Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI.
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A deadly, drug-resistant fungus has swept the globe – here’s how it spreads – Patients infected with a deadly, drug-resistant fungus are dripping with the dangerous germ, which pours into their surroundings where it lies in wait for weeks to find a new victim. That’s according to fresh data reported from the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology recently in San Francisco. The data fills in critical unknowns about how the fungus, Candida auris, actually spreads. The germ is a relatively new threat, considered an emerging pathogen by experts – and it’s emerging quickly with an unusual ability to lurk and kill in healthcare settings. It was first identified in 2009 in Japan. Studies since have tracked the globetrotting fungus backward and forward in time, from South Korea in 1996 to an outbreak in New York health facilities that began in 2013 and lasted until 2017. In all, C. auris has made an appearance inmore than 30 countries, usually leaving a body count wherever it goes. The fungus mostly sticks to healthcare settings, stealing into the blood of vulnerable patients where it causes invasive infections marked by nondescript fever and chills. It’s commonly resistant to multiple drugs, and some isolates have been found to resist all three classes of antifungal drugs, making it extremely difficult if not impossible to cure. Experts estimate thatC. auris infections have a fatality rate somewhere between 30% and 60%. It’s hard to say for sure because many of its victims are seriously ill before they get infected, making it tricky to determine an individual cause afterward. While the threat is clear, much about C. auris infections has been murky – including how it spreads from one victim to another. Researchers have found it loitering on hospital mattresses, furniture, sinks, and medical equipment, but they haven’t determined how it got there. Once it is present, however, it’s a tough bug to annihilate. The fungal cells can form tight, hardy clumps that can live on plastics for at least two weeks and can go into a metabolically dormant phase for a month.
Swimming Pools Can Turn Your Sunscreen Into a Cancerous Toxin – Smothering yourself in sunscreen before getting into a swimming pool may actually be detrimental to your health, according to research. The study – which was conducted at Lomonosov Moscow State University – found that the combination of ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun and chlorinated water cause ingredients in sunscreens to break down and produce toxic chemicals. These chemicals have been associated with causing immune system damage, infertility, and even cancer. The world’s most popular sun-blocker, avobenzone, was the focus of the study. Researchers found the ultraviolet filter – which is commonly used in sunscreens, moisturizers, lip balms, and other cosmetic products – actually breaks down in chlorinated water. “A generally safe compound transforms in the water and forms more dangerous products,” Researcher Dr. Albert Lebedev said. Acetyl benzenes and phenols are two of the chemicals produced from the interaction; both of which are distinctly toxic. Swimming pools that use copper salts to give the water its blue appearance, can spawn an even more harmful reaction. The copper salts cause ingredients in the sunscreen to break down into bromoform, a substance that has been linked to liver problems, kidney problems, and nervous system disorders. “It’s really important that we keep on scrutinizing the chemicals that we use on the skin, so this certainly needs to be looked into very carefully,” said Dr Emma Wedgeworth, British Skin Foundation spokesperson. “However, we know for certain that sun exposure is linked to skin cancers and that sunscreen, as part as safe sun behavior, can help reduce the risks of skin cancers. So I would urge people not to have a knee jerk reaction and avoid sunscreen altogether.”
FDA names 16 brands of dog food linked to canine heart disease – The FDA is investigating more than 500 reports that appear to link dog foods that are marketed as “grain free” to canine dilated cardiomyopathy. Sixteen brands of dog food may be associated with a heightened risk of heart failure in dogs, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA isn’t suggesting that pet owners stop feeding their dogs the particular brands yet, but some vets are already advising against “grain free” foods.The FDA is currently investigating more than 500 reports that appear to link dog foods that are marketed as “grain free” to canine dilated cardiomyopathy. The FDA has been warning about the foods based on peas, lentils or potatoes since July 2018, but the statement released late last week is the first time the agency has identified the 16 brand names. The brands are ordered by the number of cases linked to them, which ranged from a high of 67 to 10: (list)Most of the reports were associated with dry dog food formulations, but raw food, semi-moist food and wet foods were included. The FDA has not suggested owners change their pets’ diets. While the vast majority of cases have been in dogs, there have also been some in cats.
EPA Move to Phase Out Animal Experiments Could Mean the End of Toxics Regulations – THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY is moving forward with a plan to sharply reduce and ultimately phase out experimental testing on lab animals. In an undated internal memo sent in late June to assistant administrators, EPA chief Andrew Wheeler explained that the agency will cut its funding for experiments on mammals in half by 2025. The memo, which was reviewed by The Intercept, also said that the EPA plans to stop using mammal studies for the approval of new chemicals by 2035 and that it will aim to eliminate all mammal studies. Under the new plan, any animal study done after that point will require approval by the EPA administrator. The EPA is promoting alternative methods to gauge the threats posed by chemicals, such as computer modeling and tests on cells, which have been increasingly used in recent years. Yet no legal limits have ever been set using these alternative methods alone. Without the tests on rats, mice, and rabbits currently used to gauge the toxicity of chemicals and set safe levels, public health and environmental advocates worry that the policy shift will leave EPA unable to limit chemicals at all. “It effectively will mean you can’t regulate,” said Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The internal announcement that EPA would speed the move away from animal testing coincided with the creation of a new section on the agency’s website that was published last week. Titled “Alternative Test Methods and Strategies to Reduce Vertebrate Animal Testing,” the newly released material details the EPA’s efforts to “reduce and replace testing on vertebrates.” On March 14, Wheeler signaled that he would be making the shift in a speech, broadcast internally to EPA staff, in which he described the animal testing issue as “important to me personally.” The chemical industry also appears to care deeply about the reduction of animal research, according to emails of EPA staff released in June in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The American Chemistry Council, the largest American trade group representing chemical manufacturers, has long supported reducing regulators’ reliance on animal research, which is time-consuming and expensive – in addition to being key to understanding the harms chemicals pose to people.
New EPA rule could expand number of Trump officials weighing in on FOIA requests – More political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could soon have the authority to weigh in on public information requests. The rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register as early as Wednesday and will not allow for a public comment period. According to the new language in the FOIA rule signed by EPA chief Andrew Wheeler last week, the administrator and other officials would be allowed to review all materials that fit a FOIA request criteria, known as responsive documents, and then decide “whether to release or withhold a record or a portion of a record on the basis of responsiveness or under one or more exemptions under the FOIA, and to issue ‘no records’ responses.” Lawyers outside the agency who specialize in FOIA requests say the “no records” response could lead to a situation where records seekers are being told there are no documents meeting their search criteria, even if they were found by EPA staffers who handle FOIA requests, with those documents ultimately withheld by political appointees. “It’s allowing political appointees to make the decision that records someone has presumably identified as being responsive are not actually responsive. That theoretically would allow sensitive documents, that the agency doesn’t want to send you, to withhold those records — and that should shake out eventually in a lawsuit if that’s what’s happening,”
Life Expectancy Falters In The UK- Slow Death But Fast Profits For The Agrochemical Sector – A special report in the Observer newspaper in the UK on 23 June 2019 asked the question: Why is life expectancy faltering? The piece noted that for the first time in 100 years, Britons are dying earlier. The UK now has the worst health trends in Western Europe. Aside from the figures for the elderly and the deprived, there has also been a worrying change in infant mortality rates. Since 2014, the rate has increased every year: the figure for 2017 is significantly higher than the one in 2014. To explain this increase in infant mortality, certain experts blame it on ‘austerity’, fewer midwives, an overstrained ambulance service, general deterioration of hospitals, greater poverty among pregnant women and cuts that mean there are fewer health visitors for patients in need. While all these explanations may be valid, according to environmental campaigner Dr Rosemary Mason, there is something the mainstream narrative is avoiding. She says: “We are being poisoned by weedkiller and other pesticides in our food and weedkiller sprayed indiscriminately on our communities. The media remain silent.” The poisoning of the UK public by the agrochemical industry is the focus of her new report – Why is life expectancy faltering: The British Government has worked with Monsanto and Bayer since 1949. What follows are edited highlights of the text in which she cites many official sources and reports as well as numerous peer-reviewed studies in support of her arguments. Readers can access the report here.
Austrian parliament votes for ban on weed killer glyphosate – Austria’s parliament has voted for a ban on the weed killer glyphosate, a substance that has long been disputed in Europe and beyond. The Austria Press Agency reported that a majority supported the motion put forward Tuesday by the center-left Social Democrats. The center-right People’s Party of ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz opposed it, arguing that it would hurt farmers who use glyphosate correctly. Some lawmakers raised concerns the ban would fall foul of European Union law. In late 2017, the EU approved a five-year extension to the use of glyphosate. It is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer, and Monsanto parent Bayer is currently engaged in legal battles in the U.S. in which plaintiffs claim that Roundup caused cancer. Bayer argues that studies have established that glyphosate is safe.
Everything You Need To Know About The Future Of Pesticides And Bees – Forbes – Seeing a bee in the city often results in panicked humans running away out of fear of being stung. But the bees are likely less interested in humans than they are in the wildflowers they’re circling around, which are likely a safe and pesticide-free place for the bees to feed. Contrary to what we might assume, researchers have found thaturban bees tend to live healthier lives than rural ones – they reproduce more, have more food stores, encounter fewer parasites and live longer. Pesticides are a tricky topic – while they are great for the crops they are meant to protect, they harm the bees that agriculture relies on. Their use sparked debate at the Forbes 2019 AgTech Summit, where beekeepers discussed the impact of these chemicals for bees, and the potential research still needed to understand their effects, and how technology, urban settings and regulation will affect the future of pollinators. Here’s everything they said – and you need to know – about how pesticides affect bees.
Cockroaches are becoming almost impossible to kill as they build resistance to insecticides, study finds – Cockroaches are known to be tenacious little pests that taunt humans with their resiliency. According to a new study, these vile bugs may been even more resilient than previously thought. Researchers from Purdue University found German cockroaches – the most common species worldwide – are becoming increasingly resistant to almost all insecticides. Germancockroaches live exclusively in human environments, according to the study published in the journal Scientific Reports. They produce asthma-triggering allergens and can carry pathogens like Salmonella, Enterococcus, E. coli, and other antibiotic-resistant microbes. Insecticides are often used to combat these unwelcome house guests, but after testing multiple kinds, scientists realized cockroaches could have developed a resistance to their one-time foe, the exterminator. Many insects can can develop resistance to at least one kind of insecticide. Cockroaches, which live only about 100 days, can evolve very quickly. Those that develop the resistance can pass the gene down to new generations.To test the roaches’ resistance, researchers tried three different insecticides on three different cockroach colonies over six months. All the products were store-bought from retailers and were E.P.A. registered. They were applied by licensed pest management professionals to the cockroach colonies in two low-rise housing developments in Indiana and Illinois. One colony got treated with all three insecticides, one at a time. Another colony was hit with a mixture of the insecticides. The third colony was hit with just one chemical that the roaches had low resistance to. Regardless of which treatment was used, most of the cockroach colonies did not decline in size. Even when the researchers used multiple insecticides at once, a technique exterminators often employ, the population size did not drop. Not only that, but resistance levels actually increased in most cases, the researchers found. The results suggest cockroaches are quickly evolving resistance to the three chemicals tested. The researchers’ grim conclusion is that roaches are becoming virtually impossible to get rid of. “Overall, the unexpectedly poor performance of a majority of treatments in the field study suggested significant levels of starting resistance and/or selection for higher-level resistance in 4 – 6 months,” they write. ‘
This Fourth of July, You’ll See 70% More Algae Outbreaks Than Last Year — Over the Fourth of July holiday, vacationers from coast to coast will have to look out for a potentially record-breaking number of algae blooms. So far this year there have been news stories about 107 algae outbreaks, compared to just 63 this time last year. That’s a 70 percent increase. EWG’s interactive map tracks news reports of blue-green algae blooms across the country since 2010, and this year is on track to have the most so far. Recreating in or near water stricken by an algae bloom can lead to serious health consequences. Short-term exposure – whether through skin contact or ingestion – to the toxins sometimes produced by algae outbreaks has been linked to sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and liver damage. These outbreaks don’t just affect peoples’ health, they also hurt their wallets. Algae keeps people away from businesses near affected lakes, such as marinas and restaurants. Lake Macbride, in Iowa, is an example of a lake surrounded by farmland that has algae bloom and E. coli problems. Lake Hopatcong, in New Jersey, is currently suffering the biggest bloom ever recorded in the state. Hopatcong Mayor Mike Francis says it could have devastating impacts on the health of residents and his town’s economy. In many cases, algae outbreaks are preventable. Reducing the amount of chemicals that run off farm fields can greatly reduce the number and severity of blooms in agricultural areas.
Protective Wind Shear Barrier Against Hurricanes on Southeast U.S. Coast Likely to Weaken in Coming Decades – It’s well-known that high wind shear – a large change in the wind speed and/or direction with height in the atmosphere – is hostile for hurricane development, since a strong vertical change in winds creates a shearing force that tends to tear a storm apart. For example, even though the Caribbean is warm enough year-round to support hurricanes, we almost never see hurricanes in the winter or spring, since wind shear is very high these times of year due to strong upper-level subtropical jet stream winds. When low wind shear occurs in summer or fall in the Atlantic’s main development region (MDR), from the coast of Africa through the Caribbean, an active period for major hurricane activity often results. But the major hurricanes that form in the MDR during these situations often have trouble maintaining their intensity when they reach the Southeast U.S. coast, since low wind shear in the MDR is typically accompanied by high wind shear along the Southeast U.S. coast. This high shear, typically associated with strong upper-level winds from the mid-latitude jet stream, helps protect the U.S. East Coast against strikes by full-strength major hurricanes. But research published last month led by Mingfang Ting of Colombia University, Past and Future Hurricane Intensity Change along the U.S. East Coast, found that the Southeast U.S. protective barrier of high wind shear is likely to weaken in coming decades due to global warming. The models showed that this reduced shear signal should start to appear as early as the 2020s or as late as 2050. Not all the news was bad in the study, though – the models also showed a strong increase in wind shear over the Caribbean, and a modest increase over the Gulf of Mexico. These increases in shear would tend to offer more hostile conditions for hurricanes, potentially offsetting the more favorable conditions for increased intensification that warmer ocean temperatures would provide.
