[TheClimate.Vote] April 26, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Thu Apr 26 10:49:10 EDT 2018
/April 26, 2018/
[Courageous TV broadcaster discussing climate change ]
*Gulf Stream slowing down, researchers say
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCvRy3bhdSY>*
10News WTSP (video)
Published on Apr 12, 2018
The change, if true, has major implications for our climate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCvRy3bhdSY
[Solar future is bright]
*Falling Residential Solar Costs
<http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/falling-residential-solar-costs>*
The cost of solar has dropped dramatically in recent years. Even
including installation and hardware, the cost of residential solar
energy has been cut in half since the start of the decade
<https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2017/nrel-report-utility-scale-solar-pv-system-cost-fell-last-year.html>.
Utility and commercial scale solar is even less expensive
<https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2017/nrel-report-utility-scale-solar-pv-system-cost-fell-last-year.html>.
Job growth in solar is soaring, with more than 370,000 Americans working
in the solar energy industry, an increase of 300 percent
<https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/2017%20US%20Energy%20and%20Jobs%20Report_0.pdf>
since 2012. Correspondingly, the total amount of solar generated in the
U.S. has skyrocketed over the last decade from 1.1 gigawatts in 2007 to
47.1 gigawatts last year.
<https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-achievement-sunshot-goal-new-focus-solar-energy-office>
http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/falling-residential-solar-costs
[Video - Cleaning up one big beach]
*The Man Clearing 9,000 Tons of Trash From Mumbai's Beaches
<https://youtu.be/JtGsdiYdObQ>*
Great Big Story Published on Jan 23, 2018
Over three years ago, Versova beach in Mumbai was little more than a
dumping ground for garbage and waste. After witnessing the devastating
impact the refuse was having on the ocean, Afroz Shah decided to take
matters into his own hands. What started off as a single man's mission
to clean up his favorite childhood beach turned into the world's largest
beach cleanup initiative. As of today, Shah and hundreds of volunteers
have cleaned up over nine million kilograms of plastic and waste, with
hopes to expand their initiative to other beaches in the future.
https://youtu.be/JtGsdiYdObQ
[impressive]
*Individuals can change world: Mumbai man drives beach clean ups,
species return
<http://getenergysmartnow.com/2018/04/24/individuals-can-change-world-mumbai-man-drives-beach-clean-ups-species-return/>*
April 24th, 2018
To live in interesting times … we face the cursed reality that we live
in a highly interesting time. Tremendous technology advances both create
opportunity and threaten us. Communications leaps forward enable humans
to have incalculable amounts of information at our finger tips while
also enabling/facilitating the Putin's interference in other nations'
democracies and elections. Humans are developing technologies and means
to improve lives while reducing environmental impacts even as humanity
is increasing greenhouse gas emissions and worsening climate catastrophe
risks and impacts.
- - - - -
Amid all this, we need heroes - whether they are the neighbor who
organizes a great youth volleyball program or are voting rights
advocates fighting for free electionsor medical researchers discovering
disease cures or entrepreneurs delivering innovative means to accelerate
clean energy penetration to address energy poverty - and we need to
recognize them.
This post is to share a new hero to me - someone who dedicated much of
his own time and motivated others to join him in fighting pollution.
And, well, has shown a remarkable success.
- - - -
He dedicated not just time, but also resources - roughly 25 percent of
his income has gone to beach clean up. He has been paying for excavator,
trucks to haul away trash, and other tools for helping clean up the
beach. To give an idea of the scale of this effort: on any given
weekend, there might be 20 tractor loads (two tons each) hauled away.
In a functioning governance, Shah's efforts wouldn't have been necessary
- but the local government, despite have resources and equipment, would
not act and so he did. And, his actions inspired others to volunteer
with him … and their collective efforts help sparked the local
government to join in what UN officials have called "the world's largest
beach clean up."
May Shah's actions inspire others and spark action to take measures to
address humanity's damages to the ecosystem that menace not just turtles
but ourselves.
http://getenergysmartnow.com/2018/04/24/individuals-can-change-world-mumbai-man-drives-beach-clean-ups-species-return/
- - - - -
[now, by contrast. 45 categories of trash]
*Japan's Town With No Waste <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS9uhASKyjA>*
Video 4 minutes
Published on Dec 20, 2017
The village of Kamikatsu in Japan has taken their commitment to
sustainability to a new level. While the rest of the country has a
recycling rate of around 20 percent, Kamikatsu surpasses its neighbors
with a staggering 80 percent. After becoming aware of the dangers of
carbon monoxide associated with burning garbage, the town instated the
Zero Waste Declaration with the goal of being completely waste-free by
2020.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS9uhASKyjA
[New periodical]
*Introducing Anthropocene Coasts
<http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/journal/anc>*
Anthropocene Coasts is a multidisciplinary international journal that
brings together diverse fields of study to tackle complex issues related
to coastal regions in the Anthropocene.
