[TheClimate.Vote] July 28, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Jul 28 14:27:08 EDT 2020
/*July 28, 2020*/
[BBC Science Focus Magazine]*
* *Climate change: Arctic heatwave temperatures reach possible all-time
high*
Alexander McNamara, PA Science - 27th July, 2020
The UN weather agency warned that average temperatures in Siberia were
10C above average last month, a spate of exceptional heat that has
fanned devastating fires in the Arctic Circle and contributed to a rapid
depletion in ice sea off Russia's Arctic coast.
"The Arctic is heating more than twice as fast as the global average,
impacting local populations and ecosystems and with global
repercussions," World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
secretary-general Petteri Taalas said in a statement.
He noted that Earth's poles influence weather conditions far away, where
hundreds of millions of people live.
The WMO previously cited a reading of 38C in the Russian town of
Verkhoyansk on 20 June, which the agency has been seeking to verify as a
possible record-high temperature in the Arctic Circle.
It comes as fires have swept through the region, with satellite imagery
showing the breadth of the area surface.
The agency says the extended heat is linked to a large "blocking
pressure system" and northward swing of the jet stream that has injected
warm air into the region.
But the WMO also pointed to a recent study by top climate scientists who
found that such a rise in heat would have been nearly impossible without
human-caused climate change.
The WMO said information collected by the US National Snow and Ice Data
Centre and the US National Ice Centre showed the Siberian heatwave had
"accelerated the ice retreat along the Arctic Russian coast, in
particular since late June, leading to very low sea ice extent in the
Laptev and Barents Seas."
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/climate-change-arctic-heatwave-temperatures-reach-possible-all-time-high/
- - -
[Twitter]
*World Meteorological Organization*
@WMO
We've put together a summary of the latest information on #Siberian
heat, #wildfires and #Arctic sea ice.
https://twitter.com/WMO/status/1286651854986915841
- - -
[Commentary]
"Definitely a big storm just north of Alaska and eastern Siberia
that covered a big chunk of the Arctic Basin. The whole Siberian
coast is already ice free and has been for over a month and the open
water now extends toward the Pole so that the Northeast Passage is
almost 200 miles wide in places. That wide open water in contrast
to the remaining pack ice along the shores of northern Greenland and
the Canadian Archipelago is providing the contrast that's allowing
for a really strong extra-tropical low pressure system. That storm
will definitely churn up the remaining weak ice even more and I
wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a record low sea ice extent
by September since the Barents and Kara Seas to the north of western
Russia and Norway are amazingly warm. That warm water there and the
warm air above it will probably have a tendency to encroach on the
rest of the Arctic Basin through the rest of the summer and early
fall to help melt a record amount of ice barring some unforeseen
reversal in the overall pattern. A similar setup happened a few
years ago when we had the last record low ice extent with another
big storm that helped churn up the weak ice over a large area of the
Arctic Basin... But as far as I can tell, the conditions this year
are even more extreme!"
[commentary from retired govt meteorologist Ed Hummel]
- -
[Chilling notion]
*Arctic sea ice could disappear completely within two months' time*
Arctic sea ice fell by 3.239 million sq km in extent in 25 days (i.e.
from July 1 to 25, 2020). Melting will likely continue for another two
months. If it continues on its current trajectory, the remaining 6.333
million sq km of Arctic sea ice could disappear completely within two
months' time.
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2020/
- - -
[Or it could disappear in another day or so, just like a 7-11 Slurpee]
*Earth.NullSchool.net see for yourself*
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-104.20,65.33,752
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-76.30,88.63,981
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-117.21,78.10,1500
[New Alamo ahead?]
*Texas ranchers, activists and local officials are bracing for
megadroughts brought by climate change*
A new study from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M
University warns that droughts in the latter part of this century could
be the worst on record...
