Month: December 2020

Climate change is devastating Central American coffee farms — and spurring migration

San Diego Union-Tribune discusses Climate change is devastating Central American coffee farms — and spurring migration. U.S. immigration laws aren’t equipped to grapple with people fleeing the effects of climate change.

Coffee is one of the many industries around the world feeling the pressures of climate change.

And, as people lose their livelihoods, access to food or even their homes, climate change is becoming a larger impetus for forced migration.

U.S. immigration laws aren’t equipped to grapple with whether someone fleeing the effects of climate change should be given refuge. But as those effects worsen, the United States is already seeing Central American coffee workers arrive at the border and ask for help.

The disappearance of coffee workers can have a ripple effect on other jobs in a region, leading to even more displacement.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season Typically Brings About a Dozen Storms. This Year It Was 30

Inside Climate News discusses The Atlantic Hurricane Season Typically Brings About a Dozen Storms. This Year It Was 30. Of 2020’s Atlantic storms, 13 were hurricanes, six of them Category 3 or higher. Warmer ocean waters are fueling an increasing number of storms.

A record Atlantic basin hurricane season was fueled by warmer than normal ocean and Gulf waters that scientists say were, at least in part, caused by climate change. In all, there were 30 named storms, the most on record and almost three times the typical number. The basin includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

Thirteen of those became hurricanes, and six were major hurricanes, Category 3 or higher, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That compares to the long-term average of 12 named storms, with six of them hurricanes and three of them majors.

Report: Scientists warn of the social and environmental risks tied to energy transition

RCINet discusses Scientists warn of the social and environmental risks tied to energy transition. [No study links provided.]

As the world gears up to transition its energy sources from fossil fuels to renewable energy to curb greenhouse gas emissions, new research by Canadian and European scientists warns that the “decarbonization of the economy is by no means inherently environmentally innocuous or socially inclusive.”

A recently published research paper authored by scientists at McGill University in Montreal and the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) says green energy mega projects are often as socially and environmentally disruptive as large scale extractive industry projects.

The research, which has analyzed protests over 649 energy projects, cautions that while renewable energy projects are often portrayed as being environmentally sustainable, they often disproportionately impact vulnerable groups such as rural communities and Indigenous peoples.

Amongst the so-called low carbon energy projects, hydropower was found to have the highest number of conflicts with concerns over social and environmental damages, according to the paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Report: In Madagascar’s hungry south, drought pushes more than 1 million to brink of famine

Mongabay discusses In Madagascar’s hungry south, drought pushes more than 1 million to brink of famine.

  • In Madagascar’s deep south, 1.35 million people, including 100,000 children, could fall victim to malnutrition this year, as the worst drought in a decade grips the region.
  • This remote region has witnessed 16 famines since 1896, eight of which occurred in the past four decades. Most were the direct result of rainfall deficits, but misguided or failed policies have deepened the distress.
  • This year, with crop failures, pandemic-related restrictions curbing access to markets, and sharp increases in prices of essentials, food has remained out of reach for thousands.
  • Such droughts and the attendant famines are likely to become more frequent due to climate change, producing more hunger and distress in one of the poorest countries in the world.

Elsewhere, there are reports of villagers eating clay to survive. Children with too little to eat and too-big bellies dying. According to one estimate, in the deep south, 1.35 million people, including 100,000 children under 5, could fall victim to malnutrition in the coming months.

Carbon Capture Is Not a Climate Savior

New Republic discusses Carbon Capture Is Not a Climate Savior. The promise of negative emissions is baked into most “net zero” pledges. But putting that into practice is easier said than done.

In December, the Vatican became one of the latest entities to unveil a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, joining far less pious actors like BP, Shell, and President-elect Joe Biden. Net-zero plans have become all the rage as public concern about the climate crisis has grown. But approving coverage of these wide-ranging announcements rarely question what the “net” of net-zero actually means.

