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#Post#: 12702--------------------------------------------------
The Water Thread
By: AGelbert Date: June 24, 2019, 1:20 pm
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[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/Story2_Feature_Small-1038x576.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]Photo at top: The Dead Sea, at more than 400 meters
(about 1,300 feet) below sea level, is the lowest point on
earth. The body of water, which serves as one of Israel’s main
tourist attractions, is shrinking due to drought, evaporation
and continual pumping for industry. (Karyn
Simpson/MEDILL)[/center]
[center]ISRAEL’S SEA OF GALILEE AND DEAD SEA ARE DYING – WHAT IS
BEING DONE?[/center]
OCTOBER 22, 2018
By Karyn Simpson
[font=times new roman]Medill Reports[/font]
ISRAEL – The Dead Sea is dying. So is Israel’s Sea of Galilee –
the country’s only surface-level source of freshwater. The
effort to save these sacred and historic lakes involves a
convoluted mix of religious tradition, tourism and technology.
Over the past several decades of carving out an oasis from the
desert, Israel has pushed back countrywide water scarcity
through desalination, conservation, efficient use of the
country’s limited freshwater, and wastewater treatment and
reuse. Today, approximately 80 percent of Israel’s drinking
water comes from desalination plants, meaning that even as
Israel enters its sixth consecutive year of drought, the country
should continue to have a stable supply of drinking water for
its residents.
The main concern surrounding the drought is the health of
Israel’s two natural, above-ground bodies of water, the
freshwater Sea of Galilee and the saltwater Dead Sea – both
sacred to residents, if for entirely different reasons. While
the Dead Sea is valued particularly because of its contributions
to Israeli tourism, the Sea of Galilee holds special import in
religious history and because many residents remember when it
was the country’s main source of water.
“The Sea of Galilee, for all the people in Israel, is emotional
– 100 percent emotional,” said Arnon Eshel, who works at Sapir,
the water pumping station for the Sea of Galilee. “We come here,
we see the Sea of Galilee as it looks now, we are in totally
depression.”
The ongoing drought has reduced the Sea of Galilee to some of
its lowest levels in history, 215.5 meters (about 707 feet)
below sea level. To try to assuage the rapidly decreasing levels
and prevent any irreparable environmental damage, Israel has
almost completely ceased pumping from the Sea of Galilee. But
some pumping is necessary to keep the machines working and to
fulfill Israel’s peace agreement with neighboring Jordan.
[center][img
width=640]
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This water holding tank at Sapir, the pumping facility alongside
the Sea of Galilee, mirrors the sea’s water level. On the far
side of the tank, just below the fence, a red marker shows the
sea’s normal level: 208 meters below sea level. The water is
currently at 215.5 meters below sea level. (Karyn
Simpson/MEDILL)
“For Jordan, by peace agreement, we have to supply to them 50
million cubic meters (about 13.2 billion gallones) per year from
the Sea of Galilee,” Eshel said. “Which means that Jordan is the
biggest customer of water from the Sea of Galilee.”
Some of the streams which feed into the Sea of Galilee flow from
Jordan, meaning that a portion of the water that ends in the Sea
of Galilee should belong to the Jordanians – the crux of the
peace agreement. While Israel once faced attacks from Jordan, as
evidenced in the historic Yom Kippur War, having water be part
of the peace agreement has ensured cooperation between the two
countries, Eshel said.
“One of the things that Israel understands, that it’s smart to
make cooperation with the agriculture in Jordan, by the
government, of course, and have a quiet border – 400 kilometers
[248.5 miles], totally quiet border,” Eshel said. “If some
terrorists want to try to attack Israel, they say not from here.
If it come from here, Israel [will] destroy that area.”
Though Israel has considered building a pipeline from the
seawater desalination plants to Jordan to fulfill this water
requirement without having to pump from the already-low Sea of
Galilee, Eshel said that the construction for such a project
would be too cost-prohibitive to be feasible.
Today, only 5 percent of Israel’s drinking water comes from the
Sea of Galilee, amounting to approximately 25 million cubic
meters (abut 6.6 billion gallons). That is just enough to keep
the machines working, Eshel said. The biggest culprit to the
sea’s decline is evaporation, and without adequate rainfall, the
sea has no chance to replenish what it is losing.
“Every year, we [lose] something around 240 million cubic meters
(about 63.4 billion gallons) to evaporation,” Eshel said, which
appears as about one meter each year in depth. This descent can
be seen from the shoreline, which now contains meters of sand
where there used to be water.
“When I was a child, every day I need to choose whether I’m
going to school or going to swim. Most of the time I’m going to
swim. Don’t judge me – there was no air conditioning when I was
a child,” Eshel said. He grew up along the Sea of Galilee and
held up a picture of the coastline by his home – a long stretch
of concrete sidewalk that ended at the water’s edge. In the
photo, water lapped against the wall about a foot below walking
level, and small boats floated only a meter or two away from
shore.
“I never even needed to think if we have the ability to jump or
not,” Eshel said.
He held up a second picture – that same stretch of coastline
outside his childhood home taken in recent years. The water’s
edge had receded 15 to 20 feet, leaving only sand near the
concrete sidewalk where Eshel used to jump off, and old boats
were beached on the sandy bank where they used to float.
An idea has been proposed to build a pipe sometime in the next
three years that would funnel desalinated water into the Sea of
Galilee, Eshel said.
Agelbert NOTE: They have to work quickly or the Sea of Galilee
(Kinneret lake) is toast, regardless of "a good winter will
replenish the lake [img
width=40]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-250718202127.gif[/img]"<br
/>wishful thinking. As you read above, the water, as of October
of
2018, was at 215.5 meters below sea level. The lake has now
reached a point where it CANNOT recover without adding massive
amounts of desalinated water. From Wikipedia:
[quote]After 5 years of drought as of 2018, Sea of Galilee is
expected to get to the black line.[22] The black elevation line
is the lowest depth from which irreversible damage begin and no
water can be pumped out anymore.[23] Israel Oceanographic and
Limnological Research describe it as "The black line marks
-214.87 m, the lowest-ever level reached since 1926 when the
water level record began. According to the water authority, the
Kinneret water level must not decline below this level."[24]In
February 2018, the city of Tiberias requested a desalination
plant to treat the water coming from the Sea of Galilee and
demanded a new water source for the city.[25]
In September 2018 the Israeli energy and water office announced
a project to pour desalinated water from the Mediterranean sea
into the sea of Galilee using an underground tunnel. The
[size=18pt]💧 tunnel is expected to be the largest of its
kind done in Israel and will transfer half of the Mediterranean
desalted water and will push 300 to 500 million cubic liters of
water per
year.[27]
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee[/size][/quote]
This would be intended to provide water to the settlements
around the Sea of Galilee and to help combat the effects of the
drought on the lake, but some Israelis are hesitant to support
such a project because of the “one good winter” concept, he
said.
