in an open space, Nikos Economopoulos, head of Greece’s Red Cross, said: “They had tried to find an escape route but unfortunately these people and their kids didn’t make it in time. Instinctively, seeing the end nearing, they embraced.”
Greece Engulfed In Fire: Dozens Dead In Coastal Town Near Athens – The worst fire Greece has experienced in over a decade began on Monday, charring homes and cars as it burned through the coastal Attica region around Athens. At least 74 people are confirmed dead from the wildfires and many more remain missing. Rescuers have recovered more than 700 survivors from the sea after fires forced them to flee into the ocean for safety. The fire swept through Mati, a small resort town just 18 miles outside of Athens, Greece. The coastal town, known for tourism and children’s summer camps is situated on the Mediterranean Sea with picturesque beaches. As the fire began on Monday afternoon, families and children fled to the coast, while some found themselves trapped just a few feet from water with nowhere to go. The Red Cross said they found 26 adults and children huddled together nearby the beach as fire overtook them. This was the worst fire in Greece since August 2007 when fires killed dozens as they burned through the southern Peloponnese peninsula. Alexis Tsipras, the Greece prime minister, announced three days of national mourning as a result of the Mati fire and has asked for international assistance. The speed of the fire caught people off guard as they found themselves trapped by walls of smoke and flames. Hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to stop the wildfire, which was largely contained by Tuesday morning. Firefighters were helped by Greece’s army and coastguard in a joint effort to save as many people as possible while quickly putting out the fire. Nearby Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Cyprus and Poland have all sent help to Greece by way of firefighters, planes, vehicles, and emergency supplies. The fire left only shells of homes and cars across the town along with smouldering white ash and smoke. At the same time nearly 50 other fires broke out across Greece, most of which were put out quickly by local fire departments.
Arson suspected in devastating fires in Greece that killed at least 79 people –As rescue crews searched for victims Wednesday in the widespread rubble from wildfires that devastated Greece and killed at least 79 people, officials investigated whether arsonists started the blazes. Multiple fires in different areas outside the capital of Athens seemed to ignite at once, leading investigators to probe whether they were deliberately set. “Fifteen fires were started simultaneously on three different fronts in Athens,” government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told reporters. He said the Greek government has requested drones from the United States to “detect any suspicious activity.” The fires exploded Monday afternoon in the forests near the seaside towns outside Athens. Fanned by winds of up to 60 miles per hour and fueled by parched vegetation, flames quickly grew into infernos that swept across the region, leveling homes, trapping victims and prompting thousands of people to flee for their lives. The death toll climbed to 79 people and nearly 200 were injured, the government fire service said in a report Wednesday. SLIDESHOW: PHOTOS: Deadly wildfires devastate Greece More than 1,000 homes and 300 vehicles were either destroyed or damaged by the fires, officials said. It was the worst wildfire to hit Greece since August 2007, when fires erupted in the outskirts of Athens, killing 67 people.
Greek fires blamed on ‘culture of arson’ – Greek authorities battling forest fires for the fourth day in a row yesterday attacked the country’s “culture of arson”, which has been widely blamed for the catastrophe. Prosecutors want to use powers of investigation usually reserved for terrorism cases to track down the culprits, while a senior government minister said they posed an “asymmetric threat” – language usually reserved for suicide bombers. Greek fire-fighting helicopters, aided by dozens of aircraft sent from other countries, rescued villagers trapped in isolated farms and houses in the southern Peloponnese peninsula, which has been worst hit. The site of ancient Olympia appeared to have been saved from the flames while blazes continued to ravage the rest of the area. As the death toll rose to more than 60, Greek authorities announced a battle plan to take on the arsonists who many believe have caused the national emergency. In Athens, Dimitris Papangelopoulos, normally a senior prosecutor in terrorism cases, has ordered an investigation to find out whether the attacks could be considered terrorism. Vyron Polydoras, the public order minister, made it clear that he believed anti-terror laws were applicable. “We can say this constitutes an asymmetric threat,” he said. Anti-terror squads were already questioning 32 suspects yesterday afternoon, as the Greek government offered rewards of up to u20AC1 million (£675,000) for information. The money appeared to be a concerted attempt to challenge what seems the routine of setting fires every summer. Dimitris Karavellas, the Greek World Wildlife Fund’s director, said yesterday: “It is a culture of arson.” He said Greeks “still consider the forest as an area of land for development” and criticised the country’s failure to establish a land registry that sets out which areas are protected from development. “We are the only country in the EU that doesn’t have a land registry,” he said. “We get situations where there are forest fires one year and nothing but houses a couple of years later.”
