Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.
And the chances of Donald Trump's family and fortune surviving climate change are small, dwindling daily and irreversibly.
Saving BUB, Beautiful Unique Biodiversity, as in these ant mimicking south American treehoppers, is another reason to preserve carbon storing forests. Credit Gernot Kunz at treehoppers.insectmuseum.org
Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon
Breaking Up the Amazon Rainforest destroys a significant carbon storage spot for the planet. Source Brazil National Institute for Space Research
OO Amazon Deforestation Increasing When The Planet Can Least Afford It - according to new satellite data.
OO How Big Banks Are Putting Rain Forests In Peril by helping agricultural powerhouses in Indonesia expand their plantation empires.
When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.
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WE'RE LOSING CONTROL OVER CLIMATE CHANGE
Credit Jim Morin, Miami Herald
MEH: At most, dramatically cutting fossil fuel emissions will slow the pace and magnitude of climate change.
But even that is compromised if enough human-induced climate change occurs to start avalanching, self-reinforcing, feedback cycles that generate global warming INDEPENDENT of human activity. You are in control until you push the rock that starts the avalanche.
The following might be one of those cycles we've started.
OO Soil Carbon Emissions Are Kicking In say scientists, as warming soil releases yet more climate-changing gases that will further global warming - and the release of yet more of those gases, independent of burning fossil fuels.
Related Headline:
OO Arctic Soils To Release A Lot Of Carbon -
Far More Than Local Plants Can Absorb - Soils worldwide will contribute vast new quantities of carbon to the atmosphere, especially in permafrost areas, a new study finds.
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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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WHERE CLIMATE CHANGE IS DESTROYING AMERICA
Sandwiched Between Melting Tundra and Sea this town will ultimately be destroyed by ever more intense coastal storms and flooding. Credit Josh Haner at the New York Times
OO Alaska: Climate Change Eats At US Towns
That Can't Afford To Move--
A Ticking Time Bomb - Takeaways:
- Climate is warming twice as fast in Alaska than in the lower 48;
- No sea ice means many (dozens) coastal towns are being eroded away,
- While melting tundra at their backs threaten flooding.
- Alaska is suffering from lack of oil revenues,
- And can't afford the expense of village relocations.
- Announcing intent to move can cost villages needed funding.
- A somber scenario is building: catastrophic evacuation
- When towns are flooded as they wash away in storms.
MASSIVE FOREST DIE-OFF
Two Atop An Ancient Tree Threatened by Climate Change and surrounded by younger dead trees, already fallen victims from California's drought, dramatically worsened by climate change. Screen capture of a Novus Select Video
@@ Each Tree Has its Own Destiny - with a likely grim ending under climate change, as does this 1000s yr old sequoia face in drought ridden California; note the dead trees that surround it in the final half minute, as the camera rises above it.
OO Drought Kills 100+ Million Trees,
Imperils Millions More,
Including The Ancient Giant Sequoia - Takeaways:
- California's drought has killed 102 million trees since 2011;
- 62 million of those have died in 2016 alone.
- CA's forests generate fundamental ecosystem services:
- by creating healthy watersheds,
- providing wildlife habitat,
- and storing atmospheric carbon,
and they're dying at unprecedented rates.
Forest Present - Dead Forest Future? This aerial overview of Sequoia National Park shows drought damage that presages even further destruction from drought; the reddest trees are severely drought stressed. Credit Carnegie Airborne Observatory
- Even giant sequoias are showing disturbing signs of stress,
- With their crowns withering away, and many already dead.
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SINKING SOUTH FLORIDA: THE BEGINNING
@@ The Perfect Tide: Sea Level and the Future of South Florida
OO Trump's Climate Denial Presidency Will Speed The Drowning Of South Florida and the ensuing disaster of its economy.
The great ice sheets are unstable, ice melt is speeding up, and deniers will soon be in charge. What could go wrong?
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TRUMP TRUMPED BY CLIMATE CHANGE
Playing Loser Already Trump's appointments will cost the US jobs, as the US fails to lead on addressing climate change via accelerating a transition to clean energy. Fossil fuels are SUCH losers!
OO Through Trump's Climate Change Denial,
We're Ceding Global Leadership To China and we stand to lose economically and politically.
