[TheClimate.Vote] March 16, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Mar 16 10:19:19 EDT 2018
/March 16, 2018
/
[no, not beer!]
*There's Trouble Brewing For Beer in a Warming World
<http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/theres-trouble-brewing-for-beer>*
Climate change affects three of beer's core ingredients: hops, water,
and barley.
Hops are affected by heat and drought, and with 99 percent of U.S. hops
grown in the Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
<https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Regional_Office/Northwest/includes/Publications/Hops/hops1219.pdf>
(with over 70 percent grown in Washington alone), the drier climate
developing in the West
<https://www.climate.gov/sites/default/files/phdi_0.png> will impact
production. Water available for irrigating the hops largely comes from
annual melting of winter snowpack from the mountains. A warming world
means more rain versus snow in the winter, meaning irrigation may depend
more on ground water, which has a higher mineral content and affects the
beer's taste. Barley, the most common grain used in fermentation, is
primarily produced in the Upper Midwest and Northern Rockies, and like
many cereal crops, it is particularly susceptible to heatwaves and
droughts. U.S. farmers are planting less of it to reduce their financial
risk. Last year, Montana farmers planted 23 percent less barley for the
beer market
<https://thefern.org/2017/12/climate-change-threatens-montanas-barley-farmers-possibly-beer/>
than in 2016, meaning the final cost of beer at the pub or market may be
going up.
Small breweries are economic drivers in statewide economies, and climate
change affects the beer they brew. *Here's where it counts the most
<http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/maps/the-economic-impacts-of-craft-beer>.*
http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/theres-trouble-brewing-for-beer
[8 questions an important legal procedure]
*Climate Tutorial Ordered by Calif. Judge Adds Fascinating Wrinkle to
Liability Case*
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/15/california-climate-liability-judge-william-alsup/>
Perhaps the most surprising part of the ruling that the San Francisco
and Oakland climate liability cases should remain in federal court, was
the subsequent hearing ordered by U.S. District Judge William Alsup. He
scheduled a climate science tutorial, a five-hour hearing during which
lawyers for both the plaintiffs and the defendants will present
information on the current state of climate science.
Alsup also presented eight questions
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180306_docket-317-cv-06011_order.pdf>
he wants both sides to answer on March 21, including the mechanisms that
trap carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the sources of that CO2.
"His questions are fairly idiosyncratic, but in general I think this
shows an interest in wanting to understand the scientific information
underlying these lawsuits, and a tutorial is a good way to do it because
then it becomes a public education tool as well," said Peter Frumhoff,
director of science and policy and chief climate scientist at the Union
of Concerned Scientists.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/15/california-climate-liability-judge-william-alsup/
-
[8 Questions from the Judge]
*SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE TUTORIAL
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180306_docket-317-cv-06011_order.pdf>***
2 pages - 8 questions download
<http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180306_docket-317-cv-06011_order.pdf>
For the tutorial please include the following subjects:
1. What caused the various ice ages (including the "little ice age" and
prolonged cool periods) and what caused the ice to melt? When they
melted, by how much did sea level rise?
2. What is the molecular difference by which CO2 absorbs infrared
radiation but oxygen and nitrogen do not?
3. What is the mechanism by which infrared radiation trapped by CO2 in
the atmosphere is turned into heat and finds its way back to sea level?
4. Does CO2 in the atmosphere reflect any sunlight back into space such
that the reflected sunlight never penetrates the atmosphere in the first
place?
5. Apart from CO2, what happens to the collective heat from tail pipe
exhausts, engine radiators, and all other heat from combustion of fossil
fuels? How, if at all, does this collective heat contribute to warming
of the atmosphere?
6. In grade school, many of us were taught that humans exhale CO2 but
plants absorb CO2 and return oxygen to the air (keeping the carbon for
fiber). Is this still valid? If so, why hasn't plant life turned the
higher levels of CO2 back into oxygen? Given the increase in human
population on Earth (four billion), is human respiration a contributing
factor to the buildup of CO2?
7. What are the main sources of CO2 that account for the incremental
buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere?
8. What are the main sources of heat that account for the incremental
rise in temperature on Earth?
http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180306_docket-317-cv-06011_order.pdf
[theGuardian Opinion]
*It's 50 years since climate change was first seen. Now time is running
out
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/15/50-years-climate-change-denial>*
Richard Wiles
Making up for years of delay and denial will not be easy, nor will it be
cheap. Climate polluters must be held accountable
Fifty years ago, the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) delivered a
report titled Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric
Polluters <https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6852325> to the American
Petroleum Institute (API), a trade association for the fossil fuel
industry.