Drone Footage Shows Greek Hellscape After Deadliest Forest Fire In Decades – Drone footage from Greece’s deadliest forest fire in decades reveals a ravaged hellscape of partially standing structures and incinerated foliage. The fire broke out Monday northeast of Athens in the seaside Rafina region, racing through the area fueled by gale-force winds and leaving 82 dead with most burned beyond recognition, as crews searched for more victims. Spokeswoman Stavroula Malliri said the search for further potential victims continued, So far, she said homes in the area that had not been destroyed and were shut had not been entered by rescue crews, but that the search would not end until every building in the area had been thoroughly investigated. Apart from the house-to-house searches in the burnt areas, coast guard and volunteer divers were also searching the waters off the coast of the worst affected areas and a nearby deserted island. – CBS
Kilauea Volcano’s Eruptions Could Continue for Months or Years, Report Says – While Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano has been erupting almost continuously since 1983, a recent spate of eruptions that have destroyed hundreds of homes could continue indefinitely, according to a new report. Issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaii Volcano Observatory, the report says the eruptions in Kilauea’s lower East Rift Zone could become the longest ever recorded at the volcano, as the lava flows show no sign of slowing down. That could mean more homes in danger, and with more than 700 dwellings destroyed since the lava flows began May 3, it’s already a full-blown disaster. “Given this volume and the sustained withdrawal of magma from the summit reservoir without appreciable deformation in the lower East Rift Zone, it is most likely that the LERZ eruption may continue for months to years,” said the report. Furthermore, with no signs that the eruptions are slowing down, this also raises fears that new channels could form, diverting lava to other areas previously untouched by fissure openings. If that happens, more residential areas could be in danger. Nearly three months after the eruptions began, lava has covered more than 12 square miles of land, and one fissure – fissure 8 – is the main source of the lava flows in recent weeks. Scientists will continue to study this fissure, and if the pressure drops, it could be a sign that the eruption is waning. The report was given to the Hawaii County Civil Defense in an effort to better prepare for possible impacts from the continued eruption, according to CNN.com. “If the ongoing eruption maintains its current style of activity at a high eruption rate, then it may take months to a year or two to wind down,” said the report. “While this seems to be the most likely outcome, a pause in the eruption, followed by additional activity, cannot be ruled out, nor can an abrupt cessation or a transition to steady, longer-lived activity at a lower effusion rate.”
Laos dam collapse: ‘hundreds missing’ after villages flooded — Hundreds of people are missing after a hydroelectric dam collapsed in southern Laos, destroying thousands of homes and leaving an unknown number of dead. Five billion cubic metres of water – the equivalent of 2m Olympic swimming pools – swept through the surrounding countryside after the accident at the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam, which is still under construction in south-eastern Attapeu province. The dam collapsed at 8pm on Monday, a state news agency reported. The neighbouring villages of Yai Thae, Hinlad, Mai, Thasengchan, Tha Hin and Samong bore the brunt of flooding, which has reportedly destroyed thousands of homes. Officials brought in boats to try to evacuate victims in San Sai district who were left stranded by the water. Aerial footage shows the whole region under muddy water, with only roofs and the tops of trees visible. Several people have been confirmed dead, and more than 6,600 are homeless, official news agency KPL reported. The company building the dam said heavy rain and flooding caused it to collapse and it was cooperating with the Laos government to help rescue villagers. “We are running an emergency team and planning to help evacuate and rescue residents,” an SK Engineering & Construction spokesman told Reuters. The dam is a key component of the country’s controversial ambitions to becomes the “battery of Asia” by selling power to its neighbours. Eleven large hydropower dams on the main Mekong River, and 120 tributary dams, are planned over the next 20 years. The 410MW project was designed to generate electricity by diverting the waters of the Houay Makchanh, Xe-Namnoy and Xe-Pian rivers on the Bolaven Plateau in the Laos province of Champasack, and then letting them flow back into the Xe-Pian river, and eventually into the Mekong. The plan is to export 90% of the energy produced to neighbouring Thailand, making it a lucrative source of income.
Laos dam collapse: Race to rescue flooded villagers – BBC — Footage of the disaster has shown survivors huddled on roof tops of their submerged homes, or wading through water, holding children and their belongings.One woman, seen in a video posted by ABC Laos news on Facebook, cried and prayed as she was evacuated on a boat, telling rescuers her mother was still stranded on a tree. The dam that collapsed is an auxiliary dam called “Saddle Dam D”. It is part of a network of two main dams and five subsidiary dams in the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric power project. The dam was 90% complete and had been set to start operating commercially next year.SK Engineering & Construction, a South Korean company with a stake in the project, said fractures were first discovered on the dam on Sunday, before it collapsed:
- Sunday 21:00 local time (14:00 GMT) – The dam is found to be partially damaged. The authorities are alerted and villagers near the dam start to be evacuated. A team is sent to repair the dam – but is hampered by heavy rain, which has also damaged many roads.
- Monday 03:00 – Water is discharged from one of the main dams (Xe-Namnoy dam) to try to lower water levels in the subsidiary dam.
