[TheClimate.Vote] January 19, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

[Richard Pauli]

/*January 19, 2020*/

[New paper from Hansen, Schmidt, and other scientists]
*Global Temperature in 2019*
15 January 2020
Abstract
Global surface temperature in 2019 was the 2nd highest in the period of 
instrumental measurements in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies 
(GISS) analysis. The rate of global warming has accelerated in the past 
decade. The 2019 global temperature was +1.2C (~2.2F) warmer than in the 
1880-1920 base period; global temperature in that base period is a 
reasonable estimate of 'pre-industrial' temperature. The five warmest 
years in the GISS record all occur in the past five years, and the 10 
warmest years are all in the 21st century.  Growth rates of the 
greenhouse gases driving global warming are increasing, not declining.
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/ and 
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2020/20200115_Temperature2019.pdf


[local TV news story says it - text and video 
https://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Its-global-warming-Simple-as-that-Expert-predicts-extreme-weather-impacts-on-Lake-Mendota-ice-activities-567097181.html?jwsource=cl 
]
*'It's global warming. Simple as that': Expert predicts extreme weather 
impacts on Lake Mendota ice activities*
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -- Experts warn of climate change impacts to the 
local ecosystem, as they highlight fewer months to spend on Lake 
Mendota's ice cover.
Lake Mendota froze over three weeks later than what's typical, according 
to a limnology expert.

According to John Magnuson, professor of limnology at the UW-Madison, 
Lake Mendota froze over on January 12. He said this was three weeks 
later than what's typical, adding this is one of the latest or "more 
extreme" dates of initial ice cover.

This mark comes as ice cover duration has gotten shorter over time. 
Magnuson said in the 1850s, Lake Mendota averaged five months of ice 
cover. In recent decades, the duration has been about four months.

Pete Hupf, an ice fishing guide at Best Dam Bait in Beaver Dam, says 
this news means fewer opportunities for him to be on ice. He said it is 
"tough to see."

"[Ice fishing] it's one of my favorite things to do," Hupf said. "I just 
wait for first ice, and I can't get enough of it when it's here."

He said he remembers ice fishing when he was younger-- the lake froze 
earlier, and the season was longer.

But things could change even more for Hupf in his lifetime.

Magnuson forecasts that in the next 30 years Lake Mendota will 
experience a year without complete ice cover. If predicted correctly, 
this event would be the first in the lake's 170-year history.

"It's global warming. Simple as that," Magnuson said. "Eventually we 
think that if we don't turn off this global warming, there will come 
years where it never freeze year after year after year."...

While Hupf says he'll be taking advantage of the days on ice, Magnuson 
says countries must work together to control fossil fuels.
see the video - 
https://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Its-global-warming-Simple-as-that-Expert-predicts-extreme-weather-impacts-on-Lake-Mendota-ice-activities-567097181.html



[BBC ]
*Sir David Attenborough warns of climate 'crisis moment'*
"The moment of crisis has come" in efforts to tackle climate change, Sir 
David Attenborough has warned.

According to the renowned naturalist and broadcaster, "we have been 
putting things off for year after year".

"As I speak, south east Australia is on fire. Why? Because the 
temperatures of the Earth are increasing," he said.

Sir David's comments came in a BBC News interview to launch a year of 
special coverage on the subject of climate change.

Scientists say climate change is one of several factors behind the 
Australian fires; others include how forests are managed and natural 
patterns in the weather.

Sir David told me it was "palpable nonsense" for some politicians and 
commentators to suggest that the Australian fires were nothing to do 
with the world becoming warmer.

"We know perfectly well," he said, that human activity is behind the 
heating of the planet...
- - -
One of the scientists involved, Prof Andy Purvis of the Natural History 
Museum in London, says that by undermining important habitats, "we're 
hacking away at our safety net, we're trashing environments we depend on".

He points to the impact of everything from the use of palm oil in 
processed food and shampoo to the pressures created by fast fashion.

And while the need for conservation is understood in many developed 
countries, Prof Purvis says "we've exported the damage to countries too 
poor to handle the environmental cost of what they're selling to us".

