[✔️] August 2, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest
👀 Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Mon Aug 2 10:36:45 EDT 2021
/*August 2, 2021*/
[Tik Tkc Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]
https://www.tiktok.com/@bulletinatomic/video/6989715549764848901
[landslide in India]
*A road in Himachal Pradesh, India, was swept away by a landslide on
July 30.*
There are no reports of injuries or deaths. Local reports say excessive
rainfall is causing flash floods and landslides.
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1421365763152117763
[DW news - video]
*Wildfires rage across Europe fed by wind and soaring temperatures | DW
News*
Aug 1, 2021
DW News
Wildfires are destroying huge swathes of territory around Europe.
Finland has been battling its biggest forest fire in half a century.
Heatwaves are also causing havoc further south. The worst blazes are
raging in southern Turkey, where six people have been killed. Greece has
also been hard-hit.
The smoke in Greece is becoming a hazard. So much so that hospitals are
now admitting patients with breathing difficulties.
Greek authorities had warned that wildfires could erupt in temperatures
reaching 45 degrees. In Greece and elsewhere, scientists are linking the
heatwave and the wildfires to climate change.
In Italy, firefighters have been working day and night to douse the
flames. On the island of Sicily, the fires in the mountains are also
threatening seaside resorts - 150 tourists were moved out.
In Turkey, hundreds more holidaymakers were ferried to safety after the
forest fires got too close to their hotels. Coastguards asked boat
owners to help with the rescue operation .
Inland, farmers are helpless as their animals perish. Dozens of villages
have been evacuated. President Erdogan has been quick to point the
finger at his political opponents.
Turkish authorities say they have brought most of the fires under
control - but the hot weather is expected to continue for the next few days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrzPuM0Jt4Y
[No living as usual]
*Utilities are struggling to keep the lights on as fires, drought plague
California*
AUG 1 2021
KEY POINTS
-- Grid operators in the Western U.S. are struggling to keep
operations running smoothly as wildfires and drought fueled by
climate change threaten infrastructure.
-- Companies are taking a number of steps to update infrastructure,
including sensor arrays and coated wires.
-- The bipartisan infrastructure deal includes $73 billion in
funding for power infrastructure.
The rolling blackouts instituted in California in 2020 were the first in
nearly two decades, demonstrating the struggles the grid faces as
weather patterns change and extreme climate events become more regular.
The grid wasn’t built with climate change in mind and — as companies in
the West have seen more and more in recent summers — companies need to
factor in the impacts to ensure long-term viability.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/01/utilities-are-struggling-to-keep-the-lights-on-as-fires-drought-plague-california.html
[positive innovation - sooner deployment means less consequences]
*New Iron-Air Battery outperforms best Lithium Ion tech. Cheap.
Abundant. Non-toxic & Carbon Free.*
Aug 1, 2021
Just Have a Think
Iron Air batteries use cheap, non toxic, abundant materials and
potentially have a far higher energy density than Lithium Ion batteries.
The technology was first developed by NASA in the seventies, but no
major commercial application has ever come to fruition. Now though, a US
company, backed by some pretty big investors, has developed a grid scale
iron air battery that could be a real industry disruptor.
Video Transcripts available at our website - -
http://www.justhaveathink.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDjgSSO98VI
[Classic video book summary]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8lNTPlsRtI
*Unstoppable Collapse: How to Avoid the Worst (Dowd 1-8-21)*
Jan 8, 2021
thegreatstory
The first draft of this video -- "Irreversible Collapse: Accepting
Reality, Avoiding Evil": https://youtu.be/iQeK04WOGaA -- garnered 8,000
views and 200 comments in one week, including suggestions for
improvement. So I revised it based on collective intelligence. SUMMARY:
The stability of the biosphere has been in decline for centuries and in
unstoppable, out of control mode for decades. This “Great Acceleration”
of biospheric collapse is an easily verifiable fact. The scientific
evidence is overwhelming.
Evidence is also compelling that the vast majority of people will deny
this, especially those still benefitting from the existing order and
those who fear that “accepting reality” means “giving up.”
