A guide to the 4th National Climate Assessment » Yale Climate Connections

The comprehensive report outlines how climate change could harm Americans.
As you most likely know, the 4th National Climate Assessment was released the day after Thanksgiving, and you’ve perhaps read at least a bit about it. Maybe you want to learn a little more – but aren’t sure where to start. Here are some ideas.

Texas National Guard soldiers aid residents in heavily flooded areas of Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Research indicates that climate change intensified Harvey’s floods. (Photo credit: Texas Army National Guard / 1st Lt. Zachary West)

A guide to the 4th National Climate Assessment » Yale Climate Connections

Extreme heatwave in Australia: catastrophic fire conditions as temperature records broken

120 F, 43.9 C

Marble Bar in WA reaches 49.3C as parts of SA and Victoria issued bushfire warning, and extreme weather forecast to continue into next week

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/28/australia-heatwave-brings-catastrophic-fire-conditions-as-temperature-records-broken

PFAS - an Extremely Dangerous Class of Chemicals in Michigan

From Merit Laboratories:
The number of sites with PFAS contamination in Michigan continues to grow.  The MDEQ has compiled a listing of these PFAS sites along with a map  that have been identified as having PFAS levels that are potentially impacting human health and the environment .  The sites, which are found at locations throughout Michigan, include:

Adams Plating (Lansing)
Alpena Combat Readiness Center (Alpena)
Alpena Hide and Leather (Alpena)
Ann Arbor Municipal Water Treatment Plant (Ann Arbor)
Belmont: House Street and Herrington Avenue (Rockford)
Camp Grayling Air Airfield (Grayling)
Central Sanitary Landfill (Pierson)
Coldwater Landfill (Flint)
Clinton River (Mt. Clemens)
Colbath Road (Oscoda)
Defense Fuel Supply Point (Escanaba)
Grayling Municipal Wells (Grayling)
Huron Shores Regional Water Authority (Tawas)
K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base (Gwinn)
Lake St. Clair (Mt. Clemens)
Lapeer Plating (Lapeer)
Lapeer Wastewater Treatment Plant (Lapeer)
Loud Drive (Oscoda)
McDonald Store Fire, F-41 (Oscoda)
Oscoda Area Schools, River Road (Oscoda)
Pine Lake Street Gas Tanker Spill/M-60 (Howard Township)
Plainfield Township Water Treatment Plant (Plainfield)
RACER Plants 2, 3, and 6 (Lansing)
Roosevelt Refinery (Mt. Pleasant)
State Disposal Facility (Plainfield)
Van Etten Lake (Oscoda)
Whispering Pines MHC (Oscoda)
Wolverine Tannery (Rockford)
Wurtsmith Air Force Base (Oscoda)

Michigan PFAS Sites

PFAS compounds have been used in the manufacturing of carpet, clothing, shoes, cookware, packaging, oil and water repellents, furniture, take-out food containers, and many additional products. PFAS chemicals are persistent and bioaccumulate. Persistent means they do not break down in the environment and bioaccumulate refers to the process of building up over time in the blood and organs.


Photo: MLive | Garret Ellison

https://pfasproject.com/2018/11/03/updated-all-known-pfas-sites-in-michigan/

Blocked report drops PFAS safety level into single digits
https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/06/atsdr_pfas_toxprofiles_study.html

In rare move, DEQ staff urge veto on weakened cleanup law

In rare move, DEQ staff urge veto on weakened cleanup law

LANSING, MI — Eighty-two staff members at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have taken the highly rare step of publicly opposing lame duck legislation they say would only benefit polluters at the expense of citizens, and which has “no basis in the protection of health and the environment.”


Young's Environmental workers clean up a Wolverine World Wide dumpsite on MDOT property off House Street in Belmont on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. Barrels containing tannery waste and animal hides were removed from the property. (Neil Blake | MLive)

https://www.mlive.com/news/2018/12/in-rare-move-deq-staff-urge-veto-on-weakened-cleanup-law.html

Drawdown

The most important book of our times:

Project Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. We did not make or devise the plan—the plan exists and is being implemented worldwide. It has been difficult to envision this possibility because the focus is overwhelmingly on the impacts of climate change. We gathered a qualified and diverse group of researchers from around the world to identify, research, and model the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. What was uncovered is a path forward that can roll back global greenhouse gas emissions within thirty years. The research revealed that humanity has the means and techniques at hand. Nothing new needs to be invented, yet many more solutions are coming due to purposeful human ingenuity. The solutions we modeled are in place and in action. Humanity’s task is to accelerate the knowledge and growth of what is possible as soon as possible.

