[TheClimate.Vote] January 23, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest.

[Richard Pauli]

/*January 23, 2021*/

[WAPO Weather Gang]
*Southern Ocean waters are warming faster than thought, threatening 
Antarctic ice*
A layer of warming water is rising from the subsurface, threatening to 
speed up Antarctic ice melt
- -
In recent years, understanding how the Southern Ocean is changing as a 
result of increased greenhouse gas emissions has taken on greater 
urgency as scientists have learned more about the fragility of large 
parts of the Antarctic ice sheet, since glaciers extending into the 
ocean are being eroded by relatively mild waters below. Like removing a 
doorstop, the collapse of these ice shelves can free up inland ice to 
move into the ocean, raising global sea levels and harming coastal 
communities.

Two major Antarctic glaciers are tearing loose from their restraints, 
scientists say

Now a new study, published Thursday in the journal Nature 
Communications, finds that beneath the surface layer of waters circling 
Antarctica, the seas are warming much more rapidly than previously 
known. Furthermore, the study concludes, this relatively warm water is 
rising toward the surface over time, at a rate three to 10 times what 
was previously estimated.

This means that there is a greater potential for the waters of the 
Southern Ocean, which are absorbing vast quantities of added heat and 
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a result of human activities, may 
soon help destabilize parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
- -
Sunke Schmidtko, a climate scientist at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean 
Research in Kiel, Germany, who did not participate in the new study, 
said supplementing the results with observations from buoys in other 
parts of the Southern Ocean could fill gaps in the new work. He said 
other explanations are possible for the strong warming and rising of 
milder waters the study found, and they need to be ruled out.

However, he called the findings about warming and rising waters 
“frightening” compared with findings from his own work just a few years 
ago, saying, if correct, these waters could have a “potentially imminent 
impact on several Antarctic glaciers.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/01/21/southern-ocean-warming-antarctica/



[warming water warning]
*Climate Change Could Cause Permanent Heatwaves in Lakes, Researchers Warn*
Emily Denny - Jan. 21, 2021
Heatwaves are not just distinct to the land. A recent study found lakes 
are susceptible to temperature rise too, causing "lake heatwaves," The 
Independent reported.

For the first time, researchers showed how lakes experience heatwaves 
and are sensitive to variations in the climate, lead author Dr. Iestyn 
Woolway, a research fellow at the European Space Agency's Climate Office 
in the UK, told The Independent.

Published on Wednesday in Nature, the study analyzed how hundreds of 
lake temperatures changed across the world, from the period between 1901 
to 2099. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, lakes will 
experience hotter and longer heatwaves, researchers found.
Woolway and his team studied lake temperatures during heatwaves under 
two scenarios: high greenhouse gas emissions and low greenhouse gas 
emissions. Compared to data from the period between 1970-1999, the 
average temperature of global lakes could increase to about 1.7°C during 
heatwaves by the end of the century in a high greenhouse gas emission 
future, The Independent reported.

But high greenhouse gas emissions could increase more than just a lake's 
temperature during a heatwave. The average length of a heatwave could 
also increase from eight days to 95 days by the end of the century, The 
Independent reported.

"As lakes warm during the twenty-first century, their heatwaves will 
begin to extend across multiple seasons, with some lakes reaching a 
permanent heatwave state," the study noted.

Over the summer, the Great Lakes experienced some of their warmest 
temperatures on record. Surface water temperature in all the Great 
Lakes, except for Lake Superior, experienced temperatures in the 70s, 
The Washington Post reported in July. Lake Erie even reported 
temperatures in the 80s, similar to that of Virginia Beach.

"Ultimately, lake temperatures follow the temperatures of the 
atmosphere," Dr. Woolway told The Independent.

The Great Lakes water temperatures were six to eleven degrees warmer 
than normal this past summer, responding to air temperatures in the 
region that were some of the warmest ever reported, The Washington Post 
reported.

"Last year was really cold and there was a lot of rain. This year there 
hasn't been as much rain, and it's been persistently hot," Andrea Vander 
Woude, manager of the Great Lakes CoastWatch program at NOAA, told The 
Washington Post.