- Monday 12:00 – The state government orders villagers downstream to evacuate after learning that there could be further damage to the dam.
- Monday 18:00 – More damage is confirmed at the dam.
- By Tuesday 01:30, a village near the subsidiary dam is flooded, and by 09:30 seven villages are flooded.
Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, the main Thai stakeholder, said in a statement that the dam “was fractured” after “continuous rainstorm[s]” caused a “high volume of water to flow into the project’s reservoir”. As a result, water “leaked to the downstream area and down to Xe-Pian River” about 5km (three miles) away, it added.
More than 20 killed and hundreds missing from dam disaster in Laos – At least 26 people have been killed and 170 are missing after a major hydropower dam construction site collapsed on Monday night in Attapeu province in southern Laos. Seven villages were devastated and more than 6,600 people rendered homeless after a 30-foot wall of water hit the area. The Xe-pian Xe-Namnoy project consists of two major dams and five smaller auxiliary earth-filled dams. “Saddle Dam D,” one of the auxiliary dams, failed after several days of heavy monsoonal rains.Construction inspectors reported damage to the dam on July 23. Following a letter from the Laos’s Resettlement Office, government authorities issued an evacuation order the next day, but it was too late.The dam collapsed at 8 p.m. on July 24, sending around 5 billion cubic metres of water, equivalent to approximately 2 million Olympic swimming pools, into the valley below. Thousands of homes were destroyed in the downstream neighbouring villages of Yai Thae, Hinlad, Mai, Thasengchan, Tha Hin and Samong.Media reports show hundreds of people stranded on the roofs of their inundated homes and villagers seeking to escape in overcrowded longboats or wading through floodwaters with children and their possessions. Makeshift disaster relief centres have been established, with hundreds of people seeking shelter in local schools and fields. Rescue efforts have been hampered by the lack of phone signals in the flooded areas, ongoing heavy rains and strong winds, and poor roads. Survivors are in desperate need of medical assistance, adequate shelter, food and water supplies.
Laos scrambles for food, medicines, coffins three days after dam burst (Reuters) – Troops searched for survivors in the remote southern tip of Laos on Thursday, three days after the collapse of a hydropower dam sent a torrent of water charging across paddy fields and through villages, as rescuers rushed aid to thousands of homeless. The scale of the disaster was still unclear, in part because of the inaccessibility of the area but also because reports from the communist country’s state media have been scant and sketchy. The official Laos News Agency said that 27 people were confirmed dead and 131 were missing following the failure of the dam on Monday, a subsidiary structure under construction as part of a hydroelectric project in the province of Attapeu. Earlier reports had suggested the death toll would be much higher, and on Wednesday the Vientiane Times had said more than 3,000 people were waiting to be rescued from swirling floodwaters, many of them on trees and the rooftops of submerged houses. In the village of Khokong, a sea of mud oozed around the stilt houses that were still standing and dead animals floated in the water. “Seven villages were hit, two very badly. There were 200 houses and only about 10 are left standing,” said a medical official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “We retrieved one body today. I suspect there will be more as the water goes down and the road becomes easier to access.” He said villagers were warned about three to four hours before the dam burst, but few had expected the water to rise as high as it did. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said roads and bridges were damaged, and boat and helicopter were the only means of transport in the worst-affected areas. Schools in safe areas were being used as evacuation centers, and about 1,300 families needed tents for shelter, it said.
Millions under flash flood watches, warnings as rain pounds East Coast – Flash flood watches and warnings were issued for about 30 million people along the East Coast as heavy rain continued to pelt the region on Wednesday.Since Saturday, parts of the mid-Atlantic have been hit with more than 10 inches of rain, causing numerous rescues and evacuations, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.From eastern North Carolina to central New York, heavy rain was expected to continue on Wednesday, with parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland at risk for as much as 8 inches.”We have a stream of heavy rain coming in off the Atlantic ocean that has been coming in for days,” said Steven Strouss, a meteorologist for NBC News, who added that other areas could receive 1 to 3 inches of rain on Wednesday.”The ground was already saturated, and the rivers and streams and creeks can’t handle all that water, so that’s why we saw all that flooding.” By Wednesday afternoon, power failures in Pennsylvania had fallen below 5,000, utilities reported. The state Department of Health said no storm-related deaths had been reported. Earlier in the week, a 19-year-old woman went missing in Pennsylvania after she and a 22-year-old woman were swept away in a creek. The 22-year-old woman was able to escape, but the 19-year-old, Laura Olweiler, wasn’t. Pennsylvania State Police said Wednesday afternoon that conditions remained too hazardous for now to continue the search for Olweiler. In Fairfax, Virginia, on Wednesday, some roads were under water, nearly swallowing cars in some areas. In Baltimore County, Maryland, several homes were crippled after large trees toppled onto roofs. Even as far south as Florida, turbulent weather created riptides, which made swimming extremely dangerous for beachgoers.
