[✔️] April 30 , 2022 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*April 30, 2022*/

/[  CNBC opinion of sustainable energy  - this is important ] /
*It’s ‘ridiculous and naive’ to think we can stop fossil fuel production 
immediately, says Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters*
Anmar Frangoul - APR 27 2022
- -Bill Winters acknowledges most people would subscribe to a “just 
transition.”
- - “The idea that we can turn off the taps and end fossil fuels 
tomorrow, it’s obviously ridiculous and naive,” Winters says.
- -“First of all, it’s not going to happen and secondly, it would be 
very disruptive,” he adds...

Commenting on the report, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres pulled 
no punches.

“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals,” he 
said. “But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are 
increasing the production of fossil fuels.”

“Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic 
madness,” Guterres said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/27/ridiculous-to-think-we-can-stop-fossil-fuel-production-immediately-ceo.html



/[ briefing from a climate scientist - 2 mins+ video ]/
*Julia Cole PhD on Climate Change in the Midwest*
Apr 29, 2022
greenmanbucket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXJwN5dq2mc



/[  24 minute video commentary ]/
*Has Biden let down climate activists?*
After campaigning on environment-friendly policies, the Biden 
administration leans heavily on fossil fuels.

Climate action was a major pillar of President Joe Biden’s election 
campaign, and he started his presidency by bringing the United States 
back into the Paris Agreement and promising to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions by 2030.

But hit with declining popularity, mainly due to inflation, his 
administration is encouraging more oil and gas drilling with hopes of 
lowering fuel prices.

Host Steve Clemons asks climate activists Jamal Raad and John Paul Mejia 
whether climate action has taken a back seat to Biden’s bigger concerns.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-bottom-line/2022/4/28/has-biden-let-down-climate-activists
https://youtu.be/WRqpcV1-tXg



/[ See how a changing climate uncovers our true history ]/
*Lake Mead plummets to unprecedented low, exposing original 1971 water 
intake valve*
By Stephanie Elam, CNN
Updated April 29, 2022
(CNN)The West is in the grips of a climate change-fueled megadrought, 
and Lake Mead -- the largest manmade reservoir in the country and a 
source of water for millions of people -- has fallen to an unprecedented 
low.

The lake's plummeting water level has exposed one of the reservoir's 
original water intake valves for the first time, officials say.

The valve had been in service since 1971 but can no longer draw water, 
according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which is responsible 
for managing water resources for 2.2 million people in Southern Nevada, 
including Las Vegas.

Across the West, extreme drought is already taking a toll this year and 
summertime heat hasn't even arrived yet. Drought conditions worsened in 
the Southwest over the past week, the US Drought Monitor reported 
Thursday. Extreme and exceptional drought, the two worst designations, 
expanded across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado -- all states that are 
part of the Colorado River basin.

New Mexico's drought has been steadily intensifying since the beginning 
of the year, and extreme or exceptional drought now covers 68% of the state.

Further West, water officials in Southern California are now demanding 
that residents and businesses limit outdoor watering to one day a week, 
after a disappointing winter with very little rain and snow. It's the 
first time they've implemented such a strict rule.

"This is a crisis. This is unprecedented," said Adel Hagekhalil, general 
manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. "We 
have never done anything like this before and because we haven't seen 
this situation happen like this before. We don't have enough water to 
meet normal demands for the six million people living in the State Water 
Project dependent areas."

At Lake Mead, photos taken Monday show the eldest of the agency's three 
intake valves high and dry above the water line.

"When the lake hit 1060 (feet above sea level), that's when you could 
start to see the top of the intake number one," said Bronson Mack, 
public outreach officer for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Lake Mead hit 1,060 feet above sea level on April 4 and stands at 1055 
feet as of Wednesday, he said.

As a result, the water authority has begun operating new, low-lake 
pumping station for the first time -- a valve situated deeper at the 
bottom of Lake Mead. The station, which began construction in 2015 and 
was completed in 2020, is capable of delivering water with the lake at a 
much lower level, and was built to protect the region's water resource 
in light of worsening drought.