OO Climate Change Denial Will Be 'Default Position' Of White House says Trump's chief of staff.
OO There's More Than One Way To Destroy The Planet:
Trump Has A Lot To Learn About Climate Change
OO Trump's Folly: A Government Of Exxon By Exxon For Exxon As he appoints Rex Tillerson Exxon CEO as his secretary of state:
"From an Attorney General who sought to suppress Department of Justice inquiries into Exxon to an EPA head who tried to head off state-level Exxon investigations, to putting Exxon's own CEO [Rex Tillerson] in charge of the country's foreign affairs, Trump is creating a government OF Exxon BY Exxon FOR Exxon."
OO Trump's Cabinet Appointees Show
Dangerous Disregard For Climate Science
OO Trump Rollback Of Obama Climate Agenda May Prove Challenging
The Koch Warriors Against Solar Power will have powerful influence in the Trump cabal. Credit Victor Juhasz at the RollingStone
OO Trump Brings Koch Network's Anti-Green-Energy Stance from the fringe to the center of power.
OO Trump's Energy Policy Advisors:
Climate Change Skeptics, Fossil Fuel Funded Lobbyists from FF funded thinktanks.
Trump Blinds NASA's Eyes To Facts of Climate Change by appointing an unqualified person to lead the NASA team. Photo Source NASA
OO Global Warming Research In Danger
As Trump Appoints Climate Skeptic To NASA Team
OO NASA Should Focus On Its First Mission:
Earth, The Final Frontier
Ice Has No Agenda, It Just Melts was one of the signs held by scientists standing up for science. Over 1,000 Americans stood with them. Source Facebook
OO Scientists Stand Up For Science,
Protest Trump Appointment to a crowd of 1,000 or more recently in San Francisco.
OO 800 Climate Scientists Warn Trump Presidency Could Be Defined By "Denial And Disaster" and urged him to admit that climate change is real and to take specific steps to address it.
OO Trump Could Face The 'Biggest Trial Of The Century'
- By Kids, Over Climate Change - a surprising climate lawsuit filed by young people is gaining traction.
More Children Will Sicken Under Trump - as regulations in the Clean Power Plan that cut toxic pollution are dropped. Source EarthJustice.org
OO How Trump Is Likely To Poison You - by repealing recent regulations,which include reducing air pollutants that sicken and damage the lungs of many Americans yearly. Takeaways:
- The Congressional Review Act can repeal
- Regulations from any independent agency (eg, EPA, FDA)
- Within 60 days of their creation
- Via Congressional and presidential approval.
- AND it prevents similar future rules -
- Unless specifically instructed by Congress.
OO Want To Know Why Trump Will Struggle To Save The Coal Industry?
Look At Michigan where 8 large coal plants will close by 2030, whether Obama's climate policies are repealed or not.
OO Trump Supports 'Clean Coal' - But Does It Really Have A Future? if you need to use energy to store it underground, the net energy you get out of coal becomes too expensive for storage to be widely used.
OO Dear Ivanka Trump: Save The Planet From Your Dad - something that is important to your future, and your kids.
OO Trump Can't Make Coal Great Again --
But Could Slow The Rise Of Renewables Long-term market forces will keep miners from getting their jobs back. If Trump slows renewables in a futile attempt to salvage coal, he could also prevent retraining miners for clean tech jobs.
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CLIMATE LEADERSHIP
realclearenergy.org
OO Obama Administration Denies Final Easement For Pipeline but Trump is likely to reverse that.
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MELTDOWN
OO NASA Photo Reveals A Startling 300-Foot-Wide Rift In Antarctic Ice Shelf The breakup of the massive Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica is getting closer and will eventually produce an iceberg the size of Delaware prowling the Southern Ocean, according to new NASA data.
Daily Climate Editor Peter Dykstra: "NASA's Earth Science work is possibly the only reason we know about this. President Trump has suggested that NASA won't be funded to do things like this anymore."
OO Odd Rifts In Antarctic Ice Could Mean 'Sayonara, Glacier' Unusual rifts in the middle of the ice shelf of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier could herald a new mechanism for the glacier's collapse.
