Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.
What We're Losing. Source www.getintravel.com
OO US Forests Threatened By Growing Demand For Wood-Based Biofuels - report.
When we threaten forests, we threaten ourselves.
Related Headlines:
OO Pulp Fiction, 1: Europe's Climate Law Flaw
Warming The Planet - they don't consider wood burning as carbon climate pollution.
OO Pulp Fiction, 2: Burning American Trees Electrifies Europe - and doing so is heating the world more quickly than coal.
From Carbon Storage To Climate Change: The EPA nears making critical wood burning decisions as it cracks down on climate pollution. Far-reaching ramifications may result.
OO Pulp Fiction, 3: Wood Burning May Play Big Role In EPA's New Rules
OO Alaskan Wildfires Could Worsen Global Warming say scientists, pushing us that
much closer to busting the planetary carbon budget.
OO Indonesian Fires Are Emitting Huge Amounts Of Carbon Climate Pollution -
Emissions now equal Japan's annual fossil fuel emissions, says one expert.
OO UK: Renewables Brought Down Wholesale Cost of Electricity by $2+ Billion thanks to the growing presence of solar PV and wind power feeding the grid, says a new report by an independent energy company.
*
*
HEALTH AND WEALTH
OO As Carbon Dioxide Increases Indoors,
Brains Drain, Costing Companies and students, researchers found. Takeaways:
humans exhale CO2, so...
indoor CO2 levels are often 1000+ ppm, even reaching 3000 ppm
moderately high indoor CO2 levels decrease good decisions made by people
bad decisions can be costly
as more efficient buildings become more airtight, the problem could worsen
Related Headlines:
OO Air Pollution Stunting Children's Lungs, study finds.
OO The Warmer It Gets, The More World Economy Hurts says a new study.
With each upward degree,
global warming will visibly harm 75% of the world's economies, and
widen the north-south gap between rich and poor countries.
Major Funders of US House Speaker Paul Ryan include the infamous Koch brothers; Ryan is awash in dirty energy industry donations.Credit Khalil Bendib at www.otherwords.org
OO House Speaker And Dirty Energy Ally Paul Ryan:
Funded By Koch Billionaires kingpins of dirty energy.
*
*
Coal Sunset: The US is leading a shift away from coal among leading industrialized democracies, says a new study. Source www.coal-is-dirty.com
OO US Leads Industrialized Nations In Shift From Coal: Study
But...
OO Coallercoaster: As US Coal Production Drops,
International Demand Rises - but pollution and climate change have no boundaries.
*
*
GLOBAL WARMING AND NATIONAL SECURITY
OO September 2015 Became Earth's Warmest Month On Record - a result of one of the top three most powerful El Niño events on record in the tropical Pacific Ocean, plus long-term manmade global warming.
2015: The Hottest of the Hot By Far notes the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - well above the next 6 hottest years on record.
OO Graphic: 2015 Global Temperatures Are Off The Charts
OO California Faces A Future Of Droughts and Floods - a warming climate coupled with more intense El Niño and La Niña events could double droughts and triple floods in California.
One of Many 2015 Giants: most of the record-breaking number of 22 Category 4 and 5 hurricanes and typhoons occurred in the Pacific, never landfalling in the US - making it easy for the US public to ignore, but not so for Asia. Source NOAA
OO 22 Hurricanes And Typhoons That Shattered Records In 2015 - a combination of El Niño, other natural climate cycles and global warming help create this record-shattering tropical cyclone season in the northern hemisphere.
OO How Climate Change Became A National Security Problem
Only recently have politicians like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders--and even President Obama himself--elevated climate change to the seriousness of national security.
2003: Dept of Defense shows how climate change could worsen drought, food insecurity, and instability.
2015: Voila, Syria! And guess whose boots are on the ground there now - the US!
Meanwhile, there's a drought in our homeland food basket... and now the Democratic candidates are taking note, publicly. The GOP is still in lalaland.
*
*
OCEANS: RISING, WARMING, ACIDIFYING
Sea Level Rise Is Not Fun especially in New York, where low coasts are particularly vulnerable from storm flooding aided by rising sea levels. Credit Tom Mihalek at Reuters
OO The Retreat From New York's Coast Begins - the US is the 11th country on the list of those most at risk to sea level rise, just behind canal-ridden Netherlands, deltaic Bangladesh, and the island nation of the Philippines. NY neighborhoods are starting to retreat.
OO As Gulf of Maine Warms, Puffins Become Coal Mine Canaries - harbingers of the many disappearing cold adapted creatures in an unnaturally warming world.
