[TheClimate.Vote] June 1, 2019 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Sat Jun 1 07:31:35 EDT 2019

/June 1, 2019/

[flooded fields and towns]
*A new AccuWeather analysis predicts a significant dropoff in 2019 crop 
yields*
AccuWeather is predicting a significant shortfall in United States corn 
production for 2019 as a result of continued flooding, wet weather and 
the upcoming forecast throughout key parts of the U.S. Corn Belt.

AccuWeather predicts corn yield will be a significant 9% lower than an 
earlier U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimate. The USDA 
predicted 14.96 billion bushels - last year's corn yield was 14.3 
billion bushels -- but a just-released AccuWeather analysis estimates 
this year's total at 13.6 billion bushels.

The projected soybean yield loss predicted by AccuWeather is lower, but 
still noteworthy. The USDA initially expected 4.17 billion bushels 
following 2018's record season of 4.54 billion bushels, but AccuWeather 
predicts the yield will be 4.0 billion bushels. That's a 4% falloff from 
the USDA's first estimate...
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/a-new-accuweather-analysis-predicts-a-significant-dropoff-in-2019-crop-yields/70008414

[evacuations]
*Levee failures along Mississippi, Arkansas rivers prompt mandatory 
evacuation orders*
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/levee-failure-near-mississippi-river-prompts-mandatory-evacuation-orders/70008415

[stuck weather patterns]
*Midwest Flooding Rages On*...Seventy river gauges along the Mississippi 
River are experiencing major flooding while 104 gauges are experiencing 
moderate flooding as of Wednesday, as devastating floods and extreme 
weather continue to pummel the Midwest. Wednesday also marked 145 
consecutive days with the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge at or above 
flood stage, a new record, while acute flooding in Oklahoma and Arkansas 
is now in its fourth week. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the mayor stressed to 
Reuters that the city's 70-year-old levee system, which protects 10,000 
residents, was under severe stress from floodwaters. A growing body of 
scientific evidence has made clear that climate change is "increasing 
precipitation, especially heavy rain events," across the Midwest and 
that overall flood risk has increased, causing "disruption to 
transportation and damage to property and infrastructure." (Reuters, 
CNN, USA Today, Earther, NBC. Background: Climate Signals)

...*As Farmers Struggle:* Farmers in the Midwest are experiencing 
catastrophic losses as flooding devastates the region and they are 
unable to plant crucial crops. Only 58 percent of the US corn crop had 
been planted as of May 28, the USDA reported Wednesday, compared to the 
five-year average of 90 percent by the same date, one of the slowest 
rates since USDA began collecting data. On Twitter, farmers have taken 
to using the #NoPlant19 hashtag to post videos of flooded fields and 
tractors stuck in mud. "The frequency of these disasters, I can't say 
we've experienced anything like this since I've been working in 
agriculture," John Newton, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau 
Federation, told the Washington Post. (Washington Post $, Quartz, Civil 
Eats, Eater, The Economist)
https://mailchi.mp/climatenexus/the-midwests-endless-flooding-a-mass-puffin-die-off-more?e=95b355344d

[hopeful technology]
MATERIALS FOR ENERGY RESEARCH UPDATE
*Water-based batteries enable a green energy future..*
A cheap, safe, and effective potassium-ion battery system with promising 
characteristics has been described in a Nature Energy article by Yaxiang 
Lu, Yong-Sheng Hu and co-workers in Beijing, bringing the renewable 
energy grids of the future closer to the realization...
https://physicsworld.com/a/water-based-batteries-enable-a-green-energy-future/
- - -
[research paper]
*Building aqueous K-ion batteries for energy storage*
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0388-0

[big, unified, and melting]
*What's happening to Greenland will affect the whole world - and our 
leaders need to understand why...*
Because it's essentially one big sheet of ice - the second largest ice 
sheet in the world in fact. Covering 81% of the island, and 2.3 km 
thick, it makes Greenland the keeper of roughly 8% of all of Earth's 
freshwater, and contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 7.3 
metres, threatening to inundate many of the world's biggest coastal 
cities. Between 1993 and 2016, this ice sheet lost an average of 286 
billion tonnes of ice per year, and April 2019 has just been 
acknowledged as the month when sea ice in the Arctic shrunk to a record 
low as early as April. With Arctic air temperatures rising twice as fast 
as anywhere else, this ice sheet is critical to our survival. What 
happens in Greenland will not stay in Greenland: it affects people 
everywhere...
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/why-wefs-young-global-leaders-are-going-to-greenland/

[a melting Arctic region changes power]
*A powerful Russian flotilla is on its way to the Barents Sea*
More than 15 surface vessels, several submarines and support ships, as 
well as aircraft and helicopters, take part in the Northern Fleet 
exercise now in the making along the coast of the Kola Peninsula...
- -
A total of 15 surface vessels, several submarines, support ship, as well 
as aircraft and helicopters are involved, the Northern Fleet informs. 
The exercise includes several parts, among them fighting with foreign 
sabotage and reconnaissance troops, hunt-down of enemy submarines and 
air defense operations...
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2019/05/powerful-russian-flotilla-its-way-barents-sea
- - -
[from Australian TV]
*Why Sweden is encouraging citizens to become preppers.*
Published on May 28, 2019
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/
Dateline explores why disaster prepping has become a government 
sanctioned pastime in Sweden, but who or what are they afraid of?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCAJofc4ajM