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GOOD CLEAN NEWS
OO Fossil Fuel Divestment Of Assets Reaches $5 Trillion Globally - with nearly 700 institutions and 60,000 individuals across 76 countries having committed to divest from fossil fuel companies, doubling the value of assets represented in the last 15 months.
- Pension funds and insurance companies now represent the largest sectors
- committing to divestment, reflecting increased financial and fiduciary risks of
- holding fossil fuels in an ever hotter world.
OO EU Declares War On Energy Waste And Coal Subsidies In New Climate Package - It will phase out coal subsidies and cut its energy use by 30% before the end of the next decade, under a major clean energy package. It will create measures to cut electricity bills, boost renewable energies and limit use of unsustainable bioenergies.
OO South Pacific Island Ditches Fossil Fuels To Run Entirely On Solar Power
Source winddaily.com
OO First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Begins Production
OO Texas Wind Power Blows Away Old Record For Wind Generation the second time in less than two weeks that November wind gusts produced record-breaking power from the state's wind farms.
OO For European Wind Industry, Offshore Projects Are Booming
OO US Utilities Are Losing The Battle Against Solar Energy - residential solar power companies are winning the policy war against utilities, which will open a larger and larger market across the country.
OO More US Utilities Are Pursuing Microgrid Projects
OO Illinois: Clean Energy Advocates Praise Passage Of Major Energy Bill that expands renewable energy development.
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SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS
Misery in the Twister's Aftermath Credit Charlie Riedel at Associated Press
OO Extreme Tornado Outbreaks Are Becoming Even More Extreme and frequent, with the most extreme ones rising fastest in frequency.
As the air heats up, it creates more instability that creates more extreme tornadoes - but there's a lot more research needed to understand how this factor dominates others.
OO New Orleans To Have One Of The Highest Levels Of Sea Level Rise Globally says a new study.
The Southeast Lights Up Source www.wsj.com
OO Drought In Tennessee Fuels 'Apocalyptic' Wildfire
OO The US Southeast Is Burning: Wildfires Feast On Hot, Dry Regions At least 15 major fires are scorching the drought-plagued region. InsideClimate News.
OO Fires And Drought Cook Tennessee
- A State Represented By Climate Deniers even as climate change intensified the extreme weather there.
Climate Change CostsSource NOAA
OO World Cities Seek $375 Billion To Fight Climate Change
OO Cotton Crops Accelerate Chinese Desertification Being a very water intensive crop, it stresses an increasingly scarce resource, made scarcer with climate change.
All Dried Up - one of the Bolivian dams supplying water to its capital city. Credit David Mercado at Reuters
OO Bolivians Face Historic Drought,
And Global Warming Could Be Worsening It three reservoirs that supply its largest city, La Paz, are almost entirely dried up.
OO Mining Projects, Big Plantations, Booming Populations,
Mean Bolivia's Drought Hurts More
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GOOD IDEAS
A Sioux Pipeline Protester Source www.thegazette.com
OO Build A 'Pipeline Purgatory' At The Local Level is the goal of activists. Takeaways:
- Activists have already gotten laws passed in Georgia and North Carolina
- Limiting the use of eminent domain for pipeline construction.
- Another strategy is to ensnare projects in unending litigation.
- Restricting pipelines can restrict using new sources of natural gas.
- Forestalling natural gas pipelines gives time for
- Cost competitive clean energy to develop and expand.
OO How China′s Climate Revolution Can Stop Global Warming with a new cap-and-trade market in China that could set a global example.
OO Cashing In On Climate Change - When Investing - The economy can be only as healthy as the planet that houses it. Pushing for transparency on sustainability issues, and asking money managers to consider climate change, is really the purest form of self-interest.
Massive Methane Generator - cows are significant sources of climate changing methane emissions. Source opensourcevegan.com
OO California Targets Dairy Cows To Combat Global Warming - their climate changing emissions, specifically.
OO EPA's Failure To Regulate Factory Farm Pollution Draws New Scrutiny over its failure to adequately measure potentially toxic air emissions from the nation's factory farms.
