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1CommonReeda
A recommendation for an overview of the effect of human civilisation on the climate and of those who have studied it: The last generation by Fred Pearce. He writes for the New Scientist.
2Akiyama
Definitely one to put on the TBR list. I always like to read Mr Pearce's articles in New Scientist, he's incredibly well informed.
I'll also be putting Affluenza on the TBR list.
I'll also be putting Affluenza on the TBR list.
3Akiyama
Hang on a minute - I just realised there are three books called Affluenza!
Affluenza (2001) by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor
American
171 copies - rating 4.08
Affluenza (2005) by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss
Australian
30 copies - rating 4.20
Affluenza (2007) by Oliver James
British
4 copies - no rating
So . . . should I go for the most popular one, the one with the highest rating, or the one published in my country (Britain) by an author I know I like?
Affluenza (2001) by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor
American
171 copies - rating 4.08
Affluenza (2005) by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss
Australian
30 copies - rating 4.20
Affluenza (2007) by Oliver James
British
4 copies - no rating
So . . . should I go for the most popular one, the one with the highest rating, or the one published in my country (Britain) by an author I know I like?
4dodger
Akiyama:
These are three different books; I have only read one of them, however, the others may be worth a read, too. The one I have read (and love) is by De Graaf, Wann, and Naylor, and it’s full title (or title and subtitle, if you will) is Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic.
The book by Oliver James sounds interesting, too; from what I have read about it, it seems to take more of a worldview of Affluenza, whereas “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic” focuses mostly on America’s rampant consumption and materialism.
If you are looking to pick up a copy of “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic”, there has been at least one previous edition of this book, so if you look in used bookshops you may find an older version, but the idea will be the same. As far as I know, the newest edition has not added anything substantially important over the previous edition(s). The most recent edition should be in stock at most bookstores, and of course online: here is the UK’s Amazon link. I hope this helps.
These are three different books; I have only read one of them, however, the others may be worth a read, too. The one I have read (and love) is by De Graaf, Wann, and Naylor, and it’s full title (or title and subtitle, if you will) is Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic.
The book by Oliver James sounds interesting, too; from what I have read about it, it seems to take more of a worldview of Affluenza, whereas “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic” focuses mostly on America’s rampant consumption and materialism.
If you are looking to pick up a copy of “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic”, there has been at least one previous edition of this book, so if you look in used bookshops you may find an older version, but the idea will be the same. As far as I know, the newest edition has not added anything substantially important over the previous edition(s). The most recent edition should be in stock at most bookstores, and of course online: here is the UK’s Amazon link. I hope this helps.
5MaureenRoy
The website of Gary Null, PhD has a number of original threads on topics of both sustainability and homesteading that are worth reading and studying, such as the following:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/68776480/Getting-Off-the-Grid-A-Blueprint-for-a-New-Li...
That link shows the top 10 U.S. states, as of May 2012, in coping with the effects of climate change.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/68776480/Getting-Off-the-Grid-A-Blueprint-for-a-New-Li...
That link shows the top 10 U.S. states, as of May 2012, in coping with the effects of climate change.
62wonderY
The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here, August 2015
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-point-of-no-return-climate-change-...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-point-of-no-return-climate-change-...
7margd
Short Answers to Hard
Questions About Climate Change
Fly less, drive less, waste less.
Will reducing meat in my diet help the climate?
Yes, beef especially.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/28/science/what-is-climate-change.htm...
Questions About Climate Change
Fly less, drive less, waste less.
Will reducing meat in my diet help the climate?
Yes, beef especially.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/28/science/what-is-climate-change.htm...
8MaureenRoy
May 2016: Sulfur air pollution was the only known source of molecules that add to cloud formation. Scientists have just now identified substances released by trees (and other vegetation) that trigger cloud formation. Regarding global warming, one scientist remarked, "Now we don't have to fear clean air anymore." Confirmation is in the following study:
http://www.nature.com/news/cloud-seeding-surprise-could-improve-climate-predicti...
http://www.nature.com/news/cloud-seeding-surprise-could-improve-climate-predicti...
9jjwilson61
>8 MaureenRoy: Sulfur air pollution was the only known source of molecules that add to cloud formation.
That didn't sound right, so looked at the article and found: About half of these aerosols originate, already in solid form, from Earth’s surface: for instance, dust from deserts, salt crystals from the oceans or soot from combustion.
That article is just talking about the other half of the aerosols that trigger cloud formation.
That didn't sound right, so looked at the article and found: About half of these aerosols originate, already in solid form, from Earth’s surface: for instance, dust from deserts, salt crystals from the oceans or soot from combustion.
That article is just talking about the other half of the aerosols that trigger cloud formation.
102wonderY
Antibiotics may give cows gas, contribute to climate change
we already know: "methane emissions from cud-chewing livestock worldwide, including cows, account for about 4% of the greenhouse gas emissions related to human activity. "
new info: "Over the course of the experiment, emissions of planet-warming methane from the dung of antibiotic-dosed cows were, on average, 80% higher than those from the manure of untreated cattle"
perhaps because: "The boost may be due to a relative increase in methane-producing microorganisms called archaea in the digestive systems of treated cattle due to the suppression of antibiotic-susceptible bacteria."
and another thing: "Because methane emissions from a cow’s manure are typically lower than those released from its belching, future studies should look at the effect of antibiotics on that source of the greenhouse gas, too, the researchers suggest"
we already know: "methane emissions from cud-chewing livestock worldwide, including cows, account for about 4% of the greenhouse gas emissions related to human activity. "
new info: "Over the course of the experiment, emissions of planet-warming methane from the dung of antibiotic-dosed cows were, on average, 80% higher than those from the manure of untreated cattle"
perhaps because: "The boost may be due to a relative increase in methane-producing microorganisms called archaea in the digestive systems of treated cattle due to the suppression of antibiotic-susceptible bacteria."
and another thing: "Because methane emissions from a cow’s manure are typically lower than those released from its belching, future studies should look at the effect of antibiotics on that source of the greenhouse gas, too, the researchers suggest"
11margd
El Niño waxes
warm waters shoal, flow eastward
Earth’s fever rises
-Gregory C. Johnson (NOAA oceanographer)
Blunden, J. and D. S. Arndt, Eds., 2016: State of the Climate in 2015. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 97 (8), S1–S275. http://www.ametsoc.net/sotc/StateoftheClimate2015_lowres.pdf
warm waters shoal, flow eastward
Earth’s fever rises
-Gregory C. Johnson (NOAA oceanographer)
Blunden, J. and D. S. Arndt, Eds., 2016: State of the Climate in 2015. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 97 (8), S1–S275. http://www.ametsoc.net/sotc/StateoftheClimate2015_lowres.pdf
12margd
Eye-opening figure:
Arctic Death Spiral (monthly volumes of Arctic ice, 1979-Jan 2017, the latter a record low)
https://www.habitablezone.com/2017/02/03/arctic-death-spiral/
Sea Ice Volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System and observations from satellites, Navy submarines, moorings, and field measurements:
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/research/projects/arctic-sea-ice-volume-anomaly/
Arctic Death Spiral (monthly volumes of Arctic ice, 1979-Jan 2017, the latter a record low)
https://www.habitablezone.com/2017/02/03/arctic-death-spiral/
Sea Ice Volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System and observations from satellites, Navy submarines, moorings, and field measurements:
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/research/projects/arctic-sea-ice-volume-anomaly/
13margd
12 Arctic death spiral, contd.
Canadian glaciers now major contributor to sea level change, UCI study shows
Nine times more ice is melting annually due to warmer temperatures
...surface melt off ice caps and glaciers of the Queen Elizabeth Islands grew by an astonishing 900 percent, from an average of three gigatons to 30 gigatons per year
...until 2005, the ice loss was caused about equally by two factors: calving icebergs from glacier fronts into the ocean accounted for 52 percent, and melting on glacier surfaces exposed to air contributed 48 percent. But since then, as atmospheric temperatures have steadily climbed, surface melt now accounts for 90 percent.
...(Researchers) found that in the past decade, overall ice mass declined markedly, turning the region into a major contributor to sea level change. (margd: and to fresh water that could end the ocean current that warms n Europe.) Canada holds 25 percent of all Arctic ice, second only to Greenland.
https://news.uci.edu/research/canadian-glaciers-now-major-contributor-to-sea-lev...
______________________________________________________________
Romain Millan, Jeremie Mouginot and Eric Rignot. 2017. Mass budget of the glaciers and ice caps of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada, from 1991 to 2015. 15 February 2017. Environmental Research Letters, Volume 12, Number 2.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5b04/meta;jsessionid=9E60B...
Canadian glaciers now major contributor to sea level change, UCI study shows
Nine times more ice is melting annually due to warmer temperatures
...surface melt off ice caps and glaciers of the Queen Elizabeth Islands grew by an astonishing 900 percent, from an average of three gigatons to 30 gigatons per year
...until 2005, the ice loss was caused about equally by two factors: calving icebergs from glacier fronts into the ocean accounted for 52 percent, and melting on glacier surfaces exposed to air contributed 48 percent. But since then, as atmospheric temperatures have steadily climbed, surface melt now accounts for 90 percent.
...(Researchers) found that in the past decade, overall ice mass declined markedly, turning the region into a major contributor to sea level change. (margd: and to fresh water that could end the ocean current that warms n Europe.) Canada holds 25 percent of all Arctic ice, second only to Greenland.
https://news.uci.edu/research/canadian-glaciers-now-major-contributor-to-sea-lev...
______________________________________________________________
Romain Millan, Jeremie Mouginot and Eric Rignot. 2017. Mass budget of the glaciers and ice caps of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada, from 1991 to 2015. 15 February 2017. Environmental Research Letters, Volume 12, Number 2.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5b04/meta;jsessionid=9E60B...
15margd
Daily CO2 readings graphed 1 day - 800,000 years:
(The modern form of Homo sapiends emerged 200,000 years ago.)
e.g., full record of readings: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/wp-content/plugins/sio-bluemoon/g...
as posted at The Keeling Curve
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/
(The modern form of Homo sapiends emerged 200,000 years ago.)
e.g., full record of readings: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/wp-content/plugins/sio-bluemoon/g...
as posted at The Keeling Curve
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/
16margd
Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release
Study* shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.
Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama...
...Other global evidence of similar large-scale permafrost changes have recently been documented in Siberia, where scientists with the Permafrost Laboratory at the University of Sussex (UK) are monitoring another rapidly growing scar in the earth. More than a half-mile of once-frozen ground has collapsed 280-feet deep, according to their study published in in the journal Quaternary Research in February. The researchers said they expect to see the rolling tundra landscape transform, including the formation of large new valleys and lakes.
Similar signs are evident in coastal Arctic areas, where thawing permafrost and bigger waves are taking 60- to 70-foot bites of land each year, according to researchers with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change in January, AWI scientists warned about collapsing coastlines and urged more research, with input from policymakers and native communities.
University of Alberta scientists Suzanne Tank, who was not involved in the new study, said that the release of sediments from the new slumps in the Canadian permafrost has significant ecological implications. The pulses of silt, mud and gravel make streams murkier and limit growth of aquatic plants at the base of the food chain. Exactly how that affects other species, including fish, is the subject of ongoing research.
Scientists know thawing permafrost unlocks carbon. But according to Tank, most of the carbon in the Canadian melting is being released quickly as coarse particles that aren't converted to CO2 immediately. But separate research by Swedish scientists suggests that the soil particles are quickly converted to heat-trapping CO2 when they are swept into the sea...
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27022017/global-warming-permafrost-study-melt...
* Steven V. Kokelj et al. 2017. Climate-driven thaw of permafrost preserved glacial landscapes, northwestern Canada. Geology. February 2017, doi: 10.1130/G38626.1 . http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2017/02/06/G38626.1.abstract?sid=3caa25... .
Abstract
Ice-marginal glaciated landscapes demarcate former boundaries of the continental ice sheets. Throughout circumpolar regions, permafrost has preserved relict ground ice and glacigenic sediments, delaying the sequence of postglacial landscape change that transformed temperate environments millennia earlier. Here we show that within 7 × 106 km2 of glaciated permafrost terrain, extensive landscapes remain poised for major climate-driven change. Across northwestern Canada, 60–100-km-wide concentric swaths of thaw slump–affected terrain delineate the maximum and recessional positions of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. These landscapes comprise ∼17% of continuous permafrost terrain in a 1.27 × 106 km2 study area, indicating widespread preservation of late Pleistocene ground ice. These thaw slump, relict ground ice, and glacigenic terrain associations are also evident at the circumpolar scale. Recent intensification of thaw slumping across northwestern Canada has mobilized primary glacial sediments, triggering a cascade of fluvial, lacustrine, and coastal effects. These geologically significant processes, highlighted by the spatial distribution of thaw slumps and patterns of fluvial sediment mobilization, signal the climate-driven renewal of deglaciation and postglacial permafrost landscape evolution.
Study* shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.
Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama...
...Other global evidence of similar large-scale permafrost changes have recently been documented in Siberia, where scientists with the Permafrost Laboratory at the University of Sussex (UK) are monitoring another rapidly growing scar in the earth. More than a half-mile of once-frozen ground has collapsed 280-feet deep, according to their study published in in the journal Quaternary Research in February. The researchers said they expect to see the rolling tundra landscape transform, including the formation of large new valleys and lakes.
Similar signs are evident in coastal Arctic areas, where thawing permafrost and bigger waves are taking 60- to 70-foot bites of land each year, according to researchers with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change in January, AWI scientists warned about collapsing coastlines and urged more research, with input from policymakers and native communities.
University of Alberta scientists Suzanne Tank, who was not involved in the new study, said that the release of sediments from the new slumps in the Canadian permafrost has significant ecological implications. The pulses of silt, mud and gravel make streams murkier and limit growth of aquatic plants at the base of the food chain. Exactly how that affects other species, including fish, is the subject of ongoing research.
Scientists know thawing permafrost unlocks carbon. But according to Tank, most of the carbon in the Canadian melting is being released quickly as coarse particles that aren't converted to CO2 immediately. But separate research by Swedish scientists suggests that the soil particles are quickly converted to heat-trapping CO2 when they are swept into the sea...
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27022017/global-warming-permafrost-study-melt...
* Steven V. Kokelj et al. 2017. Climate-driven thaw of permafrost preserved glacial landscapes, northwestern Canada. Geology. February 2017, doi: 10.1130/G38626.1 . http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2017/02/06/G38626.1.abstract?sid=3caa25... .
Abstract
Ice-marginal glaciated landscapes demarcate former boundaries of the continental ice sheets. Throughout circumpolar regions, permafrost has preserved relict ground ice and glacigenic sediments, delaying the sequence of postglacial landscape change that transformed temperate environments millennia earlier. Here we show that within 7 × 106 km2 of glaciated permafrost terrain, extensive landscapes remain poised for major climate-driven change. Across northwestern Canada, 60–100-km-wide concentric swaths of thaw slump–affected terrain delineate the maximum and recessional positions of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. These landscapes comprise ∼17% of continuous permafrost terrain in a 1.27 × 106 km2 study area, indicating widespread preservation of late Pleistocene ground ice. These thaw slump, relict ground ice, and glacigenic terrain associations are also evident at the circumpolar scale. Recent intensification of thaw slumping across northwestern Canada has mobilized primary glacial sediments, triggering a cascade of fluvial, lacustrine, and coastal effects. These geologically significant processes, highlighted by the spatial distribution of thaw slumps and patterns of fluvial sediment mobilization, signal the climate-driven renewal of deglaciation and postglacial permafrost landscape evolution.
172wonderY
the Great British Vegetable Shortage of 2017
Rationing by grocers was short term. They began accessing produce from the Americas.
The culinary crisis that launched a thousand headlines is the result of bad weather in Southern Europe. Spain's south-eastern Murcia region, which supplies much of Europe's fresh produce during the winter months, was hit with frost and snow, as well as the heaviest rainfall in 30 years. This coincided with a cold snap in Italy. The resulting crop shortages especially affected the U.K., which imports about half of its food.
Rationing by grocers was short term. They began accessing produce from the Americas.
The culinary crisis that launched a thousand headlines is the result of bad weather in Southern Europe. Spain's south-eastern Murcia region, which supplies much of Europe's fresh produce during the winter months, was hit with frost and snow, as well as the heaviest rainfall in 30 years. This coincided with a cold snap in Italy. The resulting crop shortages especially affected the U.K., which imports about half of its food.
18margd
Trump’s Climate Agenda: Do Less, With Less
From the EPA to the White House, from the budget to the federal register, his administration is dismantling climate-change regulation and the science that supports it.
...compared to the other environmental news that has lately come out of the Trump administration, Pruitt’s comments (CO2 is not a “primary contributor” to global warming) are of surprisingly little immediate importance. That’s because, over the past three weeks, the White House and its new political appointees have begun to roll out a comprehensive environmental and energy policy. It is broad, creative, and industry-backed. To those who accept the mainstream consensus on climate change, there can only be one conclusion: The Trump administration has begun a sustained assault on Earth’s climate...
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/trumps-war-on-the-climate-be...
From the EPA to the White House, from the budget to the federal register, his administration is dismantling climate-change regulation and the science that supports it.
...compared to the other environmental news that has lately come out of the Trump administration, Pruitt’s comments (CO2 is not a “primary contributor” to global warming) are of surprisingly little immediate importance. That’s because, over the past three weeks, the White House and its new political appointees have begun to roll out a comprehensive environmental and energy policy. It is broad, creative, and industry-backed. To those who accept the mainstream consensus on climate change, there can only be one conclusion: The Trump administration has begun a sustained assault on Earth’s climate...
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/trumps-war-on-the-climate-be...
19margd
Tillerson says he doesn't want US to withdraw from Paris Agreement, but....?
Tillerson Used ‘Alias’ Email for Climate Messages, N.Y. Says
New York says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an email alias to discuss climate change while he was Exxon Mobil Corp.’s chief executive: Wayne Tracker.
Schneiderman ... accusing Exxon of failing to turn over all relevant documents required by a court order. The filing comes in a protracted legal dispute in which Exxon seeks to derail probes by New York and Massachusetts into whether the company misled investors for years about the possible impact of climate change on its business.
...The development “raises a lot of questions” about whether Exxon complied with the subpoena, said Carrie Cohen, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who is now a white-collar criminal-defense lawyer at Morrison & Foerster in New York. “It could be misleading to not tell the attorney general the actual owner of that email address”
...The investigations are also the subject of a dispute in Washington, where House Republicans are seeking to derail the state probes on the grounds that they seek to silence scientists who disagree with the widely accepted theory that climate change is caused by humans. New York and Massachusetts earlier this month said they’d refuse to comply with subpoenas by the House Committee on Science Space and Technology, setting the stage for a possible legal showdown over state and federal investigatory powers...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-13/tillerson-used-alias-email-fo...
Tillerson Used ‘Alias’ Email for Climate Messages, N.Y. Says
New York says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an email alias to discuss climate change while he was Exxon Mobil Corp.’s chief executive: Wayne Tracker.
Schneiderman ... accusing Exxon of failing to turn over all relevant documents required by a court order. The filing comes in a protracted legal dispute in which Exxon seeks to derail probes by New York and Massachusetts into whether the company misled investors for years about the possible impact of climate change on its business.
...The development “raises a lot of questions” about whether Exxon complied with the subpoena, said Carrie Cohen, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who is now a white-collar criminal-defense lawyer at Morrison & Foerster in New York. “It could be misleading to not tell the attorney general the actual owner of that email address”
...The investigations are also the subject of a dispute in Washington, where House Republicans are seeking to derail the state probes on the grounds that they seek to silence scientists who disagree with the widely accepted theory that climate change is caused by humans. New York and Massachusetts earlier this month said they’d refuse to comply with subpoenas by the House Committee on Science Space and Technology, setting the stage for a possible legal showdown over state and federal investigatory powers...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-13/tillerson-used-alias-email-fo...
20margd
Changing climate could reduce Se, Fe, Zn, and protein in food plants for humans and livestock:
Changing climate could worsen foods’ nutrition
Evidence builds for lessening of certain micronutrients, protein in plants
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/changing-climate-could-worsen-foods-nutritio...
