[TheClimate.Vote] May 5, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri May 5 10:18:55 EDT 2017
/May 5, 2017 /
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/choking-dust-storm-engulfs-beijing-threatens-visibility-through-friday/70001581
*Choking dust storm engulfs Beijing, threatens visibility through Friday
<http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/choking-dust-storm-engulfs-beijing-threatens-visibility-through-friday/70001581>*
Less than a week after enduring the hottest April day on record,
Beijing was struck by a choking dust storm on Thursday and may not
experience relief through Friday.
The dust storm has been sweeping from Mongolia and China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region to northeastern China from Wednesday
night through Thursday...
The dust reached Beijing during the early morning hours of Thursday
and held a grip on the city through the day.
Visibility at Beijing's Capital International Airport has been held
between 2-3.6 km (1.25-2.25 miles) since 5:30 a.m. CST Thursday
(5:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday) as gusty northwesterly winds ushered in
the dust...
More than 400 flights were delayed on Thursday and Thursday night at
the Capital International Airport, according to FlightAware
<https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today/ZBAA>.
The dust worsened the air quality in the city with the United States
Department of State Air Quality Monitoring Program
<https://twitter.com/BeijingAir> reporting the air quality index
peaking at 621. Values over 300 are considered hazardous....
Beijing will face a prolonged stretch of highs ranging from 32-34 C
(lower 90s F).
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/breaking-levee-breaches-along-swollen-black-river-near-pocahontas-arkansas/70001570
*Gov. Asa Hutchinson deploys National Guard as floods follow 9 levee
breaches*
<http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/breaking-levee-breaches-along-swollen-black-river-near-pocahontas-arkansas/70001570>
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has deployed additional resources to
combat the extreme flooding in northern parts of the state as many
communities remain underwater.
A dangerous flooding situation in northeastern Arkansas worsened on
Wednesday morning when a levee failed along the Black River near the
town of Pocahontas.
Following the breach, the National Weather Service office in
Memphis, Tennessee, immediately issued a flash flooding emergency
and urged residents to seek higher ground immediately due to
life-threatening flooding...
Gauge data shows the river crested at a record level of 28.95 feet
at 8:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, but it is forecast to remain above
the major flood stage of 25 feet through early Saturday morning.
http://evidencesquared.com/ep11/
*Sarah Myhre: scrappy science communicator
<http://evidencesquared.com/ep11/>*
/Especially great words starts 26 mins - she gives a manifesto for
climate scientists. /"I was never prepared for the scale of loss
that we are juggling with now"
In our new podcast episode, climate scientist Sarah Myhre talks
about her scrappy science communication: how she draws on expert
witness training, hands-on experience, human emotions and
transparency to build resilience and effectively communicate the
science of climate change on ski slopes, social media, and the
mainstream media.
You can listen to our episode at http://evidencesquared.com/ep11/ or
download it directly from iTunes or Soundcloud. more at:
http://sarahmyhre.com/
https://climateandsecurity.org/2017/05/04/briefer-india-climate-change-and-security-in-south-asia/
*Briefer: India, Climate Change and Security in South Asia
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2017/05/04/briefer-india-climate-change-and-security-in-south-asia/>*
South Asia faces a wide array of social, political, and economic
issues that already threaten security in the region. The region has
a history of border disputes, sectarian violence, and government
corruption. In addition, population increases continue to stress the
growing problems associated with urbanization, such as poor
sanitation, the spread of disease, resource allocation, and meeting
energy demands. The region is also particularly vulnerable to the
effects of climate change. In this context, climate change could
exacerbate existing insecurities in South Asia, and potentially
heighten the likelihood of instability. To read more, click here
<https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/india_climate-change-and-security-in-south-asia_briefer-36.pdf>
for the full briefer, "India, Climate Change and Security in South
Asia
<https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/india_climate-change-and-security-in-south-asia_briefer-36.pdf>."
https://tricycle.org/magazine/100-best-climate-solutions-theyre-going-work/
*<https://tricycle.org/magazine/100-best-climate-solutions-theyre-going-work/>**An
interview with the environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken
<https://tricycle.org/magazine/100-best-climate-solutions-theyre-going-work/>*
"What we need is to be fearless, not hopeful, because to be hopeful
means that our actions are based on fear. No action based on fear
has a good outcome."
