[TheClimate.Vote] August 21, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri Aug 21 10:41:59 EDT 2020
/*August 21 , 2020*/
[opinion - Guardian declares new reality]
*The climate crisis has already arrived. Just look to California's
abnormal wildfires*
In the last decade, amid drought and searing heat, California has
entered the 'era of megafires' and has become the 'examplar for climate
change extreme events today'
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/21/the-climate-crisis-has-already-arrived-just-look-to-californias-abnormal-wildfires
[PBS video report - 3 min]
*Extreme heat, strong winds and intense lightning create California
tinder box*
Aug 20, 2020
PBS NewsHour
California has suffered a devastating week, with a blistering heat wave,
intense lightning storms and raging wildfires overwhelming firefighters
and forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of a pandemic. Gov.
Gavin Newsom says the state's resources are being pushed to their
breaking point. Meanwhile, thick smoke is causing dangerous air
pollution in San Francisco. Stephanie Sy reports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKiiwa-sAeQ
[maps.google.com]
*Google Maps is tracking the spread of America's wildfires hour by hour*
There's no word on when the feature could launch in other countries.
As wildfires continue to tear through parts of California and Colorado,
Google has launched new tools to help people stay informed about their
progress. Starting today, Google search queries for information about
the fires will turn up more than just news stories and alerts -- they'll
also display maps of the fires' boundaries. The Google Maps app will
display the same wildfire boundaries to people attempting to enjoy the
height of summer nearby, and will also provide warnings and "ambient
alerts" to those who begin to approach affected areas.
But here's the most important part: That crucial fire map information is
being updated hourly...
- -
https://www.engadget.com/google-maps-california-colorado-wildfire-tracking-hourly-142455609.html
[stay ready to go]
*250,000 acres burning across the Bay Area as state scrambles to find
firefighters*
Residents should have bags packed, "nose pointed out driveway," Cal Fire
says
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/08/19/with-367-wildfires-raging-cal-fire-to-all-citizens-of-california-be-ready-to-go/
- -
[text and video from Capital Weather Gang]
*California wildfires more than double in size and force, degrading air
quality; tens of thousands evacuate*
SAN FRANCISCO -- Hundreds of thousands of acres of unpopulated land
continued to burn across California on Thursday, as dozens of
lightning-sparked wildfires moved quickly through dry vegetation and
threatened the edges of cities and towns in the state's northern and
central regions.
Evacuations surged Thursday as authorities worried that high heat and
gusty winds could cause the fires to spread rapidly. By midday, several
of the major fires had more than doubled in size, in some cases jumping
across major highways, as crews struggled to contain the blazes.
Many of the fires began days ago, as a heat wave and an unusual series
of storms produced more than 20,000 lightning strikes. The resulting
fires -- and "complexes" of many small fires -- have merged into major
conflagrations in many parts of the state...
Thousands were under evacuation orders in Central and Northern
California as dozens of major wildfires continued to ravage parts of the
state on Aug. 19. https://wapo.st/2CINKRT
The immediate trigger of most of the more than two dozen large fires
burning in the Bay Area was an unusual August thunderstorm outbreak,
which lit up the night skies above San Francisco on Sunday and Monday
and moved inland, where lightning discharges struck trees and grasses at
a time of year when vegetation is at its driest.
Between midnight Saturday and midnight Wednesday, there were 20,203
cloud-to-ground strikes in California, according to Chris Vagasky of
Vaisala, which operates the National Lightning Detection Network. The
total number of lightning discharges, which includes lightning that
jumped from cloud to cloud without hitting the ground, was equivalent to
11 percent of California's average annual lightning activity, he said
via a message on Twitter.
The storms were the result of moisture moving north from former Tropical
Storm Fausto near the Baja Peninsula and the sizzling heat across the state.
The long-lasting and intense heat wave has played a key role in these
blazes. Multiple monthly heat records have been set in the past 10 days,
including in Death Valley, Calif., where one of the hottest temperatures
on Earth, a high of 130 degrees Sunday, was recorded.