**
Gulf of maine currents map. Source www.gulfofmaine-census.org
OO Vital to Maine's Economy, Gulf of Maine's Ecosystem Is Disappearing - changing into one of far less value in one of the fastest warming bodies of water on Earth. Takeaways:
Melting ice sheets have fueled gulf currents with far warmer water
Warmer conditions are driving out economically valuable cold water species -
----- Copepods that maintain the rest of the food chain;
----- Lobsters;
----- Cod, already in demise from overfishing.
Invasive, damaging species are proliferating;
Increased oceanic acidity is harming valuable shellfish stocks.
**
Paradise Lost: As Pacific island beaches erode from rising seas, palm trees topple.
OO Island Vacation Paradises Disappearing with rising seas undermining subsistence lifestyles on the smaller islands, and threatening famous vacation spots, like Hawaii.
**
OO Young Fish Moving North Alongside Adult Fish in search of cooler waters.
*
*
OO New York's Green Bank Invests $49M in Solar, Wind and Efficiency
Related Headline:
OO A New Plan to Mobilize Trillions in Cleantech Investment
*
*
FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES
OO Bernie Sanders Calls For Investigation
Of 'Potential Corporate Fraud' By Exxon after revelations that the company pivoted from researching climate change to funding denial.
Related Headline:
Exxon Didn't Fool Everybody even in 2006. Credit Tom Toles at the Washington Post
OO Exxon Sowed Doubt About Climate Science
For Decades By Stressing Uncertainty in collaboration with the Bush-Cheney White House, turning ordinary scientific uncertainties into weapons of mass confusion. Hey, is anyone going after B & C?
OO Living On Earth: Exxon On Its Climategate - in an interview in which Exxon is outgunned by the truth.
**
Credit Tom Toles at the Washington Post
OO States Sue To Block EPA's Pollution Rules --
Even As Some Try To Comply - more than two dozen states filed lawsuits.
and...
OO States Start To Comply With Clean Power Plan,
Even As They Plan To Sue
'We can't count on winning the lawsuit,' one official says.
**
Credit Chan Lowe at the South Florida Sun Sentinel
OO Marco Rubio's Ideas About Climate and Energy Are Terrifyingly Stupid - a recent speech illustrates.
**
Fracking, the Gift That Keeps On Giving Headaches. Source www.huffingtonpost.com
OO Fracking Can Cause Nearby Abandoned Wells To Leak Methane: Study
Related Headline:
OO Study Targets Methane Leaks Between Underground Wells
Emissions Blizzard: New Jersey's carbon emissions shot up 14% in 2014 with a cold winter and economic surge spurring energy use, reversing 3 years of declines, even as Obama moves to cut carbon emissions to address climate change. Source 6abc.com
OO New Jersey: Climate Change, Economy Help Up Emissions because we rely on fossil fuels in addressing both.
*
*
OO As Oil Industry Bleeds Jobs, Asia's Green Energy Drive Offers Bright Spot - record job hiring in solar, wind and hydro partly is offseting the biggest job losses in oil and gas sector in two decades.
Source flickr
OO Americans More Sure Than Ever About Climate Change--Even Republicans - Is it the pope? Extreme weather? Whatever it is, U.S. views on climate change are shifting--fast.
Yet...
Credit Tom Toles at the Washington Post
OO With Gas Cheaper, Americans Buy More Gas - And Climate Change
Big Gas Could Destroy Their Home in Manu Park, Peru.
OO Big Gas Eyeing Most Biodiverse Place On Earth at Manu National Park in Peru's Amazon by Pluspetrol, indicates a leaked map of planned geological fieldwork.
A Clean Plant: Geothermal. Source www.conserve-energy-future.com
OO Oil and Gas Drillers Should Mine Geothermal Energy say researchers. Good idea - switch to clean energy!
*
*
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Credit Brian Fairrington at Cagle Cartoons
OO Fossil Fuel Nosedive Starting predicts a new point-by-point analysis of population, economic, labor, energy and development trends; it outlines a host of reasons why fossil fuel demand may diminish sharply in 25 years.
OO Apple Cleaning Up Act In China With More Renewable Energy for its factories there.
**
Ethiopia Already Has a Windy Edge on wind power. Source www.theguardian.com
OO Google's Newest Renewable Energy Investment:
Africa's Biggest Wind Farm
**
OO New White House Twitter Account Pushes Climate Change Agenda -the Obama administration launched @FactsOnClimate in a push for its climate change agenda.
**
Car Ban to Slow Carbon pollution in central Oslo by 2019 is planned. Locals say it is the first comprehensive and permanent ban for a European capital.
