<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<font size="+1"><i>August 9, 2017</i></font><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/08/542305822/photos-a-massive-wildfire-is-now-blazing-in-greenland">PHOTOS:
A 'Massive' Wildfire Is Now Blazing In Greenland</a></b><br>
In a region better known for its ice and snow, it's a fire that now
has scientists struggling to learn more. Since at least the end of
last month, a stretch of land in western Greenland has been alight
with a with a "sizable wildfire," NASA says.<br>
The agency's European counterpart, the ESA, was a little more
emotive in a recent tweet sharing imagery from one of its
satellites: "This Sentinel-2 image of Greenland shows [a] massive
forest fire," the ESA tweeted. "Yes it is Greenland."<br>
The fire is burning roughly 90 miles northeast of Sisimiut, a town
of about 5,500 that rests on the island's west coast, according to
NASA. Citing local reports, the publication Climate Central reports
the fire observed by the agency consists of a series of blazes - the
largest of which is about 3,000 acres.<br>
Researcher Stef Lhermitte of the Netherlands' Delft University of
Technology strung together a week of images of the fire, as seen
from space.<br>
"These fires appear to be peatland fires, as there are low grass,
some shrub, and lots of rocks on the western edge of the Greenland
Ice Sheet," Jessica L. McCarty of Miami University told Wildfire
Today.<br>
As The New York Times has pointed out, peat is especially vulnerable
to the effects of climate change - drying out as temperatures rise -
and especially dangerous for exacerbating climate change if it
burns.<br>
"It's carbon that has accumulated over several thousands of years,"
one researcher told the paper last year. "If it were to be released,
the global CO2 concentration would be much higher."<br>
NASA notes the fire, while not unprecedented in Greenland, still
makes for an "unusual event" on an island mostly covered by ice. The
agency points to an analysis pulled together by Lhermitte, who
demonstrates that NASA satellites have detected an "exceptional"
number of wildfires in 2017.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/08/542305822/photos-a-massive-wildfire-is-now-blazing-in-greenland">http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/08/542305822/photos-a-massive-wildfire-is-now-blazing-in-greenland</a><br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wildfire-burns-across-formerly-icy-greenland/">Wildfire
Burns across (Formerly) Icy Greenland</a></b><br>
Grasses and low vegetation on the defrosting, drying tundra are
igniting ...<br>
there is evidence of fires burning in Greenland over the past 17
years of MODIS satellite records kept by NASA. But because of how
NASA's algorithms interpret the satellite data, there's low
confidence that every fire on the map actually occurred.<br>
Jason Box, an ice sheet researcher with the Geologic Survey of
Denmark and Greenland, said he observed a lightning-sparked fire in
the late 1990s, but that otherwise, fires are rare....<br>
<font color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wildfire-burns-across-formerly-icy-greenland/">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wildfire-burns-across-formerly-icy-greenland/</a></font><br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/08/07/wildfires-are-burning-in-greenland/">Wildfires
are burning in Greenland</a></b><br>
Historically, wildfires in Greenland occur infrequently.<br>
<font color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/08/07/wildfires-are-burning-in-greenland/">http://wildfiretoday.com/2017/08/07/wildfires-are-burning-in-greenland/</a></font><br>
<b><br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-change-report-20170808-htmlstory.html">
Here's what you need to know about the government report on
climate change. For starters, it's real</a></b><br>
The conclusions contained in a draft federal report on climate
change are unequivocal: Human-induced global warming is real, and
left unchecked, the consequences could be dire.<br>
Although not new, the findings are at odds with claims by President
Trump and members of his administration, who continue to assert that
the extent of the human contribution to climate change is not clear.<br>
In June, Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the
agreement reached in Paris in 2015, in which nearly 200 countries
pledged to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases,
saying the deal was bad for the country.<br>
The report's authors, however, say the factors driving climate
change are quite clear.<br>
"Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities,
especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are primarily responsible
for the observed climate changes over the last 15 decades," the
authors wrote. "There are no alternative explanations."<br>
The report, a synthesis of the available science prepared by 13
government agencies, is part of the National Climate Assessment,
which is mandated by Congress and is supposed to be published every
four years.<br>
The latest draft has been extensively reviewed, and the authors are
waiting for permission from the Trump administration to release the
report to the public - which probably explains why it was leaked to
the New York Times....<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-change-report-20170808-htmlstory.html">http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-change-report-20170808-htmlstory.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a
href="https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/what-does-the-solar-eclipse-mean-for-solar-power#.WYh4JYc4i0Q.twitter">what
does the solar eclipse mean for solar power? (Press Release -
Duke Energy) </a><br>
</b>This unusual eclipse is a balancing act for energy companies<br>
When the Great American Eclipse glides over the country on Aug. 21,
the moon will block more than 90 percent of the Carolinas' sunshine.
That much darkness presents a first-of-its-kind puzzle for the Duke
Energy employees managing solar energy.<br>
Duke Energy manages energy from more than three quarters of the
roughly 3,200 megawatts of solar power in North Carolina, but
because it has a diverse mix of energy sources and a plan in place,
Roberts said the company expects to meet customer demand during the
eclipse. <br>
As the third largest city in the path of totality, Columbia, S.C.,
considers itself the Total Eclipse Capital of the East Coast.
