[TheClimate.Vote] December 23, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

Wed Dec 23 09:40:57 EST 2020

/*December 23, 2020*/

[Trains as pipeline spill and fire]
*Investigation continues around oil-train derailment, fire in Custer, 
Whatcom County*
Dec. 22, 2020
Two BNSF Railway employees were on board the train at the time, but no 
injuries were reported, Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said during a 
Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Seven of the tank cars derailed and two ignited around 11:40 a.m. in the 
7500 block of Portal Way, according to a Tuesday afternoon statement 
from BNSF. The train was headed toward the Phillips 66 refinery in Ferndale.
By 3 p.m., firefighters had brought the blaze under control, though the 
cause of the derailment remains under investigation, the Sheriff’s 
Office said.

An evacuation order, which was initially put in place for everyone 
within a half-mile of the wreck, was lifted for Custer residents around 
4:45 p.m., according to the Sheriff’s Office.
- -
Once the fire is fully extinguished, the public is advised to wait until 
the smoke plume dissipates to ensure that the area is safe again.

Interstate 5 temporarily closed between Grandview Road and Birch Bay 
Lynden Road, but reopened at 2 p.m. in both directions, according to the 
Washington State Department of Transportation. Local roads remained 
closed as of 5 p.m.

“If you don’t have to travel through the area, please don’t. If you do, 
use an alternate route,” Elfo said.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/train-carrying-crude-oil-derails-near-custer-whatcom-county/

video - 
https://www.seattletimes.com/video/6217876795001/train-carrying-crude-oil-derails-catches-fire-in-custer/

[Dramatic video implosion of giant coal plant]
...*the #NavajoGeneratingStation was demolished*. This was just 1 step 
in our decades-long work to secure a just, equitable energy transition 
for #FourCorners communities. We're excited for the road ahead.
Thanks to @EcoFlight1 for the incredible video

https://twitter.com/i/status/1340344392649981954

- -

[news in VOX]
*After decades of activism, the Navajo coal plant has been demolished*
The largest coal plant in the western US has come down. Now cleanup begins.

By Jariel Arvin @jarielarvin  Dec 19, 2020..
The station officially shut down in November of 2019 once its remaining 
supply of coal had burned. The Kayenta mine, which fed the plant, closed 
in August of 2019 because it didn’t have any other customers besides 
NGS. Jobs there also paid well: The average salary per worker was $117,000.

But for many members of the region’s Navajo and Hopi tribes, those high 
wages also came with a high price. Critics of the facility point to its 
environmental costs as problematic — at one point it released more 
greenhouse gases at an hourly rate than almost any other facility in the 
US — and argued it polluted land and water used by Navajo ranchers and 
farmers.

In a statement Friday, members from organizations representing the 
Navajo and Hopi tribes welcomed the razing, while acknowledging that the 
plant brought some financial benefits to their communities.

“The demolition of the smokestacks at NGS is a solemn event,” said 
Nicole Horseherder, executive director of the Navajo environmental 
grassroots group Tó Nizhóní Ání. “It’s a reminder of decades of 
exploitation subsidized by cheap coal and water from the Navajo and Hopi.”..
- -
In particular, Horseherder argued that the economic benefits were 
outweighed by coal miners suffering respiratory ailments and the land 
being contaminated by polluted water. The statement also said that many 
Navajo and Hopi had not been able to partake of the electricity and 
water the plant produced — that most of it went to nearby Phoenix, Arizona.

But now that the station has been demolished, some Navajo and Hopi 
members have high hopes for a strong future without the coal plant...
https://www.vox.com/2020/12/19/22189046/navajo-coal-generating-station-smokestacks-demolished 

[You can see in satellite photos]
*Towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds can spew as much aerosol as volcanic 
eruptions – The Australian 2019-2020 outbreak exceeded previously 
unprecedented events “on almost every level”*
By Carolyn Gramling - 15 December 2020

(Science News) – A massive tower of smoke generated by Australian 
wildfires in late 2019 set a new record for the loftiest and largest 
fire-spawned thunderstorms ever measured. It also may represent a new 
class of volcanic-scale “pyrocumulonimbus” events, scientists said in an 
online news conference 11 December 2020 at the American Geophysical 
Union’s fall meeting [slide deck].

A particularly intense spate of fires in southeastern Australia during 
the country’s 2019–2020 “Black Summer” wildfire season led to a “super 
outbreak” of 32 separate pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCB, events from 29 
December 2019 to 31 December 2019  (SN: 3/4/20) . The resulting plume of 
smoke sent aloft was so massive that it rose up to 35 kilometers into 
the atmosphere, high into the stratosphere, well above the heights that 
jet planes fly (SN: 6/15/20). Combined with a second large plume on 
January 4, they injected three times more aerosol particles into the 
stratosphere than any previously recorded pyroCb event.

