March 14 Hot Air News Roundup

Something to keep in mind…

The risk posed by Climate Breakdown will not be resolved by ensuring profits are maintained. Profit must be decoupled from “Climate Change”.

Extractive businesses are fighting for their very existence, rushing to make revenue now, fearing future limits or a complete shutdown of their industries. At the same time, they are hedging their bets and diversifying into renewable climate technologies.

There is simply no time left for incrementalism. There is no time left to coddle multinational extraction industries. The risk posed by Climate Breakdown is immediate and is global.

Resource extraction responsible for half world’s carbon emissions
The Guardian 3-12-19

Resources are being extracted from the planet three times faster than in 1970, even though the population has only doubled in that time, according to the Global Resources Outlook, which was released in Nairobi on Tuesday. … Each year, the world consumes more than 92b tonnes of materials – biomass (mostly food), metals, fossil fuels and minerals – and this figure is growing at the rate of 3.2% per year.

BP lobbied Trump administration to roll back key US climate rules
Unearthed 3-12-19

British oil major BP successfully lobbied the Trump administration to roll back key climate regulations preventing the release of methane into the atmosphere, despite claiming to support the Paris agreement to limit global warming to well below 2C.

Given the need to reduce CO2, the information in this article is timely. Worth checking out…

Oil majors strut into Houston for annual energy conference
Reuters 3-10-19

U.S. crude output has rocketed to more than 12 million barrels a day, surpassing former leaders Russia and Saudi Arabia, but that success comes as independent U.S. shale companies are reducing drilling under pressure from investors demanding improved returns. … “This is the first CERAWeek ever where the world’s largest producer is the country where we are holding the conference, which is the United States.”

 

HOT AIR NEWS ROUNDUP

Airlines Were Supposed to Fix Their Pollution Problem. It’s Just Getting Worse
Bloomberg 3-10-19

“We are all going to have to reduce the extent to which we fly” … Airplane pollution, which has risen by about two-thirds since 2005, is forecast to jump as much as sevenfold by 2050 as incomes in developing economies advance, making flying more affordable for hundreds of millions if not billions of people, according to the Montreal-based ICAO. The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, the industry’s biggest trade group, expects the number of airline passengers to double by 2037, to more than 8 billion a year.

CO2 mineralization in geologically common rocks for carbon storage
Science Daily 3-8-19

An international research team modeled CO2 mineralization on a quartz (SiO2) surface to study the dynamics of geological trapping. In molecular dynamics simulations, CO2 interacted with SiO2 to form CO3 units, which were hydrolyzed into carbonate ions by water. Carbonate ions react with dissolved metals (e.g. Mg2+, Ca2+, Fe2+), locking CO2 emissions into underground minerals posing no environmental threat. The study confirms this process is favorable but requires cleaved SiO2 surfaces.

This article discusses the impact on fish and those that depend on them to survive…

Ice in the Bering Sea drops to lowest level since 1850
Axios 3-5-19

For the second straight year, the Bering Sea — a turbulent and bountiful stretch of the northern Pacific Ocean — is virtually ice free at a time of year when it should be gaining ice.

French government working on ‘more ambitious’ energy and climate bill
Reuters 3-10-19

A draft energy and climate law due to be presented to French cabinet ministers on Monday has been postponed so that it can be reworked with more ambitious environmental goals, … The proposals had been criticized by climate change campaigners and a high-level state-backed economic affairs committee for being too vague on some targets, including an aim for France to be “carbon neutral” by 2050.

Interesting book review, full article will be published 3-25…

The Criminal Dimension of Climate Change
Monthly Review 3-1-19

Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival

outlines the criminality of those who actively promote the continuing emission of carbon gases into the atmosphere despite having full knowledge of the consequences.

Climate Change Will Expose Half of World’s Population to Disease-Spreading Mosquitoes By 2050
Yale Environment 3-5-19

“If no action is taken to reduce the current rate at which the climate is warming, pockets of habitat will open up across many urban areas with vast amounts of individuals susceptible to infection,”

Avalanches Terrorize Colorado as Climate Change Raises the Risk
Climate Change News 3-11-19

March took even seasoned Colorado veterans by surprise, with large avalanches unexpectedly hitting roads while they were open. On March 8 the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said 346 avalanches had been reported in the previous seven days.

Excellent video…

A Climate Sociologist Explains the Green New Deal
The Real News 3-1-19 h/t lo

the fossil fuel industry is the number one barrier to climate change. politically, they have bought off most of the republican part, they have bought off many member of the democratic party. They are a huge industry that stands to loose absolutely everything and they are going to fight to the death. I you don’t take them on and if you think you can cut a deal with them, while wiping them out kinda slowly. I think that’s a naive view of how politics works in this country.