“People are afraid we will invest a lot of money for that kind
of project, and after one good winter, we won’t need to use it,”
Eshel said, referring to how, in non-drought years, Israel
typically gets enough rain in the winters to make up for the
hot, dry summers. “This is people without vision. People with
vision understand, even if we have a good winter, so it’s going
to be just one. Then we have another 10 years of drought years.
You need to be with courage, but it’s not easy.”
A similar debate surrounds the Dead Sea, which is too salty to
be used for drinking water, but is a big part of Israel’s
tourism industry.
“The Dead Sea is shrinking because the input from the lower
Jordan River is about less than 10 percent” of what it once was,
said Noam Weisbrod, a hydrology professor and the director of
the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. “Simply, there is no input
and the output is bigger than the input, so the net reduction in
the water level is about one meter per year in the last 30-40
years. In the last two years, it was 1.15 meters per year
vertically.”
That 1.15-meter, or approximately 4-foot, vertical decline means
the Dead Sea’s coastline has shrunk several meters inward
depending on the location along the coast, Weisbrod said. Even
with the drought, what Weisbrod called the “Dead Sea works” –
the factories that process and sell water, salt and mud from the
Dead Sea – are still drawing water.
“Water level in the Dead Sea is going down dramatically, and
it’s not just the water supply,” said Yael Dubowski, civil and
environmental engineering professor at Technion – Israel
Institute of Technology. “It’s also the fact that we have lots
of industry here both on the Israeli and the Jordanian side that
actually uses, evaporates the water… to get the minerals. So
there is an industry in the south that celebrates evaporation,
and you have less fresh water coming in, and this lake is
basically dying. The Dead Sea is dying.”
The solution, which has already received preliminary funding
from the World Bank, has been called the Red Sea-Dead Sea
project and will involve Israel and Jordan working together to
pipe water from the Red Sea, in Jordan, to the Dead Sea, which
is on the border between both countries.
“The advantage of this program is mostly because it’s along the
border between Israel and Jordan,” Weisbrod said. “Because it’s
going to help both Israel and Jordan, you can define it as
something that will help the environment and at the same time
will deepen the peace process and the agreement between the
countries.”
Adding water to the Dead Sea would be beneficial to both
countries, as well as hopefully help stop the formation of
sinkholes along the coastline. But the project is facing even
more pressure from Jordan than from Israel, Weisbrod said. This
is because the plan involves building a desalination plant at
the saline Red Sea, desalinating the water, and sending the
fresh water to Jordan and southern parts of Israel. The
twice-as-concentrated brine, the output from saltwater
desalination, will then be piped to the already-saline Dead Sea.
“The pressure from the Jordanian side is bigger than the
pressure from the Israeli side because Jordan really needs the
desalinated water that will be part of this thing,” Weisbrod
said. “The water situation in Jordan is really on a level of
catastrophe. There is running water in Amman, which is the
capital, only two, three days a week, and we’re talking about a
city with more than 1 million people.”
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While it seems like a beneficial plan on most counts,
significant environmental concerns must be addressed, Weisbrod
said. Scientists are not sure how the water from the two seas
will react, but their high concentrations of calcium and sulfate
could combine to create gypsum, which would float on the surface
of the Dead Sea. Another problem is that the pipeline will
likely run along the rift valley in Jordan, an area that is
prone to earthquakes.
“What happens if there will be an earthquake that will end up in
a leak of seawater into the aquifers?” Weisbrod said. That would
ruin the aquifers. “This is irreversible situation, and these
aquifers are being used for the villages along the Arava… In
general, some people say, ‘Look, the history show us that every
time we, you and me, people, try to control the environment and
change the world by doing such mega project, it ends up in a
disaster.’”
Funding has been secured, according to Dubowski, but not without
[img
width=40]
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/>width=40]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418201722.png[/img]<br
/>heavy debate. Some parties wanted Israel to bring water from t
he
Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River in the north 👍,
and let the Dead Sea be replenished more naturally 👍,
Dubowski said, which would also remove the political aspect of
the problem.
“Scientifically, I think it makes more sense to go for the
north, but you cannot separate between science and politics
also,” Dubowski said. “And with regard to political issues, it
makes more sense to choose this solution, so Jordan will have
its own desalination factory and have more control on it. It was
a very complex suggestion where you need to consider all aspects
– political, geographical, scientific ones.”
HTML https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/israels-sea-of-galilee-and-dead-sea-are-dying-what-is-being-done/
Agelbert additional observation: The Sea of Galilee was a HUGE
part of the Ministry of Jesus Christ while He walked among us.
Moreover, He appeared there AFTER His Resurrection, cooking a
fish on the beach.
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Christ_Appears_on_the_Shore_of_Lake_Tiberias_%28Apparition_du_Christ_sur_les_bords_du_lac_de_Tib%C3%A9riade%29_-_James_Tissot.jpg/440px-Brooklyn_Museum_-_Christ_Appears_on_the_Shore_of_Lake_Tiberias_%28Apparition_du_Christ_sur_les_bords_du_lac_de_Tib%C3%A9riade%29_-_James_Tissot.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]Jesus Christ appears on the shore of Lake Tiberias by
James Tissot[/center]
Maybe I am wrong, but I think Jesus Christ has a soft spot for
that lake. If the Sea of Galilee dries up, perhaps that is still
another sign that we are experiencing the End Times that the
Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about over two thousand years ago.
