[TheClimate.Vote] Feb 17, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News for All -
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Feb 17 10:35:07 EST 2017
/News clips to help you stay well-informed about global warming -
Please forward this email. February 17, 2017///
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/15/its-official-the-oceans-are-losing-oxygen-posing-growing-threats-to-marine-life/
*Scientists have just detected a major change to the Earth's oceans
linked to a warming climate
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/15/its-official-the-oceans-are-losing-oxygen-posing-growing-threats-to-marine-life/?postshare=7361487184444808&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.bf899235462c>*
The paper...in the journal Nature...found a decline of more than 2
percent in ocean oxygen content worldwide between 1960 and 2010. The
loss, however, showed up in some ocean basins more than others. The
largest overall volume of oxygen was lost in the largest ocean — the
Pacific — but as a percentage, the decline was sharpest in the
Arctic Ocean, a region facing Earth's most stark climate change.
On top of all of that, declining ocean oxygen can also worsen global
warming in a feedback loop. In or near low oxygen areas of the
oceans, microorganisms tend to produce nitrous oxide, a greenhouse
gas, Gilbert writes. Thus the new study "implies that production
rates and efflux to the atmosphere of nitrous oxide … will probably
have increased."
When it comes to ocean deoxygenation, as climate change continues,
this trend should also increase — studies suggest a loss of up to 7
percent of the ocean's oxygen by 2100. At the end of the current
paper, the researchers are blunt about the consequences of a
continuing loss of oceanic oxygen.
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/02/16/first-evidence-ocean-oxygen-impacted-by-climate-change/
(videos) *First Evidence: Ocean Oxygen Impacted by Climate Change*
<https://climatecrocks.com/2017/02/16/first-evidence-ocean-oxygen-impacted-by-climate-change/>
(Peter Sinclair) This is really unsettling.
Consequences of low oxygen ocean described in one of my most popular
"Crock of the Week" videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE6at2IEUOU Climate Denial Crock of
the Week: "The Earth is Carbon Starved."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzLCWrPhBLY Earth's Mass Extinction
- Peter Ward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPq9YAg9mfc We are the Asteroid
EPA Workers Try to Block Pruitt in Show of Defiance
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/us/politics/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency.html>
New York Times -5 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Employees of the Environmental Protection Agency have
been calling their senators to urge them to vote on Friday against
the confirmation of Scott Pruitt, President Trump's contentious
nominee to run the agency, a remarkable display of activism and
defiance that presages turbulent times ahead for the E.P.A.
"E.P.A. staff are pretty careful. They're risk-averse," said Judith
Enck, who left the agency last month. "If people are saying and
doing things like this, it's because they're really concerned."
*COURT ORDERS SCOTT PRUITT TO RELEASE EMAILS *
(press release) Scott Pruitt Found In Violation of Oklahoma Open
Records Act; Orders Withheld Emails Released by February 21
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.—Today, the Oklahoma County Court found Scott
Pruitt in violation of the state's Open Records Act lawsuit against
Scott Pruitt for improperly withholding responsive public records
and ordered his office to release thousands of emails in a matter of
days....
...Today's expedited hearing was granted after CMD, represented by
Robert Nelon of Hall Estill and the ACLU of Oklahoma, filed a
lawsuit that has driven unprecedented attention to Pruitt's failure
to disclose his deep ties to fossil industry corporations. On
Friday, Pruitt is expected to face a full Senate vote on his
nomination to run the EPA. ...
"Scott Pruitt broke the law and went to great lengths to avoid the
questions many Americans have about his true motivations," said Nick
Surgey, CMD's director of research. "Despite Pruitt's efforts to
repeatedly obfuscate and withhold public documents, we're all wiser
to his ways and the interests he really serves. The work doesn't
stop here to make sure communities across the country have the
information they need to hold him accountable to the health and
safety of our families."
Trump plans executive orders aimed at shaking up EPA,*climate
change*policy, reports say
<http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/16/trump-plans-executive-orders-aimed-at-shaking-up-epa-reports-say.html>
CNBC -12 hours ago
President Donald Trump plans to introduce executive actions aimed at
scaling back Obama-era*climate change*initiatives and shaking up the
Environmental Protection Agency, reports say.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/Forbes_Loyola.html
*Is anything wrong with Forbes Climate Reporting?
