Climate Change This Week: Tragic Drought in Africa & India, New Clean Power Strides, and More!

Climate Change This Week: Tragic Drought in Africa & India, New Clean Power Strides, and More!
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Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.

2016-05-31-1464720451-9439928-amazonwildlifebluemacawbirdSourcepeoplesforum.infosouth_americahtmccr278.jpg

Saving the BB: the beautiful biodiversity like this scarlet macaw found in Latin American forests, is another important reason to conserve these carbon-storing systems. Source peoplesforum.info

Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon

2016-05-31-1464720490-8305812-foresttreesBrazilSourcewww.economist.comccr330.jpg

Source www.economist.com

OO Latin America: New Forests Can Store Carbon Dioxide -
If Allowed to Grow 40 Years
- as abandoned farmland gets reforested, says a new study. Based on reforestation so far, in another 40 years the forests could sequester 31 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

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2016-05-31-1464720519-8934782-loggingdeforestationamazonbrazilTDCccr331.jpg

Clearcutting Our Climate - Logging or degrading rainforests makes them more vulnerable to destruction, a process that increases the world's greenhouse gas emission up to 20% a year.

OO Can Trading Save The Amazon? Satellite tracking has slowed illegal Amazonian deforestation; the international REDD+ program might help further by placing value on their existence.

When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.

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RUNNING THROUGH OUR RESOURCES

2016-05-31-1464720545-400259-dryingriverinIndiaCreditJaipalSinghatEPAccr331.jpg

Running Out of Water, And Clean Air as populations rise: a toxic mix. Millions are starving in India and Africa as severe drought cuts down their food crops. Credit Jaipal Singh at EPA

OO Humans Damaging The Environment Faster Than It Can Recover a UN report finds. Radical action is needed to combat increasing rate of environmental damage to water sources, land, biodiversity and marine life.

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2016-05-31-1464720575-4713277-PetersenGlacier19172005AlaskaSourceNASAccr331.png

Now You See It... Now You Don't as the world's glaciers, polar caps, and ice sheets melt away. Alaska's largest glacier, the Petersen Glacier, in 1917 and 2005. Source NASA

OO NASA Satellite Images Show Dramatic Changes In The World's Environment

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A SWEET SPOT IN CREATING SUSTAINABLE POPULATIONS

2016-05-11-1462993989-2532103-medicines360.orgbanner5Sourcemedicines360.orgccr328.png

Triple Win: Using Profits to Provide Needed US Family Planning - Medicines360.org is key to creating a sustainable US population and bright futures for women - AND saving taxpayers many billions yearly in community costs by preventing unintended pregnancies. Source medicines360.org

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Extreme Weather and Racing Don't Mix as the first 3 minutes of this video shows. A recent German car race turned evil as part of the dry course was transformed into a major slick by a sudden rain and hail storm. 69 cars were stranded.

WEATHERMEN AGREE: CLIMATE IS CHANGING

2016-05-31-1464720601-759756-TVweathermanSourceforecastthefacts.orgccr274.jpg

What's With The Weather? Climate change, more weatherman are concluding. Source forecastthefacts.org

OO Meteorologists Are Seeing Global Warming's Effect On The Weather
"lately it seems the treadmill of disruptive weather has been set to fast-forward."

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@@ Climate Change 101: Why Care?
What You Need to Know
- Bill Nye tells it all in five minutes amid graphic, dynamic, engaging, compelling imagery. Check it Out!

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CALIFORNIA DRYIN'

2016-05-31-1464723091-6908138-californiadroughtlakemeadlowestlevelyetTDCccr331.jpg

OO Lake Mead Declines To Lowest Level Ever - The nation's largest reservoir has broken a record, declining to the lowest level since it was created in the 1930s due to extended drought.
.
"This problem is not going away and it is likely to get worse, perhaps far worse, as climate change unfolds," said Colorado State University water and climate research Brad Udall,.

"Unprecedented high temperatures in the basin are causing the flow of the river to decline. The good news is that we have time and the smarts to manage this, if all the states work together."

