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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>May 3, 2020</b></font></i></p>
[Iditarod Dog Sled Race]<br>
<b>The Last Great Race</b><br>
Climate change has altered Alaska's landscape, and the experiences
of Arctic mushers are the canary in the coal mine.<br>
BY KELLY KIMBALL | APRIL 27, 2020<br>
- - <br>
"This all started with us having mushed through a biblical-level
storm from Elim to White Mountain," Underwood said. "The typical
temperature around there is zero degrees." But that morning, it
reached 36 degrees Fahrenheit--well above freezing levels--which
triggered the dangerous alchemy of conditions they experienced that
day.<br>
<br>
This year, 22 Iditarod mushers ended their races preemptively--the
second-highest scratch rate in the competition's 47-year history.
Nearly all of them quit due to tumultuous environmental conditions.
In 2007, some 24 mushers ended the race prematurely for the same
reasons. Scratch rates will likely climb in the coming years.
Studies by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) have shown cataclysmic decreases in sea ice and snow cover
across the Arctic since the 1980s, which could lead to further
climate anomalies and a suspension of the sensitive ecosystem's fine
balance. But these changes happening in Alaska--and in the Arctic
Circle overall--aren't only a musher's problem.<br>
- - <br>
Because of where and when they travel, mushers are among the first
witnesses to climate transformations that eventually stretch across
the globe. A recent Arctic Report Card from NOAA found that the
region is warming at a rate twice as fast as the global average,
with the race's starting line in Anchorage recording the
second-highest winter temperatures in Alaska's history. In winter
2019 alone, monthly temperatures were about 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit
higher than normal, and the north Bering Sea where Underwood
experienced his emergency was as much as 28.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Data sets that describe what are known as "climate normals" are
taken from a three-decade average across the United States by NOAA
every 10 years, the most recent of which was captured in 2010. The
global temperature, meanwhile, also spiked last year, recording
temperatures 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average--making it the
third-warmest year on record.<br>
<br>
"Alaska last year was at the epicenter of warmth for the entire
globe," said Brian Brettschneider, a University of Alaska Fairbanks
researcher who works for the International Arctic Research Center...<br>
more at -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/27/iditarod-climate-change-alaska-last-great-race/">https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/27/iditarod-climate-change-alaska-last-great-race/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Risk]<br>
<b>How climate change could make infectious diseases even more
difficult to combat in the future</b><br>
Natalie Colarossi - May 2, 2020<br>
<br>
- The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the deadliest virus
outbreaks in modern history.<br>
- But researchers fear this pandemic could only be the beginning of
a new battle against infectious disease outbreaks -- the World
Health <br>
- Organization warns that climate change could make the spread of
disease even worse in the coming decades.<br>
- Researchers worry that rising temperatures could cause animals to
spread disease in more widespread areas, make pathogens more savvy
at surviving in hot climates, and possibly weaken the human body's
immune response.<br>
- Though today's novel coronavirus pandemic has not specifically
been linked to climate change, here's what could be in store for the
future...<br>
- - -<br>
But this might not be the only infectious disease we'll have to
battle in our lifetimes.<br>
<br>
According to research from the World Health Organization, and other
institutions, the threat of climate change could make outbreaks even
worse in the coming decades.<br>
<br>
Researchers fear that as temperatures continue to rise,
infectious-disease carrying animals could adapt to more widespread
climates, pathogens could become stronger at surviving in hotter
temperatures, and the human immune system could face greater
difficulty in battling illness...<br>
- -<br>
For example, researchers have known that higher temperatures and
wetter climates can can lead to an increase in mosquito-transmitted
diseases such as malaria...<br>
- - <br>
Researchers fear that as the planet warms, mosquitoes will be able
to breed more rapidly and spread disease in typically cooler areas
of the world that have otherwise remained unaffected by the pests...<br>
- -<br>
Similarly, diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans,
such as rats or ticks, have been known to shift depending on climate
conditions. Certain rodent-borne diseases are linked to flooding,
which is expected to become worse as global temperatures rise...<br>
- -<br>
Deforestation could also play a role in the spread of disease.
According to the US Agency for International Development, 75% of new
or re-emerging diseases at the start of the 21st Century have been
transmitted from animals, often because deforestation has brought
them closer to human environments. <br>
Scientists have also noted that as temperatures continue to rise,
animals have begun migrating to typically cooler environments. This
could open up new pathways of disease transmission between animals,
since more species will likely begin interacting with one another...<br>
- - <br>
But an increase in the spread of disease isn't the only way climate
change could impact future epidemics. Warming temperatures might
also make our natural immune systems less effective at fighting off
pathogens...<br>
But as temperatures warm around the globe, viruses are increasingly
getting better at adapting and surviving in hotter environments --
including within our bodies...<br>
Research about climate change and the spread of infectious disease
is complex, multi-factorial, and unfolding in real-time. According
to the WHO, "Changes in infectious disease transmission patterns are
a likely major consequence of climate change," but there's still a
lot that we don't know.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-climate-change-could-impact-the-future-of-infectious-diseases-2020-5">https://www.businessinsider.com/how-climate-change-could-impact-the-future-of-infectious-diseases-2020-5</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[bookends from a philosopher's essay]<br>
<b>Beginning with the End</b><br>
by Roy Scranton<br>
In this essay, Roy Scranton asks what we mean when we say "the world
is ending." Examining the nature of the narratives we tell ourselves
about the future, he explores what revelation may be before us.<br>
- - <br>
We do not know the future. We do not know when the next storm will
make landfall. We do not know when the next pandemic will erupt. We
do not know when the next drought will strike. We do not know how
much the planet will warm in our lifetimes. We do not know whether
we can renovate global economic, political, and energy
infrastructure swiftly enough to prevent catastrophe. We do not know
whether our civilization will survive the next century. We do not
know how many will die...<br>
- - <br>
Like everything else, this too shall pass. The truly revelatory
content of our apocalyptic fictions is that the world is always
ending, has always been ending, just as we are always dying--we
spend our lives caught in the doorway between death and birth. There
is no solution to the riddle of existence, nor to the inevitable
fact of extinction: no amount of sophistication can ultimately
justify the suffering that is being. All we have is compassion,
patience, and the recognition that every possible human future
begins with the end of what came before.<br>
full essay at -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://emergencemagazine.org/story/beginning-with-the-end/">https://emergencemagazine.org/story/beginning-with-the-end/</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive - hat tip to Michael E.
Mann]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
May 3, 1999 </b></font><br>
<p>Bob Somerby of the Daily Howler debunks an April 15, 1999 column
by right-wing Washington Times writer Ben Wattenberg falsely
suggesting that NASA scientist James Hansen viewed Vice President
Al Gore as an alarmist on climate change. In addition, Somerby
notes:<br>
<br>
"Of course, if spinners like Wattenberg get their way--and the
larger press corps never speaks up--those common sense steps [to
reduce carbon pollution] may never be taken. And reasoned debate,
in the coming campaign, could give way to a lot of hot air. So
that's why we offer a global *warning*, against believing facile
spin from these types. There's a whole lot of hoo-hah floating
around concerning Gore and [his views on] global warming. And we
hope that the press corps will get off its duffs, and bring some
clarity to the whole sorry mess."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.dailyhowler.com/h050399_1.shtml">http://www.dailyhowler.com/h050399_1.shtml</a><br>
</p>
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