The history of scores of previous boom and bust (progress / regress)
societies clearly reveals how and why industrial civilization is dying.
Accepting that Homo colossus’ condition is incurable and terminal may be
key to not making a bad situation catastrophically worse.
APPLICATION — TO AVOID BECOMING EVIL on a geological timescale, we must…
1. Minimize deadliest toxicity (nuclear, methane, chemicals).
2. Assist plants (especially trees) in migrating poleward.
3. Invest time, energy, and resources in all things regenerative,
including thriving with LESS (less energy, stuff, stimulation), learning
from and supporting indigenous wisdom and experience, and nurturing
community eco-literacy and resilience.
CORE MESSAGE: Without an understanding of ecology, energy, and history,
good people with the best of intentions will unknowingly propose and
support policies likely to make a bad situation catastrophically worse.
Or as an ecologist friend of mine likes to say, “If you don’t 'get'
overshoot, you’ll misinterpret or misdiagnose virtually everything
important.”
PERSONAL NOTE: I consider this video to be the single most important
thing I've created. Thanks to all who helped me improve it!
(4-MIN) 2014 HBO "THE NEWSROOM" CLIP: https://youtu.be/6CXRaTnKDXA
LONGER (8-MIN) VERSION: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a45cdd0robp...
0:00:00 Introduction and Thesis
0:07:06 Sane vs. Insane "Progress"
0:14:32 What is "Collapse"? The Great Acceleration of Gaian Collapse
0:20:30 ABRUPT Climate Disruptions and Nuclear Imperative
0:23:47 Progress, Overshoot, Collapse: The Lifecycle of Civilizations
0:36:34 3 Fundamental Points / 10 Certainties / Pro-future vs.
Anti-future Hopes
00:52:30 It's Not Too Late - Taking Responsibility for Our Le
01:00:14 Resources and Contact Information
BOOKS:
Overshoot, by William R. Catton, Jr
The Dream of the Earth, by Thomas Berry
The Great Work, by Thomas Berry
Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization, by John Perlin
GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist
A New Green History of the World, by Clive Ponting
The End of Ice, by Dahr Jamail
A Farewell to Ice, by Peter Wadhams
The Stable Society, by Edward Goldsmith
The Way: An Ecological Worldview, by Edward Goldsmith
What Is Sustainable, by Richard Adrian Reese
Wild, Free, and Happy, by Richard Adrian Reese
Red Alert, by Daniel Wildcat
Tending the Wild, by M. Kat Anderson
Columbus and Other Cannibals, by Jack Forbes
Native Science, by Gregory Cajete
Original Instructions, edited by Melissa Nelson
The Myth of Progress, by Tom Wessels
Our Ecological Footprint, by William E. Rees and Mathis Wackernagel
Bright Green Lies, by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Max Wilbert
Immoderate Greatness, by William Ophuls
Apologies to the Grandchildren, by William Ophuls
We're Doomed. Now What? by Roy Scranton
Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, by Roy Scranton
The Journeys of Trees, by Zach St. George
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8lNTPlsRtI
[an interview]
*Ana Raquel Nunes: ‘Extreme weather reveals the fragility of people and
places’*
Katherine Latham
Ana Raquel Nunes: ‘Hospitals and healthcare facilities that are not
prepared to deal with extreme temperatures find it very hard to treat
heat-related illnesses.’ Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Observer
The environmental social scientist and expert on the impact of heatwaves
on why we must prepare for dangerous heat
Sun 1 Aug 2021
Ana Raquel Nunes is a senior research fellow at Warwick medical school
who studies the links between global heating and human health. She has
leant her expertise to the World Health Organization, the
intergovernmental panel on climate change, the International Science
Council and more. Her interest in extreme weather was prompted by a
family holiday in the Algarve during the European heatwave of 2003, in
which tens of thousands of people died. This year has seen record
temperatures, forest fires, melting glaciers and crumbling infrastructure.
*We know that heatwaves are becoming more frequent, more intense and
more prolonged both in terms of temperature and humidity. What can we
expect?*
The heatwave of 2003 was really, really bad. I was young and struggled
to cope with the heat. I felt very hot, thirsty and tired. My mother and
grandma struggled even more. People were getting ill, being
hospitalised. The vulnerable were dying.
