[✔️] April 27, 2022 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*April 27, 2022*/

/[  AP News brings an important message ]/
//*Weary of many disasters? UN says worse to come*
By SETH BORENSTEIN
April 26, 2022
A disaster-weary globe will be hit harder in the coming years by even 
more catastrophes colliding in an interconnected world, a United Nations 
report issued Monday says.

If current trends continue the world will go from around 400 disasters 
per year in 2015 to an onslaught of about 560 catastrophes a year by 
2030, the scientific report by the United Nations Office for Disaster 
Risk Reduction said. By comparison from 1970 to 2000, the world suffered 
just 90 to 100 medium to large scale disasters a year, the report said.

The number of extreme heat waves in 2030 will be three times what it was 
in 2001 and there will be 30% more droughts, the report predicted. It’s 
not just natural disasters amplified by climate change, it’s COVID-19, 
economic meltdowns and food shortages. Climate change has a huge 
footprint in the number of disasters, report authors said.
People have not grasped how much disasters already cost today, said Mami 
Mizutori, chief of the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction, “If we 
don’t get ahead of the curve it will reach a point where we cannot 
manage the consequences of disaster,” she said. “We’re just in this 
vicious cycle.”
That means society needs to rethink how it finances, handles and talks 
about the risk of disasters and what it values the most, the report 
said. About 90% of the spending on disasters currently is emergency 
relief with only 6% on reconstruction and 4% on prevention, Mizutori 
said in an interview Monday.

Not every hurricane or earthquake has to turn into a disaster, Mizutori 
said. A lot of damage is avoided with planning and prevention.

In 1990, disasters cost the world about $70 billion a year. Now they 
cost more than $170 billion a year, and that’s after adjusting for 
inflation, according to report authors. Nor does that include indirect 
costs we seldom think about that add up, Mizutori said.

For years disaster deaths were steadily decreasing because of better 
warnings and prevention, Mizutori said. But in the last five years, 
disaster deaths are “way more” than the previous five years, said report 
co-author Roger Pulwarty, a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration climate and social scientist.

That’s because both COVID-19 and climate change disasters have come to 
places that didn’t used to get them, like tropical cyclones hitting 
Mozambique, Mizutori said. It’s also the way disasters interact with 
each other, compounding damage, like wildfires plus heatwaves or a war 
in Ukraine plus food and fuel shortages, Pulwarty said.

Pulwarty said if society changes the way it thinks about risk and 
prepares for disasters, then the recent increase in yearly disaster 
deaths could be temporary, otherwise it’s probably “the new abnormal.”
Disasters are hitting poorer countries harder than richer ones, with 
recovery costs taking a bigger chunk out of the economy in nations that 
can’t afford it, co-author Markus Enenkel of the Harvard Humanitarian 
Initiative said.

“These are the events that can wipe out hard-earned development gains, 
leading already vulnerable communities or entire regions into a downward 
spiral,” he said.

The sheer onslaught of disasters just add up, like little illnesses 
attacking and weakening the body’s immune system, Pulwarty said.

The report calls for an overhaul in how we speak about risk. For 
example, instead of asking about the chances of a disaster happening 
this year, say 5%, officials should think about the chances over a 
25-year period, which makes it quite likely. Talking about 100-year 
floods or chances of something happening a couple times in 100 years 
makes it seem distant, Mizutori said.

“In a world of distrust and misinformation, this is a key to moving 
forward,” said University of South Carolina Hazards Vulnerability and 
Resilience Institute Co-Director Susan Cutter, who wasn’t part of the 
report. “We can move forward to reduce the underlying drivers of risk: 
Inequality, poverty and most significantly climate change.”
https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-united-nations-natural-disasters-fa1d16ad7d59c7629bb1a9a955a494b0



/[ Down-under has some under-tow ] /
*While Australians are joining radical climate activism, the government 
is designing new laws to stop them*
ROHIT RAO on 04/26/2022
THESE LAWS, AND THEIR HURRIED LEGISLATION, HAVE BEEN CRITICISED BY CIVIL 
SOCIETY GROUPS FOR ATTEMPTING TO UNDERMINE THE ABILITY FOR ANYONE TO 
EXERCISE THEIR FREEDOM TO PROTEST.
Australia is witnessing a new surge in civil disobedience as a form of 
climate activism. Earlier this month, protestors from a new activist 
group called Fireproof Australia obstructed traffic and shut down major 
roads in Sydney, including in Mansfield and on the Harbour Bridge, 
during peak hour. In March, members of another group, Blockade Australia 
targeted Port Botany, NSW’s largest coal container port, over five days. 
They shut off access points to the port, and one activist, 26-year-old 
Max Curmi, scaled a 60-metre crane to prevent a ship from being loaded...
- -
Scientists are publishing research on environmental issues and offering 
policy pathways to governments. People are trying to work ‘within the 
machine’ as policy-makers with more progressive climate agendas. And 
artists are responding to the crisis in (my biased opinion) the best way 
of all- harnessing creativity, science and emotion to tell compelling 
stories about our current predicament, in a way that could unite us all. 
But not everyone is lucky enough to be a lawyer, scientist, or policy 
maker, or stupid enough to be an artist. Joining a protest or an 
activist group remains the single greatest levelling ground, in 
providing everyone with an outlet and a means to be heard. And until the 
Australian government actually implements good climate policies, there’s 
no law that can put a stop to that.
https://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/31080/while-australians-are-joining-radical-climate-activism-the-government-is-designing-new-laws-to-stop-them


