Climate Change News & Discussions

[caltrek]

Big New Incentives for Clean Energy Aren’t Enough – the Inflation Reduction Act Was Just the First Step, Now the Hard Work Begins
by Daniel Cohan
August 19, 2022

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The new Inflation Reduction Act is stuffed with subsidies for everything from electric vehicles to heat pumps, and incentives for just about every form of clean energy. But pouring money into technology is just one step toward solving the climate change problem.

Wind and solar farms won’t be built without enough power lines to connect their electricity to customers. Captured carbon and clean hydrogen won’t get far without pipelines. Too few contractors are trained to install heat pumps. And EV buyers will think twice if there aren’t enough charging stations.

In my new book about climate solutions, I discuss these and other obstacles standing in the way of a clean energy transition. Surmounting them is the next step as the country figures out how to turn the goals of the most ambitious climate legislation Congress has ever passed into reality.

Two outcomes matter: how deeply U.S. actions slash emissions domestically, and how effectively they cut the costs of clean technologies so that other countries can slash their emissions too.

Conclusion:

After years of gridlock, there’s reason to celebrate Congress passing three bills that will do more to cut U.S. emissions than any legislation in history. But much more will be needed to reach the nation’s climate goals and to make clean energy more affordable at home and abroad.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/big-new-in ... s-188693

[weatheriscool]

Risk of catastrophic California 'megaflood' has doubled due to global warming, researchers say

by Louis Sahagún
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-catastrop ... lobal.html

Even today, as California struggles with severe drought, global warming has doubled the likelihood that weather conditions will unleash a deluge as devastating as the Great Flood of 1862, according to a UCLA study released Friday.

In that inundation 160 years ago, 30 consecutive days of rain triggered monster flooding that roared across much of the state and changed the course of the Los Angeles River, relocating its mouth from Venice to Long Beach.

If a similar storm were to happen today, the study says, up to 10 million people would be displaced, major interstate freeways such as Interstates 5 and 80 would be shut down for months, and population centers including Stockton, Fresno and parts of Los Angeles would be submerged—a $1 trillion disaster larger than any in world history.

It would also likely be "bigger in almost every respect" than what scientists have come to call the "ARKStorm scenario" of 1862, said climate scientist Daniel Swain, co-author of the study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

[weatheriscool]

A historical perspective on glacial retreat
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-historica ... treat.html
by Franziska Schmid, ETH Zurich

Researchers at ETH Zurich and WSL have for the first time reconstructed the extent of Switzerland's glacier ice loss in the 20th century. For this purpose, the researchers used historical imagery and conclude that the country's glaciers lost half their volume between 1931 and 2016.

Glaciers are melting rapidly—and since the 2000s, scientists have been recording and researching changes in their volume more and more precisely. In contrast, hardly anything is known about how glaciers changed during the 20th century. Although there are a handful of studies that reconstruct the surface topography of individual glaciers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these partially show large discrepancies with existing models when it comes to estimating the corresponding glacier volume.

In a study that has just been published in the scientific journal The Cryosphere, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL have reconstructed the topography of all Swiss glaciers in 1931. Based on these reconstructions and comparisons with data from the 2000s, the researchers conclude that the glacier volume halved between 1931 and 2016.

[caltrek]

Lima Becomes First Latin American Capital to Back Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
by Brett Wilkins
August 22, 2022

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) City lawmakers in Lima, Peru on Monday unanimously passed a motion calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a proposed global mechanism for tackling the source of most of the greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling the climate emergency.

Lima councilors voted 39-0 in favor of a FFNPT, making the city the first Latin American capital to endorse the proposed treaty.

Carlo André Ángeles Manturano, the Lima council member who introduced the motion, said the measure shows his "commitment to continue promoting the necessary actions at the local, national, and international level to combat climate change."

"As we face the climate emergency as a society, the lack of firm commitments to action by our authorities and our governments is what brings us ever closer to irreversible damage," he explained. "It is necessary to take firm action on one of our principal threats, the proliferation of fossil fuels, an industry that is projected to produce 110% more emissions than what is required to limit warming to 1.5°C by 2030."