OO Oslo, Norway Goal: Car-Free By 2019
**
Source doodlefinder.com
OO Paris Climate Pledges 'Will Slow Energy Emissions' says a world energy watchdog, resulting in a rapid slowdown of carbon emissions from energy sector -- IF followed through.
**
Not All Republicans are herding behind the elephant. Take magnate Andy Sabin, for example. Credit Khalil Bendib at otherwords.org
OO Republican Magnate Pushes for Climate Action
OO Sønderborg: A Danish Town With A Zero Carbon Master Plan - joining 100+ places around the world making business-friendly zero carbon commitments as they transition away from fossil fuels.
*
*
When Will The Next Tipping Point Give Us More of This?
OO Scientists Discover 41 Global Warming 'Tipping Points'
That Could Trigger Natural Disasters - in a new analysis.
These abrupt changes, or tipping points:
involve the permafrost, terrestrial biosphere, sea ice, ocean and snow cover
18 of them are highly likely to occur before a 2 degree rise in global temperatures
abrupt oceanic shifts are more likely at lower warming levels
more abrupt changes at higher temperatures will add to worldwide destabilization
OO Pakistan's Climate Change 'Time Bomb' Is Already Ticking - in a nation facing violence, an unprecedented energy shortage, and lack of climate dialogue.
*
*
The Rolling Hills of Solar, in France. Credit Jean-Paul Pelissier at Reuters
OO Europe's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fall To Record Low - with a 23% drop since 1990. The bad news? The pace is slowing and several countries have missed renewable and energy efficiency targets. :-(
*
*
*
ARCTIC CLEAN ENERGY BLOOM
Renewable Clean Energy Spreads in rural Arctic Villages beyond Kotzebue, such as Selawik, which also has a wind power plant. Source avec.org
OO A Renewable Energy Success Story Above The Arctic Circle at rural Kotzebue, Alaska, located 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle. .
OO Solar Panels Empower Indigenous People In Canada's North
*
*
*
NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS
OO Speedup of Permafrost Melting Now 'Unbelievable' says world leading expert.
OO Climate Change: Few Long-Term Winners Among Animals - despite some temporary benefits for some species, as warming continues, winners may hit new limits and lose their edge.
Bye-Bye Acorns? I loved collecting all sorts of acorns when I was a kid. But the days of finding lots of big acorns may be drawing to a close as they fall victim to climate change.
OO Acorn Crop Dips As Climate Changes
Especially in this record hot year, high heat threatens one of the most endangered creatures, the snow leopard.
OO Global Warming Melting Endangered Snow Leopards' Home
Relatively few Alexander Archipelago wolves exist; their homes and prey are in old forests. Source Pinterest
OO The Human Hand of Extinction:
50 Human Jobs Threaten a Rare Wolf - as logging companies cut down majestic ancient trees in Alaska to maintain 50 sawmill jobs on an island, rather than retrain the sawyers in the increasing tourism business.
The rare Alexander Archipelago wolves have shrunk from 300 twenty years ago to just 50 now, as the EPA drags its heels to list it as endangered.
*
*
If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.
@@ Celebrate World Vasectomy Day 2015! Before you wince, vasectomies can be done without scalpels. Each year vasectomy providers worldwide share their expertise while inspiring men to engage in the most important conversation of their lives.
Takeaways:
650+ doctors in 42 countries doing thousands of vasectomies and growing daily
another measure of success is the quality of the conversations they help launch
numbers of people do not determine human destiny, but ...
every major social problem is more difficult to resolve with more people
"We don't need one billion more humans born in the next 20 years -- we need to take better care of the 7.3 billion we already have."
Become part of the largest male-oriented family planning event in history here.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Do your part to prevent unintended pregnancies.
And there are many more actions you can do, right here.
*
*
*
SOLAR KEEPS FLYING
OO The United States Is a Top 5 Country for New Solar-Module Manufacturing
OO Off-Grid Electric Raises $25 million for Micro-Solar Leasing in Africa - hoping to expand into Rwanda and reach 1 million homes in Tanzania by 2017.
2015 Solar Decathlon Winner. Source gizmag.com
OO These Students Designed A 100% Solar House That Laughs At Hurricanes
OO From Hearing Aids To Farming,
Solar Energy Powers Climate Innovation
Check it out here, right now!
*
*
*
WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS
Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Nov 3, 2015
How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.
Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures.
The eastern Pacific warm spot continues to prevent much rain from reaching California, sending it into further drought. Indeed, with further global warming, a new study shows a future of more droughts and floods for the nation's vegetable basket.
Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.
*
*
*
There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.
To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!
Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by this everlasting wild flower I photographed one spring in South Africa. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.