[TheClimate.Vote] February 19, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*February 19, 2021*/

[Associated Press says]
*US needs to brace itself for more deadly storms, experts say*
This week’s storms — with more still heading east — fit a pattern of 
worsening extremes under climate change and demonstrate anew that local, 
state and federal officials have failed to do nearly enough to prepare 
for greater and more dangerous weather.
https://apnews.com/article/us-deadly-winter-storms-2021-df7d37d12ef13633bb5666e1151bcf9e


[radio clip text and audio]
*No, The Blackouts In Texas Weren't Caused By Renewables. Here's What 
Really Happened*
February 18, 20213:11 PM ET
Camila Domonoske

Snow covers the ground in Waco, Texas, on Feb. 17. Texas Gov. Greg 
Abbott has blamed renewable energy sources for the blackouts that have 
hit the state. In fact, they were caused by a systemwide failure across 
all energy sources.
Matthew Busch/AFP via Getty Images
This week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appeared on local TV in Dallas and 
blamed the state's power crisis on the devastating storm that disrupted 
power generation and froze natural gas pipelines.

He didn't single out one power source to blame. Then he went on Fox News 
and gave a different story.

"Wind and solar got shut down," he said. "They were collectively more 
than 10% of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where 
it was lacking power on a statewide basis."

He wasn't alone. Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry also pointed to 
frozen windmills and warned that this crisis showed the perils of 
promoting renewable energy.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank with ties 
to the fossil fuel industry, alleged that the storm "never would have 
been an issue had our grid not been so deeply penetrated by renewable 
energy sources."

But this focus on windmills ignores the evident fact that — as Abbott 
acknowledged on local TV — every kind of power generation fell short in 
this storm.

In fact, significantly more natural gas and coal went offline than 
renewables. But that doesn't suggest fossil fuels were uniquely to blame 
either — they were responsible for more production, so it's no surprise 
they were the source of more failures.

Grid operators say it simply doesn't make sense to pinpoint any one 
generation source for criticism...
- -
And then there's another big question: Will ERCOT's projections and 
decisions stand up to scrutiny?

The investigations into this disaster may well find blame to go around.

But all the data right now show this was a systemwide failure caused by 
a storm much worse than the state was ready to handle, and not by the 
use of renewable energy.

"I think the key point here is that we need to be prepared for these 
extreme events, today and in the future, no matter what the generation 
sources [are]," says Lori Bird, who directs the U.S. energy program at 
the World Resources Institute. "Because I think this event shows that 
all generation sources are vulnerable to these extreme events."

Blaming wind and solar is a political move, Bird says. What's really 
needed — in Texas and elsewhere — is better preparation.
https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-winter-storms-2021/2021/02/18/968967137/no-the-blackouts-in-texas-werent-caused-by-renewables-heres-what-really-happened



[local TV news report]
*Neighbors share exhaustion as power, water problems linger in North 
Texas after winter storm*
Feb 18, 2021
WFAA
"There's no communication, no feedback, and we're here just trying to 
stay warm," said Chris Walker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW5GEIHUTo4



[CBS news]*
**Ignoring pandemic, Americans installed record amounts of solar and 
wind energy*
Massive blackouts in the Southwest this week have thrown renewable 
energy into the spotlight. Some conservatives have tried to pin Texas' 
electricity grid failures on wind power, while industry analysts and 
environmentalists point to problems with natural gas and coal plants 
during the snowstorm as an argument for more, not less, renewable power.

Amid the finger-pointing, the market is offering its own answers. The 
U.S. added a record amount of wind and solar energy last year even as 
the coronavirus was crippling the economy, according to figures released 
Thursday by BloombergNEF and Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

Installations of wind and solar power soared 61% over the previous year, 
with 33.6 gigawatts added to the grid in 2020. That's enough energy to 
power roughly 11 million homes for a year and nearly 50% higher than the 
previous record, set in 2016...
- -
After the economy largely shut down in 2020, large energy projects, 
utility companies and some manufacturing facilities were quickly deemed 
essential, and many re-hired their workers. But energy-efficiency 
projects, which might include weatherizing a building or upgrading its 
heating and cooling system, were slower to come back.

"The hardest-hit sectors were the residential businesses and 
particularly energy efficiency. They still bear the brunt," said Lisa 
Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

A coalition of clean-energy groups is calling for the Biden 
administration to prioritize the clean-energy sector in its economic 
recovery plans.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/solar-wind-energy-united-states-2020/



[destabilization makes opportunity]
*How fires have spread to previously untouched parts of the world*
Fires have always been a part of our natural world. But they’re moving 
to new ecosystems previously untouched by fire – and this is concerning 
scientists
Wildfires are spreading to fuel-abundant regions of the world that used 
to be less prone to burning, according to a new analysis of 20 years of 
data by the Guardian.