The report, unearthed by researchers at the Center for International
Environmental Law <http://www.ciel.org/>, is one of the earliest
attempts by the industry to grapple with the impacts of rising CO23
levels, which Stanford's researchers warned if left unabated "could
bring about climatic changes" like temperature increases, melting of ice
caps and sea level rise.
In 1998, as the first global attempt to rein in climate pollution, the
Kyoto protocol, was headed to the Senate for ratification, API
circulated what has come to be known as the Victory Memo, a detailed
road map to undermining science and promoting denial of climate change.
According to API's top strategists: "Victory will be achieved when:
those promoting the Kyoto treaty on the basis of extant science appear
to be out of touch with reality."
The memo's end goal was clear: create doubt about science where none
existed, deceive the media and Congress about the risks of climate
change, and block the momentum that was building to address rising
emissions through the Kyoto protocol, a precursor to the Paris accord.
ExxonMobil alone would go on to spend upwards of $30m on ads, front
groups, and pseudoscience intended to carry out the plan. That's in
addition to the cash that flooded the coffers of climate deniers in
Congress who are rewarded amply for willful ignorance
<http://www.fossilfreemit.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/FossilFreeMIT-Lobbying-Disinformation.pdf>.
API's strategic deception campaign was a success, which is why we now
stand at the brink of the highest global temperature considered safe.
Just what it will mean to cross that line remains an ongoing question
for atmospheric scientists, but we've already started to get a glimpse
and it doesn't look good.
We can't turn back the clock, but we can turn off the fossil fuel
firehose that's been pumping CO2 into our atmosphere and demand that
those who left it running help foot the bill for the cleanup. Already
we've seen cities like New York
<https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/10/16875042/nyc-lawsuit-climate-change-lawsuit-fossil-fuel-companies-exxon-shell-bp>,
San Francisco
<http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-climate-1505933864-htmlstory.html>,
and other coastal cities
<http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20180206/richmond-joins-marin-others-in-climate-change-suits-against-oil-industry>
file lawsuits against climate polluters, seeking to recover costs
associated with planning for and adapting to a warming world. With
massive costs facing hundreds more cities and no remedy in sight, more
litigation will follow.
Making up for 50 years of delay and denial will not be easy, nor will it
be cheap. But taxpayers should not have to shoulder the burden alone.
The API and its climate polluters knowingly and deliberately caused this
mess. They must help pay to clean it up.
/Richard Wiles is the executive director of the Center for Climate
Integrity
<http://www.igsd.org/initiatives/the-center-for-climate-integrity/>/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/15/50-years-climate-change-denial
[TheTakeAway radio]/(mildly disturbing audio)/
*How Did California Wildfires Wreak So Much Havoc?
<https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/california-wildfires-north-bay-kqed>*
Last fall, massive wildfires blazed furiously across Northern
California, killing 44 people and damaging or destroying more than
21,000 homes. The inferno covered an area the size of Maryland and
Delaware combined. Yet the cause of the fires is still unknown.
Sukey Lewis, reporter for KQED News in San Francisco, and Lisa
Pickoff-White, data reporter for KQED, immediately started investigating
the government's response to the crisis.
"On the first day of the fires, Sukey started going in the field to
report, and another coworker and I, Marisa Lagos, started filing public
records requests for 911 calls and also starting to listen to dispatch,"
Pickoff-White explains. "We were hearing already from community members
that there were big delays in evacuation orders going out."
What they found in their five month-long investigation: 911 dispatch
centers overwhelmed by calls and unable to give clear directions to
residents trying to flee the flames, fire departments stretched thin by
multiple smaller electrical fires, and large systemic problems in the
way first responders communicated.
Lewis and Pickoff-White examine what went wrong, and how California
residents are bearing the toll of that mismanagement.
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. Don't have time
to listen right now? Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn,
Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with
you on the go.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/california-wildfires-north-bay-kqed
[California Fires Report] *warning: disturbing audio*
*'My World Was Burning': The North Bay Fires and What Went Wrong
<https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong>*
"everybody in the entire region was absolutely overwhelmed."