- -
"We need to have a shift and how we think about our water and about how
we use it as a community because it's a resource that belongs to all of
us in Texas, and not just the people, but the environment, and the
wonderful thing about Texas is all the people and all the landscapes and
all the critters," she said.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/27/texas-climate-change-megadroughts/
[follow the money]
*It's been a landmark year for investor action on climate change*
By ATTRACTA MOONEY AND PATRICK TEMPLE-WEST - FINANCIAL TIMES
JULY 26, 2020
As 2020 kicked off, Dan Gocher at the Australasian Center for Corporate
Responsibility, a shareholder advocacy organization, was feeling "pretty
optimistic" about its plans to force big Australian energy companies to
tackle climate change.
BlackRock, the $6.8-trillion asset manager, and other large investors
had proclaimed an urgent need to arrest global warming. With the renewed
focus on climate change following devastating bush fires in Australia,
the ACCR was hopeful several climate-related resolutions filed at oil
and gas producers Santos and Woodside would gain strong shareholder
support at their annual meetings in April.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. "Once the virus hit, we said, 'God, we
won't get anything done [on climate change] for 18 months,'" Gocher said...
- -
In the U.S. there is growing pushback against investors acting as
climate warriors. Asset managers are gearing up for a fight with the
Trump administration over a new proposal that threatens investors'
ability to incorporate ESG principles into pension portfolios. At the
same time, many well-known asset managers are still reluctant to vote
against management, meaning the vast majority of climate resolutions do
not pass.
Tom Quaadman at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that although there
has been more support for environmental shareholder proposals this year,
behind-the-scenes conversations between companies and investors tend to
resolve climate change concerns before a proxy vote, convincing worried
investors not to vote against management.
"Clearly asset managers are being more vocal," Quaadman said. "Even with
an uptick this year, the fact that there has been a low level of those
proposals passing indicates that companies are having very serious
discussions with their investors on this."
Gocher, of the Australasian Center for Corporate Responsibility, said it
remains to be seen whether companies will listen to shareholders.
"Getting these votes doesn't mean companies will change," he said.
"Really the test comes in the next 12 to 18 months to see if investors
demand the things they voted for." That will be the test of whether
companies "heed that warning investors have given them."
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-07-26/investor-action-climate-change
[video lecture from a man with a live cat sleeping on his neck]
*Global Methane Budget: No "Methane Bomb" in the Arctic YET. Risk is RISING*
Jul 27, 2020
Paul Beckwith
The latest science on the Global Methane Budget was recently published
in a landmark paper authored by over 70 multidisciplinary scientists. No
methane bomb has ignited yet in the Arctic; for latitudes 60 to 90N
methane emissions are 4 percent of the total budget as of 2017. About
2/3 of methane emissions are from latitude 90S to 30N, mostly from
tropical equatorial regions. The remaining 1/3 of methane emissions are
from latitude 30 to 60N. Atmospheric methane concentration is rapidly
rising, mostly from 2 sources; namely from agriculture and fossil fuels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja5JK8rSTws
[May 2020]
*Warming influence of greenhouse gases continues to rise, NOAA finds*
Record high levels of greenhouse gas pollution continued to increase the
heat trapped in the atmosphere in 2019, according to an annual analysis
released by NOAA scientists.
NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index tracks the concentrations of
greenhouse gases being added to the atmosphere principally from
human-caused emissions. The AGGI then calculates the heat being added to
Earth's atmosphere and oceans as a result.
This past year, for the first time since NOAA began observations, the
warming influence of all these gases combined trapped the same amount of
heat as an atmosphere instead containing carbon dioxide (CO2) at 500
parts per million (ppm). For thousands of years prior to 1750, the
concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was around 280 ppm...
- -
This year's AGGI confirms that the growth rate of CO2 has accelerated in
recent years. It averaged about 1.6 parts per million per year in the
1980s, 1.5 ppm per year in the 1990s and 1.9 ppm per year from
2000-2009. The growth rate surged to an average of 2.4 ppm per year from
2010 to 2019. During 2019, the annual CO2 growth rate increased by 2.64
ppm (see https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/global.html)].