G.D. Jones et al. Selenium deficiency risk predicted to increase under future climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published online February 21, 2017. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611576114.
S.S. Myers et al. Climate change and global food systems: Potential impacts on food security and undernutrition. Annual Review of Public Health. Published online January 6, 2017. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044356.
S.S. Myers et al. Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition. Nature. Vol. 510, June 5, 2014, p. 139. doi: 10.1038/nature13179.
Changing climate could worsen foods’ nutrition
Evidence builds for lessening of certain micronutrients, protein in plants
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/changing-climate-could-worsen-foods-nutritio...
G.D. Jones et al. Selenium deficiency risk predicted to increase under future climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published online February 21, 2017. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611576114.
S.S. Myers et al. Climate change and global food systems: Potential impacts on food security and undernutrition. Annual Review of Public Health. Published online January 6, 2017. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044356.
S.S. Myers et al. Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition. Nature. Vol. 510, June 5, 2014, p. 139. doi: 10.1038/nature13179.
21margd
Yale Climate Opinion Map (by county): "Global warming is happening."
http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2016/
http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2016/
22MaureenRoy
I recommend that we avoid posting overtly political news (for or against any politician) on this thread, or anywhere in the Sustainability group. There are a number of LT politically oriented groups for that, but not here. The motivations of Mr. Trump's administration are best explained by the free article in the current issue of The New Yorker online (page 34, if memory serves). The author of that article is the investigative reporter Jane Mayer. Her new book Dark Money, from which this article is excerpted, has just been published in a paperback edition.
232wonderY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbmt_WeNBck
I’m a Tea Party conservative. Here’s how to win over Republicans on renewable energy.
-Debbie Dooley, one of the founders of the Tea Party
I’m a Tea Party conservative. Here’s how to win over Republicans on renewable energy.
-Debbie Dooley, one of the founders of the Tea Party
252wonderY
Not specifically about climate change, but Britain's electric grid is on track for eliminating coal power.
Britain goes a day without coal-fired power for first time since the 1880s
Britain goes a day without coal-fired power for first time since the 1880s
26John5918
I've just seen this interesting piece on African Arguments:
Life and coal: The other way Africa can leapfrog on energy
Basically it argues that renewable energy alone will not suffice for Africa's development and that coal will need to be a part of the mix. It points out that:
Sub-Saharan Africa must of course be part of tackling climate change. But especially given that the region has contributed the least to the problem yet faces many of the direst consequences of it, the burden should not lie with a power-starved Africa.
But what really interested me was this quote:
the latest iterations of coal power plants emit less than 100g of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. That’s almost as little as a traditional photovoltaic solar panel.
Anyone know if this is true? Or any details? Does the technology exist now or is it a goal for the future?
Life and coal: The other way Africa can leapfrog on energy
Basically it argues that renewable energy alone will not suffice for Africa's development and that coal will need to be a part of the mix. It points out that:
Sub-Saharan Africa must of course be part of tackling climate change. But especially given that the region has contributed the least to the problem yet faces many of the direst consequences of it, the burden should not lie with a power-starved Africa.
But what really interested me was this quote:
the latest iterations of coal power plants emit less than 100g of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. That’s almost as little as a traditional photovoltaic solar panel.
Anyone know if this is true? Or any details? Does the technology exist now or is it a goal for the future?
272wonderY
Carbon Recapture
Using machines to replace what plants do so much better
https://news.vice.com/story/this-factory-will-suck-carbon-out-of-the-air-and-fee...
No mention of the environmental costs for fabrication and operation.
Using machines to replace what plants do so much better
https://news.vice.com/story/this-factory-will-suck-carbon-out-of-the-air-and-fee...
No mention of the environmental costs for fabrication and operation.
28margd
>26 John5918: Following the link "100g of CO2 per kilowatt hour",
Key actions over the next 10 years ( green box, bottom of page2)
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/HELE_Foldout_A3_2n...
such technology doesn't sound imminent, cheap, or easy? Especially since it takes away from investment in solar (incl. distributed grids) which is increasingly so? Coal plants, like dams, might be favored by large agencies and central governments?
Key actions over the next 10 years ( green box, bottom of page2)
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/HELE_Foldout_A3_2n...
such technology doesn't sound imminent, cheap, or easy? Especially since it takes away from investment in solar (incl. distributed grids) which is increasingly so? Coal plants, like dams, might be favored by large agencies and central governments?
29MaureenRoy
>26 John5918: and everyone, the reforesting of Africa has begun:
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-41391844/why-is-africa-building-a-great-gree...
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-41391844/why-is-africa-building-a-great-gree...
302wonderY
Rapid collapse of Antarctic glaciers could flood coastal cities by the end of this century.
The models of ice disintegration keep getting scarier.
The models of ice disintegration keep getting scarier.
31MaureenRoy
"Scary" headlines are manipulative headlines ... let's not live in fear, seriously. Speaking of facts, here is a thoughtful analysis of the actual consensus of climate scientists:
https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/defining-consensus/
https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/defining-consensus/
32margd
Sobering analysis of future economic and military moves as Arctic melts:
How a melting Arctic changes everything
Part 3. The Economic Article
Eric Roston | December 29, 2017
...“China’s thinking on the polar regions and global oceans demonstrates a level of ambition and forward planning that few, if any, modern industrial states can achieve”...
...Free trade earns participants soft power. Militarization is hard power. As the U.S. and other nations have reversed long-standing free-trade ideas, that may put more onus on hard power...
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-arctic/the-economic-arctic/
____________________________________________________
Also interesting, in light of recent Russian Navy activity around Europe and trans-Atlantic cables.
(Word of the day: pingo. :)
Part 1, The Bare Arctic
Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi | April 19, 2017
Eight countries control land in the Arctic Circle. Five have coastlines to defend. The temperature is rising. The ice is melting. The race for newly accessible resources is beginning. And Russia is gaining ground...
... Along the Russian coastline, which makes up more than half the Arctic total, winds and currents push old ice away from potential shipping lanes and prevent the build-up of thicker, multi-year ice that would leave other parts of the Arctic impassable for longer periods. That dynamic helps bring the Northern Sea Route—shippers’ hoped-for Russian express between Western Europe and East Asia—closer to fruition.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-arctic/
Part 2. The Political Arctic
Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi | May 16, 2017
...Before the region truly opens for business, however, sovereign governments need to figure out which of them owns what.
Titanium flags aside (Russia planted one at the North Pole), it’s a bit unclear at the moment, and no one more than Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking aggressive steps to implement a vision.
... A decades-long push by the Soviet Union to industrialize the Arctic is indirectly responsible for the fact that any international governance is there to begin with. Finland, downwind from Soviet facilities that emitted pollution, gathered the eight Arctic nations together in 1991, with umbrella groups representing indigenous peoples, to figure out an international environmental-protection strategy.
The effort morphed into the Arctic Council, a consensus-driven environmental forum that then evolved still further into a catch-all working group for regional affairs. The efforts of the council may sound mundane to the civilized world beneath the 66th parallel, but they are vital to future life in the Arctic. The council has created oil-spill readiness plans and scientific endeavors, and it has divided areas of search-and-rescue responsibilities among its member nations (2011, map is interesting as possible starting point for 'who owns North Pole').
... No individual accomplishment of the council is particularly world-altering, but together its achievements have quietly built a modicum of trust and a pattern of collaboration among players that pose a significant counterweight to national aspirations in the region, Russia’s or others'. (The two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council last week passed from the U.S. to Finland.)
The Arctic Council has risen in import and attention as the top of the world became a place where developed economies want to play. Everybody wants in... (UK, China National Georgraphic, etc. petition eight permanent members for observer status)
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-arctic/the-political-arctic/
How a melting Arctic changes everything
Part 3. The Economic Article
Eric Roston | December 29, 2017
...“China’s thinking on the polar regions and global oceans demonstrates a level of ambition and forward planning that few, if any, modern industrial states can achieve”...
...Free trade earns participants soft power. Militarization is hard power. As the U.S. and other nations have reversed long-standing free-trade ideas, that may put more onus on hard power...
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-arctic/the-economic-arctic/
____________________________________________________
Also interesting, in light of recent Russian Navy activity around Europe and trans-Atlantic cables.
(Word of the day: pingo. :)
Part 1, The Bare Arctic
Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi | April 19, 2017
Eight countries control land in the Arctic Circle. Five have coastlines to defend. The temperature is rising. The ice is melting. The race for newly accessible resources is beginning. And Russia is gaining ground...
... Along the Russian coastline, which makes up more than half the Arctic total, winds and currents push old ice away from potential shipping lanes and prevent the build-up of thicker, multi-year ice that would leave other parts of the Arctic impassable for longer periods. That dynamic helps bring the Northern Sea Route—shippers’ hoped-for Russian express between Western Europe and East Asia—closer to fruition.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-arctic/
Part 2. The Political Arctic
Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi | May 16, 2017
...Before the region truly opens for business, however, sovereign governments need to figure out which of them owns what.
Titanium flags aside (Russia planted one at the North Pole), it’s a bit unclear at the moment, and no one more than Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking aggressive steps to implement a vision.
... A decades-long push by the Soviet Union to industrialize the Arctic is indirectly responsible for the fact that any international governance is there to begin with. Finland, downwind from Soviet facilities that emitted pollution, gathered the eight Arctic nations together in 1991, with umbrella groups representing indigenous peoples, to figure out an international environmental-protection strategy.
The effort morphed into the Arctic Council, a consensus-driven environmental forum that then evolved still further into a catch-all working group for regional affairs. The efforts of the council may sound mundane to the civilized world beneath the 66th parallel, but they are vital to future life in the Arctic. The council has created oil-spill readiness plans and scientific endeavors, and it has divided areas of search-and-rescue responsibilities among its member nations (2011, map is interesting as possible starting point for 'who owns North Pole').
... No individual accomplishment of the council is particularly world-altering, but together its achievements have quietly built a modicum of trust and a pattern of collaboration among players that pose a significant counterweight to national aspirations in the region, Russia’s or others'. (The two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council last week passed from the U.S. to Finland.)
