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<font size="+1"><i>August 15, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
[Hot town, Summer in the city 122F]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/13/halfway-boiling-city-50c">Halfway
to boiling: the city at 50C</a></b><br>
It is the temperature at which human cells start to cook, animals
suffer and air conditioners overload power grids. Once an urban
anomaly, 50C is fast becoming reality<br>
by Jonathan Watts and Elle Hunt<br>
Imagine a city at 50C (122F). The pavements are empty, the parks
quiet, entire neighbourhoods appear uninhabited. Nobody with a
choice ventures outside during daylight hours. Only at night do the
denizens emerge, HG Wells-style, into the streets - though, in
temperatures that high, even darkness no longer provides relief.
Uncooled air is treated like effluent: to be flushed as quickly as
possible.<br>
School playgrounds are silent as pupils shelter inside. In the
hottest hours of the day, working outdoors is banned. The only
people in sight are those who do not have access to air
conditioning, who have no escape from the blanket of heat: the poor,
the homeless, undocumented labourers. Society is divided into the
cool haves and the hot have-nots...<br>
- - - <br>
Hospitals see a surge in admissions for heat stress, respiratory
problems and other illnesses exacerbated by high temperatures. Some
set up specialist wards. The elderly, the obese and the sick are
most at risk. Deaths rise.<br>
At 50C - halfway to water's boiling point and more than 10C above a
healthy body temperature - heat becomes toxic. Human cells start to
cook, blood thickens, muscles lock around the lungs and the brain is
choked of oxygen. In dry conditions, sweat - the body's in-built
cooling system - can lessen the impact. But this protection weakens
if there is already moisture in the air.<br>
A so-called "wet-bulb temperature" (which factors in humidity) of
just 35C can be fatal after a few hours to even the fittest person,
and scientists warn climate change will make such conditions
increasingly common in India, Pakistan, south-east Asia and parts of
China. Even under the most optimistic predictions for emissions
reductions, experts say almost half the world's population will be
exposed to potentially deadly heat for 20 days a year by 2100...<br>
- - - -<br>
The city at 50C could be more tolerable with lush green spaces on
and around buildings; towers with smart shades that follow the
movement of the sun; roofs and pavements painted with high-albedo
surfaces; fog capture and renewable energy fields to provide cooling
power without adding to the greenhouse effect.<br>
But with extremes creeping up faster than baselines, Niyogi says
this adapting will require changes not just to the design of cities,
but how they are organised and how we live in them. First, though,
we have to see what is coming - which might not hit with the fury of
a flood or typhoon but can be even more destructive.<br>
"Heat is different," says Niyogi. "You don't see the temperature
creep up to 50C. It can take people unawares."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/13/halfway-boiling-city-50c">https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/13/halfway-boiling-city-50c</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Vector-borne disease]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/significant-rise-in-mosquito-disease-danger-days-in-u-s-report-warns/">Significant
rise in mosquito "disease danger days" in U.S., report warns</a></b><br>
On a daily basis, everyone can help keep their families safe by:<br>
<blockquote>Using an EPA-registered insect repellent that contains
20 percent or more DEET, picaridin, or IR3535 on exposed skin.<br>
Wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.<br>
Treating outdoor gear, such as boots, pants, socks, and tents,
with permethrin or use permethrin-treated clothing and gear.<br>
Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length
mirror to view all parts of your body upon return from
tick-infested areas. Parents should check their children for
ticks.<br>
Taking steps to control ticks and fleas on pets.<br>
Taking steps to control mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas inside and
outside your home, including using screens on windows and air
conditioning when available. Once a week, empty out items that
hold water, such as tires, buckets, planters, toys, pools,
birdbaths, flowerpots, or trash containers to prevent mosquitoes
from breeding there.<font size="-1"><br>
</font></blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/significant-rise-in-mosquito-disease-danger-days-in-u-s-report-warns/">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/significant-rise-in-mosquito-disease-danger-days-in-u-s-report-warns/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[KUOW Radio 14 minutes]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.kuow.org/post/are-smoky-skies-seattle-new-summer-norm">Are
smoky skies in Seattle the new summer norm?</a></b><br>
By BILL RADKE & ALISON BRUZEK <br>
Bill Radke talks about the haze lingering over Seattle from fires in
British Columbia and the eastern part of the state. Our questions
about the smoke are answered by Sim Larken, research meteorologist
for the U.S. Forest Service and Erik Saganic, air quality forecaster
with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.<br>
"dry forests, kiln dry"<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.kuow.org/post/are-smoky-skies-seattle-new-summer-norm">http://www.kuow.org/post/are-smoky-skies-seattle-new-summer-norm</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.tinyurl.com/y8gs4pk6">http://www.tinyurl.com/y8gs4pk6</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[Trenberth is a top climate scientist]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20180814-climate-change-and-wildfires-how-do-we-know-if-there-is-a-link">Climate
change and wildfires - how do we know if there is a link?</a></b><br>
By Kevin Trenberth<br>
Published 14 August 2018Share|<br>
Once again, the summer of 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere has
brought us an epidemic of major wildfires. These burn forests,
houses and other structures, displace thousands of people and
animals, and cause major disruptions in people's lives. To many
people, it has become very clear that human-induced climate change
plays a major role by greatly increasing the risk of wildfire. There
is huge complexity and variability from one fire to the next, and
hence the attribution can become complex. The way to think about
this is from the standpoint of basic science - in this case,
physics: Global warming does not cause wildfires, but it exacerbates
the conditions which make wildfires more likely, thus raising the
risk of wildfire.<br>
- - - - -<br>
These burn forests, houses and other structures, displace thousands
of people and animals, and cause major disruptions in people's
lives.The huge burden of simply firefighting has become a year-round