"There was no impact to operation's ability to deliver water," Mack 
said. "Customers didn't notice anything. It was a seamless transition."

Water flowing down the Colorado River fills Lake Mead and Lake Powell -- 
another critical reservoir in the West -- and the river system supports 
more than 40 million people living across seven Western states and 
Mexico. Both reservoirs provide drinking water and irrigation for many 
communities across the region, including rural farms, ranches and native 
communities.

The original intake is no longer in use since it cannot draw water.

The federal government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River 
for the first time last summer. The shortage triggered mandatory water 
consumption cuts for states in the Southwest, which began in January.

And in March, Lake Powell dropped below a critical threshold that 
threatens the Glen Canyon Dam's ability to generate power.

The West is in its worst drought in centuries, scientists reported 
Monday. A study published in February found the period from 2000 to 2021 
was the driest in for the region 1,200 years.

The human-caused climate crisis has made the West's megadrought 72% 
worse, the study noted.

"We're kind of in some uncharted territory, socially and economically," 
Justin Mankin, assistant professor of geography at Dartmouth College and 
co-lead of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Drought 
Task Force, told CNN in March.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/04/27/us/water-intake-exposed-lake-mead-drought-climate/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/us/water-intake-exposed-lake-mead-drought-climate/index.html



/[ ... what now?  Radiation?? ] /
*‘This Needs to Be Fixed’: Nuclear Expert Calls Radioactivity Levels 
Found Outside Ohio Oilfield Waste Facility ‘Excessive*’
An investigation reveals elevated levels of radioactivity not far from a 
high school football stadium, and accounts from inspectors point to the 
contamination’s possible source.
By Justin Nobelon Apr 25, 2022
- -
Oil and gas development generates several voluminous waste streams, both 
liquid and solid. The radioactive signature of oilfield waste has been 
acknowledged by the oil and gas industry for decades, well before the 
advent of modern fracking in the 1990s and early 2000s. And research by 
the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that oilfield waste generated in 
the Marcellus and Utica has particularly high radioactivity levels, 
leading to “the potential for surface and aqueous radium hazards if not 
properly disposed of.”...
https://www.desmog.com/2022/04/25/this-needs-to-be-fixed-nuclear-expert-calls-radioactivity-levels-found-outside-ohio-oilfield-waste-facility-excessive/



/[Grist points out new UN Report ]/
*UN report: People have wrecked 40% of all the land on Earth*
A warning that the damage done to the land threatens many species, 
including our own.
Lina Tran - News and Politics Fellow
Apr 27, 2022
A new United Nations report released Wednesday shows farming, mining, 
and logging has marred more than half of the planet. In a portrait of 
land degradation across the globe, the report describes entire forests 
razed for timber or pasture; sensitive grasslands and wetlands lost to 
sprawling cities; and over-exploited lands that have dried up into desert.

People have altered 70 percent of Earth’s lands from their natural state 
and degraded up to 40 percent. This threatens “many species on Earth, 
including our own,” the report warns. If these trends continue, experts 
expect growing disruptions to human health, food supplies, migration, 
and biodiversity loss driven by climate change, in what the authors 
calls a “confluence of unprecedented crises.” ...
- -
The authors used “restoration” to refer to sustainable management of 
land and water. That includes practices like “rewilding” natural areas, 
protecting wetlands and waterways, prioritizing ecosystems in 
agriculture, and building green spaces in cities. They pointed to a 
number of success stories, such as efforts to rewild Argentina’s Iberá 
wetlands and prepare for dust storms in Kuwait.

“It’s not complicated,” Thiaw said. “It is actually low-tech, and it is 
accessible and achievable.” That is, if humanity can muster up the 
political will.
https://grist.org/international/un-report-land-use-damage/
- -
[ Report measuring the impact ]
*Global Land Outlook 2*
https://www.unccd.int/resources/global-land-outlook/glo2



/[The news archive - looking back]/
*April 30, 2001*
Speaking in Toronto at an annual meeting of the Associated Press, Vice 
President Dick Cheney asserts, "Conservation may be a sign of personal 
virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive 
energy policy."
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2001-05-01-cheney-usat.htm

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