Climate Crisis plays out in Alaska.
Arctic warming twice as fast as rest of planet.
By Bill Weir, CNN Chief Climate Correspondent | September 09, 2019
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) - Alaska's summer of fire and no ice is smashing records.
With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, America's "Last Frontier" feels like the first in line to see, smell and feel the unsettling signs of a climate in crisis.
There are the smoky skies and dripping glaciers, dead salmon and hauled-out walrus but scientists also worry about the changes that are harder to see, from toxic algae blooms in the Bering Sea to insects from the Lower 48 bringing new diseases north.
The head shaking among longtime locals really began on the Fourth of July, when at 90 degrees, Anchorage was hotter than Key West.
A dome of hot, dry air over the southern part of the state refused to budge. When lightning struck the Kenai Peninsula, it was just the beginning of a wilderness inferno unlike any other in memory.
Like rainy clockwork, Alaska's fire season usually ends August 1 but the Swan Lake fire is still burning and only 37% contained. To the relief of exhausted fire crews and worried residents, September is bringing the first moisture in weeks but the most populous part of the state is still swallowing more smoke than ever.
"We've had more than twice as many smoky hours in 2019 than in any other season, and in fact, almost as many as all other years combined," says Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist at the University of Alaska.
Strolling in short sleeves atop the rapidly melting Spencer Glacier, Brettschneider lists one superlative after another, pulled from a century's worth of records that predate Alaskan statehood. "Eight of our top 13 warmest days on record are this year," he says. "We didn't just get a little bit past the old marks, we really blasted past them."
He points to the bare rock and dirt 150 feet above us where the glacier once stood. "This is half as thin as it was not very long ago." Every drip is headed to sea, which makes what is happening here directly relevant to New York, Miami, Dubai, Osaka, Hong Kong and countless beach towns in between. According to the European Space Agency, melting Alaskan ice has contributed more to sea level rise than Greenland, Antarctica or any other part of the world.
And then there are the fish, so vital to the economy. While Bristol Bay saw another epic salmon run this season, more and more streams are just too warm for the fish to spawn.
"We definitely have reports from around the state where we've found dead fish that have not made it to their spawning grounds," says Sue Mauger, science director for the nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper. "They still have the eggs inside and have not spawned. Those are just lost future generations."
She has been measuring streams for almost two decades and while the warming trend was obvious, she is stunned by the speed. "The temperatures we saw this summer were what we expected for 2069 -- we're 50 years ahead of where we thought we would be for stream temperatures."
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Climate Change threatens Food and Water Supplies, while Farming and Land Practices fuel the change, says new U.N. Report
Changing climate imperils global food and water supplies, new U.N. study finds
Agriculture and other land use accounts for 23 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
by Brady Dennis | Aug 8 2019 | Washington Post
The world cannot avoid the worst impacts of climate change without making serious changes to the ways humans grow food, raise livestock and manage forests, according to a landmark study Thursday from an international group of scientists.
The sprawling report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) examines how land use around the world contributes to the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. But the report also details how climate change is already threatening food and water supplies for humans: turning arable land to desert; degrading soil; and increasing the threat of droughts, floods and other extreme weather that can wreak havoc on crops.
It makes clear that although fossil fuel-burning power plants and automobile tailpipes are the largest drivers of climate change, activities such as agriculture and forestry account for an estimated 23 percent of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
“We already knew that humanity’s over-exploitation of the Earth’s lands is a key driver of climate change, and that we need to take urgent, ambitious action to address these issues,” Jennifer Tabola, director for global climate strategy at the Nature Conservancy, said in a statement. “We have a choice: do we balance the needs of human development and nature, or do we sleepwalk into a future of failing farmlands, eroding soil, collapsing ecosystems and dwindling food resources?”
Four years ago in Paris, world leaders agreed to take aggressive action to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degree Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels. Their aspiration was to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (the world has already warmed 1 degree).
But Thursday’s report, which includes the work of 107 experts from 52 countries, underscores that meeting those goals will require fundamental changes not only to the transportation and energy sectors, but also by cutting emissions from agriculture and deforestation — all while feeding growing populations.dd
Last fall, IPCC scientists found that nations will need to take “unprecedented” actions to cut their carbon emissions over the next decade to avoid devastating effects from rising seas, more intense storms and other impacts of climate change.
[The world has just over a decade to get climate change under control, U.N. scientists say]
They also detailed how such a radical transformation would require large swaths of land currently used to produce food to instead be converted to growing trees that store carbon and crops designated for energy use.
“Such large transitions pose profound challenges for sustainable management of the various demands on land for human settlements, food, livestock feed, fibre, bioenergy, carbon storage, biodiversity and other ecosystem services,” the authors wrote at the time.
