[TheClimate.Vote] July 26, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*July 26, 2020*/

[changes reported- clips]
*Sultry Nights and Magnolia Trees: New York City Is Now Subtropical*
Winter is warmer and summer is sweltering, with torrential afternoon 
downpours. What's next, palm trees?
By Lisa M. Collins - July 24, 2020

It was the fig trees that tipped him off. Something was very unusual at 
the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was May in the early 2000s and Chris 
Roddick, the head arborist there, was making his rounds when he noticed 
a big mistake...
- -
"Before, we were just trying to keep the plants alive," Mr. Roddick 
said. Suddenly, "it was like, OK, we can grow figs."...
- -
For example, from January through March this year, the average 
temperature in Central Park was 42.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the second 
warmest on record, said Art DeGaetano, director of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast Regional Climate Center. The 
record was set in 2012, at 43.1 degrees. Spring, meanwhile, arrived two 
weeks early this year. Magnolia and cherry trees bloomed in early March, 
a pleasure usually reserved for April. The intoxicating blooms were a 
welcome sight as the city shut down.

This summer, as New Yorkers enjoy pina coladas served on hot city 
sidewalks, they are also running for cover when weather events deluge 
the town, like July's Tropical Storm Fay, which was book ended by 
several torrential downpours. The summer of the pandemic is on pace to 
register as one of the hottest on record....
- -
For gardening, the city's growing conditions now more closely mirror 
those of Maryland, coastal Virginia and Washington, D.C., more than the 
Deep South or the Northeast, Mr. Roddick and others said...
- -
"In the spring of 2011, things happened in a way that nobody saw 
before," Mr. Giordano said. "We had cherry trees blooming in the middle 
of March. For me, that was a real wake-up moment."...
- -
Japanese flowering apricot and camellias, which normally thrive in the 
South (camellia is the state flower of Alabama, and Japanese flowering 
apricot has been popularized by the North Carolina State University 
Arboretum), successfully bloomed there last spring, Mr. Forrest said. He 
continued: "If you had asked me 25 years ago if they could survive 
unprotected, let alone thrive, in New York, I'd say, 'Humbug.'"

Magnolia trees, a symbol of the Deep South, as well as dogwoods, are 
also hearty throughout the city...
- -
Mr. Roddick, of Brooklyn's Botanic Garden, actually had his first big 
arboreal surprise in the mid-1990s. Similar to his fig tree epiphany a 
few years later, he noticed that a gardener had failed to cut back the 
crepe myrtle trees, which normally froze in the winter. "The trees were 
budding," Mr. Roddick said. "We were shocked."

Over the last 22 years, only once has an ice storm damaged the trees, he 
said.

Crepe myrtles are native to Southeast Asia, India and parts of the 
Central and South Pacific. They are also very common in the American 
South, where in the summer, they splash the landscape with red, pink, 
lavender and white blossoms. Until recently, crepe myrtles in New York 
City would grow no larger than a shrub; gardeners would cut them down to 
the root for winter.

Now the Brooklyn Botanic Garden grows several varieties year-round, and 
some have grown into 20-foot trees. They can be found throughout the 
city and the northern suburbs...
- -
Bugs that used to die off in winter are now surviving and have the 
chance to multiply. The hemlock woolly adelgid is a bug that attacks 
hemlock trees, native to this area for thousands of years. Hemlocks, the 
redwoods of the East, provide cool, shaded areas north of the city, 
favored by black bears and migrating birds. Once the adelgids hit the 
trees, death is all but certain for the hemlocks (unless flocks of 
beetles are unleashed to counterattack).

More worrisome, among people who grow things, is the spotted lantern 
fly. It arrives at American ports in shipping crates from around the 
world. Without a hard frost to kill them off, the flies spread unchecked...
- -
Annually, the city gets about the same amount of rain as it has over the 
last few decades, but it comes in deluges, instead of steady, moderate 
downfalls, said Dr. Bassuk, the Cornell professor. And there is more 
time in between rain events, making drought more likely.

