Climate Change News & Discussions

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

The article below is a little bit of back to basics. For that reason, it may be helpful in understanding how to talk about the science involved in a more convincing fashion.

Earth’s Energy Budget is Out of Balance – Here’s How It’s Warming the Climate
by Scott Denning
(No date of article apparent, but recently posted at The Conversation)

Introduction

(The Conversation) You probably remember your grade school science teachers explaining that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. That’s a fundamental property of the universe.

Energy can be transformed, however. When the Sun’s rays reach Earth, they are transformed into random motions of molecules that you feel as heat. At the same time, Earth and the atmosphere are sending radiation back into space. The balance between the incoming and outgoing energy is known as Earth’s “energy budget.”

Our climate is determined by these energy flows. When the amount of energy coming in is more than the energy going out, the planet warms up.

That can happen in a few ways, such as when sea ice that normally reflects solar radiation back into space disappears and the dark ocean absorbs that energy instead. It also happens when greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere and trap some of the energy that otherwise would have radiated away.

Scientists like me have been measuring the Earth’s energy budget since the 1980s using instruments on satellites, in the air and oceans, and on the ground. You’ll be hearing more about those measurements and Earth’s energy budget when the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is released on Aug. 9.

[Yuli Ban]

Study warns of 'irreversible transition' in ocean currents that could rapidly freeze parts of North America

A large system of ocean currents in the Atlantic – which includes the Gulf Stream – has been disrupted due to human-caused climate change, scientists reported in a new study published Thursday. If that system collapses, it would lead to dramatic changes in worldwide weather patterns.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, transports warm, salty water from the tropics northward at the ocean surface and cold water southward at the ocean bottom.

“The Atlantic Meridional Overturning really is one of our planet’s key circulation systems,” said the author of the study, Niklas Boers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

Findings from a similar 2018 study drew comparisons to the scientifically inaccurate 2004 disaster movie “The Day After Tomorrow,” which used such an ocean current shutdown as the premise of the film. At the time, study authors said a collapse was at least decades away but would be a catastrophe.

A potential collapse of this ocean current system would have severe consequences around the globe, authors of the new study said.

[Time_Traveller]

Global warming will hit 1.5C by 2040, warns report from world’s scientists

AUGUST 9 2021

The world is likely to temporarily reach 1.5C of warming within 20 years even in a best-case scenario of deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a landmark report on climate change signed off by 234 scientists from more than 60 countries has concluded.

Even with rapid emissions cuts, temperatures would continue to rise until “at least” 2050, the scientists said, and lead to further extreme weather events.

Without “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions” in emissions, curbing global warming to either 1.5C or even 2C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 would be “beyond reach”, they said.

https://www.ft.com/content/9a11b08c-4fb ... 853745bfce

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Regenerative farming shift could reduce UK climate emissions, say experts

Wed 11 Aug 2021

There is growing momentum behind a shift to ‘regenerative’ agriculture in the UK, which can help to mitigate the climate crisis, say leading experts in the sector.

“More and more people are seeing other farmers doing it [regenerative farming] and are happier for it,” said John Cherry, who founded Groundswell, the UK’s flagship event for regenerative agriculture, on his farm in Hertfordshire. “People may be getting a higher yield with conventional approaches, but it is costing them more too with all the inputs, so they are not making more money.”

Minette Batters, head of the National Farmers’ Union, has set out an ambition for UK farming to be climate neutral by 2040. Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy has now recommended that the government put aside up to £700m to pay farmers to create nature-rich, carbon sequestering landscapes.

Food and farming – a key UK sector – has a large carbon footprint, accounting for one-fifth of our emissions. That figure rises to about 30% if you factor in the emissions produced by all the food we import. Agriculture accounts for about 10% of emissions, but in recent years there have been a number of commitments to reducing that.

There are already more than 1,700 organic farmers across the UK registered with Soil Association Certification, covering almost half a million hectares of farmland. As well as using fewer pesticides, organic farms have more wildlife and store more carbon in their soils, reducing climate emissions.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ay-experts

[wjfox]

[raklian]

I think we'll get a much better return if we funnel more of our money and resources to develop technologies for vertical farming. We should invest in our existing farmers to learn new skills they can apply for indoor farming.

To be frank, with the way things are going with our climate and the fact its collapse is largely irreversible, we'll have to move our farming indoors. Indoor farming offers more advantages than drawbacks in this kind of environment. Besides outdoor farming is one of the major reasons we have this issue to begin with. Outdoor farming is a very polluting, energy-intensive and resource-depleting endeavor that reduces the Earth's ability to replenish many of the resources we need to live on.

[wjfox]

I think we'll get a much better return if we funnel more of our money and resources to develop technologies for vertical farming. We should invest in our existing farmers to learn new skills they can apply for indoor farming.

To be frank, with the way things are going with our climate and the fact its collapse is largely irreversible, we'll have to move our farming indoors. Indoor farming offers more advantages than drawbacks in this kind of environment. Besides outdoor farming is one of the major reasons we have this issue to begin with. Outdoor farming is a very polluting, energy-intensive and resource-depleting endeavor that reduces the Earth's ability to replenish many of the resources we need to live on.

Indoor farming is energy-intensive too, though.

[raklian]

Indoor farming is energy-intensive too, though.

Yes, it will be in the initial stage. I think over time the energy usage will decrease due to improvements to lighting technology among other things.

[weatheriscool]

Global warming begets more warming, new paleoclimate study finds
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-global-be ... imate.html
by Abby Abazorius, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

It is increasingly clear that the prolonged drought conditions, record-breaking heat, sustained wildfires, and frequent, more extreme storms experienced in recent years are a direct result of rising global temperatures brought on by humans' addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. And a new MIT study on extreme climate events in Earth's ancient history suggests that today's planet may become more volatile as it continues to warm.

