[TheClimate.Vote] March 31, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Mar 31 09:33:55 EDT 2020
/*March 31, 2020*/
[going backwards]
*U.S. to Announce Rollback of Auto Pollution Rules, a Key Effort to
Fight Climate Change*
By Coral Davenport
Ms. Davenport has been covering federal climate change policy since the
George W. Bush administration.
March 30, 2020
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration is expected on Tuesday to
announce its final rule to rollback Obama-era automobile fuel efficiency
standards, relaxing efforts to limit climate-warming tailpipe pollution
and virtually undoing the government's biggest effort to combat climate
change.
The new rule, written by the Environmental Protection Agency and the
Department of Transportation, would allow cars on American roads to emit
nearly a billion tons more carbon dioxide over the lifetime of the
vehicles than they would have under the Obama standards and hundreds of
millions of tons more than will be emitted under standards being
implemented in Europe and Asia...
- -
Over the weekend, White House officials looked at a new option for their
cost-benefit analysis, according to two people familiar with the matter,
who asked to speak anonymously because the rule was not yet final.
Their solution was an approach that factors in the estimated costs of
building fuel-efficient vehicles that are, so far, less popular with
consumers. By eliminating the Obama-era mandate to build and sell such
vehicles, the thinking goes, automakers would see an economic benefit in
the range of $38 billion to $58 billion.
Some analysts scoffed at that assertion.
"It's not going to be supported by the science," said Chet France, a
former senior E.P.A. vehicle emissions specialist who is now a
consultant who works with the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy
group. "This will be the icing on cake of the legal flaws."
- - -
If the rule does survive legal challenges, it would put the United
States out of step with the rest of the global auto market, moving it
from one of the strongest fuel economy standards in the world to one of
the weakest. The American standard would be lower than those of the
European Union, China, India, Japan and South Korea. That could present
long-term challenges to the American auto industry, as other automakers
develop more sophisticated, high-efficiency, low-pollution vehicles
while American ones focus on gas guzzlers.
The new measure will combine with a related rule, issued last year, that
revoked the right of California and other states to set their own
tougher vehicle emissions standards. California has spearheaded a pair
of multistate lawsuits to block both rules, escalating a political war
between Mr. Trump and the nation's most populous state.
- -
Ultimately, the limits on atmospheric emissions will most likely be
decided by the Supreme Court. Automakers most fear verdicts that uphold
the legal authority of California and other states to enact their own
standards, and allow the Trump standards to move forward elsewhere. That
would split the nation's auto market in two...
- - -
"One thing we've learned from the Trump administration is be careful
what you ask for," said Dr. Victor of the University of California, San
Diego.
"The auto industry wanted a smoother glide path to a more efficient
future," he added. "Instead what they got was the populist politics of
the far right, which is blowing up in their faces."
Mr. Trump's defenders say his moves are not aimed at automakers but at
consumers who generally prefer larger vehicles, such as pickup trucks
and sport utility vehicles.
"He's not doing it to be conciliatory to industry, he's doing it for
consumers, and for his own personal and political reason," Mr. Pyle said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/climate/trump-fuel-economy.html
[Down under, back then]
*'Probably the worst year in a century': Australia's environmental toll
of 2019*
The annual Australia's Environment report finds last year's heat and
drought caused unprecedented damage.
Record heat and drought across Australia delivered the worst
environmental conditions across the country since at least 2000, with
river flows, tree cover and wildlife being hit on an "unprecedented
scale", according to a new report.
The index of environmental conditions in Australia scored 2019 at 0.8
out of 10 - the worst result across all the years analysed from 2000.
The year delivered unprecedented bushfires, record heat, very low soil
moisture, low vegetation growth and 40 additions to the threatened
species list.
The report's lead author, Prof Albert van Dijk of the Australian
National University's Fenner school of environment and society, told
Guardian Australia 2019 was "probably the worst in a century or more"
for the environment.