Death Valley soars to 130 degrees, potentially Earth's highest
temperature since at least 1931
One measure of fire risk is known as the Evaporative Demand Drought
Index, or EDDI. It measures the "thirst" of the atmosphere and can help
predict fire risk. In part because of the heat's ability to speed up
evaporation, the EDDI in Central and Northern California preceding these
fires soared to record levels, indicating a high fire risk.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/20/california-wildfires-evacuations/
- -
[What is EDDI?]
*The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI*) is an experimental drought
monitoring and early warning guidance tool. It examines how anomalous
the atmospheric evaporative demand (E0; also known as "the thirst of the
atmosphere") is for a given location and across a time period of
interest. EDDI is multi-scalar, meaning that this period--or
"timescale"--can vary to capture drying dynamics that themselves operate
at different timescales; we generate EDDI at 1-week through 12-month
timescales.
This webpage offers a frequently updated assessment of current
conditions across CONUS, southern parts of Canada, and northern parts of
Mexico; a tool to generate historical time series of EDDI for a
user-selected region; introductions to the EDDI team; and a list of
resources for users to explore EDDI and its applications further.
https://psl.noaa.gov/eddi/
EDDI examines atmospheric evaporation demand
https://psl.noaa.gov/eddi/pdf/EDDI_UserGuide_v1.0.pdf
- -
https://twitter.com/RobElvington/status/1296130055983308800
12 weej EDDU categirues for August 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/RobElvington/status/1296130055983308800/photo/1
- -
*Viewing the fire temperature product from GOES-W, you can see the
locations of the numerous fires around the Bay Area.*
https://twitter.com/DrewTumaABC7/status/1296122058644979712
[2 min history video of data map]
*Animated Maps: California Wildfires from 1910-2019*
Aug 19, 2020
Esri
Wildfires are a fact of life in California--and not a new one. Living in
the state has always meant forging an uneasy alliance with the natural
cycle of fires. What has changed in recent years is their frequency and
ferocity, largely driven by climate change. In 2018, California
experienced the Mendocino Complex Fire and the Camp Fire--respectively
the largest and most destructive wildfires in the state's history--but
there were over 50 others that year. Collectively, they consumed nearly
1.6 million acres, enough space to hold five cities the size of Los Angeles.
This animated map displays a century of California wildfires in under
two minutes.
This animated map was made using Esri's ArcGIS Pro, Cinema 4D, Redshift,
and Adobe After Effects. Please visit http://ow.ly/fm2950xgu0B for more
information about ArcGIS Pro.
https://youtu.be/o58Te06fOkw
[Yale compiled general reports]
*13 major climate change reports released so far in 2020*
These free studies and reports contain the latest authoritative
information about food security, U.S. flood risks, renewable energy, and
much more.
By Michael Svoboda, Ph.D. | Wednesday, August 19, 2020
If measured by the number of reports put out in just the first half of
this year, the coronavirus has not slowed the work of the international,
national, and non-governmental organizations keeping an eye on climate
change.
And that's a good thing. Because although it has temporarily reduced the
amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, the coronavirus
crisis has done nothing to slow the climatic effects of the carbon
dioxide already there after decades of fossil fuel combustion. The
planet is still warming, the oceans are still acidifying, and more and
more humans are experiencing the consequences.
In this edition of our bookshelf feature, Yale Climate Connections
highlights a baker's dozen of these reports, selected to reflect the
broad range of concerns that intersect with climate change, including
water, national security, media, health, food, finance, energy, and
climate and environmental justice...
- -
The descriptions of the 13 reports are adapted from copy provided by the
organizations that published them. All of the reports, those profiled
below and those included in the larger downloadable list, are available
free, in pdf form online. In some cases, however, interested readers may
need to register with the organizations that released them.