Related Headline:

OO Lake Mead Drops to Record Low

OO Sen. Dianne Feinstein Pushes For Water Bill To Address California's Drought - El Niño's rains didn't end California's drought. Feinstein urged colleagues to find a compromise on bills to address the West's water crisis.

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MORE TURBULENT WEATHER AHEAD

OO El Nino Couldn't Save West From Drought -
Nor Will La Nina, Probably

"The drought isn't over. The drought may never be over completely. There are just too many people here." - Robert Hartman, hydrologist in charge of the California Nevada River Forecast Center.

Related Headline:

OO As One Harmful Weather System Wanes,
Another Waxes: La Nina
- Takeaways:

  1. Massive Pacific pool of deep water moving east could cause fall weather chaos;
  2. Researchers say this 'slow-motion wave' could signify developing La Niña;
  3. La Niña brings unusually cold temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific;
  4. Could create higher chance of dry winter in drought-stricken California,

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SOIL MICROBES: THREATENED CLIMATE WARRIORS

2016-05-31-1464720636-3159730-duststormsstripawayessentialsoilmicrobesCreditRoxyLopezviaWikimediaCommonsccr331.png

Dust Storms Strip away essential soil microbes. CreditRoxy Lopez via Wikimedia Commons

OO Soil Microbes Fight Climate Change and are our "microscopic allies" in making dirt a major resource for storing excess carbon, says soil microbe expert Esther Ngumbi. Takeaways:

  • soil degradation threatens both food security, and the ability of soils to store carbon;
  • soil microbes can increase plant defenses against insect pests;
  • pest populations are expected to increase under climate change.
  • soil microbes help plants tolerate higher temperatures and drought, hallmarks of climate change;
  • nations need to invest in restoring degraded soils to fight climate change.
  • "Protecting the soils that are home to our allies -soil microbes- is a game changer", she writes.

    2016-05-31-1464720714-9400932-tillingsoilPeruwbiocharCreditEnriqueCastroMendivilatReutersccr331.jpg

    Credit Enrique Castro-Mendivil at Reuters

    OO Carbon Farming:
    A Boon For Soil And Environment
    by enriching depleted soil with charcoal carbon; storing carbon this way is also a powerful weapon in the fight to slow climate change.

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    SPEAKING OUT
    .
    2016-05-31-1464720769-3891448-doctorscallonG7forcleanenergynotcoalSourceClimateandHealthattwitter.comccr331.jpg

    Choose Clean Energy Not Coal said 300+ health care profressionals to national heads at a recent meeting. Source Climate and Health at twitter.com

    OO Global Health Professionals Call On G7
    To Speed Up Coal Phase-Out
    - 80+ organizations representing 300,000+ doctors, nurses and other health professionals from 30 countries, said to accelerate transition away from coal-fired electricity, to minimise the risk to human health from poor air quality.

    "Eliminating air pollution from coal-fired power plants provides immediate and significant air pollution related health benefits and health care savings," the joint statement reads.

    "A coal phase-out also slows climate change, thereby reducing current and future illnesses and deaths from heatwaves, droughts, malnutrition, flooding, air pollution and wildfires."

    2016-05-31-1464720974-3819732-LAprotestofoilwellsinimmigrantneighborhoodsCreditDavidcnewatAFPccr331.jpg

    OO 'Break Free' Fossil Fuel Protests Deemed 'Largest Ever' Global Disobedience

    OO Greenpeace Activists Scale British Museum to protest BP sponsorship

    2016-05-31-1464721006-1564025-justicestatuegreenbyMaryEllenHartecctw98.jpg

    OO Environmentalists Win Global Warming Lawsuit Against Massachusetts - over its failure to implement carbon-reduction goals mandated by the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act.

    OO Louisiana Gov Edwards Pushes Big Oil
    To Pay For Coastal Damages
    - caused by them, by settling lawsuits claims; money would be used to restore the state's fragile coast.