When rain comes hard and fast, it often runs off without being absorbed 
by the soil, said Mark Fisher, the former vice president of horticulture 
at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Erosion is another issue.

To help prevent runoff, the garden built an elaborate rain catchment 
system. Computer software prompts water levels in ponds to decrease when 
rain is predicted, so the ponds won't overflow during rainstorms. The 
rainwater is filtered and reused for irrigation...
- -
"Storm events both big and small, 20 years ago they happened so 
infrequently that nobody had to prepare for it," Mr. Roddick said. "We 
sort of expect them now."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/nyregion/climate-change-nyc.html



[Seattle is in King County, this has such great local politics!]
*King County Council Unanimously Adopts Bold Regulations to Stop New 
Fossil Fuel Projects Before They Start*

Last year, thousands of King County residents came together to win a 
moratorium on new fossil fuel development. Today, King County Council 
voted unanimously to make that moratorium permanent, by passing a 
comprehensive suite of regulations that protect local communities from 
fossil fuel threats.

"The first step to getting out of a hole is to stop digging. When it 
comes to the climate crisis, that means we need to stop building new 
fossil fuel infrastructure which would lock us into decades of climate 
pollution and injustice," said Jess Wallach, 350 Seattle Campaigns 
Co-Director.

Fossil fuel infrastructure poses an unacceptable risk to the health and 
safety of people living in King County. Fracked gas pipelines, 
oil-by-rail, and coal extraction (and the toxic messes these projects 
leave behind when abandoned) are linked to cancer-causing air and water 
pollution, respiratory illness, heart attacks, birth defects, stroke, 
and premature death.

"Low-income and communities of color in King County already bear the 
brunt of negative health outcomes from exposure to the burning of fossil 
fuels and this will only be exacerbated with the deepening climate 
crisis" said Matt Remle, co-founder of Mazaska Talks. "The first step in 
addressing the climate crisis is by not making it worse. With today's 
vote, King County is showing that all communities deserve clean air, 
water, neighborhoods and futures."

*The King County regulations adopted today:*
- Explicitly prohibit certain types of fossil fuel infrastructure, such 
as coal mines and large-scale oil and gas storage facilities (like the 
dirty and dangerous Tacoma LNG facility currently being built at the 
Port of Tacoma).
- Strengthen permitting criteria for new and expanded fossil fuel 
infrastructure, to ensure the well-being of current and future King 
County residents is prioritized in any project review.
- Require comprehensive review and mitigation of the full scope of 
environmental impacts of any fossil fuel project, including lifecycle 
greenhouse gas emissions, threats to air and water quality, and public 
health risks.
- Establish demonstrated, early, and meaningful consultation with tribes.

The County also took steps today to ensure local taxpayers aren't on the 
hook for the costs when fossil fuel infrastructure inevitably leaks, 
explodes, and pollutes:

"As fossil fuel companies teeter on the edge of bankruptcy in the age of 
COVID19, they are leaving potentially gargantuan cleanup costs in their 
wake," said Daphne Wysham with Center for Sustainable Economy in 
Portland, ORG. "We're glad to see King County, WA, join Multnomah 
County, OR, in exploring fossil fuel risk bond programs as an innovative 
way to force the polluter to pay -- before they declare bankruptcy or 
before a major accident occurs -- while minimizing costs to the taxpayer 
and risks to frontline communities and the environment."