Slowdown of Atlantic conveyor belt could trigger ‘two decades’ of rapid global warming — A slowdown in the Atlantic Ocean current bringing warm water up to Europe from the tropics could trigger “a period of rapid global surface warming”, a new study suggests. The research, published in Nature, says that a recent weakening of the “Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation” (AMOC) is coming to an end, but will stay at a “prolonged minimum” for the next two decades.This would see relatively low levels of heat uptake in the Atlantic Ocean, thus boosting rising temperatures at the Earth’s surface. The AMOC is a system of currents that brings warm, salty water in the upper layers of the ocean up from the Gulf of Mexico into the North Atlantic. It then sends cold, more dense water back again in the deep ocean on a constant conveyor belt. This conveyor plays a crucial role in western Europe’s climate as the incoming warm water releases heat into the atmosphere. Without it, for example, UK winters would be around 5C colder. Recent research has suggested that the AMOC has weakened by around 15% since the middle of the 20th century. This could lead to considerable changes in climate and rainfall patterns throughout the northern hemisphere. As the AMOC has only been monitored directly and continuously since 2004, the study uses a series of “proxies” to infer changes in AMOC strength back to 1945.These proxies include measurements of ocean temperature and salinity, as well as observations of sea surface height from satellites and tide gauges. Taken together, these proxies “paint a consistent picture” of changes in the AMOC, says co-authorProf Ka-Kit Tung, professor of applied mathematics and adjunct professor in atmospheric science at the University of Washington.The researchers theorise that human-caused warming has essentially changed the principal role of the AMOC from shifting heat northwards to storing heat in the deep Atlantic.When the AMOC is strong, there is more warm, salty water in the North Atlantic and the subsequent sinking transports more heat to the deep ocean. This lessens human-caused warming at the Earth’s surface, the researchers say. During periods of weak AMOC, less heat is being shifted into the deep ocean, and so more stays at the surface and temperatures rise rapidly. This is illustrated in the charts below.
The World Is Hot, on Fire, and Flooding. Climate Change is Here. The worst ravages of climate change are on display around the world.Wildfires have ripped through towns in Greece, floods have submerged parts of Laos, and heat waves have overwhelmed Japan. These are striking examples of climate change playing out in its deadliest forms, and they’re making the term “natural disaster” an outdated concept.People in Greece were jumping into the Aegean to escape advancing wildfires, according to a report in the New York Times. More than 70 are confirmed dead so far, and some scenes are horrific. “Greece is going through an unspeakable tragedy,” saidPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in a televised address to declare three days of national mourning.This is already Greece’s hottest year on record. Although the last few weeks have been mild and wet, it’s nearly certain that warm weather has played a role in drying out forests throughout Europe, where the number of fires this year is 43 percent above normal. Longer summers, more intense drought, and higher temperatures are all linked to greater fire risk. We’ve known enough about meteorology to link extreme events to their increased likelihood as they are happening for years now. Recent advances in extreme weather attributioncan often tell us exactly how much. Ample evidence links worsening fires with human activity. Greece and much of the Mediterranean region is projected to turn into desert over the next several decades, and there are signs that this shift has already begun. As the region’s native trees die off and urban areas expand into neglected forests, firefighting resources are becoming woefully overmatched. Regardless of ignition source – arson or lightning or human carelessness – massive wildfires will become more common as droughts intensify and heat waves get more common. Extreme winds, like those blamed for fanning the flames this week in Greece and during megafires in Portugal last year, can make an already dire situation uncontrollable.
Wave after wave of garbage hits the Dominican Republic — The Caribbean nation is known for sapphire seas and ivory beaches, but it is grappling with waves of garbage washing up on its shores, a vivid reminder of the presence of thousands of tons of plastic in the world’s oceans. Those piles, most notably the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” are usually far from human settlements, to say nothing of resort destinations. But instead of visitors relaxing on Montesinos Beach in the capital, Santo Domingo, there has been an altogether different scene, one unlikely to wind up on a postcard: Hundreds of city workers and volunteers who have been waging an uphill battle against wave after wave of sludgy garbage.Sixty tons of garbage have been collected on the beach since last week, Reuters reported. The haul included plastic bottles and Styrofoam takeout boxes, Parley for the Oceans, an organization that works to reduce plastic waste in the world’s oceans, said in a statement. The images are shocking, but perhaps not for people who live in the Dominican Republic. “It happens pretty much all the time if there is a strong rainfall or a storm,” said Cyrill Gutsch, the founder of Parley for the Oceans, in a telephone interview. The phenomenon is not confined to the Dominican Republic, he said, and can be seen in many developing nations with a coastline. “Everybody uses the rivers and the beaches as dump sites.”What is happening in the Dominican Republic is only a small symptom of the larger global problem, Mr. Gutsch said. Plastic dumped in and near rivers washes into the ocean, and only a small percentage bounces back onto shore. The majority makes it to the high seas. Mr. Gutsch said that recycling was a short-term solution and amounted to only a bandage. Parley for the Oceans advocates phasing out single-use plastic altogether.