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    MARINE MELTDOWN

    2016-05-31-1464721035-5181871-ChristmasTreeWormsBleachedCoralFrenchReefKeylargoFloridacreditMattKiefferatflickrccr331.jpg

    This Won't Be Pretty Long - a newly bleached dead coral hosts feather worms that will probably be smothered as brown algae covers the surface. No holiday for these "Christmas Tree Worms". Credit Matt Kieffer at flickr

    OO Under Paris Climate Agreement Risks to Double For Marine Life & People - says a new study, under the current pledges made.. Takeaways:

    1. oceans absorb 25% of emitted CO2 and 90+% of the air's global heat due of human activity;
    2. the cost of doing so is huge.
  • excess heat and CO2 alter the physics, chemistry and ecology of the oceans;
  • they also harm valuable ecosystem services (eg, fisheries, coastal tourism and coastal protection);
  • present day climate change risks to the ocean and society will more than double by 2100.
  • 2016-05-31-1464721062-2722934-emptyfishingnetsfishingdeclineSourcewordpress.comccr331.jpg

    Both Climate Change and Overfishing Lead to Empty Nets Source wordpress.com

    • average global temperature from 2.7C to 3.5C, making the oceans hotter and more acidic.
    • shellfish, aquaculture, and seagrass (important for growing fish) risks will become high;
    • warm water coral risks will become very high.*

    * if they survive at all, given the recent damage already done by more frequent and intense El Nino cycles.

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    RISING COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

    2016-05-31-1464721092-49548-floodinginpoorcountryCreditTonyKarumbaatAFPccr331.jpg

    Credit Tony Karumba at AFP

    OO Climate Change Threatens 1+ Billion People, $158 Trillion
    Says World Bank
    but few countries are prepared for it.

    OO Global Warming Will Hit Poorer Countries Hardest research finds, as in tropical developing countries, where the number of hot days will increase markedly under continued global warming.

    OO Canada: Ontario To Spend $7-Billion On Sweeping Climate Change Plan - and critics balk, not realizing that the costs rise the more they delay.

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    2016-05-31-1464721119-7763945-farmersuicideIndiadroughtMay2016Sourceajitvadakayil.blogspot.comccr329.jpg

    Source ajitvadakayil.blogspot.com

    OO Farmer Suicides Soar In India
    As Deadly Heatwave Hits 51 Degrees Celsius
    - that's 128+ F. A weeks-long lethal heat wave that has withered crops has driven hundreds of farmers to suicide instead of shantytowns; tens of thousands more have been forced to abandon their land.

    The Director General of the India Meteorological Department, blamed the heatwave on climate change.

    OO India To Divert Ganges and Other Rivers To Tackle Drought Takeaways:

    • 330+ million people are affected by drought there;
    • Nearly half of India's states suffer severe water crises;
    • Groundwater is at alarmingly low levels.
  • 30 links are planned, half of which are fed by fast melting Himalayan glaciers*;
  • Environmentalists say it will invite ecological disaster.
  • *which are melting at ever faster rates. When this water supply dries out, it will have major impacts on southern and central Asia.

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    GOOD IDEAS

    2014-05-16-moneybagsgreenmrviaforcechangecomcctw92.jpg

    OO Scientists, Investors Seek To Identify Financial Risks Of Climate Change

    OO How To Convince Your Employer To Divest
    Your 401(K) From Fossil Fuels
    by creating retirement options that invest in a cleaner future.

    OO City-Integrated Renewable Energy For Urban Sustainability - a new study looks at how cities can reduce energy consumption and better harness renewable energy sources via decentralised energy generation - the hallmark of low-carbon, resilient and "livable" cities.

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    2016-05-31-1464721146-6591807-imagineabetterhappyfutureinnatureTDCccr331.jpg

    OO To Build A Better Future, We Must Imagine Ourselves There - instead of portraying Earth in 2050 as a hellhole constantly, let's envision -- to create -- a place we would love to live.