<https://www.skepticalscience.com/Forbes_Loyola.html>*
Forbes has trotted out another entirely ignorant piece on climate
change
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/02/03/is-anything-wrong-with-natural-non-man-made-climate-change/#3d47842933d7>,
"Is Anything Wrong With Natural, Non-Man-Made Climate Change?" this
time by fake expert Mario Loyola, a lawyer with a background in
European history. I guess Forbes considers those credentials give
him the expertise to communicate the complexities of climate change.
Presumably Forbes would hire a physicist as counsel for a lawsuit
concerning corporate governance (Loyola's actual area of formal
disciplinary expertise). ..
And most of us are able to recognize that multiple drivers combine
to give an observed outcome. A car moves from the combined effects
of the engine, the slope of the road, and the wind. Climate change
is not either human-caused or natural; it is both. We also know that
one driver can be much more important than others. The fact that
your cat adds heat to your house doesn't mean your furnace is
irrelevant. According to Loyola logic, because natural volcanoes
have caused catastrophic devastation in the past we shouldn't try to
prevent humans from releasing a nuclear bomb...
Furthermore, in hunting for an IPCC statement to support his opinion
Loyola skipped the statement just above it which is based on all the
combined evidence, not just surface temperatures. "It is extremely
likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the
observed warming since the mid-20th century." For sheer brazenness
in selective quoting, I nominate Loyola for a cherry-picking trophy.
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/02/16/2184515/climate-change-keynesian-stimulus-and-supervillainy/
*Climate change*, Keynesian stimulus and supervillainy
<https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/02/16/2184515/climate-change-keynesian-stimulus-and-supervillainy/>
FT Alphaville (registration) -12 hours ago
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz asked Fed Chair Janet Yellen an
interesting question:
"I wanted to ask you about climate change. It is affecting our
economy in a number of ways, such as prolonged droughts that reduce
agricultural yields, coastal flooding, increased severity of storms
and the unpredictability of weather forecasts on which many of our
industries depend. In 2016 NOAA reported 15 separate $1bn climate
events… And lest we think this is an aberration, it's important to
remember that the number and the cost of these events has doubled
over the last decade, and has increased eightfold over the last 30
years.
So climate events are taking a toll on our economy and they are
expected to become more and more intense going forward. So my
question to you is, to what extent does the Fed take into account
the impacts of climate change in assessing our economic outlook and
future economic risks?"...
Various international fora are looking into aspects of climate
change that could affect financial stability and the exposures of
financial organisations, and I think that's appropriate. We
recognise that risk events or severe weather or climate changes
could have effects on the financial system. Our general approach
since the financial crisis has been to try to build resilience among
banking and financial organisations so they are well-positioned to
deal with risk events. So those are a couple of reactions...
Sen Schatz's question doesn't address the potentially severe effects
of climate change on developing economies, which have been studied
for years. But it could be tough to sell a humanitarian case in this
"America First" political climate, since people appear to be on the
fence about literal war refugees. So maybe border-adjusted carbon
tax is the best way to go. (Possibly a border-adjusted
labor-standards tax, too.)
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/the-epa-posted-a-mirror-of-its-website-before-trump-can-gut-the-real-one-vgtrn
*The EPA Posted a Mirror of Its Website Before Trump Can Gut the Real
One
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/the-epa-posted-a-mirror-of-its-website-before-trump-can-gut-the-real-one-vgtrn>*
The mirror is an archive of the site the way it appeared the day
before Trump took office.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency posted a mirror of
its website capturing the way it looked on January 19, 2017—the day
before Trump took office.
Trump has proved himself to be delete-happy when it comes to the web
presence of federal agencies. He's already axed big chunks of the
Department of Education and the USDA sites, and his White House
website is significantly more stripped down than Obama's. The EPA's
move will allow for an archive of its site to exist long after Trump
eventually guts the main one.
Gizmodo points out that the mirror site follows in the wake of FOIA
requests filed by people worried that Trump may cripple or try to
completely do away with the governmental agency.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/science/seagrass-coral-reefs-pathogens-global-warming.html?_r=0
Disappearing Seagrass Protects Against Pathogens, Even Climate
Change, Scientists Find
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/science/seagrass-coral-reefs-pathogens-global-warming.html?_r=0>
New York Times -9 hours ago
An ecological cornerstone is vanishing rapidly from the oceans, and
scientists fear the consequences for climate change, fisheries and
disease.