Drawdown is a message grounded in science; it also is a testament to the growing stream of humanity who understands the enormity of the challenge we face, and is willing to devote their lives to a future of kindness, security, and regeneration. The young girl here is from the Borana Oromo people, who reside in the Nakuprat-Gotu Community Conservancy in northern Kenya. Her picture has been our talisman, calling us daily to the work that we do.

The solutions are available for download in Excel tables and PDF: https://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank


The homepage is Drawdown

The entire book is available for the bargain price of  under US$ 15.00:

https://www.amazon.com/Drawdown-Comprehensive-Proposed-Reverse-Warming-dp-0143130447/dp/0143130447/

New NASA research: East Antarctica’s coast looses ice cover

New NASA research: A group of glaciers spanning one-eighth of East Antarctica’s coast have begun to lose ice over the past decade, hinting at widespread changes in the ocean.




A glacier in East Antarctica, as seen during an Operation IceBridge flight in November 2013. Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger



More glaciers in East Antarctica are waking up – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

Act on climate change to cut 'outrageous' pollution deaths - WHO | Zilient

KATOWICE, Poland, Dec 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Fighting climate change is one of the best ways to improve health around the world, and the benefits of fewer deaths and hospitalisations would far outweigh the costs of not acting, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

A woman covers her face during a period of fog and air pollution in Skopje, Macedonia December 04, 2018

REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

Act on climate change to cut 'outrageous' pollution deaths - WHO | Zilient

Luxembourg to Be First Country to Offer Free Mass Transit

Free mass transportation helps to reduce car use, which in turn reduces air pollution. The United Nations’ Global Goals calls on countries to improve air quality both to lift health outcomes and mitigate climate change.




Luxembourg to Be First Country to Offer Free Mass Transit

Tell your State Representative: vote NO on SB 1211

Earlier today, the state Senate voted to pass Senate Bill 1211, the Wetlands Destruction Act, by a margin of 23-14. Now, the bill is headed to the state House, and we expect them to vote any day. SB 1211, also known as the Wetlands Destruction Act, would remove protections of 70,000 Michigan wetlands, or nearly half of the wetlands in each Michigan county.



Tell your State Representative: vote NO on SB 1211

Earlier, I wrote this to our Senator Dale W. Zorn, who was one of only 3 republican senators to vote against the bill.

Dear Senator Zorn

I am one of your constituents and I am deeply worried about Senator Tom Casperson's ((R-Escanaba), Tom Casperson) fast-track effort to cripple Michigan's wetland protection law, first enacted in 1974, by eliminating about
half of the state's wetlands from their legal protection, and making other detrimental changes to land/water regulations, and to pursue this during the Legislature's lame duck session.
Wetlands are not only the most threatened habitats according to the recent WWF report with wildlife populations declining by 80% since 1970 (https://wwf.panda.org/…/all_publ…/living_planet_report_2018/) - but they also sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gases (https://phys.org/…/2017-02-wetlands-vital-role-carbon-stora…) - and provide important ecosystem services like freshwater storage and cleaning, and flood remediation (http://wwf.panda.org/our_work/water/intro/value/). Wetlands are vital to our survival and need the protections that Senator Casperson intends to strip away – obviously without understanding the consequences. I hope you will vote against this assault and try to inform your colleagues about the facts. I will follow and publicly share your engagement in this matter with my colleagues and friends.

Please also consider the chapter on the Midwest from the recently published Fourth National Climate Assessment:

"Restoration of natural systems, increases in the use of green infrastructure, and targeted conservation efforts, especially of wetland systems, can help protect people and nature from climate change impacts.”

https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/…/NCA4_Ch21_Midwest_ExecSu…

Sincerely, Tom
------------------------------
Thomas Wassmer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Siena Heights University

Get your entire electricity use from clean renewables without buying solar panels or wind turbines?

