[✔️] July 9, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[👀 Richard Pauli]

/*July 9, 2021*/

[changes]
*Drought Spreads to 93 Percent of West—That’s Never Happened*
The extreme dry conditions threaten crops and raise wildfire risks
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/drought-spreads-to-93-percent-of-west-thats-never-happened/



[big changes]
*World ‘must step up preparations for extreme heat’*
Rising temperatures may be hitting faster and harder than forecast, say 
climate scientists in wake of heatwave in US and Canada
Jonathan Watts -- 7 Jul 2021
The world needs to step up preparations for extreme heat, which may be 
hitting faster and harder than previously forecast, a group of leading 
climate scientists have warned in the wake of freakishly high 
temperatures in Canada and the US.

Last week’s heat dome above British Columbia, Washington state and 
Portland, Oregon smashed daily temperature records by more than 5C (9F) 
in some places – a spike that would have been considered impossible two 
weeks ago, the experts said, prompting concerns the climate may have 
crossed a dangerous threshold.

A first analysis of the heatwave, released on Wednesday, found that 
human-caused climate change made the extreme weather at least 150 times 
more likely...
- -
“We thought we knew what was going on … Then this heatwave came which 
was way above the upper bound. With the knowledge of last year this was 
impossible. This was surprising and shaking,” he said. “We are now much 
less certain about heatwaves than we were two weeks ago. We are very 
worried about the possibility of this happening everywhere but we just 
don’t know yet.”

Recent headlines have focused on the US and Canada, which hit a record 
of 49.6C at a latitude similar to the UK. More than 500 deaths have been 
linked to the heat, which also sparked forest fires, glacial meltwater 
floods, power cuts and buckled roads.

The scientists stressed that similar heating trends could be found in 
many other parts of the world, though they often go underreported, 
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which does not have as many 
monitoring stations and which receives much less media coverage. Parts 
of Siberia and Pakistan have recently experienced unusually intense 
heatwaves. Hottest-ever June days were also recorded last month in 
Helsinki, Moscow and Estonia.

The World Weather Attribution group has previously traced a strong link 
between the climate crisis and other extreme events including the 2020 
heatwave in Siberia, the 2019-20 Australian wildfires, European 
heatwaves in 2018 and 2019, and Tropical Storm Imelda, which hit Texas 
in 2019.

More than storms and floods, Otto said human emissions had the clearest 
and most destructive influence on heatwaves, which are now reaching 
levels that are not adequately represented in current computer models.

“What everyone needs to take from this study is how the impact of 
climate change is manifesting today is to a large degree in the strong 
intensity and frequency of heatwaves,” she said.

The costs – in terms of deaths, illness, missed work hours and property 
damage – were growing rapidly, said Maarten van Aalst of the Red Cross 
Red Crescent Climate Centre and the University of Twente.

“Heatwaves topped the global charts of deadliest disasters in both 2019 
and 2020. Here we have another terrible example – sadly no longer a 
surprise but part of a very worrying global trend,” he said.

The reported toll is likely to be an underestimate because heat is 
rarely mentioned on death certificates. Van Aalst urged governments to 
strengthen early warning systems and countermeasures for heatwaves. 
Architects and city planners should also design buildings and urban 
centres with more green space and cooling areas.

More urgent still, said the scientists, was a rapid phase-out of the 
emissions that are causing global heating. At the current level of 
warming – about 1.2C above pre-industrial levels – the recent deadly 
heat in the north-west Americas is considered extraordinary, but the new 
study found that it could occur once every five to 10 years if global 
temperatures rise by 2C, which could come as early as 2050.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/07/world-must-step-up-preparations-for-extreme-heat..



[NYTimes has some stunning graphics and images in this report- nifty]
*The climate crisis haunts Chicago’s future. A Battle Between a Great 
City and a Great Lake*
By DAN EGAN - JULY 7, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/climate/chicago-river-lake-michigan.html


[This is a must-hear video from Noam Chomsky]
*A Conversation with Noam Chomsky*
Jul 8, 2021
Facing Future
Stuart Scott and #NoamChomsky discuss their views about death and the 
afterlife, as well as the critical need for activism to produce change. 
Co-hosted by Dale Walkonen, FacingFuture is honored to present Professor 
Chomsky’s ideas about politics, economics, OPEC, nuclear proliferation, 
and disinformation, all of which have moved the hands of the 
#DoomsdayClock to 100 seconds before midnight.