Human economic activities are increasingly concentrated on the
estuarine and coastal regions of the world. Natural resources are
being utilized to an unprecedented extent. Reclamation is carried
out to obtain more land, huge ports and harbours are built to meet
the requirement of maritime and inland transportation, and large
cities occupy the shoreline. Artificial materials, from pesticides
to micro-plastic particles, are discharged in large quantities into
the coastal ocean from urban areas and river basins. Coastal
ecosystems are either squeezed into spaces that are inadequate to
support healthy habitats, or are being threatened by a number of
factors, ranging from exotic organism invasion, to degenerating
environmental conditions. Our towns and cities, especially those on
low-lying coasts are exposed to increasingly severe hazards due to
storm surges, extreme weather, and the combined effect of climate
change and human-induced modification to the coastal landforms.
Nowadays, anthropogenic processes dominate over many of the natural
processes that used to shape our coastal regions.
As such, more rigorous scientific research is required to provide
the solutions to various problems that are emerging on shorelines
around the world. In the long run, the research will lead to a new
blueprint for the coasts of the future, and guide actions to
increase the resilience of coastal communities.
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/journal/anc
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/anc-2017-0006#.WuCpsW7RVpg
- - - -
[first article in Anthropocene Coasts]
*Coastal wetland loss, consequences, and challenges for restoration
<http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/anc-2017-0001#.WuCqDG7RVpg>*
ABSTRACT
Coastal wetlands mainly include ecosystems of mangroves, coral
reefs, salt marsh, and sea grass beds. As the buffer zone between
land and sea, they are frequently threatened from both sides. The
world coastal wetland lost more than 50% of its area in the 20th
century, largely before their great value, such as wave attenuation,
erosion control, biodiversity support, and carbon sequestration, was
fully recognized. World wetland loss and degradation was accelerated
in the last three decades, caused by both anthropogenic and natural
factors, such as land reclamation, aquaculture, urbanization, harbor
and navigation channel construction, decreased sediment input from
the catchments, sea level rise, and erosion. Aquaculture is one of
the key destinations of coastal wetland transformation. Profound
consequences have been caused by coastal wetland loss, such as
habitat loss for wild species, CO2 and N2O emission from land
reclamation and aquaculture, and flooding. Great efforts have been
made to restore coastal wetlands, but challenges remain due to lack
of knowledge about interactions between vegetation and morphological
dynamics. Compromise among the different functionalities remains a
challenge during restoration of coastal wetlands, especially when
faced with highly profitable coastal land use. To solve the problem,
multi-disciplinary efforts are needed from
physio-chemical–biological monitoring to modelling, designing, and
restoring practices with site-specific knowledge.
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/anc-2017-0001#.WuCqDG7RVpg
[dangerous misdirection]
*Pruitt Announces Secret Science Rule Blocking Use of Crucial Health
Research
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24042018/pruitt-secret-science-evidence-pollution-health-disease-studies-epa-rule-ban>*
The regulation would prevent EPA's use of studies that promised subjects
confidentiality, including pollution research. It mirrors a bill
Congress refused to pass.
Sabrina Shankman
BY SABRINA SHANKMAN
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new
regulation on Tuesday to restrict the types of scientific evidence that
can be used in writing EPA rules. Scientists and health organizations
say the move could rule out the use of major health studies that support
clean air and water regulations and that promised the participants
confidentiality.
Scott Pruitt's proposal would only allow the EPA to use studies where
the underlying data is made public. Internal documents show how the rule
is the culmination of a years-long effort led by Republican Rep. Lamar
Smith of Texas, chairman of the House Science Committee, and other
industry-aligned politicians and political appointees.
Critics of the policy change say any claims that it's being done in the
name of transparency are red herrings.
"In reality, these are phony issues that weaponize 'transparency' to
facilitate political interference in science-based decision making,
rather than genuinely address either," a group of nearly 1,000
scientists wrote in a letter to Pruitt on Monday. "The result will be
policies and practices that will ignore significant risks to the health
of every American."
The proposal
<https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-pruitt-proposes-rule-strengthen-science-used-epa-regulations>will
be published for public comment, which the EPA is to take into account
in writing the final regulation.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24042018/pruitt-secret-science-evidence-pollution-health-disease-studies-epa-rule-ban
- - - -
[Warning: misinformation]
*News Releases from Headquarters > Office of the Administrator (AO)
<https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-pruitt-proposes-rule-strengthen-science-used-epa-regulations>*
EPA Administrator Pruitt Proposes Rule To Strengthen Science Used In EPA
Regulations
04/24/2018
*Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX): *"Administrator Pruitt's announcement
ensures that data will be secret no more. For too long, the EPA has
issued rules and regulations based on data that has been withheld
from the American people. It's likely that in the past, the data did
not justify all regulations. Today, Administrator Pruitt rightfully
is changing business as usual and putting a stop to hidden agendas."