Get your entire electricity use from clean renewables without buying solar panels or wind turbines? How it works below. Sign up here: www.arcadiapower.com/thomas1565



What are Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)? – Arcadia Power Support Center

World Bank Group Announces $200 billion over Five Years for Climate Action

Funding for 2021-2025 includes a significant boost for adaptation and resilience



Washington DC - 3 December, 2018 --The World Bank Group today announced a major new set of climate targets for 2021-2025, doubling its current 5-year investments to around $200 billion in support for countries to take ambitious climate action. The new plan significantly boosts support for adaptation and resilience, recognizing mounting climate change impacts on lives and livelihoods, especially in the world’s poorest countries. The plan also represents significantly ramped up ambition from the World Bank Group, sending an important signal to the wider global community to do the same.

World Bank Group Announces $200 billion over Five Years for Climate Action

Emotional announcement by Kristalina Georgieva the CEO of the World Bank during the opening of the UM Climate Conference: https://youtu.be/ifpA25kzBD0?t=2791

'Continuation of civilisation is in your hands,' Attenborough tells world leaders - YouTube

The broadcaster David Attenborough told delegates at a UN climate summit: 'If we don't take action the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.' The naturalist was chosen to represent the world’s people at the summit in Poland.







A 2-minute cut of Sir David Attenborough's speech at the UN Climate Conference in Poland (COP24): 'Continuation of civilisation is in your hands,' Attenborough tells world leaders - YouTube

Full 8-minute of Sir David Attenborough's speech at the UN Climate Conference in Poland (COP24) with video summary of the "People's Seat" campaign:

https://www.facebook.com/unitednations/videos/296173354345932/

UN Take Climate Action and The People's Seat: 

http://www.un.org/en/climatechange/take-action.shtml

The Climate Action ActNow.bot

What Long Duration Energy Storage Is & Why It Kills Coal | CleanTechnica

Wow, talk about the Deep State in action. President* Trump promised to bring back all the coal jobs, but meanwhile the Department of Energy has been busily laying plans for next generation, long duration energy storage systems. That translates into more opportunities for bringing wind and solar power into the nation’s electricity grid, and that pretty much slams the door on the idea of reviving the nation’s coal power sector.



What Long Duration Energy Storage Is & Why It Kills Coal | CleanTechnica

Photovoltaic growth: reality versus projections of the International Energy Agency – with 2018 update (by Auke Hoekstra) | Steinbuch

Photovoltaic growth: reality versus projections of the International Energy Agency – with 2018 update (by Auke Hoekstra): the IEA once again predicts that global solar production capacity will decrease.

Why am I not surprised anymore?







Photovoltaic growth: reality versus projections of the International Energy Agency – with 2018 update (by Auke Hoekstra) | Steinbuch

Electrifying Industry (2018) - Beyond Zero Emissions

Manufacturers can replace fossil fuels with renewable electricity.  This eliminates up to 8% of Australian emissions. (My comment: This is most probably not unique for Australia...)


Electrifying Industry (2018) - Beyond Zero Emissions

The Game-Changing Promise of a Green New Deal

LIKE SO MANY others, I’ve been energized by the bold moral leadership coming from newly elected members of Congress like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley in the face of the spiraling climate crisis and the outrageous attacks on unarmed migrants at the border. It has me thinking about the crucial difference between leadership that acts and leadership that talks about acting.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks to activists with the Sunrise Movement protesting in the offices of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in Washington D.C., on Nov. 13, 2018. 

Photo: Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times via Redux

The Game-Changing Promise of a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein

Climate change strike: thousands of school students protest across Australia

‘Strike 4 Climate Action’ brings thousands of students together in defiance of prime minister’s warning

Play Video

1:37

 Thousands of students join climate protest – video

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/30/climate-change-strike-thousands-of-students-to-join-national-protest

Sono Motors – Sion Electric Car

The Sion is the first mass-produced electric car that can charge its battery using solar power. All for €16,000, excluding battery.





What makes the exterior truly exceptional are the solar cells located on both sides, the roof, the rear, and the hood. The Sion’s standout efficiency and long life are guaranteed through the use of lightweight components. The exterior, for example, consists primarily of highly durable polycarbonate.

Sono Motors – Sion Electric Car

Climate change already a health emergency, say experts | Environment | The Guardian

Deadly heatwaves and spread of diseases affect people’s health today – report

 Farmers on the outskirts of Guwahati, India. The country lost the equivalent of 7% of its total working hours due to extreme heat in 2017. Photograph: EPA

Climate change already a health emergency, say experts | Environment | The Guardian

Climate change: CO2 emissions rising for first time in four years - BBC News

Global efforts to tackle climate change are way off track says the UN, as it details the first rise in CO2 emissions in four years.