In Acidic Oceans, Fish Lose Ability to Find Food — Fish are losing their sense of smell as rising carbon emissions turn the water they live in to acid.A new study has revealed that as levels of carbonic acid in seawater rise, sea bass lose up to half their smelling capacity.Surges in atmospheric carbon dioxide increase ocean acidity as the gas dissolves in water – a phenomenon already known to dissolve the hard outer coatings of shellfish. The findings are significant as these fish rely on smell to do everything from finding food and potential mates to detecting predators in their vicinity.“Our study is the first to examine the impact of rising carbon dioxide in the ocean on the olfactory [smell] system of fish,” said University of Exeter researcher Dr Cosima Porteus, who led the research. The scientists compared the behaviour of young sea bass at current carbon dioxide levels to the levels expected at the end of the century, when oceans are predicted to contain up to two and a half times the levels of the gas seen today. They noticed big changes in the behaviour of the fish inhabiting the most acidic water. Not only did the bass swim less, they appeared not to notice the presence of predators.
There Is No Escape for Corals — Picture a coral reef and you’ll likely imagine a sun-drenched world lying just below the ocean’s surface. But reefs also exist beyond these shallow waters, in the so-called mesophotic zone, from 100 to 500 feet down. To study the unfamiliar animals that live in this dim world, normal scuba skills won’t cut it. Divers need special training and equipment – including larger gas tanks, rebreathers that recycle the air that divers exhale, and special gas mixes that include helium. Why bother? Because coral reefs are among the most endangered ecosystems on the planet. Rising temperatures, acidifying waters, and emerging diseases have turned once resplendent reefs into ghostly dead zones; in just the past two years, half the corals in Australia’s mighty Great Barrier Reef have died. As the calamity worsens, some scientists have looked to mesophotic reefs for hope. If shallow species also live farther down, where the harms inflicted by humans are presumably weaker, then these deep waters could act as refuges for the shallow species – sanctuaries where corals could wait out the perils that threaten them up above.
Mangroves and their deforestation may emit more methane than we thought – The ability of mangroves to sequester carbon in the ground – termed “blue carbon” – is unparalleled, with previous research finding a tract of mangrove can bury 40 times more carbon than a similarly sized area of rainforest. But what exactly happens to this carbon once it’s in the ground has been something of a mystery. So scientists at universities in Australia decided to find out by examining the soil carbon stored beneath mangroves in Queensland.Their results, published in Science Advances, reveal that mangrove soil carbon doesn’t remain stored in perpetuity. Some of it is transformed from carbon dioxide (CO2) to methane (CH4) by tiny microorganisims called archea, and is then released back into the atmosphere. Methane has a much bigger warming impact than carbon dioxide – 34 to 86 times more powerful – so even a bit of methane has the potential to offset mangrove CO2 storage.Ultimately, the team found that the methane released from mangrove soil carbon offsets blue carbon burial rates by an average of 20 percent.
Methane Deathtrap Threatens Democracy – A methane deathtrap – continuing Arctic Ocean eruption of ever-increasing levels of methane brings forth speculation of a “Black Swan Event,” meaning society is caught flat-footed oblivious to impending danger until it’s way too late. Climate scientists have long sighted methane (CH4) bubbles rising to the surface in the Arctic for well over one decade now, especially along the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS). Problem: Methane eruptions are gradually turning into virtual monsters, getting bigger and wider (up to a half-mile across of rippling bubbles, according to Russian scientists), and potentially more dangerous and destructive, expanding more and more, in anticipation of a gigantic CH4 burp (maybe 50 gigatons suddenly vs. only 5 gigatons now in the atmosphere) followed by a massive global self-reinforcing planetary heat stroke. Meantime, mainstream science is behind the “eight ball” re Arctic methane. According to an article in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (“AAAS”), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims Arctic methane will be “insignificant” throughout the century, as stated: “The IPCC considers the potential contribution of the ESAS into the emissions of CH4 as insignificant.” (Source: Russian Scientists Deny Climate Model of IPCC, Tomsk Poytechnic University, AAAS, 15 Aug 2017) What if the IPCC is dead wrong, thus misleading the public head first into a “Black Swan Event,” blindsided by one of the biggest potential human disasters in all history, maybe sooner rather than later. All of which begs a multi-part question: How can scientists in a worldwide forum, like the IPCC, be so far off base, or is today’s scientific methodology inherently weak, or is the entire climate change scenario simply too vast for effective scientific coverage, or is the ESAS methane threat not that imposing? Nobody knows for sure.