Scientists found a seaweed patch stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Africa – There’s a mass of seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean that last year, at its peak, was so large it stretched all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa. It’s the biggest bloom of seaweed ever recorded, according to a new paper published in Science. And it’s likely another example of how human activity is radically changing the surface of the planet. The giant seaweed mass is both expansive and heavy, weighing a whopping 20 million tons last year. It’s comprised of a macroalgae species called sargassum, a brown seaweed that forms little bubbles that look a bit like grapes. Large volumes of it washing ashore can be a pain for beach tourism. See: Those bubbles allow the seaweed to float on the surface, which in turn lets scientists track its distribution over time. The brown hue of the seaweed on the surface of the water can be seen by satellites. Satellite images have revealed that over the past 20 years, the mass of sargassum on the surface of the Atlantic has exploded dramatically. The following chart shows the density of sargassum in the Atlantic every July (the month when sargassum blooms peak) from 2011 on. You can see in July 2018, it was the densest, stretching clear across the ocean. The study authors call it the great Atlantic Sargassum belt, and suspect it’s likely the result of more nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, running off the West Africa coast into the ocean in the winter. The belt is also being fed by the same nutrients, from fertilizer runoff and deforestation, running off into the Amazon River and into the ocean in the summer. The sargassum responds to those extra nutrients like many plants would: It eats them, and grows. The bloom sizes also continue to grow every year because there are sargassum seeds left over from the previous summer. So far, it’s looking like another huge Sargassum bloom is underway this summer. Many beaches in Mexico are currently blanketed in the stuff. (It costs Mexico’s beaches millions a year to deal with the increasing growth of the seaweed.)
Biggest Ever Seaweed Bloom Stretches From Gulf of Mexico to Africa A vast expanse of brown seaweed stretching across the Atlantic is a threat to tourism but a boon to marine life, U.S. researchers have said.A report by the University of South Florida, published on Thursday, showed satellite images of the biggest ever bloom of the sargassum seaweed, which last year extended from the U.S. and Mexico’s Atlantic coast to Africa.The report, published in Science magazine, estimated that the giant patch grew to 8,850 kilometers (5,500 miles) wide and weighed 20 million tons.Researchers found that sargassum, which was previously confined to the Gulf of Mexico and the Sargasso Sea, has spread to the central Atlantic Ocean over the past decade.They said that some beaches in Florida and Mexico now have had so much sargassum that at times, swimmers are prevented from entering the sea. The increase in the stinking mounds of rotting seaweed at the waterline has led to an increase in complaints from tourists and sullied the reputation of many paradise resorts. Researchers said that 2019 looks set to be another record year of seaweed growth and that the phenomenon could become the new normal. The report’s authors, meanwhile, blamed climate change, and the runoff of fertilizer into rivers and the sea, for the huge growth of the sea plant.In particular, the team noted that total fertilizer usage on Brazilian land around the Amazon had increased by 67 percent between 2011 and 2018. The thick seaweed also releases hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs and can cause problems for those with respiratory issues.
In Hot Water: Warming Waters are Stressing Fish and the Fishing Industry – America’s inland streams, the Great Lakes, and coastal waters are heating up – spelling trouble for fish and the nation’s $46.1 billion dollar recreational fishing industry. Data analyzed by Climate Central show that water temperatures in the Great Lakes and coastal surface waters are warming throughout the United States, as well as in many freshwater streams. Those warming waters are impacting the health of fish, their ecosystems, and the economies that depend on them. Many fish are sensitive to temperature and can survive only in specific temperature ranges. As waters in oceans, streams, and the Great Lakes warm, fish seek out cooler waters in higher latitudes or elevation, or when possible, in greater depths. But there are limitations to how far north, or high in elevation, fish can travel before running out of water, let alone water in a suitable temperature zone. Also, water composition changes with rising temperatures. For example, oxygen levels drop and algae blooms grow. In addition to the direct impacts of hotter water, rising temperatures contribute to more heavy rainfall, which leads to increased runoff that washes pollutants and nutrients into waterways. Warmer winters and earlier springs also result in decreased snowpack, removing a source of cool water to replenish streams, rivers, and lakes in the Western U.S., accelerating the warming of waterways. Warmer waters impact fish in multiple ways. Toxins produced by algae blooms – which are occurring more frequently as temperatures rise – can stress or kill fish by clogging their gills or reducing oxygen levels in the water. Warmer waters also make fish more vulnerable to parasites and diseases. For example, new research shows that a virus which usually infects largemouth bass has also played a role in the decline of smallmouth bass in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River by weakening their immune systems and allowing other infections to spread. And researchers have found evidence that inland fish are also moving north, changing the timing of migrations and spawning, and altering predator-prey ranges and interactions.
Bangladesh’s 65-day ban on fishing will hurt over 400,000 poor coastal families – The June-September monsoon is the peak fishing season in the Bay of Bengal for more than half a million poor Bangladeshi fishers. But this year, their wooden boats remain moored along the coast. For the first time, the government is enforcing a 65-day ban on all types of marine fishing to promote what the officials say is the conservation of spawning fish and crustacean species. In protest, many crews of artisanal boats took to the streets in May. Without other livelihood options, this ban will force them into more poverty and hardship, they said.As of June, Bangladesh has 253 trawlers – purpose-built to use trawl nets, owned by seafood industries and licensed to fish in areas beyond 40-metre depth in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Added to this, according to official estimates, there are almost 68,000 small marine boats including gillnetters, operated by fishers who are artisanal – meaning they do very low-tech, small-scale fishing to make ends meet. The monsoon ban on all marine fishing was written into law in 2015, but for four years it was only enforced on large trawlers. “Back then we decided not to enforce the ban on artisanal boats because livelihoods of a vast number of people were involved, we considered situations that you see are now unfolding,” said Mohammad Nazim Uddin. Speaking to The Third Pole at his Chittagong office, Nazim, an assistant director at the Marine Fisheries Office, said more than 16,500 people are registered with the agency as artisanal fishers. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, most of these coastal fisherfolk are landless. They live on public lands on the edge of the sea or riverine islands. Other than fishing, they have no livelihoods options to feed their families.
Sixth North Atlantic Right Whale Found Dead Prompts Concern From Researchers – Researchers are calling for urgent action following the death of a sixth North Atlantic right whale in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence this year. Considered one of the most endangered species of whale in the world by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, the North Atlantic right whale population is decreasing with only about 400 animals left in the world and just 100 breeding females. As the slow-moving baleen whales follow food sources, researchers at Dalhousie University say their behavioral and feeding patterns must be tracked in order to save the species.”It could be that the whales are in different places or are choosing different routes into the Gulf and that made these measures somewhat ineffective. So, we have to go back and find out where the whales are, predict their distribution and take measures to protect them,” said university marine biologist Boris Worm. It appears the whales are shifting movements, making vessel speed and traffic restrictions in place to protect the whales less effective. Necropsies carried out this year suggest some of the whales died from collisions with ships – an increasingly common and fatal occurrence. Among the dead were Punctuation, a 40-year-old female named for comma-like propeller scarring on her head who had given birth to at least eight calves and grand mothered at least two in her lifetime, reports Mongabay. Nine-year-old Wolverine, named for three propeller markings on his tail, was the first to be found dead followed by two dead females, including Clipper. Canadian Fisheries and Oceans announced Tuesday in a tweet that Clipper also died from blunt force trauma due to a vessel strike. Most recently, a 34-year-old grandfather named Clipper was spotted floating in the Gulf last week. In all, six dead whales, two males and four females, have been spotted over the last month in Canada.
Japan Begins Commercial Whaling for First Time in 30+ Years – Commercial whaling ships set sail from Japan Monday for the first time in more than 30 years, The Guardian reported. Japan had been hunting whales in the waters off Antarctica for “research” purposes since 1987, according toBBC News. The hunts killed between 200 and 1,200 whales a year, and conservationists accused the Japanese government of using the hunts as a cover for commercial whaling, since much of the meat was eventually sold. Following its decision to leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in December 2018, Japan is ending the Antarctic hunts, but resuming commercial whaling in its own waters.The decision has prompted an international outcry. A group of NGOs, celebrities and activists including Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais and Dr. Jane Goodall signed an open letter to the nations involved in the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan urging them to pressure the Japanese government to abandon its whaling plans, asCBS News reported. “Today, all whale populations are vulnerable to non-hunting threats including bycatch, ship collisions, climate change, and chemical, litter and noise pollution, which will take their toll on these mammals long into the future,” the letter said. “It therefore remains critical that co-ordinated global efforts are maintained to ensure the continued protection and survival of the world’s whales. This includes maintaining the international ban on commercial whaling.”
Hundreds of Sharks and Rays Entangled in Plastic Debris, Study Finds — More than a thousand sharks and rays have become entangled in jettisoned fishing gear and plastic debris, anew study has found. The researchers behind the study warn that the plastic trapping the sharks and rays may cause starvation and suffocation. The research, published in Endangered Species Research by scientists at the University of Exeter, sought to bring light to a problem that is a major animal welfare concern, but has slipped under the radar compared to larger threats like commercial fishing, as a press release published by Science Daily reported. The entanglement causes tremendous suffering in animals that survive it. “One example in the study is a shortfin mako shark with fishing rope wrapped tightly around it,” Science Dailyreported. “The shark had clearly continued growing after becoming entangled, so the rope – which was covered in barnacles – had dug into its skin and damaged its spine.” In their research, the scientists pinpointed 1,116 sharks and rays caught in plastic. Yet, they suggest the true number could be higher, especially since examples of certain entangled species, like the whale shark, only existed on social media and not in published studies. To understand the scale of the problem, they looked at published reports since 1940 and also looked at reports on Twitter since 2009. The review of academic papers revealed 557 sharks and rays entangled in plastic, spanning 34 species. An almost equal number were found on Twitter – 559 individual sharks and rays from 26 species including whale sharks, great whites and tiger sharks. The disparity between Twitter and academic research “emphasizes that entanglement is more than likely impacting a significantly greater number of species on a vastly larger scale than this review has presented,” the researchers said, as Sky News reported.
Microplastics from homes and factories are ending up inside mussels off Chennai’s coast – Microscopic plastic particles and colourants have been detected inside the commercially important Asian green mussel Perna viridis from a fishing harbour in Chennai for the first time in a preliminary study. “Although, several research articles have reported the presence of microplastics even in market bivalves/fishes of natural coastal waters in Europe and Japan, the present results are surprising as this has been reported for the first time from India,” said S.A. Naidu, a project scientist at Chennai’s National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Ministry of Earth Sciences and author of the paper. “Chennai harbour region is influenced by industrial, domestic and other land-based sources of microplastics.” The sheer scale of plastic pollution in the oceans is staggering: scientists estimate over 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic inundating the oceans. But while large plastic debris floating in the seas and oceans – that are increasingly being found in alarming quantities inside marine life such as sea turtles and whales, for example – can be spotted easily and scooped up, tiny bits of plastic, which are invisible to the naked eye, remain a pressing concern. Plastic waste dumped on land ends up in the ocean through river discharge as well as domestic and industrial waste. In the sea, ship spillages, fishing trawlers, and coastal gas platforms also leave behind a trail of plastic debris. Over time, much of the debris undergoes fragmentation and degradation into tiny particles, known as microplastics (less than 5 mm), by physical forces such as the waves and currents, ultraviolet radiation and microbial breakdown. Microplastics can remain afloat or sink to the seafloor and accumulate in sediments depending on their density. They can be ingested by both suspension and filter-feeders.
Canada waste returns home after Philippines′ war threat – More than 60 containers full of garbage have returned to the western shores of Canada after being stranded for years in the Philippines. The matter had sparked a diplomatic row and prompted threats of an armed conflict. A container ship carrying waste that triggered a diplomatic feud between Canada and the Philippines arrived back home in the western Canadian province of British Colombia on Saturday.The 69 containers arrived at GCT Deltaport, near the city of Vancouver, where the contents are set to be incinerated in the next several days.The garbage had prompted Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to withdraw diplomats from Canada and threaten the country with war after Canada failed to retrieve the waste by a May 15 deadline.A Philippine court had ordered the repatriation after it emerged that the garbage had been mislabeled as recyclable plastics before it left Canada in 2013 and 2014.Canada agreed to take the waste back in late May. Other Southeast Asian countries have also struck out against several developed countries over their waste disposal in recent months.In May, Malaysia demanded that the United States, Japan, France, Canada, Australia and Britain retrieve 3,000 tons of garbage.The problem emerged after China stopped accepting waste last year, leading many other countries to take in the redirected rubbish.
US top of the garbage pile in global waste crisis – BBC News – The world produces over two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year, enough to fill over 800,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. Per head of population the worst offenders are the US, as Americans produce three times the global average of waste, including plastic and food. When it comes to recycling, America again lags behind other countries, only re-using 35% of solid waste. The study has been compiled by Verisk Maplecroft, a research firm that specialises in global risk, They’ve developed two new indices, on waste generation and recycling. They’ve used publically-available data, plus academic research to develop a global picture of how countries are coping at a time when the world is facing a mounting crisis, primarily driven by plastic. The waste generation index shows per capita rates of municipal solid waste, plastic, food and hazardous materials. Municipal solid waste is rubbish that’s collected by local authorities from residential, institutional and commercial sources. While the world produces 2.1bn tonnes of this rubbish every year, only 16% is recycled while 46% is disposed of unsustainably. In the analysis, China and India make up over 36% of the global population and account for 27% of the waste. US citizens produce 773kg per head of population, roughly 12% of the global total. Their output is three times that of their Chinese counterparts and seven times more than people living in Ethiopia. Other European countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Germany, feature on the list. The UK ranks 14th in the waste index generating 482kg of household waste per person every year. The US is the only developed nation with waste generation that outstrips its ability to recycle.
Plastic Watch: G20 Issues Pathetic Declaration – Jerri-lynn Scofield -The G20 on June 29 took action on plastic waste by committing to the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision, with the goal of stopping all plastic entering the oceans. If this is the best they can come up with, I almost wish they’d done nothing instead.For starters, the deadline for achieving this – 2050 – must be someone’s idea of a joke.Even this limited, slowly rolled out scheme is “voluntary”.And the means to the end? Invoking our old friend, the recycling fairy (see Plastic Watch: Recycling Woes and Waste Watch: US Dumps Plastic Rubbish in Southeast Asia for a discussion of some of the myriad problems with this approach).I kid you not.Here’s the relevant section of the G20 Osaka leader’s declaration, from the Japan Times: 39. We reiterate that measures to address marine litter, especially marine plastic litter and microplastics, need to be taken nationally and internationally by all countries in partnership with relevant stakeholders. In this regard, we are determined to swiftly take appropriate national actions for the prevention and significant reduction of discharges of plastic litter and microplastics to the oceans. Furthermore, looking ahead beyond those initiatives and existing actions by each member, we share, and call on other members of the international community to also share, as a common global vision, the “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision” that we aim to reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050 through a comprehensive life-cycle approach that includes reducing the discharge of mismanaged plastic litter by improved waste management and innovative solutions while recognizing the important role of plastics for society. We also endorse the G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter. Details are sketchy on how even these vague commitments would be achieved.