*Do you think it's more effective to give people a vision of hope
rather than to simply warn against impending doom?* Well, there's a
lot to unpack in that question. The science around climate has been
about future threat, which entails a component of fear. If you look
at the news headlines, they tend to overdo the fear, even though
it's based on good science. The scientists themselves are a little
bit more circumspect, but not the press. So the information about
climate change that most people get is centered on fear, threat,
doom and gloom. The implication of the news is you're causing global
warming-it's your car, your house, the way you eat, the way you
travel, and what you buy. So people feel guilt or shame inside. They
may not even acknowledge it, but it's often there. When you mix fear
and doom with guilt and shame, you get apathy. That's Psych 101.
https://www.minnpost.com/earth-journal/2017/05/can-global-warming-really-be-reversed-maybe-so-and-paul-hawken-shows-how
Can global warming really be reversed? Maybe so, Paul Hawken
shows how
<https://www.minnpost.com/earth-journal/2017/05/can-global-warming-really-be-reversed-maybe-so-and-paul-hawken-shows-how>
MinnPost -10 hours ago
In the course of 20-some years of investigating and writing about
global warming I've become all too familiar with that dynamic of
gloom/doom/shame/fear/apathy, and I think Hawken has put his finger
on exactly why we haven't made more policy progress.
The biggest anchor dragging behind this boat isn't climate denial or
even indifference but, I suspect, the almost unspeakably deep,
defeatist conviction that no response really matters because we are
already so thoroughly screwed. I'm vulnerable to that despair at
times and maybe you are, too.
If so, read this book - not just as an antidote to fear and despair
but as foundation for understanding and supporting the kinds of
change that really could be coming, and at every scale from your
household to your company, your community, your county and state and
national government.
As for hope … well, with or without fear, it usually shows up for me
as attachment to some outcome I can't control. Buddhists believe
it's important to do the right thing for its own sake, without being
invested in a particular result - but doing the right thing, and
seeing others doing the same, can maybe lead to something like optimism.
*80 items in the toolbox*
It is difficult to summarize the 80 options on the Drawdown list,
but a look at the top 10 - ranked high to low by potential to reduce
atmospheric CO2 - will give you a sense of the range the Hawken team
endorsed:
1. Replacing fluorocarbons used in refrigeration and air
conditioning equipment with atmospherically benign alternatives
like propane and ammonium.
2. More electric generation from onshore wind turbines.
3. Reducing food waste by one-half worldwide.
4. Shifting more of the global diet from meat to plants.
5. Restoring tropical forest on about half the degraded acreage
identified as plausible reforestation locales.
6. Assuring 13 years of schooling for girls around the world,
especially in the poorest countries, as the surest path to
voluntary population control.
7. Encouraging family planning, with enhanced access to
contraception, as a corollary effort.
8. More utility-scale "solar farms."
9. Silvopasture - the integration of trees into livestock acreage -
to yield resilient landscapes that are healthier for both
animals and plants, reduce farmer/rancher costs, preserve land,
and sequester a lot more carbon.
10. More rooftop solar power modules everywhere - on and off the
grid, in urban and rural areas, in rich countries and poor.
Some of the other 70 are less familiar but fascinating examples of
what innovators around the world are already doing with geothermal,
in-stream hydro and tidal power; improved rice cultivation and
regenerative agricultural practices that restore land while raising
crops; advanced composting and irrigation practices; fitting out
buildings with smart glass, heat pumps, green roofs and "alternative
cement."
https://phys.org/news/2017-05-current-climate-mask-trade-offs-policy.html
Current climate change measurements mask trade-offs necessary for
policy debates
<https://phys.org/news/2017-05-current-climate-mask-trade-offs-policy.html>
Phys.Org -7 hours ago
Scientists and policymakers use measurements like global warming
potential to compare how varying greenhouse gases, like carbon
dioxide and methane, contribute to climate change...
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2017-05-current-climate-mask-trade-offs-policy.html#jCp
Yet, despite its widespread use, global warming potential fails to
provide an accurate look at how greenhouse gases affect the
environment in the short and long-term, according to a team of
researchers from Princeton University, the Environmental Defense
Fund and Harvard University.
The researchers argue in the May 5 issue of Science that because
global warming potential calculates the warming effects of
greenhouse gases over 100 years, they discount the effects of any
greenhouse gas that disappears from the atmosphere after a decade or
two. This masks the trade-offs between short- and long-term policies
at the heart of today's political and ethical debates.