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[center][quote][font=times new roman]Happy is the man that
feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into
mischief. -- Proverbs 28:14 [/font][/quote][/center]
#Post#: 12790--------------------------------------------------
Over One-Tenth of Global Population Could Lack Drinking Water by
2030
By: Surly1 Date: July 4, 2019, 7:58 am
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Over One-Tenth of Global Population Could Lack Drinking Water by
2030
HTML https://truthout.org/articles/over-one-tenth-of-global-population-could-lack-drinking-water-by-2030/
[img
width=640]
HTML https://truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019_0701-drought-faucet.jpg[/img]
As civilization faces existential threats, Trump is trying to
end long-term climate studies. Meanwhile, the global water
crisis spurred by climate disruption continues to unfold
dramatically.
SAWITREE PAMEE / EYEEM
Dahr Jamail
[html]<p>Outside on my front porch, alder chip smoke billows out
of my small smoker. The racks inside the tin smoker are filled
with wild-caught Alaskan Coho salmon, provided to me by my
friend Jonathan. He and his wife take their three daughters in
their fishing boat and head north from our town on the north
coast of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula for the late
summer salmon runs in Southeastern Alaska. They return with a
hull full of frozen fish, for those of us here lucky enough to
have placed our orders for it.</p> <p>Several friends here
attached to the land where I live are also outside, busy doing
their own things: one is preparing his sailboat to launch in a
week, another is working in the garden, two others are pitching
a tent, another is out working his summer job with the
Washington Conservation Association, and still another is
reading and contemplating what she might write in the next
column we co-author for <em>Truthout</em>.</p> <p>It is
truly idyllic. A dream I’ve had for decades is finally
coming true: I’m living in a way that is close to the
Earth, which enables me to minimize my carbon footprint.
I’m growing much of my own food and living in community
with like-minded people.</p> <p>Yet all is taking place
against the backdrop of a global climate crisis. Runaway
human-caused climate disruption is already making life unlivable
for millions around the globe, and is an integral reason why we
are already in the Sixth Mass Extinction Event.</p> <p>Each
of us in this small community of ours is fully aware of the
crisis that is upon us. We understand we are living in a bubble,
in that we are able to grow much of our food, smoke this fish,
go for hikes, share healthy meals, and have enough water to do
all of this. Our conversations tend to run the gamut: ranging
from discussing the latest breakdowns of portions of our global
life support system, to when are we going to hang the bat house,
to where to put the clothesline, to what happens when the cities
run out of food, to when am I leaving for my next climbing
trip.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the news of the collapse continues
to roll in.</p> <p>A <a
href="
HTML https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11195">recent<br
/>study</a> published in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences showed that sea-level rise could be twice as bad as
previously expected, due to accelerated melting in the Antarctic
and Greenland. Instead of the previous worst-case scenario of 1
meter by 2100, the study has doubled that figure. Several
scientists this writer has interviewed believe the realistic
figure of sea level rise by 2100 will be even higher than this
recent study’s prediction.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/06/20/florida-could-face-76-billion-in-climate-change-costs-by-2040-report-says/">Another<br
/>report</a> showed how the state of Florida could be facing a $
76
billion bill to mitigate and adapt to climate crisis impacts by
just 2040, mostly from rising sea levels.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7006940"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">In some areas of China,
fruit trees have to be pollinated by hand due to lack of
pollinators.</aside> <p>To give you an idea of how far along
we already are in this crisis, in some areas of China, fruit
trees have to be <a
href="
HTML https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9107955/china-fruit-trees-pollinated-by-hand-due-to-a-lack-of-pollinating-insects/?fbclid=IwAR3cs24Uo7mNty0SF893oUeLbUEEahNF__bKKdSeGxz32P_3dhH8RjMzRIE">pollinated<br
/>by hand</a> due to lack of pollinators. Climate disruption is
a
major contributing factor toward the loss of insects around the
planet.</p> <p>The Arctic, our proverbial canary in the
climate coalmine, just saw its <a
href="
HTML https://thinkprogress.org/arctic-death-spiral-coastal-permafrost-collapse-23d650acea99/">hottest<br
/>May ever recorded</a>. Coastal erosion of permafrost is
happening at a rate of up to one meter every day, and the
current rate of coastal erosion is already six times higher than
the historical rate.</p> <p>In Siberia, carbon-laden
permafrost has <a
href="
HTML https://thinkprogress.org/dangerous-permafrost-climate-feedback-loop/">warmed<br
/>by 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6°F</a><span>)</span> in just
the last 10 years alone. This is an ominous sign, for as the
permafrost thaws it releases carbon and methane, making this one
of the most dangerous feedback loops in the climate crisis,
given that permafrost around the globe contains twice the amount
of carbon that is already in the atmosphere. In fact, it has now
been shown that the permafrost is <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/18/arctic-permafrost-canada-science-climate-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">thawing<br
/>70 years sooner</a> than previously
predicted.</p> <p>According to a <a
href="
HTML https://www.pnas.org/content/114/21/5361">2017
study</a>,
tundra in Alaska is already warming up so quickly that it has
become a net emitter of CO2 ahead of schedule — rather
than sequestering carbon, as it has historically done. Thawing
is occurring so rapidly in the Arctic now, <a
href="
HTML https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/11/americas/thermokarst-arctic-climate-change-intl-hnk/index.html">sinkholes</a><br
/>are becoming increasingly common across the
region.</p> <p>To make matters worse, Arctic sea-ice extent
for early June was at <a
href="
HTML http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2019/06/13/after-a-miserable-may-with-unusual-warmth-arctic-sea-ice-hits-a-record-low-for-early-june/#.XQ_d6NNKgdU">a<br
/>record low</a>, and the ice could be on track now for a record
melt year at the current trajectory.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7010496"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">Another well-researched
report has recently been released warning the end of human
civilization could be on the horizon if we don’t change
course.</aside> <p>Underscoring the severity of the crisis,
yet another <a
href="
HTML https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/papers">well-researched<br
/>report</a> has recently been released warning the end of human
civilization could be on the horizon if we don’t change
course. In the report, climate scientists predict 2050 as the
year we face complete climate catastrophe.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/climate-change-doomsday-report-predicts-end-of-human-civilisation/news-story/36765cb4eedc989f6ad860e6eee405cf">The<br
/>authors predict</a>, “More than a billion people may nee
d
to be relocated, and in high-end scenarios, the scale of
destruction is beyond our capacity to model, with a high
likelihood of human civilisation coming to an
end.”</p> <p>They<a
href="
HTML https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/climate-change-doomsday-report-predicts-end-of-human-civilisation/news-story/36765cb4eedc989f6ad860e6eee405cf"><br
/>found</a> that by 2050, total ecological collapse could bring
about huge social consequences like “increased religious
fervor to outright chaos.” The report warns that
catastrophic environmental disasters could result in widespread
pandemics, forced migrations from places that no longer support
humans, and the spread of war over diminished
resources.</p> <p>The <a
href="
HTML https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/papers">report<br
/>describes</a><span> one possible scenario, in which
</span>“planetary and human systems (reach) a ‘point
of no return’ by mid-century in which the prospect of a
largely uninhabitable Earth leads to the breakdown of nations
and the international order.”</p> <p>It would be an
error to think there is that much time before this kind of
breakdown. If you live on the delta in Bangladesh, or in
Paradise, California, or on the coastline of northern or western
Alaska, the crisis is already upon
you.</p> <h2>Earth</h2> <p>Extreme weather events fueled
by human-caused climate disruption are already severely
affecting food production, causing food price shocks in the U.S.