    OO Indian Army Helps Battle Climate Change

    OO After Paris, A Move To Rein In Emissions By Ships And Planes

    2016-05-31-1464721178-4224286-frogleafumbrellabizarreIndonesiaAsiaCreditPenkdikPalmeccr314.png

    Nature's Gems Are In the Details - so be on the lookout next time you're on the trail! Credit Penkdik Palme

    Visit Your Partner, Nature:
    Take a Hike With Your Family and Friends!
    - are you solo, or never done it before? Join a meetup hiking group.

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    SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS

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    2016-05-31-1464721239-9231684-houstonfloodingstreetTDCccr331.jpg

    OO Climate Change, Runaway Development Worsen Houston Floods

    OO As Seas Rise, New Orleans Sinks Faster and Faster says a new study using NASA airborne radar.

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    And Not Just Coastal Flooding - this riverside town in southern Germany (Braunsbach) just recently got reamed out by a flood, reminiscent of the Japanese tsunami scenes.

    OO Over Billion People Could Be At Risk Of Coastal Flooding By 2060 due to population growth and the consequences of climate change, says a new study.

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    2016-05-31-1464721265-3877564-ZimbabwedroughtwomandriedcorncropSourcecajnewsafrica.comccr280.jpg

    Source cajnewsafrica.com

    OO A Warming World Means Less Water, With Economic Consequences

    OO Across Africa, The Worst Food Crisis
    Since 1985 Looms For 50 Million
    As a second year without rain threatens catastrophe for some of the world's poorest people. Donor countries, gripped by wars and refugee crises, have been slow to pledge funds. But by the time they do, it could be too late. Takeaways:

    2016-05-31-1464721297-9924183-malnourishedchildAfrica2016Sourcewww.cnbcafrica.comccr331.jpeg

    Food Prices Soar, and So Does Malnourishment as children suffer from lack of food. Source www.cnbcafrica.com

    A continent-scale food crisis is unfolding:

    • Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Madagascar, Angola and Swaziland have already declared national emergencies or disasters, as have seven of South Africa's nine provinces;
    • Botswana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have also been badly hit;
    • Many more are hungry: 12 million in Ethiopia, 7 million in Yemen, 6 million in Southern Sudan and more in the Central African Republic and Chad.
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    2016-05-31-1464721324-5588874-indiadwindlingwatersupplydrought2016CreditIndranilMukherjeeatAFPccr331.jpg

    More People, More Global Warming, Less Water - India is facing a water crisis that will worsen as these three trends continue. Credit Indranil Mukherjee at AFP

    OO India's Drought Foretells Of Greater Struggles As Climate Warms

    OO Crippling Drought In Central India Leaves Millions On Brink - Dry wells, shriveled stubble of sugarcane fields, withered fruit trees: all reflect the suffering of hundreds of millions of people across a dozen or more states gripped by severe drought.

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    HOT NEWS

    2016-05-31-1464721362-4825665-landoceantemperatureanomaliesmapApril2016CreditNationalCentersforEnvironmentalInformationatNOAAccr330.jpg

    It's Getting Hotter All The Time.... as this map of surface temperature differences from average temperatures shows. Credit National Centers for Environmental Information at NOAA

    OO '99 Percent Chance' 2016 Will Be Hottest Year primarily due to global warming, but El Nino is helping boost it.

    OO Cooling Down Earth Will Take Longer
    Than Warming It Up
    says a new study of climate models. The temperature response when CO2 is decreasing is slower because the deep ocean is still adjusting to previous increases.

    OO Indian Summer Makes History: A Rajasthan Town Boils At 51°C (128+ F)

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    AS US WEST HEATS UP,
    IT COOLS ON DAMS

    2015-06-08-1433780385-7041593-ColoradoRiverkilledbyhydrodamsetalCreditpropublica.orgccr280.png
    How Las Vegas Sucks the West Dry - the Hoover Dam loses nearly 300 billion gallons of Colorado River water yearly to power the city and beyond. Credit Propublica.org

    @@ Drying West: Water and Energy Collide - as two big dams, the Glen Canyon and the Hoover, lose over 450 Billion gallons of water to evaporation yearly, worsening water shortages already present from climate-change-enhanced drought - a fascinating interactive tour of the drying Colorado River, a 1,500 mile long, 7-state plumbing system for the US west.