[More map changes ]
*Canada files submission to establish continental shelf outer limits in 
Arctic Ocean*
Canada filed its Arctic continental shelf submission with the U.N. 
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf last Wednesday, 
claiming approximately 1.2 million square kilometres of the Arctic Ocean 
seabed and subsoil in an area that includes the North Pole...
"Canada is committed to furthering its leadership in the Arctic," said 
Chrystia Freeland, Canada's minister of foreign affairs, in a news 
release on Wednesday.  "Defining our continental shelf is vital to 
ensuring our sovereignty and to serving the interests of all people, 
including Indigenous peoples, in the Arctic." ...
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2019/05/canada-files-submission-establish-continental-shelf-outer-limits-arctic-ocean

[precaution in California]
*If you're a PG&E customer, get ready for power blackouts this year to 
prevent wildfires...*
The Public Utilities Commission approved PG&E's "wildfire mitigation 
plan," in which blackouts could conceivably hit every one of PG&E's 5.4 
million electric households and business customers during times of 
gusting winds, low humidity and other risky conditions. The plan also 
calls for PG&E to spend roughly $1.8 billion on ramped-up tree-trimming 
efforts, fire-resistant power poles and other programs aimed at avoiding 
a repeat of a major disaster like the Camp Fire...
https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article230992148.html

[Lecture 1:18]*
**Sea Level Rise Can No Longer Be Stopped, What Next? - with John Englander*
The Royal Institution
Published on May 29, 2019
Sea level rise can no longer be stopped, so it is urgent that we 
commence intelligent adaptation as a high priority, argues John Englander.

John's book "High Tide On Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming 
Coastal Crisis" is available now: https://geni.us/wQ41O1m

Rising sea level will permanently alter coastlines and is perhaps the 
most profound long-term aspect of climate change affecting coastal 
communities everywhere, as well as the global economy. The phenomenon is 
often overshadowed by short-term flood events, though it will elevate 
those too. In this talk, oceanographer and author John Englander 
highlights some surprising scientific aspects of sea level rise, 
including the latest projections for the coming decades, eventually many 
meters above present.
- -
Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/TFMGyvHJrX8
- -
John Englander is an oceanographer, consultant and leading expert on sea 
level rise. His broad marine science background coupled with 
explorations to Greenland and Antarctica allows him to see the big 
picture of sea level rise and its revolutionary impacts.
This talk was filmed at the Ri on 11 February 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvqY2NcBWI8

[Dana Nuccitelli in The Guardian]
*Humans and volcanoes caused nearly all of global heating in past 140 years*
New study confirms natural cycles play little role in global temperature 
trends and tackles discrepancies in previous models
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/30/humans-and-volcanoes-caused-nearly-all-of-global-heating-in-past-140-years

[Financial Times Opinion Climate change]
*Further inaction on climate change is simply not an option*
Leaders must come to the UN summit in September armed with solutions as 
well as speeches
https://www.ft.com/content/6e4c2f40-812d-11e9-a7f0-77d3101896ec

[guys talking]
*Episode 13 - Band-Aid Town (May 29, 2019)*
This episode refers back to Crazy Town episode 1, Orangutans, Santa 
Suits, and Airplanes on Fire.
Corvallis Climate Action Advisory Board
Rob's book, Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World 
of Finite Resources
Pop-culture reference: the 2016 movie, Captain Fantastic
The excellent documentary, The Reluctant Radical, that features climate 
activist Ken Ward
Overton Window
Milton Friedman's quote from the preface to his book, Capitalism and 
Freedom (1962): "Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real 
change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on 
the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: 
to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and 
available until the politically impossible becomes the politically 
inevitable."
Extinction Rebellion
Greta Thunberg's powerfully blunt speech at the United Nations COP24 
conference
Greta Thunberg nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Comprehensive article in Harper's Magazine about the Green New Deal and 
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, including lessons from history
https://www.postcarbon.org/crazytown/

[Listen to the music of data]
*Listen to a haunting (instrumental) song composed using climate data*
Hear the world burn...
https://www.popsci.com/climate-data-song-warming

[Commercial supported radio - audio 55 min]
*Dr. JASON BRADFORD ON GO GREEN RADIO*
Dr. Jason Bradford, a farmer, biologist and board president of PCI, 
released a report earlier this spring called, The Future Is Rural: Food 
System Adaptations to the Great Simplification. that acknowledges that 
our modern food system is entirely unsustainable.

In this episode of Go Green Radio, host Jill Buck talks with Dr. 
Bradford about his report and the upcoming event, Where Will Our Food 
Come From?, which is designed to identify key leverage points where 
individuals and communities can most effectively shift our food system 
towards long-term sustainability through greater energy efficiency and 
localization.
https://www.postcarbon.org/the-future-is-rural-on-go-green-radio/

*This Day in Climate History - June 1, 2005 - from D.R. Tucker*
June 1, 2005: Addressing the UN World Environment Day event in San 
Francisco, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declares, "As of 
today, California is going to be the leader in the fight against global 
warming...I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the 
threat, and the time for action is now."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/arnold-targets-global-warming/
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