"The longer we wait to act on pollution and climate change, the more 
dire and wide-spread the impacts on people will be," adds Dr. Ken Lans, 
with WA Physicians for Social Responsibility. "We should be doing 
everything we can to reduce our fossil fuel use, rather than enabling it 
-- so we're thrilled that the county has taken this critically important 
action to protect the health and safety of all its residents."
https://mkcclegisearch.kingcounty.gov/Legislation.aspx




[Climate gaming- is it Cynicism or Entertainment?]
*Global warming wagering is the new sports betting, oddmakers say. 
Because 2020*
The silence of the sports world has been bombastic in the ears of fans 
across the globe, most clinging to any semblance of a game since the 
world shifted under the extraordinary weight of the coronavirus. And 
fans aren't the only ones. The sports betting industry was impacted at 
the hands of COVID-19 as well - but not in a way one might think.

Gamblers all over the world can now bet on...global warming.

You read that right.

MyBookie, one of the leading online sportsbooks, unveiled on Wednesday 
that gamblers can now bet on numerous odds including what the land/ocean 
temperature index will be for 2020 or what the carbon dioxide 
measurement will be for the month of August...
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article244433252.html
- -
[I have not tried - have not verified this source]
*MYBOOKIE Featured Betting Odds*
NEED HELP? CALL: 844-866-BETS
https://mybookie.ag/sportsbook/earth-events/


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - July 26, 1977 *
The New York Times runs a front-page story entitled: *
*
*"Scientists Fear Heavy Use of Coal May Bring Adverse Shift in Climate."*

    "Highly adverse consequences" may follow if the world, as now seems
    likely, depends increasingly on coal for energy over the next two
    centuries, according to a blue‐ribbon panel of scientists.

    In a report to the National Academy of Sciences on their
    two‐and‐a‐half‐year study, the scientists foresee serious climate
    changes beginning in the next century. By the latter part of the 22d
    century a global warming of 10 degrees Fahrenheit is indicated, with
    triple that rise in high latitudes.

    This, it is feared, could radically disrupt food production, lead to
    a 20‐foot rise in sea level and seriously lower productivity of the
    oceans.

    The focus of concern is the addition of carbon dioxide to the
    atmosphere by fuel burning. While that gas represents less than
    one‐tenth of 1 percent of the atmosphere, it acts like glass in a
    greenhouse. That is, it permits passage of sunlight to heat the
    earth but absorbs infrared radiation that would otherwise return
    some of that heat to space.
    In recent months several scientists have warned of the consequences
    of increasing, long‐term dependence on fossil fuels, notably coal,
    as the chief energy source because of what could be disastrous
    effects on climate. The argument has been seized on by advocates of
    nuclear energy.

    The new study does not deal with alternative energy sources. Nor
    does it call for early curtailment of coal burning. Heavy use of
    such fuel is being promoted by the Carter Administration as a means
    of avoiding excessive dependence on nuclear energy.

    The central recommendation of the re port, prepared with help from a
    number of Government agencies, laboratories and computer facilities,
    is initiation of farreaching studies on a national and international
    basis to narrow the many uncertainties that affect assessment of the
    threat.

    To this end, it proposes creation by the Federal Government of a
    climatic council to coordinate American efforts and to participate
    in the development of international studies. Representatives of the
    White House and Government agencies that would be involved in such
    an effort were at the academy on Friday to hear presentations on the
    281‐page report.

    These were offered by Roger R. Revelle, chairman of the 15‐member
    panel, and by Philip H. Abelson and Thomas F. Malone, co‐chairmen of
    the academy's geophysics study committee, which initiated the project.
    Dr. Revelle heads the Center for Population Studies at Harvard
    University and was formerly director of the Scripps Institution of
    Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. Dr. Abelson heads the Carnegie
    Institution of Washington. Dr. Malone, who directs the Holcomb
    Research Institute at Butler University in Indianapolis, has for
    many years been a leader in weather research.

    Dr. Malone said that the report was not a red light on coal use, nor
    a green light, but rather a "flashing yellow light" saying, "Watch
    out." Dr. Revelle, in a summary of the findings, said that early
    action was needed because it would take decades to narrow the
    uncertainties and then a full generation to shift to new energy
    sources if that, as expected, proves necessary.