*State of the Climate 2019: Special Supplement to the Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society*, edited by J. Blunden and D.S. Arndt
(BAMS 2020, 435 pages,... a 10-page executive summary is also available)
Compiled by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
and published as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society, State of the Climate provides a detailed
update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and
other data collected by monitoring stations and instruments located
on land, water, ice, and in space. State of the Climate in 2019 is
the 30th issuance of the annual assessment, which has been published
by the Bulletin since 1996. The main function of each volume is to
document the status and trajectory of many components of the climate
system. As a series, however, the report also documents the status
and trajectory of our capacity and commitment to observe the climate
system.
https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/
*The First National Flood Risk Assessment: Defining America's Growing
Risk, by Flood Modelers* (First Street Foundation 2020, 163 pages,
...https://firststreet.org/press/2020-first-street-foundation-flood-model-launch/
The nonprofit research and technology group First Street Foundation
has publicly released flood risk data for more than 142 million
homes and properties across the country. The data assigns every
property in the contiguous United States a "Flood Factor" based on
its cumulative risk of flooding over a thirty-year mortgage. When
adjusting changing sea levels, warming sea surface and atmospheric
temperatures, and changing precipitation patterns, the Foundation's
model finds the number of properties with substantial risk grows to
16.2 million by the year 2050. "The First Annual National Flood Risk
Assessment: Defining America's Growing risk" highlights these
significant national, state, and city findings of the First Street
Foundation Model.
*World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change*, by UN
Water (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization 2020, 235
pages, free download available
https://www.unwater.org/publications/world-water-development-report-2020/)
Climate change will affect the availability, quality and quantity of
water for basic human needs, threatening the effective enjoyment of
the human rights to water and sanitation for potentially billions of
people. The alteration of the water cycle will also pose risks for
energy production, food security, human health, economic
development, and poverty reduction. The 2020 UN World Water
Development Report focuses on the challenges that can be addressed
through improving water management. Combining climate change
adaptation and mitigation, through water, is a win-win proposal,
improving the provision of water supply and sanitation services and
combating both the causes and impacts of climate change, including
disaster risk reduction.
*The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020:
Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets*, by FAO, IFAD,
UNICEF, WFP and WHO (United Nations 2020, 320 pages, free download
availablehttp://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html)
This year, the UN's annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in
the World includes a special focus on transforming food systems for
affordable healthy diets. It analyses the cost and affordability of
healthy diets around the world, by region and in different
development contexts. New analysis is presented on the "hidden"
health and climate-change costs associated with our current food
consumption patterns, as well as the cost savings if we shift
towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations.
The report also offers policy recommendations to transform current
food systems and make them able to deliver affordable healthy diets
for all - crucial to all efforts to achieve Zero Hunger -
Sustainable Development Goal No. 2.
*WHO Global Strategy on Health, Environment, and Climate Change: The
Transformation Need to Improve Lives and Wellbeing through Healthy
Environments*, by WHO (UN-WHO 2020, 36 pages, free download available
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240000377)
The burden of disease attributable to the environment is high and
persistent (~ one quarter of all deaths), and further health
concerns are posed by global climate change and rapid urbanization.
To respond to this situation, a new global strategy on health,
environment and climate change has been developed to transform the
way we tackle environmental risks by accounting for health in all
policies and scaling up disease prevention and health promotion. It
needs to be supported by a strengthened health sector, adequate
governance mechanisms, and enhanced communication, thereby creating
a demand for healthy environments. The new strategy is timely - it
responds to and is in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development
Agenda and the GPW13.
*Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis Report: Benefits of Cooling
Efficiency and the Kigali Amendment*, by UNEP-IEA (UNEP and IEA 2020, 50
pages, free download available
https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/cooling-emissions-and-policy-synthesis-report)
In a warming world, prosperity and civilization depend more and more
on access to cooling. But the growing demand for cooling will
contribute significantly to climate change, both through the leaking
of HFCs and other refrigerants, and through emissions of CO2 and
black carbon from the mostly fossil fuel-based energy powering air
conditioners and other cooling equipment. By combining energy
efficiency improvements with the transition away from
super-polluting refrigerants, the world could avoid cumulative
greenhouse gas emissions of up to 210-460 gigatonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) over the next four decades. This is
roughly equal to 4-8 years of total annual global greenhouse gas
emissions, based on 2018 levels.
