[TheClimate.Vote] February 15, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Feb 15 11:42:10 EST 2019
/February 15, 2019/
[methane danger]
*EPA greenhouse gas estimates show increase in methane*
Methane emissions from oil and natural gas in the U.S. grew by 0.5
percent in 2017, according to new data from the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
The EPA's latest draft greenhouse gas inventory released Tuesday found
the second measured increase for the climate change-linked gas in two years.
The report tracks total annual U.S. emissions and removals by source,
economic sector, and greenhouse gas going back to 1990.
The 2017 measure was the highest that methane emissions have been since
2014, according to EPA data.
In all sectors measured by the EPA, methane emissions rose 1.5 percent
between 2016 and 2017, the agency reported...
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/429605-epa-greenhouse-gas-estimates-show-increase-in-methane
[Greta and science - a must see video]
*You have run out of excuses, and we are running out of time*
"I don't want to you to hope, I want you to panic"
https://youtu.be/HN2t1WeJrQA
[Video advertisement banned in Britain]
*The Greenpeace film Iceland wanted to run as its Christmas advert*
Guardian News
Uploaded on Nov 9, 2018
Iceland's Christmas campaign has been banned from TV because it has been
deemed to breach political advertising rules.
As part of its festive campaign the discount supermarket struck a deal
with Greenpeace to rebadge an animated short film featuring an orangutan
and the destruction of its rainforest habitat at the hands of palm oil
growers.
https://youtu.be/fWGLlFXd7lQ
[new movie]
*Bloomberg rips Trump for not taking action on climate change*
By BRIAN SLODYSKO
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential prospect Michael Bloomberg is
promoting a new documentary film on climate change, but the billionaire
philanthropist says the one person he thinks should see it most --
President Donald Trump -- likely never will because "it won't be running
on Fox."
"The president really could learn a lot from towns and cities featured
in the documentary and which are taking action on climate change,"
Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, said Wednesday at a Washington
screening of the film "Paris to Pittsburgh," which he produced.
"If he's not willing to listen to his own administration's scientific
advisers -- and he isn't -- he should at least listen to the people in
this film," Bloomberg later added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Wednesday night.
Bloomberg's film gets its name from Trump. When the president withdrew
the United States from the Paris climate agreement in 2017, he said it
was because he was elected to "represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not
Paris." But Trump was quickly rebuked by Pittsburgh's mayor, Bill
Peduto, who said the decision was "disastrous for our planet, for cities
such as Pittsburgh" and a step that "has made America weaker."
Bloomberg has not yet said if he will run for president in 2020. But in
the run-up to his possible Democratic bid, he has promoted the millions
of his own fortune that he has invested in climate change initiatives
across the U.S.
That's one way he has contrasted himself with many of the other
Democrats who are running.
Virtually every top Democratic White House contender has embraced the
recently proposed Green New Deal. The nonbinding resolution outlined
ambitious plans to cut slash greenhouse gas emissions over 10 years
while instituting massive investments in wind and solar production,
energy-efficient buildings and high-speed rail.
But Bloomberg said the likely reality is that nothing will get done in
the next two years while Trump is president and Republicans control the
Senate.
"Every voter should ask the candidates not just what do you promise to
do," he said, "but also what have you done, what have you delivered and
how can we implement in a practical way your proposals."
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/bloomberg-rips-trump-for-not-taking-action-on-climate-change/
[future]
*Philadelphia will feel like Memphis by 2080, and other insights from
climate models*
By Zoe SchlangerFebruary 13, 2019
Sixty years from now, the typical winter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
will feel like Memphis, Tennessee does today. For example, Philly's 2080
winter will be about 9.1F (5.1C) warmer and 41.1% wetter than the winter
of 2018. Memphis, meanwhile, will resemble Brenham, Texas, which is
10.9F (6.1C) warmer and 36.6% drier in winter than Memphis is now.
That is, if the world's greenhouse-gas emissions continue on the trend
they are now. On the other hand, if policies including the Paris
agreement are fully enacted to peak emissions global by 2040 and draw
them down from there, Philadelphia in winter 2080 will feel like 2018
winter in a Maryland town called California (sorry, bear with me),
typically 5.6F (3.1C) warmer and 3.4% drier than Philly winters today.
