December 2018 – No Fricking Fracking

Consider the Lobstermen: Climate Change Threatens Connecticut Lobsters

This article discusses how climate change is affecting lobster fishing in Connecticut.

Small towns cluster along the northern edge of Long Island Sound. Coastal marshes and inlets lie beside brightly painted homes, lighthouses, and piers. On a Sunday afternoon in Guilford, Connecticut, steeples and boat masts jut out near the water’s edge; faint bells ring and birds caw in the distance. But the quiet here belies the seismic changes happening just a few miles from the shore.

For Connecticut’s lobstermen, Long Island Sound has transformed into an aquatic desert over the past 20 years. The estuary’s lobster population has hit historically low levels and continues to decline precipitously. In the 1990s, fishermen hauled hundreds of pounds of lobster to Guilford and other Connecticut towns every day. Long Island Sound fisheries brought in 3.7 million pounds of lobster in 1998; in 2015, they yielded just 200,000.

The Next Climate Frontier: Predicting a Complex Domino Effect

This article discusses the next climate frontier – predicting a complex domino effect of climate change. Motivated by events like Hurricane Harvey, researchers are trying to determine how climate change interacts with agriculture, energy, transportation and other human systems.

When Hurricane Harvey’s record-busting rains drenched Texas in August 2017, they triggered a cascade of chaos. Widespread flooding turned roads into rivers, impeding evacuations and access to emergency services. Stormwater swept up pathogens from wastewater treatment plants and toxins from Superfund sites, posing health threats. Phone and internet services failed in some areas, and 300,000 people in Texas lost power. Harvey also temporarily shut down a quarter of U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, raising gas prices.

Such scenarios—climatic events causing impacts that can themselves trigger still more chains of effects, like intersecting rows of toppling dominoes—are a key focus of the fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA), released by the U.S. federal government at the end of November. For the first time, the 300 government, academic and nonprofit experts who contribute to the report devoted an entire chapter to the under-studied but critical interaction between climate change and what are called complex systems.

Researchers rejoice as construction starts of offshore Arctic station

This article discusses the start of construction of an offshore Arctic station. The new installation will be crucial for our studies of the rapid ongoing changes in the region, Russian Arctic research leaders say. The “North Pole” research station will be able to autonomously drift through Arctic waters for period of up to two years at a time.

There was pride and celebration among the people who on 20th December assembled at the Admiralty Yard in St.Petersburg to mark the official start of construction of the «North Pole» station. The 84 meter long, 22,5 meter wide platform will be the world’s first research station permanently based in high Arctic waters.

It is to be completed in year 2020, and the cutting of metal for the hull officially started on December 21st, Roshydromet informs.

«The cutting of the metal marks the start of the construction of a unique, comfortable and reliable drifting station that undoubtably will open en new page in our national polar history,» said Natalia Radkova, Deputy Director of state meteorological institute Roshydromet.

The station that has got the name «North Pole». It has a deadweight of 10,390 tons and an engine that enables it to move through light ice with a 10 knots speed.

The installation will have permanently have onboard a Mi-8 helicopter.

For periods of up to two years at a time, the «North Pole» will be drifting autonomously across the Arctic with a crew of 14 and teams of up to 34 researchers.

2018: A Tipping Point for Climate Change

This article discusses whether 2018 is a tipping point for climate change.

Did the world wake up to climate change in 2018? Or are we falling deeper into ignorance about the environmental changes happening all around us?

The increasingly severe effects of the rise in global temperature are being felt everywhere on the planet through extreme weather events and natural disasters, serving as a wake-up call to the impacts of climate change… for those who are willing to listen. Scientific studies have demonstrated that we are poised on the cusp of worldwide disaster, and the global community is becoming increasingly aware of the impending crisis. Many are demanding action; the world’s nations and innovators are exploring new technologies for sustainable energy production to prevent a global catastrophe.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body dedicated to providing an objective view on climate change, 2018 is a tipping point for the global environment. In 2018, we needed a pivotal year for climate action.