What they found in their five month-long investigation
<https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong>:
911 dispatch centers overwhelmed by calls and unable to give clear
directions to residents trying to flee the flames, fire departments
stretched thin by multiple smaller electrical fires, and large systemic
problems in the way first responders communicated.
Lewis and Pickoff-White examine what went wrong, and how California
residents are bearing the toll of that mismanagement.
Among our findings:
- Electrical problems sucked resources and delayed emergency response:
The fires started early; many were caused by downed power lines, which
overwhelmed the electrical grid and lit new blazes. These electrical
problems sucked firefighting resources to smaller blazes, leaving first
responders short-staffed when the larger fires broke out later. The
power issues also delayed fire crews, who had to wait for utility
workers to power down live lines.
- Communication among first responders broke down: Inconsistencies, in
the technology and terminology used by different jurisdictions to tell
people to evacuate, caused confusion and delayed alerts to the public.
- 911 centers were overwhelmed: 911 operators were juggling dozens of
calls at once and were often unable to answer calls from people in
danger. When fire victims did get through, dispatchers didn't know what
to tell them about the safest way to flee the flames.
https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong
[Call analysis]
*Where the Fires Burned and Who Was Called to Evacuate
<https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong>*
Sonoma County officials sent more than 20,000 reverse 911 calls on the
first night of the fires to warn residents to evacuate. But an analysis
of thousands of 911 calls and radio traffic between dispatchers and
first responders shows that evacuations were requested long before the
SoCo Alerts were actually sent. The map does not include opt-in text and
email alerts sent by Sonoma County and Napa County officials.
Another pattern emerged in our review of 911 calls: 911 operators
couldn't give people clear directions on which way to flee. Adrian
Diaz lives in Redwood Valley, a Mendocino County town about 70 miles
north of Santa Rosa. Nine people died and 546 buildings were
destroyed in Redwood Valley — including Diaz's home.
He was awakened around 1 a.m. by a neighbor as a huge, fast-moving
fire rushed toward his home. While his wife piled their three boys
into a car, he called 911 from their home phone. He got
disconnected, so he called back from his cellphone to ask which way
to evacuate.
"They didn't tell me it was an evacuation," he said. "They just said
exit whichever way you feel is the safest. And I was like, OK, well,
I don't know - because I didn't know if it was worse north or worse
south."
Two hours later, someone else in Redwood Valley called 911 and asked
the operator where to evacuate. The operator said she didn't know.
"You would have to look at where the fire is and not go that way. I
can't really direct you," she said. "I can't picture where you are.
You're going to have to use your common sense."
Evacuation calls to landlines:
11:35 p.m.: Reverse 911 calls go to 2,096 phone lines in the Petrified
Forest area northeast of Santa Rosa. Over an hour earlier, Cal Fire
officials asked for the calls to be made. That night seven people died —
or were fatally injured — inside this evacuation zone that night.*
1:05 a.m.: Calls expanded west to 2,772 more phone lines. At midnight, a
Sonoma County sheriff's deputy and state fire officials requested these
calls. Three people died.*
1:53 a.m.: Calls to 5,381 phone lines in the Fountaingrove neighborhood
of Santa Rosa. At midnight, a sheriff's deputy had requested the
neighborhood to be evacuated. Four people died.*
2:25 a.m.: Calls to 300 phone lines in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa.
Firefighters had been concerned for more than four hours that fires
would reach the area. Fires already had burned through many of the
area's cellphone towers and service lines. Three people died.*
3:15 a.m.: Calls to 3,468 phone lines in Kenwood in Sonoma County. At
midnight, dispatchers asked if the area should be evacuated. Fire
officials said no. One person died.*
3:20: Calls expand to 7,967 phone lines in Coffey Park. This
neighborhood caught fire around 1 a.m. Four additional people died.*
*It is unknown at what time people died or were critically injured on
that night.
Sources: Sonoma and Napa counties, Cal Fire, cities of Santa Rosa, Napa
and American Canyon
Graphic by Alexandra Kanik and Lisa Pickoff-White. Research by Peter
Arcuni, Ingrid Becker, Sonja Hutson, Marisa Lagos, Sukey Lewis, Lisa
Pickoff-White and Vinnee Tong
https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong
[Aerial images]
*Inside the CHP Helicopter That Rescued 26 People From the Atlas Peak
Fire
<Inside%20the%20CHP%20Helicopter%20That%20Rescued%2026%20People%20From%20the%20Atlas%20Peak%20Fire>*
KQED News - video <https://vimeo.com/258335788> https://vimeo.com/258335788
CHP Pilot Pete Gavitte and his flight officer Whitney Lowe were flying
their helicopter over the North Bay on the night of October 8th, when
they heard chatter on their radio about a fire growing on Atlas Peak.