Nowadays, places that used to experience infrequent heatwaves, or no
heatwaves at all, are, due to climate change, seeing extreme
temperatures more and more – and that could increase rapidly.
Humidity makes hot weather feel even hotter. Global occurrences of high
wet-bulb temperatures, the measure of heat and humidity combined, are on
the rise. What happens to our bodies when it’s humid as well as hot?
As temperatures rise, heat moves towards our skin and we sweat. It is
through sweat that we thermoregulate, or control our body temperature.
Too much heat is dangerous but when you combine heat with humidity,
cooling down is even more difficult as the sweat can’t evaporate – so
the effect is much worse.
When the body reaches 40C internally, heatstroke occurs, the blood-brain
barrier begins to break down and cells start dying. What happens if we
can’t find a way to cool down?
As temperatures rise, heat moves towards our skin and we sweat. It is
through sweat that we thermoregulate, or control our body temperature.
When you combine heat with humidity, cooling down is even more difficult
as the sweat can’t evaporate – so the effect is much worse.
After a very hot day, temperatures in the countryside will drop at
night. Urban heat islands, however, remain hot
Hot weather makes the body work harder to remain at its normal
temperature of around 37C, putting extra strain on the heart, lungs and
kidneys. When you reach 38C, you’ll start feeling lethargic. If the body
reaches 40C, there is a risk of heat exhaustion. You’ll start feeling
confused and may lose consciousness.
At extreme temperatures, the quantity of blood being circulated
increases dramatically. The heart becomes exhausted and then blood flow
plummets. The main causes of death during a heatwave are respiratory and
cardiovascular.
*Can we adapt?*
Human adaptation to a changing climate has taken place over the ages –
by wearing clothes, using fire, inventing air conditioning and
sunscreen… and climate change is accelerating the need for adaptation.
Siestas are an example of an adaptation strategy. They allow individuals
and businesses to pause during the hottest part of the day, and extend
activities to cooler hours. In countries that are used to heat, people
open windows early in the morning and late in the evening for the house
to cool down and they close windows and shutters during the day. It’s
about culture, about knowing what to do.
But not everyone can afford air conditioning, not everyone has someone
to turn to when they need help…
Yes, and there are physiological characteristics that people can’t
change, like age or chronic illness. You might know what to do to stay
safe but be unable to do it. Heatwaves are not felt equally. Not because
the human body cannot withstand the heat, but because some individuals
are less able to respond to it.
In my research, I looked at the most vulnerable groups in society.
During a heatwave, some of these people became ill, some went to
hospital, some died. Yet some were not affected at all. I realised it
isn’t only the physiological characteristics of people that were
determining the effects. There was something else beyond individual
vulnerability.
*Which is?*
Instead of asking what individuals can do, we need to look at the wider
determinants of health. Things like education, housing quality, income,
working conditions, if someone works outdoors or indoors, their
neighbourhood and social networks. It’s what we call the social model of
health – it encompasses the social, economic and environmental factors.
The problems we are facing now and will see more of in the future –
climate change, health, hunger, poverty, inequality – are all linked. We
need to look at them not as separate goals but at the connections
between them. Achieving one goal may help or hinder the attainment of
another. We need a holistic approach. We must ensure the measures we put
in place are not in conflict.
*
**We’ve heard of roads cracking and cables melting. What happens when
critical services such as energy, transport and healthcare are not
designed for heat?*
Hospitals and healthcare facilities that are not prepared to deal with
extreme temperatures find it very hard to treat heat-related illnesses.
How can you cool someone down if the environment is too hot?
Roads have been known to buckle when the materials they are made from
are not suited to hot temperatures. Here in the UK, roads are made from
materials designed to cope with cold, so when we see very high
temperatures they can’t cope and they break. It’s a similar problem with
transport, water, electricity… If the materials are not suited to hot
temperatures they will fail.