"That is why," added Ángeles, "on behalf of the metropolitan government of Lima, I presented the motion to join this crusade and call for the non-proliferation of fossil fuels in the city of Lima, and requesting the Peruvian national government to replicate this action and endorse the Fossil Fuel Treaty."

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... on-treaty

[caltrek]

Fighting Climate Change is Wildly Popular but Most Americans Don’t Know That
August 22, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Just after the U.S. Congress passed the nation's most substantial legislation aimed at battling climate change, a new study shows that the average American badly underestimates how much their fellow citizens support substantive climate policy. While 66-80% of Americans support climate action, the average American believes that number is 37-43%, the study found.

“It’s stunning how universal and shared that idea is, among every demographic,” said Gregg Sparkman, the paper’s first author who did this work as a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton and is now an assistant professor at Boston College.

The research, co-authored by Elke Weber, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and the School of Public and International Affairs, was published in Nature Communications today.

The study found that conservatives underestimated national support for climate policies to the greatest degree but, liberals also believed that a minority of Americans support climate action. The misperception was the norm in every state, across policies, and among every demographic tested, including political affiliation, race, media consumption habits, and rural vs. suburban. The actions that the researchers surveyed were major climate policies that could play a role in the United States mitigating climate change, including a carbon tax, siting renewable energy projects on public lands, sourcing electricity from 100% renewable resources by 2035, and the Green New Deal. The trend of Americans largely underestimating such support held true for every single policy.

The study showed a link between consuming conservative media and high levels of misperception, even when controlling for personal politics. The researchers also found that living in a red state, and having less exposure to climate marches or protests was linked to a greater discrepancy between estimates of popularity and actual popularity of climate policies. According to the paper, supporters of climate action outnumber opponents two to one, but Americans falsely perceive nearly the opposite to be true. Sparkman said that this underestimation of support is problematic because people tend to conform to what they think others believe, which would weaken actual support for such policies.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962606

caltrek’s comment: This is one reason I think gloom and doom prophets may be doing more harm than good. Sure, there is a hell of a lot of bad news coming out about draughts, famines, forest fires, floods, etc. Still, anyway you slice it, 66-80% public support is impressive.
I think this also points to the real culprits in our march to the stupidity singularity: politicians who care more about carbon-based fuel industry campaign donations than they do about public support.

[caltrek]

Current Warming in Northwestern Siberia is Recorded as the Strongest of the Last 7,000 Years August 25, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) The north of Western Siberia is recording the warmest summers of the last 7,000 years. While for several millennia the temperature of the region was following a general cooling, in the 19th century there has been an abrupt change with rapidly rising temperature that has reached its highest value in the recent decades. These findings were published today in Nature Communications.

Thanks to multiple field expeditions aimed at collecting subfossil wood performed over the last 40 years, dendrochronologists of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and the Ural Federal University (UrFU), have eventually been able to create a unique and extraordinary-long tree-ring width chronology from the Yamal region allowing to track the course of summer temperature over the past 7,638 years. With support from colleagues of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, and of the University of Geneva, they have been able to perform analyses to confidently reconstruct and characterize the temperatures over the full period and with annual resolution.

“Due to changes in the Earth's orbit we would have expected a continuous, slow and gradual decrease of incoming summer solar energy and thus temperature at the subpolar latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during last 8-9 millennia. However, how recorded by the trees growing in Yamal, this cooling trend has been interrupted in the middle of the 19th century, when temperature began to rise very quickly and reached the highest values in recent decades,” says Rashit Hantemirov, Leading Researcher of the Laboratories of Dendrochronology of the Ural Branch of the RAS and Natural Science Methods in the Humanities of UrFU.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962811

caltrek’s comment: A nice example of collaboration between Russian and Europeans academics. Too bad the political leaders can’t get along like that.