How much extra water is in Lake Erie now at its record high? – 79 days of flow over Niagara Falls – – Picture all the water that powerfully flows over the Niagara Falls at any one time. It would take doubling that flow for nearly three months to bring Lake Erie back down to normal levels. That’s one way to get a handle on just how much extra water is in Lake Erie. Another way is to picture the entire state of Ohio covered by a half-foot of water. As cleveland.com’s Laura Johnston reported on Monday, above-normal rain throughout the Great Lakes region has Lake Erie at a record high – 30 inches above normal – shrinking beaches, creating havoc for boat docks and causing a number of other issues. So the question was raised: how much more water than normal is sitting in Lake Erie? Lake Erie normally covers 9,910 square miles (though more now that the water is high). Calculating things out based on 7.48 gallons of water per cubic foot, Lake Erie is about 5.2 trillion gallons above normal. Join the crowd if you can’t picture what 5.2 trillion gallons means. This is where the Niagara Falls example comes in. In boasting of the great flow of water, the Niagara Falls State Park website notes that normally 75,750 gallons of water per second flows over the American and Bridal Veil Falls, and 681,750 gallons per second over the Horseshoe Falls. Using those numbers, it would take 79 days to reach 5.2 trillion gallons. The math is a little simpler to draw the comparison to the state of Ohio. Lake Erie, at 9,910 square miles, is less than a fourth of the size of Ohio. So if you could somehow pump out the 30 extra inches of water depth in Lake Erie and dump it across Ohio’s nearly 45,000 square miles, it would cover the state with about 6.5 inches of water.
With any Midwestern rainfall this summer, the Missouri River could flood the lower basin region – March storms in the Midwest caused significant damage to the levee system of the Missouri River and now any strong or frequent rainfall this summer could trigger flooding along the lower Missouri River, experts say. Kevin Low, service coordination hydrologist at the Missouri Basin River Forecast Center, a National Weather Service office, told CNN Friday that “it’s been a very wet spring and it all started in March.” During that month, more than 7 million people were under flood warnings because of the convergence of snowmelt, a “bomb cyclone” snowstorm and heavy rain in the heartland. Since March, Low said, “it really hasn’t stopped raining. We’ve kind of moved on from snowmelt to rain events one after the other.” Meanwhile, the March storm sent so much water into some of the Missouri River tributaries in such a short time that the water severely damaged the levee system, according to Eileen Williamson, deputy director of public affairs for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Some of the levees were “severely compromised, others breached,” she said — and now Missouri is probably most vulnerable to flooding because river waters remain higher there. Dan Armstrong, a supervisory hydrologic technician with the US Geological Survey’s Central Midwest Water Science Center, said the current situation is unusual if similar in some ways to the 2011 Midwestern floods, “but in some locations the river levels are even higher” because of significant and frequent rainfall this past spring. He said he believes the lower Missouri River region, which “covers the area from downstream of Yankton, South Dakota, on down to St. Charles, Missouri, and on to the Mississippi River, is most vulnerable to flooding this summer. “At least thousands of residents could be affected,” he said, adding that people in that vicinity should “pay close attention to weather forecasts and National Weather Service flood warning through the end of the summer.” Low said no one knows when or where there will be flooding because it all depends on where the thunderstorms “set up.” Still, the climate prediction center of the National Weather Service for the Missouri River Basin said chances are there will be “above normal” precipitation for the next three months,
June Finishes As Coolest In Several Years – The month of June is now in our rear-view mirror, and has concluded as the coolest June we have seen in quite a long time, which added to pressure on natural gas prices in the last few weeks due to how low the weather demand was. In fact, this June had the lowest total number of GWDDs since June 2004 in our dataset. While this was just one factor influencing natural gas prices, it is a big one, and as such, it is no surprise to see the movement down in prices, especially the first half of the month, which was the coolest period. In map form, we see much of the nation covered in “blue”, as one would expect with such a low GWDD total. This general type of pattern comes as no surprise, given the El Niño base state that was in control of the weather pattern, as that promotes cooler risks in summer in many of the areas that were cool this June. The El Niño state has shown some notable weakening in the last couple of weeks however, as shown by the daily region 3.4 anomalies. Not coincidentally, the pattern has turned hotter, as we see from this week’s modeled temperature anomalies. This begs the question, is the weakening trend a sign of El Niño’s demise, opening the door to more bouts of stronger heat as we move through the balance of summer, or is this just a blip that will soon reverse, preventing sustained above normal weather demand?
Heatwave cooks mussels in their shells on California shore – In all her years working at Bodega Bay, the marine reserve research coordinator Jackie Sones had never seen anything like it: scores of dead mussels on the rocks, their shells gaping and scorched, their meats thoroughly cooked. A record-breaking June heatwave apparently caused the largest die-off of mussels in at least 15 years at Bodega Head, a small headland on the northern California bay. And Sones received reports from other researchers of similar mass mussel deaths at various beaches across roughly 140 miles (225km) of coastline. While the people who flocked to the Pacific to enjoy a rare 80F (27C) beach day soaked up the sun, so did the mussel beds – where the rock-bound mollusks could have been experiencing temperatures above 100F at low tide, literally roasting in their shells. Sones expects the die-off to affect the rest of the seashore ecosystem. “Mussels are known as a foundation species. The equivalent are the trees in a forest – they provide shelter and habitat for a lot of animals, so when you impact that core habitat it ripples throughout the rest of the system,” said Sones. “I would expect that this actually impacted the entire region, it’s just that you would have to have people out there to document it to know,” said Sones. Years of research into ocean health has focused on rising water temperatures and the effects of acidification on marine life. Kelp and coral are suffering in warmer waters, starfish are melting, and shellfish are breaking down. But there is less data on the impacts of these kinds of one-off extreme weather events in the open coastal air.
Up to 114 degrees in France: Record-breaking heat in Europe forces tourists to adapt – Europeans aren’t breathing a sigh of relief just yet following a day of record-breaking heat, with temperatures soaring once again on Saturday. The unusual heat has left many struggling to cope in the French capital where homes and buildings are not designed for steamy conditions or equipped with air conditioning. The week-long blast of hot air from the Sahara sparked a massive wildfire in Spain and brought France its hottest day ever, with temperatures reaching 114.4 degrees in the southern town of Gallargues-le-Montueux. Records were also broken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The situation is reflective of a global trend in extreme weather. “Between 2000 and 2016 the number of people exposed worldwide to heatwaves increased by an estimated 126 million,” the World Meteorological Organization said in a statement Friday, adding that it puts people at risk of heat stroke, dehydration and cardiovascular diseases. Conditions did not relent on Saturday, with much of France expected to exceed 104 degrees yet again. French authorities nonetheless maintained an orange alert – the second-highest heat warning – for most of the country, reminding the public to stay hydrated and check on their neighbors over fears of conditions becoming lethal for both the very young and old. In 2003, a similar staggering heat wave killed 15,000 people in the country – prompting the significant public health awareness campaign this week.
Wildfires and power cuts plague Europe as heatwave breaks records(Reuters) – Hundreds of firefighters brought wildfires under control in southern France on Saturday as a stifling heatwave brought record-breaking temperatures to parts of Europe, killing at least six people. In the worst-hit Gard region, where France’s highest-ever temperature was registered on Friday at 45.9 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), scores of overnight fires burned some 550 hectares (about 1,360 acres) of land and destroyed several houses and vehicles. “We came very close to a disaster,” Didier Lauga, prefect of the Gard, told reporters. “There are still firefighters in place in case fires break out again.” A psychologically unstable man was arrested after starting a blaze in one village, but the extreme heat was likely to blame for many of the fires, Lauga said. Fifteen firefighters and several police officers were injured in the Gard, where 700 firefighters and 10 aircraft were mobilized to contain the flames, emergency services said. In the neighboring Vaucluse region, authorities said a man who had been cycling in a mountainous area had died after collapsing due to the heat. The sweltering conditions were expected to ease on Saturday in southern France but highs were still forecast at close to 40 degrees. Further north, Paris was due to experience its hottest day of the heatwave with a high of 37-38 degrees predicted.The World Meteorological Organization said this week that 2019 was on track to be among the world’s hottest years, and 2015-2019 would then be the hottest five-year period on record.
French Station Breaks All-Time Heat Record by Astounding Margin – Not only was Friday, June 28, 2019 the hottest day in French history, it also featured record-breaking heat so extreme that only one other heat wave in world history can match it. The temperature at Montpellier-Fréjorgues airport hit 43.5°C (110.3° F) on June 28, 2019, breaking the station’s previous record by a truly incredible 5.8° C (10.4° F). The station’s period of record extends back 74 years, to 1946. Usually, when a station with a long period of record beats its all-time mark, the new record is at most a degree or two Fahrehneit beyond the old record. In rare cases, the new record will exceed the old one by five or more degrees. It is nearly unheard of for the record to be broken by more than 10°F. Indeed, weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera said in an email that there is only one other case in world history of a station with a long period of record having a heat wave with a larger spread between the first- and second-place marks: on July 6, 1936, the temperature in Steele, North Dakota, soared to 121°F (49.4°C), the highest temperature ever recorded in the state of North Dakota. Steele’s second highest temperature (except in the same heat wave in 1936) was only 110°F (43.3°C) in 1934. So, the temperatures in the 1936 heat wave beat the station’s second-place heat wave by an incredible margin of 11°F (6.1°C). The 5°C (8°F) margin between the all-time heat record and the second-place heat mark was beaten at one other station in France on Friday: a 45.1°C (113.2°F) mark at Marsillargues, which beat the previous record of 39.7°C (103.5°F) set on Jun 21, 2003 by 5.4°C (9.7°F). According to Herrera, there are only a few other cases globally of heat records being broken by over 5°C (8°F). All of these occurred in the U.S. in 1936. In addition, in July 1983, Testy, Kazakhstan recorded a maximum temperature 5°C (8°F) higher than its second highest temperature, a difference that still stands today.
Relief in sight for France after heat more typical of Death Valley breaks all-time high – The extreme heat wave that is suspected of killing several people this week set an all-time high in France on Friday. Relief is on the horizon but not before one last blast of heat scorched much of western and central Europe on Sunday. The highest temperature ever measured across France in the entirety of record keeping was set on Friday afternoon. Temperatures soared to 45.9 C (114.6 F) at Gallargues-le-Montueux in southeastern France, exceeding the nation’s previous all-time record high of 44.1 C (111.4 F) at Conqueyrac on 12 August 2003.A high near 46 C (115 F) is more typical of what is recorded in California’s Death Valley in the United States this time of year. Parts of southeastern France were actually slightly hotter than Death Valley on Friday.Amid the unrelenting grip of dangerous heat, France’s national weather service issued the first ever “red” hazardous weather warning for southeastern portions of the country on Friday. A “red” warning is the highest level out of a four-level alert system put into effect after the deadly 2003 heat wave that claimed 15,000 lives, according to the Associated Press. In neighboring Spain, officials suspect heatstroke caused a 17-year-old in Córdoba and a 80-year-old man in Vallodolid to die in recent days. Officials are also investigating whether the heat took a deadly turn in Italy, after the body of a 72-year-old homeless man was found near a train station in Milan on Thursday morning, according to BBC News. Temperatures have been soaring past 33 C (into the 90s F) daily since Monday.
Germany records all-time hottest June temperature – Germany set its all-time highest June temperature on Sunday, with 38.9 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The country has been baking in an early summer heat wave; however, Germany’s all-time high of 40.3 degrees Celsius still stands. Fifty-seven runners at Hamburg’s half marathon were hospitalized on Sunday after many collapsed in temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius, officials said. Some 141 runners needed treatment in what fire service officials described as “an emergency with mass casualties.” Temperatures in the country’s central Rhine-Main region and into eastern Germany were expected to reach up to 39 degrees on Sunday, according to the German Weather Service (DWD). As huge crowds gathered in Paris for the annual gay pride parade, firefighters sprayed water on revelers, some of whom used rainbow-colored fans and umbrellas to counter the heat, which was expected to hit 38 degrees.Heat-related deaths have been reported in Germany and France, mainly among the elderly. At least eight people drowned in bathing accidents across the two countries. France’s new record temperature of 45.9 degrees was set on Friday near the southern city of Montpellier, the Meteo-France weather service said. It is just the seventh European nation – along with Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and North Macedonia – to record temperatures above 45 degrees. Meteorologists blamed a blast of hot air from northern Africa for the scorching early European summer, but temperatures are set to drop for the remainder of the week over much of Europe.
All-Time Heat Records Tumble in Europe, Caribbean – More than 30 locations in Central Europe – including towns and cities in Denmark, France, Germany, and Poland – set all-time heat records on Sunday as the continent’s historic June heat wave of 2019 shifted eastward. Three nations set all-time heat records for the month of June on Sunday: Germany, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. The heat wave is easing on Monday, thankfully, as a cold front moves eastward over Central Europe. In a separate heat wave, Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history for the Caribbean nation of Cuba, which recorded an all-time heat mark of 39.1°C (102.4°F) at Veguitas. In Germany alone, there were 34 all-time heat records on Sunday, and at least 243 stations saw their hottest June temperature on record, according to statistics compiled by German meteorologist Michael Theusner. Many of the June records in Germany were broken by impressive margins of 1.5 – 2.5°C (2.7 – 4.5°F), which testifies to the exceptional nature of the heat (as already noted in France, where more than a dozen stations on Friday broke that nation’s previous all-time high).In Germany alone, there were 34 all-time heat records on Sunday, and at least 243 stations saw their hottest June temperature on record, according to statistics compiled by German meteorologist Michael Theusner. Many of the June records in Germany were broken by impressive margins of 1.5 – 2.5°C (2.7 – 4.5°F), which testifies to the exceptional nature of the heat (as already noted in France, where more than a dozen stations on Friday broke that nation’s previous all-time high). At the river Saale in Bernburg, Germany, a scorching high of 39.6°C (103.3°F) on Sunday was not only that station’s hottest temperature on any date in records going back to 1898, but the hottest temperature ever observed anywhere in Germany during any June. According to Theusner, the station’s previous all-time record was set just a year ago – with 39.5°C on July 31, 2018 – and its previous June record was set just last Wednesday, with 36.5°C.