    And now, authorities are considering turning off the smaller of the two, the Glen Canyon Dam.

    2016-05-31-1464721437-1850159-GlenCanyondamaCreditDamnationCollectionccr331.jpg

    Damned For Good? As the river dries up, so does the energy produced. Credit Damnation Collection

    OO Unplugging the Colorado River:
    Closing Glen Canyon Dam
    - is being considered as climate change has reduced flows, water storage and energy generation there and elsewhere in the hotter, drier, US West.

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    PLAYING WITH FIRE

    OO Wildfire-Fighters Warn 2016 Could Be Bad In California and average in other states, but even that means thousands of wildfires, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

    2016-05-17-1463507435-2199676-borealcircleoffire3mehccr329.png

    Boreal Circle of Fire Encloses Alaska, Canada, Siberia- with the same process: global warming ups wildfires of tundra and forests, emitting climate-changing gases that further global warming.

    OO Global Warming To Spur More Fires In Alaska,
    In Turn Causing More Warming

    OO The Fort Mcmurray Fire's Stunning Pulse Of Carbon To The Atmosphere

    OO Canada Wildfire: Oil Workers Evacuate Camps Near Fort Mcmurray

    2016-05-31-1464721490-3547745-postpeakoilcapitalismgrowthpopulationmoneycashbombSourcemedium.comccr328.jpeg

    Costs Explode As Production Implodes due to the wildfire. Source medium.com

    OO Canada Fires Cost Oil Sands Production $985 Million says a new report..

    OO Oil Sands Companies Losing Up To $50 Million A Day As Fires Rageand halts oil production.

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    RISING CLIMATE-CHANGING GASES

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    2015-09-15-1442277605-5381443-extremeweatherbcompositedroughtheatwavestormwildfiremehccr290.png

    What Climate-Changing Gases Create: Chaos For Humanity that will only worsen without quick action.

    OO Carbon Dioxide's 400ppm Level Milestone
    Shows Humans Are Rewriting The Planet's History
    - Takeaways:

    • 400 ppm signals no tipping point but a mark of the continuous rise of climate-changing gases;
    • Once CO2 is up there, much of it stays there a long time;
    • CO2 has risen the fastest ever seen throughout much of Earth's history;
    • How fast it rises affects how oceans, atmosphere, and life will respond.
  • Last time CO2 was this high was 15 million years ago;
  • At that time, temperatures were 3-6 C warmer than today, and
  • Sea levels rose 25-40 m (ie, 75-120 feet).
  • 2016-05-31-1464721549-4140410-polarbearonmeltingicebergsSourcealthouse.blogspot.comccr287.jpg

    Source althouse.blogspot.com

    "And therein lies the rub,"
    says climate scientist Michael Mann.
    "Once you melt an ice sheet,
    it takes many, many thousands of years to rebuild it."

    The time to start burning
    an awful lot less coal, oil and gas
    wasn't last week.
    The "tipping point" wasn't crossed at 400 ppm.
    This legacy of inaction rests across decades.
    There's no denying that.

    OO Southern Hemisphere Joins North In Breaching
    400 ppm Carbon Dioxide Milestone

    2016-05-31-1464721619-2640752-emissionsairpollutionpollutingplant570redgettyccr331.jpg

    OO Far From Turning A Corner, Global CO2 Emissions Still Accelerating says the latest greenhouse gas inventory from NOAA; it shows CO2 and methane 'going completely in the wrong direction.'

    OO Only Five Years Left Before
    Carbon Budget Is Blown For 1.5C Warming
    says a new analysis using figures from the 2014 synthesis report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

    2016-05-31-1464721650-1979353-cowemissionsandhumorccr290.png

    OO Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    Will Doom Paris Climate Accord Goal
    Unless Action is Taken
    to reduce emissions dramatically.

