Arguments
2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #25
Posted on 24 June 2017 by John Hartz
Editor's Pick
From heatwaves to hurricanes, floods to famine: seven climate change hotspots
Global warming will not affect everyone equally. Here we look at seven key regions to see how each is tackling the consequences of climate change
Mapping the world’s climate hot spots and identifying where the impacts will be the greatest is increasingly important for governments and those who need to prioritise resources. Photograph: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
It could have been the edge of the Sahara or even Death Valley, but it was the remains of a large orchard in the hills above the city of Murcia in southern Spain last year. The soil had broken down into fine white, lifeless sand, and a landscape of rock and dying orange and lemon trees stretched into the distance.
A long drought, the second in a few years, had devastated the harvest after city authorities had restricted water supplies and farmers were protesting in the street. It was a foretaste of what may happen if temperatures in the Mediterranean basin continue to rise and desertification grows.
All round the world, farmers, city authorities and scientists have observed changing patterns of rainfall, temperature rises and floods. Fifteen of the 16 hottest years have been recorded since 2000. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions steadily climb. Oceans are warming and glaciers, ice caps and sea ice are melting faster than expected. Meanwhile, heat and rainfall records tumble.
The evidence for the onset of climate change is compelling. But who and where is it hitting the hardest? How fast will it come to Africa, or the US? What will be its impact on tropical cities, forests or farming? On the poor, or the old? When it comes to details, much is uncertain.
From heatwaves to hurricanes, floods to famine: seven climate change hotspots by John Vidal, Guardian, June 23, 2017
Links posted on Facebook
Sun June 18 2017
- Climate change cost: What will be B.C.'s price tag?, CBC News, June 17, 2017
- Analysis: US states and cities could meet Paris climate goals without Trump by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, June 15, 2017
- Trump Hearts Methane. Kids? Not So Much. by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, June 14, 2017
- UK wind power can help meet peak winter demand, study says by Robert McSweeney, Carbon Brief, June 16, 2017
- As the North Slope of Alaska warms, greenhouse gases have nowhere to go but up by Noah Stein, NOAA's Climate .gov, June 15, 2017
- Huge forest fires in Portugal kill at least 60 by Sam Jones, Guardian, June 18, 2017
- Jean-Claude Juncker: No renegotiation of Paris climate deal by Kalina Oroschakoff, Politico, June 16, 2017
- ''What impact did climate change have in Portugal's deadly wildfire by Chris Harris, euronews, June 18, 2017
Mon June 19 2017
- 5 truths about the Paris climate accord by Alex B. Cabrera, The Philippine Star, June 18, 2017
- The latest threat to Antarctica: an insect and plant invasion by Robin McKie, Observer/Guardian, June 18, 2017
- Interest in heat records, climate change growing in Asia as mercury rises, Today (Singapore), June 19, 2017
- Merkel Says Pope Francis Urged Her to Fight for Paris Climate Accord, AP/New York Times, June 17, 2017
- Deadly Heat Waves Could Endanger 74% of Mankind by 2100, Study Says by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, June 19, 2017
- How Australia's climate policies came to be poisoned by pragmatism by Michael Slezak, Guardian, June 16, 2016
- Judge OK's Deposition of Tar Sands Employee in Exxon Climate Fraud Probe by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, June 16, 2017
- This EPA research program just got a rave scientific review. Trump wants to eliminate it. by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 16, 2017
Tue June 20 2017
- We Can’t Fight Climate Change if We Keep Lying to Ourselves by Chris Hedges, Truthdig, June 18, 2017
- A third of the world’s people already face deadly heat waves. It could be nearly three-quarters by 2100. by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 19, 2017
- Mann receives Schneider award for outstanding climate science communication by A'ndrea Elyse Messe, Penn State News, June 19, 2017
- How hot is it in the West? Let us count the ways by Madison Park, CNN, June 20, 2017
- The summer solstice is Tuesday: 7 things to know about the longest day of the year by Brad Plumer and Brian Resnick. Health & Science, Vox, June 30, 2017
- Factcheck: Grenfell Tower fire and the Daily Mail’s ‘green targets’ claim by Leo Hickman, Carbon Brief, June 16, 2017
- Desert Basins Could Hold ‘Missing’ Carbon Sinks by Bobby Magill, Climate Central, June 20, 2017
- A huge part of Antarctica is melting and scientists say that's bad news by AJ Willingham, CNN, June 20, 2017
Wed June 21 2017
- Making cities more dense always sparks resistance. Here’s how to overcome it. by David Roberts, Vox, June 20, 2017
- EPA just gave notice to dozens of scientific advisory board members that their time is up by Chris Mooney & Juliet Elperin, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 20, 2017
- Australia warned it has radically underestimated climate change security threat by Ben Doherty, Climate Change, Guadian, June 20, 2017
- Climate Groups: Don't Be Fooled, Industry-Backed Carbon Tax Just Latest Scam by John Queally, Common Dreams, June 20, 2017
- Glastonbury 2070? How the festival might have to cope with 4? of global warming by Richard Betts, The Conversation UK, June 21. 2017
- Too Hot to Fly? Climate Change May Take a Toll on Air Travel by Zach Wichter, New York Times, June 20, 2017
- Tropical Storm Cindy threatens millions along the Gulf Coast by Nicole Chavez & Ray Sanchez, CNN, June 21, 2017
- Maryland Island Denies Sea Level Rise, Yet Wants to Stop It by Scott Waldman, ClimateWire/Scientific American, June 15, 2017
