[TheClimate.Vote] August 22, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

[Richard Pauli]

/August 22 , 2017/

*Report: Trump dissolves climate change advisory panel 
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-trump-dissolves-climate-change-advisory-panel/>*
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-trump-dissolves-climate-change-advisory-panel/>The 
National Climate Assessment, as the report on climate change is known, 
is supposed to be issued every four years, and the next one is expected 
next spring, according to the Post.
In the meantime, the administration is reviewing a report that could be 
key to the final assessment, which estimates that human activities are 
to blame for an increase in global temperature from 1951 to 2010. 
Scientists from 13 different agencies produced the report.
That report, which was obtained by The New York Times earlier this 
month,  is awaiting final approval by the Trump administration. The 
report indicates that temperatures in recent decades have been the 
warmest of the past 1,500 years.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-trump-dissolves-climate-change-advisory-panel/
*The Trump administration disbanded a federal advisory committee on 
climate change 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/20/the-trump-administration-just-disbanded-a-federal-advisory-committee-on-climate-change/>*
The Trump administration has chosen to disband a federal advisory panel 
aimed at guiding public and private-sector officials in understanding 
the findings of the government's reports on the climate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/20/the-trump-administration-just-disbanded-a-federal-advisory-committee-on-climate-change/

*
Why isn't local media covering the Clean Power Plan? 
<https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/epa-climate-change-local-news.php>*/  
Columbia Journalism Review/
A DAILY NEWSPAPER IN TEXAS published an editorial about a month ago 
arguing that any changes President Trump makes to Barack Obama's 
climate-change plan shouldn't include propping up the coal industry at 
the expense of other energy sources: "The EPA has no business in picking 
winners and losers."
"We're in the middle of oil country," says Roy Maynard, a senior editor 
at the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "We're looking at that from a 
free-market approach. The government doesn't need to be propping up any 
of these industries."
The Morning Telegraph has a staff of about 20, and "we write about 
energy quite a bit," Maynard tells CJR. It's a rare exception for local 
media, which has explained in detail how changes in US healthcare policy 
may trickle down but rarely has delved into policies related to climate 
change.
Coverage of the Clean Power Plan has mostly come from national sources 
such asBloomberg 
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-28/clean-power-plan-suit-shelved-short-of-resolution-by-u-s-court>,/The 
New York Times/ 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/science/what-to-know-about-trumps-order-to-dismantle-the-clean-power-plan.html>, 
and the/Los Angeles Times/ 
<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-pipeline-appalachian-trail-201707-htmlstory.html>. 
The CPP was mentioned once ina recent/Houston Chronicle/piece 
<http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/Nuclear-power-as-we-know-it-is-finished-11727465.php>on 
the halting of construction of two nuclear reactors,which provide 
carbon-free power 
<https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/articles/ideas-work/reviving-nuclear-dream>. 
Anda popular/Washington Post/story from April 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/06/the-coal-mining-museum-in-harlan-county-ky-switches-to-solar-power/>, 
citing the original work of two local TV stations, explained how an 
Eastern Kentucky coal-mining museum was installing solar panels to save 
on energy costs and feed power back into the town's grid.
When it comes to reporting on the more local level, businesses have had 
all kinds of responses to the Clean Power Plan and the larger issue of 
responding to climate change."
In both Colorado and Arizona, mining is a huge economic driver, and the 
CPP could affect how much coal and oil and copper stays in the ground, 
and how national treasures such as Grand Canyon National Park are preserved.
"There are a huge number of people interested in recreational activities 
and the environment, so whether it's in Colorado with natural-gas 
fracking, or coal plants, or uranium mining at the Grand Canyon, all of 
that stuff coming together, it's important to readers and viewers," Dale 
says. "I've never found that people weren't interested in it."
Whether his reporters, or any reporters, are covering an issue like the 
CPP, or the Affordable Care Act, or any similarly enormous and 
far-reaching national policy, Dale says he prefers to focus on local impact.
It may take years for the courts to sort out the CPP, and journalists 
can't afford to wait, Leber says.
"If you look at what the Trump administration has prioritized in its 
rollback, *it's been climate and environmental policy that they've made 
the biggest moves on," Leber says. "Just because the Clean Power Plan 
itself was stalled in court, the larger issue of what the government 
isn't doing now on climate change is a huge story, where there's pretty 
much endless angles and investigative stories to be done."[...]
*Local reporters should ask politicians and business owners they cover 
how sweeping changes in energy policy may affect where they live and 
work. Resources are available online, Leber says, including the 2014 
National Climate Change Assessment, which breaks down evidence of global 
warming into regions, so journalists can pinpoint risks that most affect 
their audience. The 2016 assessment, just released, concluded, among 
other findings, that some extreme weather has been caused by climate 
change. Heat waves and floods and hurricanes don’t discriminate. Power 
plants may open or close. Factories that build solar panels may replace 
working coal mines. News consumers need to know how the changing 
environment affects them and their families....
“I’m hesitant to say national reporters are much better at covering this 
issue,” Leber says. “Plenty of outlets could improve their coverage at 
the national level. At the local level, the challenge is always 
resources and time. There could always be more climate coverage.”*
*https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/epa-climate-change-local-news.php*


