CC NEWS FOR DEC. 2017
On Nov. 12 talks by Dr. James Hansen and Daniel Galpern - given at the world climate conference in Bonn, Germany - were published on YouTube in a 28-minute video titled, Making the Carbon Majors Pay for Climate Action. Dr. Hansen, formerly a scientist at NASA and a professor at Columbia University, has been a whistle-blower for decades on the threat posed by climate change and the need for climate action; Mr. Galpern is an environmental lawyer who acts as Hansen’s legal advisor.
NOTE: This video is a must-see for anyone interested in the climate change threat and what is being done about it in the courts. I strongly recommend it. On the link in the paragraph above one can find links to nearly 20 useful videos featuring Hansen and otherl
On Nov. 14 USA TODY published an article by Doyle Rice titled, Global warming makes 'biblical' rain like that from Hurricane Harvey much more likely. He wrote, “The odds of a storm dumping Harvey-like rain on Texas have gone up sixfold in the past 25 years, thanks to man-made climate change, a study said. And looking ahead, the chances probably will triple that by 2100.
In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a 1% chance of a 20-inch rainfall somewhere in Texas in a given year. Now it’s up to 6%, and by the end of the century, it’ll hit 18%, said meteorologist Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the study.
"That's a huge increase in the probability of that event," and the change is the result of global warming, he said. The study appeared in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
Harvey dumped a U.S. storm record of 5 feet of rain across southeastern Texas in late August, leading to catastrophic flooding and the nation's worst natural disaster since Katrina in 2005. Harvey killed at least 70 people and likely caused at least $100 billion in damage.
"Harvey’s rainfall in Houston was ‘biblical’ in the sense that it likely occurred around once since the Old Testament was written,” the study said.”
On Nov. 14, YaleEnvironment360 published an article by Christian Schwagerl titled, In Drive to Cut Emissions, Germany Confronts Its Car Culture. He wrote, “Despite its green image, Germany is being held back by its national love of the gasoline-powered car. To truly transition to renewable energy, experts say, Germans must start moving beyond private autos and embrace new digitally-run systems of shared mobility.”
“Germans like to think of themselves as the most environmentally friendly people on earth. They see their sophisticated recycling programs, their love of forests, and, most recently, the country’s drive to replace both nuclear and coal-fired power production with renewable sources — the so-called Energiewende, or “energy turn” (“energy transition” is a better translation; comment added) — as evidence of their strong environmental consciousness, especially compared to top polluters like the United States and China.”
The author goes on to say that Germany, in spite of its desire to be an environmental leader, has had a century’s love affair with fast, gas-guzzling cars - like those made by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, making it difficult to meet the country’s CO2 emissions-reduction targets. He writes, “Germany has made major strides in deploying wind and solar power to generate electricity. But plastering the landscape with wind turbines is an easy task compared to changing the way Germans move between places. The greening of Germany’s transportation sector will be a decades-long project. One obvious solution is the electrification of the nation’s vehicle fleet. But that will lead to significantly reduced emissions only when the country’s electricity is generated by renewable sources, whereas today more than half of the country’s electricity comes from burning coal and natural gas.”
“Increasingly, German transportation experts, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists say the solution to greening the nation’s transportation sector needs to go beyond replacing gasoline-powered automobiles with electric ones. These advocates are calling for deeper changes, envisioning a future with a greatly diminished role for individually owned cars and the adoption of what is called “cooperative” or “coordinated” mobility. This would mean creating a new transport system that connects bicycles, buses, trains, and shared cars, all controlled by digital platforms that allow users to move from A to B in the fastest and cheapest way — but without their own car.”
The author pointed out that the typical privately-owned car is on the road for only about one hour per day, and sits idle for 23; during the rush hour there are so many cars on the road that traffic moves at a crawl. This could be avoided if more travel were on public transportation and bicycles, and a much smaller number of cars could be used if they could communicate with each other and be shared.
NOTE: This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking we need in an increasingly crowded and industrialized world - especially since in both Germany and the U.S. the transportation sector produces nearly as much CO2 as electricity generation. Moving toward all-electric vehicle fleets with better batteries, and with the electricity to charge them generated from renewable energy sources, will also be a large step in the right direction.