The emissions gap report says that economic growth is responsible for a rise in 2017 while national efforts to cut carbon have faltered.



Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionCarbon emissions have not yet peaked in many countries the report says

Climate change: CO2 emissions rising for first time in four years - BBC News

Federal climate change report paints grim picture for Midwest - Chicago Tribune

Rising temperatures in the Midwest are projected to be the largest contributing factor to declines in U.S. agricultural productivity, with extreme heat wilting crops and posing a threat to livestock, according to a sweeping federal report on climate change released Friday.

Midwest farmers will be increasingly challenged by warmer, wetter and more humid conditions from climate change, which also will lead to greater incidence of crop disease and more pests and will diminish the quality of stored grain. During the growing season, temperatures are projected to climb more in the Midwest than in any other region of the U.S., the report says.

John Kiefner checks soybean plants on his farm near Manhattan, Ill., on July 24, 2018. Midwest farmers will be increasingly challenged by warmer, wetter and more humid conditions from climate change, according to a federal report released Nov. 23, 2018. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

Federal climate change report paints grim picture for Midwest - Chicago Tribune

World's Water Could Become Scarce if the Amazon Rainforest Is Destroyed

The Amazon rainforest is home to 10% of the world’s species, generates 20% of global oxygen, and creates half of its own rain through an intricate water cycle dynamic.

It’s a natural system that’s a world unto itself — and it faces potentially catastrophic levels of deforestation under the new administration of Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to allow industrial interests to have more access to the forest.

If that happens, the effects would be felt far beyond Brazil. In particular, countries around the world could face droughts and water shortages, according to National Geographic.





World's Water Could Become Scarce if the Amazon Rainforest Is Destroyed

The other COP: the plan to save the world’s biodiversity - Unearthed

COP14 opens this week, but these global talks aren't about climate change. Parties to the Global Convention on Biodiversity are meeting in Egypt to prepare for a potential landmark biodiversity deal in two years time.

Aerial views of the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns, Australia. Reefs are facing extinction within a few decades. Photo: Phil Walter/Getty

The other COP: the plan to save the world’s biodiversity - Unearthed

Yards With Non-Native Plants Create ‘Food Deserts’ for Bugs and Birds | Audubon

One reason to plant native plants and not showy gardening varieties - as supported by most garden clubs...Add the support of our struggling pollinators - it becomes a no-brainer...

New research finds that Carolina Chickadees require a landscape with 70 percent native plants to keep their population steady.

A nesting Carolina Chickadee will collect more than 400 caterpillars each day. The bugs are packed with nutrients like carotenoids that growing chicks need to thrive. Photo: Douglas Tallamy


Yards With Non-Native Plants Create ‘Food Deserts’ for Bugs and Birds | Audubon

Stop a Climate-denier from Distorting Our Energy Future! | Help Wildlife, Protect the Environment, Support Nature Conservation, Save the Planet

Last month, Donald Trump nominated Bernard McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent regulatory body that's meant to ensure reliable and affordable energy for people across the country. But McNamee, a former Trump administration Energy Department official and fossil fuel industry insider, is the wrong person to fill an open seat on the commission charged with being non-partisan on directing our energy future. Next week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee could vote on McNamee's nomination. We must demand our senators make the right choice for our climate and our communities by rejecting this nomination.







Stop a Climate-denier from Distorting Our Energy Future! | Help Wildlife, Protect the Environment, Support Nature Conservation, Save the Planet

How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet | The New Yorker

With wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels, large tracts of the earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable. But the fossil-fuel industry continues its assault on the facts.

By Bill McKibben

California is currently ablaze, after a record hot summer and a dry fall set the stage for the most destructive fires in the state’s history. Above: The Woolsey fire, near Los Angeles, seen from the West Hills. Photograph by Kevin Cooley for The New Yorker

How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet | The New Yorker

Germany Has a Major Dirty Coal, and Climate, Problem | Sierra Club

The Hambach coal mine, largest of its kind in Europe, is ground zero for the German climate movement: The mine produces 44 million tons of lignite coal per year. In terms of carbon emissions, lignite is one the dirtiest fossil fuels. Widely hailed for its “energy transition,” Germany has actually failed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions for nearly a decade, and lignite is one of the biggest reasons. Now activists have resorted to civil disobedience in response to the lack of government climate action.