*The 2035 Report: Plummeting Solar, Wind, and Battery Costs Can
Accelerate Our Clean Electricity Future*, by Sonia Aggarwal and Mike
O'Boyle (Goldman School of Public Policy 2020, 37 pages, free download
available https://www.2035report.com/)
Most studies aim for deep decarbonization of electric power systems
by 2050, but this report shows, with the latest renewable energy and
battery cost data, that we can get there in half that time. The U.S.
can achieve 90% clean, carbon-free electricity nationwide by 2035,
dependably, at no extra cost to consumers, and without new fossil
fuel plants. On the path to 90% over the next 15 years, we can
inject $1.7 trillion into the economy, support a net increase of
more than 500K energy sector jobs each year, and reduce economy-wide
emissions by 27%. This future also retires all existing coal plants
by 2035, reduces natural gas generation by 70%, and prevents up to
85,000 premature deaths by 2050. But without robust policy reforms,
this future will be lost.
*Addressing Climate as a Systemic Risk: A Call to Action for U.S.
Financial Regulators*, by Veena Ramani (Ceres 2020, 68 pages, free
download available
https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/addressing-climate-systemic-risk
- registration required)
This Ceres report outlines how and why U.S. financial regulators,
who are responsible for protecting the stability and competitiveness
of the U.S. economy, need to recognize and act on climate change as
a systemic risk. It provides more than 50 recommendations for key
financial regulators to adopt, including the Federal Reserve Bank
(the Fed), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CTFC), state and federal insurance regulators, the Federal Housing
Finance Agency (FHFA), and the Financial Stability Oversight Council
(FSOC).
*Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining Inclusive Peace on the
Frontlines of Climate Change*, by UN Women (UN Environment & Development
Programs 2020, 52 pages, free download available here)
Climate change is a defining threat to peace and security in the
21st century - its impacts felt by everyone, but not equally. Gender
norms and power dynamics shape how women and men of different
backgrounds experience or contribute to insecurity in a changing
climate. Grounded in a series of case studies from research and
programming experience, this report offers a comprehensive framework
for understanding how gender, climate and security are inextricably
linked. The report assesses entry points for action across existing
global agendas and suggests concrete recommendations for how
policymakers, development practitioners and donors can advance three
inter-related goals: peace and security, climate action and gender
equality.
*Evicted by Climate Change: Confronting the Gendered Impacts of
Climate-Induced Displacement,* by Care International (Care International
2020, 33 pages, free download available
https://careclimatechange.org/evicted-by-climate-change/)
This report outlines the causes and consequences of climate-induced
displacement, and how the triple injustice of climate change,
poverty and gender inequality must be met by transformative action.
In this report, CARE draws on key scientific findings as well as its
own experience and, most importantly, the experiences of the people
CARE seeks to support in managing compound risks: women and girls in
vulnerable situations. To tackle climate-induced displacement in a
gender-transformative and human-rights based way, CARE calls on all
relevant actors to do their part to build a safer, more equitable,
inclusive and resilient future that harnesses the power of women and
girls within their communities.
*Defending Tomorrow: The Climate Crisis and Threats Against Land and
Environmental Defenders,* by Global Witness (Global Witness 2020, 52
pages, free download available
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defending-tomorrow/)
For years, land and environmental defenders have been the first line
of defense against climate breakdown. Time after time, they have
challenged those companies rampaging through forests, skies,
wetlands, oceans and biodiversity hotspots. Yet the crucial role
they play, businesses, financiers and governments fail to safeguard
the vital and peaceful work of these defenders. The climate crisis
is arguably the greatest global and existential threat we face. As
it escalates, it will exacerbate many other problems. The question
is whether we want to build a better, greener future for our planet
and its people. The answer lies in following the leadership, the
campaigns and solutions that land and environmental defenders have
been honing for generations.
*Breaking the Plastic Wave: A Comprehensive Assessment of Pathways
Towards Stopping Ocean Plastic Pollution*, by Pew Charitable Trust and
System IQ (Pew Charitable Trust 2020, 153 pages, free download available
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/07/23/breaking-the-plastic-wave-top-findings)
Plastic has become ubiquitous. From wrapped food and disposable
bottles to microbeads in body washes, it's used widely as packaging
or in products because it's versatile, cheap, and convenient. But
this convenience comes with a price. Plastic waste is entering the
ocean at a rate of about 11 million metric tons a year. How did we
get here? We have produced vast quantities of plastic products but
have had few ways to regulate their use or properly manage their
disposal. "Breaking the Plastic Wave" shows that we can cut annual
flows of plastic into the ocean by about 80% in the next 20 years.