On Nov. 30, 2017 Yale Climate Connections posted the names and Abstracts of a number of books published since 2008 under the heading, Climate Change and International Conflict. Some of the titles are:
Here is the Abstract for Climate Wars: In this major book Harald Welzer shows how climate change and violence go hand in hand. Climate change has far-reaching consequences for the living conditions of peoples around the world: inhabitable spaces shrink, scarce resources become scarcer, injustices grow deeper, not only between North and South but also between generations, storing up material for new social tensions and giving rise to violent conflicts, civil wars and massive refugee flows. Climate change poses major new challenges in terms of security, responsibility and justice, but as Welzer makes disturbingly clear, very little is being done to confront them. (emphasis added) (The paperback edition includes a new preface that addresses the most recent developments and trends.)
On Dec. 12 an article was published by Doyle Rice in USA Today titled, The Arctic is warming faster than it has in 1,500 years. He wrote, “The Arctic is running a fever. The magnitude and pace of the recent Arctic sea-ice decline and ocean warming is "unprecedented" in at least the past 1,500 years and likely much longer, according to a federal report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The polar region shows no sign of returning to its reliably frozen state of recent decades, and its permafrost is thawing faster than ever before, the report warned.”
““The Arctic is going through its most unprecedented transition in human history, and we need better observations to understand and predict how these changes will affect everyone, not just the people of the north,” said Jeremy Mathis, head of NOAA's Arctic Research Program. "The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator to the planet, but the door of the refrigerator has been left open."”
NOTE: The acceleration of the loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and permafrost in the land is partly because humans keep adding more CO2 to the atmosphere every year by burning carbon-containing fuels, and partly because of positive feedbacks: The loss of ice causes more heating and an increasing rate of loss of additional ice. The loss of sea ice reduces the reflection of sunlight as bright white ice is replaced by deep blue sea and the water warms faster; the melting of permafrost releases methane and CO2 as the organic material in the soil decays - like the food in your freezer if you leave the door open.
On Dec, 12 The Sydney Morning Herald published an article by Nicole Hasham titled, World's biggest 100 polluting companies put on notice by investors to tackle climate change.
She wrote, “Shareholders have turned up the heat on the world's 100 biggest polluting companies including Australian firms BHP Billiton, Wesfarmers and Rio Tinto, in the first coordinated global effort by investors to force corporate action on climate change. The Climate Action 100+ initiative … will target 100 global companies responsible for an estimated 15 per cent of global emissions.
It marks a significant escalation of investor pressure on corporations to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, improve climate-related financial disclosures and increase governance on climate change.
More than 200 of the world's biggest investors, responsible for $26 trillion in assets, have signed up to the initiative.”
“Shareholder action on climate change has been gathering pace, given new momentum by the Paris climate accord. A strong response from the international corporate sector is needed if the goal of limiting the global rise in average temperatures to no more than two degrees is to be met.”
On Dec. 15 an article was published in Mashable by Andrew Freedman titled, We may be in for far higher amounts of sea level rise than ever thought before. He wrote, “The amount of sea level rise that many of us will experience in our lifetimes may be more than double what was previously anticipated, unless we sharply curtail greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study that factors in emerging, unsettling research on the tenuous stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Importantly, the study highlights that cuts we could still make to greenhouse gas emissions during the next several years would significantly reduce the possibility of a sea level rise calamity after 2050.”
The study referred to was published on Dec. 14 in Earth’s Future - An Open Access AGU Journal. The AGU is the American Geophysical Union. The authors are Robert E. Kopp (Rutgers), Robert DeConto (Univ. of Mass.), Danial Bader (Columbia), Caring Hay (Boston College), Bradley Horton (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory), Scott Kulp (Princeton), Michael Oppheimer (Princeton), David Pollard (Penn State) and Benjamin Strauss (Climate Central). The title of their study is Evolving Understanding of Antarctic Ice-Sheet Physics and Ambiguity in Probabilistic Sea-Level Projections. The authors looked at the effects of ice shelf fracturing as a result of water accumulation on the top of the ice and ice-cliff collapse for a number of different scenarios of future carbon dioxide emissions. Thy found that without protective measures, the global mean sea level rise by 2100 for a low emissions scenario could be 0.3 to 1.0 m (meter) while for the high emission scenario it could be 0.9 to 2.4 m, submerging land currently home to 153 million people. By 2300 the difference in sea level rise could give a difference for the two scenarios of more than 10 m (33 feet), with the higher one inundating land now occupied by 950 million (nearly a billion) people. Thus significantly reducing CO2 emissions soon can provide a tremendous positive benefit for future generations.