A <a
href="
HTML https://civileats.com/2019/05/30/climate-change-is-intensifying-food-shocks/">report</a><br
/>focusing on the recent flooding in the Midwest illustrated how
rain-sodden fields across the Corn Belt, along with massive
numbers of drowned livestock, are contributing factors. This
issue is only set to deepen.</p> <p>Meanwhile, despite the
fact that human-caused climate disruption is, in many ways, a
geoengineering experiment gone badly, ongoing discussion within
the scientific community of using geoengineering to completely
solve it continues to escalate.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7012515"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">Extreme weather events
fueled by human-caused climate disruption are already severely
affecting food production, causing food price shocks in the
U.S.</aside> <p>Despite the clear dangers of unforeseen
consequences, generating conflict between nations, and the
immorality inherent in the idea of attempting to control parts
of the biosphere, some scientists are <a
href="
HTML https://e360.yale.edu/features/geoengineer-the-planet-more-scientists-now-say-it-must-be-an-option">proposing<br
/>strategies</a> like spraying aerosols of sulphate particles in
to
the stratosphere and using tall ships to pump salt particles
from the ocean into polar clouds to brighten them in order to
attempt to refreeze warming parts of the polar
regions.</p> <p>Meanwhile, experts from 27 different
national science academies released a <a
href="
HTML https://easac.eu/publications/details/the-imperative-of-climate-action-to-protect-human-health-in-europe/">report</a><br
/>showing how climate disruption is already negatively impacting
people’s health via heatwaves and floods, but also
indirectly by things like the spreading of mosquito-borne
diseases and deleterious mental health
impacts.</p> <p>“There are impacts occurring now
[and], over the coming century, climate change has to be
ranked as one of the most serious threats to health,”
Andrew Haines, a co-chair of the report for the European
Academies’ Science Advisory Council <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/03/climate-crisis-seriously-damaging-human-health-report-finds">told<br
/><em>The Guardian</em></a>.</p> <h2>Water</h2> <p>The
endangered North Atlantic Right Whale’s already scant
population is declining, and this decline has been linked
directly to oceanic warming, which is of course, being caused by
climate disruption, according to a <a
href="
HTML https://tos.org/oceanography/assets/docs/32-2_record.pdf">recent<br
/>report</a>. Warming oceans have caused the whales’ food
supply to shift locations, causing them to have to travel
farther to find it, along with moving them into areas closer to
shipping lanes which are dangerous for
them.</p> <p>Meanwhile, dozens of grey whales have been
found dead and washing up onto beaches up and down the west
coast, from California to well up into Canada, causing U.S.
scientists to <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/01/us-scientists-to-investigate-spike-in-deaths-of-gray-whales?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">launch<br
/>an investigation</a> into the unusually high mortality event.
Scientists believe the number found dead is but a fraction of
the actual number, since most of the dead whales will not wash
ashore.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7014497"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">Hundreds of
“severely emaciated” dead puffins have washed ashore
at St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs of Alaska, believed to have
starved to death from the warming
waters.</aside> <p>“Many of the whales have been
skinny and malnourished, and that suggests they may not have
gotten enough to eat during their last feeding season in the
Arctic,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) spokesman Michael Milstein <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/01/us-scientists-to-investigate-spike-in-deaths-of-gray-whales?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">told<br
/>reporters</a> of the mortality event.</p> <p>Also, hundred
s
of “severely emaciated” dead puffins have washed
ashore at St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs of Alaska, believed
to have starved to death from the warming waters they forage
from having <a
href="
HTML https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204764-hundreds-of-puffins-are-starving-to-death-because-of-climate-change/">less<br
/>food available for them to eat</a>. Estimates of the total
number of dead puffins range from 3,000 to 9,000.</p> <p>A
stunning <a
href="
HTML https://www.apnews.com/fe2276572a3a4a2f9eb36d27ef401d22">study</a><br
/>published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc
es
showed that warming oceans will likely reduce the oceanic
content of fish and other marine life by one-sixth by the end of
this century. The study warned that for every 1 degree Celsius
(1°C) warming of the world’s oceans, the total mass of
sea animals is projected to drop by five
percent.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the global water crisis spurred
by climate disruption continues to unfold dramatically. A
recent<a
href="
HTML https://packages.trust.org/running-dry/index.html"><br
/>report</a> warned that by 2030, half of the entire population
of
India (roughly 700 million people, or to put another way, one
tenth of the entire population of the globe), may lack adequate
drinking water. (This is, of course, in addition to all the
other places in which drinking water supplies will be
inadequate.) The same<a
href="
HTML https://packages.trust.org/running-dry/index.html"><br
/>report</a> warned that the cities of Bangalore and New Delhi
could run out of useable groundwater by as early as
2020.</p> <p>India’s sixth biggest city, Chennai, is
already dealing with massive water shortages as that
city’s four reservoirs <a
href="
HTML https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48703464">recently<br
/>ran dry</a>. People are fighting while lining up for water. Ma
ny
are unable to take showers, and hotels are warning people about
water shortages. Most of that city’s population of 4
million are already relying solely on government tankers for
their water.</p> <p>Back in the U.S., southeastern Alaska,
normally a rain-soaked temperate rainforest, is experiencing its
<a
href="
HTML https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/ak-extreme-drought-1.5151341">first<br
/>ever recorded extreme drought</a>. This is normally the wettes
t
region of the state of Alaska.</p> <p>Things aren’t
any better underwater. <a
href="
HTML https://www.sciencenews.org/article/southern-ocean-antarctica-absorbs-less-carbon-expected">A<br
/>stark report</a> has shown that the Southern Ocean of Earth
could be less of a “carbon sink” than previously