The Arctic Council has risen in import and attention as the top of the world became a place where developed economies want to play. Everybody wants in... (UK, China National Georgraphic, etc. petition eight permanent members for observer status)
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-arctic/the-political-arctic/
33John5918
>32 margd:
With the projected rise in sea levels China might not get much long-term profit from the artificial islands they're creating in the South China Sea. They could all be underwater again in a few years.
With the projected rise in sea levels China might not get much long-term profit from the artificial islands they're creating in the South China Sea. They could all be underwater again in a few years.
34margd
>33 John5918: Chinese might want to reconsider rejecting our plastic waste--might need it to build up those islands!
(Then again we might need it--for seawalls or Trump's? ;-)
(Then again we might need it--for seawalls or Trump's? ;-)
35MaureenRoy
Recent interview with a scientist who studies conditions in and near the Arctic circle:
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=17-P13-00050&segmentID=5
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=17-P13-00050&segmentID=5
36margd
>35 MaureenRoy: Interesting--I recall reading one time that at end of last Ice Age, ice dam in Mackenzie R broke sending so much fresh water into Arctic Ocean that a rise in water level of Euphrates delta was noted. I remember wondering how that could be, but perhaps it caught the gyre at the right moment? (Don't quote me--going by memory here, so nuances lost, no doubt...)
ETA: Yale article linked from #35's interview
How a Wayward Arctic Current Could Cool the Climate in Europe
The Beaufort Gyre, a key Arctic Ocean current, is acting strangely. Scientists say it may be on the verge of discharging a huge amount of ice and cold freshwater that could kick off a period of lower temperatures in northern Europe.
By Ed Struzik • December 11, 2017
http://e360.yale.edu/features/how-a-wayward-arctic-current-could-cool-the-climat...
ETA: Yale article linked from #35's interview
How a Wayward Arctic Current Could Cool the Climate in Europe
The Beaufort Gyre, a key Arctic Ocean current, is acting strangely. Scientists say it may be on the verge of discharging a huge amount of ice and cold freshwater that could kick off a period of lower temperatures in northern Europe.
By Ed Struzik • December 11, 2017
http://e360.yale.edu/features/how-a-wayward-arctic-current-could-cool-the-climat...
382wonderY
Paul Hawken's surprising conclusions in Drawdown
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/10/15589038/top-100-solutions-...
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8521899/toptenclimatechange.jpg)
He has some interesting perspectives in the article. I'm ordering the book for a closer look.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/10/15589038/top-100-solutions-...
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8521899/toptenclimatechange.jpg)
He has some interesting perspectives in the article. I'm ordering the book for a closer look.
39MaureenRoy
A search is on for the lost genetic diversity of garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas). That analysis is necessary in order to help the plant withstand climate change. I expect that the same analysis will be needed for hundreds of other food crops, such as pinto beans, which are a hybridized version of its ancestor, anasazi beans. (Anasazi beans also have a much better flavor and much greater digestibility than their cheapened descendent.) Link for the garbanzo beans story:
http://www.newsweek.com/feed-world-scientists-have-plan-save-chickpeas-destructi...
http://www.newsweek.com/feed-world-scientists-have-plan-save-chickpeas-destructi...
40MaureenRoy
Re -- Project Drawdown: That's why I listed the book and website in our Zeitgeist thread some time ago. That listing also includes a link to the Project Drawdown introduction on the C-SPAN BookTV website.
42John5918
Somalia’s climate change refugees (IRIN)
Those who don't believe in climate change should try asking an African farmer...
Those who don't believe in climate change should try asking an African farmer...
43Jarandel
>42 John5918: Hah, but now it seems the narrative among many (ex-)deniers has shifted / is shifting to :
It's not human-induced, the temperature shift from the last 200 years is per-fect-ly na-tu-ral (nevermind that equivalent shifts in past eras took ages in comparison) / There's nothing to be done about it / Who cares / Our enterprises need the competitive edge to be as dirty as they want
It's not human-induced, the temperature shift from the last 200 years is per-fect-ly na-tu-ral (nevermind that equivalent shifts in past eras took ages in comparison) / There's nothing to be done about it / Who cares / Our enterprises need the competitive edge to be as dirty as they want
45margd
tps://phys.org/news/2018-02-beech-booming-climate-bad-forests.html
eech booming as climate changes, and that's bad for forests
Patrick Whittle |February 26, 2018
Beech booming as climate changes, and that's bad for forests
Patrick Whittle | February 26, 2018
...scientists say the move toward beech-heavy forests is associated with higher temperatures and precipitation. They say their 30-year study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Applied Ecology, is one of the first to look at such broad changes over a long time period in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada.
...Beech, often used for firewood, is of much less commercial value than some species of birch and maple trees that can be used to make furniture and flooring.
...They found that abundance of American beech increased substantially, while species including sugar maple, red maple and birch all decreased.
That's a problem not only because of beech's lower value, but because of the spread of beech bark disease, which causes the trees to die young and be replaced by newer trees that succumb to the same disease.
...And beech has the possibility to grow even more because it's not a favorite food of deer, which will eat more seedlings of other trees, Weiskittel said.
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-beech-booming-climate-bad-forests.html
_______________________________________
Arun Bose et al. 2017. A three decade assessment of climate-associated changes in forest composition across the north-eastern USA. 29 April 2017, Journal of Applied Ecology. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12917/full . DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12917
Summary
1. Climate-associated changes in forest composition have been widely reported, particularly where changes in abiotic conditions have resulted in high mortality of sensitive species and have disproportionately favoured certain species better adapted to these newer conditions. In the north-eastern USA and south-eastern Canada, few studies have examined climate-related influences associated with forest composition, and none have considered broad-scale changes over a long temporal (>25 2wonderY: years) period.
2. We used US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data from 1983 to 2014 across four north-eastern states (Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont) to assess temporal and spatial changes in the occurrence and abundance of American beech Fagus grandifolia Ehrh, sugar maple Acer saccharum L., red maple Acer rubrum L. and birch Betula spp. saplings. We also tested the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on the distribution of the four studied deciduous species over the entire period examined.
3. Occurrence and abundance of American beech have increased substantially over the past three decades, whereas the occurrence and abundance of three other deciduous species have decreased in all ecological provinces of the north-eastern USA, except the Midwest Broadleaf ecological province. Consequently, a clear shift in species composition is currently underway in the beech-maple-birch (BMB) forests of the north-eastern USA, with uncertain consequences for future ecosystem structure and function.
4. In the studied region and over the entire period examined, the distribution of increased occurrence and abundance of beech relative to the three other deciduous species were associated with higher temperature and precipitation as well as higher conspecific basal area and dead tree basal area.
5. Synthesis and applications. The change from beech-maple-birch forests to more beech-dominated forests with beech encroachment to new forest areas across the north-eastern USA may continue if higher intensity harvesting and disturbances (i.e. large-scale canopy openings) do not occur. This would be a significant management concern as beech is associated with a widespread bark disease, is commercially less desirable, and can limit natural regeneration from other species. Our results emphasize the need for management strategies such as higher intensity harvesting methods, vegetation control and limiting browsing pressure to reduce beech dominance.
eech booming as climate changes, and that's bad for forests
Patrick Whittle |February 26, 2018
Beech booming as climate changes, and that's bad for forests
Patrick Whittle | February 26, 2018
...scientists say the move toward beech-heavy forests is associated with higher temperatures and precipitation. They say their 30-year study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Applied Ecology, is one of the first to look at such broad changes over a long time period in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada.
...Beech, often used for firewood, is of much less commercial value than some species of birch and maple trees that can be used to make furniture and flooring.
...They found that abundance of American beech increased substantially, while species including sugar maple, red maple and birch all decreased.
That's a problem not only because of beech's lower value, but because of the spread of beech bark disease, which causes the trees to die young and be replaced by newer trees that succumb to the same disease.
...And beech has the possibility to grow even more because it's not a favorite food of deer, which will eat more seedlings of other trees, Weiskittel said.
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-beech-booming-climate-bad-forests.html
_______________________________________
Arun Bose et al. 2017. A three decade assessment of climate-associated changes in forest composition across the north-eastern USA. 29 April 2017, Journal of Applied Ecology. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12917/full . DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12917
Summary
1. Climate-associated changes in forest composition have been widely reported, particularly where changes in abiotic conditions have resulted in high mortality of sensitive species and have disproportionately favoured certain species better adapted to these newer conditions. In the north-eastern USA and south-eastern Canada, few studies have examined climate-related influences associated with forest composition, and none have considered broad-scale changes over a long temporal (>25 2wonderY: years) period.
2. We used US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data from 1983 to 2014 across four north-eastern states (Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont) to assess temporal and spatial changes in the occurrence and abundance of American beech Fagus grandifolia Ehrh, sugar maple Acer saccharum L., red maple Acer rubrum L. and birch Betula spp. saplings. We also tested the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on the distribution of the four studied deciduous species over the entire period examined.
3. Occurrence and abundance of American beech have increased substantially over the past three decades, whereas the occurrence and abundance of three other deciduous species have decreased in all ecological provinces of the north-eastern USA, except the Midwest Broadleaf ecological province. Consequently, a clear shift in species composition is currently underway in the beech-maple-birch (BMB) forests of the north-eastern USA, with uncertain consequences for future ecosystem structure and function.
4. In the studied region and over the entire period examined, the distribution of increased occurrence and abundance of beech relative to the three other deciduous species were associated with higher temperature and precipitation as well as higher conspecific basal area and dead tree basal area.
5. Synthesis and applications. The change from beech-maple-birch forests to more beech-dominated forests with beech encroachment to new forest areas across the north-eastern USA may continue if higher intensity harvesting and disturbances (i.e. large-scale canopy openings) do not occur. This would be a significant management concern as beech is associated with a widespread bark disease, is commercially less desirable, and can limit natural regeneration from other species. Our results emphasize the need for management strategies such as higher intensity harvesting methods, vegetation control and limiting browsing pressure to reduce beech dominance.