The following items are from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), Carol Werner, Executive Director. Past issues of its newsletter are posted on its website under "publications"
at http://www.eesi.org/publications/Newsletters/CCNews/ccnews.htm
EESI’s newsletter is intended for all interested parties, particularly the policymaker community.
Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-CA) has introduced a bill directing the National Academies of Science (NAS) to investigate geoengineering technologies. The Geoengineering Research Evaluation Act (HR 4586) would lead to two reports on a potential research agenda, oversight issues, and an assessment of the risks involved with geoengineering methods. Rep. McNerney explained, "It's very important that we understand what our tools are. What options do we have? How much risk is there?" There are currently few options available as scientists investigate these questions. One concern is that certain methods could result in one part of the globe benefitting and another suffering unintended consequences. A country taking up geoengineering alone presents another issue, as the rest of the region may not approve of the risk. Anna-Maria Hubert, principal investigator at the Geoengineering Research Governance Project, said, "The current framework for ensuring accountability under international law is pretty thin on what it substantively requires. Whether it could even be enforced is a separate question."
For more information see:
Government Audit Finds Many Military Facilities Are Behind in Planning for Climate Impacts
On December 13, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report stating that the Department of Defense (DOD) is not adequately tracking the costs incurred from the effects of extreme weather events on military installations. The report stated that "the military services lack the information they need to adapt infrastructure at overseas installations to weather effects associated with climate change and develop accurate budget estimates for infrastructure sustainment." The report's authors found that only a third of the 45 military facilities they toured had integrated climate adaptation into their overall planning. GAO recommended that DOD make it mandatory for all military facilities to track climate and extreme weather costs; incorporate adaptation measures in installation-level plans; and conduct a climate vulnerability survey at relevant sites. A DOD response claimed GAO had relied upon outdated policies and that the next iteration of the department's National Defense Strategy will address some of the issues raised.
For more information see:
An investigation by Reuters has documented widespread violations of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) rules governing where homes may be built or rented. Local, state, and federal officials have fallen short in enforcing regulations meant to limit the construction of new buildings in high-risk flood zones. From 2000-2015, new construction projects in flood-prone areas across the country led to more than $9 billion in claims for structural damage under the NFIP. The regulation of new construction, the maintenance of accurate flood plain maps, and the performance of community-level enforcement audits are some of the critical tools cited by federal officials. However, the audits have become infrequent for many communities and FEMA has been largely ineffective in mandating fixes to major violations. An analysis of results from 6,253 floodplain-management enforcement audits from 2009-2016 found evidence of significant issues in 13 percent of those cases. During that span, no federal or state auditor visited the highest-risk communities in 13 states.
For more information see:
An investigation by Reuters has documented widespread violations of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) rules governing where homes may be built or rented. Local, state, and federal officials have fallen short in enforcing regulations meant to limit the construction of new buildings in high-risk flood zones. From 2000-2015, new construction projects in flood-prone areas across the country led to more than $9 billion in claims for structural damage under the NFIP. The regulation of new construction, the maintenance of accurate flood plain maps, and the performance of community-level enforcement audits are some of the critical tools cited by federal officials. However, the audits have become infrequent for many communities and FEMA has been largely ineffective in mandating fixes to major violations. An analysis of results from 6,253 floodplain-management enforcement audits from 2009-2016 found evidence of significant issues in 13 percent of those cases. During that span, no federal or state auditor visited the highest-risk communities in 13 states.
For more information see:
During the One Planet Summit in Paris, France, the World Bank announced it will cut off its financial support for oil and gas exploration after 2019. The Bank currently spends about $1 billion annually on upstream oil and gas development in developing nations. The financial institution is on track to spend 28 percent of its lending on climate change projects by 2020, but 1-2 percent of its $280 billion portfolio is still dedicated to oil and gas. An exception to the ban would be projects in the poorest countries where energy access is lacking, so long as it does not conflict with a country's Paris Agreement obligations. The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, which promotes the disclosure of climate risks by companies and banks, also announced its progress at the summit. The Task Force's ranks include 20 globally significant banks and eight of the largest asset managers and insurance companies in the world. The participants have pledged to use their financial reports to highlight direct and indirect climate change risks.
