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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>November 18, 2020</b></font></i></p>
[Twice]<br>
<b>'Extraordinary': Iota becomes second category 4 hurricane to
strike Central America in past two weeks</b><br>
By Jeff Masters, Ph.D. | Tuesday, November 17, 2020<br>
Hurricane Iota moved ashore Nov. 16 just 15 miles south of the
location where Hurricane Eta made landfall Nov. 3.<br>
Hurricane Iota roared ashore in northern Nicaragua as a high-end
category 4 storm with 155 mph winds and a central pressure of 920 mb
at 10:40 p.m. EST November 16. Iota is the strongest Atlantic
landfalling hurricane so late in the year. The previous record was
held by the 1932 Cuba Hurricane, which made landfall on Little
Cayman Island with 155 mph winds on November 9, 1932.<br>
<br>
Iota made landfall 30 miles south of Puerto Cabezas (population
40,000), just 15 miles south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall as
a category 4 storm with 140 mph winds on November 3. In records
going back to 1851, it is unprecedented for two Atlantic category 4
hurricanes to make landfall so close together, just two weeks apart.
That they did so in November, when category 4 hurricanes are rare,
is truly extraordinary. Only six category 4 or stronger hurricanes
have ever been recorded in November or December, Eta and Iota in the
past two weeks. Here is the very short list of these late-season
hurricanes, sorted by highest lifetime wind speed:<br>
<br>
Cuba Hurricane (175 mph; Nov. 6, 1932);<br>
Iota (160 mph; Nov. 16, 2020);<br>
Lenny (155 mph; Nov. 17, 1999);<br>
Eta (150 mph; Nov. 3, 2020);<br>
Paloma (145 mph; Nov. 8, 2008); and<br>
Michelle (140 mph; Nov. 4, 2001)...<br>
- -<br>
Helping out the victims of the hurricanes of 2020<br>
For those wanting to help out with charitable donations the
hurricanes of 2020, a reporter I've been working with in Honduras,
Jeff Ernst, said in an email, "I think World Vision is doing a good
job of responding to the disaster and I know several people in the
local administration here and think highly of them." I used World
Vision's Hurricane Eta donation link to help out in Honduras, and
have also donated to Hurriup.org, the disaster relief charity
founded by members of the Weather Underground user community. For
those living in Miami, Mayor Suarez tweeted out locations where
donated goods can be left for Honduras relief.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/extraordinary-iota-becomes-second-category-4-hurricane-to-strike-central-america-in-past-two-weeks/">https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/extraordinary-iota-becomes-second-category-4-hurricane-to-strike-central-america-in-past-two-weeks/</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[the cause of the differences]<br>
<b>5 Things We Know About Climate Change and Hurricanes</b><br>
Scientists can't say for sure whether global warming is causing more
hurricanes, but they are confident that it's changing the way storms
behave. Here's how...<br>
- -<br>
<b>1. Higher winds</b><br>
There's a solid scientific consensus that hurricanes are becoming
more powerful.<br>
<br>
Hurricanes are complex, but one of the key factors that determines
how strong a given storm ultimately becomes is ocean surface
temperature, because warmer water provides more of the energy that
fuels storms...<br>
- -<br>
"We predicted it would go up 30 years ago, and the observations
show it going up."..<br>
- -<br>
<b>2. More rain</b><br>
Warming also increases the amount of water vapor that the atmosphere
can hold. In fact, every degree Celsius of warming allows the air to
hold about 7 percent more water.<br>
<br>
That means we can expect future storms to unleash higher amounts of
rainfall.<br>
<br>
<b>3. Slower storms</b><br>
Researchers do not yet know why storms are moving more slowly, but
they are. Some say a slowdown in global atmospheric circulation, or
global winds, could be partly to blame...<br>
<br>
...hurricanes over the United States had slowed 17 percent since
1947. Combined with the increase in rain rates, storms are causing a
25 percent increase in local rainfall in the United States, he said.<br>
<p>Slower, wetter storms also worsen flooding. Dr. Kossin likened
the problem to walking around your back yard while using a hose to
spray water on the ground. If you walk fast, the water won't have
a chance to start pooling. But if you walk slowly, he said,
"you'll get a lot of rain below you."</p>
<b>4. Wider-ranging storms</b><br>
Because warmer water helps fuel hurricanes, climate change is
enlarging the zone where hurricanes can form.<br>
<br>
There's a "migration of tropical cyclones out of the tropics and
toward subtropics and middle latitudes," Dr. Kossin said. That could
mean more storms making landfall in higher latitudes, like in the
United States or Japan.<br>
<br>
<b>5. More volatility</b><br>
As the climate warms, researchers also say they expect storms to
intensify more rapidly. Researchers are still unsure why it's
happening, but the trend appears to be clear.<br>
<br>
In a 2017 paper based on climate and hurricane models, Dr. Emanuel
found that storms that intensify rapidly -- the ones that increase
their wind speed by 70 miles per hour or more in the 24 hours before
landfall -- were rare in the period from 1976 through 2005. On
average, he estimated, their likelihood in those years was equal to
about once per century.<br>
<br>
By the end of the 21st century, he found, those storms might form