While the overall area of annual burn in the world has remained 
relatively static in this period, the research indicates a shifting 
regional fire pattern that is affecting more forests and fewer grasslands.
- -
*Drying has made Australian forests more vulnerable*
In Australia last year the fire season was exceptional because of where 
the fires were rather than the number of square kilometres burned...
- -
*Californian fires spreading northwards*
Like Australia, California’s fires are spreading to new locations as 
their size and frequency hit record levels...
- -
*Drying pattern repeated in southern Europe*
Climate change-related drying has also contributed to increased fire 
activity in southern European countries such as 
Portugal...https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/feb/19/how-fires-have-spread-to-previously-untouched-parts-of-the-world



[change touches everything]
*In West Africa, Climate Change Equals Conflict*
The region is the poster child for insecurities already brought on by 
global warming.
BY ROBERT MUGGAH | FEBRUARY 18, 2021

One of the many injustices of climate change is it hits the world’s 
poorest countries hardest. African nations, many of which register the 
highest levels of poverty and emit the least carbon dioxide, are already 
being ravaged by global warming. The reasons for this are 
straightforward: With roughly 60 percent of the sub-Saharan population 
depending on agriculture to survive, food insecurity is intensified by 
disruptions to rain cycles, planting seasons, and harvests. Making 
matters worse, new forecasts predict that rising sea levels will 
threaten vulnerable coastal communities due to flooding and erosion, 
salinizing arable land, and disrupting inland and coastal fisheries. As 
people migrate and tensions over diminishing resources escalate, the 
threats of social unrest and organized violence are already apparent.

West Africa is the poster child for insecurities associated with global 
warming, as the Igarapé Institute described in a recent report. 
Globally, the period from 2011 to 2020 was the hottest decade ever 
recorded. West Africa’s Sahel—the vast zone of semi-arid grasslands that 
lies south of the Sahara Desert—was affected more than most regions, 
with temperatures rising 1.5 times the international average. Scenarios 
developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggest that 
temperatures could climb up to 6 degrees Celsius by the end of the 
century. Across the region’s 17 countries, intensifying heat is 
contributing to more prolonged droughts and rainfall, which in turn 
affects land-use patterns for farmers, herders, and their livestock. The 
World Bank believes a situation of deteriorating environmental 
conditions and weak governance could tip some fragile countries into 
outright conflict. Many of the states categorized by the World Bank as 
fragile are also ranked among those most vulnerable to climate change, 
whether in terms of exposure to extreme weather events or the extent of 
population affected.

Social scientists describe climate change as a “threat multiplier” 
because of how it exacerbates the risk factors that already give rise to 
instability. In countries already impacted by searing inequalities, 
fast-growing and youthful populations, overreliance on agriculture, 
serious corruption, and weak governance, the risks of climate change 
triggering the onset, escalation, and resurgence of armed conflict are 
especially high. While intensely debated by climate scientists, the 
complex relationships among rising temperatures, ecosystem resilience, 
seasonal rainfall variability, changes to arable land, shifting 
livestock grazing, and violence are increasingly hard to ignore.

West Africa’s coastal populations face especially worrying risks from 
climate change. Demographers predict that as many as 85 million people 
could inhabit the region’s coastal cities by 2050. The World Bank 
likewise estimates that around 6,500 square kilometers of the region’s 
coastal areas could be severely degraded by rising sea levels. The 
social and economic costs are mounting. Storm surges and rain-triggered 
floods are damaging cities, setting back development, and generating the 
spread of disease that has killed thousands and displaced millions in 
Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Togo. The relocation of populations is 
generating pressure on cities and villages with limited capacities to 
service new arrivals. The economic burden of environmental degradation 
in these four countries totaled $3.8 billion, or 5.3 percent of their 
combined GDP, in 2017 alone.

Social scientists describe climate change as a “threat multiplier” 
because it exacerbates the risk factors that already give rise to 
instability.