    *Problem of Change Stressed*

    "An interdisciplinary effort of an almost unique kind" is needed, he
    said, bringing together specialists from such fields as mathematics,
    chemistry, meteorology and the social sciences. A major challenge
    would be to find ways to bring about the needed institutional
    changes, persuading governments and people to act before it was too
    late.

    By the end of this century, Dr. Revelle said, it is expected that
    the carbon dioxide content of the air will have risen 25 percent
    above its level before the Industrial Revolution. By the end of the
    next century, it will have doubled, based on predicted increases in
    population and fuel consumption.

    By the middle of the 22d Century, he added, it should have increased
    from four to eight times and, even if fuel burning diminishes then,
    it will remain that high "at least 1,000 years thereafter."

    It is estimated that in the last 110 years 127 billion tons of
    carbon derived from fuel and from limestone used to make cement have
    been introduced into the atmosphere. Cement manufacture accounted
    for 2 percent of that amount and burning for the rest.

    A considerable part of the carbon dioxide increase is attributed to
    clearing land for agriculture. This added 70 billion tons, according
    to an estimate that Dr. Revelle, however, described as "very
    uncertain." He noted that one acre of a tropical forest removes 100
    tons of carbon from the atmosphere. When the land is cleared that
    carbon, through burning or decay, returns to the air. More than half
    of land clearing for agriculture has occurred since the mid‐19th
    Century, he said.
    Dr. Revelle termed the predicted worldwide rise of 11 degrees in the
    22d century "a very shaky conclusion" based on inadequate knowledge.
    But, he added, it is "a possibility that must be taken seriously."
    Part of the uncertainty concerns the amount of added atmospheric
    carbon dioxide that would be absorbed by the oceans and plant
    growth. He predicted that a research program to achieve more
    reliable estimates would cost $20 million to $100 million.

    *Shift in Corn Belt Seen*

    Much of the report deals with expected effects of a global warming.
    Agricultural zones would be transferred to higher latitudes. The
    corn belt, for example, would shift from fertile Iowa to a Canadian
    region where the soil is far less fertile, Dr. Revelle said.

    Particularly vulnerable, he added, would be the fringes of arid
    regions, where a large part of the world population derives its
    sustenance, though the effect is difficult to predict. Marine life
    would suffer from lack of nutrients because a "lid" of warm water
    would impede circulation that normally brings nutrients to the surface.

    On the other hand, plant productivity, Dr. Revelle noted, could rise
    50 percent because plants would be "fertilized" by the higher carbon
    dioxide content of the air. The warmer climate could melt the
    floating pack ice of the Arctic Ocean, leading to radical changes in
    the Northern climate.

    The report suggests that increased snowfall on Antarctica could
    overload the West Antarctic ice sheet, sending large sections of it
    into the sea. This would raise global sea levels 16 feet. The oceans
    would swell from being warmed to make the total rise 20 feet.

    The study assumed a world population of 10 billion by late in the
    next century and a fivefold increase over present energy
    consumption. The direct effect of heat from such energy use would be
    insignificant except locally, the report says.

    It also assumed that for public health reasons the release of
    particles into the atmosphere would be sufficiently curtailed for
    their role to be a minor one so far as climate is concerned.
    A number of research strategies are proposed to reduce
    uncertainties. The most ambiguous estimates concern the role of
    plants. It is estimated that land plants annually remove 55 billion
    tons of carbon from the atmosphere, and that oceanic plants take up
    another 25 billion tons.

    One of the firmer estimates concerns the current rise in carbon
    dioxide content of the air because of measurements conducted largely
    by Dr. Charles D. Keeling of the University of California at San
    Diego. These have been made atop Mauna Loa, the Hawaiian volcano,
    and at the South Pole, both sites being far removed from local
    sources of pollution. They show a 5 percent rise in the last 15
    years. The total rise to date has been 11.5 to 13.5 percent.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F8395E137B93C7AB178CD85F438785F9

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