Meeting climate targets means releasing fewer fumes into the sky, for starters. And those plans include that. But they also include something else. The way they get to “zero” isn’t by cutting all greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century but by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere afterward through a suite of methods known collectively as “negative emissions.” And there’s a problem with that: Existing “carbon capture” technologies and techniques can today capture only 0.1 percent of global emissions. Banking on them to pick up the slack amounts to a big gamble. It’s not clear these techniques are scalable or that the countries and companies behind net-zero pledges have thought through what trying to scale them would mean.

Yale Climate Connection, December 25, 2020

Articles include:  Top 10 weather and climate events in 2020;  attribution science;  warmer Minnesota future;  Climate change alters a Louisiana tribe’s way of life;  energy efficiency the electric grid;  Daniela Fernandez – protect the ocean;  Reindeer deaths & erratic Arctic weather;  Winter sports enthusiasts & climate change.

Eagles Imperiled in Virginia

WVTF discusses Eagles Imperiled in Virginia.

40 years ago, bald eagles were endangered in this country due to lost habitat, illegal shooting and contamination of their food.  Today, the national bird has made a comeback with more than 10,000 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states.

But here in Virginia, experts say one threat remains, and they’re hoping the problem can be fixed.

PFAS CHEMICALS ARE TURNING UP IN TAP WATER ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Ensia discusses PFAS CHEMICALS ARE TURNING UP IN TAP WATER ACROSS THE COUNTRY. HOW DO WE GET THEM OUT? Removing “forever” chemicals from drinking water is not an easy task.

This piece was expanded and updated from an original report in the Dayton [Ohio] Daily News published in June 2020. This story is part of a nine-month investigation of drinking water contamination across the U.S. The series is supported by funding from the Park Foundation and Water Foundation. Read the launch story, “Thirsting for Solutions,” here.

A group of manmade substances that can cause serious health problems in humans and animals is increasingly threatening U.S. drinking water systems, experts say. Scientists are working hard to better understand per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS — and develop technologies to minimize harm from these extraordinarily durable pollutants.

PFAS is the umbrella term for a variety of substances, including PFOA, PFOS and GenX. Exposure to high levels of PFAS may decrease vaccine response in children and cause some forms of cancer and birth defects. PFAS also affect the kidneys, liver and immune system, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies

The Guardian discusses Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies. Health impact is unknown but scientists say particles may cause long-term damage to foetuses.

Microplastic particles have been revealed in the placentas of unborn babies for the first time, which the researchers said was “a matter of great concern”.

The health impact of microplastics in the body is as yet unknown. But the scientists said they could carry chemicals that could cause long-term damage or upset the foetus’s developing immune system. The particles are likely to have been consumed or breathed in by the mothers.

The particles were found in the placentas from four healthy women who had normal pregnancies and births. Microplastics were detected on both the foetal and maternal sides of the placenta and in the membrane within which the foetus develops.

A dozen plastic particles were found. Only about 4% of each placenta was analysed, however, suggesting the total number of microplastics was much higher. All the particles analysed were plastics that had been dyed blue, red, orange or pink and may have originally come from packaging, paints or cosmetics and personal care products.

Report: Rising to meet the tide against the threat of coastal flooding

Ars Technica discusses Rising to meet the tide against the threat of coastal flooding. Faster and more accurate forecasts can save lives and property.

Christina Laughlin usually does whatever she can to avoid the flooding that plagues her neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay. But on a blustery Sunday morning in October 2019, she donned a windbreaker and rain boots, grabbed her battered smartphone and deliberately headed straight to the high-water line.

Like her, hundreds of other locals were out and about that day, busy taking photos of the water and linking them to GPS markers during the year’s highest astronomical tide, known as the “king tide.” Norfolk is one of several eastern US coastal cities with record rates of sea level rise, and scientists hope that the data collected by these citizen scientists can help hone the ability to forecast exactly when and where damaging floods will occur.

Low-lying mid-latitude cities like Norfolk are especially vulnerable, says geographer James Voogt of the University of Western Ontario, one of the authors of a 2020 article in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources on climate events in urban areas. “You’ve got three things operating in the direction that increases the vulnerability of a city to flooding events,” he says: sea level rise, increased chances of severe precipitation events, and an abundance of impervious surfaces that prevent water absorption and encourage runoff.