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<i><font size="+1"><b>August 1, 2020</b></font></i><br>
<br>
[WAPO]<br>
<b>Hot ocean waters along East Coast are drawing in 'weird' fish and
supercharging hurricanes</b><br>
Warm waters are a major concern with Hurricane Isaias forecast to
ride up the Eastern Seaboard.<br>
- - <br>
Much of the Eastern Seaboard, from the Georgia coast to southern
Maine, is in the midst of what scientists define as a marine heat
wave. They occur when ocean temperatures are abnormally warm (in the
90th percentile of available data) for an extended period (at least
five days).<br>
<br>
Marine heat wave intensity is categorized from moderate to extreme.
While the waters off the Southeast coast are mostly in a moderate
heat wave, the intensity becomes strong along pockets of the
Mid-Atlantic coast before swelling to strong to severe off the
shores of Massachusetts and southeast Maine.<br>
<br>
Temperatures off the Northeast coast are 5.4 to 7.2 degrees above
normal, said Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf
of Maine Research Institute, in an email.<br>
Due to human-caused buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
marine heat waves have increased dramatically in frequency, size and
severity in recent decades. They've altered fisheries and killed
seabirds in the North Pacific and Bering Sea, and damaged or killed
parts of the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage site...<br>
- - <br>
"A lot of these species you think of [as living] south of Cape
Hatteras and now you're seeing them in southern New England,"...<br>
- -<br>
As a measure of how warm the water was in the northwest Atlantic
when Dolly formed, a buoy at Georges Bank, 170 nautical miles east
of Hyannis, Mass., recorded a sea surface temperature above 80
degrees on June 26. Data shows such a water temperature is
unprecedented during the month at that location dating back to at
least 1984.<br>
<br>
Gawarkiewicz identified the warmer-than-normal water temperatures
south of Cape Hatteras as an area of particular concern. "If we do a
get a hurricane coming up the East Coast, that's an area where we
could get intensification,"...<br>
<br>
Isaias will pass through those waters Monday.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/31/marine-heat-wave-hurricanes/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/31/marine-heat-wave-hurricanes/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Sea Level Rise]<br>
<b>Rising oceans could menace millions of people living beyond
shorelines, study finds</b><br>
By BRAD PLUMER<br>
THE NEW YORK TIMES - July 30, 2020<br>
As global warming pushes up ocean levels around the world,
scientists have long warned that many low-lying coastal areas will
become permanently submerged.<br>
<br>
But a new study published Thursday finds that much of the economic
harm from sea-level rise this century is likely to come from an
additional threat that will arrive even faster: As oceans rise,
powerful coastal storms, crashing waves and extreme high tides will
be able to reach farther inland, putting tens of millions more
people and trillions of dollars in assets worldwide at risk of
periodic flooding.<br>
- - <br>
This flooding could cause serious economic damage. The study found
that people currently living in areas at risk from a 3-foot rise in
sea levels owned $14 trillion in assets in 2011, an amount equal to
20% of global GDP that year...<br>
- -<br>
Scientists say the world's nations can greatly reduce future
flooding risks by cutting emissions rapidly, especially because that
could lower the odds of rapid ice-sheet collapse in Antarctica that
would push up ocean levels even higher than forecast later in the
century.<br>
<br>
But, Oppenheimer added, the world has now warmed so much that
significant sea-level rise by 2050 is assured no matter what happens
with emissions. "That means we also need to start preparing to adapt
now," he said.<br>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-global-warming-ocean-levels-study-20200730-rzkfzefpmrbtjd2o6xjbe7bdbi-story.html">https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-global-warming-ocean-levels-study-20200730-rzkfzefpmrbtjd2o6xjbe7bdbi-story.html</a></p>
<p>- - -</p>
[World flooding]<br>
<b>A Quarter of Bangladesh Is Flooded. Millions Have Lost
Everything.</b><br>
The country's latest calamity illustrates a striking inequity of our
time: The people least responsible for climate change are among
those most hurt by its consequences.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/climate/bangladesh-floods.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/climate/bangladesh-floods.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[halt the reversing]<br>
<b>E.P.A. Inspector General to Investigate Trump's Biggest Climate
Rollback</b><br>
The agency's watchdog office said Monday it would investigate
whether the reversal of Obama-era fuel efficiency standards violated
government rules.<br>
By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman - July 27, 2020<br>
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency's internal
watchdog said Monday it had opened an investigation into the
agency's weakening of Obama-era regulations that would have limited
automobile emissions by significantly raising fuel economy
standards.<br>
<br>
The inspector general demanded that top E.P.A. officials turn over
briefing materials and other documents pertaining to the regulation,
which was finalized in late March as the Trump administration's
single largest rollback of federal climate change rules.<br>
<br>
Auditors said they intended to investigate whether the Trump
administration acted "consistent with requirements, including those
pertaining to transparency, record-keeping, and docketing, and