Within minutes, they were over the fire.
The officers landed their helicopter in a field on the peak, and began
ferrying people to safety. They returned again and again, even as
powerful winds hammered their helicopter. By the end of the night, they
would fly 42 people off of Atlas Peak.
To read the full KQED investigation into the north bay fires:
kqed.org/fireinvestigation
https://vimeo.com/258335788
[Weather Channel Obit]
*Stephen Hawking Dies at 76; Was Outspoken Supporter of Climate Change
Action in Recent Years
<https://weather.com/news/news/2018-03-14-stephen-hawking-dies-cambridge-england>*
One year ago, Hawking predicted in a BBC documentary "Stephen Hawking:
Expedition New Earth" that the human race has just 100 years to find a
new planet to colonize because of the damage being done to Earth from a
number of factors, including climate change.
Hawking also criticized President Donald Trump's decision to pull the
United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement last June.
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes
irreversible," he told BBC News. "Trump's action could push the Earth
over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred
and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuric acid.
"Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one we can
prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate change, and
pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause
avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the
natural world, for us and our children."
https://weather.com/news/news/2018-03-14-stephen-hawking-dies-cambridge-england
[BBC obit Video]
*Stephen Hawking's warnings: What he predicted for the future
<http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43408961>*
By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website
The Cambridge physicist regarded global warming as one of the biggest
threats to life on the planet. The physicist was particularly fearful of
a so-called tipping point, where global warming would become
irreversible. He also expressed concern about America's decision to pull
out of the Paris Agreement.
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes
irreversible. Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to
become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees, and raining
sulphuric acid," he told BBC New...
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also
highlights the potential risk of hitting climate tipping points as
temperatures increase - though it also emphasises the gaps in our knowledge.
However, Hawking was in plentiful company in regarding global warming as
one of the great challenges of centuries to come.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43408961
[water running low]
*Notes from the future: A film on Cape Town Water Crisis
<http://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/23272/notes-from-the-future-a-film-on-cape-town-water-crisis>*
by SixDegrees
The Cape Water Crisis. A film by Andrea Gema Films, produced by Rosa
Luxemburg Stiftung Southern Africa.
Cape Town, South Africa, is dealing with a massive and serious water
crisis. Cape Town residents have been told not use more than 50 litres
of water a day. Fresh water shouldn't be used for flushing the toilet or
watering plants and is cut during the day. Some residents have to go to
public springs and fetch water back home.
For a lot of Capetonians, this has been a wake-up call that Water is a
limited resource. There has been a lot of planning for trying to
increase the supply of water in the City of Cape Town. But with a third
year of below-normal rainfall in 2017 the crisis has worsened.
*Now it is no longer only the poor that are affected, but also the rich.
What's happening in Cape Town now might soon happen to many places in
the world.*
To prevent socio-ecological crises like this we need to manage our
resources more rationally and collectively.
http://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/23272/notes-from-the-future-a-film-on-cape-town-water-crisis
[video water usage]
*Notes from the future <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYDZ-ymbISg>*
[ENGLISH] Cape Town, South Africa, is dealing with a massive and serious
water crisis. Cape Town residents have been told not use more than 50
litres of water a day. Fresh water shouldn't be used for flushing the
toilet or watering plants and is cut during the day. Some residents have
to go to public springs and fetch water back home. For a lot of
Capetonians, this has been a wake-up call that Water is a limited
resource. There has been a lot of planning for trying to increase the
supply of water in the City of Cape Town. But with a third year of
below-normal rainfall in 2017 the crisis has worsened. Now it is no
longer only the poor that are affected, but also the rich. What's
happening in Cape Town now might soon happen to many places in the
world. To prevent socio-ecological crises like this we need to manage
our resources more rationally and collectively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYDZ-ymbISg
*This Day in Climate History - March 16, 2007
<http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/difference-degree-makes-2958041> -
from D.R. Tucker*
March 16, 2007: On "ABC World News Tonight," correspondent Bill
Blakemore explains the risks of rising worldwide temperatures.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/difference-degree-makes-2958041
/------------------------------------------
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