**How Climate Change Canceled the Grizzly Salmon Run 
<https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/how-climate-change-cancelled-the-grizzly-salmon-run/537483/>*
On an Alaskan island, one of nature's greatest spectacles is shutting 
down, as brown bears abandon fish in favor of a surprising alternative.
In most years, red elderberries only ripen from late August to early 
September, at the end of the salmon season. The two food sources don't 
overlap, so the bears eat them in sequence, gorging on salmon before 
bingeing on berries. But, by looking at historical data, Deacy and 
Armstrong found that this natural timetable has changed. In Alaska, 
spring temperatures have increased and elderberries have been ripening 
earlier. In 2014, the berries ripened especially early, bringing them in 
sync with the spawning salmon. And it seems that whenever both items are 
on the menu simultaneously, the bears always choose berries.
Many scientists have shown that climate change is rescheduling nature. 
Warming temperatures are forcing birds to migrate sooner, insects to 
emerge earlier, and plants to bud and bloom before their time. These 
changes are disrupting many of the dances between species, forcing 
long-established partners to move to different rhythms. Flowers, for 
example, might bloom too early to catch a wave of pollinating insects.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/how-climate-change-cancelled-the-grizzly-salmon-run/537483/


*Losing a War Against Climate Change 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/losing-a-war-against-climate-change_us_59928db9e4b0caa1687a6349>*
...the ideological damage has already been dealt: a global plummet of 
morale in the war against climate change.
But on the other hand, one's decisions to be politically active and to 
conserve, reduce, reuse, and recycle, when combined with the efforts of 
millions, can make a significant difference for our climate. For the 
millions of Americans who still believe in a green future, the 
individual decision to be eco-friendly, together, may very well save our 
world.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/losing-a-war-against-climate-change_us_59928db9e4b0caa1687a6349


*UK artists call for rethink on climate change iconography 
<http://theartnewspaper.com/news/news/uk-artists-call-for-rethink-on-climate-change-iconography/>*
University of Hertfordshire show addresses move away from images of 
melting ice caps
The issue of climate change is insidious, warn eight UK-based artists 
who highlight the encroaching threat of environmental degradation in an 
exhibition opening later this year. Slow Violence, which is due to open 
at the Art & Design Gallery at the UK's University of Hertfordshire (29 
November-20 January 2018), will include new and recent works by Katie 
Paterson, Adam Chodzko and Thomson & Craighead, among others.
The exhibition title is taken from the 2011 publication, Slow Violence 
and the Environmentalism of the Poor, by Rob Nixon, a professor at 
Princeton University. "Slow Violence acknowledges that the violence of 
climate change can often be unrecognised, even invisible, incremental, 
localised, extended, durational," the exhibition organisers say in a 
statement, adding that the contributing artists "challenge us to rethink 
the prevailing climate change iconography—of melting ice caps or 
desertification".
http://theartnewspaper.com/news/news/uk-artists-call-for-rethink-on-climate-change-iconography/

*
**Climate change consequences hot topic in Acadia, global news 
<http://acadiaonmymind.bangordailynews.com/2017/08/21/home/climate-change-consequences-hot-topic-acadia-global-news/>*
August 21, 2017
By Dolores Kong & Dan Ring
    Topography map of Acadia and Mount Desert Island at the Nature 
Center shows the potential impact of climate change on shorefront, 
roads, plants and wildlife.
The topic is also sharply in focus at Acadia National Park, where an 
exhibit at the Sieur de Monts Nature Center explores current and future 
climate change consequences at the park including the flooding of salt 
marshes, the survival of a parasite that is killing hemlock forests and 
the threats of rising temperatures on summit plants, trees like red 
spruce and balsam fir, and nesting sites of Puffins, Arctic Terns and Loons.
Lynne Dominy, chief of interpretation and education at Acadia, said it 
is important that the exhibit helps people understand the environmental 
changes that may occur over the next several decades in the park.
Dominy said the displays are based on science, but they allow people to 
make their own decisions about climate change.
"The main message is to be educated and to make responsible choices," 
she said. "You have to understand we live on a complex planet and that 
things change. It is important to be a part of that and to understand 
where we are going and make responsible choices."
http://acadiaonmymind.bangordailynews.com/2017/08/21/home/climate-change-consequences-hot-topic-acadia-global-news/