Six Times the Environment Won in 2018

This article discusses some good climate news in 2018.

By all accounts, 2018 had its share of big environmental bummers. Scientists calmly explained that our current rate of warming will cause geological changes akin to a meteor striking the Earth. Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt spent thousands of taxpayers dollars on coins, flights, and security booths while overturning and weakening important rules that protected us from dirty air and contaminated water. Brazil got a new president who plans to open up the Amazon for logging. And the United States showed up to a global summit on climate change repping fossil fuels.

Climate hawks won the House of Representatives and are proposing actually trying to stop climate change.
Cities said ‘I do’ to clean energy, joining the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign.
Climate advocates began to sue fossil fuel companies for the damages they have caused.
Carbon taxes and other clean energy initiatives surfaced.
Big Oil’s lost a lot of pipeline battles in court.
Many more organizations promised to divest from fossil fuel companies.

Under current policies, residential batteries increase emissions in most cases

This article discusses how, under current policies, residential batteries increase emissions in most cases. Optimizing battery use to minimize emissions is possible, but generally overly expensive.

Another year, another reason to take the promises of residential home batteries with a grain of salt.

This month, a group of researchers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) published a paper in Environmental Science and Technology reporting that there are very few cases in which operating a residential home battery reduces overall emissions—assuming that households are economically rational and trying to minimize costs.

Of course, if the battery is only discharged during periods of peak emissions and only charged when fossil fuel use is low, then a household might reduce emissions. But across 16 representative regions, operating a battery this way ended up being costly.

The results are similar to those published in Nature Energy in the beginning of 2017, although that study looked at a narrower region (99 homes in Texas) and modeled different battery software configurations.

Report: Huge costs of warming impacts in 2018 from climate change

This article discusses the huge costs of warming impacts in 2018 from climate change.

Extreme weather events linked to climate change cost thousands of lives and caused huge damage throughout the world in 2018, say Christian Aid.

The charity’s report identified ten events that cost more than $1bn each, with four costing more than $7bn each.

Scientists have shown that the chances of heat waves in Europe were influenced directly by human-related warming.

Other events, say the authors, are due to shifts in weather patterns, said to be a consequence of climate change.

Report: 80% of mountain glaciers in Alberta, B.C. and Yukon will disappear within 50 years

This article discusses how 80% of mountain glaciers in Alberta, B.C. and Yukon will disappear within 50 years. Combination of less snow and rapid melt causing glaciers to recede at dramatic rate, researchers say.

Climate change is causing glaciers in Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon to retreat faster than at any time in history, threatening to raise water levels and create deserts, scientists say.

David Hik, an ecology professor at Simon Fraser University, said the region is one of the hotspots for warming and the magnitude of change in the glaciers is dramatic.

ER visits for asthma attacks surging for KC kids. Could climate change play a role?

This article discusses children’s health and climate change. ER visits for asthma attacks surging for KC kids. Could climate change play a role?

Data collected by Archer’s agency showed asthma-related pediatric emergency room visits trending up from 2006 to 2015, with children of color disproportionately affected.

From 2006 to 2009, Kansas City kids never had more than 1,653 emergency room visits due to asthma. In 2010 that number spiked to 1,988 and has stayed at 1,871 or above ever since. From 2012 through 2015, it was above 2,000 visits every year but one.

The health department doesn’t yet know why, but it has some theories:

▪ Climate change is creating more ozone alert days and longer allergy seasons, both of which may be triggers for asthma attacks.

Study: Industry-hired experts downplay impacts of major projects

This article discusses how industry-hired experts downplay the impacts of major projects. A review of 10 recent environmental impact assessments in B.C. found professionals hired by companies generally find ways to diminish the significance of health and environmental impacts.

When experts, such as engineers and geoscientists, submit reports on a project to B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office, the generally accepted idea is that their information will reflect environmental standards and identify problems, allowing a project design to be changed or rejected if necessary.

But, that is not what happens in B.C. according to a study by University of British Columbia researchers that looked at 10 recent environmental impact assessments.