PHOTO BY MAURICE FRANK

Germany Has a Major Dirty Coal, and Climate, Problem | Sierra Club

A Green New Deal | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

DRAFT TEXT FOR PROPOSED ADDENDUM TO HOUSE RULES FOR 116TH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES



A Green New Deal | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Court Reverses Course in Canyon Mine Lawsuit | Grand Canyon Trust

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently changed its mind about whether the Grand Canyon Trust and other plaintiffs can challenge the government’s decision to exempt a uranium mine from a 2012 ban on new mining claims on more than 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. The new decision should land the case back in the U.S. District Court in Arizona to resolve our arguments challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s finding that Energy Fuels Resources Inc. had a valid right to operate the Canyon uranium mine before the ban.







Court Reverses Course in Canyon Mine Lawsuit | Grand Canyon Trust

The Renewed Legal Challenge Against the Dakota Access Pipeline | Earthjustice

I admire the work of this charity. Earth indeed needs a good lawyer...

A new chapter opens in the legal fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe renews their lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers challenging its recently completed review of the pipeline’s impacts.

The Renewed Legal Challenge Against the Dakota Access Pipeline | Earthjustice

Radical Realism for Climate Justice

A Civil Society Response to the Challenge of Limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial is feasible, and it is our best hope of achieving environmental and social justice, of containing the impacts of a global crisis that was born out of historical injustice and highly unequal responsibility.

https://www.boell.de/en/2018/09/17/radical-realism-climate-justice?dimension1=ds_radicalrealism

U.S. judge bars Trump administration from OKing fracking off California coast - SFChronicle.com

A federal judge barred the Trump administration Friday from approving oil companies’ requests to use the high-pressure drilling technique known as fracking in offshore wells along the Southern California coast until a review of the possible effects on endangered species and state coastal resources.

Pump jacks at the Belridge Oil Field and hydraulic fracking site which is the fourth largest oil field in California. 

Photo: Education Images, UIG via Getty Images

U.S. judge bars Trump administration from OKing fracking off California coast - SFChronicle.com

The many ways climate change worsens California wildfires » Yale Climate Connections

The many ways climate change worsens California wildfires

by Dana Nuccitelli



Years of record-setting California wildfires are consistent with mounting evidence of climate change as a principal factor.

Now designated as California’s deadliest fire, the still-raging Camp Fire by November 13 had led to 42 deaths, with many residents still unaccounted for and more than 7,000 structures destroyed. (Image credit: NASA)

The many ways climate change worsens California wildfires » Yale Climate Connections

Common plastics emit global warming pollution » Yale Climate Connections

All is connected...

Sarah-Jeanne Royer shows plastics from the ocean at Kamilo Point, Hawaii. (Photo credit: Olivier Poirion)

Common plastics emit global warming pollution » Yale Climate Connections

Efforts to Fight Climate Change Had a Tough Election Day | The New Yorker

Several Democrats who campaigned on climate change flipped their congressional districts, but five of seven climate-related ballot measures across the country did not go in the planet’s favor.

Photograph by Jose Carlos Fajardo / Digital First Media / Getty

Efforts to Fight Climate Change Had a Tough Election Day | The New Yorker

Keystone Pipeline XL blocked by federal judge in major blow to Trump administration - The Washington Post

At least another temporary halt...







Keystone Pipeline XL blocked by federal judge in major blow to Trump administration - The Washington Post

Opinion | We Have to Save the Planet. So I’m Donating $1 Billion. - The New York Times

If more billionaires are following we might have a chance?

Tourists in Argentina viewed the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park in March.CreditCreditWalter Diaz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Opinion | We Have to Save the Planet. So I’m Donating $1 Billion. - The New York Times

Mapped: nitrogen dioxide pollution around the world - Unearthed

In the last few years, governments and corporations around the world have come under increasing pressure to act on a global air pollution crisis.

In Europe, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been at the centre of the debate, following the dieselgate scandal and numerous legal battles faced by governments that have been shown to be in breach of legal limits.