A strange, wavy jet stream is blasting Europe with heat. Scientists say this could be the ‘new normal.’ -An oppressive heat wave baked Western Europe this week, setting record high temperatures in France, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. In India, a severe drought has choked water supplies in the city of Chennai, exposing its 9 million residents to a major shortage. And after the United States’ wettest 12-month stretch on record, towns across the Midwest and the Great Plains are reeling from devastating floods. The reasons behind these extreme weather events are complex, but scientists believe they have a common trigger: profound recent changes to the jet stream, a ribbon of fast-moving air that flows from west to east over the Northern Hemisphere and controls weather systems. The jet stream is powered by temperature differences between the cooler polar region to the north and warmer air masses to the south. As it circles the planet, this river of air can become rippled in places. The resulting troughs and ridges can create unusual weather patterns, amplifying cold snaps in one region and intensifying blasts of heat in another. When the jet stream dips south, polar air fills in the trough, bringing heavy rains and cooler-than-usual temperatures, as has happened across much of the United States with a record-late arrival of spring and above-average precipitation. When the jet stream bulges northward, warmer air rushes into the ridge, leading to hot, dry conditions, as has happened this week in Europe. Image: Midwest Rivers Reach Major Flood Stage At Historic LevelsFloodwaters from the Mississippi River surround a home on June 1, 2019 in West Alton, Missouri.Scott Olson / Getty Images file Seasonal variations are normal, but since the early 2000s, as the planet has warmed, the jet stream has been behaving strangely. Jet stream winds, which naturally undulate, have become even more gnarled, and the big wavy patterns sometimes slow to a crawl, or even completely stall. A sluggish jet stream is cause for concern. When it slows or gets stuck, high- or low-pressure weather systems that correspond to the jet stream’s ridges and troughs intensify, stretching out rainy episodes, heat waves or droughts for days – or even weeks – at a time. Studies suggest that climate change is driving these new patterns, which means extreme temperatures could be more common in the future.
Climate change made Europe’s mega-heatwave five times more likely – After a series of unusually hot summers, France and other parts of Europe last week experienced another intense heatwave that broke temperature records across the continent. For one group of climate scientists, the event presented a rare opportunity to rapidly analyse whether the heatwave – which made headlines around the world – could be attributed to global warming. After a seven-day analysis, their results are in: climate change made the temperatures reached in France last week at least five times more likely than they would be in a world without global warming. The scientists with the World Weather Attribution project decided to take action when they saw the heatwave coming, and ended up performing a near real-time analysis while at a climate conference in Toulouse, France. As they met at the International Conference on Statistical Climatology, the city and most of the country baked – the southeastern town of Gallargues-le-Montueux broke national temperature records, hitting 45.9 °C on 28 June. To find out whether global warming has affected the likelihood of a real event, scientists look at existing weather records and compare them with models, including simulations of how the weather would behave in a world that wasn’t warming. The concept has matured since it was conceived more than a decade ago, but it is probabilistic by nature.“Some say the uncertainties are too big,” says Otto. “There are indeed caveats, mostly to do with imperfect climate models. But even with large uncertainty bars, we think it is useful to provide quantitative evidence for how climate change is affecting extreme weather.” Using their models, the researchers calculated that the average temperatures reached over the hottest three-day day stretch in France – around 28 °C – were at least five times more likely because of climate change.
Climate Change is Devastating India With Heat Waves and Water Shortages –Jerri-Lynn here. India is experiencing a massive drought, affecting about half of its territory. Its sixth city, Chennai – formerly called Madras – ran out of water last week. These satellite images from The Hindu illustrate how the city’s reservoirs have shrunk since 2016.Summer temperatures have been higher than normal, topping 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places. The monsoon has arrived throughout most of the country, but so far, rains have been below average. Prospects for agricultural production look bleak. As the Economic Times reports:Rainfall in the first four weeks has been among the worst ever while its distribution has been as poor as in the drought year of 2014, but the situation is improving as themonsoon has revived in the past week, and crop planting can quickly reach normal level if the country gets good rainfall in the next two weeksAs in 2014, the first of two successive years of poor monsoon, June rainfall has been normal or excessive in only about a quarter of the districts, with the rest being largely dry. This is bad for agriculture as half of the total farmland depends entirely on rains for water.Total rainfall so far in June is 35% below average, but it is already much better than the deficit of 43% last week. As a result, crop planting – which was 12% below normal a week ago – is now about 10% less than normal for this time of the year. The progress of the monsoon, which delivers about three-quarters of India’s annual rainfall, is a key determinant of agri output and rural incomes. In this Real News Network interview, political economist Shouvik Chakraborty discusses how India’s climate disasters are fueled by government resource mismanagement and fossil fuel consumption policies. (video & transcript)
India staring at a water apocalypse – A combination of climate change, bad policies and political apathy is steadily pushing India into a catastrophic water crisis that threatens stability in South Asia.Recent studies document that glaciers feeding the Indian subcontinent’s rivers will recede rapidly, while rapid ground water depletion poses an existential challenge to agriculture.The southwest monsoons remain the biggest source of water in the subcontinent. The monsoons lead to a combination of water sources supporting human habitats that includes glaciers, surface irrigation and ground water. But redundancy and surplus have gone missing from this once abundant system. Taking their place are galloping shortages.Even the best-case scenarios are “scary,” water researcher Aditi Mukherjee told Asia Times. Mukherjee is one of the editors of a landmark study that was published earlier this year. It predicts a terrible loss of the glaciers that dot the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region. “The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment” says that even if urgent global action on climate change is able to limit global warning to 1.5 degrees centigrade, it will still lead to a loss of a third of the glaciers in the region by the year 2100.If the temperatures rise by 2.7 degrees centigrade, then half the glaciers will be gone. And if the current rate of global warming continues and temperatures rise by 6 degrees centigrade, then two-thirds of the glaciers will melt away. This has major implications for India, China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. While the nearly 250 million who live in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region will be most impacted from the outset, another 1.65 billion people who depend on the glacier-fed rivers are primarily at risk.
A historic drought in India is so severe that it’s now visible from space – A historic drought in Chennai, the sixth-largest city in India, is so severe that it’s now visible from space. The city’s 4.6 million citizens are rationing every drop of water, restaurants are closing early and companies are scaling back their operations as Chennai tries to survive a heat wave with 99 per cent less water than it had at the same time last year. The state government is shipping in water on trucks, but those trucks can’t replace the now dried-up lakes that once fed the city. Everyone is asking the same question: When will the monsoons start? Satellite footage released earlier this month shows the city’s four reservoirs, including nearby Lake Puzhal, have severely shrunk since last June. The reservoirs have a capacity of 318.8 billion litres, but they are down to a collective 651 million litres, according to government data reported by the Hindustan Times. The reservoirs have been reduced to 0.2 per cent of their capacity, according to state government data.The city typically relies on the heavy rainfall of monsoon season to replenish its water supply, which comes from four lakes and groundwater reservoirs in the region. The monsoons usually start in June but they’ve been delayed this year, leaving citizens with little water amid blistering temperatures that exceed 40 C each day. The problem dates back to last year, when Chennai saw a major shortfall in its monthly rainfall. The city received 80 per cent less rain than average in December alone, according to India’s weather office.Temperatures in Chennai typically peak in May and June, around the same time that rainfall starts picking up. February, March and April are typically drought season, while the heaviest monsoon rains come in October, November and December.
19 dead in Mumbai after highest rain in 24 hours since 2005 flood – Officials said on Tuesday the death toll in the wall collapse incident in Mumbai’s Malad went up to 19 as the city received the second highest July rain over a 24-hour period in 44 years after the 2005 flood. The heavy rains have disrupted road, rail and air traffic in the financial capital, prompting officials to shut schools and offices, though financial markets were open. Six more people were killed in Maharashtra’s Pune after a wall of an educational institute in collapsed on Tuesday and three others died in a similar incident in Thane district, taking the death toll in rain-related accidents in the state to 27. Officials in Mumbai said the compound wall of BMC’s reservoir at Pimpri Pada near Shivneri High School on Rani Sati Marg in Malad (East) collapsed on a few shanties late on Monday night, trapping several people. The incident was reported at around 1am on Tuesday after which the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and NDRF officials reached the spot. A woman, who was trapped along with a child, under the debris was rescued and sent to a hospital, officials said. They said 72 more people have been admitted to several hospitals, where the condition of at least four is said to be critical.
Heavy rains prompt evacuation of hundreds of thousands in Japan – Japan has ordered hundreds of thousands of people on the southern island of Kyushu to take shelter in evacuation centres and other safe areas as heavy rains threatened to trigger landslides and cause other damage. Some parts of southern Kyushu have received up to 1,000mm of rain since Friday, and forecasters expect as much as 350mm rainfall in some areas by midday on Thursday, Japan’s NHK broadcaster said on Wednesday. The southwestern island of Shikoku, meanwhile, is expected to see up to 250mm of rain by Thursday morning. Ryota Kurora, a weather forecaster, warned of mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers in the southern region at a news conference on Wednesday morning. Evacuation orders were issued for almost 600,000 residents of Kagoshima city alone and thousands more in two smaller cities in the same prefecture on Kyushu, the broadcaster said.Another 310,000 residents of the island were advised to find shelter, Kyodo News reported. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said residents should “take steps to protect their lives, including early evacuation” and he ordered the military to prepare for rescue operations if needed. Abe was criticised for the government’s slow response in July last year when heavy rains triggered landslides and floods, killing more than 200 people in Japan’s worst weather disaster in decades. A heatwave that followed, sweeping across Japan for a period of nearly two weeks with temperatures reaching record highs, killed more than 1,000 people, according to the Health Ministry.
In pictures: The aftermath of deadly Siberian floods – At least 18 people have died in floods that have devastated the Siberian region of Irkutsk, according to Russian authorities. Rising water levels have driven several thousand people from their homes and fears are rising for eight missing people. The severe flooding was caused by torrential rains that hit the region last week. The water levels of some rivers quickly rose over more than two metres. Up to 30,000 people lost electricity, with water also damaging roads. A state of emergency was declared, with about 3,300 homes and nearly 10,000 people affected. The damage to the region is currently estimated at about 1.1bn rubles ($17m). Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited the region over the weekend, instructing Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu to bring in troops to help deal with the flood. Around 1,000 servicemen and 300 military units were sent to the affected area.
Mexico hail: Ice 1.5m thick carpets Mexico’s Guadalajara – Six suburbs in the Mexican city of Guadalajara were carpeted in a thick layer of ice after a heavy hailstorm. The ice was up to 1.5m (5ft) thick in places, half-burying vehicles. Local officials also reported flooding and fallen trees, but no-one is thought to have been hurt. The storm hit very quickly, between about 01:50 (06:50 GMT) and 02:10 local time, when the air temperature dropped suddenly from 22C to 14C. Presentational grey line You may also be interested in: The city had been basking in temperatures of more than 30C. It has been hit by hail storms before, but seldom this heavy. Image copyright AFP Aftermath of freak hailstorm in Mexico’s Guadalajara, 1 July 2019 Presentational grey line What causes a hailstorm? Hailstorms form when warm, moist air from the surface rises upwards forming showers and storms. Temperatures higher up, even in summer, can get well below 0C and so ice crystals form along with something called “supercooled water” which then grows into pellets of ice. The authorities say 200 homes have been damaged and dozens of vehicles swept away in the city and surrounding districts. State governor Enrique Alfaro described it as incredible, according to AFP news agency. “Then we ask ourselves if climate change is real. These are never-before-seen natural phenomena,” he said. According to BBC Weather, the hail probably melted on contact due to the high temperatures forming a layer of water upon which more hail could land and float. This combination of water and hail likely moved down slope, with obstacles such as buildings blocking the flow and allowing more ice to accumulate on top. The actual hailstones were relatively small, less than 1cm in diameter, and nothing like the golf-ball sized hail seen at times in severe storms in the US.
Guadalajara Hit By Freak Hail Storm; Cars Buried, Hundreds Of Structures Damaged – (pics) Guadalajara, Mexico was struck by a freak hail storm on Sunday, burying vehicles and trapping residents in ice pellets up to two meters (6.5 ft) deep, according to AFP. “I’ve never seen such scenes in Guadalajara,” said state governor, adding “Then we ask ourselves if climate change is real. These are never-before-seen natural phenomenons.” “It’s incredible!” Guadalajara, located north of Mexico City and with a population of around five million, has been experiencing summer temperature of around 31 Centigrade (88 Fahrenheit) in recent days. While seasonal hail storms do occur, there is no record of anything so heavy. At least six neighborhoods in the city outskirts woke up to ice pellets up to two meters deep. -AFP As children threw rock-hard ice balls at each other, Mexican Civil Protection personnel and state soldiers cleared the roads using heavy machinery. Approximately 200 hopes and businesses reported hail damage, while around 50 vehicles were swept away in mountainous regions. Some were buried completely under the deluge of pellets. No casualties were reported, however two people exhibited “early signs of hypothermia” according to the Civil Protection office.
Devastating Crop Losses Are Literally Happening All Over The Globe – If what some experts are telling us is true, a global food crisis appears to be inevitable. Even during good years we have a really difficult time feeding everyone on the planet, and now a major climate shift appears to be happening. Our sun has become exceedingly quiet, and many experts believe that this is a sign that a solar minimum is now upon us. Of course we have seen solar minimums happen quite regularly in the past, and if this is just a normal solar minimum then conditions should begin to return to normal after a couple of years. Unfortunately, evidence continues to mount that we have entered what is known as a “grand solar minimum”. In fact, Professor Valentina Zharkova says that what we are facing is a “super grand solar minimum”, and if that is true we are going to be facing climate chaos like we have never seen before. During previous “grand solar minimums” the globe was gripped by devastating famines and vast numbers of people died. Could a similar scenario potentially be in our future? Ice Age Farmer has compiled a “Grand Solar Minimum Crop Loss Map” which you can view right here, and I appreciate our friends at ANP for pointing it out to us. Ice Age Farmer’s map shows that there are literally dozens of locations all over the globe right now that are reporting significant crop losses, and this is really unlike anything we have ever seen before. Some parts of our planet are dealing with horrific drought, but in the middle of the United States it just won’t stop raining. In some areas of the world it is too cold, while others are experiencing record heat. Everywhere we look we see extremes, and the behavior of our sun is the primary reason this is happening.
Alaska’s heat wave fuels dangerous smoke, melts glaciers – (Reuters) – Alaska’s heat wave is driving wildfires and melting glaciers, choking the state’s biggest cities with smoke and bloating rivers with meltwater. In Anchorage, home to about 40 percent of Alaskans, the National Weather Service issued a dense smoke advisory on Sunday warning against prolonged outdoor activity, along with advisories for the elderly and the sick to stay indoors. The culprit is the Swan Lake wildfire to the south in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, which has burned since a June 5 lightning strike and consumed more than 68,000 acres, fire managers said. To the north, in Fairbanks, fire officials ordered evacuations in two areas and told residents in a third to be prepared to leave because of the Shovel Creek Fire, which had grown to 5,568 acres by Sunday. “People should GO, evacuate NOW. Leave immediately. DO NOT delay leaving,” the evacuation order said. In all, there were 354 wildfires covering 443,211 acres in Alaska as of Sunday morning, according to state and federal fire managers. Along with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, which had multiple active fires, iconic spots with fires burning include Denali National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Record warmth and near-record warmth in most of the state has created flammable conditions from the Canadian border in the east to the Bering Sea coast in the west. Anchorage was one of the areas that saw record-breaking heat in June, which followed a record-warm spring for Alaska as a whole. Melting glaciers and mountain snowfields are bloating rivers and streams across a large swath of south central Alaska, the NWS said.