"This is not the new normal - this is just getting worse and worse," he
said, adding that 2019 had seen a "continuing descent into an ever more
dismal future. You start to see ecosystems fall apart and then struggle
to recover before the next major disturbance."
The Australia's Environment report scored environmental conditions
across seven indicators - inundation, streamflow, vegetation growth,
leaf area, soil protection, tree cover and the number of hot days.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/30/probably-the-worst-year-in-a-century-the-environmental-toll-of-2019
[opinion]
*The coronavirus outbreak is part of the climate change crisis*
Therefore, climate action should be central to our response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
by Vijay Kolinjivadi
The speed and scope of the coronavirus outbreak have taken world
governments by surprise and left the stock market reeling. Since the
virus first appeared in China's Hubei province, it has infected over
700,000 people and killed more than 33,000 across the world in less than
six months.
The interconnectedness of our globalised world facilitated the spread of
COVID-19. The disruption this continues to cause has made evident
societal dependence on global production systems.
The pandemic has forced governments into a difficult balancing act
between ensuring public safety and wellbeing and maintaining profit
margins and growth targets. Ultimately, the prospect of a large death
toll and the collapse of health systems have forced countries to put
millions of people on lockdown.
These sweeping and unprecedented measures taken by the government and
international institutions could not but make some of us wonder about
another global emergency that needs urgent action - climate change.
The two emergencies are in fact quite similar. Both have their roots in
the world's current economic model - that of the pursuit of infinite
growth at the expense of the environment on which our survival depends -
and both are deadly and disruptive.
In fact, one may argue that the pandemic is part of climate change and
therefore, our response to it should not be limited to containing the
spread of the virus. What we thought was "normal" before the pandemic
was already a crisis and so returning to it cannot be an option.
The common roots of COVID-19 and climate change
Despite the persistent climate denialism in some policy circles, by now
it is clear to the majority across the world that climate change is
happening as a result of human activity - namely industrial production.
In order to continue producing - and being able to declare that their
economy is growing - humans are harvesting the natural resources of the
planet - water, fossil fuels, timber, land, ore, etc - and plugging them
into an industrial cycle which puts out various consumables (cars,
clothes, furniture, phones, processed food etc) and a lot of waste.
This process depletes the natural ability of the environment to balance
itself and disrupts ecological cycles (for example deforestation leads
to lower CO2 absorption by forests), while at the same time, it adds a
large amount of waste (for example CO2 from burned fossil fuels). This,
in turn, is leading to changes in the climate of our planet.
This same process is also responsible for COVID-19 and other outbreaks.
The need for more natural resources has forced humans to encroach on
various natural habitats and expose themselves to yet unknown pathogens.
At the same time, the growth of mass production of food has created
large-scale farms, where massive numbers of livestock and poultry packed
into megabarns. As socialist biologist Rob Wallace argues in his book
Big Farms Make Big Flu, this has created the perfect environment for the
mutation and emergence of new diseases such as hepatitis E, Nipah virus,
Q fever, and others.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that
three out of four new infectious diseases come from human-animal
contact. The outbreaks of Ebola and other coronaviruses such as MERS,
for instance, were triggered by a jump from animal to human in disturbed
natural habitats.
In the case of COVID-19, it is suspected that the virus was transmitted
to humans at a "wet market" in the city of Wuhan, where wildlife was
being sold.
The mass-scale breeding of wild animals, including pangolins, civet
cats, foxes, wild geese, and boar among many others is a $74bn industry
in China and has been viewed as a get-rich-quick scheme by its rural
population.
The origin of the virus makes it a perfect example of how the way
capitalism commodifies life to turn it into profit can directly endanger
human life. In this sense, the ongoing pandemic is the product of
unrestrained capitalist production and consumption patterns and is very
much part of the deleterious environmental changes it is causing.
The failure to contain it is also due to the capitalist drive of the
global economy. In the United States, some have claimed that profit
losses from the freezing of economic activity are not worth closing the
country for business for more than 15 days.