As the World Health Organisation hosts its first global air pollution conference, new satellite data reveals the scale and spread of global NO2 on an unprecedented scale, from lignite power plants in Europe to wildfires in Africa.

Mapped against known pollution sources, it shows that NO2 pollution doesn’t come from diesel pollution alone; it is also emitted by coal, oil, gas and biomass plants as well as forest fires and crop burning.

Mapped: nitrogen dioxide pollution around the world - Unearthed

This Electric Airplane Could Revolutionize How We Fly

The airplane industry generates about 12% of all transportation-related carbon emissions in the US according to the EPA. In fact, the single best way to reduce your personal carbon footprint is to fly less often and outset your flights. One round-trip flight from New York to California generates 20% of the greenhouse gases that a car produces in over a year.



This Electric Airplane Could Revolutionize How We Fly

EasyJet plans electric planes by 2030 | CNN Travel

(CNN) — Passengers concerned about the impact of air travel on the environment could soon opt for a cleaner alternative.

EasyJet, the British-based budget airline, has pledged to develop a fleet of electric planes to cover short-haul routes by 2030, which would effectively reduce carbon emissions and noise from its operations.

The no-frills carrier is in partnership with US-based manufacturer Wright Electric to build battery-propelled jets for flights of less than two hours.

Founded in 2016, Wright Electric already has a two-seater electric plane and plans to begin flying a nine-seater next year. It has now applied for a patent on a motor for an electric airliner.







EasyJet plans electric planes by 2030 | CNN Travel

Startling new research finds large buildup of heat in the oceans, suggesting a faster rate of global warming - The Washington Post

Less time - this is not good news as humanity is usually slow and unwilling to adapt to the inconvenient truth - unless it is not possible to ignore it anymore.
Any further delays in effective greenhouse gas reduction by phasing out fossil fuels, restoring forests and wetlands, switching to diversified ecological agriculture, reducing meat consumption, and a more humble lifestyle, would be the devastating as the temperature will rise higher than 1.5C globally with dire effects on catastrophic weather events, heat, flooding, drought and diseases - and it will take hundreds of years to reverse...


Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionThe new study says the oceans have absorbed far more heat than previously thought

The world’s oceans have been soaking up far more excess heat in recent decades than scientists realized, suggesting that Earth could be set to warm even faster than predicted in the years ahead, according to new research published Wednesday.

Over the past quarter-century, Earth’s oceans have retained 60 percent more heat each year than scientists previously had thought, said Laure Resplandy, a geoscientist at Princeton University who led the startling study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The difference represents an enormous amount of additional energy, originating from the sun and trapped by Earth’s atmosphere — the yearly amount representing more than eight times the world’s annual energy consumption.

Startling new research finds large buildup of heat in the oceans, suggesting a faster rate of global warming - The Washington Post

WWF report: Mass wildlife loss caused by human consumption

My comment: We will leave our children a polluted, increasingly heating and erratic world depleted of more than 60% of all wildlife species. Shame on us!

"Exploding human consumption" has caused a massive drop in global wildlife populations in recent decades, the WWF conservation group says.

In a report, the charity says losses in vertebrate species - mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles - averaged 60% between 1970 and 2014.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46028862

Five Expert Takes on the IPCC 1.5C Report – Carbon180 – Medium

This week, top climate scientists from around the globe came together to publish the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C. The report explores pathways to limit warming to below 1.5C, a critical goal to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations and ecosystems. (For more information on what 1.5C of warming means for the planet, we recommend Carbon Brief’s interactive webpage.)



Five Expert Takes on the IPCC 1.5C Report – Carbon180 – Medium

Single-use plastics ban approved by European Parliament - BBC News

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionOcean plastic is often eaten by sea animals, with fatal results

Single-use plastics ban approved by European Parliament - BBC News

Water Use in Fracking Soars — Exceeding Rise in Fossil Fuels Produced, Study Says | InsideClimate News

Keep it in the ground - not just because of greenhouse gases - also because of wasting precious water resources - which in return makes climate change induced droughts more severe...




The amount of water used per well jumped as much as 770 percent between 2011 and 2016, researchers say. As fracking expands, its water and wastewater footprints are forecast to continue to balloon. Credit: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images



Water Use in Fracking Soars — Exceeding Rise in Fossil Fuels Produced, Study Says | InsideClimate News