    Related Headline:

    OO Reducing Agriculture Emissions Needed
    To Meet The 2°C Target
    - actions needed are developing feeds that lower methane emissions from cows, and cereal crop varieties that emit less nitrous oxide, another potent climate changing gas.

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    POLAR MELTDOWN

    2016-05-31-1464721778-8909106-anomaloussurfacetemperaturesmapJanMar2016CreditNASAccr331.png

    Staggering Arctic Warmth in the Arctic has been observed by NASA and other institutions this year, with 4+ degrees C (8 F) across much of the Arctic.

    OO Even For The Fast-Melting Arctic,
    2016 Is In 'Uncharted Territory
    - Takeaways:

    • January and February set new Arctic heat records;
    • Alaska has been warmer than ever recorded this year;
    • April was a record warm month for the globe.
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    @@ Trouble at Totten Glacier

    OO East Antarctica's Biggest Glacier Is 'Fundamentally unstable' alarmed researchers have confirmed. Takeaways:

    • the Totten Glacier holds back more ice than any other Antarctic one;
    • the glacier has retreated http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27193684 several times in the past;
    • it contains several unstable zones;
    • it is thinning by 1.5 feet annually.
  • it's total meltdown would create 13 feet of sea level rise;
  • irrevocable melting could be triggered within 100 years, with no intense efforts to stem global warming.
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    GOOD NEWS

    OO Virtually All New US Electric Capacity Added In Q1 2016 Was Renewable - and clean, although not all clean: a small amount was biomass, which emits climate-changing gases when burned.

    2016-05-31-1464721808-4555503-largestrooftopsolarpowerplantstartinginPunjabTDCccr331.jpg

    OO India's Ambitious Solar Plan Hits Another Peak - The north Indian state of Punjab has inaugurated what it claims is the world's largest rooftop solar power plant, as India pushes towards 100GW capacity by 2022.

    OO Europe Keeps Hitting Clean Energy Milestones - renewables supplied enough energy to Portugal, Germany and Britain for days, not just hours, proving how it could be a reliable energy source.

    2016-05-31-1464721835-2555423-offshorewindfarmwboatsDenmarkSourcewww.siemens.comccr298.jpg

    Source www.siemens.com

    OO World's Largest Floating Windfarm To Be Built Off Scottish Coast

    OO France Leads By Example With Carbon Price Floor of about $33 per tonne -- for it to be really effective it should be around 3 times that, but, hey, it's a start.

    OO New York Green Bank Funds a Startup
    Making Pay-As-You-Save Efficiency Upgrades
    but most of the bank's financing still continues to flow to solar.

    2016-05-31-1464721864-6316907-schoolchildrenSourceobrag.orgccr295.jpg

    Why Cutting Emissions Matters Source obrag.org, ccr 295

    OO Power Plant Emissions Fall to Lowest Level in Decades

    OO UK Green Economy Worth £46+ Billion, Official Stats Reveal

    OO China Will Start the World's Largest Carbon Trading Market

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    CLUELESS LEADERSHIP

    2016-05-31-1464721891-6513425-trumptrumperymehccr330.png

    Useless on Climate - and for so many other things.

    OO Trump's Ignorance:
    He Can't Undo Paris Climate Accord,
    As He Claims
    - said a senior US administration official. I guess Trump doesn't realize that the rest of the world does not revolve around the USA, much less him.

    More to the point, the US path towards a lower-carbon economy was already set, and was dependent on market forces that would not easily succumb to political tinkering.

    OO Trump Hypocrisy:
    Admits Climate Change Exists - On His Golf Course!
    - it's not a hoax, as he once claimed - especially when you're putting and a storm surge floods the course.

    Trump warns of its dire effects in his company's application to build a sea wall - which HE will pay for, presumably, unless he manages to hoodwink some poor Scot into doing so...

    OO Republicans Block Climate Action
    Via Court Battles
    that delay enforcing the Clean Power Plan by at least a year. Republican suits against the plan are now on a schedule that indicates the Supreme Court will rule on it, at the earliest, by spring of 2017.