/[  Water out West ] /
*As Lake Powell dries up, the US turns to creative accounting for a 
short-term fix*
A new agreement calls for Western states to leave their drinking water 
in the reservoir — and act as if they didn't.
Jake Bittle Apr 26, 2022
Earlier this month, as water levels in the Lake Powell reservoir fell to 
record lows amid the ongoing Western drought, the federal government 
asked seven states that rely on the Colorado River to work out an 
emergency conservation deal. The states had been scheduled to receive 
river water that was stored in the lake, but releasing the water would 
have drained the reservoir further, threatening its ability to generate 
hydroelectric power for millions of people and raising utility bills for 
towns and tribes across the West. The feds also revealed that declining 
reservoir levels would endanger the tubes that carry water past the 
dam’s hydropower turbine, potentially depriving multiple communities of 
drinking water and compromising “public health and safety.”
Late last week, the states agreed to forfeit their water from Lake 
Powell in order to ensure that the reservoir can still produce power. 
The deal puts a finger in the metaphorical dike, postponing an 
inevitable reckoning with the years-long drought that has parched the 
Colorado River — and a wrenching tradeoff between power access and water 
access for millions. It does so, in part, through an unusual act of 
hydrological accounting.

The deal has two parts. The first and more straightforward part is that 
the federal government will move 500,000 acre-feet of water (about 162 
billion gallons) from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir into Lake Powell, 
bumping up water levels in the latter body. Flaming Gorge, which 
stretches across Wyoming and Utah, is mostly used for water recreation, 
so the immediate effects of the transfer will be minimal. The feds could 
do more of these water transfers later in the year if things get worse, 
drawing on water from other nearby reservoirs...
The second part is more complicated — and less helpful. In ordinary 
circumstances, the Bureau of Reclamation releases water from Lake Powell 
into an even larger reservoir called Lake Mead, from which it then flows 
to households and farms across the Southwest. As part of the deal, the 
states that rely on Mead water are agreeing to leave about 480,000 
acre-feet of that water in Lake Powell, thus lowering the water levels 
in Mead. (Reclamation already announced earlier this year that it would 
delay the release of 350,000 acre-feet of water in Powell in 
anticipation of spring snow runoff.)

The problem is that Lake Mead’s falling water level has huge 
implications for water access in the Southwest. Pursuant to a drought 
contingency plan worked out back in 2019, declines in Mead trigger 
mandatory water reductions for states like Nevada and Arizona. The first 
of these reductions arrived last year, when the river entered a 
so-called “Tier 1” shortage, resulting in a 30 percent cut to Arizona’s 
water allocation. This has forced farmers in the Phoenix area to fallow 
their cotton and alfalfa fields. Officials expect the river to enter a 
Tier 2a or 2b shortage in the coming years, which would mean even larger 
cuts. Keeping water in Lake Powell makes it more likely the reservoir 
will reach that threshold.

The deal contains an eyebrow-raising workaround for this. In exchange 
for leaving the water in Lake Powell rather than having it flow to Lake 
Mead, the states get something in return: Officials at the Bureau of 
Reclamation will act as if that the water did go to Mead, thus treating 
Mead’s water level as though it’s higher than it really is. The hope 
here is to avoid triggering the cuts that would accompany a Tier 2b 
shortage declaration, even though the actual water level in the 
reservoir will likely fall low enough to warrant such cuts.
In other words, the states have agreed to ensure Lake Powell has more 
water than it should, and in return they get to pretend as though Lake 
Mead has more water than it does. The deal protects the towns and tribal 
communities that rely on Powell for water, but only for a short time: 
The ongoing drought has shown no signs of letting up, and it’s only a 
matter of time before water levels in Powell fall back into the danger 
zone, jeopardizing hydropower access and drinking water quality.