The World Bank Group has also recently stated that structural adjustment
reforms will need to be implemented to recover from COVID-19, including
requirements for loans being tied to doing away with "excessive
regulations, subsidies, licensing regimes, trade protection...to foster
markets, choice, and faster growth prospects."
Doubling down on neoliberal policies which encourage the unrestrained
abuse of resources would be a catastrophic prospect in a post-COVID-19
world. The suspension of environmental laws and regulations in the US is
already a frightening sign of what returning to "normal" means for the
establishment.
Climate change is happening
Although both COVID-19 and climate change are rooted in the same abusive
economic behaviour and both have proven to be deadly for humans,
governments have seen them as separate and unconnected phenomena and
have therefore responded rather differently to them.
The vast majority of countries around the world - albeit with varying
degrees of delay - have taken strict measures to curb the movement and
gathering of people in order to contain the virus, even at the expense
of economic growth.
The same has not happened with climate change. Current climate change
measures have taken little heed of the scale and progression of the
environmental changes we are experiencing. Climate change does not
follow four-year election cycles or five-year economic plans. It does
not wait for 2030 or 2050 Sustainable Development targets.
Various aspects of climate change progress at different speeds and in
different locations and although for some of us these changes might not
be obvious or palpable, they are happening. There are also certain
thresholds which if crossed will cause change to be irreversible -
whether in greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, the loss of
insect populations or the melting of the permafrost.
And while we do not get daily updates on the death toll caused by
climate change, as we do with COVID-19, it is much deadlier than the virus.
Global warming of 3C and 4C above pre-industrial levels could easily
lead to a series of catastrophic outcomes. It could severely affect our
ability to produce food by decreasing the fertility of soils,
intensifying droughts, causing coastal inundations, increasing the loss
of pollinators, etc. It could also cause severe heatwaves across the
world, which have already proven increasingly deadly both in terms of
high temperatures and the wildfires they cause, as well as more extreme
weather phenomena like hurricanes.
Pursuing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, carbon offsetting
schemes, incremental eco-efficiencies, vegan diets for the wealthy and
other similar tactics will not stop climate change because they do not
discourage mass industrial production and consumption but simply shift
their emphasis. Such approaches will never work because they do not
entail the necessary radical change of our high-powered lives that is
required to force us to slow down and reduce our emissions.
The rapid response to COVID-19 around the world illustrates the
remarkable capacity of society to put the emergency brake on
"business-as-usual" simply by acting in the moment. It shows that we can
take radical action if we want to.
Lockdowns across the world have already resulted in a significant drop
in greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants. In China, for instance, the
lockdown caused carbon dioxide to drop by at least 25 percent and
nitrogen dioxide by 37 percent.
Taking action
Yet, this temporary decrease in greenhouse gases should not be a cause
for celebration. The fact is that as a result of the lockdowns, millions
of people have already lost their jobs and billions will probably
struggle amid the economic downturn the outbreak is causing.
While some have called for climate change to be just as drastic as the
one undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it should not be.
We need a just climate transition which ensures the protection of the
poor and most vulnerable and which is integrated into our pandemic
response. This would not only reverse the climate disaster we are
already living in but also minimise the risk of new pandemics like the
current one breaking out.
The just climate transition should involve economic reforms to introduce
"planned degrowth" that puts the wellbeing of people over profit
margins. The first step towards that is ensuring the stimulus packages
that governments are announcing across the world are not wasted on
bailing out corporations.
We must avoid at all costs a situation where unscrupulous big businesses
and state actors are allowed free reign to reinforce appalling global
inequality while the rest of civil society is quarantined at home.
We should demand that government funds are instead allocated to
decentralised renewable energy production in order to start implementing
the Green New Deal and create new meaningful jobs amid the post-COVID-19
economic crisis. In parallel, we should ensure the provision of
universal healthcare and free education, the extension of social
protection for all vulnerable populations and the prioritisation of
affordable housing.
