[TheClimate.Vote] May 21, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Sun May 21 09:08:32 EDT 2017
/May 21, 2017/
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/climate-change-and-farming-growing-seasons-getting-longer/441376031
*Climate change*and farming: Growing seasons getting longer
<http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/climate-change-and-farming-growing-seasons-getting-longer/441376031>
BOISE - This week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration released numbers that showed the average global
temperature for January through April of this year were the second
warmest for this period in 138 years of keeping records, just ...
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insects-gone
*Where have all the insects gone?
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/where-have-all-insects-gone>*
By Gretchen Vogel May. 10, 2017
Entomologists call it the windshield phenomenon. "If you talk to
people, they have a gut feeling. They remember how insects used to
smash on your windscreen," says Wolfgang Wägele, director of the
Leibniz Institute for Animal Biodiversity in Bonn, Germany. Today,
drivers spend less time scraping and scrubbing. "I'm a very
data-driven person," says Scott Black, executive director of the
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in Portland, Oregon.
"But it is a visceral reaction when you realize you don't see that
mess anymore."
Some people argue that cars today are more aerodynamic and therefore
less deadly to insects. But Black says his pride and joy as a
teenager in Nebraska was his 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1-with some
pretty sleek lines. "I used to have to wash my car all the time. It
was always covered with insects." Lately, Martin Sorg, an
entomologist here, has seen the opposite: "I drive a Land Rover,
with the aerodynamics of a refrigerator, and these days it stays clean."
Of the scant records that do exist, many come from amateur
naturalists, whether butterfly collectors or bird watchers. Now, a
new set of long-term data is coming to light, this time from a
dedicated group of mostly amateur entomologists who have tracked
insect abundance at more than 100 nature reserves in western Europe
since the 1980s. DOI: 10.1126/science.aal1160
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
*What's Causing the Sharp Decline in Insects, and Why It Matters*
<http://e360.yale.edu/features/insect_numbers_declining_why_it_matters>
http://e360.yale.edu/features/insect_numbers_declining_why_it_matters
Insect populations are declining dramatically in many parts of the
world, recent studies show. Researchers say various factors, from
monoculture farming to habitat loss, are to blame for the plight of
insects, which are essential to agriculture and ecosystems.
Recently, researchers presented the results of their work to
parliamentarians from the German Bundestag, and the findings were
alarming: The average biomass of insects caught between May and
October has steadily decreased from 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) per
trap in 1989 to just 300 grams (10.6 ounces) in 2014.
Another recent study has added to this concern
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12656/abstract?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=>.
Scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the
Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt have determined that
in a nature reserve near the Bavarian city of Regensburg, the number
of recorded butterfly and Burnet moth species has declined from 117
in 1840 to 71 in 2013...
A 2014 study in Science
<http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401> documented a
steep drop in insect and invertebrate populations worldwide....out
of 3,623 terrestrial invertebrate species on the International Union
for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Red List, 42 percent are
classified as threatened with extinction.
more at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12656/abstract
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401
http://learningenglish.*voanews.com*/a/asian-lawmakers-agree-to-fight-climate-change/3854375.html
Asian Lawmakers Agree to Fight*Climate Change*
<http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/asian-lawmakers-agree-to-fight-climate-change/3854375.html>
Lawmakers from Asia-Pacific countries said their area is important
to combating climate change during a recent international meeting in
Vietnam.
Asia-Pacific members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, or IPU, met
for three days in Ho Chi Minh City to debate issues related to
climate change. Their meeting ended Saturday.
The lawmakers shared their concerns about increasing worldwide
temperatures and discussed ideas to combat it [climate change].
"Climate change has no passport," IPU Secretary-General Martin
Chungong said. "It's cross-national."
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article151652362.html
Idaho educators push to put climate change back in ed science standards
<http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article151652362.html>
Teaching climate change: Idaho educators take a second shot at state
science standards..BY BILL ROBERTS
A state education committee is proposing to reinsert climate change
into science standards for public schools, but with one difference:
more emphasis on students discovering issues causing climate change
and less on teachers telling them how humans are causing it...
Lawmakers approved preliminary science standards this year, the
first major update to the state's science standards since 2001. But
they removed five sections on climate change, complaining that the
proposed standards did not give a balanced view on the human impact
on changing climate..
But during hearings on the standards in the legislative session and
hearings with the State Department of Education across the state
this spring, Idahoans overwhelmingly said climate change must be a
part of what students are expected to know.
The new proposed standards encourage "students to go and look at the
evidence" and draw their conclusions, said Micah Lauer, a life
science teacher at Heritage Middle School in West Ada School
District who was a member of the committee writing the standards.
http://blog.ucsusa.org/jamesine-rogers-gibson/infrastructure-spending-is-coming-climate-change-tells-us-to-spend-wisely
Infrastructure Spending Is Coming. Climate Change says Spend Wisely
<http://blog.ucsusa.org/jamesine-rogers-gibson/infrastructure-spending-is-coming-climate-change-tells-us-to-spend-wisely>
The news of new federal infrastructure proposals landed in a timely
fashion with this year's Infrastructure Week, including a bill
introduced by the House Democrats (LIFT America Act, HR 2479) and
another expected shortly from Trump's administration. For years now,
the American Society of Civil Engineers has graded the U.S.'s
infrastructure at near failing (D+). With the hashtag #TimetoBuild,
Infrastructure Week participants are urging policymakers to "invest
in projects, technologies, and policies necessary to make America
competitive, prosperous, and safe."
Conversations in Washington, D.C. and across the country over the
coming weeks and months are sure to focus on what projects to build.