thought. In fact, it could well already be belching more CO2
into the atmosphere than it is absorbing.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7016301"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">The Welsh village of
Fairbourne is on track to become the first village in Britain to
be abandoned to sea level rise, as the entire population will
have to be relocated.</aside> <p>Furthermore, climate
disruption is altering the composition of the world’s
plankton communities, according to <a
href="
HTML https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1230-3">another<br
/>study</a>. “Large and globally consistent shifts have be
en
detected in species phenology, range extension and community
composition in marine ecosystems,” <a
href="
HTML https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1230-3">reads<br
/>the abstract</a> of the study. It is worth remembering that
plankton provides a large percentage of the oxygen on the
planet, with scientists estimating they provide between 50-85
percent of the oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere. There has
been a <a
href="
HTML https://psmag.com/environment/global-warming-is-putting-phytoplankton-in-danger">40<br
/>percent decline</a> in phytoplankton since just
1950.</p> <p>Melting ice and thermal expansion of warming
waters are the two leading contributors to sea level rise, and
they are continuing apace.</p> <p>The Welsh village of
Fairbourne is on track to become the <a
href="
HTML https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/village-set-dismantled-due-climate-16204213">first<br
/>village in Britain to be abandoned</a> to sea level rise, as t
he
entire population will have to be relocated. Like others that
will be abandoned, the resettlement plan for the refugees
remains unclear.</p> <p>The residents of Fairbourne are far
from alone. Thousands of communities along the coasts of the
globe will have to be abandoned as seas continue to rise. In the
U.S., communities in which at <a
href="
HTML https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/18/climate-change-american-cities-that-will-soon-be-under-water/39533119/">least<br
/>21 percent of homes will be at risk</a> of chronic flooding by
2060 include Miami Beach and Key West in Florida, Hoboken and
Atlantic City in New Jersey, Galveston, Texas, and Hilton Head
Island, South Carolina.</p> <p>Meanwhile, major climate
disruption impacts have <a
href="
HTML https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a27611439/american-farmers-climate-change-effects/">devastated<br
/>Midwestern farmers</a>, who in many places weren’t even
able to plant their spring crops. And the question is not
whether this kind of devastation will occur again, but when and
how often. Croplands across that region were <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/03/so-much-land-under-so-much-water-extreme-flooding-is-drowning-parts-of-the-midwest">literally<br
/>drowned</a> by weeks of relentless rains over the
spring.</p> <p>This trend continued into May, as the U.S.
officially had its second wettest May ever recorded, <a
href="
HTML https://www.noaa.gov/news/rain-soaked-us-had-its-2nd-wettest-month-on-record-in-may">according<br
/>to NOAA</a>.</p> <p>The same has been true in Canada, wher
e
<a
href="
HTML https://thenarwhal.ca/back-to-back-historic-floods-in-atlantic-canada-force-a-climate-reckoning/">once-in-a-century<br
/>floods have happened two years in a row</a><span>,</span>
deluging communities across Atlantic Canada and forcing
residents to make a stark choice: rebuild or
relocate.</p> <h2>Fire</h2> <p>The American West is <a
href="
HTML https://www.outsideonline.com/2397137/wildfire-smoke-health-risks">set<br
/>to experience chronic summer wildfire smoke</a>from megafires,
according to a recent report. Nevertheless, most of the region
has done next to nothing to prepare for what is seen to be a
massive and ongoing threat to human health from respiratory
issues.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7018088"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">The Trump administration
recently carried out one of its most overt attacks on climate
science to date.</aside> <p>This isn’t relegated only
to the west. Minnesota, as far away as it is from the source of
the smoke, is also <a
href="
HTML https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/06/05/climate-change-is-making-minnesotas-skies-smoky-this-summer">already<br
/>experiencing a dramatic increase</a> in smoke because of the
wildfires besetting the Canadian Rockies and the Western
U.S.</p> <p>Underscoring both of these situations is an
analysis generated by <a
href="
HTML https://medialibrary.climatecentral.org/extreme-weather-toolkits/wildfires">Climate<br
/>Central</a> that shows how the afflicted region’s wildfi
re
season is currently 105 days longer than it was in the 1970s,
and is burning six times the area of acreage. The region also
has three times more fires over 1,000 acres in size than it did
in the 1970s.</p> <h2>Air</h2> <p>Temperatures in the
Arctic Circle in Alaska were <a
href="
HTML https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/feeling-the-heat-in-winter/">22°C<br
/>above normal</a> in some places in March. This is critical for
multiple reasons, particularly due to the fact that in the
Arctic, ice functions as part of the infrastructure across that
region given how roads, homes, buildings, and other structures
are built atop the permafrost, and subsistence hunting is a way
of life for many Inuit people. If current trends continue, that
way of life is, devastatingly, on the way out.</p> <p>A heat
wave in Japan during May <a
href="
HTML https://weather.com/news/news/2019-05-27-japan-heatwave-kills-hospitalizes?fbclid=IwAR3Em7nOndKxR2j8lhOhj6O54M4XUWluD59QcKqStJ0rV3MXOuDLBr105hw">killed<br
/>five people</a> and hospitalized another 600 people suffering
from symptoms of heatstroke. Then in mid-June, a major heat wave
in India <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/india-heatwave-rain-brings-respite-for-some-but-death-toll-rises">killed<br
/>dozens of people</a> as temperatures reached 120°F across
vast swaths of the country. In one area alone, 49 people died in
just a 24-hour period. It’s worth noting that 11 of the 15
warmest years on record in India have taken place after
2004.</p> <p>In the U.S., a <a
href="
HTML https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/11/heat-wave-western-us-bakes-temperatures-soar-120-degrees/1419639001/">heat<br
/>wave in June</a> across the west saw temperatures reach
120°F, as record highs were seen across the
region.</p> <h2>Denial and Reality</h2> <p>Meanwhile,
the lengths the Trump administration is going to in order to
placate its fossil-fueled backers continue to
astound.</p> <p>The Trump administration recently carried
out one of its most overt attacks on climate science to date