462wonderY
Bad news
Increasing tree mortality in a warming world
Higher temperatures encourage the trees to close stomata to conserve moisture, and cause the organism to consume less carbon from the atmosphere. They starve to death.
and a ray of hope
Reefs are dying. Scientists hope lab-bred 'super corals' can help revive them
Increasing tree mortality in a warming world
Higher temperatures encourage the trees to close stomata to conserve moisture, and cause the organism to consume less carbon from the atmosphere. They starve to death.
and a ray of hope
Reefs are dying. Scientists hope lab-bred 'super corals' can help revive them
47MaureenRoy
October 16, 2018: Johnthefireman and everyone, there was a CNN cable TV comment yesterday that there are now more jobs in solar power than there are in coal businesses.
From the USC Annenberg School of Communication, an update on climate forecasts:
http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2018/10/10/humans-could-face-severe-climate-cha...
From the USC Annenberg School of Communication, an update on climate forecasts:
http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2018/10/10/humans-could-face-severe-climate-cha...
48John5918
Climate change 'cause of most under-reported humanitarian crises' (Guardian)
Report says few headlines sparked by food crises that ravaged Madagascar, Ethiopia and Haiti
If you want to know whether climate change is real or not, ask an African subsistence farmer...
Report says few headlines sparked by food crises that ravaged Madagascar, Ethiopia and Haiti
If you want to know whether climate change is real or not, ask an African subsistence farmer...
49MaureenRoy
Bravo to John for this report. Agreed, and in fact I think there may be a "white privilege" element in the "First World" relative lack of action on climate change. That confluence of factors is partly why I started the LT "White Privilege" user group a few years ago.
50John5918
Wetland mud is 'secret weapon' against climate change (BBC)
Muddy, coastal marshes are "sleeping giants" that could fight climate change, scientists say. A global study has shown that these regions could be awoken by sea level rise. Sea level is directly linked to the amount of carbon these wetlands store in their soil, the team reports in the journal Nature... They say that the preservation of coastal wetlands is critical for mitigating global warming...
Muddy, coastal marshes are "sleeping giants" that could fight climate change, scientists say. A global study has shown that these regions could be awoken by sea level rise. Sea level is directly linked to the amount of carbon these wetlands store in their soil, the team reports in the journal Nature... They say that the preservation of coastal wetlands is critical for mitigating global warming...
51margd
>50 John5918: Now if people can only refrain from hardening their shorelines as the seas rise...
54John5918
Empowering women on the frontlines of climate change (ReliefWeb)
While the scene is age-old, the number of women farmers—and those performing traditionally male roles—has grown out of the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Al Rahad, in the North Kordofan State, like other regions in the Sahel, has suffered from increasing temperatures, uneven distribution and variability of rainfall, and drought. In turn, this has affected the livelihoods of pastoralists and farmers, with men migrating to the capital of Khartoum or other cities in search of employment.
In turn, women—whose traditional roles have been caring for children and performing household chores—have stepped into the role of providers. By renting fields for their livestock and crops, they have been able to sell goods at the market and earn a small income.
To help tackle the effects of climate change, the joint programme “Promoting Gender-Responsive Approaches to Natural Resource Management for Peace” implemented by UN Environment, UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme, has spent the last two years training women... in farming, natural resource management and conflict resolution. The project in Sudan is the first under the joint programme.
“It is the women who are left on the frontlines of both climate change and climate change-related conflict,” said Silja Halle, the joint programme coordinator. “Climate change is leading to shifts in livelihood patterns that are resulting in men either migrating away from the communities to find alternative employment or changing the migration patterns in such a way that women, instead of travelling with the men, now stay within the community"...
55John5918
How dire climate displacement warnings are becoming a reality in Bangladesh (IRIN)
Families here say such extremes have become increasingly common: warmer winters, drier summers, and more erratic rains that leave farmers guessing.
"We have no fertility of land like in the past,” Das said. “This has happened because of climate change...”
Families here say such extremes have become increasingly common: warmer winters, drier summers, and more erratic rains that leave farmers guessing.
"We have no fertility of land like in the past,” Das said. “This has happened because of climate change...”
56John5918
Reposted in a different thread
57John5918
Climate change: Central banks warn of financial risks in open letter (BBC)
The heads of two major central banks have written a stark warning about the financial risks of climate change. Bank of England governor Mark Carney and France's François Villeroy de Galhau set out the dangers to the global economy in an open letter.
The heads of two major central banks have written a stark warning about the financial risks of climate change. Bank of England governor Mark Carney and France's François Villeroy de Galhau set out the dangers to the global economy in an open letter.
58John5918
BBC Climate Change documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ypaUH57MO4
After one of the hottest years on record, Sir David Attenborough looks at the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat. Interviews with some of the world’s leading climate scientists explore recent extreme weather conditions such as unprecedented storms and catastrophic wildfires. They also reveal what dangerous levels of climate change could mean for both human populations and the natural world in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ypaUH57MO4
After one of the hottest years on record, Sir David Attenborough looks at the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat. Interviews with some of the world’s leading climate scientists explore recent extreme weather conditions such as unprecedented storms and catastrophic wildfires. They also reveal what dangerous levels of climate change could mean for both human populations and the natural world in the future.
59margd
>58 John5918: A way to observe Earth Day:
watch David Attenborough's excellent, sobering 1 hr BBC documentary on climate change.
We must act now "with determination and urgency".
(ETA: Or the shorter (2:45) version, at least: https://www.ourplanet.com/en/video/a-reason-for-hope/ )
watch David Attenborough's excellent, sobering 1 hr BBC documentary on climate change.
We must act now "with determination and urgency".
(ETA: Or the shorter (2:45) version, at least: https://www.ourplanet.com/en/video/a-reason-for-hope/ )
60margd
Half of all land must be kept in a natural state to protect Earth
New science says land conservation must double by 2030 to prevent dangerous warming and unravelling of ecosystems.
Stephen Leahy | April 19, 2019
“The benefits of protecting 50 percent of nature by 2030 are tremendous,” says Eric Dinerstein, director of biodiversity and wildlife solutions at RESOLVE, a non-profit group, and lead author of a new paper published Friday in Science Advances titled “A Global Deal For Nature: Guiding principles, milestones, and targets.”
This is the first science-based plan with clear milestones on why it’s vital to achieve these goals and how it could be done, says Dinerstein. It’s not widely understood that large areas of forests, grasslands, and other natural areas are needed to soak up carbon emissions, he adds. Intact forests, and especially tropical forests, sequester twice as much carbon as planted monocultures, for example...
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/science-study-outlines-30...
______________________________________________________________________
E. Dinerstein et al. 2019. A Global Deal For Nature: Guiding principles, milestones, and targets. Science Advances 19 Apr 2019: Vol. 5, no. 4, eaaw2869
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869 . https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaaw2869
Abstract
The Global Deal for Nature (GDN) is a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Pairing the GDN and the Paris Climate Agreement would avoid catastrophic climate change, conserve species, and secure essential ecosystem services. New findings give urgency to this union: Less than half of the terrestrial realm is intact, yet conserving all native ecosystems—coupled with energy transition measures—will be required to remain below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature. The GDN targets 30% of Earth to be formally protected and an additional 20% designated as climate stabilization areas, by 2030, to stay below 1.5°C. We highlight the 67% of terrestrial ecoregions that can meet 30% protection, thereby reducing extinction threats and carbon emissions from natural reservoirs. Freshwater and marine targets included here extend the GDN to all realms and provide a pathway to ensuring a more livable biosphere.
Introduction
...Opportunities to address both climate change and the extinction crisis are time bound. Climate models show that we are approaching a tipping point: If current trends in habitat conversion and emissions do not peak by 2030, then it will become impossible to remain below 1.5°C (2, 12, 13). Similarly, if current land conversion rates, poaching of large animals, and other threats are not markedly slowed or halted in the next 10 years, “points of no return” will be reached for multiple ecosystems and species (13). It has become clear that beyond 1.5°C, the biology of the planet becomes gravely threatened because ecosystems literally begin to unravel (12, 14). Degradation of the natural environment also diminishes quality of life, threatens public health, and triggers human displacement because of lost access to clean drinking water, reduced irrigation of important subsistence crops, and exacerbation of climate-related storm and drought events (15). These occurrences will become increasingly worse without substantial action over the next few years. Additionally, human migrations, triggered by climate change–induced droughts and sea-level rise in combination with extreme weather events, could displace more than 100 million people by 2050, mostly in the southern hemisphere (12, 13)...
New science says land conservation must double by 2030 to prevent dangerous warming and unravelling of ecosystems.
Stephen Leahy | April 19, 2019
“The benefits of protecting 50 percent of nature by 2030 are tremendous,” says Eric Dinerstein, director of biodiversity and wildlife solutions at RESOLVE, a non-profit group, and lead author of a new paper published Friday in Science Advances titled “A Global Deal For Nature: Guiding principles, milestones, and targets.”
This is the first science-based plan with clear milestones on why it’s vital to achieve these goals and how it could be done, says Dinerstein. It’s not widely understood that large areas of forests, grasslands, and other natural areas are needed to soak up carbon emissions, he adds. Intact forests, and especially tropical forests, sequester twice as much carbon as planted monocultures, for example...
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/science-study-outlines-30...
______________________________________________________________________
E. Dinerstein et al. 2019. A Global Deal For Nature: Guiding principles, milestones, and targets. Science Advances 19 Apr 2019: Vol. 5, no. 4, eaaw2869
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869 . https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaaw2869
Abstract
The Global Deal for Nature (GDN) is a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Pairing the GDN and the Paris Climate Agreement would avoid catastrophic climate change, conserve species, and secure essential ecosystem services. New findings give urgency to this union: Less than half of the terrestrial realm is intact, yet conserving all native ecosystems—coupled with energy transition measures—will be required to remain below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature. The GDN targets 30% of Earth to be formally protected and an additional 20% designated as climate stabilization areas, by 2030, to stay below 1.5°C. We highlight the 67% of terrestrial ecoregions that can meet 30% protection, thereby reducing extinction threats and carbon emissions from natural reservoirs. Freshwater and marine targets included here extend the GDN to all realms and provide a pathway to ensuring a more livable biosphere.