*Climate change sets the world on fire 
<http://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-sets-the-world-on-fire/a-40152365>*
Southern Europe and British Columbia have been devastated by wildfires 
this summer. And they're not the only ones - it seems like much of the 
world is ablaze right now, and this could be the new normal.
There have been many wildfires aound the world this summer. Canada has 
seen the worst season for fires since records began, with 894,941 
hectares burned, the British Columbia Wildfire Service has confirmed. 
Large areas of the Western United States have also been affected.
Meanwhile in Portugal, 2,000 people were recently cut off by flames and 
smoke encircling the town of Macao. And earlier this summer, 64 people 
were killed by a blaze in the country.
... southern Europe has seen a record heatwave this year, creating hot, 
dry conditions that saw Italy, France, Croatia, Spain and Greece all 
swept by wildfires. As a result, Europe has reportedly seen three times 
the average number of wildfires this summer...
In Siberia, wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes, and around 700 
hectares of Armenian forest have also been destroyed by fire. Earlier 
this year, Chile saw wildfires that were unparalleled in the country's 
history, according to the President.
Even Greenland, not known for its hot dry conditions, suffered an 
unprecedented blaze this summer.
"A lot of these things are happening locally, but people don't always 
connect them to climate change," said Kevin Trenberth, a scientist at 
the Climate Analysis Section of the National Center for Atmospheric 
Research in the US. "But there is a real climate change component to 
this and the risk is going up because of climate change."
With global temperatures rising, scientists say wildfires are likely to 
become increasingly frequent and widespread. "What's really happening is 
that there is extra heat available," Trenberth told DW. "That heat has 
to go somewhere and some of it goes into raising temperatures. But the 
first thing that happens is that it goes into drying - it dries out 
plants and increases the risk of wildfires."
http://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-sets-the-world-on-fire/a-40152365


*Super-heatwaves of 55 degrees C to emerge if global warming continues 
<https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/super-heatwaves-55-c-emerge-if-global-warming-continues>*
*Millions to be exposed to extreme Humidity and heat globally Millions 
to be exposed to extreme Humidity and heat globally*
AUG 2017
Heatwaves amplified by high humidity can reach above 40 degrees C and 
may occur as often as every two years, leading to serious risks for 
human health. If global temperatures rise with 4 degrees C, a new super 
heatwave of 55 degrees C /(131 degrees F)/ can hit regularly many parts 
of the world, including Europe.
A recently published study by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) 
<http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07536-7>– the European 
Commission's science and knowledge service – analyses the interaction 
between humidity and heat. The novelty of this study is that it looks 
not only at temperature but also relative humidity to estimate the 
magnitude and impact of heat waves.
It finds out that the combinations of the two, and the resulting 
heatwaves, leave ever more people exposed to significant health risks, 
especially in East Asia and America's East Coast.
Warm air combined with high humidity can be very dangerous as it 
prevents the human body from cooling down through sweating, leading to 
hyperthermia. As a result, if global warming trends continue, many more 
people are expected to suffer sun strokes, especially in densely 
populated areas of India,
The study analyses changes in yearly probability for a high humidity 
heatwaves since 1979 under different global warming scenarios. If global 
temperatures increase up to 2 C above pre-industrial levels the combined 
effect of heat and humidity (known as apparent temperature or Heat 
Index) will likely exceed 40 degrees C every year in many parts of Asia, 
Australia, Northern Africa, South and North America. Europe will be 
least affected with up to 30% chance of having such strong heat wave 
annually.
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/super-heatwaves-55-c-emerge-if-global-warming-continues
   - see also:
*Humid heat waves at different warming levels 
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07536-7>*

    Abstract
    The co-occurrence of consecutive hot and humid days during a heat
    wave can strongly affect human health. Here, we quantify humid heat
    wave hazard in the recent past and at different levels of global
    warming. We find that the magnitude and apparent temperature peak of
    heat waves, such as the ones observed in Chicago in 1995 and China
    in 2003, have been strongly amplified by humidity. Climate model
    projections suggest that the percentage of area where heat wave
    magnitude and peak are amplified by humidity increases with
    increasing warming levels. Considering the effect of humidity at 1.5
    and 2 degrees global warming, highly populated regions, such as the
    Eastern US and China, could experience heat waves with magnitude
    greater than the one in Russia in 2010 (the most severe of the
    present era). The apparent temperature peak during such humid-heat
    waves can be greater than 55 degrees C /(131 F). /According to the
    US Weather Service, at this temperature humans are very likely to
    suffer from heat strokes. Humid-heat waves with these conditions
    were never exceeded in the present climate, but are expected to
    occur every other year at 4 degrees global warming. This calls for
    respective adaptation measures in some key regions of the world
    along with international climate change mitigation efforts.