VIDEO

B.C. left holding massive bill for hundreds of orphan gas wells as frack companies go belly-up
The Narwhal 3-13-19

On the cusp of a major fracking boom, B.C.’s Oil and Gas Commission is already struggling to keep up with the ballooning cost of cleaning up inactive and, at times, contaminated sites that have grown by 48 per cent in the last two years

US and Canadian Oil Production Push the Planet’s Climate Goals Out of Reach
Mother Jones 3-10-19

A surge in US and Canadian oil production over the last decade has added the equivalent of “one Russia or one Saudi Arabia” to the markets—pushing the planet farther away from ever getting a grip on the pollution that is driving climate change.

Really…

Spray sun-blocking chemicals into atmosphere to cut global temperature rise in half, scientists say
Independent 3-11-19

Scientists compare solar geoengineering to blood pressure medication: ‘An overdose would be harmful, but a well-chosen dose could reduce your risks’ … Spraying chemicals into the atmosphere to block sunlight could cut global temperature increases in half without any dangerous repercussions, Harvard scientists have suggested.

Air pollution deaths are double previous estimates, finds research
The Guardian 3-12-19

The scientists used new data to estimate that nearly 800,000 people die prematurely each year in Europe because of dirty air, and that each life is cut short by an average of more than two years. … its impact via the bloodstream on heart disease and strokes is responsible for twice as many deaths as respiratory diseases.

 

ADAPTION AND RESILIENCE

How to Keep Food Cool Without Electricity
Green Optimist 3-11-19

Evaporative cooling was used as early as the Old Kingdom of Egypt, around 2500 B.C. As you can imagine, a clay pot cooler does not use electricity. It uses a porous clay pot (filled with wet sand) containing another smaller inner pot (which can be treated to prevent penetration by the liquid) within which the food is placed. The evaporation of the outer water draws heat from the inner pot.

VIDEO

Volkswagen Launches $50B EV Race to Challenge Tesla
Climate Change News 3-7-19

“The ID. BUGGY demonstrates the broad spectrum of emission-free mobility that can be achieved with the MEB [electric drive matrix] within the Volkswagen brand. But we want to open up the platform for third-party suppliers”

Citing ‘Permanent Oil Price Decline,’ Norwegian Fund’s Fossil Fuel Divestment Could Spark Global ‘Shockwave’
Common Dreams 2-8-19

the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund—the largest of its kind in the world—has recommended the Norway government divest the entirety of the fund’s $40 billion holdings from the fossil fuel industry. … Institutional investors that manage sovereign wealth funds and pensions funds, she added, “are withdrawing their capital from oil and gas companies on the grounds that quicker-than-expected growth in clean energy and associated regulation is making oil and gas business models highly vulnerable.

Scientists Turn Atmospheric CO2 into Coal Flakes
Green Optimist 3-7-19

This procedure is already applied in scuba rebreathers … allowing the air to be recycled for re-breathing. The application of a similar procedure for capturing atmospheric CO2 is particularly attractive because the organic sorbent can be regenerated at much lower temperatures compared to existing commercial inorganic scrubbers, leading to a 24% reduction in energy requirements and a significant decrease in the costs of carbon capture.

Great article about how this scientist lives her life to minimize her personal carbon expenditure…

On Carbon, Geophysicist Robin Bell Walks the Walk
State of the Planet 3-7-19

the world’s leading earth scientist is not allowing collective inaction to absolve her of personal responsibility. … Living life in a manner that comports with her field of study is essential for Bell: “I just want to set an example,” she said. “If I am telling people this is an issue, I should be acting like it’s an issue.”

Another inspiring story of local advocacy…

Coming Full Circle
Sierra Club 3-12-19

The Washington Chapter has linked its work on the basin’s rivers with the urgent effort to save the Salish Sea’s Southern Resident orcas from extinction. The orca and salmon efforts are inextricably linked because while numerous factors threaten the orcas, the most critical by far is the current lack of sufficient Chinook salmon—the biggest, most nutritious species in the basin.

 

WILDLIFE & THE ENVIRONMENT

The Shells of Wild Sea Butterflies Are Already Dissolving
Hakai 3-1-19

The canaries foretelling ocean acidification fly through the water on winglike feet, lofting their tiny curl of a shell behind them. And those shells are dissolving.

Climate change could devastate painted turtles, according to new study
PHYS ORG 3-12-19

Fluctuations in temperature driven by climate change could devastate a range of species for which sex is determined by temperature during critical stages of development, according to recently published research led by Nicole Valenzuela, a professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology. Rising temperatures, along with wider oscillations in temperature, could disrupt the ratio of males to females

Good article with good illustrations…

Can we tweak marine chemistry to help stave off climate change?
PHYS ORG 3-12-19

These foreboding trends have led to an increasing focus on ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Among the methods being explored is the use of the ocean to absorb and/or store carbon by adding crushed rocks or other sources of alkalinity to react with CO2 in seawater, ultimately consuming atmospheric CO2. … Perhaps the best-known – and at times, controversial – method for marine carbon dioxide removal is stimulating photosynthesis to increase CO2 absorption.