Columbia is hosting more than 50 events as part of its Total Eclipse
Weekend Aug. 18-21. Viewers, according to the event website, will
experience the longest period of totality for a metro area on the
East Coast for up to 2 minutes and 36 seconds of complete darkness.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/what-does-the-solar-eclipse-mean-for-solar-power#.WYh4JYc4i0Q.twitter">https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/what-does-the-solar-eclipse-mean-for-solar-power#.WYh4JYc4i0Q.twitter</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/08/the-extinction-event-gains-momentum/">The
Extinction Event Gains Momentum</a></b><br>
August 8, 2017 by ROBERT HUNZIKER<br>
"In the next few decades we'll be driving species to extinction a
thousand times faster than we should be," Dr. Stuart Pimm,
conservation ecologist, Duke University.<br>
"It is quite possible that the baby boomer generation is the most
impactful generation that this planet has ever seen,"(Source: Racing
Extinction directed by Louie Psihoyos, Discovery Channel, 2015).<br>
The Great Suffocation<br>
Imagine for a moment that phytoplankton, the foundation of the
aquatic food web startlingly dies off. All of a sudden gone!
Phytoplankton feeds everything from microscopic zooplankton to
multi-tonne Blue Whales (the largest animal on Earth). But first and
foremost, every 2nd human breath is oxygen produced by
phytoplankton. Without phytoplankton, life dies.<br>
According to Dr. Boris Worm, marine research ecologist at Dalhousie
University and head of the Worm Lab study of marine biodiversity:
The planet has lost 40% of plankton production over the past 50
years, primarily as a consequence of climate change/global warming.
"We are changing the geology of the planet. We are changing the
ocean chemistry… The anthropocene means that what happens to this
planet is now in our hands." (Boris Worm, et al, Global
Phytoplankton Decline Over the Past Century, Nature Vol. 466, Issue
7306, July 29, 2010 and interview in Racing Extinction)<br>
"Falling oxygen levels caused by global warming could be a greater
threat to the survival of life on Earth than flooding, according to
researchers from the University of Leicester." The study claims an
increase of water temps of six degrees Celsius, which could occur as
soon as 2100, could stop oxygen production by phytoplankton.
(Source: Global Warming Disaster Could Suffocate Life on Planet
Earth, Research Shows, University of Leicester Press Office, Dec. 1,
2015)....<br>
"No one knows exactly how marine life around the world will fare as
the seas continue to sour, but fear is spreading. 'People who are
aware are panicked,' said Dewey, who recently traveled to New York
to speak at the United Nation's first Ocean Conference. 'The level
of awareness is increasing rapidly and the story is getting out
there." (Source: Lisa Stiffler, Investigate West, Climate Change
Turns Puget Sound Acidic and Region's Signature Oysters Struggle to
Survive, July 10, 2017)...<br>
Skyrocketing CO2..<br>
"The rate of carbon dioxide growth over the last decade is 100 to
200 times faster than what the Earth experienced during the
transition from the last Ice Age," Peter Tans, atmospheric scientist
at ESRL, said in a press release. "This is a real shock to the
atmosphere." (Source: Brian Kahn, Carbon Dioxide Is Rising at Record
Rates, Climate Central, March 2017).<br>
According to Dr. Jen Veron, former chief scientist, Australian
Institute of Marine Science: "There's been five mass extinctions…
there's been one common factor in all, a massive increase in carbon
dioxide, and we've never had a carbon dioxide spike like we're
having now" (Source: Racing Extinction)<br>
Unfortunately, growth of CO2 in the atmosphere is accelerating, not
decelerating or holding steady,.. ... it is believed the oceans
have turned from carbon sinks to new sources of CO2 emission.
"Oceans appear to have turned from sinks into sources of CO2,
releasing CO2 into the atmosphere." (Source: Accelerating Growth in
CO2 Levels in the Atmosphere, Arctic News, Feb. 25, 2017).<br>
It is mind boggling how much science-based evidence exists about the
destructiveness of human-generated carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. The world community knows this. Otherwise, why did 195
countries adopt the Paris Agreement in 2015?...<br>
Still, with/without Trump, too little too late remains the major
question mark overhanging the Paris Agreement, and furthermore, it's
not properly structured to stop the extinction event.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/08/the-extinction-event-gains-momentum/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/08/the-extinction-event-gains-momentum/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://youtu.be/32GaowQnGRw">(video) This Day in Climate
History August 9, 1974</a> - from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
August 9, 1974: President Nixon leaves office in disgrace four years
after establishing the EPA and NOAA.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://youtu.be/32GaowQnGRw">http://youtu.be/32GaowQnGRw</a><br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><i>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
</i></font><font size="+1"><i> </i></font><font
size="+1"><i> You are encouraged to forward this email </i></font>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><small>. </small><small><b>** Privacy and Security: </b>
This is a text-only mailing that carries no images which may
originate from remote servers. </small><small> Text-only
messages provide greater privacy to the receiver and sender.
</small><small> </small><br>
<small> By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used
for democratic and election purposes and cannot be used for
commercial purposes. </small><br>
<small>To subscribe, email: <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:contact@theclimate.vote">contact@theclimate.vote</a>
with subject: subscribe, To Unsubscribe, subject:
unsubscribe</small><br>
<small> Also you</small><font size="-1"> may
subscribe/unsubscribe at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote">https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote</a></font><small>
</small><br>
<small> </small><small>Links and headlines assembled and
curated by Richard Pauli</small><small> for <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://TheClimate.Vote">http://TheClimate.Vote</a>
delivering succinct information for citizens and responsible
governments of all levels.</small><small> L</small><small>ist
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously
restricted to this mailing list. <br>
</small></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>