The gathering in Kunming takes place in October, a month before the UN 
climate summit in Glasgow, confirming this year as crucial for our 
relations with the planet.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51123638


[Potholer 54 gives long journalism lesson in video]
*The cause of Australia's bushfires – what the SCIENCE says*
Jan 18, 2020
potholer54
Arson? Lack of hazard reduction? Nothing new? This video takes a look at 
what the experts say about the numerous  "theories" that chattering 
amateurs have proposed on TV, in newspaper, blogs and videos about the 
cause of the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires in Australia.
What do the fire chiefs and scientists say is the REAL cause? It's about 
time we cut through the chatter, and heard from the experts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0x46-enxsA



[Science Bulletin]
*Warning: Climate change will bring major new health risks for kids*
By Kathleen E. Bachynski, January 17, 2020

As we enter a new decade, headlines from across the world make all too 
clear that the effects of climate change are not just looming. They're 
here, they're now, and they're devastating communities on every 
continent. For example, in Australia, unprecedented fires have emitted 
roughly 400 million tons of carbon, killed at least 25 people, and 
destroyed 2,000 homes. In Indonesia, terrible flooding has killed at 
least 67 people and caused 400,000 to abandon their homes. The loss of 
sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking access to food resources that 
numerous indigenous communities have depended on for generations.

But the health effects of climate change go beyond even the most 
immediate and obvious consequences of fires, floods, and melting ice. In 
November 2019, the medical journal The Lancet published a detailed 
report examining the effects that climate change will have on human 
health under two scenarios: one in which the world reins in emissions 
according to commitments laid out in the Paris agreement, and one in 
which the world does not. In both cases, children will be most 
vulnerable to the numerous health harms resulting from decisions made by 
their parents and grandparents. Children are particularly likely to 
suffer the effects of climate change for numerous reasons: Their immune 
and organ systems are still developing, they drink relatively more water 
and breathe in more air than do adults relative to their body weight, 
and they tend to spend more time outdoors. Understanding the full scope 
of the public health consequences of a changing climate, then, involves 
examining how the risks will affect the bodies of the youngest people.

According to the Lancet report, air pollution--specifically, exposure to 
fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5--represents the largest 
environmental risk factor for premature deaths across the globe. When 
people think of the public health effects of air pollution, they often 
imagine the worst-case scenarios. For example, the smoke from the fires 
in Australia is currently so severe that a day spent inhaling the air in 
east Sydney represents the equivalent of smoking 19 cigarettes.

But air pollution need not reach such extreme levels to cause serious 
harm. Far more commonly, people are unaware of the daily pollution that 
they are breathing in due to the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal 
and gas. In fact, more than 90 percent of children are exposed to 
concentrations of PM 2.5 higher than the World Health Organization's 
guidelines on outdoor air pollution. Over a lifetime, unhealthy air 
damages lungs and increases risks for a host of diseases, from asthma to 
pneumonia. And due to their small body size and the factors cited above, 
children absorb more of this pollution than do adults.

Similarly, The Lancet report notes that children are particularly 
vulnerable to the effects of heat. Specifically, young children are at 
greater risk for experiencing electrolyte imbalance, fever, respiratory 
disease, and kidney disease during periods of extreme heat. Rates of 
heat-related deaths are four times higher among children younger than 
one year old as compared to people aged 1-to-44. Changing temperature 
and precipitation patterns are also influencing the transmission of 
disease from insects to humans. In particular, malaria and dengue are 
spread by mosquitoes, and climate suitability for transmission of these 
diseases is increasing in numerous parts of the world. Because children 
tend to spend more time outdoors, they are more likely to contract these 
diseases. In 2017, children accounted for 61 percent of all malaria 
deaths worldwide, and climate change is putting more children at even 
greater risk.

Changing climate patterns, droughts, and fires also threaten to reduce 
crop yields and increase food insecurity. Moreover, rising carbon 
dioxide appears to diminish the nutrient quality of crucial staple foods 
such as wheat and rice. Combined, these trends are likely to exacerbate 
the already serious global health problem of malnutrition, which 
currently accounts for nearly one-fifth of premature deaths and poor 
health globally. The consequences of malnutrition are particularly 
severe among children. In 2018, 22 percent of children under five years 
of age were stunted, meaning they experienced impaired growth and 
development. Stunting is largely irreversible and includes serious 
consequences, from poorer cognition to increased risk of 
nutrition-related chronic diseases later in life.

Finally, The Lancet report observes that climate change has other health 
implications that are more challenging to quantify but crucial to 
address, such as mental health effects. Researchers have found that 
children are at high risk of mental health problems following the types 
of natural disasters that are likely to increase due to climate change. 
For example, one study found that 31 percent of a group of children who 
were evacuated during Hurricane Katrina reported clinically significant 
symptoms associated with depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 
According to the Centers for Disease Control, children are at particular 
risk for stress after a disaster because they often understand less 
about what is occurring, feel less able to control events, and have less 
experience coping with difficult situations.