[caltrek]

A Study Indicates that China’s Cities Leading the Way on Carbon Reduction
August 25, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Thirty-eight Chinese cities have reduced their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) despite growing economies and populations for at least five years - defined as proactively peaked cities, a new study reveals.

A further 21 cities have cut CO2 emissions as their economies or populations have ‘declined’ over the same period - defined as passively emission declined cities.

The experts discovered that ‘emission peaked’ cities, such as Beijing and Taizhou (Zhejiang province), achieved emission decline mainly due to efficiency improvements and structural changes in energy use, whilst ‘declining’ cities, such as Fuxin (Liaoning province) and Shenyang (Liaoning province), are likely to have reduced emissions due to economic recession or population loss.

They recommend that instead of using a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, emission targets of cities need to be set individually considering cities’ resources, industrialisation levels, socio-economic characteristics, and development goals.

Super-emitting cities with outdated technologies and lower production efficiency should develop stringent policies and targets for emissions reduction, while less developed regions could have more emission space for economic development.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962819

[caltrek]

Climate Extremes: The Energy Required for Adaptation Calls for Stronger Mitigation Efforts
August 25, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) A new study published today in Nature Communications by researchers from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the European Institute on Economics and the Environment and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine finds that adapting to climate change will require more energy than previously estimated, leading to higher energy investments and costs. Avoiding this additional energy burden is another important benefit of ambitious mitigation that so far has remained neglected in the academia, the public debate and the international negotiations.

Read more of the EurekAlert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962817

For the more lengthy study published in Nature Communications : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32471-1

caltrek’s comment: Another reason why calling recent legislation the Inflation Reduction Act is valid as something more than just a public relations stunt. That act includes significant mitigation efforts to address climate change and provisions to develop new energy sources.

[caltrek]

Nontoxic Material Found to be Ultra-strong Solar Energy Harvester
August 25, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Solar cells are vital for the green energy transition. They can be used not only on rooftops and solar farms but also for powering autonomous vehicles, such as planes and satellites. However, photovoltaic solar cells are currently heavy and bulky, making them difficult to transport to remote locations off-grid, where they are much needed.

In a collaboration led by Imperial College London, alongside researchers from Cambridge, UCL, Oxford, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in Germany, and others, researchers have produced materials that can absorb comparable levels of sunlight as conventional silicon solar cells, but with 10,000 times lower thickness.

The material is sodium bismuth sulfide (NaBiS2), which is grown as nanocrystals and deposited from solution to make films 30 nanometers in thickness. NaBiS2 is comprised of nontoxic elements that are sufficiently abundant in the earth’s crust for use commercially. For example, bismuth-based compounds are used as a nontoxic lead replacement in solder, or in over-the-counter stomach medicine.

Yi-Teng Huang, PhD student at the University of Cambridge and co-first author, commented: “We have found a material that absorbs light more strongly than conventional solar cell technologies and can be printed from an ink. This technology has potential for making lightweight solar cells which can be easily transported or used in aerospace applications.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962812

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

'Dangerous' and 'extremely dangerous' heat stress to become more common by 2100: study
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-dangerous ... ommon.html
by University of Washington

Record-breaking heat waves have occurred recently from Delhi to the Pacific Northwest, and the number of these deadly events is expected to increase. New research from the University of Washington and Harvard University gives a range of heat impacts worldwide by the end of this century, depending on future emissions of greenhouse gases.

The study was published Aug. 25 in the open-access journal Communications Earth & Environment.

"The record-breaking heat events of recent summers will become much more common in places like North America and Europe," said lead author Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, who did the research as a doctoral student at the UW and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard. "For many places close to the equator, by 2100 more than half the year will be a challenge to work outside, even if we begin to curb emissions."

"Our study shows a broad range of possible scenarios for 2100," he added. "This shows that the emissions choices we make now still matter for creating a habitable future."