He fears that if climate deniers hold the reins of power, the clock may 
well reach midnight. But
Noam finds hope in young activists like Greta Thunberg, Alexandria 
Ocasio-Cortez, and in the #SunriseMovement. He notes that the New Deal 
happened because there was overwhelming public pressure on FDR to act 
decisively. The #GreenNewDeal will require no less effort. Stuart 
advocates going to the offices of our leaders to demand action.
Noam tells us that although we’re living in a world of total illusion 
and fantasy, we have to dedicate ourselves with energy and commitment to 
using the opportunities that we have. Then, there is a chance that we 
will survive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8gXe6fejew



[the battleground of public opinion]
*How misinformation propped up Ohio lawmakers’ latest attack on renewables*
Unsupported and misleading statements were the “means to the end” for a 
bill to cripple new solar and wind energy in Ohio, critics say.
by Kathiann M. Kowalski -- July 7, 2021
False and unsubstantiated claims about renewable energy have flourished 
for years, but critics say different forms of misinformation played a 
big role in Ohio lawmakers’ latest move to stifle the growth of wind and 
solar energy.

“Misinformation is the means to the end,” said Trish Demeter, chief of 
staff for the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund. “Misinformation, 
bad information, misconstrued information, partial information: All of 
those are tactics that are supporting the goal, which is to block and 
kill renewable energy from being built in Ohio.”

Senate Bill 52 would let counties keep out new solar and wind farms from 
all or part of their territories, holding those projects to a higher 
standard than fossil fuel infrastructure.

In the case of natural gas, for example, Ohio courts have struck down 
local zoning laws and other restrictions. And on July 1, Gov. Mike 
DeWine signed House Bill 201 into law, forbidding local governments from 
banning natural gas.

In contrast, SB 52 would let counties prevent or limit any particular 
solar or wind project within their borders. Passed in the wee hours of 
June 29 with some changes from earlier versions, SB 52 still gives local 
governments multiple chances to nix renewable energy projects or break 
them up. Counties and local townships also would get two votes on Ohio 
Power Siting Board decisions for those projects.

At a minimum, SB 52 extends project timelines and adds uncertainty that 
critics say will discourage developers from choosing Ohio for renewable 
energy projects, causing the state to lose out on thousands of jobs.

Beyond that, it would let local governments restrict property owners’ 
rights to enter into lease agreements. And its restrictions apply only 
to renewable energy — not fossil fuel projects.

Lawmakers and SB 52 supporters used misinformation in multiple ways to 
move the bill forward, according to critics. In their view, even if the 
same outcome would have resulted anyway, playing fast and loose with 
facts makes it harder to hold politicians accountable for actions that 
discourage or disadvantage renewables.

“We are reviewing the bill and do not have an estimated timeline for 
executive action,” DeWine spokesperson Dan Tierney said on Tuesday 
afternoon.

Shifting themes
“It’s a real challenge in Ohio with disinformation,” said Andrew Gohn, 
director of eastern state affairs for American Clean Power. For years, 
the industry association has seen a lot of misinformation about wind 
turbines and alleged health impacts.

“There was never any health evidence to support those claims,” Gohn said.

For SB 52 in Ohio, Gohn noted that proponents’ testimony included false 
statements aimed at splintering support for renewable projects. “It 
definitely strikes me as a pernicious kind of misinformation,” Gohn said.

As one example, Gohn noted baseless claims by some bill supporters that 
solar arrays could contaminate soil with chemicals such as lead or 
cadmium. But crystalline cadmium telluride, used in some solar panels, 
is not the same as free cadmium. Studies on simulated landfill 
conditions or hypotheticals about new solar panels in development don’t 
address real-world conditions when panels are in use. And manufacturing 
processes encapsulate active layers of photovoltaic cells in any event.

Solar panels “are 100% fully sealed. There’s nothing in there that can 
leak,” said Jason Rafeld, executive director of the Utility Scale Solar 
Energy Coalition of Ohio. In a similar vein, he said, none of the 
supporting structures for solar farms are deep enough to affect 
groundwater.