Such a long-lasting, intense event “was like nothing we’ve seen before,” 
eclipsing the previous record-holder, a vast fire cloud that formed over 
the Pacific Northwest in 2017, said David Peterson, a meteorologist at 
the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, Calif. The Australian 
outbreak “exceeded this previously unprecedented event on almost every 
level.” In terms of sheer number of aerosols sent into the stratosphere, 
the Australian plumes were on par with the strongest volcanic eruptions 
in the last 25 years. [more]

Towering fire-fueled thunderclouds can spew as many aerosols as volcanic 
eruptions

https://desdemonadespair.net/2020/12/towering-pyrocumulonimbus-clouds-can-spew-as-much-aerosol-as-volcanic-eruptions-the-australian-2019-2020-outbreak-exceeded-previously-unprecedented-events-on-almost-every-level.html

- -

[Press conference]

*Press Conference: Wildfire-driven thunderstorms and their role in the 
climate system*
In this press conference, researchers discuss the fascinating phenomenon 
of pyrocumulonimbus clouds funneling smoke like a chimney from Earth’s 
wildfires to high altitudes where it remains for extended periods. 
Results will include the most detailed information to date on the 
Australian New Year 2020 wildfire-driven thunderstorm activity and 
provide a unique perspective on how the Australian events compare with 
other large wildfire and pyrocumulonimbus events observed worldwide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmyFDea0uAM&feature=youtu.be

slides 
https://www.agu.org/fall-meeting/events/-/media/925ADE4EBB8D4081997BB77DC63D8D47.ashx

[Baba Brinkman raps praise to AGU and all climate scientists]
*#AGU20: Researchers, I See You from Baba Brinkman*
Nov 24, 2020
AGU
#AGU20 is pleased to welcome back Baba Brinkman, a rap artist and 
comedian, who synthesizes complex science into accessible and 
entertaining performances.

Here is Baba's intro video for #AGU20!

Baba is also attend #AGU20 to perform his climate raps, produce “Rap Up” 
summaries of the meeting, create freestyle raps based on attendee’s 
comments and participate in discussions and panels.

https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3qBW3cSjQs

[Pacific Northwest changes]*
**Heat, wind and a cruel twist of nature: inside Oregon's nightmarish 
wildfire season*
The state’s fire year made history, testing resources to unprecedented 
extremes as nine people died and 1m acres burned

by Lee van der Voo in Portland, Oregon...
Since 1970, the fire season has lengthened from five months to more than 
seven. Although the number of fires has remained about the same, the 
acreage burned each year is growing dramatically – from five digits to 
six over the last decade, including a pinnacle 517,883 acres in 2017, to 
roughly 1m acres this year.

Bark beetles, which thrive among drought stricken trees, have wrecked 
havoc in Oregon’s forest – dropping dead trees on the floor like 
accelerants. The longstanding practice of suppressing fires had also 
complicated matters. Fires is nature’s way of keeping house, burning 
through dead brush and bramble on the forest floor. When dead wood piles 
up, it acts like a ladder, helping flames to reach the canopy, where 
fire can get up and run. Forest management can help in a normal fire 
year. But the trouble is that no one knows what normal is any more...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/22/oregon-2020-fire-season-smoke-coronaviruus

[according to the NYTimes]
*THE YEAR IN CLIMATE*
2020 was a crisis year: a pandemic, economic turmoil, social upheaval. 
And running through it all, climate change. Here’s some of the best 
reporting from The Times’s Climate Desk.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/2020-climate-change.html
- -
[for instance]
*What Will Trump’s Most Profound Legacy Be? Possibly Climate Damage*
President-elect Biden can restore many of the 100-plus environmental 
regulations that President Trump rolled back, but much of the damage to 
the climate cannot be reversed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/climate/trump-legacy-climate-change.html

[Reuters]

DECEMBER 16, 20209
*Planet-warming emissions from buildings put climate goals at risk*
By Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation

ROME, Dec 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Planet-warming carbon 
dioxide emissions from buildings and construction are jeopardising 
global goals to keep devastating climate change at bay, a U.N.-backed 
coalition warned on Wednesday, after data showed they hit an all-time 
high in 2019.

The use of coal, oil and natural gas for heating, lighting and cooking 
fuelled a rise in emissions from the operation of buildings to about 10 
gigatons last year, including direct emissions and indirect emissions 
from power generation, the Global Alliance for Buildings and 
Construction (GlobalABC) said.

Another key factor is growing energy demand for cooling as 
air-conditioner ownership rises with worsening extreme heat.

Together, building operations and construction now account for nearly 
40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, GlobalABC added in a report.

“In 2019, the buildings and construction sector moved away and not 
towards the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the global mean temperature 
rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius,” said GlobalABC.

However, pandemic recovery packages and more ambitious emissions 
reduction pledges under the Paris accord, now being made in the run-up 
to the 2021 U.N. climate summit, provide opportunities to change course, 
it added.

GlobalABC’s new Buildings Climate Tracker also showed the annual rate of 
progress on decarbonising buildings is slowing down, almost halving from 
2016 to 2019.

Failure to keep global warming under 2C could lead to catastrophic 
impacts such as food and water shortages, sea level rise and mass 
displacement, scientists have warned.