Some locals in the Great Lake region had nothing to complain about. "I'm 
loving this," Whitney Miller, a Michigan-based swim instructor, told the 
Record-Eagle, a newspaper in the region, according to The Washington 
Post. "Last year I was in a wetsuit up through the 15th of July ... I 
was a popsicle." However, high temperatures in lakes pose a serious 
threat to the survival of natural ecosystems, the study found.

Serving as more than just a recreational hotspot, the Great Lakes are an 
important source for clean water and economic livelihood. Nearly 90 
percent of the freshwater in the United States and approximately 20 
percent of the world's fresh water supply comes from the Great Lakes, 
according to NOAA. Millions of pounds of fish are also extracted out of 
the lakes each year.

Increases in water temperature will reduce habitat for coldwater fish, 
making the lakes more suitable habitats for invasive species and 
susceptible to dangerous algal blooms, The National Wildlife Federation 
reported.

But meeting the Paris agreement's goal of limiting global warming below 
2°C compared to pre-industrial levels could slow temperature increases 
and reduce heatwave length in lakes, the study found.

Relative to the period between 1970 and 1999, lake temperatures during 
heatwaves could be limited to just a 0.3°C increase by the end of the 
century if this goal is met. A lake's heatwave duration could also be 
limited, increasing by only 27 days, rather than 95 days in a high 
emissions future, according to the study.

To avoid major changes to lake ecosystems, action must be taken now, the 
researchers stress. "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions must remain at 
the forefront of our agenda," Dr. Woolway told The Independent.
https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-lakes-heatwaves-2650058290.html

- -

[source article in Nature]
*Lake heatwaves under climate change*
Nature volume 589, pages402–407(2021)Cite this article
Abstract

    Lake ecosystems, and the organisms that live within them, are
    vulnerable to temperature change1,2,3,4,5, including the increased
    occurrence of thermal extremes6. However, very little is known about
    lake heatwaves—periods of extreme warm lake surface water
    temperature—and how they may change under global warming. Here we
    use satellite observations and a numerical model to investigate
    changes in lake heatwaves for hundreds of lakes worldwide from 1901
    to 2099. We show that lake heatwaves will become hotter and longer
    by the end of the twenty-first century. For the
    high-greenhouse-gas-emission scenario (Representative Concentration
    Pathway (RCP) 8.5), the average intensity of lake heatwaves, defined
    relative to the historical period (1970 to 1999), will increase from
    3.7 ± 0.1 to 5.4 ± 0.8 degrees Celsius and their average duration
    will increase dramatically from 7.7 ± 0.4 to 95.5 ± 35.3 days. In
    the low-greenhouse-gas-emission RCP 2.6 scenario, heatwave intensity
    and duration will increase to 4.0 ± 0.2 degrees Celsius and 27.0 ±
    7.6 days, respectively. Surface heatwaves are longer-lasting but
    less intense in deeper lakes (up to 60 metres deep) than in
    shallower lakes during both historic and future periods. As lakes
    warm during the twenty-first century7,8, their heatwaves will begin
    to extend across multiple seasons, with some lakes reaching a
    permanent heatwave state. Lake heatwaves are likely to exacerbate
    the adverse effects of long-term warming in lakes and exert
    widespread influence on their physical structure and chemical
    properties. Lake heatwaves could alter species composition by
    pushing aquatic species and ecosystems to the limits of their
    resilience. This in turn could threaten lake biodiversity9 and the
    key ecological and economic benefits that lakes provide to society.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03119-1



[Fundamental science from the New Yorker]
*The Climate Crisis*
If one wanted a basic rule of thumb for dealing with the climate crisis, 
it would be: stop burning things. Human beings have made use of 
combustion for a very long time, ever since the first campfires cooked 
the first animals for dinner, allowing our brains to get larger. Now 
those large brains have come to understand that burning stuff is 
destroying the stable climate on which civilization depends.

By this point, it’s pretty clear to almost everyone that we’d be better 
off not burning coal, the first fossil fuel that we learned to set on 
fire in a big way. The explosions set off by a billion spark plugs every 
second around the world are—for serious motorheads—being replaced by the 
electric engines in the most admired cars on earth. Even natural gas, 
long heralded as the clean fossil fuel, is now widely understood to be 
climate-dangerous, spewing both CO2 and methane. That leaves the 
original fuel for fires: wood.