The study looks at a combination of air temperature and humidity known as the "heat index" that measures impact on the human body. A "dangerous" heat index is defined by the National Weather Service as 103 F (39.4 C). An "extremely dangerous" heat index is 124 F (51 C), deemed unsafe to humans for any amount of time.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Melting Himalayan Glaciers Alter Water Supplies Near and Far
by Zakir Hossain Chowdhury
August 29, 2022

Introduction:

(Undark) ON AN APRIL morning in Sagarmatha National Park, a World Heritage Site in the Himalayas that includes Mount Everest, Domi Sherpa looks out at rocky black slopes that stand starkly against snow-capped mountains. In the past, these dark swaths would have also been covered with snow and ice. But, Sherpa says, the region’s melting glaciers have increasingly exposed the rocks beneath.

The Hindu Kush Himalayas have the world’s third largest concentration of glaciers, after the Arctic and the Antarctic. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as the “Third Pole.” The region, though, has been warming faster than the global average. The glaciers are retreating, an erasure that has accelerated in the last few decades — and they may affect the water supply for communities both near and far.

According to a 2017 study published in Nature, by 2100, only 37 to 49 percent of glacier mass in the Himalayas will remain (compared with 2005 figures) if global temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Climate experts say that the changes will continue to alter the hydrological cycle in the region. “Glaciers and glacial lakes in the high mountains are very sensitive indicators of ongoing climate change,” wrote Sudeep Thakuri, a glaciologist at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, in an email to Undark. The Himalayas are such an important water source in Asia that they are sometimes referred to as the continent’s “water towers.”

Locals have noticed the differences over the years. Anu Sherpa started climbing Everest in 1970 when he was 24 years old; he retired in 1994, and now runs a shop at Namche Bazaar. Over the years, Anu Sherpa has noticed changes in the area’s climate. The seasons are less predictable, he said. The rain doesn’t come when expected, he added, and “this time, it should have been warm, but it’s not.” Throughout the region, the changes in water levels in local rivers will likely affect farming, sanitation, and fresh drinking water.

Even people far away will feel the effects of melting glaciers. And these changes will affect a lot of people: Rivers downstream supply water to nearly a fifth of the global population.

Read more here (and view photos related to the article): https://undark.org/2022/08/29/melting- ... e-change/

[caltrek]

Rapid Glacial Melt Puts India, Pakistan at High Flash Flood Risk
by Jayashree Nandi
August 30, 2022

Introduction:

(Hindustan Times) 7,253. The number has become well-known over the past few days; it’s the number of glaciers in Pakistan, widely considered to be the highest concentration of glaciers outside the poles (it is).

A comparable number for India isn’t available. There’s a widely cited Isro report, which puts the number at 9,575, which would mean the country has more glaciers than Pakistan. Experts say the confusion arises because some of these lie across the line of control, which isn’t a recognized international border.

Still, this isn’t a cricket match to keep score. It is something far more serious.

Catastrophic floods in Pakistan over the past two days have revealed the vulnerability of that country to a warm summer — this year saw a heatwave across Pakistan and India in May — that results in a higher volume of glacier run-off on account of melting ice, followed by extreme monsoon rain.

At least 1,000 people have died already in Pakistan, on account of floods that are already being described as once-in-a-lifetime; millions have been displaced. The flash floods in vast swathes of the country, from north to south, with most rivers, including the Indus, Kabul, and Swat in spate.

Read more here: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-n ... 2926.html

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Rising Inequality Risks Regional Collapse and Climate Catastrophe, Experts Warn in "Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity"
August 30, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Left unchecked, rising inequality in the next 50 years will lead to increasingly dysfunctional societies, making co-operation to deal with existential threats like climate change more difficult, according to ground breaking analysis being launched today in a new book, Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity. However, the world can still stabilise global temperatures below 2°C and approach an end to poverty by 2050 by enacting five ‘extraordinary turnarounds’ that break with current trends.

“We are standing on a cliff edge,” said Jorgen Randers, one of the six authors of Earth for All and co-author of The Limits to Growth published 50 years ago. “In the next 50 years, the current economic system will drive up social tensions and drive down wellbeing. We can already see how inequality is destabilising people and the planet.”