Sucking carbon out of the air won’t solve climate change – The idea of pulling carbon dioxide directly out of the air has been bouncing around climate change policy circles for well over a decade, but it’s only been in the past few years that the technology itself – “direct air capture,” or DAC – has been tested in the real world. In June, we got the first solid engineering and cost numbers on DAC, courtesy of a company called Carbon Engineering out of Calgary, Canada.In a paper in the new energy journal Joule, the company (led by its founder, Harvard’s David Keith) reports its experience over the past three years running a DAC demonstration plant in Squamish, British Columbia. It’s the clearest look yet at how DAC might actually work, not just as a technology but as a business. The headline news from the paper is that the cost of capturing a ton of CO2 – estimated at around $600 in 2011 – has fallen to between $94 and $232. Almost any source of renewable energy can prevent a ton of carbon for cheaper than that, but still, down at the lower end, beneath $100, DAC starts to look viable in a low-carbon world.
GOP candidate calls woman ‘naive’ for asking about climate – Body heat is making Earth warmer, and climate change is caused by the planet’s movement toward the sun. Those are the claims of Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, former state Sen. Scott Wagner. At a town hall event on Wednesday in Glenside, Pa., he described a teenage woman as “young and naive” when she asked about his positions on climate change. Wagner told her he cared more about fixing sewage overflows than about reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”You said climate is a result of people’s body heat and refusing to take action on the issue,” said Rose Strauss, an 18-year-old activist. “Does this have anything to do with the $200,000 that you have taken from the fossil fuel industry?” Wagner, standing before a small crowd, responded: “Rose, I appreciate you being here, but you’re 18 years old; you know you’re a little young and naive. Rose, I appreciate you being here, but here’s the question: Are we here to elect a governor, or are we here to elect a scientist? I’m here to be the governor.” The audience clapped and laughed when Wagner called her naive. Someone in the crowd yelled, “Answer the question.”
Goldman Predicts Major Solar Market Contraction – Sweltering temperatures and a ton of sun aren’t enough to make this a good year for solar, with Goldman Sachs chiming in – again – with a dismal prediction: Global solar installations will decline by 24 percent this year, the analysts say. Global solar installations will decline by 24 percent this year, the analysts say. It’s not the first time this year that Goldman has come out with a negative picture for solar. And Goldman isn’t alone, even if it is throwing around the worst numbers. (Credit Suisse is forecasting a 17-percent decline, while Bloomberg NEF is anticipating a 3-percent decline). If Goldman is right, it will be the first real solar market contraction, and China is making the biggest dent in demand because it took 20 gigawatts of projects offline in May, sending global installations down to 75 gigawatts from 99 gigawatts last year, Bloomberg reported, citing Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Lee.
Trump Administration Presses Plan to Ease Fuel-Economy – President Donald Trump’s administration is advancing a plan to freeze fuel-economy standards for new cars and trucks, and to escalate its fight against California’s power to set regulatory standards for the entire U.S. auto market, according to people familiar with the matter. The new rules, which could be released as early as this week, would halt plans to keep raising requirements for efficiency. The increases had been set up by a collaboration between California and former President Barack Obama’s regulators as a way to address climate change. The Trump administration’s plan would eliminate gradual increases in fuel-efficiency standards for vehicle model years 2022-2025 that would have aimed to bring the figure to roughly 36 miles per gallon in real-world driving by 2025, based on complex government calculations averaged out over all vehicles sold. One obstacle to that plan is California, which holds exemptions allowing it to impose emissions standards more stringent than those applied by the federal government. California has already sued to stop the Trump administration, and the auto industry has lobbied both sides to strike a deal that would avoid a rift that leaves the country with two sets of rules. Instead of pursuing a deal, the plan spearheaded by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency tries to eliminate or override California’s authority.
Trump To Revoke California’s Power To Fight Smog – In a move that will infuriate environmentalists everywhere, but especially in California, the Trump administration is seeking to repeal California’s authority to regulate automobile emissions in a proposed revision of Obama-era standards, according to Bloomberg citing three people familiar with the plan.The proposal which will be released later this week represents a “frontal assault” on one of Barack Obama’s signature regulatory programs to curb greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.It also sets up a high-stakes battle over California’s unique ability to combat air pollution and, if finalized, is sure to set off a protracted courtroom battle.And since the revamp also includes California’s mandate for electric car sales, it represents a gut punch to the likes of Elon Musk, who recently announced (yet again) a deal to begin work on a factory in China.The proposed overhaul would also put the brakes on federal rules to boost fuel efficiency into the next decade, instead it will cap federal fuel economy requirements at the 2020 level, which under federal law must be at least a 35-mile-per-gallon fleet average, rather than letting them rise to roughly 50 mpg by 2025 as envisioned in the plan left behind by Obama. As Bloomberg details, as part of the stunning proposal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will propose revoking the Clean Air Act waiver granted to California that has allowed the state to regulate carbon emissions from vehicle tailpipes and force carmakers to sell electric vehicles in the state in higher numbers. Separately, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will assert that California is barred from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from autos under the 1975 law that established the first federal fuel-efficiency requirements, the people said.