Alaska’s Warming Waters Spell Trouble for Residents and Wildlife – An unseasonably warm May followed by record-breaking June temperatures melted Alaskan ice far earlier than normal this year, alarming residents and scientists alike, the Associated Press reports. Sea surface temperatures in the Chukchi and North Bering seas are nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1981-2010 average, reaching into the lower 60s. The warm ocean temperature has profound effects on the climate system, food web, communities and commerce, “The northern Bering & southern Chukchi Seas are baking,” Thoman wrote in a tweet. Kotzebue and Norton sounds in northwest Alaska were warmest but the heat extended far out into the ocean. The last five years have produced the warmest sea-surface temperatures on record in the region, contributing to record low sea ice levels. “The waters are warmer than last year at this time, and that was an extremely warm year,” Thoman said, as the Anchorage Daily News reported. The warming temperatures are part of an emerging crisis for communities along the state’s western and northern coastlines, Thoman told CNN. Birds and marine animals are showing up dead and sea temperatures are warm enough to support algal blooms, which can make the waters toxic to wildlife. This has dire consequences for towns that depend on fishing for their economy and their sustenance. “Much of what the people eat there over the course of the year comes from food they harvest themselves,” “If people can’t get out on the ice to hunt seals or whales, that affects their food security. It is a human crisis of survivability.” Ice cover around Alaska usually lasts until June. This year, it disappeared in March.
Anchorage, Alaska Hit 90 Degrees for First Time on July 4th – Fourth of July fireworks were canceled in Anchorage, Alaska Thursday as America’s “coolest city” hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in recorded history.Alaska has had an unusually warm spring and early summer, The New York Times reported. It experienced its warmest March on record, and this June is likely to be its second-warmest ever. National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Bob Clay told The New York Times that the city could break its 85 degree record and see temperatures into the 90s Friday, Saturday or Sunday. That milestone came earlier than Clay predicted.”At 5pm this afternoon, #Anchorage International Airport officially hit 90 degrees for the first time on record,” NWS Anchorage tweeted Thursday afternoon. The 90 degree reading came after the record was first broken with a reading of 89 degrees, KTUU reported. High temperatures were also recorded at unofficial gauges in Anchorage on Thursday: Merrill Field recorded 90 degrees and the Campbell Creek Science Center reached 91 degrees. The heat caused the city to cancel its fireworks display out of concerns it would spark wildfires. Fires have burned around 650,000 acres in the state so far this year, which equals the amount of land usually burned in an entire season, The New York Times reported.
This was the hottest June in history, and summer is just getting started —If sometime during the past month you wiped sweat from your brow and thought, “Damn, it’s hot!” then congrats, your body knows what’s up. This past month was the hottest June ever recorded on planet Earth, according to the European Union’s Earth observation program, which announced the new record on Tuesday.The unprecedented heat brought death, destruction, and misery to huge swaths of the planet. By the middle of June, more than 35 people had died as temperatures soared past 120 degrees Fahrenheit in India. France set a new national temperature record: 115 degrees. Multiple wildfires broke out in Spain, one of them, a 10,000-acre blaze, might have started when heat caused a pile of manure to burst into flames. One European heat map turned such a violent shade of red it looked like an open-mouthed skull in mid-scream (you have to see it to believe it). And, get this: Summer is just getting started.In Europe, June temperatures were 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal, according to the European program called Copernicus. Globally, temperatures were about a fifth of a degree higher than normal for the month, beating out the record set in 2016. Here’s another worrisome finding from the report : If you compare the last several days of June to the average for the same several days between 1981 to 2010, temperatures this year were around 10 to 18 degrees F higher than normal over much of Western Europe – France, Germany, northern Spain, northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Planting Billions of Trees Is the ‘Best Climate Change Solution Available Today,’ Study Finds – Planting more than 500 billion trees could remove around 25 percent of existing carbon from the atmosphere, a new study has found. What’s more: there’s enough space to do it.The study, published in Science Friday, set out to assess how much new forest the earth could support without encroaching on farmland or urban areas and came up with a figure of 0.9 billion hectares, an area roughly the size of the U.S., BBC News reported. That makes reforestation “the most effective solution” for mitigating the climate crisis, the researchers concluded.”Our study shows clearly that forest restoration is the best climate change solution available today and it provides hard evidence to justify investment,” senior study author and ETH-Zürich Professor Tom Crowther said, as BBC News reported. “If we act now, this could cut carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 25 percent, to levels last seen almost a century ago.”The new trees would remove around 200 gigatonnes of carbon, or two thirds of what humans have pumped into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
Adding 1 billion hectares of forest could help check global warming – Global temperatures could rise 1.5° C above industrial levels by as early as 2030 if current trends continue, but trees could help stem this climate crisis. A new analysis finds that adding nearly 1 billion additional hectares of forest could remove two-thirds of the roughly 300 gigatons of carbon humans have added to the atmosphere since the 1800s. “Forests represent one of our biggest natural allies against climate change,” says Laura Duncanson, a carbon storage researcher at the University of Maryland in College Park and NASA who was not involved in the research. Still, she cautions, “this is an admittedly simplified analysis of the carbon restored forests might capture, and we shouldn’t take it as gospel.” The latest report from the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changerecommended adding 1 billion hectares of forests to help limit global warming to 1.5° C by 2050. Ecologists Jean-Francois Bastin and Tom Crowther of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and their co-authors wanted to figure out whether today’s Earth could support that many extra trees, and where they might all go. They analyzed nearly 80,000 satellite photographs for current forest coverage. The team then categorized the planet according to 10 soil and climate characteristics. This identified areas that were more or less suitable for different types of forest. After subtracting existing forests and areas dominated by agriculture or cities, they calculated how much of the planet could sprout trees. Earth could naturally support 0.9 billion hectares of additional forest – an area the size of the United States – without impinging on existing urban or agricultural lands, the researchers report today in Science. Those added trees could sequester 205 gigatons of carbon in the coming decades, roughly five times the amount emitted globally in 2018.
India plants 66 million trees in 12 hours as part of record-breaking environmental campaign – Volunteers in India planted more than 66 million trees in just 12 hours in a record-breaking environmental drive.About 1.5 million people were involved in the huge plantation campaign, in which saplings were placed along the Narmada river in the state of Madhya Pradesh throughout Sunday. India committed under the Paris Agreement to increasing its forests by five million hectares before 2030 to combat climate change. Last year volunteers in Uttar Pradesh state set a world record by planting more than 50 million trees in one day. Observers from Guinness World Records also monitored Sunday’s plantation and are expected to confirm in the coming weeks that the effort set a new high. The campaign was organised by the Madhya Pradesh government, with 24 distracts of the Narmada river basin chosen as planting sites to increase the saplings’ chances of survival. Volunteers planted more than 20 different species of trees. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the state’s chief minister, described the efforts as a “historic day”. He said volunteers including children and the elderly had planted 66.3 million saplings between 7am and 7pm, adding in a tweet: “By planting trees we are not only serving Madhya Pradesh but the world at large.”
Amazon destruction accelerates 60% to one and a half soccer fields every minute – Amazon deforestation accelerated more than 60% in June over the same period last year, in what environmentalists say is a sign that the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro are starting to take effect. The rate of rainforest destruction had been stable during the first few months of Bolsonaro’s presidency but began to soar in May and June, according to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE), a government agency whose satellites also monitor the Amazon. 769.1 square kilometres were lost last month – a stark increase from the 488.4 sq km lost in June 2018,INPE’s data showed. That equates to an area of rainforest larger than one and a half soccer fields being destroyed every minute of every day. More than two-thirds of the Amazon are located in Brazil and environmental groups blame far-right leader Bolsonaro and his government for the increase, saying he has relaxed controls on deforestation in the country.” Over the past six months, Bolsonaro and his environment minister have been devoting themselves to the dismantling of the Brazilian environmental governance and neutralizing regulatory bodies”, Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the environment NGO network Observatorio do Clima (Climate Observatory) told CNN.Greenpeace called Bolsonaro and his government a “threat to the climate equilibrium” and warned that in the long run, his policies would bear a “heavy cost” for the Brazilian economy. “Bolsonaro already accounts for gigantic setbacks for the environment and for Brazil’s image”, Mflrcio Astrini, a spokesman for Greenpeace in Brazil said in a statement on Friday. CNN asked the Brazilian Environment Ministry for comment on the recent numbers but has not received a response.
The hard truth about being a 21st century tree in California – The number, so far, is over 147 million dead. California’s expansive forests have experienced a profound tree die-off since 2010, exacerbated by a long drought between 2012 and 2015. These pine trees are tough, though, and have evolved to withstand parched years in the drought-prone Golden State. But not drought like this, which was amplified by the planet’s relentless, accelerating warming. “The rules are changing,” said Nathan Stephenson, a U.S. Geological Survey forest ecologist who monitors trees in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range.”It wasn’t just dry – it was warmer,” added Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.New research, published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, illustrates how trees in the state’s sprawling Sierra Nevada mountains hung on to life before succumbing to drought. The great forest die-off is tied to a drying up of the deep, deep soil, up to some 50 feet below ground. California trees withstood a lack of rain for two to three years by drawing on this deep-seated water. But, unfortunately for many trees, those last reserves were eventually exhausted, too. “It was only after this moisture was depleted that the forest became extremely stressed and ultimately began to die off,” said Mike Goulden, a lead author of the study who researches terrestrial ecosystems at the University of California, Irvine.
PG&E Update: Utility Blamed For More Fires — PG&G is being blamed for another round of small fires that occurred this month in California. The utility’s powerlines are being blamed for the fire that burned more than 2,000 acres in Monterey County, California, as well as two other small fires in the state. A PG&E transformer reportedly went up in flames in Marin County, California, igniting a brush fire, earlier in June. Yet, another fire was allegedly caused by PG&E wires as it burned a house and an acre of land. While the three fires were smaller in magnitude than the California wildfires that PG&E has admitted liability for, they point to the company’s need for a more aggressive safety plan. The hot and dry weather in California may have made the fires unavoidable, but PG&E has already warned that it is behind in its safety work, Yahoo News reported.
California hit by biggest earthquake in 20 years – Southern California has been struck by its strongest earthquake in two decades, causing damage and fires. The epicentre of the tremor, which had a 6.4 magnitude, was near the city of Ridgecrest, about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Los Angeles. Firefighters said they were providing medical assistance and dealing with fires in and around the city. People from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific coast reported feeling the quake, which hit on Independence Day. There was significant damage in the town of Ridgecrest, south west of the epicentre, Professor John Rundle, a local geophysicist, told the BBC. He added that it was fortunate the had quake happened far away from major population centres. The Ridgecrest Regional Hospital has been evacuated, the Kern County Fire Department tweeted. The service is currently working on nearly two dozen incidents ranging from medical assistance for minor injuries to fires. Brad Alexander, a spokesman for California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said that fire engines and search and rescue teams were going to assist in the Ridgecrest area, where he believed there were a number of buildings on fire. “This may not be over. There could be more earthquakes happening in the area and anyone listening that’s in that region should be prepared to drop cover and hold on,” he warned. The city’s mayor, Peggy Breeden, told CNN that a state of emergency has also been declared in the city. Ms Breeden said that some people had been struck by objects falling from buildings and gas lines had been broken. “We are used to earthquakes but we’re not used to this significance,” she said.
California earthquake: Map shows high number of aftershocks – The strongest earthquake to hit Southern California in nearly 20 years prompted one city to declare a state of emergency Thursday, and shook residents from Las Vegas to Orange County. The quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centered near Ridgecrest, a high-desert community about 150 miles north of Los Angeles. At least 159 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or greater were recorded after the earthquake, according to USGS Seismologist Robert Graves. It is a higher than normal number, but not unprecedented, he said. The largest of them were magnitude 4.6. Noted seismologist Lucy Jones called it a “robust” series and said there is a 50 percent chance of another large quake in the next week. Jones said there is a 1 in 20 chance that a bigger earthquake will hit within the next few days. “It’s certain that this area is going to be shaking a lot today, and some of those aftershocks will probably exceed magnitude 5.” Jones said the quake, named the Searles Valley Quake, was preceded by a magnitude 4.2 foreshock. Ridgecrest has announced a state of emergency, Mayor Peggy Breeden said. As the mayor spoke to CNN earlier in the day, an aftershock interrupted the interview. “As I understand, we have five fires,” the mayor said. “We have broken gas lines.” Footage from Ridgecrest showed firefighters hosing down flames rising from homes. There were also power outages in the city of 28,000 residents. The forecasted high temperature is 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the National Weather Service said.
Another, Even Bigger, Quake Just Hit Southern California, Gas Leaks/Fires Reported — As we detailed earlier, the strongest earthquake to hit southern California in nearly 2 decades has also resulted in an unusual number of aftershocks, seismologists are saying. The quake has already prompted one city to declare a state of emergency Thursday and affected residents from Las Vegas to Orange County, according to the Mercury News. The quake registered a 6.4 on the Richter scale and was centered about 150 miles north of Los Angeles. An astounding 159 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or greater have been recorded already. This is a higher than normal, with the largest aftershocks registering at 4.6. Seismologist Lucy Jones called it a “robust” series of aftershocks and says there’s a 50% chance of another large quake in the next week. She also said there is a 1 in 20 chance that a bigger earthquake will hit within the next few days. She commented that earthquakes actually increase the risk of future quakes. Update: Less than 12 hours after seisomologist Lucy Jones warned of another large quake, a massive 7.1 quake just hit 17km NNE of Ridgecrest. This continues the swarm of aftershocks that has hit all day… (Seismologists at Cal Tech said Friday afternoon that there had been around 1,400 aftershocks since Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude quake, with 17 of those with a magnitude of 4 or above.) The quake hit at 2319ET less than 24 hours after the largest quake (6.4) in over 20 years struck the same region. The news and accompanying video started to surface on Twitter at around 11:30pm EST on Friday night. The Dodgers even played their baseball game through the quake: One person on social media reported feeling dizzy and his dog threw up. Chandeliers and hanging plants swayed. Pools sloshed. Electrical wires rocked. Even Northern California residents noted their pools making waves and Vegas residents felt the shake. NBC LA reports gas leaks and fires have been reported. The San Bernardino County Fire District tweeted that calls were coming in from northwestern communities and that people were reporting “homes shifted, foundation cracks, retaining walls down.”