The current response to COVID-19 could help usher in some of these
changes. It could get us accustomed to lifestyles and work patterns that
minimise consumption. It could encourage us to commute and travel less,
reduce household waste, have shorter work weeks, and rely more on local
supply chains - i.e. actions that do not hurt the livelihoods of the
working classes but shift economic activity from a globalised to a more
localised pattern.
Obviously, the conditions surrounding COVID-19 are not ideal, but the
rapid and urgent actions in response to the virus and the inspiring
examples of mutual aid also illustrate that society is more than capable
of acting collectively in the face of grave danger to the whole of humanity.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/coronavirus-outbreak-part-climate-change-emergency-200325135058077.html
[Ozone hole]
*ENORMOUS HOLE IN THE OZONE APPEARS ABOVE ARCTIC IN RARE ATMOSPHERIC
PHENOMENON*
BY HANNAH OSBORNE ON 3/30/20
A huge hole in the ozone layer has appeared above the Arctic in a rare
atmospheric phenomenon. Freezing temperatures have caused ozone levels
to plummet, leaving a hole stretching from Hudson Bay to Russia's
northern Arctic islands.
Images from NASA's Arctic Ozone Watch show how the hole has been growing
since the start of March, with ozone levels dropping significantly. Blue
and purple colors show where there is the least amount of ozone, while
reds and yellows indicate where levels are higher.
Ozone is a gas made of three oxygen atoms. It is created naturally in
the stratosphere, a layer of Earth's atmosphere that sits between seven
and 25 miles above the surface of the planet. Ultraviolet rays from the
sun break oxygen molecules into atoms. It is highly reactive and acts as
a shield, protecting life on Earth from harmful UV rays.
It is a thin layer and is moved around by winds high in the atmosphere,
and is depleted by both natural and manmade atmospheric gasses.
A hole in the ozone layer appears above Antarctica each spring. In the
1980s, scientists noticed the layer in this region was thinning
drastically. The cause was established to be the release into the
atmosphere of manmade compounds called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These
chemicals were found to destroy ozone and, under the 1987 Montreal
Protocol, are banned by 196 United Nations member states and the
European Union. The hole still appears in Antarctica every year, but it
is now healing.
Natural ozone depletion is driven by cold temperatures. Antarctica,
which is surrounded by oceans, gets far colder than the Arctic. Freezing
conditions in Antarctica means high-altitude clouds form and come
together. These cloud formations lead to chemical reactions that cause
ozone depletion.
The Arctic, however, is surrounded by mountainous continents, meaning
temperatures normally do not plummet so low that these conditions are
created. This year, however, temperatures dropped significantly, leading
to the ozone depletion that was recorded.
John Pyle, an atmospheric scientist at the U.K.'s University of
Cambridge, told Newsweek over email: "The low temperature condition
(temperatures less than about 195k) in the Arctic are much less common.
Interestingly, the Antarctic ozone hole last year was quite small;
temperatures in the low stratosphere were higher than normal. In
contrast, this Arctic winter/spring has seen a very strong lower
stratospheric polar vortex and persistent, widespread very low
temperatures. So, it's the meteorological conditions that set the
condition--and this year's Arctic has been exceptional."
Markus Rex, an atmospheric scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in
Potsdam, Germany, told Nature that there has been more cold air above
the Arctic than any other winter for 40 years.
According to the magazine, measurements taken from weather balloons and
observing stations in the region have shown a 90 percent drop in ozone
levels. It is thought this could be one of the largest Arctic ozone
holes on record.
"We have at least as much loss as in 2011, and there are some
indications that it might be more than 2011," Gloria Manney, an
atmospheric scientist at NorthWest Research Associates in Socorro, New
Mexico, told Nature.
The hole is not a concern and it will likely start to repair over the
coming weeks. Martyn Chipperfield, professor in atmospheric chemistry at
the University of Leeds, U.K., told Newsweek: "We are entering spring.
The atmosphere will warm up and the wind patterns will change. That will
put a stop to the depletion and the depletion will repair itself."