“These kinds of myths? They’re not myths,” Rafeld said. “They’re blatant 
lies, or they’re at least misinformation that gets out there.” Such 
statements make it harder for developers to address reasonable questions 
people may have about efforts to grow Ohio’s solar energy industry, he said.

Other misinformation downplays the ability of solar and wind farms to 
produce substantial amounts of electricity.

Two days before SB 52’s introduction in February, Senate President Matt 
Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp, both Republicans from Lima, spoke 
with an anti-renewable group. “The problem is that solar doesn’t really 
produce that much electricity,” Huffman claimed, referring to the fact 
that solar is currently a small share of the generation portfolio. “My 
goal is to make sure the [Birch Solar] project doesn’t go forward,” he said.

Other statements confuse the efficiency and ability of solar and wind 
farms to produce electricity with their capacity factor for purposes of 
PJM auctions, Gohn noted. Both types of statements unfairly downplay 
renewable energy’s ability to reduce emissions that drive human-caused 
climate change, in his view.

“They seem designed to break that coalition of individuals who care 
about those issues,” he said. “If you say wind and solar do not reduce 
carbon emissions, then that’s essentially trying to undermine the core 
constituency that supports wind and solar.”

In fact, the International Energy Agency reported that renewables had 
record growth in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with a 90% rise in 
global wind capacity and a 23% jump in photovoltaic installations. As of 
June 2021, more than 2.9 million solar systems installed in the United 
States offset 116 metric tons of carbon emissions — the equivalent of 
shutting down 20 coal-fired power plants, according to the Solar Energy 
Industries Association.

Local control?
Hearings on SB 52 and an earlier companion bill, HB 118, also include 
inaccurate characterizations of existing law. SB 52 co-sponsor Sen. Bill 
Reineke, R-Tiffin, wrongly claimed that a lack of local regulation for 
wind and solar farms differed from the treatment for “most other energy 
sources.”

Local governments have almost no say on siting natural gas operations or 
infrastructure, and coal and natural gas power plants are regulated by 
the Ohio Power Siting Board in the same way that wind and solar farms 
have been. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses nuclear 
plants.

Reineke also claimed that residents’ ability to voice concerns or 
otherwise take part in Ohio Power Siting Board cases involving wind and 
solar farms was “meaningless.”

For years, Ohioans have testified before the board in both opposition 
and support of renewable energy projects. Local residents also have 
intervened as parties. In some cases they have had counsel with ties to 
the coal industry.

If local control were really a concern, it should apply to all types of 
energy and other projects, Demeter said. She contrasted SB 52 with HB 
201, which prevents local governments from banning natural gas 
connections in buildings. SB 52’s two primary sponsors signed on as 
co-sponsors in the Senate.

In Demeter’s view, the vote on SB 52 was “ideologically driven,” but not 
in terms of a conservative approach to limiting government interference 
and protecting property rights.

“The ideology is really simple: ‘We don’t want wind or solar here in 
Ohio,’” Demeter said.

*Less accountability?*
False information about wind and solar farms goes back more than a dozen 
years, said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the 
Energy and Policy Institute. After Ohio first enacted its renewable 
energy standards, anonymous websites spread myths, unsubstantiated 
claims and fears about hypothetical dangers. And some outspoken critics 
of renewables have had ties to fossil fuel interests, utilities or 
nuclear interests, he noted.

Similar work by Scott Peterson, executive director at the Checks and 
Balances Project, has likewise linked some wind energy opponents and 
their claims to fossil fuel interests and pro-nuclear advocates.

Yet proliferation of misinformation about renewables “definitely has 
increased” in the last few years, Anderson said. Social media, in 
particular, has become “a platform to organize and foment opposition,” 
he noted. “And it seems like HB 6 was actually an organizing tool around 
that.”

House Bill 6 is the nuclear and coal bailout law at the heart of an 
ongoing $60 million conspiracy case involving former House Speaker Larry 
Householder. Misinformation and a lack of transparency characterized the 
campaign to pass the law and prevent a referendum on it.

HB 6 also gutted Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy 
standards, which lawmakers such as Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, had 
tried to do for nearly a decade.