when it attempted to prevent an employee of the State Department
from testifying about the climate crisis, according to <em><a
href="
HTML https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/politics/trump-climate-science.html">The<br
/>New York Times</a></em>. Intelligence analyst Rod Schoonover h
ad
submitted his testimony to the White House for approval before
he appeared in front of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence to share his remarks covering the security risks
posed to the U.S. by the climate crisis. But as <em>The
Washington Post</em><a
href="
HTML https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/08/white-house-blocked-intelligence-aides-written-testimony-saying-human-caused-climate-change-could-be-possibly-catastrophic/?utm_term=.cb0eeebdc5d9">reported</a><span>,</span><br
/>the Trump administration refused to approve his testimony for
entry into the congressional record, stating that his analysis
did not align with the views of the executive
branch.</p> <p>Additionally, Trump’s Energy Department
rebranded U.S. gas exports as “<a
href="
HTML https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48454674">molecules<br
/>of freedom</a>.”</p> <p>Back in the world of reality
,
in May, a <a
href="
HTML https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/24/headlines/record_number_of_students_walk_out_of_classes_in_global_strike_for_the_climate">record<br
/>number of students</a> across the world walked out of their
classes amid a global strike to bring attention to the climate
crisis.</p> <p>This is a good thing, as recent data shows no
signs of the climate crisis slowing down. In fact, it is only
accelerating, as atmospheric CO2 content has increased by its <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/04/latest-data-shows-steep-rises-in-co2-for-seventh-year">second<br
/>highest annual rise</a> in the last 60 years. That makes this
the seventh year in a row of steep increases of CO2 content in
the already overburdened atmosphere.</p> <p>NOAA also
recently reported that this year is on track to become <a
href="
HTML https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2019-06-18-may-2019-global-temperatures-nasa-noaa">the<br
/>third warmest ever-recorded</a> in 140 years of temperature
records.</p> <p>The signs of collapse of industrial
civilization are all around us. We must pay attention, and
prepare ourselves for living in the world that the disrupted
climate has brought upon us.</p> <p>For myself and my
community, this means connecting more deeply to the Earth, to
build psychological, social, spiritual and physical resiliency,
in addition to taking as good care as we are able of the land
that is caring for us. In this way, we are working to model on a
micro scale what might be done on the macro, even in the midst
of this era of great
loss.</p> <div> <div> <div><a
href="
HTML https://truthout.org/authors/dahr-jamail/"<br
/>itemprop="url"><span itemprop="name">Dahr
Jamail</span></a></div> <div
itemprop="description"> <p>Dahr Jamail, a <em>Truthout</em>
staff reporter, is the author of <i><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/End-Ice-Bearing-Witness-Disruption-ebook/dp/B079G4NJVD">The<br
/>End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of
Climate Disruption</a></i> (The New Press, 2019), <em><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1608460959?ie=UTF8&tag=dahjamsmiddis-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1608460959"<br
/>rel="noopener">The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Figh
t
in Iraq and Afghanistan</a></em>(Haymarket Books, 2009), and
<em><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931859612?ie=UTF8&tag=dahjamsmiddis-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1931859612"<br
/>rel="noopener">Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an
Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq</a></em>(Haymarket Books,
2007). Jamail reported from Iraq for more than a year, as well
as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last 10
years, and has won the Izzy Award and the Martha Gellhorn Award
for Investigative Journalism, among other awards. His third
book, <em><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/Mass-Destruction-Iraq-Disintegration-Responsible-ebook/dp/B00ML3KAN6"<br
/>rel="noopener">The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is
Happening, and Who Is Responsible</a></em>, co-written with <a
href="
HTML https://truthout.org/news/item/24170-from-the-desk-of-william-rivers-pitt"<br
/>rel="noopener">William Rivers Pitt</a>, is available now on
Amazon. He lives and works in Washington
State.</p> </div> </div> </div> </aside>[/html]
#Post#: 12792--------------------------------------------------
The global water crisis spurred by climate disruption continues
to unfold dramatically
By: AGelbert Date: July 5, 2019, 12:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Surly1 link=topic=293.msg12790#msg12790
date=1562245085]
[center]Over One-Tenth of Global Population Could Lack Drinking
Water by 2030
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/the-lowest-elevation-fresh-water-lake-in-the-world-the-sea-of-galilee-is-drying-/msg12790/#msg12790[/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019_0701-drought-faucet.jpg[/img][/center]
As civilization faces existential threats, Trump is trying to
end long-term climate studies. Meanwhile, the global water
crisis spurred by climate disruption continues to unfold
dramatically. SAWITREE PAMEE / EYEEM
By Dahr Jamail 👍 [/quote]
True. Dahr Jamail is an honest journalist who has an in-depth
knowledge of the length and breadth of Catastrophic Climate
Change. Thank you for posting this article.
Most people do not get the fact that lack of potable water will
kill human civilization long before the heat does. I hope that
Dahr Jamail's warnings are heeded, but that hope may be overly
optimistic, considering the fascist intertia prevalent in world
politics at present. [img
width=30]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-310119164317.gif[/img]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/3398_Bottom%20Line%20Waking%20the%20climate%20giant.png[/img][/center]
#Post#: 13361--------------------------------------------------
The Water Thread
By: Surly1 Date: August 24, 2019, 6:20 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Sydney's water supply falling at fastest rate on record due to
drought
HTML https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-australia-drought/sydneys-water-supply-falling-at-fastest-rate-on-record-due-to-drought-idUKKCN1V60FP?utm_source=reddit.com
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia’s biggest city Sydney is running
down its water supply at the fastest rate on record with dams
expected to fall below half maximum capacity due to the worst
drought on record, the government said on Friday.