Global average abundances of the major, well-mixed, long-lived
greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, CFC-12 and
CFC-11 - from the NOAA global air sampling network are plotted since the
beginning of 1979. These five gases account for about 96% of the direct
radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases since 1750. The
remaining 4% is contributed by an assortment of 15 minor halogenated
gases including HCFC-22 and HFC-134a, for which NOAA observations are
also shown. Credit: Global Monitoring Laboratory
Atmospheric levels of methane, the second-most important greenhouse gas
influenced by human activity, also rose in 2019. Preliminary estimates
show a jump of 10.4 parts per billion (ppb) last year to 1873 ppb. While
methane emissions are roughly 28 times more effective at trapping heat
than CO2 when a 100-year timescale is considered, the influence of
methane concentrations on climate warming is currently only 25 percent
of CO2 because of its much lower concentration in the atmosphere.
The climate influence of one powerful set of greenhouse gases -
ozone-depleting gases such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - continued
to decline in 2019, largely due to controls adopted by the Montreal
Protocol...
https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2626/Warming-influence-of-greenhouse-gases-continues-to-rise-NOAA-finds
[book discussion - interview with author]
*Last Born In The Wilderness*
[Intro: 5:18 | Transcript: ENG/BP: bit.ly/3jqcdMk / bit.ly/39iuKp6]
In this episode, I speak with feminist writer and teacher Silvia
Federici. We discuss the themes of her new book 'Beyond the Periphery of
the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary
Capitalism' published through PM Press.
The body--our sense of "self" in relation to others--has been
restricted, reduced, and mutilated under Capitalism and the impositions
of the State. This is particularly true with women, as Federici has
thoroughly examined throughout her decades of research, in particular
with her seminal work 'Caliban and the Witch,' which lucidly explores
the brutal transformation European populations were forced to endure as
these societies began to transition to the social order of Capitalism,
now global in scope and reach. Occurring over centuries, this
transition--with the enclosure of the Commons and the femicidal witch
hunts-- dramatically restricted of the sovereignty of the peasant class
and brutalized the bodies of women. This process was fundamental in the
constriction of the individual and its relations "beyond the periphery
of the skin," the consequences of which we can see up to the present moment.
"More than ever, "the body" is today at the center of radical and
institutional politics. Feminist, antiracist, trans, ecological
movements--all look at the body in its manifold manifestations as a
ground of confrontation with the state and a vehicle for transformative
social practices. Concurrently, the body has become a signifier for the
reproduction crisis the neoliberal turn in capitalist development has
generated and for the international surge in institutional repression
and public violence. In 'Beyond the Periphery of the Skin', lifelong
activist and best-selling author Silvia Federici examines these complex
processes, placing them in the context of the history of the capitalist
transformation of the body into a work-machine, expanding on one of the
main subjects of her first book, 'Caliban and the Witch.'" (bit.ly/3eci2sP)
Silvia Federici is a feminist writer, teacher, and militant. In 1972 she
was cofounder of the International Feminist Collective that launched the
Wages for Housework campaign. Her books include 'Witches, Witch-Hunting,
and Women'; Caliban and the Witch'; 'Re-enchanting the World'; and
'Revolution at Point Zero'. She is a professor emerita of social
sciences at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. She worked as a
teacher in Nigeria for many years and was also the cofounder of the
Committee for Academic Freedom for Africa.
Episode Notes:
'Beyond the Periphery of the Skin' from PM Press: bit.ly/3eci2sP
The song featured in this episode is "Nyakinyua Rise" by Jlin from the
album Black Origami: youtu.be/lGAy8KpeqR0
WEBSITE: www.lastborninthewilderness.com
BOOK: bit.ly/ORBITgr
https://soundcloud.com/lastborninthewilderness/silvia-federici
[Africa]
*Caught between climate crisis and armed violence in Burkina Faso*
Desperate families in the Sahelian country are plagued by a double
burden that has left many displaced and destitute.