In the early years of the climate crisis, scientists thought that 
“biomass” was an exception to the burning rule. That’s because, when you 
cut down a tree and burn it, another one eventually grows in its place, 
theoretically sucking up the carbon dioxide that the burning emitted. 
But, in recent years, researchers have upended those calculations. For 
one thing, wood burns inefficiently, producing large amounts of carbon 
for each unit of energy that it produces. Worse, it takes decades for 
those forests to regrow and suck up that carbon—decades that we don’t 
have. We’re breaking the back of the climate system in real time and, as 
we’ve known for years, burning wood hurts, not helps. So far, 
large-scale biomass-burning to produce electricity has not become a 
major factor in the United States, but the fight is on: in 
Massachusetts, for example, where there’s a proposal to build an 
enormous wood-burning plant in Springfield, opponents are trying to 
insure that biomass isn’t counted as renewable energy under state 
guidelines.

In Europe, where official E.U. policy still treats biomass as 
“carbon-neutral,” the dystopia is much further advanced. Big 
coal-powered stations have been reconfigured to burn wood, and, as Hazel 
Sheffield recently made clear in a long exposé for the Guardian, the 
demand for pellets to keep those boilers fired—particularly in the 
Netherlands, Denmark, and the U.K.—is stripping forests in places such 
as Estonia and Latvia. As Timothy Searchinger points out, in the Los 
Angeles Times, the Dutch and the Danes may start phasing out subsidies, 
but the British plan on giving ten billion euros by 2027 to the giant 
Drax power plant, in the North of England, one of the world’s largest 
woodstoves. And much of the wood to stoke that conflagration is actually 
being shipped from the Southeast United States, where, according to a 
long investigative piece in The Daily Climate, by Danielle Purifoy, the 
industrial-scale deforestation—hold your surprise—“is bringing air 
pollution, noise and reduced biodiversity in majority Black 
communities.” As one North Carolina resident put it, “When I looked at 
the officer that was choking George Floyd, and he said ‘I can’t 
breathe,’ this is the same thing that the industries are doing to our 
communities.”

A pair of recent scientific studies in the journal Frontiers in Forests 
and Global Change make even clearer the utter folly of what we’re doing: 
one, conducted in the Pacific Northwest, by researchers, including 
Beverly Law’s team at the Oregon State University College of Forestry, 
shows that big trees are superb carbon sinks (three per cent of the 
largest trees contain almost half the forest’s carbon); the other, led 
by the eminent climate scientist William R. Moomaw, compares planting 
trees with simply preserving existing groves: “growing existing forests 
intact to their ecological potential—termed proforestation—is a more 
effective, immediate, and low-cost approach that could be mobilized 
across suitable forests of all types.”

It’s possible to stop burning things on planet Earth because of our 
solar system’s star, ninety-three million miles away. The sun’s not 
quite like a campfire—it’s a ball of gas heated by nuclear fusion—but 
close enough. And, for at least the next billion years, we can expect it 
to send the light that activates solar panels, and to heat the earth in 
ways that drive our winds. Since the large brain originally underwritten 
by those fire-cooked meals has figured out how to take advantage of that 
distant force (check out the newest wind turbine from G.E., roughly 
twice the size of the London Eye Ferris wheel and able to power a town 
of twelve thousand homes), we can, and must, bring the combustion age to 
a swift end.
https://link.newyorker.com/view/5e4f6ed6954fcf61233b06c1dja6i.w3f/476b561c



["Jump, Chute and Win!" ]
*Smokejumpers replace priests as mascot of Missoula school*
Bill Gabbert - January 22, 2021
Poll: help them choose a new “Smokejumpers” logo for their school

Since 1890 the mascot of DeSmet Public School in Missoula, Montana has 
been Padres — Catholic priests. As the facility is undergoing a major $6 
million renovation it seemed like a good time to reevaluate their 
mascot. DeSmet is not affiliated with any religion, and since all 
priests are male, some females at the school could not relate to it.

The Missoula Smokejumper Base is virtually across the street from the 
school. Principal Matt Driessen said their students can see their planes 
take off from the airport on training flights and watch the smokejumpers 
parachute from the aircraft and land on the ground. He said the jumpers 
then run back to the base as part of their training.