followed the E.P.A.'s process for developing final regulatory
actions."<br>
<br>
The yearlong effort to write the Trump administration rule was
plagued with controversy. Just weeks before the final rule was
published, the administration's own internal analyses showed that it
would create a higher cost for consumers than leaving the Obama-era
standard in place and would contribute to more deaths associated
with lung disease by releasing more pollution into the air...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/climate/trump-fuel-efficiency-rule.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/climate/trump-fuel-efficiency-rule.html</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[divisive issues divide media empire]<br>
<b>News Corp: Rupert Murdoch's son James quits company</b><br>
James Murdoch, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has
resigned from the board of News Corporation citing "disagreements
over editorial content".<br>
<br>
In a filing to US regulators, he said he also disagreed with some
"strategic decisions" made by the company.<br>
<br>
The exact nature of the disagreements was not detailed.<br>
<br>
But Mr Murdoch has previously criticised News Corp outlets, which
include the Wall Street Journal, for climate change coverage.<br>
<br>
Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's executive chairman, and his other son
Lachlan, co-chairman, wished James well in a joint statement.<br>
<br>
"We're grateful to James for his many years of service to the
company," the statement said. "We wish him the very best in his
future endeavours."<br>
<br>
Representatives of Mr Murdoch and his wife Kathryn have acknowledged
the couple's "frustration" with coverage of the subject by some of
most influential Murdoch-owned news brands, including Fox News.<br>
<br>
They have also spoken of particular disappointment about climate
change denial in Murdoch-owned Australian outlets.<br>
<br>
News Corp also owns The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times in the
UK, as well as a stable of Australian newspapers, including The
Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun.<br>
Earlier this year, amid devastating wildfires in Australia, Mr
Murdoch and his wife Kathryn expressed their frustration with
climate change coverage by News Corp and Fox...<br>
- -<br>
Rupert Murdoch has described himself as a climate change "sceptic"
and denies employing climate deniers.<br>
<br>
But critics of News Corp pointed to its comment articles and
reporting of the alleged role of arson in the wildfires as
minimising the impact of a changing climate.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53617966">https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53617966</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[Green Changes]<br>
<b>IRISH CITIZENS WIN CASE TO FORCE GOVERNMENT ACTION ON CLIMATE
CHANGE</b><br>
A group of citizens have just won a landmark case against the Irish
government for failing to take adequate action on climate change.<br>
<br>
Climate Case Ireland was started by Friends of the Irish Environment
and is the first case in Ireland to hold the government to account
for its contributions to dangerous levels of climate change...<br>
- -<br>
All seven Supreme Court Judges made the unanimous decision this
morning with Chief Justice Frank Clarke saying the government's plan
"lacked the specificity to comply with the law."<br>
<br>
He added that a sufficient plan "is not a five-year plan but rather
a plan covering the full period remaining to 2050"...<br>
- -<br>
Daly believes that victory has "put the government on notice"
showing that it "cannot make promises that it will not fulfil". She
hopes that the country will see substantial changes to climate
policy in the future adding that CCI will continue to hold them to
account.<br>
<br>
The government will now have to come up with a new plan.<br>
Climate Case Ireland says that its decision to take action was
inspired by other climate cases around the world. In December 2019
the Dutch Supreme Court upheld a decision which found that the Dutch
government had obligations to urgently reduce its emissions to meet
human rights obligations.<br>
<br>
The Supreme Court victory was brought about by a partnership between
an NGO and 900 Dutch citizens. It upheld an earlier ruling which
required the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per
cent by 2020.<br>
<br>
At the time UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet
applauded the decision saying that it provided a basis for other
citizens to take action:<br>
<br>
"This landmark ruling provides a clear path forward for concerned
individuals in Europe – and around the world – to undertake climate
litigation in order to protect human rights."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/07/31/irish-citizens-win-case-to-force-government-action-on-climate-change">https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/07/31/irish-citizens-win-case-to-force-government-action-on-climate-change</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Foreign Affairs]<br>
<b>Climate Change Will Drive People Across Borders</b><br>
But the Real Crisis Would Be Making Them Stay<br>
By Sonia Shah - July 29, 2020<br>
Extreme wildfires savaged Northern California in 2018, leaving the
homeless to camp out in a Home Depot parking lot in Oakland, not far
from the billionaire hub of Silicon Valley. Hurricane Irma displaced
more than 1,500 inhabitants of Barbuda in 2017: their government
made plans to sell their communally held land to celebrity investors
while survivors recovered in shelters. Melting permafrost and rising
seas threaten the town of Shishmaref, on a barrier island off the
northwest coast of Alaska--to which the administration of U.S.