Thu June 22 2017
- Both Climate Leader and Oil Giant? A Norwegian Paradox by Somini Sengupta, New York Times, June 17, 2017
- Heatwaves are national emergencies and the public need to know by Bob Ward, Guardian, June 21, 2017
- Australia, deep in climate change's 'disaster alley', shirks its moral responsibility, Commentary by Ian Dunlop, Sydney Morning Herald, June 22, 2017
- To lead on climate, leave the ivy tower by Ralien Bekkers, Hillary Aidun, Emily Wier & Geoffrey Supran, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, June 21, 2017
- How new EU rules could ‘hide’ climate impact of harvesting forests, Guest Post by Jo House & Hannes Böttcher, Carbon Brief, June 19, 2017
- White House shows no sign of reopening Paris talks by Andrew Restuccia, Politico, June 22, 2017
- Study: Why troposphere warming differs between models and satellite data by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, June 21, 2017
- Norway issues $1bn threat to Brazil over rising Amazon destruction by Damien Carrington, Guardian, June 22, 2017
Fri June 23 2017
- EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s new slogan is nonsense by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 22, 2017
- Accelerating rate of temperature rise in the Pyrenees, Phys.org, June 21, 2017
- 95-Degree Days: How Extreme Heat Could Spread Across the World by Brad Plumer & Nadja Popovich, New York Times, June 22, 2017
- Rick Perry loses his cool when confronted by Sen. Franken on climate science by Joe Romm, Think Progress, June 22, 2017
- Claiming that Listerine alleviates cold symptoms is false: To repeat or not to repeat the myth during debunking? by Stephan Lewandowsky. Skeptical Science, June 22, 2017
- From heatwaves to hurricanes, floods to famine: seven climate change hotspots by John Vidal, Guardian, June 23, 2017
- I worked on the EPA’s climate change website. Its removal is a declaration of war. by Jason Samenow, Outlook, Washington Post, June 22, 2017
- Exxon, Stephen Hawking, greens, and Reagan’s advisors agree on a carbon tax by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consenus - the 97%, Guardian, June 23, 2017
Sat June 24 2017
- The World Is Burning by IPS News Desk, Inter Press Service (IPS), June 23, 2017
- Antarctica Is Melting, and Giant Ice Cracks Are Just the Start by Douglas Fox, National Geographic, July 2017 Print Edition
- To Counteract Propaganda, We Should Look to Lessons from Advertising by Krystal D'Costa, Scientific American, June 21, 2017
- The Swiss company hoping to capture 1% of global CO2 emissions by 2025 by Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, June 22, 2017
- Experts: US exiting climate pact may doom some small islands by Seth Borenstein & Nick Perry, AP, June 23, 2017
- EPA's Methane Estimates for Oil and Gas Sector Under Investigation by Phil McKenna, InsideClimate News, June 22, 2017
- In a world ruled by rumour, it is vital that scientists speak with humility and clarity by Sue Desmond-Hellmann, Guardian, June 23, 2017
- Southwest's Deadly Heat Wave Previews Life in a Warming World by Phil McKenna, InsideClimate News, June 23, 2017
The link to "Deadly heatwaves could endanger 74% of mankind by 2100, study says" isn't working for me. It leads to a 'forbidden' page. I got the article separately through a google search.
[JH] Link fixed. Thanks for bringing this glitch to our attention.
Regarding John Vidals very good article he says "Whether it’s faster than average warming, more vulnerable than average populations, or more severe than average drought, floods and storms, it’s clear that some places are being hit harder than others ... But the bottom line is that climate hotspots intersect, and nowhere will we escape the changes taking place. What happens in the Amazon affects West Africa....."
This physical process is of course already happening, and will continute to happen, and is predicted to accelerate. At precisedly the same time, the world is globalising and becoming ever more inter linked and inter dependent, by free trade, tourism, immigration and international agreements and alliances. It is process is sometimes criticised, but appears inevitable and largely desirable. Therefore severe economic problems and social problems in certain countries caused by climate change, will become eveyones problems.
As some countries are hit harder by climate change, this inevitably affects their economies and internal political stability, etc. This then effects other countries, on trade and economic levels, and all these things are now in a delicate balance. We saw how the financial crash in america rapidly spread globally. Of course global political and economic systems develop some resilency, but there are limits and problems in such systems adapting to fast rates of change generated for whatever reason.
Climate change will also create a refugee problem and this will also become an ethical and moral concern and hard to ignore because in a globalising, inter linked world there are all sorts of consequences if you ignore problems.
In a globalising world it will herefore becomes much harder for individual nation states to insultate themselves. Climate problems are going to become everyones problems, not just on the physical affects, but through economic and political and humanitarian levels as well. It's utterly inevitable, and retreat into isolationism is not a viable option.
Quantifying and predicting this is all but impossible, but it looks like a distinctly damaging problem, and I'm reminded of an old saying "prevention is better than cure".
For Sat June 24, the link for 'The World is Burning' by IPS News Desk goes to an article 'The 1C milestone' by '...and then there's Physics'.
The National Geographic article 'Antarctica Is Melting, and Giant Ice Cracks Are Just the Start' is really well-written and informative. Highly recommend.
[JH] Link fixed. Thanks.
New news report in the NYTimes.
Carbon in Atmosphere Is Rising, Even as Emissions Stabilize