A significant amount of agricultural emissions comes from livestock — primarily from the belches of cattle. Additionally, while all soils emit some nitrous oxide, soil on farms often emits higher levels because of nitrogen that is added in the form of manure, fertilizers or other material. Meanwhile, deforestation in places such as the Amazon and Indonesia has harmed the ability of forests to retain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Agriculture and other land use accounts for 23 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
by Brady Dennis | Aug 8 2019 | Washington Post
The world cannot avoid the worst impacts of climate change without making serious changes to the ways humans grow food, raise livestock and manage forests, according to a landmark study Thursday from an international group of scientists.
The sprawling report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) examines how land use around the world contributes to the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. But the report also details how climate change is already threatening food and water supplies for humans: turning arable land to desert; degrading soil; and increasing the threat of droughts, floods and other extreme weather that can wreak havoc on crops.
It makes clear that although fossil fuel-burning power plants and automobile tailpipes are the largest drivers of climate change, activities such as agriculture and forestry account for an estimated 23 percent of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
“We already knew that humanity’s over-exploitation of the Earth’s lands is a key driver of climate change, and that we need to take urgent, ambitious action to address these issues,” Jennifer Tabola, director for global climate strategy at the Nature Conservancy, said in a statement. “We have a choice: do we balance the needs of human development and nature, or do we sleepwalk into a future of failing farmlands, eroding soil, collapsing ecosystems and dwindling food resources?”
Four years ago in Paris, world leaders agreed to take aggressive action to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degree Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels. Their aspiration was to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (the world has already warmed 1 degree).
But Thursday’s report, which includes the work of 107 experts from 52 countries, underscores that meeting those goals will require fundamental changes not only to the transportation and energy sectors, but also by cutting emissions from agriculture and deforestation — all while feeding growing populations.dd
Last fall, IPCC scientists found that nations will need to take “unprecedented” actions to cut their carbon emissions over the next decade to avoid devastating effects from rising seas, more intense storms and other impacts of climate change.
[The world has just over a decade to get climate change under control, U.N. scientists say]
They also detailed how such a radical transformation would require large swaths of land currently used to produce food to instead be converted to growing trees that store carbon and crops designated for energy use.
“Such large transitions pose profound challenges for sustainable management of the various demands on land for human settlements, food, livestock feed, fibre, bioenergy, carbon storage, biodiversity and other ecosystem services,” the authors wrote at the time.
A significant amount of agricultural emissions comes from livestock — primarily from the belches of cattle. Additionally, while all soils emit some nitrous oxide, soil on farms often emits higher levels because of nitrogen that is added in the form of manure, fertilizers or other material. Meanwhile, deforestation in places such as the Amazon and Indonesia has harmed the ability of forests to retain carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Give Wind Energy a Chance — Call your Erie County Legislator
The Erie County Legislature is considering a resolution sponsored by Legislators Dixon and Mills and supported by Chris Collins to preemptively oppose wind development "along the shores of Lake Erie".
The Sierra Club, PUSH Buffalo, the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and the Building Trades Unions will be testifying against this resolution and in favor of investment in renewable energy and green jobs coupled with a rigorous review of any offshore wind projects to make sure our drinking water and the lake ecology are protected.
We need to ramp up wind and solar exponentially if we are to meet our climate goals and every area with good wind and solar resources needs to be evaluated scientifically and thoroughly. Passage of the Dixon-Mills resolution for the County housing New York's 2nd largest city would essentially sink our State's chances of reaching the adopted goal of 100% carbon free electricity by 2040.
CALL Your Legislator before the Thursday, Sept.19 Hearing and urge them to vote against the Dixon-Mills anti-wind resolution.
Legislator List and Contact Info: click here
District Map: click here
If possible, please join us at the Legislative Hearing:
Thursday, September 19th 1:00-2:30 PM
Erie County Hall, 92 Franklin St. (4th Floor Legislative chamber), Buffalo [Map]
The Sierra Club, PUSH Buffalo, the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and the Building Trades Unions will be testifying against this resolution and in favor of investment in renewable energy and green jobs coupled with a rigorous review of any offshore wind projects to make sure our drinking water and the lake ecology are protected.
We need to ramp up wind and solar exponentially if we are to meet our climate goals and every area with good wind and solar resources needs to be evaluated scientifically and thoroughly. Passage of the Dixon-Mills resolution for the County housing New York's 2nd largest city would essentially sink our State's chances of reaching the adopted goal of 100% carbon free electricity by 2040.
Stand Up for Renewable Energy and Green Jobs!
CALL Your Legislator before the Thursday, Sept.19 Hearing and urge them to vote against the Dixon-Mills anti-wind resolution.
Legislator List and Contact Info: click here
District Map: click here
If possible, please join us at the Legislative Hearing:
Thursday, September 19th 1:00-2:30 PM
Erie County Hall, 92 Franklin St. (4th Floor Legislative chamber), Buffalo [Map]
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| 'People friendly' wind turbines near Woodlawn Beach State Park on Lake Erie |
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