Smokejumpers made the list of 100 possible mascots that the 
administration submitted to the students. And, that’s what they 
selected. They are about to become the DeSmet Smokejumpers.

But they need a new logo,...
See the 4 logos -- 
https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DeSmet-Smokejumpers-Logo-Options.jpg
The decision of which image to choose is up to the students, of course. 
But we can weigh in, using the poll. Principle Driessen is fine with us 
helping them make their decisions.

He also said a new mascot is going to require new uniforms.

“Once chosen, the school will need to purchase new uniforms for the 
teams,” said Principle Driessen. “We are a small K-8 elementary school 
with a population of about 110 students.  If you would like to donate to 
the cause, we are always pleased and thankful for donations.”

You can send donations to:
DeSmet Elementary
New Uniforms
6355 Padre Lane
Missoula, MT 59808

Below is an excerpt from an article at the Missoulian:

    Driessen said the kids saw the smokejumpers as the best of the best
    — tough, fierce and skilled. They’re heroic, smart and the elite of
    the wildland firefighters. They are everything the kids want to
    aspire toward.

    “When I got the call from the school it was really humbling and
    flattering that they chose us as a mascot,” said Dan Cottrell, the
    training foreman at the Missoula Smokejumper Base. “We were proud
    and we were excited and just really thrilled that they, you know,
    thought of us and gave us that opportunity.”

After the students make their selection, we will update this article. 
Watch this space.
https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/01/22/smokejumpers-replace-priests-as-mascot-of-missoula-school/



[Halki Summit IV: COVID-19 and Climate Change]
*“COVID-19 and Climate Change: Living with and Learning from a Pandemic”
*
January 26-28, 2020
A Series of Webinars at 8pm EST
Sponsored by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
What has been the impact on nature and the environment? What have been 
the implications for healthcare? And what have we understood about the 
relevance and importance of science?
*Program -Impact on Nature*
January 26, 2021 @ 8:00 PM EST

The novel coronavirus is a global human and ecological crisis. Covid-19 
is a stark reminder of our failed relationship with nature. Loss of 
wildlife and natural habitats, as well as the repercussions of such 
losses on poorer and indigenous communities, are exacerbated by 
infectious diseases. What does climate change teach us about the 
coronavirus? How does the coronavirus affect climate change? What have 
we learned and what have we yet to learn about this pandemic or how the 
social, economic, and ecological impacts can be mitigated?

Speakers: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Bill McKibben
Jeffrey Sachs
Mary Evelyn Tucker
- -
*Program - Importance of Science*
January 27, 2021 @ 8:00 PM EST

While politics and science – and by analogy, religion and science – do 
not always mix well, the pandemic has compelled them to enter a 
relationship, even if with some regret or resistance. How have 
governments responded to scientists and the science of Covid-19? How 
have churches responded to scientists and the science of Covid-19? Does 
a vaccine solve all our problems? Are we prepared to make necessary 
changes in our lives? How has Covid-19 affected science and technology, 
as well as our perception of science and religion?

Speakers: Metropolitan John of Pergamon
Nadia Abuelezam
Katharine Hayhoe
Gayle Woloschak
- -
*Program - Implications for Health*
January 28, 2021 @ 8:00 PM EST

As the novel coronavirus affects the lives of millions of people 
throughout the world, rising above national boundaries and racial 
differences, it has invariably left an indelible mark on matters of 
public health and mental health. What is the importance of coordination 
and cooperation, of mandatory lockdowns and social distancing, as well 
as of leadership and support? And what is the tradeoff between health 
and economy? What is the appropriate response to – and what have we 
learned about – the need to care for people?

Speakers: Sotiris Tsiodras
Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago
Sandra Mathoslah
George Stavros
http://www.halkisummit.com/hs4/



[action steps]
*Young people can do more than organize. We can also help make climate 
policy.*
By Piper Christian and Michelle D. Hernandez on Jan 21, 2021

The world of the possible Subscribe To Shift Happens
Piper Christian is a junior at the University of Utah. In 2018, she 
helped pass the first resolution in Utah history recognizing climate 
change. Michelle Diane Hernandez is the cofounder and co-facilitator of 
the Cities Working Group for the United Nations Framework Convention on 
Climate Change's Official Youth Constituency. Both are Public Voices 
Fellows of the OpEd Project and Yale Program on Climate Change 
Communication.