Protecting children from air pollution, heat-related deaths, infectious 
diseases, malnutrition, and mental health effects associated with 
climate change will involve the mobilization of all sectors of society 
to drastically reduce emissions and invest in health systems and 
infrastructure. The Lancet report notes a few promising signs, such as 
increased public and political engagement, and increasing health 
adaptation spending to improve communities' resilience to a changing 
climate. Unfortunately, however, current efforts are falling far short 
of what is needed to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions on the scale 
needed to address the threat posed to human health. According to a 2019 
United Nations report, greenhouse gas emissions must begin falling by 
7.6 percent this year in order to meet the most ambitious goals laid out 
in the 2015 Paris climate accord. But the world is nowhere near this 
goal, and many countries are heading in the opposite direction. Notably, 
in 2018, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 2.7 percent in 
the United States. The United Nations has warned that every year of 
delay "brings a need for faster cuts, which become increasingly 
expensive, unlikely, and impractical."

Waiting until action becomes more difficult, or perhaps even impossible, 
has appalling moral consequences. The longer we fail to act to address 
the risks of climate change, the more human lives we place on the line. 
And the majority of those lives will belong to the most vulnerable among 
us. It is no wonder, then, that children across the world have taken the 
lead in advocating for urgent, necessary action. The public health 
stakes for them--and for all people--grow higher with each passing year. 
Our health is fundamentally tied to our planet's health. We must all 
consider, then, what actions we need to take to protect our planet--and 
thereby our communities, our children, and our selves.
https://thebulletin.org/2020/01/warning-climate-change-will-bring-major-new-health-risks-for-kids/


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming  - January 19, 2015*
The New York Times reports:

"Before dawn one morning in October, a handful of Americans gathered
at a lonely pier on Samso, a small Danish island about four hours
from Copenhagen. Bundled in layers of fleece and wool, the
Americans, mostly from islands off the Maine coast, had come to get
a closer look at a wind farm -- 10 mighty turbines spinning in the
Kattegat strait -- that has helped make Samso a symbol for a greener
future, one powered entirely by renewable energy.

"Among them was Marian Chioffi, the bookkeeper at the electric
company in Monhegan, Me., whose population of about 60 swells to
include hundreds of residents and thousands of tourists in the
summer. They -- along with generations of artists like Edward
Hopper, Rockwell Kent and Jamie Wyeth -- have been drawn by the
island's lost-in-time charm and picturesque setting in the Gulf of
Maine.

"Monhegan faces challenges as stark as its beauty. Foremost among
them -- and the spur for the journey to Denmark -- is dependence on
expensive, dirty fuels for heating and electricity. Even with the
recent fall in oil prices, Monhegan residents pay among the highest
power rates in the nation -- almost six times the national average
-- and the electric company, locally owned and operated, struggles
to keep the lights on.

"Twenty years ago, Samso faced similar problems. Its farming and
fishing industries were in decline, and its electricity and heating
costs, mostly from diesel and coal, were rising. Its young people
were leaving the island to attend high school and choosing not to
return.

"But in 1997, the island began a long-term transformation. It won a
government-sponsored contest to create a model community for
renewable energy and, through a combination of wind and solar (for
electricity) and geothermal and plant-based energy (for heating),
the island reached green energy independence in 2005. That means
Samso actually generates more power from renewable sources than it
consumes over all. Attached by a power cable to the mainland 11
miles away, the island sells its excess electricity to the national
utility, bringing income to the hundreds of residents who own shares
in the island's wind farms, both on land and at sea.

"Samso has attracted global attention for its accomplishments. Soren
Hermansen, 55, and his wife, Malene Lunden, 49, worked for years to
develop the program on the island and now have created an institute,
the Samso Energy Academy, to spread their story and methods to
international visitors.

"The Maine islanders, along with students from the College of the
Atlantic in Bar Harbor, had traveled to Samso to attend the academy
and hear the Danes' advice. If all went well, each islander would go
home with a team of students dedicated to solving an energy problem
using ideas borrowed from Samso.

"Beyond that, the planners hoped, new Maine island projects could
become templates for broader adoption of renewable energy. Because
of their particular geography, islands often lack the resources and
infrastructures to meet their own needs. Fuel, like other
necessities, is often imported -- sometimes with great difficulty --
and electric grids, when they even exist, are often underdeveloped
or out of date, all of which leads to higher prices and less
reliable service. With residents open to cheaper and better
alternatives, islands are becoming seedbeds of innovation, living
labs in which to test and refine technologies and approaches that
are too new or expensive to establish on a mainland. And their small
size makes the systems easier to manage and analyze."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/business/energy-environment/green-energy-inspiration-from-samso-denmark.html?ref=business 


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