‘It’s getting warmer, wetter, wilder’: the Arctic town heating faster than anywhere – People settle in the world’s northernmost town, Longyearbyen, for many reasons. But there is also, in many cases, a pioneering urge. This has always been the case in this group of Arctic islands, lodged halfway between the north pole and mainland Norway. Historically, the first residents were whalers, who arrived 400 years ago and helped to hunt the bowhead close to extinction. Then came coal miners, who dug pits, fed furnaces and shipped fuel across oceans. More recently came high-end tourism workers catering for “last chance to see” cruises through the disappearing Arctic ice. Now, a growing body of academics and diplomats are here to examine how Svalbard and its people adapt to living on the frontier of climate breakdown. Nowhere on the planet is heating faster. This was the message of a report commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency, unveiled in February to a stunned audience in Longyearbyen, the archipelago’s de facto capital. People knew things were bad, but it was only when they heard the forecast that they realised how bad. A local reporter described how people at the meeting fell silent when they heard the statistics, which sounded like the “gloomy horror scenario of a bad thriller”. Since 1971, temperatures here have risen by 4C, five times faster than the global average. In the winter, when the changes are more marked, it has gone up by an astonishing 7C. These are increases that the rest of the world is not expected to experience until the 22nd century. They are far ahead of most computer simulations. Yet there is still more to come. On current trends, Svalbard will hit 10C of warming by 2100.
‘Precipitous’ fall in Antarctic sea ice since 2014 revealed – The vast expanse of sea ice around Antarctica has suffered a “precipitous” fall since 2014, satellite data shows, and fell at a faster rate than seen in the Arctic.The plunge in the average annual extent means Antarctica lost as much sea ice in four years as the Arctic lost in 34 years. The cause of the sharp Antarctic losses is as yet unknown and only time will tell whether the ice recovers or continues to decline. But researchers said it showed ice could disappear much more rapidly than previously thought. Unlike the melting of ice sheets on land, sea ice melting does not raise sea level. But losing bright white sea ice means the sun’s heat is instead absorbed by dark ocean waters, leading to a vicious circle of heating. Sea ice spreads over enormous areas and has major impacts on the global climate system, with losses in the Arctic strongly linked to extreme weather at lower latitudes, such as heatwaves in Europe. The loss of sea ice in the Arctic clearly tracks the rise in global air temperatures resulting from human-caused global heating, but the two poles are very different. The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continents and is exposed to warming air, while Antarctica is a freezing continent surrounded by oceans and is protected from warming air by a circle of strong winds.Antarctic sea ice had been slowly increasing during the 40 years of measurements and reached a record maximum in 2014. But since then sea ice extent has nosedived, reaching a record low in 2017.“There has been a huge decrease,” said Claire Parkinson, at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the US. In her study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, she called the decline precipitous and a dramatic reversal. “We don’t know if that decrease is going to continue,” she said. “But it raises the question of why [has it happened], and are we going to see some huge acceleration in the rate of decrease in the Arctic? Only the continued record will let us know.”
June 2019, one hell of a month — Arctic Sea Ice by Neven – I’m going to be talking about melting momentum (for those not familiar with the concept, here’s the archive). But I want to start off with something else. Every melting season, the entire North American coast clears of ice at some point, making it possible to sail from Bering Strait to M’Clure Strait (western exit/entrance of the Northwest Passage central route). Back in 2016, there was a chance of this happening record early, but it didn’t pan out. This year it did, four weeks earlier than any other year in the Concentration Maps section of the ASIG. The event was reported by Rick Thoman (ACCAP) and Lars Kaleschke (University of Hamburg), both providing some great graphs and animations (see here). But just one event does not a record melting season make. What does make a melting season, is melting momentum. Here follows a barrage of maps and graphs, with short commentary, to give you an idea of how the 2019 melting season stacks up so far (click on the images for larger versions).We’ll have a quick look at May first. May was quite sunny, but at this time of year, clear skies don’t contribute as much to melting momentum as one would think. (even if May 2019 waswarmest/non-coldest on record for Arctic SAT). In fact, it’s cloudy, moist conditions that affect the ice first through melt onset, causing the snow layer on the ice to melt. This then refreezes, but is easier to melt later on, creating the first melt ponds.The image below shows melt pond fraction for May 2012, 2017, 2018 and this year. One can clearly see that this last May was similar to the previous two years, whereas 2012 already had some melt ponding going on. As always, the big question was whether 2019 would be able to catch up with years like 2007, 2011 and 2012 during this crucial month. This is entirely determined by weather patterns, and so below is a comparison for June, showing surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly and mean sea level pressure (SLP) maps from the NOAA ESRL Daily Mean Composites website (2019 runs up to June 27): When it comes to air temperatures, 2019 is blowing all the other years out of the water. That relentless heat dome over the Siberian side of the Arctic has simply been merciless, and I would be mightily surprised if June 2019 doesn’t turn out to be the warmest on record as well (after May). As for SLP, the other years may show more of a classic Arctic dipole (high pressure over the American side of the Arctic, low pressure over Siberia), but 2019’s high pressure area is vast, and coupled with relatively low pressure over the Kara Sea, there’s a steep pressure gradient, causing strong winds that a) pull all that warm air over the ice, and b) push the ice towards the North Pole, leaving open water in its wake.
The Poisons Released by Melting Arctic Ice – The organic-rich permafrost holds an estimated 1,500 billion tonnes of carbon. “That’s about twice as much carbon in the atmosphere, and three times as much carbon than that stored in all the world’s forests”, says Natali. She explains that between 30% and 70% of the permafrost may melt before 2100, depending on how effectively we respond to climate change. “The 70% is business as usual, if we continue to burn fossil fuels at our current rate, and 30% is if we vastly reduce our fossil fuel emissions… Of the 30-70% that thaws, the carbon locked up in organic matter will begin to be broken down by microbes, they use it as fuel or energy, and they release it as CO2 or methane.” The Northern Hemisphere winter of 2018/2019 was dominated by headlines of the “polar vortex”, as temperatures plummeted unusually far south into North America. What such stories masked, however, was that the opposite was happening in the far North, beyond the Arctic circle. In November, when temperatures should have been -25C, a temperature of 1.2C above freezing was recorded at the North Pole. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world (in part due to the loss of solar reflectivity). But methane and CO2 are not the only things being released from the once frozen ground. In the summer of 2016, a group of nomadic reindeer herders began falling sick from a mysterious illness. Rumours began circling of the “Siberian plague”, last seen in the region in 1941. When a young boy and 2,500 reindeer died, the disease was identified: anthrax. Its origin was a defrosting reindeer carcass, a victim of an anthrax outbreak 75 years previously. The 2018 Arctic report card speculates that, “diseases like the Spanish flu, smallpox or the plague that have been wiped out might be frozen in the permafrost.” A French study in 2014 took a 30,000 year-old virus frozen within permafrost, and warmed it back up in the lab. It promptly came back to life, 300 centuries later. (To read more, see BBC Earth’s piece on the diseases hidden in ice.) Adding to this apocalyptic vision, in 2016 the Doomsday Vault – a sub-permafrost facility in Arctic Norway, which safeguards millions of crop seeds for perpetuity – was breached with meltwater. And listed amongst the membership of The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost, is Swedish Nuclear Waste Management who presumably also rely on a permanently frozen permafrost (when BBC Future approached them for comment on this point, they did not respond).
Antarctica Lost Sea Ice 4x the Size of France in 3 Years – A swath of Antarctica‘s sea ice larger than four times the size of France has melted since 2014, AFP reported Tuesday. The rapid decline, revealed in a study of satellite data published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, marks a stunning reversal for the South Pole: Between 1979 and 2014, its sea ice was actually expanding. Then, it lost 2.1 million square kilometers (approximately 810,815 square miles) in three years, falling from 12.8 million square kilometers (approximately 4.9 million square miles) to 10.7 million square kilometers (approximately 4.1 million square miles).”It went from its 40-year high in 2014, all the way down in 2017 to its 40-year low,” study author and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center climatologist Claire Parkinson told AFP.That also means that Antarctica rapidly caught up with the fast-melting Arctic. In four years, it lost as much sea ice as the Arctic lost in 34, The Guardian reported. Scientists are still uncertain if the melting trend will continue or reverse again, and whether the climate crisis is to blame. Parkinson told New Scientist that there was a similar rapid melt period in the 1970s followed by an expansion of ice, and the ice did begin to increase again between 2017 and 2018 before dipping to a new low record low for this time of year.
Climate change could put these colleges underwater–why they’re staying put – The leaders of Texas A&M University’s seaside Galveston campus had a choice to make. It was 2008, and Hurricane Ike had just devastated the Gulf Coast, forcing the university to move its students 145 miles inland to College Station for a semester. Should the school retreat inland and close down its former campus? Or would it build more structures and place an emphasis on coastal resiliency?“Of course, it’s Texas A&M, and they said, ‘Let’s double down,’ ” said Sam Brody, a professor at the university and the director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores. Now, the university is committed to a future in Galveston – despite models that say 90% of the city’s inhabitable land could be underwater in 80 years. Texas A&M in Galveston’s decision mirrors the situation that many colleges in high-risk coastal areas are grappling with. A 2018 study from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a climate watchdog group, detailed the danger that cities face due to chronic flooding. As Earth’s temperatures increase and ice melts, rising sea levelscould leave major portions of U.S. cities underwater in a matter of decades. But in colleges located in these threatened seaside regions, from Texas to Florida to New Jersey, administrators and scientists say they have no plans to move. Instead, they are raising buildings and constructing protective barriers in hopes of making their campuses safe for the foreseeable future. “A lot of people have this perception that because sea-level rise is happening so slowly, it really won’t be a problem until later in the century,” said Kristina Dahl, a climate scientist and the lead analyst behind the UCS study. “But for many places, especially on the East and Gulf Coast, they could see significant impacts in just the next 30 years or so.”
Airplane Contrails’ Climate Impact to Triple by 2050, Study Says – Those thin white clouds that jet engines draw across the sky are leaving their mark on the climate. A new study warns that the global heat-trapping effect of contrail clouds will triple by 2050 unless airlines and airplane builders dramatically reduce emissions or air traffic patterns change. Air travel is growing so fast that current efforts to curb the climate-harming effects of airplane pollution won’t be able to keep up with the expected increase in the formation of heat-trapping clouds, scientists wrote in a study published Thursday in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.“Given the increasing rate of air traffic we see now, there’s not much we can do to keep the climate impact constant,” said Ulrike Burkhardt, a co-author of the study and a climate researcher at DLR, the German Aerospace Center. Air travel affects the climate in two distinct ways: through the greenhouse gases released as airplanes burn fuel, and through the heat-trapping effect of the condensation that forms as hot gases and soot from partially burned jet fuel activate water particles that then freeze and form contrails. Those clouds can persist for more than half a day, and under certain atmospheric conditions, they can merge and spread across thousands of square miles, expanding the heat-trapping effect across wide areas. “Usually people say clouds are cooling the surface. For lower clouds that’s true. They reflect sunlight. But high clouds that are optically thin are most likely to warm the atmosphere,” Burkhardt said. The prevalence of tiny ice crystals intensifies the heat-trapping effect. In the short term, the climate impact of the clouds formed by jet exhaust is greater than the warming effect of aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Committed emissions from existing energy infrastructure jeopardize 1.5 °C climate target – Nature. Abstract: Net anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must approach zero by mid-century (2050) to stabilize global mean temperature at the levels targeted by international efforts1 – 5. Yet continued expansion of fossil-fuel energy infrastructure implies already ‘committed’ future CO2emissions6 – 13. Here we use detailed datasets of current fossil-fuel-burning energy infrastructure in 2018 to estimate regional and sectoral patterns of ‘committed’ CO2 emissions, the sensitivity of such emissions to assumed operating lifetimes and schedules, and the economic value of associated infrastructure. We estimate that, if operated as historically, existing infrastructure will emit about 658 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 (ranging from 226 to 1,479 Gt CO2 depending on assumed lifetimes and utilization rates). More than half of these emissions are projected to come from the electricity sector, and infrastructure in China, the USA and the EU28 countries represent approximately 41 per cent, 9 per cent and 7 per cent of the total, respectively. If built, proposed power plants (planned, permitted or under construction) would emit approximately an additional 188 (range 37 – 427) Gt CO2. Committed emissions from existing and proposed energy infrastructure (about 846 Gt CO2) thus represent more than the entire remaining carbon budget if mean warming is to be limited to 1.5 °C with a probability of 50 – 66 per cent (420 – 580 Gt CO2)5, and perhaps two-thirds of the remaining carbon budget if mean warming is to be limited to below 2 °C (1,170 – 1,500 Gt CO2)5. The remaining carbon budget estimates are varied and nuanced14,15, depending on the climate target and the availability of large-scale negative emissions16. Nevertheless, our emission estimates suggest that little or no additional CO2-emitting infrastructure can be commissioned, and that infrastructure retirements that are earlier than historical ones (or retrofits with carbon capture and storage technology) may be necessary, in order to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals17. On the basis of the asset value per ton of committed emissions, we estimate that the most cost-effective premature infrastructure retirements will be in the electricity and industry sectors, if non-emitting alternative technologies are available and affordable4,18.
Existing fossil fuel plants will push the world across a dangerous climate limit, research finds – A new study finds we’ve already installed enough fossil fuel infrastructure to commit to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of planetary warming, even without new planned installations. The world’s existing power plants, industrial plants, buildings and cars are already numerous enough – and young enough – to commit the Earth to an unacceptable level of warming, according to new research published Monday. This fossil fuel infrastructure merely needs to continue operating over the course of its expected lifetime, and the world will emit over 650 billion tons of carbon dioxide, more than enough to dash chances of limiting the Earth’s warming to a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s a level of warming that has become increasingly accepted as a scientific line-in-the-sand. And it gets worse: Proposals and plans are currently afoot for additional coal plants and other infrastructure that would add another nearly 200 billion tons of emissions to that total. Some of these are now actually under construction. In other words, human societies would need not only to cancel all such pending projects but also timeout existing projects early, in order to bring emissions down adequately. “1.5°C carbon budgets allow for no new emitting infrastructure and require substantial changes to the lifetime or operation of already existing energy infrastructure,” concludes the study in Nature. The globe currently emits more than 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually from fossil fuel burning and cement manufacturing, based on 2017 figures from the Global Carbon Project. An additional roughly 5 billion tons are contributed through land use changes, most prominently deforestation. Thus, in total, humanity is currently causing over 41 billion tons of carbon dioxide to enter the atmosphere each year.The most recent estimate of the so-called carbon budget is that since the beginning of 2018, we can only emit between 420 and 580 billion tons at most if we want to ensure a 50 to 66 percent chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That amounts to between 10 and 14 years at current emissions, with one year, 2018, already used up and another, 2019, halfway gone.