Rising seas and a greater likelihood of storm surges are affecting food 
production for vulnerable coastal populations. Changes in water 
temperature and erosion are triggering the migration of fish stocks 
while salinization is contaminating arable land and ground water 
reserves. Due to a combination of climate impacts and severe 
overfishing—including from Chinese and European trawlers—the maximum 
catch potential for fish could decline by 30 percent or more in the Gulf 
of Guinea, a region where around 4.8 million people rely on fishing to 
sustain their livelihoods. Senegalese fishermen are increasingly 
crossing the border to Mauritania to fish, which has led to violent 
exchanges with the Mauritanian coast guard. Violent spats over fishing 
grounds are not new, but as sea levels rise, such altercations will 
multiply, provoking further conflict.

Climate change is also accelerating migration and displacement in West 
Africa, especially in the Sahel. Today, roughly 25 million Sahelian 
herders of cattle, sheep, goats, and other livestock travel south with 
their animals during the dry season and then back north during the wet 
season. Prolonged dry seasons, shortened rainy seasons, and less regular 
rainfall are generating new uncertainties for pastoralists, requiring 
new herd management methods and undermining delicate ecosystems. 
Competition over grazing land, reduced access to water, and the erosion 
of customary dispute resolution mechanisms are accelerating retaliatory 
cycles of violence.

Flash points include the border between Burkina-Faso and Mali as well as 
Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt region. Studies by early warning 
organizations such as the International Crisis Group and Search For 
Common Ground, as well as regional bodies such as the United Nations 
Office for West Africa and the Sahel, underline how multifaceted these 
conflicts are. There are frequent cases of military, militia, and police 
clashing with pastoralists who are forced to graze their livestock in 
contested terrain. Disputes often turn violent due to competition for 
water and pastoralists overusing farmers’ fields or crops. Extremist 
networks are taking advantage of the violent competition between farmers 
and pastoralists to advance their causes. These tensions flare up when 
local governance and traditional customs for resolving disputes fail. 
Many times, political and economic elites are also involved in 
exacerbating violent conflict...
more at - 
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/18/west-africa-sahel-climate-change-global-warming-conflict-food-agriculture-fish-livestock/



[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - February 19, 2006 *
The CBS program "60 Minutes" reports on the effects of human-caused 
climate change in the Arctic.
This story originally aired on Feb. 19, 2006.
*A Global Warning**
**Scientist Says Global Warming Intensifies Storms, Raise Sea Levels*

The North Pole has been frozen for 100,000 years. But according to 
scientists, that won't be true by the end of this century. The top of 
the world is melting.

There's been a debate burning for years about the causes of global 
warming. But the scientists you're about to meet say the debate is over. 
New evidence shows man is contributing to the warming of the planet, 
pumping out greenhouse gases that trap solar heat.

Much of this new evidence was compiled by American scientist Bob Corell, 
who led a study called the "Arctic Climate Impact Assessment." It's an 
awkward name — but consider the findings: the seas are rising, 
hurricanes will be more powerful, like Katrina, and polar bears may be 
headed toward extinction.

What does the melting arctic look like? Correspondent Scott Pelley went 
north to see what Bob Corell calls a "global warning."

Towers of ice the height of 10-story buildings rise on the coast of 
Greenland. It's the biggest ice sheet in the Northern Hemisphere, 
measuring some 700,000 square miles. But temperatures in the arctic are 
rising twice as fast as the rest of the world, so a lot of Greenland's 
ice is running to the sea.
"Right now the entire planet is out of balance," says Bob Corell, who is 
among the world's top authorities on climate change. He led 300 
scientists from eight nations in the "Arctic Climate Impact Assessment."

Corell believes he has seen the future. "This is a bellwether, a 
barometer. Some people call it the canary in the mine. The warning that 
things are coming," he says. "In 10 years here in the arctic, we see 
what the rest of the planet will see in 25 or 35 years from now."

Over the last few decades, the North Pole has been dramatically reduced 
in size and Corell says the glaciers there have been receding for the 
last 50 years.

Back in 1987, President Reagan asked Corell to look into climate change. 
He's been at it ever since.

In Iceland, he showed 60 Minutes glaciers that were growing until the 
1990s and are now melting. In fact, 98 percent of the world's mountain 
glaciers are melting.

Corell says all that water will push sea levels three feet higher all 
around the world in 100 years.

"You and I sit here, another foot. Your children, another foot. Your 
grandchildren, another foot. And it won't take long for sea level to 
inundate," says Corell.

"Sea level will be inundating the low lands of virtually every country 
of the world, ours included," Corell predicts.

To find the sights and sounds of the arctic melting, there are few 
places better than a fjord in Greenland, with a glacier just a short 
distance away.

more at - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-global-warning/




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