President Donald Trump has responded by gutting federal support for
relocating homes to safer ground.<br>
<br>
Such events are early harbingers of a global phenomenon: climate
change is scrambling the habitability of the planet, and neither
governments nor international organizations are meeting the needs of
those displaced as a result. Already, more people live outside of
their countries of birth than ever before, and according to the UN's
International Organization for Migration, as many as 200 million
people might need to leave their homes for climate-related reasons
by 2050.<br>
Despite these projections, no legal framework exists to help such
migrants relocate, let alone to protect them in their most
vulnerable moments. Instead, governments worldwide have neglected
and exploited this new class of "climate displaced"--exposing them
to both climate shocks and the abuse that often follows. Governments
and international organizations can pursue a better course by
enabling vulnerable populations to migrate before and after disaster
strikes. The benefits of such a policy far outweigh the short-term
costs...<br>
- -<br>
<b>A GLOBAL PROBLEM</b><br>
Climate disasters such as Hurricane Dorian will become more common
as the climate continues to shift, but the consequences do not need
to be as catastrophic as they have been for the Haitian community in
the Bahamas. Rather than hardening borders and trapping people in
countries that violate their human rights, governments and
international institutions can facilitate the movement of vulnerable
populations before disaster strikes. Climate scientists and
migration experts widely agree that the long-term benefits to both
the receiving and the originating countries offset the short-term
costs of such migrations. Indeed, migrants bring cultural diversity
and economic power to the nations they enter, while providing
helpful remittances to those they leave behind.<br>
<br>
Some proposed, though unsuccessful, amendments to international
agreements have sought to address the coming waves of climate
migration. The nonbinding 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and
Regular Migration, for example, calls for humanitarian visas and
temporary work permits for the climate displaced, as well as planned
relocations and prohibitions on the forcible return of migrants to
uninhabitable places. A proposed amendment to the Paris agreement
called the "Climate Change Displacement Coordination Facility"
recognizes the right of the climate displaced to move and resettle
across borders and establishes a mechanism to facilitate treaties on
where, when, and how such migration might flow...<br>
- - <br>
The political stalemate over the costs of climate change and the
problem of climate migration persist in large part because the
populations most vulnerable to climate displacement are poor and the
countries from which they flee carry little international clout. The
governments of wealthy countries look upon climate migration not as
a coming reality to be managed or a moral obligation to be met but
as a political and economic burden. Such displacement, they figure,
is other countries' problem and not their own.<br>
<br>
But this insular mindset will soon be put to the test. Wildfires
already encroach on wealthy cities, and extreme storms threaten
expensively developed coastlines. Climate displacement will soon
affect the prosperous residents of powerful countries--and their
opportunities for safe, legal, and dignified movement will hinge
upon the success of international efforts such as the one in Madrid.<br>
<br>
"It might be too late to avert a climate crisis," says the climate
migration expert Jane McAdam, who directs the Kaldor Centre for
International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales. "But
we can avert a displacement crisis if we start to act now." To do so
will require casting climate migration in a new light: not as a
burden to be repelled but as a shared global reality to collectively
manage.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-america-caribbean/2020-07-29/climate-change-will-drive-people-across-borders">https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-america-caribbean/2020-07-29/climate-change-will-drive-people-across-borders</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
August 1, 1988 </b></font><br>
<p>August 1, 1988: Sacramento, California-based right-wing talk
radio host Rush Limbaugh begins his nationally syndicated program;
over the next three decades, Limbaugh aggressively promotes the
notion that climate science is a "hoax."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/wolcott200705">http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/wolcott200705</a>
<br>
<br>
</p>
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