The mythical economic data on climate change (1): Nordhaus’s 1994 survey of “experts” – Steve Keen – As part of my critique of mainstream economics work on climate change, I’m going through each of the 14 data points that Nordhaus used to fit his damage function to “data” in the manual to his DICE program {Nordhaus, 2013 #5673}. These came from a survey paper by Tol in 2009: “The Economic Effects of Climate Change” {Tol, 2009 #5683}. Nordhaus later revised his function, given errors he belatedly spotted in Tol’s table {Nordhaus, 2017 #5584}, but there were many errors he didn’t see that I’ll cover first before turning to his 2017 paper. The paper in question here is: Nordhaus, W. (1994). “Expert Opinion on Climate Change.” American Scientist 82(1): pp. 45 – 51.For context, Figure 1 shows Tol’s table, highlighting the numbers he gave for this paper (which are erroneous), while Figure 2 shows all the numbers Nordhaus used, with this pair – a 3 Kelvin (K) increase in temperature, and a 4.8% fall in GDP) – highlighted. Figure 1: Tol’s summary table of damage estimates, with Nordhaus 1994b highlighted. As it stands, this is the most extreme prediction given for the damages to GDP from climate change – though because of errors in Tol’s table and the errors in Nordhaus’s methodology, it is both too high, and not high enough.
G20 summit: World leaders agree on climate deal – World leaders attending the 2019 G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka on Saturday agreed to a climate change deal similar to that signed in Argentina last year. Speaking at the conclusion of the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the leaders had found common ground on climate change despite “big differences” in the members’ views. “We will have a similar text to Argentina. A 19+1 declaration,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 meeting. As at the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, the new declaration states that the US reiterated its decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement “because it disadvantages American workers and taxpayers.” The document said the signatories to the Paris Agreement reaffirmed their commitment to its full implementation. To help achieve climate change prevention, the G20 nations “will look into a wide range of clean technologies and approaches, including smart cities, ecosystem and community based approaches, nature based solutions and traditional and indigenous knowledge,” the final document read. Merkel praised the agreement, telling reporters in Japan that “this process cannot be turned around.” Merkel added that some leaders present in Osaka had already indicated they were willing to increase their commitments to curb greenhouse gases by aiming for “net zero” emissions by 2050. “In our view, climate change will determine the destiny of mankind, so it is imperative that our generation makes the right choices,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a news conference with his French counterpart and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres following the climate change talks.
U.S. remains outlier as G20 split over tackling climate change – (Reuters) – After much wrangling, the Group of 20 major economies on Saturday agreed to disagree on fighting climate change, with the United States dissenting from a commitment to carry out the 2015 Paris climate change agreement. In a communique at the end of a two-day summit in Japan’s western city of Osaka, the grouping said “signatories to the Paris Agreement” reaffirmed their commitment to its full implementation, referring to the 19 members aside from the U.S. The United States withdrew from the Paris pact because it “disadvantages American workers and taxpayers,” the grouping added in a subsequent section, adopting a two-part approach used at last year’s summit in Buenos Aires. The division reflects tussles over global warming that have repeatedly stymied international forums since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the landmark accord to limit the effects of climate change. Even before the summit started, the differences over climate change became apparent when President Emmanuel Macron said France would not accept a final text that omitted the Paris pact. In that accord, 200 nations agreed to limit the global average rise from pre-industrial temperatures to below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). Current policies put the world on track for a rise of at least 3 degrees C by the end of the century, the United Nations said in a 2016 report, however.
Four countries have declared climate emergencies. But give billions to fossil fuels – The UK, Ireland, Canada and France have all declared climate emergencies. But between them they give billions of dollars to support the fossil fuel industry at home and abroad. Fossil fuel subsidies can come in the form of tax breaks, financial incentives and support for companies exporting abroad. The UK, which was the first country in the world to declare a climate emergency following declarations by Scotland and Wales, spent an annual average of $11 billion in fossil fuel subsidies between 2015 and 2016, according to data from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The same data shows that France, which enshrined the climate and ecological emergency as part of draft legislation that could see the country agree to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, spent an average $8.02 billion a year in fossil fuels subsidies during the same period. For Canada, that figure was $7.73 billion. The government of Justin Trudeau has been accused of sending out mixed signals after approving a pipeline expansion on the day after declaring a national climate emergency. This data is the latest update from ODI, there is no indication they have been significantly curtailed in the years since. That is despite the UK, France and Canada having pledged to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 as part of commitments made under the G7 in 2016. Governments of the G20 have also agreed to end fossil fuel subsidies a decade ago but no phase-out timeline has yet been agreed.
G20 countries triple coal power subsidies despite climate crisis – G20 countries have almost tripled the subsidies they give to coal-fired power plants in recent years, despite the urgent need to cut the carbon emissions driving the climate crisis. The bloc of major economies pledged a decade ago to phase out all fossil fuel subsidies. The figures, published in a report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and others, show that Japan is one of the biggest financial supporters of coal, despite the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, having said in September: “Climate change can be life-threatening to all generations … We must take more robust actions and reduce the use of fossil fuels.” The annual G20 meeting begins in Japan on Friday. China and India give the biggest subsidies to coal, with Japan third, followed by South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia and the US. While the UK frequently runs its own electricity grid without any coal power at all, a parliamentary report in June criticised the billions of pounds used to help to build fossil fuel power plants overseas. Global emissions must fall by half in the next decade to avoid significantly worsening drought, floods, extreme heatwave and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. But emissions are still increasing, with coal-fired power the biggest single contributor to the rise in 2018. “It has now been 10 years since the G20 committed to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, yet astonishingly some governments are actually increasing the amount they give to coal power plants,”
U.N. Report: ‘Human Rights Might Not Survive’ Climate Crisis – A United Nations watchdog on poverty and human rights is the latest to call attention to the looming threat of a “climate apartheid.” In a report presented to the Human Rights Council on Friday, U.N. special rapporteur Philip Alston writes that climate change is an “unconscionable assault on the poor.”He cites a World Bank estimate that climate change could push at least 120 million more people into poverty globally by 2030 unless immediate action is taken. This is backed up by a study from Stanford University published earlier this year, which found that the disparity in per capita income between the richest and poorest nations is roughly 25 percent larger now than it would be if human-caused climate change weren’t at play.“We risk a ‘climate apartheid’ scenario where the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger, and conflict while the rest of the world is left to suffer,” Alston said in a statement. Global warming tends to exacerbate economic and racial inequities – an effect that’s been described as a new form of ‘apartheid’ by the likes of Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate, for the past decade.The recent U.N. report adds that global warming will have far-reaching effects on just about any humanitarian issue – housing, migration, and more. “Human rights might not survive the coming upheaval,” the report concludes. The U.N. Human Rights council appoints dozens of special rapporteurs to serve as independent watchdogs. They investigate human rights abuses and report back to the council on specific issues. Alston is one of several special rapporteurs who have focused on climate change in recent years.
Greta Thunberg thanks oil cartel OPEC for climate change criticism — Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg has welcomed criticism fromOPEC’s secretary general, describing it as the “biggest compliment yet” to a growing movement of young protesters demanding action over climate change.“Thank you!” Thunberg said Thursday in response to thinly-veiled criticism from a prominent fossil fuel leader.“Our biggest compliment yet!”Thunberg was catapulted to fame for skipping school every Friday to hold a weekly vigil outside Swedish parliament last year.Protesting against political inaction over climate change, the 16-year-old sparked an international wave of school strikes – also known as “Fridays for Future” – with millions of other children following suit in cities around the world.Earlier this week, energy ministers from the world’s most powerful oil-producing nations met in Austria to thrash out a deal restricting the amount of crude flowing into the global market.Speaking in Vienna shortly after a meeting of the oil producers’ club and its allied partners on Tuesday, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo reportedly said that “unscientific” attacks by climate activists were “perhaps the greatest threat to our industry going forward.” Barkindo told AFP that as extreme weather events linked to climate change became more common, there seemed to be a “growing mass mobilization of world opinion … against oil.”
Police Tear-Gas Climate Activists in Paris on ‘Hottest Day in History of France’ – French riot police tear-gassed climate protesters in Paris on Friday as the county sweltered under record heat.Activists with Extinction Rebellion (XR) were occupying a bridge over the Seine to demand the French government declare a climate emergency and take necessary action to avert planetary catastrophe.”We need to civilly disrupt because, otherwise, nothing is going to be done,” a British woman who took part in the protest told Euronews. Video shows the police teargassing the protesters at a close range and then forcibly trying to remove them from the scene.350 Europe described the display of police violence as “shocking.” Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teen who ignited the School Strike for Climate movement, said on social media: “Watch this video and ask yourself; who is defending who?”The action also drew praise from the U.S.-based Sunrise Movement, who gave props to the protesters for “putting their bodies on the line for climate justice.”The XR action took place as temperatures hoveredin near 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32° C) in Paris – far cooler than in some other parts of the country.The French meteorological agency said that temperatures topped 45° C (113° F) for the first time on the books, with the threshold being passed in three cities. The steamiest reading was in Gallargues-le-Montueux, where it hit 45.9 °C (114.6° F) in the late afternoon.
Paris police use pepper spray against seated climate change protesters – (video) In the latest act of police violence in France, dozens of riot officers surrounded a group of peaceful climate change protesters sitting on and blocking a road in Paris on Friday, dousing them in pepper spray and assaulting them. The police attack occurred on the Pont Sully, which crosses the Seine River. A group of around 50 protesters were sitting on the bridge and blocking traffic. As the police began dousing them in pepper spray, they raised their hands above their heads and shouted “nonviolent.” The police then charged the group with shields raised and began dragging them away. Videos of the event show the police using pepper spray against those who come to pour water on protesters who have already been sprayed. Paris police pepper spraying peaceful protesters. Begins at 7:53. For the next 10 minutes, the police stroll around the group, spraying into their faces from 20 centimeters away and ripping protective goggles off them, as dozens of onlookers stand and film with their phones.The scene in Paris, videos of which have been shared thousands of times and triggered an outcry on social media, recalls the police’s pepper spraying of University of California Davis students protesting social inequality and tuition fee increases in November 2011. It occurs amid the Macron administration’s massive mobilization of riot police over the past six months to violently repress “yellow vest” protesters opposing social inequality, austerity and the slashing of taxes for the super-rich.
‘Madrid Central’ protest: Thousands oppose suspension of anti-pollution plan – Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Madrid on Saturday to oppose the newly elected conservative mayor’s decision to reverse car pollution restrictions. The People’s Party-run city hall has provoked an outcry by suspending a ban on most petrol and diesel cars in Madrid’s centre. The policy aimed to ensure the city complied with the EU’s clean air rules. But PP mayor José Luis Mart’nez-Almeida, who took office on 15 June, has shelved the scheme, introduced last November by Madrid’s former left-wing mayor. The new mayor has been backed by other parties, including centrist Ciudadanos and the far-right VOX. They oppose the plan, known as “Madrid Central”. In heatwave conditions, demonstrators thronged the streets of the Spanish capital on Saturday, calling on the mayor to reinstate the ban.
China launches its longest extra-high voltage power line -Xinhua (Reuters) – China’s has launched its longest extra-high voltage (EHV) power transmission line, connecting the far western region of Xinjiang and the eastern province of Anhui, state-backed Xinhua News reported on Tuesday. The project aims to help meet increasing power demand in industrialised eastern regions and reduce the amount of wasted electricity in the west. As part of Beijing’s anti-pollution campaign, new coal-fired power utilities have been banned in the smog-prone east of the country. The 3,324-km (2,065-mile) transmission line, with voltage of 1,100 Kilovolt (kV), is designed to transmit 66 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year, Xinhua reported. Most of the electricity transmitted via the line will come from the Zhundong coal-fired power plant in northern Xinjiang, which has installed power generation capacity of 28 gigawatts (GW). China has been promoting cross-region electricity transmission lines, especially EHV projects as they have bigger transmission capacity and smaller line losses compared to ordinary lines. According to the State Grid Corporation of China, the country had 18 EHV lines with overall transmission length of 27,570 km by the end of June.
UAE Switches On World’s Largest Solar Farm – The United Arab Emirates have launched the largest single solar power farm in the world, the 1.18-GW Noor Abu Dhabi, Endgadget reports citing a tweet by the Abu Dhabi government. The facility, which dwarfs the largest solar farm in the United States – the 569-MW Solar Star – is only comparable to solar parks, which combine several separate solar farms. It can supply electricity to 90,000 people, according to official information, from as many as 3.2 million solar panels. As a result, it would offset emissions amounting to 1 million metric tons, which is the equivalent of removing 200,000 cars from the road. True to its reputation as being a large spender on various cutting-edge projects, the UAE is not stopping at Noor Abu Dhabi. Earlier this year, the Abu Dhabi Minister of Climate Change and Environment announced another, bigger, solar project. It would have a capacity of 2 GW, the official said without going into any further detail. The only project that would be bigger than this one, is Saudi Arabia’s 2.6-GW planned facility in Mecca. While the Middle East is hardly the first location that springs to mind when one thinks about solar power and other renewable energy sources, the region has been changing, slowly but surely. The International Renewable Energy Agency released a report in February saying the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council alone had plans to install as much as 7 GW in renewable power generation capacity by the early 2020s. An earlier report from IRENA said GCC could save some 354 million barrels of oil equivalent by switching to renewables for domestic consumption by 2030. That would constitute a 23-percent decline in domestic oil and gas consumption with more of the commodities going for exports: Saudi Arabia is pursuing this strategy of reducing domestic consumption of fossil fuels with a view to boosting exports.
New Solar + Battery Price Crushes Fossil Fuels, Buries Nuclear – Forbes – Los Angeles Power and Water officials have struck a deal on the largest and cheapest solar + battery-storage project in the world, at prices that leave fossil fuels in the dust and may relegate nuclear power to the dustbin.Later this month the LA Board of Water and Power Commissioners is expected to approve a 25-year contract that will serve 7 percent of the city’s electricity demand at 1.997¢/kwh for solar energy and 1.3¢ for power from batteries.”This is the lowest solar-photovoltaic price in the United States,” said James Barner, the agency’s manager for strategic initiatives, “and it is the largest and lowest-cost solar and high-capacity battery-storage project in the U.S. and we believe in the world today. So this is, I believe, truly revolutionary in the industry.”It’s half the estimated cost of power from a new natural gas plant.Mark Z. Jacobson, the Stanford professor who developed roadmapsfor transitioning 139 countries to 100 percent renewables, hailed the development on Twitter Friday, saying, “Goodnight #naturalgas, goodnight #coal, goodnight #nuclear.” The anti-nuclear activist Arnie Gunderson, who predicted storage prices under 2¢/kwh four years ago on the night Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Powerpack, noted Saturday that his 2015 prediction was too high. He too said, “Goodbye coal, nukes, gas!”