Warragamba Dam, the city’s main water supply, was sitting at
51.4% capacity, down 17.8% in a year and little more than half
its level just two years earlier. The amount of water flowing
into the dam was just 10% of what it was a year ago, according
to the New South Wales (NSW) state regulator WaterNSW.
The total water level in Sydney’s 11 dams was 50.1%, forcing
authorities to introduced water restrictions in recent months.
“We have never seen these kind of inflows,” said NSW Minister
for Water, Property and Housing Melinda Pavey.
“Catchments that have been historically reliable ... are now
facing a critical shortage of water,” she added.
At the current rate of decline, discounting rainfall, Sydney
dams would only have enough water reserves for another two
years, according to figures provided by WaterNSW.
Pavey said “major (inland) cities ... run the risk of running
out of fresh water in the next 12 months”. “That is the stark
reality for our regional communities,” she added.
Sydney has resorted to water-saving methods in recent months
including enforced water restrictions, which limit the amount of
water people are allowed to use outdoors.
In March, Sydney’s desalination plant started working at full
capacity to process sea water, with the aim to lift the city’s
water reserves to 70%. The state government said this week it
plans to expand the plant.
In April, researcher Kantar Public surveyed 1,000 Sydney
residents and found that despite the dry conditions and
declining water supply, 47% of people did not realize there was
a drought.
Reporting by Mell Chun; Editing by Byron Kaye and Michael Perry
#Post#: 13364--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Water Thread
By: Surly1 Date: August 24, 2019, 6:54 am
---------------------------------------------------------
We'd Better Retreat from the Coasts While We Still Can,
Scientists Urge Amid Climate Crisis
HTML https://www.livescience.com/we-should-retreat-from-coastal-cities-now.html
Do it now or do it later, with much, much worse outcomes.
By Brandon Specktor
[img
width=640]
HTML https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zwXkWdTPMdWqD6aCVQxVPa-1024-80.jpg[/img]
Flooded streets after Hurricane Sandy show the damage that can
occur in vulnerable coastal areas. We should plan for the
inevitable and strategically retreat from such vulnerable
coastal communities now, scientists argue in a new paper.
(Image: © jonathansloane/Getty)
[html]<p>As many as <a
href="
HTML https://www.livescience.com/65633-climate-change-dooms-humans-by-2050.html"<br
/>data-track-type="click" data-index="1" data-component="Inline
links" data-count="10">1 billion people</a> are expected to be
forced out of their homes by the droughts, floods, fires and
famines associated with runaway climate change over the next 30
years — and they all have to go somewhere. This massive
global exodus can go one of two ways: either it will be a
chaotic mess that <a
href="
HTML https://www.livescience.com/65797-climate-apartheid-un-report.html"<br
/>data-track-type="click" data-index="2" data-component="Inline
links" data-count="10">punishes the world's poor</a>, or it can
be a path to a fairer, more sustainable world.</p> <p>In a
new policy paper, published today (Aug. 22) in the journal <a
href="
HTML https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6455/761"<br
/>data-track-type="click" data-index="3" data-component="Inline
links" data-count="10" class="hawk-link-parsed">Science</a>, a
trio of environmental scientists argue that the only way to
avoid the first scenario is to start planning now for the
inevitable "retreat" from coastal cities. </p> <p>"Faced
with <a href="
HTML https://www.livescience.com/topics/climate-change"<br
/>data-track-type="click" data-index="4" data-component="Inline
links" data-count="10">global warming</a>, rising sea levels,
and the climate-related extremes they intensify, the question is
no longer whether some communities will retreat — moving
people and assets out of harm’s way — but why,
where, when, and how they will retreat," the authors of the
paper wrote.</p> <p>Rather than dealing with these forced
migrations on a reactive, disaster-by-disaster basis (as many
emergency evacuations do now), the researchers propose taking a
"managed and strategic" approach to the problem, setting up
policies and infrastructure now to help <a
href="
HTML https://www.livescience.com/54042-climate-change-could-force-coastal-retreat.html"<br
/>data-track-type="click" data-index="5" data-component="Inline
links" data-count="10">climate refugees</a> transition into new
homes and out of harm's way as soon as possible.</p> <p>The
steps to accomplish this task range from the commonsense —
for example, limiting property development in at-risk areas
(like coastal cities) and instead investing in creating
affordable housing in safer inland communities — to the
incredibly complex. For instance, the authors want to build
infrastructure that maintains the cultural heritage of
marginalized communities that wind up having to leave ancestral
homes.</p> <p>"Retreat may exacerbate historic wrongs if it
relocates or destroys historically marginalized communities,"
the researchers wrote. "Conversations around who should pay for
retreat will almost certainly need to address reasons why
certain communities find themselves at risk."
</p> <p>Indeed, the researchers wrote, retreat could be an
opportunity to revitalize communities and redistribute wealth in
a more sustainable way. For example, it could be a chance to end
real estate practices that incentivize living in at-risk areas.
Retreat could also be a chance to subsidize new schools,
hospitals and affordable housing in safer inland regions instead
of making belated improvements to at-risk areas, like building
<a
href="
HTML https://ny.curbed.com/2019/4/25/18515213/staten-island-usace-seawall-climate-change-photo-essay"<br
/>data-track-type="click" data-index="6" data-component="Inline
links" data-count="10" class="hawk-link-parsed">expensive new
sea walls</a> to shield communities that have already been
battered by severe storms and abandoned before.</p> <p>"One
proposal for Bangladesh suggests investing in a dozen cities to
provide infrastructure along with educational and employment
opportunities to draw successive generations of people away from
low-lying coasts," the authors wrote. "Retreat is not a goal in
and of itself, but a means of contributing to societal
goals."</p> <p>While widespread evacuation of climate-prone
communities may not occur for a decade or more, the only way to
prepare for this unprecedented global challenge is to start
planning now. Leaving home is never easy — however, with
enough research, investment and strategic thinking, it doesn't
need to be a disaster.</p>[/html]
#Post#: 13365--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Water Thread
By: AGelbert Date: August 24, 2019, 4:00 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
BY Jasmine Banks & Samantha Parsons, Truthout
PUBLISHED August 24, 2019
[center]🦖 David Koch Is Dead. We Must Now Take On His
Harmful 🙉🙊 Legacy in Higher Education.[/center]
JASMINE BANKS & SAMANTHA PARSONS, TRUTHOUT
As David Koch's family mourns his loss, we are taking a moment
to pause and grieve, too. We grieve for the families who lost
loved ones due to limited health care access. We grieve for the
Black communities living alongside waterways polluted by Koch's
chemical plants. We grieve for the Indigenous nations whose
lands were used to build Koch's industrial wealth. We grieve the
destruction of democratic values through Koch's investments in
higher education.