To take into account the effect of relative humidity during consecutive 
hot days, we introduce the new Apparent Heat Wave Index (AHWI), which is 
calculated analogously to the Heat Wave Magnitude Index daily HWMId15, 
but with daily maximum temperature replaced by AT for those heat wave 
days with AT 
… The occurrence of heat waves with AT55C, never recorded in our data 
records in the recent past, is likely to cause heat strokes by limiting 
the human thermoregulation. The exceedance of this apparent temperature 
across these regions is in agreement with other measures accounting for 
the combined effect of temperature and relative humidity. As an example, 
the wet-bulb temperature peak during a heat wave is expected to exceed 
the value of 35 degrees C (see Supplementary Fig. S9), a threshold 
likely to induce hyperthermia in humans and other mammals as dissipation 
of metabolic heat becomes impossible25, 31 While this never happens in 
the present climate, and it is unlikely at 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees 
C, it would occur on a regular basis in many highly populated regions 
with global-mean warming of about 4 degrees C, questioning the 
habitability of some of these regions.
http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07536-7


(opinion?) *The Fundamentalists Holding Us Back from a Climate Change 
Solution* 
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qv4w8b/christian-fundamentalists-are-fueling-climate-change-denialism>
"Man's relation to the soil was profoundly changed," legendary medieval 
scholar Lynn White wrote in 1967 about this moment in human history. 
"Formerly man was part of nature; now he was the exploiter of nature."
According to White, this innovation could only have happened after what 
he calls the "greatest physic revolution in the history of culture"—the 
transition from paganism to Christianity. Basically, that's when much of 
the world went from thinking that we needed to get permission from a 
tree's guardian spirt if we wanted to cut it down to the belief that 
everything on earth was there for humans to use as they saw fit. To this 
day, White's seminal thesis undergirds almost all modern scholarship on 
why the Judeo-Christian tradition in the West is seemingly at odds with 
the ecology movement, which was just coming into being in White's era...
There's a chicken-or-egg argument about whether the oil and gas lobby 
pushed the GOP to adopt anti-environment positions and the evangelicals 
moved in that direction with the rest of the party, or whether Christian 
fundamentalists were already primed to endorse those views. Schwadel's 
research suggests that the latter explanation can't be dismissed...
"I still believe many people in our community are confused about the 
solutions," Lamb said. "People are more understanding that climate 
change is real, but it still gets caught up in partisan politics of 
being a liberal versus a conservative. It's been portrayed as a liberal 
issue. It's not about Al Gore, it's about following Jesus."
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qv4w8b/christian-fundamentalists-are-fueling-climate-change-denialism


*This Day in Climate History August 22, 1981 - from D.R. Tucker*
August 22, 1981: The New York Times reports on a groundbreaking study
by Dr. James Hansen on the risks of escalating carbon emissions.
A team of Federal scientists says it has detected an overall warming 
trend in the earth's atmosphere extending back to the year 1880. They 
regard this as evidence of the validity of the ''greenhouse'' effect, in 
which increasing amounts of carbon dioxide cause steady temperature 
increases.
The seven atmospheric scientists predict a global warming of ''almost 
unprecedented magnitude'' in the next century. It might even be 
sufficient to melt and dislodge the ice cover of West Antarctica, they 
say, eventually leading to a worldwide rise of 15 to 20 feet in the sea 
level. In that case, they say, it would ''flood 25 percent of Louisiana 
and Florida, 10 percent of New Jersey and many other lowlands throughout 
the world'' within a century or less.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/22/us/study-finds-warming-trend-that-could-raise-sea-levels.html
*This Year's Model (video)* <https://youtu.be/D6Un69RMNSw>
Climate science is not completely dependent on climate models. There are 
many threads of supporting evidence. Still,  it is clear that climate 
models are telling us something important that we cannot afford to 
ignore.  Includes references to 
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abstracts/1978/Hansen_etal.html
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abstracts/1981/Hansen_etal.html
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abstracts/1988/Hansen_etal.html
http://youtu.be/D6Un69RMNSw  video

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