Contact Us <https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/forms/contact-us> to ask a
question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/forms/contact-us
Staff Directory Search Results 1 records found.
Name (Last First) Location Office Phone
Pruitt, Scott HQ 202-564-4700
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-pruitt-proposes-rule-strengthen-science-used-epa-regulations
[Climate Science presented in court- (high geek factor)]
*RealClimate.org: The Alsup Aftermath
<http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2018/04/the-alsup-aftermath/>*
Guest Commentary by Myles Allen
A few weeks ago, I had an unusual - and challenging - assignment:
providing a one-hour "tutorial" on the basic science of human-induced
climate change to a Federal District Court in San Francisco. Judge
William Alsup had requested this tutorial to bring him up to speed on
the fundamental science before proceedings begin in earnest in a case
brought by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, on behalf of the
people of California, against a group of major fossil fuel companies,
addressing the costs of climate change caused, they argue, by products
those companies have sold.
The format was straightforward - two hours each for the plaintiffs and
the defendants, and the judge had provided us with a series of questions
on the essential physics that he wanted addressed, as well as requesting
atimeline
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180323_docket-317-cv-06011_exhibit-6.pdf>of
how our understanding of climate change has evolved over the past 150
years. My presentation was followed by Professors Gary Griggs,showing
detailed projections of sea-level rise and its impacts on California
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180323_docket-317-cv-06011_exhibit.pdf>,
and Don Wuebbles,presenting key findings from the latest US National
Climate Science Special Report
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180323_docket-317-cv-06011_exhibit-1.pdf>(also
speaking for the plaintiffs). Between Gary and Don, the Court heard
fromTheodore Boutrous
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180321_docket-317-cv-06011_notice-1.pdf>,
a lawyer speaking on behalf of Chevron, one of the defendants.
The case was fairly widely covered, (here's an example
<https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/3/28/17152804/climate-change-federal-court-chevron>)
and most of the attention was, understandably, on what the oil companies
had to say: the fact that Gary, Don and I agreed with the IPCC was
hardly ever likely to be newsworthy. But I've had a few requests since
about what I presented - including from some students who spotted that a
carefully compressed summary of climate change science might be quite
handy revision material. So, with exam season nearly upon us, here it is
- or at least, here is what I would have presented if I'd got through it
all: in preparing this material, I had completely failed to anticipate
the number and depth of Judge Alsup's questions, so we only got as far
as the Charney Report.
- - - - -
The edited presentation runs for just under 45 minutes, and I've broken
it up into five segments. I've also put up the powerpoint in case you
want to use some of the graphics in your own teaching. I hope it's useful.
*Tutorial: The basic science of human-induced climate change*
Part 1 https://youtu.be/CqjbTMz5Hro
Part 2 https://youtu.be/Tqx99ea-DrM
Part 3 https://youtu.be/2Hh8iurCvcA
Part 4 https://youtu.be/QFlcmsFOv6Y
Part 5 https://youtu.be/aMjzpaNLQ0Y
*Presentation: The basic science of human-induced climate change*
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2018/04/the-alsup-aftermath/
[the biggest issue of our time]
*Hope and mourning in the Anthropocene: Understanding ecological grief
<https://theconversation.com/hope-and-mourning-in-the-anthropocene-understanding-ecological-grief-88630>*
Neville Ellis, Ashlee Cunsolo - April 2018
*Ecological grief in a climate-changed future*
Ecological grief reminds us that climate change is not just some
abstract scientific concept or a distant environmental problem.
Rather, it draws our attention to the personally experienced
emotional and psychological losses suffered when there are changes
or deaths in the natural world. In doing so, ecological grief also
illuminates the ways in which more-than-humans are integral to our
mental wellness, our communities, our cultures, and for our ability
to thrive in a human-dominated world.
From what we have seen in our own research, although this type of
grief is already being experienced, it often lacks an appropriate
avenue for expression or for healing. Indeed, not only do we lack
the rituals and practices to help address feelings of ecological
grief, until recently we did not even have the language to give such
feelings voice. And it is for these reasons that grief over losses
in the natural world can feel, as American ecologist Phyllis Windle
put it, 'irrational, inappropriate, anthropomorphic.'
https://theconversation.com/hope-and-mourning-in-the-anthropocene-understanding-ecological-grief-88630
*This Day in Climate History - April 26, 1977
<https://www.oyez.org/cases/1977/76-1172> - from D.R. Tucker*
April 26, 1978: The Supreme Court explicitly gives private-sector
entities (including polluters) 1st Amendment rights in the First
National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti case.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1977/76-1172
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