Solar project threatens historic mansions, landscapes along Rapidan River – fredericksburg.com The stately homes withstood armies’ fighting, encampment and occupation during the Civil War, and still stand today. Restored by their owners, they have storied pasts and anchor former plantations near the Rapidan River, named by a Colonial governor for Queen Anne of England, in an area on the Rapidan that’s mostly untouched by time and steeped in early history, including that of Indians and African-Americans. The countryside also yields many accounts from the War Between the States. “Where else in the country do you have a Civil War laboratory like this? Nothing has changed,” Civil War historian Clark “Bud” Hall said during a visit to the mansions of Algonquin Trail. Change could be coming, though, as county officials consider allowing a utility-scale solar plant to be built on 807 acres of agriculturally zoned parcels along the rural route. Cricket Solar LLC, the project’s developer in Irvine, California, says the green initiative will generate enough electricity to power 15,000 homes a year. The Culpeper County Planning Department is reviewing revisions to an application submitted in December by Cricket that would place more than 270,000 solar panels in the Raccoon Ford area. Landowners who have signed contracts on their land for the project say the development will allow them to keep their farms. It is impossible to preserve all of Culpeper’s history, they said. But neighbors of the Cricket Solar site – some of whom plan to speak during Tuesday night’s Board of Supervisors public comment session – are mounting a campaign against what they say is an industrial project that belongs elsewhere.“The owners want to protect their investment, want to pass the homes down in the family,” said Hall, who has spent years researching and documenting the homes and the area’s past. The village of Raccoon Ford and its river crossing are where violent clashes between North and South played out along the Rapidan River during the Civil War. “This kind of threat chills them to the bone,” Hall said of the solar project. “It’s shotgun, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Decarbonizing US Power Grid Would Cost Up To $4.5T – The transition to a 100 percent renewable U.S. power grid would need investment of up to $4.5 trillion over the next 10 to 20 years. That’s according to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac), which estimates that about 1,600 gigawatts (GW) of new wind and solar capacity would be needed to produce enough energy to replace all fossil fuel generation in the country. About 900 GW of new storage would also be needed to ensure wind and solar generated power is available exactly when consumers need it, WoodMac pointed out. Allowing 20 percent of the power mix to come from existing natural gas-fired generation would reduce renewable energy costs by roughly 20 percent and energy storage costs by at least 60 percent, WoodMac found. “The mass deployment of wind and solar generation will require substantial investments in utility-scale storage to ensure grid resilience is maintained,” Dan Shreve, head of global wind energy research, said in a company statement. “The challenges of achieving 100 percent renewable energy go far beyond the capital costs of new generating assets. Most notably, it will need a substantial redesign of electricity markets, migrating away from traditional energy-only constructs and more towards a capacity market,” he added. In a live blog following the United States’ presidential primary debate on Thursday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said promises of an imminent energy landscape powered entirely by alternative fuels “might make for an applause line but it’s less likely to make for plausible policy”. “Instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, America’s policy leaders should pursue energy policies that value the resilience of a diverse energy portfolio,” the API stated in the blog.
July 2019 – Kunstler – Behold, the stupid fucking idea du jour! The Penn15 Tower proposed for mid-Manhattan – as if the city needs another megastructure that will be transformed from an asset to a liability overnight in the long emergency ahead. Penn15 will be nearly the same height as the Empire State Building. The gimmick in this one is a series of “green walkways” and “tree-filled” lounging terraces “suspended thousands of feet in the air.” Here is the reckless delusion of our age made manifest in architecture. It takes a special lack of sensibility to chill out in a lounge chair up there, by which I mean there is something in human neurology that seeks a sense of groundedness and enclosure. What this building expresses is a grandiose wish to defy natural human instincts – in exactly the same way that our society wishes to defy the realities of dwindling energy resources and extreme indebtedness. As a side-note, just imagine the watering systems required to keep all those plants green. And the engineering necessary to keep that water from structurally compromising the building. Imagine yourself in this setting. (Pass the Xanax!)
Coal ash concerns prompt Chapel Hill police to consider new department location (WNCN) – Concerns about coal ash contributed to the Chapel Hill Police Department’s desire for a new station. Town planners are in negotiations for a location at University Place mall, next to the Silverspot Cinema. The new municipal facility will include a police headquarters, administrative offices for the fire department and the parks and recreation department, as well as public space for members of the community to use.Dwight Bassett, the town’s economic development officer, said the current building on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was constructed in the 1980s. “Probably wasn’t the best construction when it was built. The building has a lot of issues. It’s not quite big enough, to say the least,” Bassett said. “The police station is sitting on a coal ash site, and we’ve been trying to work out how we’re going to deal with that remediation. It just seems like there’s bound to be a better place for our police station than back on top of that coal ash.” Inspectors determined coal ash was dumped at the site by Bolin Creek back in the 1970s after dirt was excavated for construction projects in prior decades.
Major Appalachian Coal Company Files For Bankruptcy Protection –In the latest sign of problems for the U.S. coal industry, one of the country’s largestcoal producers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. mWest Virginia-based Revelation Energy LLC and its recently-formed affiliate, Blackjewel LLC, began the bankruptcy reorganization process in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia on Monday. The companies, owned and controlled by Milton, West Virginia, resident Jeff Hoops, a longtime coal executive, employ about 1,700 employees across its Central Appalachian coal mining holdings and two large Wyoming coal mines, which were acquired in 2017. In court documents, Revelation Energy listed 24 metallurgical coal mines and processing and prep facilities in Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia, as principal assets that employ 1,100 workers. The Appalachian mines have an estimated 600 million reserve tons of coal. Last year, the company mined 3.3 millions tons. The federal government’s Energy Information Administration said in 2017 that the companies’ combined output made them the country’s sixth-largest coal producer.
Chubb bans coverage for coal, a first for big U.S. insurance firms – Chubb became the first of the big U.S. insurers to announce a ban on coverage for coal companies. Chubb, facing increasing pressure from environmental action groups, said Monday it will no longer sell insurance to new coal-fired power plants or sell new policies to companies that derive more than 30% of their revenues from thermal coal mining. Up to now, U.S. insurers have resisted joining the growing movement in Europe to stop selling insurance to coal-based power plants and coal mines because of the environmental damage they cause. “Chubb recognises the reality of climate change and the substantial impact of human activity on our planet,” said Evan Greenberg, Chubb’s chief executive. The company, which is officially based in Switzerland but does much of its business in the U.S., will also stop making new investments in companies that have a big exposure to thermal coal mining or coal-based energy production. Joseph Wayland, Chubb’s general counsel, said that the decision was driven by business interests as well as broader environmental concerns. “As a global insurer we are impacted by climate change, in everything from increasing fire risk to flooding,” he said. “Climate change … can be seen in the increasing severity and frequency of natural catastrophes.” Over the last two years, insurers have been hit by a series of large natural catastrophe claims. According to Swiss Re, the insurance industry faced $76 billion of losses from natural catastrophes in 2018, the fourth-highest sum on record. Not all of the catastrophes can be directly linked to climate change, but modelling specialists say that some of them, such as the series of wildfires that hit California last year, are made more likely by warmer temperatures. Chubb’s decision could increase the pressure on other big U.S. insurers such as AIG and Travelers to act.
The Trump administration protested when Kenya halted a coal-fired power plant – When the Kenyan government had second thoughts about allowing the country’s first coal-fired power plant, the Trump Administration’s representative in the country protested. U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter, a Trump appointee who previously served as a Republican state senator in Illinois, went on Twitter to argue in a string of tweets that coal is environmentally sound, that the plant would boost the country’s economy and that a critical analysis of the plant from a clean energy think tank amounted only to the work of “highly paid protestors.” “Coal is the cleanest, least costly option,” U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter wrote from his official Twitter last week. “Investors will come.” It’s unclear what lobbying – if any – McCarter has engaged in behind the scenes to promote the coal-fired power plant, but the voice of the U.S. government, which contributed more than a $1 billion in foreign to Kenya in 2017, carries weight within the country, and the White House has said that similar tweets from President Donald Trump are “official statements.” Regardless of whether McCarter’s tweets were approved by the State Department ahead of time, they reflect the Trump Administration’s support for growing the coal industry internationally even as scientists warn that the energy source is one of the biggest contributors to climate change and growth in its use could make it all but impossible to keep the planet from warming to catastrophic levels.
Ohio lawmakers miss deadline to pass new state budget – Also delayed: House Bill 6, which would give hundreds of millions in ratepayer money to FirstEnergy Solutions to keep two Northern Ohio nuclear power plants open. While FirstEnergy Solutions has said it must have a decision on the subsidies by Sunday so it can decide whether to purchase new nuclear fuel or move to close the plants, Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Chair Steve Wilson on Saturday said he needed more time than that to review dozens of potential amendments. “I respect that that’s their position,” Wilson said of FirstEnergy Solutions’ claimed deadline. “However, I’m not going to move forward on this bill until I’m sure all components of it take the ratepayer into account.”
FES: Time’s running out for Davis-Besse refueling | Toledo Blade – With the fate of the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants hanging in the balance over the outcome of controversial legislation aimed at keeping them in business, the plants’ owner-operator said Monday the Ohio General Assembly needs to make up its mind soon if it wants to keep Davis-Besse on track for uninterrupted service. June 30 was the deadline to purchase uranium to refuel Davis-Besse’s reactor core next spring. In its statement, though, FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. said it can regroup and adjust for an “increased financial burden” for missing that deadline if a decision is made soon. “Given the expectation that the legislation will be passed in the coming weeks, we have communicated our commitment to doing everything possible to accommodate this process, which will come with increased financial burden associated with missing the June 30 fuel purchasing deadline for Davis-Besse,” the company said.
Oyster Creek nuclear plant sale to Holtec is complete — Oyster Creek Generating Station is now in the hands of Holtec International, which completed the purchase of the now-defunct nuclear facility on Monday. Oyster Creek, before it shut down in September, was one of the nation’s oldest nuclear power plants. Camden-based Holtec plans to decommission this half-century-old facility and profit off the reactor’s nearly $1 billion decommissioning trust fund, money set aside for dismantling the reactor. Under the agreement, Holtec subsidiaries Oyster Creek Environmental Protection International LLC will serve as owner and Holtec Decommissioning International will oversee decommissioning. Holtec purchased the power plant for an undisclosed amount from Exelon Generation of Chicago. Exelon had originally planned to take the plant down slowly over the course of 60 years in a process that would have allowed some of the facility’s dangerous radioactivity to degrade to safer levels. But Holtec’s proposal seeks to complete the decommissioning within a mere 10 years. The company says its new spent fuel storage systems enable hot, radioactive fuel to be removed from the plant’s cooling pool and placed into storage casks years earlier than originally planned.
Russia Launches Floating Chernobyl Bound For The Arctic – Next month, the world’s first floating nuclear power unit (FPU) dubbed ‘Academik Lomonosov’ will be towed via the Northern Sea Route to its final destination in the Far East, after almost two decades in construction. Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant has two KLT-40S reactor units that collectively generate 70 MW of energy. A year ago we noted video of the beginning of the ships’ voyage (from St.Petersburg to Murmansk) The vessel is now expected to be towed “along the Northern Sea Route to the work site, unloaded at the mooring berth, and connected to the coastal infrastructure in Pevek,” added the press release.Pevek is a small Arctic port town and the governmental center of Chaunsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on Chaunskaya Bay.Once the floating nuclear power plant is moored and connected to the coastal infrastructure in Pevek, the nuclear reactors aboard will be used to power 100,000 homes in the region, a desalination plant, and critical energy infrastructure assets. Rosatom said the floating power plant “will replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant and Chaunskaya TPP that are technologically outdated,” and become the most northerly nuclear facility in the world. However, the floating nuclear power plant has been extensively criticized by antipollutionist – Greenpeace has called it a “floating Chernobyl.” “Nuclear reactors bobbing around the Arctic Ocean will pose a shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment, which is already under enormous pressure from climate change,” Greenpeace nuclear expert Jan Haverkamp said in a statement.
China, Russia Looking to Build Nuclear Plants in Argentina – Argentina, the first Latin American country to adopt nuclear power when the Atucha I plant began operation in 1974, has plans to expand its nuclear generation, with Russia and China vying to implement their technology. Argentina and Russia set up a working group to site and build a nuclear plant, government officials said on May 28. That was just weeks after the administration of Argentine President Mauricio Macri and China’s National Energy Administration agreed on financing for the Atucha III nuclear plant near Buenos Aires, which is expected to come online in 2021. The financing deal, which includes a $10 billion loan from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), covers an estimated 85% of the plant’s expected construction cost. The Atucha III project is part of an agreement signed in 2015 by former president Cristina Fernflndez de Kirchner, a deal that supported using Canadian technology in Argentina’s existing nuclear plants, along with backing at least three new plants using Chinese technology. China has pushed for using its Hualong One technology at Atucha III. The Hualong One is a pressurized water reactor currently being tested at the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China’s Fujian province.
Workers Evacuated After Radioactive Threat – Workers were evacuated from part of Dounreay after radioactive contamination was detected there, it has emerged. The incident occurred on June 7 but site bosses only publicly released details at a meeting of Dounreay Stakeholder Group on Wednesday evening. Site managing director Martin Moore said human error was to blame for the episode which is the subject of an in-house probe. He said no harm had come from what turned out to be an “insignificant” level of low-level contamination. The alarm was sounded as the worker sought to leave a former reprocessing plant within Dounreay’s fuel cycle area. After follow-up surveys identified further ‘hotspots’ in the plant, all personnel were moved out. Mr Moore said: “The contamination was very local but it wasn’t in a place it should have been, normally. “The levels were insignificant but they should not have been there so we cleared the area and then had a controlled re-entry.” He added: “It came down to a lack of due diligence in monitoring around one of the barriers.
Watching the End of the World – Twenty years on, we have yet to find a good use for all these homemade planet-killers, even as the United States and Russia modernize their arsenals with newfangled hypersonic boost-glide systems, uranium-tipped torpedo drones, and low-yield “tactical” gravity bombs.And yet we don’t make movies about nuclear war any more. In early 2018, just days before that false ballistic missile alert in Hawaii, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published an essay to that effect by an eighth-grader named Cassandra Williams. Agitated by a class on the subject at her middle school in Dubuque, Iowa, Williams searched out old films she’d never seen or heard of and found herself “completely stunned” by The Day After, the 1983 television feature that dramatized the results of Russian missiles raining on Middle America. Citing “the unpredictable behavior of North Korea and our current U.S. president”, she identified an urgent need for updated equivalents with upgraded special effects – the better to show her peer group what might yet actually happen. “You can read about it, and you can hear about it, but actually seeing it is a different story,” she wrote. “Thousands of people vaporized in less than a second, buildings toppling on people faster than they can react . . . If you want to get a millennial’s attention, make a movie about it. There are plenty of dystopian movies today, but far too few about nuclear war.”
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