Introduction
...Opportunities to address both climate change and the extinction crisis are time bound. Climate models show that we are approaching a tipping point: If current trends in habitat conversion and emissions do not peak by 2030, then it will become impossible to remain below 1.5°C (2, 12, 13). Similarly, if current land conversion rates, poaching of large animals, and other threats are not markedly slowed or halted in the next 10 years, “points of no return” will be reached for multiple ecosystems and species (13). It has become clear that beyond 1.5°C, the biology of the planet becomes gravely threatened because ecosystems literally begin to unravel (12, 14). Degradation of the natural environment also diminishes quality of life, threatens public health, and triggers human displacement because of lost access to clean drinking water, reduced irrigation of important subsistence crops, and exacerbation of climate-related storm and drought events (15). These occurrences will become increasingly worse without substantial action over the next few years. Additionally, human migrations, triggered by climate change–induced droughts and sea-level rise in combination with extreme weather events, could displace more than 100 million people by 2050, mostly in the southern hemisphere (12, 13)...
61John5918
Why is the US news media so bad at covering climate change?
“Sure would be nice if our news networks – the only outlets that can force change in this country – would cover it with commensurate urgency"... The problem... was that “every single time we’ve covered {climate change} it’s been a palpable ratings killer. So the incentives are not great”...
Trump issues Earth Day message without mentioning climate change
President praised the benefits of a ‘strong market economy’ but did not echo warnings from scientists on rising temperatures
Both from the Guardian
“Sure would be nice if our news networks – the only outlets that can force change in this country – would cover it with commensurate urgency"... The problem... was that “every single time we’ve covered {climate change} it’s been a palpable ratings killer. So the incentives are not great”...
Trump issues Earth Day message without mentioning climate change
President praised the benefits of a ‘strong market economy’ but did not echo warnings from scientists on rising temperatures
Both from the Guardian
62margd
Staggering New Data Show Greenland's Ice Is Melting 6 Times Faster Than in The 1980s
CHRIS MOONEY AND BRADY DENNIS | 23 APR 2019
Greenland, home to the Earth's second largest ice sheet, has lost ice at an accelerating pace in the past several decades – a nearly sixfold increase that could contribute to future sea level rise, according to a new study based on nearly a half century of data.
The findings*...estimate that Greenland's glaciers went from dumping only about 51 billion tons of ice into the ocean between 1980 to 1990, to losing 286 billion tons between 2010 and 2018.
The result is that out of nearly 14 millimeters of sea level rise in total caused by Greenland since 1972, half of it has occurred in just the last 8 years, researchers found.
And the losses are likely to get worse. The regions with the biggest potential ice loss – the frigid far northwest and northeast of the island, which sit up against the Arctic ocean – have not changed as quickly as other parts of Greenland.
Should they begin to melt and lose chunks of ice more rapidly, then Greenland's overall ice loss – and contribution to sea level rise – could grow even more...
https://www.sciencealert.com/greenland-s-accelerating-ice-loss-is-worrisome-to-s...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Jérémie Mouginot et al. 2019. Forty-six years of Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance from 1972 to 2018.
PNAS first published April 22, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904242116 . https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/04/16/1904242116
Significance
We reconstruct the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet for the past 46 years by comparing glacier ice discharge into the ocean with interior accumulation of snowfall from regional atmospheric climate models over 260 drainage basins. The mass balance started to deviate from its natural range of variability in the 1980s. The mass loss has increased sixfold since the 1980s. Greenland has raised sea level by 13.7 mm since 1972, half during the last 8 years.
Abstract
We reconstruct the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet using a comprehensive survey of thickness, surface elevation, velocity, and surface mass balance (SMB) of 260 glaciers from 1972 to 2018. We calculate mass discharge, D, into the ocean directly for 107 glaciers (85% of D) and indirectly for 110 glaciers (15%) using velocity-scaled reference fluxes. The decadal mass balance switched from a mass gain of +47 ± 21 Gt/y in 1972–1980 to a loss of 51 ± 17 Gt/y in 1980–1990. The mass loss increased from 41 ± 17 Gt/y in 1990–2000, to 187 ± 17 Gt/y in 2000–2010, to 286 ± 20 Gt/y in 2010–2018, or sixfold since the 1980s, or 80 ± 6 Gt/y per decade, on average. The acceleration in mass loss switched from positive in 2000–2010 to negative in 2010–2018 due to a series of cold summers, which illustrates the difficulty of extrapolating short records into longer-term trends. Cumulated since 1972, the largest contributions to global sea level rise are from northwest (4.4 ± 0.2 mm), southeast (3.0 ± 0.3 mm), and central west (2.0 ± 0.2 mm) Greenland, with a total 13.7 ± 1.1 mm for the ice sheet. The mass loss is controlled at 66 ± 8% by glacier dynamics (9.1 mm) and 34 ± 8% by SMB (4.6 mm). Even in years of high SMB, enhanced glacier discharge has remained sufficiently high above equilibrium to maintain an annual mass loss every year since 1998.
CHRIS MOONEY AND BRADY DENNIS | 23 APR 2019
Greenland, home to the Earth's second largest ice sheet, has lost ice at an accelerating pace in the past several decades – a nearly sixfold increase that could contribute to future sea level rise, according to a new study based on nearly a half century of data.
The findings*...estimate that Greenland's glaciers went from dumping only about 51 billion tons of ice into the ocean between 1980 to 1990, to losing 286 billion tons between 2010 and 2018.
The result is that out of nearly 14 millimeters of sea level rise in total caused by Greenland since 1972, half of it has occurred in just the last 8 years, researchers found.
And the losses are likely to get worse. The regions with the biggest potential ice loss – the frigid far northwest and northeast of the island, which sit up against the Arctic ocean – have not changed as quickly as other parts of Greenland.
Should they begin to melt and lose chunks of ice more rapidly, then Greenland's overall ice loss – and contribution to sea level rise – could grow even more...
https://www.sciencealert.com/greenland-s-accelerating-ice-loss-is-worrisome-to-s...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Jérémie Mouginot et al. 2019. Forty-six years of Greenland Ice Sheet mass balance from 1972 to 2018.
PNAS first published April 22, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904242116 . https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/04/16/1904242116
Significance
We reconstruct the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet for the past 46 years by comparing glacier ice discharge into the ocean with interior accumulation of snowfall from regional atmospheric climate models over 260 drainage basins. The mass balance started to deviate from its natural range of variability in the 1980s. The mass loss has increased sixfold since the 1980s. Greenland has raised sea level by 13.7 mm since 1972, half during the last 8 years.
Abstract
We reconstruct the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet using a comprehensive survey of thickness, surface elevation, velocity, and surface mass balance (SMB) of 260 glaciers from 1972 to 2018. We calculate mass discharge, D, into the ocean directly for 107 glaciers (85% of D) and indirectly for 110 glaciers (15%) using velocity-scaled reference fluxes. The decadal mass balance switched from a mass gain of +47 ± 21 Gt/y in 1972–1980 to a loss of 51 ± 17 Gt/y in 1980–1990. The mass loss increased from 41 ± 17 Gt/y in 1990–2000, to 187 ± 17 Gt/y in 2000–2010, to 286 ± 20 Gt/y in 2010–2018, or sixfold since the 1980s, or 80 ± 6 Gt/y per decade, on average. The acceleration in mass loss switched from positive in 2000–2010 to negative in 2010–2018 due to a series of cold summers, which illustrates the difficulty of extrapolating short records into longer-term trends. Cumulated since 1972, the largest contributions to global sea level rise are from northwest (4.4 ± 0.2 mm), southeast (3.0 ± 0.3 mm), and central west (2.0 ± 0.2 mm) Greenland, with a total 13.7 ± 1.1 mm for the ice sheet. The mass loss is controlled at 66 ± 8% by glacier dynamics (9.1 mm) and 34 ± 8% by SMB (4.6 mm). Even in years of high SMB, enhanced glacier discharge has remained sufficiently high above equilibrium to maintain an annual mass loss every year since 1998.
63margd
#60, contd. (conserve terrestrial ecosystems)
Couple Spends 20 Years Planting an Entire Forest and Animals Have Returned (Brazil cattle ranch) :)
Kelly Richman-Abdou | April 23, 2019
Nearly 30 years ago, Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado returned from East Africa, where he was on location documenting the horrors of the Rwanda genocide. Following this traumatizing project, Salgado was to take over his family’s sprawling cattle ranch in Minas Gerais—a region he remembered as a lush and lively rainforest. Unfortunately, the area had undergone a drastic transformation; only about 0.5% was covered in trees, and all of the wildlife had disappeared. “The land,” he tells The Guardian, “was as sick as I was.”
Then, his wife Lélia had an idea: they should replant the forest. In order to support this seemingly impossible cause, the couple set up the Instituto Terra, an “environmental organization dedicated to the sustainable development of the Valley of the River Doce,” in 1998. Over the next several years, the Salgados and the Instituto Terra team slowly but surely rebuilt the 1,754-acre forest, transforming it from a barren plot of land to a tropical paradise.
Now a Private Natural Heritage Reserve, hundreds of species of flora and fauna call the former cattle ranch home. In addition to 293 species of trees, the land now teems with 172 species of birds, 33 species of mammals, and 15 species of amphibians and reptiles—many of which are endangered. As expected, this rejuvenation has also had a huge impact on the ecosystem and climate. On top of reintroducing plants and animals to the area, the project has rejuvenated several once dried-up springs in the drought-prone area, and has even positively affected local temperatures...
https://mymodernmet.com/sebastiao-salgado-forest/
Couple Spends 20 Years Planting an Entire Forest and Animals Have Returned (Brazil cattle ranch) :)
Kelly Richman-Abdou | April 23, 2019
Nearly 30 years ago, Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado returned from East Africa, where he was on location documenting the horrors of the Rwanda genocide. Following this traumatizing project, Salgado was to take over his family’s sprawling cattle ranch in Minas Gerais—a region he remembered as a lush and lively rainforest. Unfortunately, the area had undergone a drastic transformation; only about 0.5% was covered in trees, and all of the wildlife had disappeared. “The land,” he tells The Guardian, “was as sick as I was.”