There have been positive developments in the buildings sector but “not 
enough to bend the curve”, said Martina Otto, head of the GlobalABC 
Secretariat, who also leads the U.N. Environment Programme’s cities unit.

Investments in building energy efficiency did increase in 2019 for the 
first time in three years, but that is “a tiny share of this trillion 
dollar market”, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“In the buildings sector, for every $1 spent on energy efficiency, $37 
is spent on conventional construction approaches,” she said in emailed 
comments.

Construction activities have dropped 20-30% in 2020 compared to 2019 as 
a result of the COVID-19 pandemic - but any resulting reduction in 
emissions would be temporary, she noted.

Governments should include “green conditionality” for low-carbon 
buildings and construction in stimulus packages aimed at helping 
economies recover from the COVID-19 crisis, she added.

Examples include the European Commission’s “Renovation Wave”, which aims 
to double building renovation rates within 10 years, and South Korea’s 
$130-billion package which includes constructing 230,000 
energy-efficient buildings, she said.

Norway’s capital, Oslo, meanwhile, is using electric equipment to make 
building projects quieter and greener.

Otto said the strengthened climate action plans governments must submit 
to the United Nations should include construction targets, particularly 
building codes and related policies.

She noted that many countries where most new building is due to happen 
lack green regulations for the sector.

Cities are in the spotlight as urban populations grow, especially in 
developing nations, and require new accommodation.

By 2050, nearly seven in 10 people will live in cities, which already 
account for two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of 
greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Bank. (Reporting By 
Thin Lei Win @thinink, Editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the 
Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that 
covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely 
or fairly. Visit news.trust.org)

https://www.reuters.com/article/climate-change-construction-emissions/planet-warming-emissions-from-buildings-put-climate-goals-at-risk-idUKL4N2IW2VW

[AGU science report]
*Fall Meeting 2020 Press Conference: 2020 Arctic Report Card*
Dec 8, 2020
AGU
Now in its 15th year, the NOAA-led Arctic Report Card has become the 
authoritative, annual volume of peer-reviewed environmental observations 
and analysis on the Arctic, a region of the world that is undergoing 
dramatic and disruptive change, with global consequences. This year the 
panel authors present highlights of startling developments observed in 
the Arctic in 2020, including trends in Bowhead whale populations and 
wildland fire at high latitudes. A special retrospective on 15 years of 
Arctic change will be also be presented.

View the slides from this presentation here:
https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting/Events/-/media/C7BDD0C9A136496799EFD6F918DBF208.ashx
video press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VOfER_ne0s

[Like a horror movie, the beast is follows the hot waters]
*Deadly brain-eating amoeba is spreading in US, scientists issue warning*
A deadly brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri is gradually 
advancing northwards from the southern United States due to climate 
change, according to the latest report.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the 
geographic range of these cases has been shifting northward, with more 
cases popping up in Midwestern states than before.
Naegleria fowleri is typically found in living, breathing people of 
freshwater, including lakes and streams. When an individual is infected, 
a really uncommon event typically coming about because of swimming or 
diving in infected waters, the single adaptable cell goes from the nose 
into the mind...
It causes staggering mind contamination known as essential amebic 
meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is all around lethal. Diseases happen 
when debased water goes up an individual's nose, permitting the creature 
to enter the cerebrum through the olfactory nerves (answerable for your 
feeling of smell) and decimate mind tissue. Gulping tainted water won't 
cause disease, the CDC says.
Since N. fowleri flourishes in warm waters, up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit 
(45 degrees Celsius), it's possible that warming global temperatures may 
affect the organisms' geographic range, the authors said.

In the new examination, distributed Wednesday (December 16) in the diary 
Emerging Infectious Diseases, the specialists investigated U.S. 
instances of N. fowleri connected to recreational water presentation —, 
for example, swimming in lakes, lakes, waterways, or stores — from 1978 
to 2018. They recognized an aggregate of 85 instances of N. fowleri that 
met their standards for the investigation (for example cases that were 
attached to recreational water presentation and included area information.)

During this time, the quantity of yearly announced cases was genuinely 
consistent, going from zero to six every year. By far most of the cases, 
74, happened in southern states; yet six were accounted for in the 
Midwest, including Minnesota, Kansas, and Indiana. Of these six cases, 
five happened after 2010, the report said.

The uplifting news: there have just been 34 contaminations announced in 
the US over the most recent ten years, as per CDC information.

The examination, which inspected CDC information from 1978 t0 2018, 
found that new cases moved northwards at about 8.2 miles every year.

"It is conceivable that rising temperatures and resulting increments in 
recreational water use, for example, swimming and water sports, could 
add to the changing the study of disease transmission of PAM," the paper 
peruses.
https://www.wionews.com/science/deadly-brain-eating-amoeba-is-spreading-in-us-scientists-issue-warning-351357

[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - December 23, 2004 *

December 23, 2004: Proving that climate-change deniers always stick 
together, syndicated columnist George Will praises Michael Crichton's 
novel "State of Fear."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20998-2004Dec22.html

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