Read the Article →
HTML https://truthout.org/articles/david-koch-is-dead-we-must-now-take-on-his-harmful-legacy-in-higher-education/
#Post#: 13367--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Water Thread
By: Surly1 Date: August 24, 2019, 5:17 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://pics.me.me/after-life-of-incalculable-harm-billionaire-climate-denialist-and-right-wing-61822351.png
#Post#: 13371--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Water Thread
By: AGelbert Date: August 24, 2019, 6:15 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Surly1 link=topic=303.msg13367#msg13367
date=1566685024]
HTML https://pics.me.me/after-life-of-incalculable-harm-billionaire-climate-denialist-and-right-wing-61822351.png
[/quote]
[img
width=30]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-210818180844.png[/img]
#Post#: 13459--------------------------------------------------
Rising sea levels and catastrophic storm surges could displace 2
80m people
By: Surly1 Date: August 30, 2019, 6:20 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Climate crisis: Rising sea levels and catastrophic storm surges
could displace 280m people, UN warns
HTML https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-crisis-sea-level-rise-un-ipcc-report-global-warming-a9083891.html?utm_source=reddit.com
IPCC draft report is fourth to call for radical action to tackle
environmental disaster
[img
width=640]
HTML https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2019/08/04/14/greenland-melting-ice.jpg?w968[/img]
The damage caused by catastrophic “superstorms” combined with
rising sea levels could increase by a hundred-fold or more,
displacing hundreds of millions of people from coastlines around
the world unless more is done to limit greenhouse gas emissions,
according to a draft report by the United Nations.
According to French news agency AFP, which said it had obtained
a copy of the report, the document outlines a grim scenario in
which the warming oceans are “poised to unleash misery on a
global scale”, with declining fish stocks, the melting of sea
ice and glaciers, and increasing levels of human displacement.
Unless there are serious cuts to man-made greenhouse gas
emissions, at least 30 per cent of the northern hemisphere’s
surface permafrost could melt within just 80 years, the report
warns.
his melt would unleash billions of tonnes of carbon stored in
what are currently permafrost areas, which will accelerate rates
of global warming even more.
The upshot would be warming seas and rising coastlines, which
could immediately threaten 280 million people, the document
says.
The findings come from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) and is a “special report” on oceans and
the Earth’s frozen zones, known as the cryosphere.
It is the fourth report in the last year to be published by the
organisation examining the impacts of the unfolding climate
crisis, with the other three examining issues including declines
in biodiversity, forest management and food, and how the effects
of a 1.5C increase in average global temperatures since
pre-industrialisation will be felt.
All of the reports warn major change is required to avert
disaster.
The warning comes as MPs and scientists have warned the UK is
already on track to miss its environmental goals, including a
government pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Last week a report from the Science and Technology Select
Committee said efforts to reduce emissions have been undermined
by “unacceptable” cutbacks and delays, meaning we face “dire
consequences”.
And on Thursday, the government’s chief environment scientist
said the UK cannot hit its net zero emissions goal while
ministers are fixed on economic growth as measured by GDP.
Globally, many countries are also dragging their heels on
putting policy in place to tackle emissions.
The US – the second biggest contributor of CO2 – is exiting the
Paris agreement on climate change, under Donald Trump’s
leadership.
China – the world’s biggest polluter – is making strong progress
in renewable technologies, but has relaxed air pollution
controls and coal use is creeping upwards.
In India, an enormous drive to open coal power plants is
underway, though the country is also increasingly relying on
solar-generated electricity.
And in the EU, progress towards a mid-century net zero goal is
slow due to some member states’ reluctance to vote for policies
legally requiring them to reduce emissions.
The Paris agreement called on all countries to work to ensure
average global temperature rises remain “well below” 2C warmer
than the world was before the industrial revolution.
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Centre at
Pennsylvania State University told AFP one of the key problems
was the idea humanity can overcome any problems resulting from
sea-level rises.
“There is a pervasive thread in the US right now, promoted by
techno-optimists who think we can engineer our way out of this
problem,” he said.
“But the US is not ready for a metre of sea level rise by 2100.
“Just look at what happened in the wake of superstorm Sandy,
Katrina, in Houston, or Puerto Rico.”
The IPCC’s Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a
Changing Climate is due to be published on 25 September.
The Independent has contacted the IPCC for comment.
#Post#: 13463--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Water Thread
By: AGelbert Date: August 30, 2019, 2:00 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Surly1 link=topic=303.msg13459#msg13459
date=1567164035]
[center]Climate crisis: Rising sea levels and catastrophic storm
surges could displace 280m people, UN warns
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/the-water-thread/msg13459/#msg13459[/center]
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Centre at
Pennsylvania State University told AFP one of the key problems
was the idea humanity can overcome any problems resulting from
sea-level rises.
“[b]There is a pervasive thread in the US right now, promoted by
techno-optimists who think we can engineer our way out of this
problem,” he said.
“But the US is not ready for a metre of sea level rise by 2100.
[/quote]
Yep. IOW, it will get 🌊 Catastrophically Worse, (long
before 2100) no matter what the techno-fix wishful thinkers come
up with.
[center][img
width=350]
HTML https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1780/632/original.jpg[/img][/center]
No ethics = no solution, PERIOD.
[center][img width=640
height=330]
HTML https://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-080814213147.png[/img][/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-200719225841.jpeg[/img][/center]
This Robert Jensen 👍 interview from over a year ago sums
up our ☠️ situation accuratetly:
[center]Robert Jensen "The News Is Bad, And It's Getting
Dramatically Worse Faster Than We Thought"[/center]
5,577 views
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/NzaTTlMbq_E[/center]
Collapse Chronicles
Published on May 15, 2018
Category People & Blogs
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