[TheClimate.Vote] August 15, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Sat Aug 15 10:15:42 EDT 2020

/*August 15, 2020*/

[NPR report]
*California Issues First Rolling Blackouts Since 2001, As Heat Wave 
Bakes Western U.S.*
California electrical providers instituted rolling blackouts Friday 
night - the first since 2001-as an intense and prolonged heat wave 
settled over much of the Western U.S.

Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have experienced brief 
power outages through the evening, after the body that manages most of 
the state's electrical utilities declared a Stage 3 emergency to help 
reduce stress on the larger grid.

Electrical demand surged through the day as temperatures topped the 
triple digits in many parts of the state and people cranked up fans and 
air conditioning units to try and stay cool.

The emergency order was rescinded before midnight and power was fully 
restored to all affected households, the California Independent System 
Operator said in a tweet...
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/15/902781690/california-issues-first-rolling-blackouts-since-2001-as-heat-wave-bakes-western- 

[Pew Research says]
*Climate change isn't a top issue for 2020 voters*
Climate isn't top of mind for the electorate in the 2020 presidential 
race, but Pew Research Center polling also signals how the topic is 
likely to surface in the months ahead.

Why it matters: Joe Biden has tethered his proposed low-carbon energy 
and infrastructure investments to his wider economic recovery message.

The Trump campaign is arguing that Biden's climate plans will hinder the 
oil-and-gas industry in states including Pennsylvania and Texas.
By the numbers: The poll unsurprisingly also shows some deep partisan 
splits.

68% of Biden supporters in the poll said climate would be very important 
to their vote in the presidential race, compared to 11% of Trump supporters.
The economy is more important, especially to Republicans, with 72% of 
Biden supporters and 88% of Trump backers calling it key to their decision.
https://www.axios.com/climate-change-top-2020-issues-voters-president-da0dbf3f-9f53-48ed-87ec-9f28b699e531.html

[Washington and Oregon too]
*Wildfire Season Is Off To A Roaring Start In California And Colorado*
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/14/902581715/wildfire-season-is-off-to-a-roaring-start-in-california-and-colorado

[world record]
*If you thought July was hot, you were right: It was one of Earth's 
hottest months ever recorded*
Record-hot July temperatures spread across parts of southeastern Asia, 
northern South America and North America. In the U.S., several states 
either set or tied their hottest month on record, including Virginia 
(tied), Maryland, Pennsylvania (tied), Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut 
(tied) and New Hampshire.

What's more, the Northern Hemisphere saw its hottest July ever - 
surpassing its previous record high set just last year, NOAA said.

"The unprecedented summer heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods we 
continue to witness are all a consequence of the record warmth," Mann 
said...
- -
"The year 2020 is very likely to rank among the five warmest years on 
record," NOAA said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/13/july-2020-record-heat-one-hottest-months-ever-recorded/3366762001/

[Methane is 40 times worse than co2]
*Trump Eliminates Major Methane Rule, Even as Leaks Are Worsening*
The weakening of Obama-era efforts to fight climate change amounts to a 
gift to many oil companies. Researchers warn that the decision ignores 
science...
- -
However, numerous recent studies show the opposite: that methane 
emissions from drilling sites in the United States are far more 
extensive than the E.P.A.'s official numbers. Overall, methane levels 
are in fact climbing steadily nationwide, according to the research, and 
have reached record highs globally in part because of leaks from fossil 
fuel production.

"Over the past few years there has been an explosion of new research on 
this, and the literature has coalesced -- 80 percent of papers show that 
methane from oil and gas leaks is two to three times higher than the 
E.P.A.'s estimates," said Robert Howarth, an earth systems scientist at 
Cornell University, who last year published a study estimating that 
North American gas production was responsible for about a third of the 
global increase in methane emissions over the past decade.

"It's crazy to roll back this rule," said Dr. Howarth. "Twenty-five 
percent of the human-caused warming over the past 20 years is due to 
methane. Methane is going up. We need it to go down."...
- -
According to the E.P.A.'s annual inventory of United States greenhouse 
emissions, oil and gas wells emitted about 7 million tons of the 
heat-trapping gas annually between 2014 and 2018. The more recent 
studies, however, show the real number could be up to twice that.

A scientific study published last month found that the United States 
fossil fuel industry in 2017 emitted about 13 million tons of methane, 
the heat-trapping equivalent of a year's worth of carbon dioxide 
pollution from all the nation's coal-fired power plants. A 2018 study in 
the journal Science also concluded that, in 2015, the United States oil 
and gas industry was leaking about 13 million tons of methane annually.

"In many oil and gas fields, we're finding emissions to be considerably 
higher than what E.P.A. says they are," said Rob Jackson, an earth 
scientist at Stanford University who co-authored the July study. Methane 
emissions, he said, are "not stabilizing. They're certainly not going 
down."...
- -
"This rule helps smaller oil and gas companies, the ones operating on 
the edge of financial viability," said Dr. Jackson, the Stanford 
scientist. "But it's also saying that science doesn't matter. It's 
prioritizing very short-term economic gain over longer-term economic 
health and human health."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/climate/trump-methane.html

[Digging back into the internet news archive sixteen years ago]
*On this day in the history of global warming - August 15, 2004 *

August 15, 2004: In the New York Times, Al Gore reviews Ross Gelbspan's 
"Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and 
Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis -- and What We Can Do to Avert 
Disaster," the follow-up to his seminal 1997 book "The Heat Is On: The 
Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/hot-enough-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan

http://www.amazon.com/The-Heat-Is-On-Prescription/dp/0738200255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936855&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heat+is+on+ross+gelbspan

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