The researchers liken the 20- and 100-year timescales to
city-highway vehicle fuel efficiency data. Car dealerships boast
about miles per gallon for both highway and city, providing buyers
with an analysis relevant to different roadways. The dual-number
system also enables buyers to calculate an average.
Another example is how blood pressure is measured with two numbers,
systolic and diastolic. The first number (systolic) measures the
pressure in your blood vessels as the heart beats. The second number
(diastolic) calculates the pressure in your blood vessels when your
heart rests between beats. Together, the numbers reveal whether a
person has an average blood pressure, like 120 over 80, or is at
risk of pre-hypertension or high blood pressure.
While the researchers advocate using both 20- and 100-year time
scales (rather than one or the other), they do not advocate for a
change in time horizons. Both the 20- and 100-year time scales are
now the default in climate change policy, and shifting to new time
horizons would likely be met with much resistance.
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/climate-scientists-unite-against-new-york-times-columnist-bret-stephens/
*Climate scientists unite against New York Times columnist Bret Stephens
<http://www.salon.com/2017/05/04/climate-scientists-unite-against-new-york-times-columnist-bret-stephens/>*
The Times' climate-denying columnist made an error in his first
column...
In addition to urging the Times "to publish a more comprehensive
correction to the inaccuracies that appeared in Stephen's column and
to avoid such errors in the future by fact checking columns as
carefully as they do news stories," they also insist that while
"there is certainly a place for a variety of well-informed opinions
when it comes to societal responses to climate change. But it must
be made clear that there are facts that are not subject to opinion."
http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/800191/Global-warming-climate-change-meat-production-eating-insects-research
*GLOBAL WARMING*: Eating INSECTS 'could help tackle climate change'
<http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/800191/Global-warming-climate-change-meat-production-eating-insects-research>
Express.co.uk -13 hours ago
Replacing half of the meat eaten worldwide with crickets and
mealworms would cut farmland use by a third, substantially reducing
emissions of greenhouse gases, researchers say.
While consumers' reluctance to eat insects may limit their
consumption, even a small increase would bring benefits, the team says.
This could potentially be achieved by using insects as ingredients
in some pre-packaged foods...
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Scotland's Rural
College considered a scenario in which half of the current mix of
animal products is replaced by insects, lab-grown meat or imitation
meat.
The environmental challenges facing the global agricultural industry
are increasing
They found that insects and imitation meat - such as soybean-based
foods like tofu - are the most sustainable as they require the least
land and energy to produce.
Beef is by far the least sustainable, the team says.
In contrast to previous studies, lab-grown meat was found to be no
more sustainable than chicken or eggs, requiring an equivalent area
of land but using more energy in production.
"The environmental challenges facing the global agricultural
industry are increasing.
"This paper has studied some of the alternative foods that we can
introduce into our diets to alleviate some of this pressure."
http://www.popsci.com/stephen-hawking-human-extinction-colonize-mars
Stephen Hawking says we have 100 years to colonize a new planet-or
die
<http://www.popsci.com/stephen-hawking-human-extinction-colonize-mars>
Popular Science -5 hours ago
Stephen Hawking is making apocalyptic predictions again. The
respected theoretical physicist warns that humanity needs to become
a multi-planetary species within the next century if we don't want
to go extinct....
The television show that Stephen Hawking is promoting is all about
how human ingenuity is solving the challenges of colonizing Mars.
Well, surely if we can figure out how to survive on a completely
alien world, then we can figure out how to survive in our own
home-possibly a lot more easily and cheaply than the alternative.
http://nymag.com/news/features/obama-climate-change-2013-5/
*This Day in Climate History May 5, 2013
<http://nymag.com/news/features/obama-climate-change-2013-5/> - from
D.R. Tucker*/
/New York magazine's Jon Chait declares that President Obama doesn't get
enough credit for being a climate hawk:
"The assumption that Obama’s climate-change record is essentially
one of failure is mainly an artifact of environmentalists’
understandably frantic urgency. The sort of steady progress that
would leave activists on other issues giddy does not satisfy the
sort of person whose waking hours are spent watching the glaciers
melt irreversibly. But there is a difference between failing to do
anything and failing to do enough, and even those who criticize the
president’s efforts as inadequate ought to be clear-eyed about what
has been accomplished. By the normal standards of progress, Obama
has amassed an impressive record so far on climate change."
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