EPA signs off on rule exempting farmers from reporting emissions | TheHill: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday that it is implementing recently passed legislation that exempts farmers from having to report emissions derived from animal waste and other pollutants. The final rule, signed by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Monday, codifies the most recent version of the FARM Act, which exempted many farmers from reporting air releases of hazardous substances from animal waste. Signed into law in March, the act made changes to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) that the bill supporters said regulated emissions from farms much like it regulated Superfund sites, which they call a far too lofty request.
Cleanwashing: How States Count Polluting Energy Sources as Renewable – Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have mandatory programs to encourage renewable electricity generation. These Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) programs set renewable electricity goals and deter- mine which energy sources qualify as renewable. Such programs can be part of the energy policy portfolio to create powerful incentives to shift to renewable energy. Unfortunately, most RPS programs have not been robust enough to foster a rapid transition to clean, renewable energy About half the states aimed to achieve only up to 25 percent renewable power. Almost all states allowed combustion-based energy sources including wood burning and the burning of waste methane (so-called biogas) to meet RPS goals. Food & Water Watch evaluated each of the state RPS programs based on whether the program goals would target 100-percent renewable electricity, whether the programs included any of six dirty energy sources and the misguided policy of renewable energy credits, and whether the states were on track to achieve 100-percent wind, solar and geothermal electricity generation within two decades – a renewable transition time frame necessary to stop the worst and potentially irreversible effects of climate change. Only a handful of states were projected to generate or supply the majority of their electricity from wind, solar and geothermal sources by 2038; less than half would generate even 25 percent of their electricity from these sources by 2038 Almost all states failed to measure up to each of these metrics. Seven states were weak across all three metrics – lower RPS targets, more dirty energy sources in their portfolios and little shift to wind, solar and geothermal energy: Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The $3 billion plan to turn Hoover Dam into a giant battery – Hoover Dam helped transform the American West, harnessing the force of the Colorado River – along with millions of cubic feet of concrete and tens of millions of pounds of steel – to power millions of homes and businesses. It was one of the great engineering feats of the 20th century.Now it is the focus of a distinctly 21st-century challenge: turning the dam into a vast reservoir of excess electricity, fed by the solar farms and wind turbines that represent the power sources of the future.The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, an original operator of the dam when it was erected in the 1930s, wants to equip it with a $3 billion pipeline and a pump station powered by solar and wind energy. The pump station, downstream, would help regulate the water flow through the dam’s generators, sending water back to the top to help manage electricity at times of peak demand. The net result would be a kind of energy storage – performing much the same function as the giant lithium-ion batteries being developed to absorb and release power.
EIA’s latest International Energy Outlook highlights analysis of China, India, and Africa – China, India, and Africa are three of the most populated parts of the world. Their economies collectively consume about one-third of all global energy, and their energy consumption is projected to grow faster than the rest of the world through 2040. As a result, changes in these economies have significant implications for global energy markets. Today, EIA is releasing three reports in its International Energy Outlook 2018 (IEO2018) that discuss the energy implications of potential changes in these economies. A related webcast presentation and panel discussion will begin at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Key findings of the IEO2018 include
- In all IEO2018 China side cases considered, China’s economy remains by far the world’s largest producer of energy-intensive goods in 2040. Faster economic growth in China leads to higher energy consumption, but the amount it increases depends on how quickly China transitions from an export, investment-led economy to a more service-oriented, personal consumption-based economy.
- India is projected to be the most populated country with the fastest-growing economy in the world under all three India side cases; however, Indian energy consumption levels do not reach those in China or the United States in the next two decades in any of India’s side cases.
- Higher economic growth across Africa leads to an expanding manufacturing sector and increasing industrial energy consumption because of possible regional competitive advantages. Higher assumed economic growth over the projection period leads to African energy consumption per capita that is 30% higher than in the Reference case in 2040.
China, India, and Africa collectively accounted for 32% of global energy consumption in 2015, and in the IEO2018 Reference case, these regions are projected to account for 36% of global energy consumption in 2040.
Saudis To Invest $10B In South Africa’s Energy Sector — Saudi Arabia has pledged to chip in $10 billion in funds to South Africa’s ailing power sector, according to a South African government spokesperson cited by CNBC. The funds will be used to build refineries and will also be used to advance petrochemicals and renewable energy projects in the developing economy of South Africa. The funds can’t come soon enough for South Africa, whose power sector outages likely represent the African nation’s number one problem. In 2016, the ongoing energy crisis took the shape of a staggering 99 days of rolling blackouts. Eskom, the country’s electric utility, has experienced blackouts this year as well, in part due to striking Eskom workers who sabotaged the national grid. In the event of a complete blackout, Eskom would need to restart its power plants without any electricity at all – a unkind scenario referred to as a “black start”. A black start could take as much as two or three weeks, according to Eskom. Enter Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom’s funds will represent just a portion of the $100 billion that South Africa is looking for to upgrade its underfunded energy sector.