For more information see:
During a hearing on December 11, a three-judge panel ruled that a unique case on the federal government's obligation to protect future generations from climate change could proceed to trial. The plaintiffs are a group of young people who are suing the U.S. government for damages inflicted upon the country's "climate system" through 50 years of adverse federal policymaking. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken wrote of the case, "It alleges that defendants' actions and inactions -- whether or not they violate any specific statutory duty -- have so profoundly damaged our home planet that they threaten plaintiffs' fundamental constitutional rights to life and liberty." Justice Department attorneys argued the case was based on "utterly unprecedented legal theories" and should not move forward. The suit was first filed in August 2015 and will be the first of its kind to appear before a federal appeals court. If the case advances past the appeals court level, it could eventually land before the Supreme Court.
For more information see:
California's wildfires have pushed people out of their homes while making exposure to elevated levels of air pollution unavoidable. The smoke produced by 2017's extreme wildfire season is nullifying long-standing regulatory efforts to preserve clean air and protect public health in the region. The smoke carries chemicals from the burning of building materials, plastics, and rubber and can worsen ozone pollution. Wildfire smoke is also rife with small particulates (known as PM2.5) that can enter the lungs, worsen respiratory diseases, and contribute to long-term ailments like cancer. Wildfires can distribute smoke over hundreds of miles, where it can settle over a region for days under certain conditions. Non-profit organizations in California have been trying to distribute masks to farm workers and the homeless, who spend much of their time outdoors. In Los Angeles, outreach teams have worked to alert homeless populations of the elevated risk and to direct them to indoor shelters. Laren Tan, a pulmonologist at Loma Linda University, reported, "It's been very difficult for outpatients to breathe" due to the presence of the wildfire smoke.
For more information see:
NOTE: Wildfire smoke - and black carbon from diesel engines and other sources - not only makes it hard to breathe, but the small particles can be carried far away from their sources - darkening the ice on glaciers and ice caps, increasing their rates of melting as well as the rates of global warming and sea level rise.
A new study indicates that information and communications technology (ICT), which includes mobile devices and server farms, could account for 20 percent of the world's electricity use by 2025. Researchers project ICT may account for 14 percent of total carbon emissions by 2040, equivalent to the proportion of global emissions produced by the United States today. The study concluded that without significant increases in energy efficiency, the ICT industry could be responsible for 5.5 percent of the world's carbon emissions by 2025. The surge in computing services and internet-connected devices accounted for 3-5 percent of all electricity use in 2015. According to computing firm Cisco, "More than one billion new internet users are expected, growing from three billion in 2015 to 4.1 billion by 2020." The demand for data centers that began in the United States is skyrocketing in Europe and Asia, bringing with it additional demand for electricity. Researcher Anders Andrae said, "There is a real risk that it all gets out of control. Policy makers need to keep a close eye on this."
For more information see:
American barley farmers are a key part of the supply chain for beer makers, including both small craft brewers and major corporations such as Anheuser-Busch. Drought, wildfires, and other shifting conditions have hit Montana's barley crop hard. The heat stress can lower the quality of a harvest and knock off a third of its market value, producing barley more suitable for animal feed than brewing. Barley crops have a high risk of failure, to the point that growers in some states do not even qualify for federal crop insurance. Collin Watters, executive vice president of the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, said, "Malting barley is inherently different than other crops. What you are hoping for, as a farmer, is a seed within a certain set of parameters that your customer, the malthouse, is calling for. Without high-quality malt, you can't make good beer." An increase in damaging heat and unpredictable weather conditions has led to a decrease in barley acreage across the United States.
For more information see:
NOTE: Barley is no doubt not the only crop liable to drop in yield and quality as global temperatures increase. Bangladesh has a large area devoted to growing rice not far above current sea level.
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Thanks,
Chad A. Tolman
ctolman141@gmail.com
New Castle County Congregations of Delaware Interfaith Power and Light
New Castle County Congregations of Delaware Interfaith Power and Light
And Happy Holidays!
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