The study, appearing today in Science Advances, examines the paleoclimate record of the last 66 million years, during the Cenozoic era, which began shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. The scientists found that during this period, fluctuations in the Earth's climate experienced a surprising "warming bias." In other words, there were far more warming events—periods of prolonged global warming, lasting thousands to tens of thousands of years—than cooling events. What's more, warming events tended to be more extreme, with greater shifts in temperature, than cooling events.

[Time_Traveller]

Treasury blocking green policies key to UK net zero target

Fri 13 Aug 2021

The Treasury is blocking green policies essential to put the UK on track to net zero emissions, imperilling the UK’s own targets and the success of vital UN climate talks, experts have told the Guardian.

A string of policies, from home insulation to new infrastructure spending, have been scrapped, watered down or delayed. Rows about short term costs have dominated over longer term warnings that putting off green spending now will lead to much higher costs in future.

The UK’s credibility as host of the Cop26 climate talks this November in Glasgow rests on a clear net zero strategy – but publication has been postponed until near the eve of the summit, giving the UK little leverage to bring other countries to the negotiating table with the tougher carbon targets needed. Meanwhile, steep cuts to overseas aid have severely damaged the UK’s standing internationally, experts on the UN talks said.

Jamie Peters, director of campaigning impact at Friends of the Earth, said: “The Treasury has been helping to fuel the climate emergency for far too long. The reality is that a rapid transition to a zero carbon future would be far less expensive than delaying the green measures we so urgently need, and that will create significant economic opportunities and new jobs.”

Civil society groups, thinktanks and political insiders said the Treasury had refused to commit to the spending needed to shift the UK’s economy to a low-carbon footing. Complaints about the potential short-term costs of net zero policies have been one flashpoint during weeks of high tension between the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, the Guardian understands.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ero-target

[weatheriscool]

July was Earth's hottest month on record, NOAA says
Source: KMSP 9 Minnesota

After a month of dangerous heat waves that impacted the globe, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that July was officially the world’s hottest month ever recorded.

"In this case, first place is the worst place to be," said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad. "July is typically the world’s warmest month of the year, but July 2021 outdid itself as the hottest July and month ever recorded. This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe."

According to new global data, the combined land and ocean-surface temperature was 1.67 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees F, making it the hottest July since record keeping began 142 years ago.

Meanwhile, it was 0.02 of a degree F higher than the previous record set in July 2016, which was then tied in 2019 and 2020.

Read more: https://www.fox9.com/news/july-was-eart ... -noaa-says

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Victoria consents to gas production from well near Twelve Apostles

Sun 15 Aug 2021



The Victorian government has given consent for a gas company to produce gas extracted from beneath a national park in the state’s south-west, near the celebrated tourist site the Twelve Apostles.

Documents tabled in Victorian parliament earlier this month show Lily D’Ambrosio, the state energy and climate change minister, gave consent for an existing exploration gas well underneath the Port Campbell national park to be developed into a production well.

The South Australian oil and gas company Beach Energy has had permission to explore for gas just outside the national park in south-west Victoria since May 2019. The onshore drill site is 450m outside the park, but the bore extends 3.5km out into the ocean, including a 1.3km stretch passing underneath the national park.

The company’s work at the site became public in June this year when the federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources released maps showing areas that had previously been opened to exploration and extraction. The maps revealed the drill site was roughly 5km from the Twelve Apostles and the Great Ocean Road.

Beach Energy, an ASX-listed company, applied in February to convert its exploration well into a production well, meaning it could begin extracting commercial quantities from the reservoir.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... Id3sHrhZxk

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Finds That Nearly Half the World's Children are at 'Extremely High Risk' for Facing Effects of Climate Crisis
by Julia Conley
August 20, 2021

https://www.bing.com/search?q=unicef+is ... =QBLH&sp=2

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) On Friday, the third anniversary of climate campaigner Greta Thunberg's lone protest outside the Swedish Parliament, a global report revealed the scale of risks posed by the climate emergency for the world's children.

The United Nations' agency for children's rights, UNICEF, introduced the first-ever Children's Climate Risk Index, which shows that nearly half of the world's children are at "extremely high risk" for being faced with dangerous effects of the planetary crisis.

"The climate crisis is a child rights crisis," said UNICEF.

About one billion children live in dozens of developing countries that are facing at least three to four climate impacts, including drought, food shortages, extreme heat, and disease, the report, launched in collaboration with Fridays for Future, found.

"For the first time, we have a complete picture of where and how children are vulnerable to climate change, and that picture is almost unimaginably dire," said Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF, in a statement.

[caltrek]

Antarctica Just Narrowly Avoided a Massive Iceberg Collision
by David Nield
August 25, 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/antarctica ... -collision

Introduction:

(Science Alert) With rising temperatures and significant climate shifts predicted for Antarctica in the years to come, the icy continent could use a break. Well, now it's had one, as it just had a near miss with a giant iceberg double the size of Chicago.

The iceberg in question is A-74. Having originally been attached to Antarctica, it broke out into open waters back in February, as a result of a major crack that ripped through the Brunt ice shelf over the space of just a few months.

Then, in the past six months, A-74 loitered close to its original position, largely due to the prevailing ocean currents in the area; but in early August, strong easterly winds were responsible for the iceberg moving southwards and spinning around, changing its course.

Along the way, it clipped the edge of the Brunt ice shelf where it was born, in what the European Space Agency (ESA) has described as a "minor impact".

Conclusion:

As the climate crisis continues to unfold around the globe, scientists need all the information they can get on how Antarctic ecosystems may fracture in the coming years. For now, the icebergs will keep coming.