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    2016-05-31-1464721918-6725991-republicansclimatehoaxcartoonCreditMichaelLukovichccr295.jpg

    It's the Flooding of Money, Not Texas that moves Congressional Republicans to defend Exxon's fraudulent behavior. Credit Michael Lukovich

    OO House Republicans Assail Climate Fraud Investigation - led by Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, saying probes into companies such as Exxon infringe on the companies' First Amendment rights. What about OUR rights?

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    2016-05-31-1464721948-9529829-clearskiesgrandcanyonSourcehuffingtonpost.comccr302.jpg

    Now Imagine a Flock of Fracking Rigs to the Right - too bad Obama would not ban drilling on our public lands. Source huffingtonpost.com

    OO The Black Mark on Obama's Climate Legacy:
    Allowing Fossil Fuel Leasing on Public Lands
    even as it works to boost renewables, citing our short term need of them.

    Really? Most of our known supplies can't be burned if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. Say it ain't so, O!

    OO Australia to Lay Off Leading Scientist on Sea Levels - hey, they know sea levels are rising, already... why bother finding out how fast? Oh, those Ozzies...

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    ELECTION YEAR:

    2016-03-08-1457470019-7186523-voteforclimateactionDIFyourfamilymehccr317.png

    If You Don't Vote For Climate Action, You Can Forget The Rest - in a climate-changing world of famine, drought, rising seas, giant storms and heat waves, there will be no security in jobs, health, wealth, or national safety. There will be chaos ensuing from increasing crises and disasters. Vote.

    OO Global Warming Policies We Set Today Will Determine The Next 10,000 Years - of global warming, a new study shows -- and whether our civilization survives or not: history shows that harmful climate change has destroyed civilizations before.

    This time, it could be worldwide. Let's keep "The Hunger Games" in the realm of fiction.

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    FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES

    2016-05-31-1464722204-8771756-frackingearthquakedamageOklahomaSourcethewatchers.adorraeli.comccr331.jpg

    Fracking Shakes Things Up Source thewatchers.adorraeli.com

    OO Oil And Gas Quakes Have Long Been Shaking Texas new research finds.

    OO When Oil Boom Went Bust, Oklahoma Helped Drillers --
    And Squeezed Schools
    forcing cuts to cut classes, administrators and teachers to make up a growing revenue shortfall, even as oilmen received permanent, generous tax breaks.

    OO Exxon Terminal Not Protected Against Climate Change;
    Poses Future Pollution Threat
    says a new legal complaint that notes if Exxon knew about these effects of climate change, it was legally bound to take protective steps for its terminal, but did not do so.

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    2016-05-31-1464722229-3395531-japancommutersfacialgasmasksSourcewww.reuters.comccr331.jpg

    Shorter, Stifling Lives are the outlook for Japanese, if they build more coal-fired plants. Source www.reuters.com

    OO Japan's Coal-Fired Plants 'To Cause Thousands Of Early Deaths' - building dozens of coal-fired power stations will cause at least 10,000 premature deaths, says a new study, and "lock in carbon emissions for decades."

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    BIOFUELS BOONDOGGLE

    2016-05-31-1464722271-3547760-foodnotbiofuelsSourcewww.actionaid.org.ukccr331.png

    Biofuels Displace Food Crops and many note that we need the food more. Source www.actionaid.org.uk

    OO Obama's 2017 Biofuel Quota - is being blasted by producers as too low, and by big oil as too high.

    The whole biofuels idea is unsustainable, anyway. Why? Because:

    1. Burning biofuels produces climate changing emissions, like fossil fuels;
    2. for every US acre devoted to biofuel corn, another acre of carbon-storing forest elsewhere is cut to make up the cereal shortfall in corn or soy;
    3. the total energy needed to produce them is more expensive than that for wind or solar power.

    Biofuels are a non-starter.

    The alternative? Electic cars and appliances run on electricity produced from wind or solar power.