- -
Decades of climate change and years of increasing violence by armed
groups linked to al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) armed group as well as
local defence forces - a combination of community volunteers armed by
the government and groups who have taken up arms on their own - have
pushed KI's once comfortable family into poverty. Chased from his farm
by armed men in November, he has been unable to cultivate. Meanwhile,
his herd of 30 cows, most of which scattered and got lost during the
attack, has been reduced to just two...
- -
When you have lost everything, even food, you are on the edge of despair
and as a consequence [people] will be ready to find a solution wherever
possible, including terrorists," he said.
A lot of recruits come from the most impoverished parts of the country,
he added.
Yet some people who have been attacked by them say that no matter how
desperate they become they would never join.
"If you're being chased by people in these groups why would you join
them? Even if they're providing money or food," said Soumaila. "I would
rather die."
- -
There are often plenty of resources but authorities lack the ability or
the legitimacy to mediate conflicts over access to them, said the
report. Climate policies should focus more on adaptation rather than on
the premise that resources are not plentiful enough.
In an attempt to take an adapted and stronger approach to climate
change, approximately five years ago, Burkina Faso's government altered
the ministry of environment's name to include the words "green economy
and climate change", said Colette Kabore, the ministry's director for
the promotion of action for climate resilience.
The ministry is focusing on combining forestry and agriculture,
something Kabore calls natural regeneration.
If people want to cut down trees, the government is advising not to cut
down every tree in the vicinity but to leave a few standing, she said.
The ministry is also helping people in climate-affected industries adapt
to drought by encouraging them to plant trees that can survive with less
water as well as fruit trees, such as Ballantines, to provide the
population with more food.
It is also promoting practices that do not pollute the environment, such
as using renewable energies like solar pumps, said Kabore.
In the past 10 years, pollution has had a devastating impact,
particularly for cattle breeders. Thirty percent of cattle die from
ingesting plastic, said Ouedraogo who runs the local environmental group.
Cows are an important source of revenue for farmers, providing milk,
meat and manure for fertiliser. One cow can sell for approximately $300,
so when farmers have fewer cows, they have less financial stability.
Four years ago, Ouedraogo lost nine out of 10 cows who died from
ingesting plastic when they grazed too close to the city, he said. "When
you opened them up, their stomachs were full of plastic."
His organisation works with local communities in Titao and the
neighbouring commune of Ouindigui, to collect and transform plastic bags
into floor tiles, handbags and shopping bags. They plan to start making
tables and benches.
The group also tries to plant trees in areas where they have all been
chopped down, but it is hard. Many of the trees die because there is not
enough water.
During a trip to Ouahigouya in April, Al Jazeera visited an area that
residents said was a plush forest full of wildlife four decades ago.
Today, it is an arid patch of land marked with a few shrubs.
Over the years, cattle breeders forced from the Sahel due to
desertification came further south and many parts of Ouahigouya suffered
from overgrazing.
Cattle breeders like KI say the lack of grass has made it impossible to
care for as many cows as they used to.
"In the past if you had 10 cattle, now you can manage five," he said.
Since losing almost all of his cows during the attack in November, KI
does not want to entertain the idea of selling the only two he has left.
But if he cannot produce enough food for the family this planting
season, he might not have a choice.
"If there's no food, I'll have to sell them," he said, darting his sad
eyes to the floor.
"But I'm still hoping some of them might return."
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/caught-climate-crisis-armed-violence-burkina-faso-200529144536869.html
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - July 28, 2012 *
Physicist Richard Muller, long known for accusing climate scientists of
data manipulation, writes an opinion piece for the New York Times
acknowledging that he cannot disprove the monumental evidence pointing
to human activity as the main driver of climate change. Days later, in
an interview with Betsy Rosenberg, Muller continues to smear acclaimed
climate scientist Michael E. Mann.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9453
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