Adani sees six-fold rise in coal mining – India’s Adani Group expects an over six-fold rise in coal mining volumes by the end of fiscal year 2021, an executive said on Tuesday, despite its struggle to develop a coal project in Australia. The resources conglomerate is looking to buy mines in countries such as Indonesia and is securing financing for its Carmichael mine in Australia amid challenges from environmental groups concerned about climate change and potential damage to the Great Barrier Reef. Adani’s coal mining volumes are expected to be 80 million tonnes by the end of March 2021, from 12.17 million tonnes at the end of fiscal year 2017, said Sudhir Kumar Agrawal, the techno-commercial head of Adani Ports And SEZ Ltd. The group’s coal handling volumes are expected to rise 57 per cent to 127 million tonnes by the end of 2021, Agrawal said at the India coal conference in New Delhi.
Mountaintop Mining Is Destroying More Land for Less Coal, Study Finds – Strip mining across the mountaintops of Appalachia is scarring as much as three times more land to get a ton of coal than just three decades ago, new research shows. The data and a series of new maps that track the spread of surface mining across the region suggest that even as the industry has declined, what continues likely has an oversized impact on people and the environment. If mining companies have to do more blasting and digging for the same amount of coal, that means more dust in the air and more pollution in streams, said Appalachian Voices Programs Director Matt Wasson, who worked on the study with researchers from Duke University, West Virginia University, Google and SkyTruth. The study, published online in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed journal, also provided what Duke researcher Andrew Pericak described as the first year-by-year mapping showing the spread of mountaintop mining across the region.
Uranium Leaked Through Floor of South Carolina Nuclear Plant –A nuclear plant in Richmond County, South Carolina with a history of contaminating groundwater has leaked radioactive uranium into the soil below the plant, The State reported Tuesday. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) officials said there was no reason to believe this leak left the the site of the Westinghouse plant or posed a threat to public drinking water, but state senator Darrell Jackson is calling for a public meeting to discuss the leak and other historic issues at the plant, The State further reported Wednesday. “This is very disturbing,” Jackson said. “This is one of the fears that those of us who grew up in that area, and lived in that area, have always talked about. I’m asking DHEC to get to Westinghouse officials and let’s have a public meeting, not just with elected officials, but we need citizens there also.” The NRC found uranium levels in the soil of 4,000 parts per million, more than 1,000 times higher than average for soil. The DHEC said they were still testing the groundwater on the site to see if it was contaminated, but said the plant itself was far enough away from public drinking water that it shouldn’t cause a problem. But Jackson was not reassured. “What we don’t know is what kind of impact that’s going to have 20 years from now on the groundwater, this drip, drip, drip,” Jackson said. “I don’t know of too many people too receptive to living in the area when they know the groundwater is contaminated.” Part of the plant had to shut down two years ago because of uranium found accumulating in an air pollution device, The Associated Press reported. It was also cited by the federal government this year for failing to plan adequately for a potential radiation burst.
Fukushima’s nuclear signature found in California wine — Throughout the 1950s, the US, the Soviet Union, and others tested thermonuclear weapons in the Earth’s atmosphere. Those tests released vast quantities of radioactive material into the air and triggered fears that the nuclear reactions could ignite deuterium in the oceans, thereby destroying the planet in a catastrophic accidental fireball.Atmospheric tests ended in 1980, when China finished its program, but the process has left a long-lasting nuclear signature on the planet. One of the most obvious signatures is cesium-137, a radioactive by-product of the fission of uranium-235. After release into the atmosphere, cesium-137 was swept around the world and found its way into the food supply in trace quantities. Such an addition is rarely welcomed. But in 2001, the French pharmacologist Philippe Hubert discovered that he could use this signature to date wines without opening the bottles. There is one blip in this record, though. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 bathed much of Europe, and other parts of the world, in a radioactive cloud that increased atmospheric levels of cesium-137 again. Hubert and colleagues can see this blip in their data from wines. And that raises an interesting question about the Fukushima disaster of 2011, an accident of Chernobyl proportions caused by a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan following a huge earthquake and tsunami. It released a radioactive cloud that bathed North America in fissile by-products. Today we get an answer, thanks to a study carried out by Hubert and a couple of colleagues. “In January 2017, we came across a series of Californian wines (Cabernet Sauvignon) from vintage 2009 to 2012,” say Hubert and company. This set of wines provides the perfect test. The Fukushima disaster occurred on March 11, 2011. Hubert and his colleagues found measurable amounts of cesium-137 above background levels in the wine produced after 2011. “It seems there is an increase in activity in 2011 by a factor of two,” conclude the team.