“Perhaps there was a feeling of empowerment after HB 6 passed, that 
there is no accountability,” Demeter said. Surveys show most Ohioans 
favor renewable energy, she noted.

Tripled property line setbacks adopted in a 2014 budget bill still limit 
wind farms. But Ohio’s solar industry has grown despite HB 6. The 
combined capacity of solar energy that is already permitted or in Ohio’s 
regulatory pipeline comes close to that of the nuclear plants for which 
FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Solutions had sought a bailout under HB 6.
*
**Lost opportunities*
Critics say SB 52 will discourage future investments in Ohio’s renewable 
energy industry, costing the state thousands of jobs as the clean energy 
industry expands nationwide in response to ongoing climate change.

“It is leaving a lot of opportunity on the table that Ohio will miss out 
on,” Demeter said. “This bill will have a generational impact. They’re 
keeping Ohio out of the global market that is renewable energy.”

Regardless of Ohio’s action, growth in renewable energy “is going to 
continue,” Demeter added. But with SB 52, “Ohio is not going to see the 
benefits.”
https://energynews.us/2021/07/07/how-misinformation-propped-up-ohio-lawmakers-latest-attack-on-renewables/




[Russia acts]
*Climate change finds a place in Russia's new National Security Strategy*
But Moscow warns against foreign attempts to politicise global warming 
and stagger Russian developments in the Arctic.
By Atle Staalesen -- July 6, 2021
The document that was signed by President Vladimir Putin on the 2nd of 
July is a significant update of the country’s security strategy from 2015.

The situation for Moscow has dramatically changed over the last years, 
and Putin has on numerous occasions highlighted his resurgent regime’s 
readiness to take action, militarily if needed, in relations with the 
abroad.

That includes the stress on “red lines” in his speech to the legislative 
assembly in April.

Moscow is not only investing heavily in its Armed Forces, but also 
militarising society, including its youth, and waging a war with the 
abroad over history and truth.

The Arctic is a top priority region for Moscow and major efforts are 
made to bolster capacities in the region. Still, the far northern region 
is only remotely mentioned in the new security strategy. The Arctic is 
referred to a total of four times, and the much-hyped Northern Sea Route 
is not even mentioned once.

But climate change has gotten a place in the strategy. It is mentioned 
nine times and described as a key reason for environmental emergency 
situations like wild fires, flooding, as well as spreading of infections 
diseases. President Putin has himself highlighted the potential major 
risks linked with the melting of permafrost. In a recent press 
conference, Putin underlined that the melting ground in the north could 
have “very serious social and economic consequences” for the country.

The strategy highlights climate change as a field for international 
cooperation. But, paradoxically, at the same time it warns against 
foreign countries’ attempts to use climate change as pretext for 
“limiting Russian companies’ access to export market, contain the 
development of Russian industry, introduce control systems over 
transport routes and stagger Russia’s development of the Arctic.”

According to the national security planners in Moscow, foreign powers 
are actively using environmental protection and climate change as 
“leverage to exert open political and economic pressure on Russia.”

Not surprisingly, information and information resources are highlighted 
as key strategic issues.

Without reference to Aleksei Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation, 
the document highlights that “extremist organisations” are actively 
using the internet to “call for mass disorder”, “destabilise the 
public-political situation” and engage youth in destructive activities.

Both foreign special services and international internet companies are 
negatively influencing the situation, the Russian security planners 
underline. One of their counter-offensive measures is the “strengthening 
of Russian [state] mass media in the global field of information.”

The Russian security planners highlight the country’s “traditional 
values” as something morally superior to the west, and accuses 
“unfriendly” states of actively trying to undermine the Russian system.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2021/07/climate-change-finds-place-russias-new-national-security-strategy



[The news archive - looking back]
*On this day in the history of global warming July 9, 2008*

July 9, 2008: The UK Daily Telegraph reports that prior to leaving the 
G8 Summit in Japan, President George W. Bush, "who has been condemned 
throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a 
private meeting with the words: 'Goodbye from the world's biggest 
polluter.' He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of 
those present including [British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown and 
[French President] Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2277298/President-George-Bush-Goodbye-from-the-worlds-biggest-polluter.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/bush-to-g8-goodbye-from-the-worlds-biggest-polluter-863911.html


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