Then, his wife Lélia had an idea: they should replant the forest. In order to support this seemingly impossible cause, the couple set up the Instituto Terra, an “environmental organization dedicated to the sustainable development of the Valley of the River Doce,” in 1998. Over the next several years, the Salgados and the Instituto Terra team slowly but surely rebuilt the 1,754-acre forest, transforming it from a barren plot of land to a tropical paradise.
Now a Private Natural Heritage Reserve, hundreds of species of flora and fauna call the former cattle ranch home. In addition to 293 species of trees, the land now teems with 172 species of birds, 33 species of mammals, and 15 species of amphibians and reptiles—many of which are endangered. As expected, this rejuvenation has also had a huge impact on the ecosystem and climate. On top of reintroducing plants and animals to the area, the project has rejuvenated several once dried-up springs in the drought-prone area, and has even positively affected local temperatures...
https://mymodernmet.com/sebastiao-salgado-forest/
64margd
Oilsands CO2 emissions may be far higher than companies report, scientists say
Zach Dubinsky · CBC News · Posted: Apr 23, 2019
...researchers, mainly from Environment Canada, calculated emissions rates for four major oilsands surface mining operations using air samples collected in 2013 on 17 airplane flights over the area.
In results published today in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists say the air samples from just those surface mining operations suggest their carbon dioxide emissions are 64 per cent higher, on average, than what the companies themselves report to the federal government using the standard United Nations reporting framework for greenhouse gases.
It means that Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions would be around 2.3 per cent higher than previously thought. And if research eventually shows that other oilsands sites are subject to similar underreporting issues, Canada's overall greenhouse gas emissions could be as much as six per cent more than thought — throwing a wrench into the calculations that underpin government emissions strategies.
Accurate estimates of anthropogenic or human-generated greenhouse gases "inform national and international climate policies," the researchers write. "Such anthropogenic GHG emission data ultimately underpin carbon pricing and trading policies."...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/oilsands-carbon-emissions-study-1.5106809
Zach Dubinsky · CBC News · Posted: Apr 23, 2019
...researchers, mainly from Environment Canada, calculated emissions rates for four major oilsands surface mining operations using air samples collected in 2013 on 17 airplane flights over the area.
In results published today in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists say the air samples from just those surface mining operations suggest their carbon dioxide emissions are 64 per cent higher, on average, than what the companies themselves report to the federal government using the standard United Nations reporting framework for greenhouse gases.
It means that Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions would be around 2.3 per cent higher than previously thought. And if research eventually shows that other oilsands sites are subject to similar underreporting issues, Canada's overall greenhouse gas emissions could be as much as six per cent more than thought — throwing a wrench into the calculations that underpin government emissions strategies.
Accurate estimates of anthropogenic or human-generated greenhouse gases "inform national and international climate policies," the researchers write. "Such anthropogenic GHG emission data ultimately underpin carbon pricing and trading policies."...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/oilsands-carbon-emissions-study-1.5106809
65John5918
How rampant deforestation made Mozambique more vulnerable to Cyclone Idai (The New Humanitarian)
662wonderY
I mistakenly thought I'd seen >63 margd: 's story elsewhere, so I went googling for it today.
Instead, I found this collection of 12 stories of other individuals helping with reforestation in various African communities: https://www.cifor.org/library/6980/
They are all short and wonderful.
Instead, I found this collection of 12 stories of other individuals helping with reforestation in various African communities: https://www.cifor.org/library/6980/
They are all short and wonderful.
67John5918
Dozens dead, tens of thousands lose homes as Mozambique suffers second storm (The New Humanitarian)
682wonderY
>67 John5918: And aid is sparse and hard to deliver.
Second Mozambique cyclone: is history pointing finger at climate change?
Climate Centre Director Maarten van Aalst commented from The Hague today that history – if not, for the moment at least, science – may be pointing a finger at climate change.
“As always, gathering and crunching the atmospheric data needed to make an unequivocal statement takes resources, including time,” he said.
“But it’s already anecdotally clear this cyclone episode has set two scary modern records: Kenneth is the strongest Indian Ocean cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique this far north, and it’s the first time we’ve seen two intense storms like this in quick succession.
“In any case, the very intense rainfall and the storm surges aggravated by higher sea-levels make it very plausible that climate change contributed to Kenneth’s devastating impact.”
Second Mozambique cyclone: is history pointing finger at climate change?
Climate Centre Director Maarten van Aalst commented from The Hague today that history – if not, for the moment at least, science – may be pointing a finger at climate change.
“As always, gathering and crunching the atmospheric data needed to make an unequivocal statement takes resources, including time,” he said.
“But it’s already anecdotally clear this cyclone episode has set two scary modern records: Kenneth is the strongest Indian Ocean cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique this far north, and it’s the first time we’ve seen two intense storms like this in quick succession.
“In any case, the very intense rainfall and the storm surges aggravated by higher sea-levels make it very plausible that climate change contributed to Kenneth’s devastating impact.”
692wonderY
NYT opinion piece:
What honeybees have to teach us about the fate of the earth — and our country
“The way we refer to bees,” Professor Snow said, “it’s like there’s a power structure, with the queen at the top. But that’s not the case. Bees make decisions as a group, sort of a collective consciousness.”
He pointed me toward a book titled “Honeybee Democracy,” by Tom Seeley. Professor Seeley, something of a legend among apiarists, is part of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he has studied what he calls “swarm intelligence” — the way groups can sometimes be smarter than any of their individual members (as opposed to what I guess you’d call “swarm stupidity,” which is what seems to be at the heart of American life right now, and of our lives on social media not least).
Honeybees aren’t like Targaryens or Lannisters; their primary concern is survival of their society, not the attainment of raw power. And while the queen plays a unique role, the workers manage to make group decisions about where to forage, by means of something called the waggle dance.
Professor Snow pointed out a waggle dancer, and I watched in wonder as the bee moved around in a figure-eight pattern. The direction the bee dances in, relative to the hive and to the angle of the sun, indicates the direction of food; the duration of the dance indicates distance.
Dancing bees also make group decisions about the future of the colony. When a new queen is born, the old queen leaves her hive with 10,000 bees to form a daughter colony. For a few hours — or days — they remain homeless, gathered in a swarm.
During this time the bees do an amazing thing: They hold a democratic debate on where to go next.
In the swarm phase, scouts head out in search of a new hive location, and they return to advertise the possibilities through their dance. Other bees go to check out these places, and if they concur, they will repeat the dance. Amazingly, in time the bees seem to come to a consensus on the best choice, not through blind repetition of another’s dance but by heading out and finding out the truth for themselves, and then weighing in — voting, I guess we’d call it — by way of the dance.
Professor Seeley suggests that, the waggle notwithstanding, the process resembles a New England town meeting, decisions getting made as a result of conversation and consensus.
Human beings are not insects, and our country is not a beehive. But the democracy of bees contains plenty of good lessons in civics. Among the most important takeaways: that facts about the environment matter; that the colony most likely to survive is one in which all voices are listened to; and that the worst kind of leader is a vain, narcissistic being who values his or her own royalty above that of the community.
Even in the best of scenarios, the lives of bees are fragile, and now more than ever, with their habitat under constant threat. Four of Professor Snow’s hives died this winter because of wild variation in the climate. But with these new colonies, his work continues — work that investigates how honeybees respond to environmental stress at a cellular level.
As we left the roof of Barnard Hall, trailing the smell of wax and smoke, it was hard not to be impressed by the urgency of his research, science which may well help determine whether human life on Earth will endure.
I met Professor Snow on a beautiful spring day: trees in bloom, bees hovering over the newly opened flowers. It was a good day to consider what kind of colony we reside in — an intelligent swarm? Or the other kind?
What honeybees have to teach us about the fate of the earth — and our country
“The way we refer to bees,” Professor Snow said, “it’s like there’s a power structure, with the queen at the top. But that’s not the case. Bees make decisions as a group, sort of a collective consciousness.”
He pointed me toward a book titled “Honeybee Democracy,” by Tom Seeley. Professor Seeley, something of a legend among apiarists, is part of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he has studied what he calls “swarm intelligence” — the way groups can sometimes be smarter than any of their individual members (as opposed to what I guess you’d call “swarm stupidity,” which is what seems to be at the heart of American life right now, and of our lives on social media not least).
Honeybees aren’t like Targaryens or Lannisters; their primary concern is survival of their society, not the attainment of raw power. And while the queen plays a unique role, the workers manage to make group decisions about where to forage, by means of something called the waggle dance.
Professor Snow pointed out a waggle dancer, and I watched in wonder as the bee moved around in a figure-eight pattern. The direction the bee dances in, relative to the hive and to the angle of the sun, indicates the direction of food; the duration of the dance indicates distance.
Dancing bees also make group decisions about the future of the colony. When a new queen is born, the old queen leaves her hive with 10,000 bees to form a daughter colony. For a few hours — or days — they remain homeless, gathered in a swarm.
During this time the bees do an amazing thing: They hold a democratic debate on where to go next.
In the swarm phase, scouts head out in search of a new hive location, and they return to advertise the possibilities through their dance. Other bees go to check out these places, and if they concur, they will repeat the dance. Amazingly, in time the bees seem to come to a consensus on the best choice, not through blind repetition of another’s dance but by heading out and finding out the truth for themselves, and then weighing in — voting, I guess we’d call it — by way of the dance.
Professor Seeley suggests that, the waggle notwithstanding, the process resembles a New England town meeting, decisions getting made as a result of conversation and consensus.
Human beings are not insects, and our country is not a beehive. But the democracy of bees contains plenty of good lessons in civics. Among the most important takeaways: that facts about the environment matter; that the colony most likely to survive is one in which all voices are listened to; and that the worst kind of leader is a vain, narcissistic being who values his or her own royalty above that of the community.
Even in the best of scenarios, the lives of bees are fragile, and now more than ever, with their habitat under constant threat. Four of Professor Snow’s hives died this winter because of wild variation in the climate. But with these new colonies, his work continues — work that investigates how honeybees respond to environmental stress at a cellular level.
As we left the roof of Barnard Hall, trailing the smell of wax and smoke, it was hard not to be impressed by the urgency of his research, science which may well help determine whether human life on Earth will endure.