That's still a lot warmer than today, but far less extreme of a
difference than if emissions continue unabated.
A paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications compared
the current climates of 540 cities in the US and Canada to predicted
2080 climates, based on models that assume the global community does not
dramatically and immediately draws down its emissions of greenhouse gases.
"Within the lifetime of children living today, the climate of many
regions is projected to change from the familiar to conditions unlike
those experienced in the same place by their parents, grandparents, or
perhaps any generation in millennia," Matt Fitzpatrick, a professor at
the University of Maryland and lead author on the paper, said in a
statement. A person living in the majority of North American cities 60
years from now will have to drive around 500 miles north to experience
the climate of their city today, he said.
Fitzpatrick, along with Robert Dunn of North Carolina State University,
built an interactive where you can search their database of 540 cities
to see their 2080 climatic equivalent.
For anyone even casually familiar with North American geography, the
results are remarkable. For example:
New York winter will look like winter in Jonesboro, Arkansas (8F
(4.4C) warmer and 10.8% wetter)
Washington, DC winter will look like winter in Greenwood,
Mississippi (9.8F (5.5C) warmer and 75.2% wetter)
Houston, Texas winter will look like winter in Ciudad Mante, Mexico
(15.5F (8.6C) warmer and 84.3% drier)
Los Angeles winter will look like winter in Las Palmas, Mexico (8.3F
(4.6C) warmer and 79.6% drier)
San Francisco summer will look like summer in Palos Verdes Estates,
California (4.5F (2.5C) warmer and 42.9% drier)
Chicago winter will look like winter in Lansing, Kansas (7.2F (4C)
warmer and 31.8% drier)
Phoenix, Arizona winter will look like winter in Esperanza, Mexico
(12.4F (6.9C) warmer, 44.2% drier)
Charlotte, North Carolina summer will look like summer in
Tallahassee, Florida (3.7F (2.1C) warmer and 73% wetter)
Nashville, Tennessee summer will look like summer in Saraland,
Alabama (3.3F (1.8C) warmer and 56.3% wetter)
Detroit, Michigan winter will look like winter in Chester,
Pennsylvania (8.6F (4.8C) warmer and 63.6% wetter)
Boulder, Colorado winter will look like winter in Clovis, New Mexico
(9.6F (5.3C) warmer and 26.5% drier)
Toronto summer will look like summer in Secaucus, New Jersey (5.2F
(2.9C) warmer and 35.1% wetter)
Vancouver winter will look like winter in Seattle (4.3F (2.4C)
warmer and 24.4% drier)
Portland, Maine winter will look like winter in Baltimore, Maryland
(11.6F (6.4C) warmer and 14.5% drier)
https://qz.com/1549125/philadelphia-will-feel-like-memphis-by-2080-and-other-insights-from-climate-models/
[NOAA weather satellites]
*GOES-17 Is Now Operational. Here's What It Means for Weather Forecasts
in the Western U.S.*
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
It's official: GOES-17 is now operational as NOAA's GOES West satellite.
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov
[it says here]
*Real-world-ready artificial leaf can pluck carbon dioxide out of thin air*
Michael Irving
One of the first artificial leaves came out of Harvard in 2011, using
sunlight to split water into harvestable hydrogen and oxygen gas. Other
versions since then have used similar technologies to create
electricity, liquid fuels, fertilizer, and even drugs. Currently, the
most promising artificial leaves do a decent job of absorbing carbon
dioxide, but only under lab conditions.
"So far, all designs for artificial leaves that have been tested in the
lab use carbon dioxide from pressurized tanks," says Meenesh Singh,
corresponding author of the study. "In order to implement successfully
in the real world, these devices need to be able to draw carbon dioxide
from much more dilute sources, such as air and flue gas, which is the
gas given off by coal-burning power plants."
The UIC researchers say their new artificial leaf design is that kind of
real-world ready. And it sounds surprisingly simple - it's basically a
regular old artificial photosynthesis unit, wrapped in a new transparent
capsule. This outer layer is a semi-permeable membrane made of
quaternary ammonium resin, and it's filled with water....
- -
The researchers say their design would be up to 10 times more efficient
at this process than a natural leaf. If enough of them are gathered in
one place, that could produce a decent amount of fuel and do a good job
of purifying the surrounding air.