once every five or 10 years.<br>
<br>
"It's a forecaster's nightmare," Dr. Emanuel said. If a tropical
storm or Category 1 hurricane develops into a Category 4 hurricane
overnight, he said, "there's no time to evacuate people."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/climate/climate-change-hurricanes.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/climate/climate-change-hurricanes.html</a>
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<p><br>
</p>
<p>[Oops]<br>
</p>
<p><b>Joe Biden Just Appointed His Climate Movement Liaison. It's a
Fossil-Fuel Industry Ally.</b><br>
BY DAVID SIROTA JULIA ROCK ANDREW PEREZ<br>
Joe Biden says confronting climate change is one of his top
priorities. But today, he appointed as his liaison to the climate
movement a congressman who has raked in big money from the fossil
fuel industry while voting to help oil and gas companies.<br>
</p>
<p>Following a campaign promising bold climate action,
president-elect Joe Biden's transition team named one of the
Democratic Party's top recipients of fossil fuel industry money to
a high-profile White House position focusing in part on climate
issues.<br>
<br>
On Tuesday, Politico reported that Biden is appointing US Rep.
Cedric Richmond (D-LA) to lead the White House Office of Public
Engagement, where he is "expected to serve as a liaison with the
business community and climate change activists."<br>
<br>
During his ten years in Congress, Richmond has received roughly
$341,000 from donors in the oil and gas industry -- the
fifth-highest total among House Democrats, according to previous
reporting by Sludge. That includes corporate political action
committee donations of $50,000 from Entergy, an electric and
natural gas utility; $40,000 from ExxonMobil; and $10,000 apiece
from oil companies Chevron, Phillips 66, and Valero Energy.<br>
<br>
Richmond has raked in that money while representing a
congressional district that is home to seven of the ten most
air-polluted census tracts in the country.<br>
<br>
Richmond has repeatedly broken with his party on major climate and
environmental votes. During the climate crisis that has battered
his home state of Louisiana, Richmond has joined with Republicans
to vote to increase fossil fuel exports and promote pipeline
development. He also voted against Democratic legislation to place
pollution limits on fracking -- and he voted for GOP legislation
to limit the Obama administration's authority to more stringently
regulate the practice.<br>
<br>
Overall, Richmond has received a lifetime rating of 76 percent
from the League of Conservation Voters, and he scored 46 percent
in 2018 -- one of the lowest ratings of any Democrat in Congress.<br>
<br>
Richmond, who served as a co-chair of the Biden campaign, has not
committed to supporting a Green New Deal. In a postelection
interview with CBS Face the Nation, Richmond said: "When we
govern, we will govern with our values but when we can't pass
legislation, we shouldn't be out there talking about it."<br>
<br>
"Cedric Richmond has taken big money from the fossil fuel
industry, cozied up w/oil and gas, & stayed silent while
polluters poisoned his own community," the Sunrise Movement, a
grassroots group pushing for a Green New Deal, wrote on Twitter on
Tuesday. "How will young people & frontline communities trust
our voices will be heard louder than Big Oil in a @JoeBiden
administration?"<br>
<br>
Varshini Prakash, the Sunrise Movement's executive director who
served on Biden's policy task force, said in a statement: "Today
feels like a betrayal, because one of President-Elect Biden's very
first hires for his new administration has taken more donations
from the fossil fuel industry during his Congressional career than
nearly any other Democrat."<br>
<br>
Prakash called Richmond's selection "an affront to young people
who made President-Elect Biden's victory possible."<br>
<br>
Biden has promised a $1.7 trillion plan to combat climate change,
and has said the cause is one of his top priorities. During the
Democratic primary, his campaign was criticized for working with
an energy adviser linked to the fossil fuel industry while
promoting a "middle ground" climate policy and opposing a ban on
fracking. He was also criticized for attending a major fundraiser
by a fossil fuel investor, even as he pledged to reject campaign
money from fossil fuel industry sources.<br>
<br>
Biden is reportedly considering former Obama energy secretary
Ernest Moniz for a cabinet spot or for a new international climate
envoy post, according to the New York Times. Climate groups have
called on Biden to reject Moniz for any position because he joined
the board of directors at the electric utility Southern Company
after his time in the Obama administration. Moniz has also been a
fracking advocate.<br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-climate-fossil-fuel-industry-cedric-richmond">https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-climate-fossil-fuel-industry-cedric-richmond</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Climate over Covid]<br>
NOVEMBER 17, 2020<br>
<b>Climate change bigger threat than COVID: Red Cross</b><br>
The world should react with the same urgency to climate change as to
the coronavirus crisis, the Red Cross said Tuesday, warning that
global warming poses a greater threat than COVID-19.<br>
Even as the pandemic rages, climate change is not taking a break
from wreaking havoc, the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent societies (IFRC) said in a new report.<br>