task costing<span> </span><a
href="https://theconversation.com/a-perfect-storm-of-factors-is-making-wildfires-bigger-and-more-expensive-to-control-100800"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">billions of dollars</a>, let alone the<span> </span><a
href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-wildfires_us_5b62a5cbe4b0b15aba9fc03b"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">cost of the destruction</a>. The smoke veil can extend
hundreds or even thousands of miles,<span> </span><a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/02/wildfire-events-air-quality-health-issues-in-western-us"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">affecting air quality and visibility</a>. To<span> </span><a
href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-skelton-jerry-brown-wildfires-20171214-story.html"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">many people</a>, it has become very clear that
human-induced climate change<span> </span><a
href="https://theconversation.com/wildfires-in-west-have-gotten-bigger-more-frequent-and-longer-since-the-1980s-42993"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">plays a major role</a><span> </span>by greatly increasing
the risk of wildfire.<br>
Yet it seems the role of climate change is seldom mentioned in many
or even most news stories about the multitude of fires and heat
waves. In part this is because the issue of<span> </span><a
href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2657" target="_blank"
style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">attribution</a><span> </span>is
not usually<span> </span><a
href="https://www.ametsoc.net/sotc2017/StateoftheClimate2017_lowres.pdf"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">clear</a>. The argument is that there have always been
wildfires, and how can we attribute any particular wildfire to
climate change?<br>
- - - - -<br>
<strong>Global warming is happening</strong><br>
To understand the interplay between global warming and wildfires,
consider what's happening to our planet.<br>
The composition of the atmosphere is changing from human activities:
There has been over a 40 percent increase in<span> </span><a
href="http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/staff/trenbert/trenberth.pdf/ClimateChange18_ENRLfinal_summary.pdf"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">carbon dioxide</a>, mainly from fossil fuel burning since
the 1800s, and over half of the increase is since 1985. Other
heat-trapping gases (methane, nitrous oxide, etc.) are also
increasing in concentration in the atmosphere<span> </span><a
href="https://www.ametsoc.net/sotc2017/StateoftheClimate2017_lowres.pdf"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">from human activities</a>. The rates are accelerating, not
declining (as hoped for with the<span> </span><a
href="https://theconversation.com/paris-agreement-on-climate-change-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-52242"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">Paris agreement</a>).<br>
This leads to an<span> </span><a
href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v6/n2/full/nclimate2876.html"
target="_blank" style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0); text-decoration:
none;">energy imbalance</a><span> </span>for the planet.<font
size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20180814-climate-change-and-wildfires-how-do-we-know-if-there-is-a-link">http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20180814-climate-change-and-wildfires-how-do-we-know-if-there-is-a-link</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/08/14/how-climate-change-is-making-red-tide-algal-blooms-even-worse/">How
climate change is making 'red tide' algal blooms even worse</a></b><br>
by Angela Fritz - August 14<br>
Red tide is killing Florida's southwest coast. Fish, manatees, sea
turtles - some of them endangered - and nine dolphins have washed up
dead on the beaches, and all of them are confirmed or suspected to
have been poisoned by the algal bloom. The body of a young whale
shark was found on a beach in late July, and biologists believe that
it was the first known whale shark to have been killed by red tide.<br>
Now the toxic algae - <i>Karenia brevis</i> - is working up the
coast from Sanibel Island to Tampa Bay. <b>Respiratory irritation
in humans has been reported as far north as Manatee County, just
south of Tampa Bay, where high concentrations of the algae were
measured last week.</b> The water off Pinellas County -
Clearwater, Largo, St. Petersburg - had elevated concentrations of
red tide beyond a normal "background" state for the first time this
month.<br>
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for seven
counties on the southwest coast Tuesday...<br>
- - - - -<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/08/14/how-climate-change-is-making-red-tide-algal-blooms-even-worse/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/08/14/how-climate-change-is-making-red-tide-algal-blooms-even-worse/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
</font>[Paleoclimatology]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2018/08/14/is-the-dinosaur-extinction-story-wrong/">Is
the Dinosaur Extinction Story Wrong?</a></b><br>
And if so, what does that mean to us?<br>
Could the Cretaceous extinction have been more due to climate change
than asteroid impact?<br>
Below, discussion of an earlier extinction that scientists think was
indeed climate related.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://climatecrocks.com/2018/08/14/is-the-dinosaur-extinction-story-wrong/">https://climatecrocks.com/2018/08/14/is-the-dinosaur-extinction-story-wrong/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan">This
Day in Climate History - August 15, 2004</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
August 15, 2004: In the New York Times, Al Gore reviews Ross
Gelbspan's "Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal,
Journalists, and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis -- and
What We Can Do to Avert Disaster," the follow-up to his seminal 1997
book "The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the
Prescription."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/hot-enough-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm">http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/hot-enough-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan">http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Heat-Is-On-Prescription/dp/0738200255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936855&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heat+is+on+ross+gelbspan">http://www.amazon.com/The-Heat-Is-On-Prescription/dp/0738200255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936855&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heat+is+on+ross+gelbspan</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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