The team calculated that in one day, 360 of these leaves - each
measuring 170 cm long and 20 cm wide (67 x 7.9 in) - could be capable of
producing half a ton of carbon monoxide, and pulling 10 percent of the
carbon dioxide out of the air for about 100 m (328 ft) around the setup.
"By enveloping traditional artificial leaf technology inside this
specialized membrane, the whole unit is able to function outside, like a
natural leaf," says Singh. "Our conceptual design uses readily available
materials and technology, that when combined can produce an artificial
leaf that is ready to be deployed outside the lab where it can play a
significant role in reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."
Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
https://newatlas.com/artificial-leaf-real-world-ready/58472/
[CSR = Corporate Social Responsibility]
*Climate Change Is About Economics, Not CSR: IN2Summit MENA*
Can better communications help solve the climate change crisis?
ARUN SUDHAMAN 14 FEB 2019
DUBAI -- Communicators must rethink their strategies if they hope to
persuade people of the urgent threat posed by climate change, according
to a panel of public and private sector experts at yesterday's MENA IN2
Innovation Summit in Dubai, moderated by APCO senior director of
strategy Nic Labuschagne.
To begin with, said Dubai Carbon external relations officer Musad Afzal,
the issue should be framed in economic terms, rather than as a CSR
initiative, particularly when it comes to persuading companies in the
Middle East of the need for action.
"Renewable energy...all the countermeasures for climate change are good
for profit, every single one," said Afzal. "If you want to keep pleasing
your shareholders, a better way to do that is [by addressing] climate
change. It will eventually lead to sustained profits. It's not the CSR
element, it's the economic element."
That, added Afzal, is particularly important given that 70% of the
world's carbon emissions come from 100 corporations. Indeed, Afzal
believes communicators should not forget the need for corporate action
versus the typical focus on individual behaviour.
However, other panellists felt that individual responsibility remains a
cornerstone of climate change messaging. IRENA acting CCO Sabah Ahmad
Dalvi noted that too much communication remains framed in negative
terms, rather than a positive message about the benefits of
sustainability. "People need to understand, what is their stake?"
But as Standard Chartered Bank head of public affairs and sustainability
Khaldoun Hajaj pointed out, "as a society, we're not exactly famous for
delaying gratification." The costs of climate change action have to be
understood and accepted for real progress.
"I often wonder if climate change is an issue of politics or
communication," said Hajaj. "The reality is it touches every aspect of
our lives. The simple reality is that climate change, if you're going to
deal with it immediately, comes with a lot of costs."
Ultimately, said Taif Mohammad Al Amiri, director of government
communications at UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment,
communicators must make the threats of climate change more real.
"We have very clear proof that the ice caps are actively melting," she
said. "People choose to ignore the threat of climate change because they
don't see the direct impact. Our role as communicators is to connect
people to the direct impact, in order to see climate action."
And both Al Amiri and Dalvi agreed, climate change requires much simpler
messaging than people are used to, particularly in terms of connecting
relevant actions and consequences to their daily lives.
https://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/climate-change-is-about-economics-not-csr-in2summit-mena
[bonus educational lesson applies to global warming]
*Evaluating Evidence: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #6*
CrashCourse
Published on Feb 12, 2019
Today we're going to focus on how to tell good evidence from bad
evidence and maybe importantly, how to identify "Fine, but that doesn't
actually prove your point" evidence - the stuff that the Internet is
built on.
https://youtu.be/hxhbOvR2TGk
*This Day in Climate History - February 15, 2010 - from D.R. Tucker*
NPR's Christopher Joyce reports:
"Most [climate scientists] don't see a contradiction between a
warming world and lots of snow. That includes Kevin Trenberth, a
prominent climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric
Research in Colorado.
"'The fact that the oceans are warmer now than they were, say, 30
years ago means there's about on average 4 percent more water vapor
lurking around over the oceans than there was, say, in the 1970s,'
he says.
"Warmer water means more water vapor rises up into the air, and what
goes up must come down.
"'So one of the consequences of a warming ocean near a coastline
like the East Coast and Washington, D.C., for instance, is that you
can get dumped on with more snow partly as a consequence of global
warming,' he says.
"And Trenberth notes that you don't need very cold temperatures to
get big snow. In fact, when the mercury drops too low, it may be too
cold to snow."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123671588&sc=emaf
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