He said it can be monitored with satellite observations and weather
center forecasting models. "The 'hole,' or remnants of it, may move
southwards but that is easily tracked," he said. "If needed alerts for
high UV could be issued, but that is very unlikely to be necessary at
this time of year."
The risk of large holes in the ozone appearing over the coming decades
is also decreasing, as the bans introduced in the Montreal Protocol see
levels of ozone-depleting chemicals drop even further, Chipperfield said.
"The scientific community has said for more than 20 years that,
notwithstanding the Protocol, as we move towards recovery, very low
temperatures in any particular year will lead to more ozone depletion in
that year. So, this is exactly what we'd expect," Pyle added.
https://www.newsweek.com/ozone-hole-arctic-rare-phenomenon-1495075
[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - March 31, 2009 *
*MSNBC's Keith Olbermann rips denialist Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL):*
"But our winner, Congressman John Shimkus, Republican of Illinois,
with two fascinating and utterly contradictory statements. A,
Congressman Shimkus on why there isn't global warming. 'Today we
have about 388 parts per million of Carbon Dioxide in the
atmosphere. I think in the age of the dinosaurs, when we had most
flora and fauna, we were probably at 4,000 parts per million.
There's a theological debate that this is a carbon-starved planet,
not too much carbon.'
"Number one, Carbon and Carbon Dioxide are not the same thing.
Number two, the only theological debate over how much carbon the
plan needs would be taking place in the church of the Labrea Tar
Pits. Number three, didn't the freaking dinosaurs go extinct? Or
do they just have a bad public relations person?
"But I'm digressing. B, Congressman Shimkus on why it doesn't
matter anyway. 'The Earth will end only when God declares it's time
to be over. A man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not
be destroyed by a flood. I appreciate having panelists here who are
men of faith, and we can get into the theological discourse of that
position. But I do believe that God's word is infallible,
unchanging, perfect.'
"So a man pressing a button to start a nuclear war, that would be
God's infallible word? Why do we bother trying to govern? Can't he
do something about the budget deficit? By the way, as you hit me
over the head with your Bible, Congressman, there ain't a word in it
about those dinosaurs you mentioned earlier.
"Congressman John Shimkus of Illinois, today's worst person in the
world!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBf75v2k3EE
- - -
*MSNBC's Rachel Maddow also mocks Shimkus during her "GOP in Exile"
segment:*
"While the Republican Party continues its search for mean in the
minority, one Republican congressman, John Shimkus of Illinois,
maybe should stop searching. Just sit down, Congressman and take a
breather, honestly. Check this out:
"REP. JOHN SHIMKUS (R-IL): Today, we have about 388 parts per
million in the atmosphere. I think in the age of dinosaurs, where
we had more flora and fauna, we were probably at 4,000 parts per
million. There is a theological debate that this is a carbon
starved planet, not too much carbon.
"MADDOW: In other words, we shouldn't bother trying to reduce the
amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere because the dinosaurs did
just fine with the tons of carbon that God gave them for their
atmosphere. Also, the dodo bird ate plenty of cholesterol. And the
saber tooth tiger never, ever flossed. Stop worrying, people."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9z-QkeO-E
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
/Archive of Daily Global Warming News
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html>
/
https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote
/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe
<mailto:subscribe at theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request>
to news digest./
*** Privacy and Security:*This is a text-only mailing that carries no
images which may originate from remote servers. Text-only messages
provide greater privacy to the receiver and sender.
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for democratic
and election purposes and cannot be used for commercial purposes.
To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote
<mailto:contact at theclimate.vote> with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe,
subject: unsubscribe
Also you may subscribe/unsubscribe at
https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for
http://TheClimate.Vote <http://TheClimate.Vote/> delivering succinct
information for citizens and responsible governments of all levels. List
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously restricted to
this mailing list.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20200331/b4b5d965/attachment.html>
More information about the TheClimate.Vote
mailing list