<br>
In the report, on global catastrophes since the 1960s, the
Geneva-based organisation pointed out that the world had been hit by
more than 100 disasters--many of them climate related--since the
World Health Organization declared the pandemic in March.<br>
<br>
More than 50 million people had been affected, it said.<br>
<br>
"Of course, the COVID is there, it's in front of us, it is affecting
our families, our friends, our relatives," IFRC Secretary-General
Jagan Chapagain told a virtual press conference.<br>
<br>
"It's a very, very serious crisis the world is facing currently," he
said of the pandemic, which has already claimed more than 1.3
million lives.<br>
<br>
But he warned that the IFRC expects "climate change will have a more
significant medium and long term impact on the human life and on
Earth."<br>
<br>
And while it looked increasingly likely that one or several vaccines
would soon become available against COVID-19, Chapagain stressed
that "unfortunately there is no vaccine for climate change".<br>
<br>
<b>'No vaccine for climate change'</b><br>
<br>
When it comes to global warming, he warned, "it will require a much
more sustained action and investment to really protect the human
life on this Earth."<br>
<br>
The frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate-related
events had already increased considerably in recent decades, said
the IFRC.<br>
<br>
In 2019 alone, the world was hit by 308 natural disasters--77
percent of them climate or weather-related--killing some 24,400
people.<br>
<br>
The number of climate and weather-related disasters has been
steadily climbing since the 1960s, and has surged by nearly 35
percent since the 1990s, IFRC said.<br>
<br>
This is a deadly development.<br>
<br>
Weather and climate-related disasters have killed more than 410,000
people over the past decade, most of them in poorer countries, with
heatwaves and storms proving the most deadly, the report said.<br>
<br>
Faced with this threat, which "literally threatens our long-term
survival", IFRC called on the international community to act with
the urgency required.<br>
<br>
<b>'Protect most vulnerable communities'</b><br>
<br>
It estimated that around $50 billion would be needed annually over
the next decade to help the 50 developing countries to adapt to the
changing climate.<br>
<br>
IFRC stressed that that amount was "dwarfed by the global response
to the economic impact of COVID-19," which has already passed $10
trillion.<br>
<br>
It also lamented that much of the money invested so far in climate
change prevention and mitigation was not going to the developing
countries most at risk.<br>
"Our first responsibility is to protect communities that are most
exposed and vulnerable to climate risks," Chapagain said, warning
though that "our research demonstrates that the world is
collectively failing to do this."<br>
<br>
"There is a clear disconnection between where the climate risk is
greatest and where climate adaptation funding goes," he said.<br>
<br>
"This disconnection could very well cost lives."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://phys.org/news/2020-11-climate-bigger-threat-covid-red.html">https://phys.org/news/2020-11-climate-bigger-threat-covid-red.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[video become an information activist -- editing Wikipedia -
Internet's encyclopedia]<br>
<b>Thriving Online - How to Be a Climate Wikipedian</b><br>
Andrew Revkin - 11-16-2020<br>
Wikipedia stands out online as a beacon of up-to-date and largely
accurate information in what often seems like a raging extreme storm
of noise and assertions. Entries may never be quite perfect, but
nonstop maintenance and monitoring make this community-managed
resource a vital first stop for billions of users each month.<br>
<br>
On heated issues like climate change and COVID-19, legions of
volunteers devote countless unpaid hours to updating and tending
entries. <br>
<br>
In this week's Thriving Online episode, join the Earth Institute's
Andy Revkin in a live chat with members of the largely unsung
Wikipedian community focused on climate change. The session was
inspired by a fascinating Mashable story profiling this team,
written by Mark Kaufman, who'll join the conversation. Here's
Kaufman's story: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://j.mp/mashablewikiclimate">http://j.mp/mashablewikiclimate</a><br>
<br>
Also on hand will be Alex Stinson, a senior program strategist at
Wikimedia Foundation, along with a representative or two from the
Climate & Development Knowledge Network, which is co-hosting an
"editathon" of climate content with Future Climate for Africa.<br>
<br>
That #Wki4Climate editing session runs from November 24 to December
1. Learn more here: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://j.mp/wiki4climate">http://j.mp/wiki4climate</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lziiFlU220">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lziiFlU220</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 -
November 18, 2008 </b></font><br>
<p>President-elect Obama addresses the Global Climate Summit in Los
Angeles, California via a pre-taped speech, declaring that his
administration will be committed to reducing carbon pollution.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvG2XptIEJk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvG2XptIEJk</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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