I met Professor Snow on a beautiful spring day: trees in bloom, bees hovering over the newly opened flowers. It was a good day to consider what kind of colony we reside in — an intelligent swarm? Or the other kind?
71John5918
How global warming has made the rich richer (BBC)
Climate change is driving the wealth gap in more ways than we think
Climate change is driving the wealth gap in more ways than we think
73John5918
US is hotbed of climate change denial, major global survey finds (Guardian)
Out of 23 big countries, only Saudi Arabia and Indonesia had higher proportion of doubters
Out of 23 big countries, only Saudi Arabia and Indonesia had higher proportion of doubters
74John5918
London to have world-first hydrogen-powered doubledecker buses
The buses will only have water exhaust emissions and will be on the capital’s streets by 2020
Irish parliament declares climate emergency
Ireland’s parliament has become the second after Britain’s to declare a climate emergency
Both from the Grauniad
The buses will only have water exhaust emissions and will be on the capital’s streets by 2020
Irish parliament declares climate emergency
Ireland’s parliament has become the second after Britain’s to declare a climate emergency
Both from the Grauniad
75margd
Jared Diamond: There’s a 49 Percent Chance the World As We Know It Will End by 2050
David Wallace-Wells | May 10, 2019
Jared Diamond’s new book, "Upheaval", addresses itself to a world very obviously in crisis, and tries to lift some lessons for what do about it from the distant past.
...(Previous book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed) Past societies have destroyed themselves. In the past 14 years it has not been undone that past societies destroyed themselves. | Today, the risk that we’re facing is not of societies collapsing one by one, but because of globalization, the risk we are facing is of the collapse of the whole world.
...I would estimate the chances are about 49 percent that the world as we know it will collapse by about 2050...resources that are essential for complex societies are being managed unsustainably. Fisheries...topsoil...Fresh water...at the rate we’re going now, we can carry on with our present unsustainable use for a few decades, and by around 2050 we won’t be able to continue it any longer...by 2050 either we’ve figured out a sustainable course, or it’ll be too late.
...the first step is acknowledge — the country has to acknowledge that it’s in a crisis... | Number two, once you acknowledge that you’re in a crisis, you have to acknowledge that there’s something you can do about it. You have responsibility.
...we can...deal with (climate change) by individual action, or at a middle scale by corporate action, or at a top scale by government action — all three of those.
...how do we prioritize...? We have to avoid a nuclear holocaust...We have to solve climate change...(if) we continue with unsustainable resource use, we’re finished...if...we maintain or increase inequality around the world, we’re finished. So, we can’t prioritize...We got to solve all four of those problems.
...disabuse ourselves of the idea that the United States is exceptional and so there’s nothing we can learn from any other country, which is nonsense...
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/jared-diamond-on-his-new-book-upheaval.ht...
David Wallace-Wells | May 10, 2019
Jared Diamond’s new book, "Upheaval", addresses itself to a world very obviously in crisis, and tries to lift some lessons for what do about it from the distant past.
...(Previous book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed) Past societies have destroyed themselves. In the past 14 years it has not been undone that past societies destroyed themselves. | Today, the risk that we’re facing is not of societies collapsing one by one, but because of globalization, the risk we are facing is of the collapse of the whole world.
...I would estimate the chances are about 49 percent that the world as we know it will collapse by about 2050...resources that are essential for complex societies are being managed unsustainably. Fisheries...topsoil...Fresh water...at the rate we’re going now, we can carry on with our present unsustainable use for a few decades, and by around 2050 we won’t be able to continue it any longer...by 2050 either we’ve figured out a sustainable course, or it’ll be too late.
...the first step is acknowledge — the country has to acknowledge that it’s in a crisis... | Number two, once you acknowledge that you’re in a crisis, you have to acknowledge that there’s something you can do about it. You have responsibility.
...we can...deal with (climate change) by individual action, or at a middle scale by corporate action, or at a top scale by government action — all three of those.
...how do we prioritize...? We have to avoid a nuclear holocaust...We have to solve climate change...(if) we continue with unsustainable resource use, we’re finished...if...we maintain or increase inequality around the world, we’re finished. So, we can’t prioritize...We got to solve all four of those problems.
...disabuse ourselves of the idea that the United States is exceptional and so there’s nothing we can learn from any other country, which is nonsense...
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/jared-diamond-on-his-new-book-upheaval.ht...
76margd
The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions
Peter Brannen
New York Times Editors' Choice 2017
Forbes Top 10 Best Environment, Climate, and Conservation Book of 2017
As new groundbreaking research suggests that climate change played a major role in the most extreme catastrophes in the planet's history, award-winning science journalist Peter Brannen takes us on a wild ride through the planet's five mass extinctions and, in the process, offers us a glimpse of our increasingly dangerous future
Our world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In The Ends of the World, Peter Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth’s past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future.
Many scientists now believe that the climate shifts of the twenty-first century have analogs in these five extinctions. Using the visible clues these devastations have left behind in the fossil record, The Ends of the World takes us inside “scenes of the crime,” from South Africa to the New York Palisades, to tell the story of each extinction. Brannen examines the fossil record—which is rife with creatures like dragonflies the size of sea gulls and guillotine-mouthed fish—and introduces us to the researchers on the front lines who, using the forensic tools of modern science, are piecing together what really happened at the crime scenes of the Earth’s biggest whodunits.
Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, The Ends of the World takes us on a tour of the ways that our planet has clawed itself back from the grave, and casts our future in a completely new light.
(Amazon)
Peter Brannen
New York Times Editors' Choice 2017
Forbes Top 10 Best Environment, Climate, and Conservation Book of 2017
As new groundbreaking research suggests that climate change played a major role in the most extreme catastrophes in the planet's history, award-winning science journalist Peter Brannen takes us on a wild ride through the planet's five mass extinctions and, in the process, offers us a glimpse of our increasingly dangerous future
Our world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In The Ends of the World, Peter Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth’s past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future.
Many scientists now believe that the climate shifts of the twenty-first century have analogs in these five extinctions. Using the visible clues these devastations have left behind in the fossil record, The Ends of the World takes us inside “scenes of the crime,” from South Africa to the New York Palisades, to tell the story of each extinction. Brannen examines the fossil record—which is rife with creatures like dragonflies the size of sea gulls and guillotine-mouthed fish—and introduces us to the researchers on the front lines who, using the forensic tools of modern science, are piecing together what really happened at the crime scenes of the Earth’s biggest whodunits.
Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, The Ends of the World takes us on a tour of the ways that our planet has clawed itself back from the grave, and casts our future in a completely new light.
(Amazon)
77margd
How to Keep the Earth as Inhabitable as Possible
Luke Darby | May 10, 2019
David Wallace-Wells, the author of The Uninhabitable Earth, says climate change is no longer a matter of "if" or "when" but "how bad will it get." And, he says, there's still time to fight it.
"It's worse, much worse, than you think."
That's the first sentence of David Wallace-Wells' The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, and it's all downhill from there. Wallace-Wells sets out to knock down an entire mythology about climate change that has helped make people feel safe insulated from it. It's not happening slowly, there's nowhere to hide from it, there's no part of how we live our lives as humans that will be left untouched, and it's not even something that's barreling down on us—it's already here.
The Uninhabitable Earth is a catalog of speculation, but all of it grounded in science. Yes, sea levels will rise and coastal cities will flood, and yes, temperatures around the globe will both rise and fluctuate more wildly than at any other time in human history. But if you're only considering those details, you're missing the bigger picture. A hotter world means a world with less food, and what food remains will be less nutrient-dense per calorie. The number of refugees globally—already driven in large part by resource scarcity and civil strife in response to that scarcity—will spiral even more out of control. Farmable land south of Siberia and north of Patagonia will all but disappear. And how we respond to those changes will only make the crisis worse.
Wallace-Wells starts his analysis with a bleak conclusion: We've been behind where we need to be for decades now, and the fact that we'll be living in a hotter, less hospitable world is an inevitability. The only uncertainty left is how quickly we respond and how much damage we're going to be able to prevent. Despite all that, he's cautiously optimistic that, as a species, we're up to the challenge...
https://www.gq.com/story/uninhabitable-earth-david-wallace-wells-interview
Luke Darby | May 10, 2019
David Wallace-Wells, the author of The Uninhabitable Earth, says climate change is no longer a matter of "if" or "when" but "how bad will it get." And, he says, there's still time to fight it.
"It's worse, much worse, than you think."
That's the first sentence of David Wallace-Wells' The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, and it's all downhill from there. Wallace-Wells sets out to knock down an entire mythology about climate change that has helped make people feel safe insulated from it. It's not happening slowly, there's nowhere to hide from it, there's no part of how we live our lives as humans that will be left untouched, and it's not even something that's barreling down on us—it's already here.
The Uninhabitable Earth is a catalog of speculation, but all of it grounded in science. Yes, sea levels will rise and coastal cities will flood, and yes, temperatures around the globe will both rise and fluctuate more wildly than at any other time in human history. But if you're only considering those details, you're missing the bigger picture. A hotter world means a world with less food, and what food remains will be less nutrient-dense per calorie. The number of refugees globally—already driven in large part by resource scarcity and civil strife in response to that scarcity—will spiral even more out of control. Farmable land south of Siberia and north of Patagonia will all but disappear. And how we respond to those changes will only make the crisis worse.
Wallace-Wells starts his analysis with a bleak conclusion: We've been behind where we need to be for decades now, and the fact that we'll be living in a hotter, less hospitable world is an inevitability. The only uncertainty left is how quickly we respond and how much damage we're going to be able to prevent. Despite all that, he's cautiously optimistic that, as a species, we're up to the challenge...
https://www.gq.com/story/uninhabitable-earth-david-wallace-wells-interview
78MaureenRoy
As of June 2019, leading commentators on issues related to the steady worsening of global climate trends agree that the term "climate change" should now be replaced by a much more accurate term such as "climate crisis," "climate emergency," etc. A number of high-profile global newsmakers, such as Pope Francis and others, have recently recommended using the term "climate crisis" from the remainder of 2019 forward.
Therefore, I ask that this ("climate change") LT thread now be closed.
Therefore, I ask that this ("climate change") LT thread now be closed.
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