But no single solution can achieve this goal; rather, we can break
the plastic wave only by taking several immediate, ambitious, and
concerted actions.
*Adapting to a Change Climate: How Collaboration Addresses Unique
Challenges in Climate-Change and Environmental Reporting*, by Caroline
Porter (Center for Cooperative Media 2020, 24 pages, free download
available here)
As part of its collaborative journalism program, the Center for
Cooperative Media (CCM) at Montclair State University tracks
journalism collaborations. In early 2019 the number of climate
change-related collaborations seemed to be ticking upward, spurred
by the launch of Covering Climate Now, the biggest such
collaboration on record. CCM decided to take a look at how
journalists are working together to tackle the topic and all of its
related issues. The result is the new report researched and written
by Caroline Porter. Based on her assessments of 40 climate-related
collaborations, she found that there are some climate
change-specific reasons that journalism collaborations make sense,
beyond the usual economic reasons for such efforts.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/13-major-climate-change-reports-released-so-far-in-2020/
- -
[more from Yale]
"Readers can also find a link to a much longer list of reports, which
provides a measure of depth rather than breadth. Food security, for
example, is the subject of six separate reports released since the start
of the year, but only one is included in this month's baker's dozen."
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/dl/YCC_2020_Reports.doc
[Slate]
*California Reveals That the Transition to Renewable Energy Isn't So Simple*
By ALEX TREMBATH and ZEKE HAUSFATHER - AUG 19, 2020
The recent "heat storm" in California has pushed grid operators to
impose rolling blackouts for the first time since 2001. A combination of
heavy air conditioning usage, the unplanned unavailability of some power
plants, limited options for importing power from neighboring states, and
insufficient solar and wind generation have led to an imbalance of
electricity generation and consumption. As Stephen Berberich, president
of the California Independent System Operator, or CAISO, which oversees
operation of the state's electric grid, told Sammy Roth of the Los
Angeles Times, "We thought there would be adequate power to supply the
demand. … We were wrong."
The blackouts are designed to affect customers for no more than an hour
or two. Some may find that little more than mildly inconvenient. Others
more prone to heat stress or in possession of medicines that require
refrigeration might be more worried, with good reason. The aggregate
reaction could prove substantial, especially if we face more rounds of
shortages in the coming months and years. The last time this happened to
us Californians, we altered long-held plans to partially deregulate
electricity systems, recalled Gov. Gray Davis, and pushed Enron, one of
the energy services providers found guilty of gaming electricity
markets, into bankruptcy...
- -
But California's experience also underscores a growing consensus among
energy scholars: that variable renewable energy technologies are
unlikely to meet the grid's power demand by themselves. They will play
an important role, but more firm generating sources, like
next-generation nuclear reactors, natural gas plants with carbon capture
technologies, enhanced geothermal, and others that can balance out
variable renewables, will be required.
To be clear: Rising energy costs and the ongoing reliability crisis
cannot be blamed entirely on California's growing solar and wind
sectors. But this month's challenges surface the complexities and
difficulties of energy transitions, and the imperative of maintaining a
flexible and diverse supply of energy technologies. If this month's
blackouts continue, there is a risk California's ratepayers will come to
associate them with the state's clean energy transition.
https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/california-blackouts-wind-solar-renewable-energy-grid.html
- -
[Data]
*Google searches for climate refugee up 41% in past week *
Worldwide-Thursday, August 13, 2020 - Wednesday, August 19, 2020
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - August 21, *
August 21, 2007: U.S. District Judge Sandra Brown Armstrong rules that
the George W. Bush administration violated the 1990 Global Change
Research Act (signed into law, ironically enough, by Bush's father) by
not producing a legally required climate assessment report. The report
would finally be released in May 2008.
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2007/08/22/court-rules-that-bush-admin-unlawfully-failed-to-produce-scientific-assessment-of-global-change/
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PRESS/global-warming-08-21-2007.html
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PROGRAMS/policy/energy/complaint-national-assessment.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20080705212954/http://www.usda.gov/oce/global_change/sap_2007_FinalReport.htm
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