But we first need to ask for what future are we building? Will it be
a version based on similar assumptions and needs as those we
experience today, or a future radically shaped by climate change?
(Changing demographics and technologies will undoubtedly shape this
future as well.)
Engineers and planners know that, ideally, long-lived infrastructure
must be built to serve needs over decades and withstand the ravages
of time - including the effects of harsh weather and extended
use-and with a margin of safety to account for unanticipated risks.
They are aspirational and not exhaustive, and will continue to
evolve. To be climate-resilient, new and upgraded infrastructure
should be built with these criteria in mind:
Scientifically sound
Socially just
Fiscally sensible
Ambitiously commonsense
Aligned with climate goals
Americans want action for a safer, more climate resilient future
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/climatechange/global-warming-impact-on-the-number-of-extreme-rainfall-events/70001700
*Global warming*impact on the number of extreme rainfall events
<http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/climatechange/global-warming-impact-on-the-number-of-extreme-rainfall-events/70001700>
Since the 1990s, scientists have predicted based on climate models
that the intensity of extreme rain events around the world should
increase with rising global temperatures. Current observations have
so far verified this trend on a broad, global scale.
http://www.*newyorker.com*/news/news-desk/the-lights-are-going-out-in-the-middle-east
*THE LIGHTS ARE GOING OUT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
<http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-lights-are-going-out-in-the-middle-east>*
"The world's most volatile region faces a challenge that doesn't
involve guns, militias, warlords, or bloodshed, yet is also
destroying societies. The Middle East, though energy-rich, no longer
has enough electricity. From Beirut to Baghdad, tens of millions of
people now suffer daily outages, with a crippling impact on
businesses, schools, health care, and other basic services,
including running water and sewerage. Little works without electricity."
"The reasons for these outages vary. With the exception of the Gulf
states, infrastructure is old or inadequate in many of the
twenty-three Arab countries. The region's disparate wars, past and
present, have damaged or destroyed electrical grids. Some
governments, even in Iraq, can't afford the cost of fuelling plants
around the clock. Epic corruption has compounded physical
challenges. Politicians have delayed or prevented solutions if their
cronies don't get contracts to fuel, maintain, or build power plants"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/19/arctic-stronghold-of-worlds-seeds-flooded-after-permafrost-melts
*Arctic stronghold of world's seeds flooded after permafrost melts
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/19/arctic-stronghold-of-worlds-seeds-flooded-after-permafrost-melts>*
No seeds were lost but the ability of the rock vault to provide
failsafe protection against all disasters is now threatened by
climate change
But soaring temperatures in the Arctic at the end of the world's
hottest ever recorded year led to melting and heavy rain, when light
snow should have been falling. "It was not in our plans to think
that the permafrost would not be there and that it would experience
extreme weather like that," said Hege Njaa Aschim, from the
Norwegian government, which owns the vault.
But soaring temperatures in the Arctic at the end of the world's
hottest ever recorded year led to melting and heavy rain, when light
snow should have been falling. "It was not in our plans to think
that the permafrost would not be there and that it would experience
extreme weather like that," said Hege Njaa Aschim, from the
Norwegian government, which owns the vault.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/the-crisis-comes-ashore
*This Day in Climate History May 21, 2010
<http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/the-crisis-comes-ashore> -
from D.R. Tucker*
/(hat tip to Joseph Romm and Peter Sinclair)
/In the New Republic, Al Gore notes:
"During the last 22 years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change has produced four massive studies warning the world of the
looming catastrophe that is being caused by the massive dumping of
global-warming pollution into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, this
process has been vulnerable to disruption and paralysis by a cynical
and lavishly funded disinformation campaign. A number of large
carbon polluters, whose business plans rely on their continued
ability to freely dump their gaseous waste products into the global
atmospheric commons - as if it is an open sewer - have chosen to
pursue a determined and highly organized campaign aimed at
undermining public confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the
global scientific community. They have attacked the scientific
community by financing pseudo-studies aimed at creating public doubt
about peer-reviewed science. They have also manipulated the
political and regulatory process with outsized campaign
contributions and legions of lobbyists (there are now four
anti-climate lobbyists for every single member of the House and Senate).
"This epic public contest between the broad public interest and a
small but powerful special interest has taken place during a time
when American democracy has grown sclerotic. The role of money in
our politics has exploded to a dangerous level. Our democratic
conversation is now dominated by expensive 30-second television
commercials, which consume two-thirds of the campaign budgets of
candidates in both political parties. The only reliable source of
such large sums of campaign cash is business lobbies. Most members
of the House and Senate facing competitive election contests are
forced to spend several hours each day asking special interests for
money to finance their campaigns. Instead of participating in
committee hearings, floor debates, and Burkean reflection on the
impact of the questions being considered, they spend their time as
supplicants. Though many struggle to resist the influence their
donors intend to have on their decision-making process, all too
frequently human nature takes its course.
"Their constituents now spend an average of five hours per day
watching television - which is, of course, why campaigns in both
political parties spend most of their money on TV advertising.
Viewers also absorb political messages from the same special
interests that are wining and dining and contributing to their
elected officials. The largest carbon polluters have, for the last
17 years, sought to manipulate public opinion with a massive and
continuing propaganda campaign, using TV advertisements and all
other forms of mass persuasion. It is a game plan spelled out in one
of their internal documents, which was leaked to an enterprising
reporter, that stated: 'reposition global warming as theory rather
than fact.' In other words, they have mimicked the strategy
pioneered by the tobacco industry, which undermined the scientific
consensus linking the smoking of cigarettes with diseases of the
lung and heart—successfully delaying appropriate health measures for
almost 40 years after the landmark surgeon general’s report of 1964."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/the-crisis-comes-ashore
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