OO Permanently Ban Oil Drilling Along The West Coast
Growing the Green to halt the Sahara spread. Source www.greenbeltmovement.org
OO Sahel Countries In Race Against Time To Regreen Africa's Spreading Desert - which decades ago were covered with forests, crops and grasslands. These can be restored - a significant chunk of them by 2030 - agriculture experts say.
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NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS
What Once Was, But Has Disappeared throughout much of the Great Barrier Reef.
OO Australia's Great Barrier Reef Suffered Its Worst Die-Off On Record during the past two years, with an average of 67 % of corals in one area declared dead, scientists said recently.
OO Great Barrier Reef Progress Report: Water Quality Must Improve - Efforts to curb tree clearing have failed, the government admits.
Noted toxicologist Pete Myers: "A common ingredient of sunscreen, oxybenzone, can harm reefs at levels beneath 100 parts per trillion. Efforts to improve water quality over the Great Barrier Reef must address this."
OO Jellyfish, An Inadequate Seafood,
Are Starting To Dominate The Sea as climate change and other human induced effects are clearing out their major competitors, fish.
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SPEAKING OUT
Solar Is Safer - both on and off the battlefield, a big reason why the military, including the US Navy, invests in it. Source popularmilitary.com
OO Renewable Energy Polls Extremely Well Among Trump Voters says a new survey. And they want politicians to support it, too.
OO Climate Change Will Stir 'Unimaginable' Refugee Crisis, Says Military Unchecked global warming is greatest threat to 21st-century security, where mass migration could be 'new normal,' say senior military.
OO Electricity From Coal Should Be Phased Out In Australia says a new Australian Senate report, citing economic factors as the primary drivers.
OO Pope Urges World Leaders Not To Hobble Climate Change Pact
OO Pope Francis:
"Never Been Such A Clear Need For Science" To Protect The Planet
OO Why Climate Scientists Are Taking Fact-Checking Into Their Own Hands as they challenge a series of news reports last week that suggest record-high temperatures are the result of the weather phenomenon El Niño, not climate change.
Note: El Nino moves existing heat and water around the planet; climate change is the result of global warming, which adds more heat to the planet. This is not rocket science, folks.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
@@ 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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FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES
OO Obama's Dirty Secret:
The Fossil Fuel Projects The US Littered Around The World - Through the Export-Import Bank, the Obama administration has spent nearly $34 billion on dirty energy plants in countries from India to Australia to South Africa.
OO How Obama's Climate Change Legacy Is Weakened
By US Investment In Dirty Fuel
The Two Scourges of Fossil Fuels: Global Warming and Toxic Pollution
OO The Coal Disconnect:
If We Should Not Burn It, Why Sell It? Especially if we're so concerned about the fuel's greenhouse gas emissions and effect on human health.
OO Coal Keeps Firm Grip On Germany Even As Renewables Flourish
OO Despite Climate Change Vow, China Pushes To Dig More Coal
Artwork: Credit Beejoir, modified
OO Niger Ogoni King: Shell Oil Is Killing My People He hopes to sue Shell in the UK for polluting his tribal land.
OO Australia Is Blowing Its Carbon Budget projections reveal.
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CLUELESS CLIMATE LEADERSHIP
What Kind of Leader Wants More of This? Or wants to ship it to the rest of the world? Credit Todd Korol at Reuters
OO Justin Trudeau Approves Oil Pipeline Expansion In Canada
OO Trudeau's CO2 Scorecard - A Dirty Update
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If we do not live 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.
They can go here to find locations:
And there are many more actions you can do, right here.
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SOLAR KEEPS SAILING
OO India Holds The Crown For World's Largest Solar PV Project--For Now At one point, workers were installing 40,000 panels per day in three shifts--up to 11 megawatts per day.
Check it out here, right now!
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WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS
Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Dec 15, 2016
Source cci-reanalyzer.org
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 mainland US is experiencing colder than normal temperatures: like a rubber band, the Arctic jet stream usually keeps Arctic cold in place. But as the hotter Arctic starts coming closer to more southern temperatures, that rubber band loosens, allowing Arctic air to penetrate far south into the US and sit there. Another effect of global warming.
Meanwhile, Alaska, much of the US west, and waters surrounding the US continue to be hotter than normal: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues and so does the drought in California, despite recent rains in the SF bay area.
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.
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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. 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.