Excellent radio interview about a recent paper discussing how close we are to the heat ceiling and its consequences…

The Rules of Extinction
Radio Ecoshock 3-13-19

“In a simplified view, the idea of co-extinction reduces to the obvious conclusion that a consumer cannot survive without its resources. Because resource and consumer interactions in natural systems (e.g., food webs) are organized in various hierarchical levels of complexity (e.g., trophic levels), it follows that the removal of resources could result in the cascading (bottom-up) extinction of several higher-level consumers.”

 

PROTESTS • EXTINCTION REBELLION • RESISTANCE

College Students Calling out Climate Denial Machine That’s Older Than They Are
Desmog 3-7-19

DeSmog published a story this week from the Climate Investigations Center that touches on an interesting angle that’s emerging in the climate world as kids lead the way. … The article describes a conference last month at Brown University that featured a 90-minute panel built around a recent study in Nature Climate Change showing how decades of concerted misinformation played a key role in the current climate of climate denial.

Good read…

This International Women’s Day, Meet the Girls Leading a Movement Five climate activists talk about why they’re skipping school
Sierra Club 3-8-19

Nineteen-year-old Dayamis Torino Véliz has been striking on Fridays in Lima, Peru, and 22-year-old Luisa Neubauer is organizing strikes across Germany. In January, Vanessa Nakate, 22, started leading strikes in Kampala, Uganda, and in Ontario, Canada, 11-year-old Sophia Mathur has been leading climate demonstrations since November. Meanwhile, 14-year-old Kallan Benson launched #SchoolStrike4Climate at the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., on Friday, December 7

Students will be striking for climate change on March 15 and May 3
The Star 2-8-19

For decades now, adult activists, environmentalists and scientists have been trying to move climate change to the top of the world agenda. But we have met with limited success. … But now school students around the world are saying enough is enough. “We have the right to live our dreams and hopes,”

The Hip New Teen Trend Is Leading the Climate Movement to Save the World
Vice 3-6-19

What’s most notable about YCSUS is its leadership—besides Villasenor, its cofounders are 16-year-old Isra Hirsi and 12-year-old Haven Coleman. … [Their] dreams seem less insane given the intense outpouring of press coverage the three strike leaders have gotten. So far, they have been covered by the Washington Post, The Nation, Teen Vogue, Gothamist, NBC News, Euronews, Spiegel Online, Greenpeace, Sierra Club Magazine, High Country News, …

Go watch the video and be inspired by this young Belgian woman…

Anuna: the young Belgian who fights for the climate
Chron 3-8-19

Anuna is 17 years old and attends her last year of high school. What drives her is fear, she explains. “In Belgium, we had a lot of heat waves this summer and I am aware of the what the effects will be if we just keep going on this rate”. She was received by many politicians, included the French president Emmanuel Macron. But all the decision makers that she met gave her a bad impression. “They act like children, they don’t see that the emergency is now

Great pictures…

Climate protesters climb Finnish Parliament House pillars
UUITISET 3-6-19

Members of several Finnish environmental groups demonstrated at the Finnish Parliament on 6 March. Eight protesters were detained after scaling the giant stone columns.

Fridays For Future

Hundreds of Irish children to join global climate-change protest
Irish Times 3-2-19

[The] schoolchildren are set to go on strike on Friday March 15th because of the failures of adults to address climate change. … The students are using social media to mobilise, while three separate teacher groups are helping to organise events around the country.

Councils give pupils Friday off to join climate change protests
The Times 3-11-19

Thousands of children will be handed a free pass out of school to attend climate change protests throughout Scotland on Friday. At least four councils have confirmed they will allow an “authorised absence” to attend if pupils have the permission of their parents. Nicola Sturgeon praised the passion of children who attended the first strike on February 15, but said that repeated absence from school was “not an option”.

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg, schoolgirl climate change warrior: ‘Some people can let things go. I can’t’
The Guardian 3-11-19

“They just told me everything will be all right. That didn’t help, of course, but it was good to talk. And then I kept on going, talking about this all the time and showing my parents pictures, graphs and films, articles and reports. And, after a while, they started listening to what I actually said. That’s when I kind of realised I could make a difference. And how I got out of that depression was that I thought: it is just a waste of time feeling this way because I can do so much good with my life. I am trying to do that still now.”