At a virtual fundraiser last July, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden 
said, “I want young climate activists, young people everywhere, to know: 
I see you. I hear you. I understand the urgency, and together we can get 
this done.” As young climate activists from Utah and New York, we not 
only want to be seen and heard, we want our demographic to help design 
and implement climate policy.

Young people’s leadership has elevated the climate crisis so effectively 
that it is now a priority in the White House. The Fridays for Future 
campaign, which included more than 2,500 organized protests in 150 
countries, was the largest global climate crisis demonstration in 
history. The Sunrise Movement alone contacted 3.5 million young voters 
in swing states leading up to the 2020 election.

But we are capable of more than activism. Given the opportunity to 
collaborate with lawmakers and leaders, we can push meaningful climate 
policies. Michelle spearheaded a delegation to the 2019 World Mayors 
Summit, where young leaders competed to design climate plans, with the 
winning ideas presented to elected leaders. In Utah, Piper organized a 
student coalition that successfully advocated for a state resolution 
recognizing climate change, helping to convince the legislature to later 
appropriate $200,000 to create an Air Quality and Changing Climate 
Roadmap. Students in Carmel, Indiana, convinced their elected officials 
to pass the first city-level climate action plan in the state; in St. 
Louis Park, Minnesota, a youth-led coalition moved its city council to 
commit to carbon neutrality by 2040.

We are proud to be part of a movement that is motivating leaders at all 
levels to support progressive climate policies and plans. But unless 
young people have a personal connection to someone in government who 
will champion them, they often are left out of the policymaking process. 
That’s why states and cities must create youth climate advisory 
positions and climate councils with the power to make policy 
recommendations, oppose environmentally harmful measures, and hold 
officials accountable to follow through on climate-action plans.

A growing number of governmental bodies have done just that. In 
Portland, Oregon, one such panel testified in support of resolutions 
banning new fossil fuel infrastructure and endorsing clean energy; 
opposed new gas plants, oil trains, and fossil fuel terminals; and 
organized environmental-equity forums. Members of an inaugural climate 
council in San Antonio, Texas, who are primarily youth of color and 
students who have been historically underrepresented in the 
environmental movement, will meet with environmental stakeholders and 
make recommendations to help the city achieve its Climate Action and 
Adaptation Plan.

Typically, climate policy councils are made up of environmental experts 
and elected representatives. We still need them. But young people have a 
unique understanding of the climate crisis. Our futures especially are 
at stake, so we are motivated to address the looming crisis. Yes, we may 
lack experience in crafting policy, but this inexperience grants us the 
imagination to conceive of transformational solutions. Systemic change 
is required to address this existential problem, and the fresh 
perspectives of young people will be necessary to accomplish this.

Yes, we may lack experience in crafting policy, but this inexperience 
grants us the imagination to conceive of transformational solutions.
Moreover, young people may be able to overcome the partisanship and 
polarization within climate politics, which is less of a problem among 
millennials than older generations, as younger conservatives 
increasingly join the movement. Young people have led organizations from 
across the political spectrum, from the progressive Sunrise Movement 
working for a Green New Deal to the conservative Students for Carbon 
Dividends advocating for national carbon-pricing policies.

Millennials and Gen Z also tend to view the issue through a more 
intersectional lens, giving consideration of race, class, disability, 
and gender within the response to the climate crisis. Mari Copeny, the 
14-year-old activist also known as Little Miss Flint, raised national 
awareness about the water crisis in her predominantly Black community 
and called out the role of environmental racism. Jasilyn Charger, an 
activist from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, was part of a small group 
of youth organizers who set up some of the earliest demonstrations 
against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation. 
Understanding that climate change disproportionately impacts different 
communities is essential to ensuring that new climate policies do not 
exacerbate existing disparities.

Today’s young people will become the adults who carry out environmental 
policies for decades to come, so we must hold formal positions in 
crafting the bold climate policies we all deserve.
https://grist.org/fix/young-people-climate-policy/


[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - January 23, 2007 *

After six years, President George W. Bush finally addresses global 
climate change in his State of the Union address.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqoM1AgE9ig


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