The Bureau of Reclamation did not respond to Grist’s requests for 
comment. An announcement confirming the agreement is expected later this 
week.
For the millions of people who rely on Lake Mead, meanwhile, the deal 
just postpones a shortage declaration that was bound to arrive in a few 
years anyway. It may give states like Arizona more time to figure out 
how to cope with declining water allotments, but it won’t stop cotton 
fields from going fallow or absolve suburbs like Scottsdale of the need 
to drastically reduce their water usage.

For as long as there’s a drought on the Colorado, federal officials will 
have to choose between hydroelectric power in communities that depend on 
Lake Powell and water access in those that rely on Lake Mead. The sudden 
advent of this new short-term deal shows not only that these decisions 
are not going away, but that they will arrive faster than any of the 
parties on the river ever thought they would...
https://grist.org/energy/lake-powell-lake-mead-colorado-river-water/



/[  Opinion, speaking of unspeakable political malfeasance  ] /
*GREENS GROUPS' CLIMATE HAIL MARY:* Green groups are blitzing Capitol 
Hill this week to press Democrats on salvaging the core clean energy 
components of the Build Back Better legislation that Sen. Joe Manchin 
halted last year, as the West Virginia senator is sending out feelers on 
bipartisan support for climate action.

The effort comes as the White House acknowledged the domestic policy 
package remains a "big priority" for the president, with two senior 
White House aides telling House Democratic chiefs of staff this week 
that the administration is having ongoing conversations about the path 
to resuscitating at least some parts of the climate and social spending 
bill, as our Congress team reported.

While environmental groups last year saw Biden's agenda as consistent 
with the “Green New Deal” strategy to link environmental action with 
related investments in education, health care and affordable housing, 
many now say it's time to toss in the towel on some of the progressives' 
social policies in order to secure a narrower deal on Manchin’s terms, 
Pro's Josh Siegel and Zack Colman report this morning.

“We have no doubt this is the last chance to get reconciliation done,” 
said Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for energy and environment 
policy with the Center for American Progress. “We are talking years if 
not another decade before we get another opportunity. It’s either going 
to come together now around that framework that Sen. Manchin has said he 
has agreed to, or it’s over. We feel the finality of this across the 
climate movement.”

Manchin is pressing President Joe Biden to restart new offshore oil and 
gas lease sales and expedite exports of natural gas to increase U.S. 
energy security and lower inflated energy prices. And green 
organizations are inclined to accept a trade-off for legislation that 
helps speed the growth of clean energy that offers a short-term boost 
for fossil fuels in order to reach a deal by Memorial Day, Josh and Zack 
report.

“There may be a price to be paid on the [oil and gas] supply side, and 
it might hurt,” said Melinda Pierce, legislative director of the Sierra 
Club.

    Sen. Joe Manchin speaks during a news conference.
    https://static.politico.com/57/58/58db58c54fccba30f8279e228614/russia-ukraine-war-congress-31338.jpg
    Senate Energy Chair Joe Manchin. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Manchin, for his part, is separately trying to find some consensus on a 
bipartisan climate and energy package. Julie Tsirkin of NBC News 
reported last night that the West Virginia senator and Sen. Lisa 
Murkowski (R-Alaska) organized a climate-focused meeting Monday night on 
the Hill, including Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tom Carper (D-Del.), 
Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and 
John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

“Tonight’s meeting was an effort to gauge bipartisan interest in a path 
forward that addressed our nation’s climate and energy security needs 
head on,” Manchin’s spokesperson confirmed to ME.

Cramer also told ME he thinks Manchin is “genuinely interested in seeing 
what’s possible given the moment we find ourselves in with Europe asking 
for our help and Americans frustrated with energy inflation.” He said he 
hopes to do something outside reconciliation, but couldn’t speak for 
Manchin’s preference.
https://www.politico.com/morningenergy/



/[ Zoom meeting  May 10th ]/
*Free Zoom May 10th: How to deal with climate change anxiety or anger 
from a non-scientific perspective*
https://www.joboneforhumanity.org/how_to_deal_with_climate_change_an



/[The news archive - looking back]/
*April 27, 2009*
*NPR reports:*

    "Sixteen nations are responsible for 80 percent of the world's
    greenhouse gas emissions. Now those nations, dubbed the 'major
    emitters,' are sending representatives to a conference beginning
    Monday in Washington, D.C., to see if they can work together to slow
    the pace of climate change.

    "The Obama administration has moved quickly to deal with climate
    change in the international arena. It has joined the United Nations
    talks that will take place in Copenhagen later this year and are
    aimed at developing a climate-change treaty. It is working
    one-on-one with China — which recently surpassed the U.S. as the
    world's largest carbon emitter.

    "And in the meetings that start Monday, the Obama administration is
    convening the 16 nations that contribute most to climate change."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103465542


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