“Unless there is truly extraordinary action to redistribute wealth, things will get significantly worse. We are already sowing the seeds for regional collapse. Societies are creating vicious cycles where rising social tensions, that are exacerbated by climate breakdown, will continue to lead to a decline in trust. This risks an explosive combination of extreme political destabilisation and economic stagnation at a time when we must do everything we can to avoid climate catastrophes.”

Ahead of significant political events such as the UN General Assembly and the UN climate change convention's COP 27, Earth4All is launching Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity, which presents the results of a two-year research project, that brought together leading scientists, economic thinkers and a team of ‘systems dynamics’ computer modellers.

The book builds on the common mantra from social movements calling for “Systems Change Not Climate Change” and “People Not Profit”. It lays out what economic systems change really means for civilization and proposes five extraordinary turnarounds that provide a framework for a fair, just, and affordable economic transformation. The book tackles the fierce debate between advocates for “green growth” and supporters of “degrowth” economies.

Read more of the EurekAlert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/963156

To review fifteen policy recommendations of the book, read here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BI ... mhhg/edit

To visit the Earth4All website: https://www.earth4all.life/

[weatheriscool]

Arctic lakes are vanishing in surprise climate finding
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-arctic-lakes-climate.html
by University of Florida

The Arctic is no stranger to loss. As the region warms nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, glaciers collapse, wildlife suffers and habitats continue to disappear at a record pace.

Now, a new threat has become apparent: Arctic lakes are drying up, according to research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study, led by University of Florida Department of Biology postdoctoral researcher Elizabeth Webb, flashes a new warning light on the global climate dashboard.

Webb's research reveals that over the past 20 years, Arctic lakes have shrunk or dried completely across the pan-Arctic, a region spanning the northern parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, Scandinavia and Alaska. The findings offer clues about why the mass drying is happening and how the loss can be slowed.

The vanishing lakes act as cornerstones of the Arctic ecosystem. They provide a critical source of fresh water for local Indigenous communities and industries. Threatened and endangered species, including migratory birds and aquatic creatures, also rely on the lake habitats for survival.

[caltrek]

Arctic lakes are vanishing in surprise climate finding
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-arctic-lakes-climate.html
by University of Florida

The Arctic is no stranger to loss. As the region warms nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, glaciers collapse, wildlife suffers and habitats continue to disappear at a record pace.

Now, a new threat has become apparent: Arctic lakes are drying up, according to research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study, led by University of Florida Department of Biology postdoctoral researcher Elizabeth Webb, flashes a new warning light on the global climate dashboard.

Webb's research reveals that over the past 20 years, Arctic lakes have shrunk or dried completely across the pan-Arctic, a region spanning the northern parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, Scandinavia and Alaska. The findings offer clues about why the mass drying is happening and how the loss can be slowed.

The vanishing lakes act as cornerstones of the Arctic ecosystem. They provide a critical source of fresh water for local Indigenous communities and industries. Threatened and endangered species, including migratory birds and aquatic creatures, also rely on the lake habitats for survival.

To me what is particularly disturbing is the implications for carbon release into the atmosphere in the form of methane and carbon dioxide. This is discussed in the cited article.

[weatheriscool]

Greenhouse gas, sea levels at record in 2021: NOAA
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-greenhous ... -noaa.html
by Shaun TANDON

The wreckage of a home in General Luna town, Siargao island, in the Philippines in December 2021 following Typhoon Rai, one of a series of deadly storms over the year amid mounting concern on climate change.

Earth's concentration of greenhouse gases and sea levels hit new highs in 2021, a US government report said Wednesday, showing that climate change keeps surging ahead despite renewed efforts to curb emissions.

"The data presented in this report are clear—we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing," said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"With many communities hit with 1,000-year floods, exceptional drought and historic heat this year, it shows that the climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today," he said in a statement.

The rise in greenhouse gas levels comes despite an easing of fossil fuel emissions the previous year as much of the global economy slowed sharply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US agency said that the concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere stood at 414.7 parts per million in 2021, 2.3 parts higher than in 2020.