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at four school strikes in a week
National Observer 3-11-19
VIDEO

Extinction Rebellion

JOIN EX USA: on their website

EX NEWSLETTERS & EVENTS: on their website

This is perhaps the most succinct Extinction Rebellion presentation to date…

CLIMATE CHANGE: Why we are heading for extinction and what to do about it
Our Gallent Ship 3-5-19

Marcus Carambola from Extinction Rebellion Ōtautahi Christchurch (NZ) talks about the latest climate science and where our planet is headed, and including a good introduction to Extinction Rebellion.

VIDEO 

Thirteen arrests after environmental protesters occupy National Museum of Scotland
The Scotsman 3-8-19

Extinction Rebellion Scotland occupied the National Museum of Scotland to disrupt the annual dinner of the Scottish Oil Club. … The museum was set to host 890 fossil fuel industry leaders for an event to celebrate the industry. Instead a group of 20 activists from Extinction Rebellion Scotland occupied the main hall

This is a list of all the international actions by XR over the last month. Very impressive…

International Highlights (xrebellion.org)
Ocupy SF 3-6-19

South Africa – February 7, March 15 and 23: Rebels used South Africa’s recent state-of-the-nation address to raise awareness of Extinction Rebellion’s demands, by holding a mock parliament and making their own address to the nation. There’s an ongoing, dynamic discussion about how XR can best tackle South Africa’s unique challenges, and help people affected by climate breakdown.

Climate change rebellion protesters pour fake blood on road outside Downing Street
Yahoo 3-9-19

Activists poured hundreds of litres of fake blood into the road outside Downing Street to demand action on climate change. Police stood by watching, without making any arrests, as protesters simultaneously tipped up buckets of the red liquid, which spread across the breadth of the road. An estimated 400 demonstrators from the groups Extinction Rebellion and Christian Climate Action staged the protest, simulating a “sea of blood”.

Hedges is unequivocal. This is an old article just republished by XR…

EXTINCTION REBELLION by Chris Hedges
Occupy San Francisco 3-9-19

There is one desperate chance left to thwart the impending ecocide and extinction of the human species. We must, in wave after wave, carry out nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to shut down the capitals of the major industrial countries, crippling commerce and transportation, until the ruling elites are forced to publicly state the truth about climate catastrophe, implement radical measures to halt carbon emissions by 2025 and empower an independent citizens committee to oversee the termination of our 150-year binge on fossil fuels. If we do not do this, we will face mass death.

CLIMATE STUDIES

Rain Is Triggering More Melting on the Greenland Ice Sheet — in Winter, Too
Inside Climate News 3-8-19

A new analysis of satellite and weather data shows that melting associated with rain in Greenland doubled in the summers and tripled in the winters from 1988 to 2012 as temperatures rose … The findings could help explain some of the increase in Greenland’s meltwater runoff and show how global warming feedback loops can intensify the impact.

Migrating snowline plays outsized role in setting pace of Greenland ice melt
Science Daily 3-6-19

Meltwater from Greenland’s ice sheet is a leading contributor to global sea level rise, and a new study shows that an underappreciated factor — the position of the snowline on the ice sheet — plays a key role in setting the pace of melting.

This is something we should all be talking about…

Shifting away from coal is key to cutting greenhouse gas emissions
Science Daily 3-7-19

The United States could fulfill its greenhouse gas emission pledge under the Paris Climate Agreement by virtually eliminating coal as an energy source by 2024, according to new research. … As a result, the U.S. would need shift to an energy portfolio based on natural gas, efficiency, wind, solar power and biofuels, with oil used predominately for transportation fuel.

Researchers Capture Carbon Dioxide and Turn it Back to Coal

Green Optimist 3-7-19

According to the authors of the study, until now, similar techniques have been quite expensive. This is due to the special temperature conditions, required for the gas to turn into solid. However, the team showed that if you add a liquid metal [cerium, tin, gallium and indium] as a catalyst, the process can take place at room temperature. This makes it viable and easily scalable.

Global Warnings

Paul Beckwith: “I declare a global climate change emergency to claw back up the rock face to attempt to regain system stability, or face an untenable calamity of biblical proportions.”

Kevin Hester: “There is no past analogue for the rapidity of what we are baring witness to. There has been a flood of articles … 2C is no longer attainable and that we are heading for dangerous climate change”

Guy McPherson: “The recent and near-future rises in temperature are occurring and will occur at least an order of magnitude faster than the worst of all prior Mass Extinctions. Habitat for human animals is disappearing throughout the world, and abrupt climate change has barely begun.”

Magi Amma: We need to turn on a dime at mach nine!

…
Equivalencies:
• 1 gigatonne equals one billion tons
• 1 gigatonne of carbon equals 3.67 gigatonnes of CO2
• 1 part per million of atmospheric CO2 is equivalent to 7.81 gigatonnes of CO2
• 1 part per million of atmospheric carbon is equivalent to 2.13 gigatonnes of carbon