The growing recognition of this plant's importance comes even as it
is disappearing. Nearly a third of the world's seagrass meadows have
died off since the 19th century. A number of studies indicate that
they are now disappearing at an accelerating pace...
Last week, Dr. Orth and his colleagues published a detailed study of
the retreat of seagrass in Chesapeake Bay in the journal Global
Change Biology. Since just 1991, they estimate, 29 percent of the
bay's seagrass meadows have vanished...
Their research points to two main culprits. Eroded dirt washes into
the Chesapeake, making the water cloudy. Seagrass get so little
sunlight that the resulting dimming can be deadly...
Seagrass is also being pummeled by climate change. Warmer summer
temperatures in Chesapeake Bay cause the plants to lose much of
their oxygen through their leaves. With less oxygen to pump into
their roots, they are poisoned by toxic sediments..
The cloudiness of the water makes the heat even worse. With less
sunlight, the plants produce even less protective oxygen to begin
with. "We have a double whammy," said Dr. Orth...
As the underwater meadows disappear, economic value disappears with
them. The Chesapeake Bay meadows are a nursery for blue crabs, for
example. Dr. Orth and his colleagues estimate that the seagrass
die-off has eliminated more than 500 million juvenile blue crabs
since 1991...
Seagrass meadows can store enormous amounts of carbon. Their soils
don't decompose because they have very little oxygen in them. As a
result, seagrass meadow soil around the world has accumulated an
estimated nine billion tons of carbon...
As seagrass meadows disappear, that carbon is being released back
into the ocean. Some of it may make its way into the atmosphere as
heat-trapping carbon dioxide...
As dire as the situation has become, there is cause for hope. In
recent years, Dr. Orth and his colleagues have successfully restored
seagrass meadows off the coast of Virginia...
"Now we have 6,200 acres of seagrass," he said, "where in 1997 there
wasn't a single blade of grass."
http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2017/02/video-is-it-too-late-to-address-climate-change/
Video: Is it too late to address*climate change*?
<http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2017/02/video-is-it-too-late-to-address-climate-change/>
Yale Climate Connections -16 hours ago
If you're a pessimist, it's easy to read the news and come to one
conclusion: It's too late to do anything about*climate change*. You
might as well get your survivalist bag packed and head for the
hills. But the idea that it's too late to address the*...
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv7zFAdZ6LI*
*
(video) It's too late to do anything about climate change.... right?
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv7zFAdZ6LI>
Global Weirding with Katharine Hayhoe
Donald Trump's likely scientific adviser calls*climate
change*scientists a 'glassy-eyed cult'
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-climate-change-science-adviser-william-happer-global-warming-hare-krishna-a7584781.html>
Trump's likely science adviser calls climate scientists 'glassy-eyed
cult' (The Guardian
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=9ba7bef401&e=95b355344d>)
Scientists' Group Launches Website to Help Federal Whistleblowers
(InsideClimate News
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=a3ee3a9394&e=95b355344d>,
E&E
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=ffaba38666&e=95b355344d>
$)
Governor orders evacuation of Dakota pipeline protest camp (Reuters
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=6af38be156&e=95b355344d>)
Corps to accelerate cleanup at oil pipeline protest camp (AP
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=37807d9b22&e=95b355344d>,
The Hill
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=effc0db580&e=95b355344d>)
Tribe, Dakota Access developer face off at House hearing (The Hill
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=91e2492914&e=95b355344d>,
PBS NewsHour
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7b5f8f619b&e=95b355344d>)
Pope appears to back native tribes in Dakota Pipeline conflict (Reuters
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=acb0194ace&e=95b355344d>,
AP
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=052249c8d7&e=95b355344d>)
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/la-nina-calls-it-quits-is-el-nino-paying-us-a-return-visit/79358/
Meteorologists from The Weather Network in Canada are much more
bearish on the possibility of an El Nino, saying there's only a
45-50% chance of one. The general consensus seems to be that it's
far too soon to tell.
Here's the link to DH's statement on their website:
http://divestharvard.com/shell-takes-over-the-hks/
*This Day in Climate History February 17, 2009
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20998-2004Dec22.html> -
from D.R. Tucker*
The Brad Friedman/Desi Doyen "Green News Report" debuts on BradBlog.com.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6906
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