    NATURAL GAS BOONDOGGLE

    2016-05-31-1464722306-61152-gasmethaneflareinoilfieldNorthDakotaCreditTimEvansonatflickrccr328.jpg

    Burning Our Way Through Climate Goals with the "New Coal", natural gas. Credit Tim Evanson at flickr

    OO Environmentalists Hate Fracking: "New Coal" Isn't Clean - Allowing natural gas as a "bridge" fuel to clean energy is a big mistake: it slows the transition, and allows sizeable leaks of the strong climate-changing gas, methane, into the atmosphere. President Barack Obama's climate legacy could fail because of this.

    "If you get the chemistry wrong," says climate expert Bill McKibben, "it doesn't matter how many landmark climate agreements you sign or how many speeches you give. "

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    CARBON CAPTURE BOONDOGGLE

    2016-05-31-1464722370-4457018-oilhandsourcegofossilfree.orgccr280.jpg

    Got Enough Oil? More Than We Can Burn Source gofossil free.org

    OO For Safer Climate, Most Fossil Fuels Cannot Be Burned - says a new study, without carbon capture, that is -- but carbon capture is not practical . Why?

    • It takes energy to both capture and store carbon, making fossil fuels too expensive;
    • Developing the technology would take longer than global temperatures rising a catastrophic 2 C

    What IS practical? Restrict the burning of climate-changing fuels until it can be demonstrated that their harmful byproducts can be captured and stored massively, cheaply. Don't hold your breath.

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    FIXING CLIMATE CHANGE

    @@ A Simple And Smart Way To Fix Climate Change given by Dan Miller in 2014 at a Ted talk suggests a way to profit as we tackle climate change, by finally charging those who sell and use fossil fuels - and distributing the revenues back to all of us.

    The strategy is sure to speed transition to clean renewable energy. What's not to like? Check it out!

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    2014-07-06-populationmatters2green.png

    If we do not grow sustainably,
    Our children will die inhumanely.

    @@ Myth vs Truth: The Huge Value of Contraception is an incisive, heartfelt recognition of the value of contraception by Sarah Brown, CEO, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

    Unintended Pregnancy Costs US Taxpayers:

    Unintended Pregnancies Cost US Taxypayers Nearly $11 Billion Yearly
    -the Guttmacher Institute

    Teen Childbearing Alone Cost US Taxpayers $9+ Billion In 2010
    And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother.
    - US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community:
    publicize where women can access affordable contraception.

    2015-12-15-1450211150-3188590-larccontraceptivepostercoupleeyeslookingsidewaysmehccr307.png

    They can go here to find locations:

    2015-12-15-1450211215-359134-contraceptivealocationengineqrcode.png

    And there are many more actions you can do, right here.

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    SOLAR KEEPS RISING

    2015-01-26-solarkeepsrising500solarsunrise.jpg

    OO Google's Project Sunroof Expands to 42 States and Millions More Rooftops
    "First and foremost, this is about how Google can catalyze the rooftop solar market."

    OO New Solar Plants Generate Floating Green Power - so-called floatovoltaics are attracting international interest as a space-saving, high-efficiency alternative to land-based solar power plants.

    2016-05-31-1464722406-9735593-solarpanelspowerlinesgridSourcetdworld.comccr331.jpg

    Source tdworld.com

    OO DOE Says US Solar Growth Demands A Different Kind Of Grid - If solar is to continue its march toward being a cheap, ubiquitous power source, the electric grid will have to adapt.

    OO World Bank to Provide $750 Million for Solar in India

    2014-01-31-geostellargetcleanenergy.png

    Check it out here, right now!

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    WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS

    2016-05-31-1464721712-3397189-anomaltempmay312016.png

    Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, May 31, 2016

    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, keeping it in drought.

    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, which continues to melt at a record rate this year. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.

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    2015-12-28-1451344420-5650759-climatechangebar570.png

    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 wild flower I photographed one spring. Enjoy it, and do your part to protect it!

    2016-05-31-1464722457-8566016-ProteafloweratKGinCapeTownSA.jpg

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