June, 2018

Much of my news comes from The Daily Climate, whose wonderful subscription service clues me in to what's going on each day. Another great source of stories (and commentaries) comes from my friend Jim Poyser, at Apocadocs. They stopped collecting news at the election of U.S. President Forty-Five, which was a frickin' party pooper of a day, I'll tell ya.

2018

June, 2018

6/17/2018

• Exclusive: Global warming set to exceed 1.5°C, slow growth - U.N. draft: Global warming is on course to exceed the most stringent goal set in the Paris agreement by around 2040, threatening economic growth, according to a draft report that is the U.N.’s starkest warning yet of the risks of climate change. Governments can still cap temperatures below the strict 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) ceiling agreed in 2015 only with “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in the world economy, according to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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6/13/2018

• Antarctica Is Melting More Than Twice as Fast as in 2012: The continent’s rate of ice loss is speeding up, which is contributing even more to rising sea levels.
  • The rate at which Antarctica is losing ice has more than doubled since 2012, according to the latest available data. The continent is now melting so fast, scientists say, that it will contribute six inches (15 centimeters) to sea-level rise by 2100. That is at the upper end of what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated Antarctica alone could contribute to sea level rise this century.
• In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice.: As the president prepares for nuclear talks, he lacks a close adviser with nuclear expertise. It’s one example of a marginalization of science in shaping federal policy.
  • The White House declined to comment on these and other suggestions that the role of science in policymaking has been diminished in the Trump administration. Regarding the coming talks with Mr. Kim, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, Garrett Marquis, emphasized that “the president’s advisers are experts in their fields.”

6/12/2018

• Giant African baobab trees die suddenly after thousands of years: Demise of nine out of 13 of the ancient landmarks linked to climate change by researchers
• Antarctic Ocean Discovery Warns of Faster Global Warming: A group of scientists, including one from the University of Arizona, has new findings suggesting Antarctica's Southern Ocean — long known to play an integral role in climate change — may not be absorbing as much pollution as previously thought.
• If Global Warming Continues At Same Rate, We May Be Left With No Vegetables To Eat: Changes in Earth’s climate is expected to make vegetables significantly scarcer across the world unless new varieties of crops and new methods of cultivation are adopted. By the end of this century, less water and hotter air will combine to cut average yields of vegetables — which are crucial to a healthy diet — by nearly one-third, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  • Scientists are expecting a 7.2 Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) increase in temperature by 2100 of the rate of global warming moves at the current trajectory. The report says that average yield could reduce by 31.5 per cent.

6/7/2018

• Another Climate Milestone Falls at Mauna Loa Observatory: Peak carbon dioxide levels surpass 411 parts per million for May
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• Donald Trump is costing us one precious thing: time: The constant sense of crisis that the president creates robs us of the concentration we need to focus on long-term issues like climate change
• Oil may be Canada's past, but we cannot let it be our future: There’s a lot of fear around abandoning an industry that has been an economic driver for decades – yet the rest of the world is moving on
• The story of coal in the 21st century, in one amazing map: See every coal plant in the world from 2000 on.

6/2/2018

• A Courtside View of Scott Pruitt’s Cozy Ties With a Billionaire Coal Baron: As the influential coal executive Joseph W. Craft III, second from left, has lobbied the Environmental Protection Agency, he has maintained a close relationship with its chief, Scott Pruitt, center.
  • Ironically, Craft is the founder of the Craft Academy. Sigh….

6/6/2018

• Judge to EPA: you are legally required to turn over Pruitt's documentary evidence for climate denial: Embattled EPA Director Scott Pruitt went on national TV to announce on behalf of the US government that "I would not agree [CO2 is] a primary contributor to the global warming that we see… There’s a tremendous disagreement about the degree of the impact [of] human activity on the climate."
  • So the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking the EPA to turn over documents Pruitt relied on to form this view, which is wildly out of step with the scientific consensus. Instead of complying, the EPA refused, so PEER sued. In court, the EPA argued that complying with the request would be unduly burdensome, consuming "countless hours researching and analyzing a vast trove of material on the effect of human activity on climate change" which is “a subjective assessment upon which reasonable minds can differ.”
  • The judge ruled against the EPA and slammed them in his decision, calling the EPA's response an "epistemological smokescreen" that was "both misplaced and troubling."
• The White House Apparently Forgot to Tell NOAA Not to Mention Climate Change: “It’s an every-agency-for-themselves kind of thing,” says Penn State climate scientist David Titley, NOAA’s former chief operating officer and a retired Navy oceanographer. “You have NOAA pursuing a very different track than the EPA.” The difference, Titley believes, is that agencies with enforcement and regulatory powers are the real target of Trump’s administration. For example, a small fraction of EPA’s budget is spent on climate programs while the bulk of its work is on enforcing air and water regulations. In contrast, NOAA and NASA have managed to generally continue conducting business-as-usual.
  • “Many of my climate friends think this administration has a war on climate,” Titley added. “I don’t think they do. I think they have a war on regulation, and there’s a difference. To the extent that this administration focuses on anything, it’s regulations and regulators, and the science is fundamentally ignored.”
• Trudeau chats with chief who denies climate change as he links reconciliation with Trans Mountain pipeline expansion: Among the committee members is Chief Ernie Crey, who recently told media outlets the Cheam First Nation would consider buying a stake in the pipeline, depending on the circumstances and what's involved. Crey has said the expansion project will benefit his community, located near Chilliwack, B.C.
  • Crey is one of the most vocal Indigenous supporters of the pipeline project, regularly posting commentary and sharing articles promoting the project through social media. He also recently told Vice News in an interview for a documentary that "the jury is still out" on whether climate change is caused by humans.
  • "I'm not a scientist, I don't know for sure," he said to Vice News. "But I'm not convinced the jury is really in on the role of, the contribution of human settlements to climate change. I don't think the jury is in, finally."

What went on: 2017

What went on: 2016

What went on: 2015

What went on: 2014

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