*Is it more of a problem if you live in a city?*
Heatwaves can cause poor air quality. The air becomes stagnant and traps
pollutants, especially in what we call “urban heat islands”, big towns
and cities. After a very hot day, temperatures in the countryside will
drop at night so people and houses cool. Urban heat islands, on the
other hand, remain hot. When houses and individuals are not able to cool
down, the health impact is exacerbated.
*Can anything be done to bring down the temperature of an urban heat
island?*
We need trees, green spaces, green roofs. In the UK, Trees for Cities
works with communities to plant trees in cities where they are most needed.
We can also increase the albedo effect, the proportion of light
reflected from surfaces. If you paint pavements, walls and roofs white,
the reflectivity of solar radiation is increased so they don’t hold the
heat. Urban albedo enhancement has been shown to reduce air
temperatures, improve air quality, and reduce illnesses and deaths due
to extreme heat. In Athens, for example, asphalt and concrete pavements
were made more reflective and researchers found that surface
temperatures were reduced by up to 11.5C. Now, a new ultra-white paint
has been developed in California that reflects 98% of sunlight, making
it the coolest paint yet.
*The Met Office has just announced its first amber extreme heat warning
signalling unusually high temperatures – but we’re not really at risk
here in the UK, are we?*
Populations living in regions not previously affected by extreme heat
don’t see heatwaves as a risk, so they don’t feel they need to take
precautions. The danger is when someone doesn’t realise the threat.
Heatwaves are rare in Canada. People are not acclimatised to hot
temperatures. Their houses and infrastructure are not designed for heat.
Yet recently they have seen record temperatures.
Extreme weather events reveal the fragility and vulnerability of people
and places. We need to prepare for the future – our energy and transport
networks, our institutions, the places we live and work.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/01/ana-raquel-nunes-extreme-weather-reveals-the-fragility-of-people-and-places
[Israel]
*'Israel Isn't Prepared to Tackle Climate Change, There's No Question
About It,' Top Official Admits*
The Environmental Protection Ministry director-general says that 'to
avoid the hell expected for us,' Israel has to work on reducing
greenhouse gases
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-top-official-israel-isn-t-prepared-to-tackle-climate-change-no-question-about-it-1.10064147
[How Germany recovers from violent floodings]
*Europe after the rain | DW Documentary*
Jul 30, 2021
DW Documentary
TV crews were quick to visit the areas in western Europe devastated by
flooding in July. As they talked to victims and helpers, the shocking
scale of the tragedy became clear to viewers. At least 170 people lost
their lives.
The deluge swept away entire communities in Germany. Now, residents are
gradually returning to their homes - or what is left of them. After
parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were inundated,
subsequent rainfall also left a trail of destruction in Bavaria. Locals
have been joined in the clear-up effort by experts and personnel from
the police, fire brigade and other emergency services and even the
German army - again called in to help out as it has been with the
coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the Nürburgring motor-racing circuit
has been turned into a makeshift aid center. The floods were the worst
in living memory. Picturesque villages have been reduced to mud and
rubble. Many residents have lost not just their homes and possessions
but also friends and family. The cleanup operation has only just begun
and is likely to take years to complete. This disaster of record
proportions is one that requires state intervention - and the nation as
a whole to also reflect on what mistakes have been made, and what
preparations can be taken to deal with future catastrophes of this nature.
__
DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch top
documentaries from German broadcasters and international production
companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look
behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding
of current affairs and global events. Subscribe and explore the world
around you with DW Documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEY0Qc_AOMc
[radical lectures ]
*CO2Budget Day 1 - Kevin Anderson Keynote*
Jun 2, 2021
Klimatriksdagen
Kevin Anderson, professor in Climate and Energy transisitions at the
University of Manchester gives his keynote on CO2budgets and how the
language of net-zero goals downplays the scale of mitigation efforts.
Followed up by a Q&A at the end, moderated by Isabel Baudish,
Coordinator at Climate Change Leadership, Uppsala University.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzDWVjstN7s
-
[The news archive - looking back]
*On this day in the history of global warming August 2, 2006*
Republican televangelist Pat Robertson calls for action on human-caused
climate change, a position he would abandon several years later.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2006/08/03/6719/robertson-global-warming/
http://youtu.be/zxT0Nug1XqY
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