A round-up of the top climate and energy news.
UCLA researchers say the number of days topping 95 degrees each year will jump by as much as five times. [Los Angeles Times]
The highest elevations of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountain ranges could see temperatures soar by as much as 7 degrees on average, Hall said. The higher temperatures will arise from less snowfall in winter and more snowmelt in spring, he said. The result will be a decrease in snow cover, leading to more surface absorption of solar radiation, and hence more warming….
“There will definitely be health impacts felt with that kind of a climate shift,” said Richard Jackson, chair of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA. “We should expect to see more allergies, mosquito vectors and air pollution from wildfires.”
The study raises concerns, said Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Commissioner Jonathan Parfrey, about the long-term sustainability of Los Angeles’ water supplies, which are replenished by snow and water captured by local mountain chains.
Temperatures have hit the high 90s along the Eastern Seaboard, setting records in some spots. [Associated Press]
An alliance of scientists has been formed to help promote cassava, which has emerged as a “survivor” crop able to thrive in the expected higher temperatures engendered by climate change. [IRIN Africa]
Three large Canadian oil spills over the past 30 days have increased concern over pipeline safety here, just as the government and the Canadian petroleum industry are trying to drum up support for a series of new pipeline projects. [Wall Street Journal]
As leaders from more than 130 nations convene a United Nations conference on sustainable development Wednesday, new research shows how climate change will likely exacerbate a key issue: hunger. [USA Today]
For evangelicals who are global warming activists, convincing the Christian community to get engaged has been a process. [The Christian Post]
Despite all the gloom and doom talk about the solar sector, New Jersey installed more solar systems in the first three months of the year than any other state in the nation. [NJPR]
More than three dozen House Democrats want the Interior Department to require natural-gas producers using the method called hydraulic fracturing to disclose the chemicals they’re injecting underground before they begin the process. [The Hill]
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
The San Bernardinos outside of LA are already marginal, with high rates of tree death. Losing that forest, which overlooks the LA bowl, would remove smog and rain capturing trees, in addition to raising temperature.
Inland LA will be depopulated in fifty years, as residents move to higher ground, while the wealthy remain along the coasts, surrounded by private security companies.
We need a Philip Dick to tell this story.
LA bowl? Hollywood Bowl, right? Nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains. San Gabriel Mountains – much taller mountain range that is north of the San Fernando Valley are the tall mountains seen from LA on very clear days. San Bernardino Mountains are east of the San Gabriel Mountains, way east of LA, and overlook the city of San Bernardino.
I think it is the ‘LA Bowl’ Most of the LA basin sits down in a bowl- surrounded by Mountains. This ‘bowl’ has some highlands- the Hollywood Hills, the Santa Monica Mountains (to the north of the Basin) also the San Gabriel’s north east of the LA basin.
An additional roundup of energy and climate news is posted at http://www.marcaccicomms.com/news/energy-and-environment-news-roundup-6-21-12/
Thank you. A huge amount of news and links (as usual).
The link to the cassava article didn’t work.
This one might:
http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=95694
thx!
The Mayo Clinic advises that a Heat Index of 91F or higher is a heat exhaustion risk.
Let’s encourage research that takes the temperature projections and calibrates for days when the combination of heat and humidity generate at-risk Heat Index values.
NOAA’s Heat Index chart.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/index.shtml#heatindex
That was the whole fact sheet.
Here’s the chart
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/images/heatindex.png
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=297393397022745&id=139434822741700
Colorado Fire Follows in Pine Beetles’ Tracks: Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com
Mountain pine beetle infestation killed the trees fueling the High Park fire
Aerial shots of the fire seem to reveal stands of healthier trees in the middle of the fire, surrounded by burnt areas. It’s also possible to see unburnt swathes of blighted trees mixed w/ more healthy areas where the fire has not reached. The fire is very patchy; I’m going to hazard an uninformed guess that this fire is following a path guided by blight.
Hopefully somebody with skills will notice this (if it’s a real phenomenon) and use it to better understand what’s coming up.
If you’ve not grown up w/these forests and then directly witnessed the devastation being caused by these beetles you might not have a good grasp of how awful the situation is. Moving at a ripping pace, too.
These forests won’t be the same again in our lifetimes, if ever.
Doug, hot fires particularly those moving quickly always burn in a patchy fashion. They create their own small weather systems as they move and their tracks are generally driven by wind, not the nature of what is in their way, ME
Despite all the gloom and doom talk about the solar sector…
Purchased chatter, that is.
Suns up…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/06/21/toronto-weather-record.html
“It’s like running your car for three, four days straight,” said spokeswoman Tanya Bruckmueller. “The temperature at night’s not coming down, so the cables and the equipment isn’t able to cool down.”
In the west end a power cable melted on Wednesday, causing a temporary power outage for several thousand customers.
ahead… what does he mean I wonder?
“The past three days have been “almost a dry run, or the opening act” to weather ahead, said Phillips.”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=247349468713773&id=187700434593711
Never before since record-keeping began in 1851 has a tropical storm formed that far north in the Atlantic this early in hurricane season, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Chris acquired the description “zombie” after AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller stated, “the storm is alive, but it should not be.”
People in Texas and Oklahoma are probably laughing their butts off at the terrifying prospect that the number of days above ninety or ninety-five can zoom due to global warming. They’re wondering who will be first to hit 120F. It’s not unusual in those two states for temperatures to exceed 100F for thirty or forty days during the summer, occasionally all in a row.
Sure, happens all the time, whatever, just make it up as you go along.
Last year:
Dallas had a streak of 40 straight days with a maximum temperature above 100° which ended August 10, good for 2nd place all-time, next to a 42-day streak in 1980.
Last year:
Oklahoma City, Okla. – 63 days with 100+ degree highs in 2011. Previous record: 50 days in 1980.
Dodge City, Kan. – Record 54 days with 100+ degree highs in 2011. Previous record: 42 days in 1934.
Midland, Texas – Record 64 days with 100+ degree highs in 2011. Previous record: 52 days in 1964.
Wichita Falls, Texas – Record 52 straight days with 100+ degree highs June 22 through August 12. Record 100 days of 100+ highs and 12 days of 110+ highs. All previous records from 1980.
Austin, Texas – 27 consecutive days with 100-degree highs July 17 through August 12. Breaks previous record of 21 straight days (July 12 – Aug. 1, 2001). 85 days of 100-degree heat in 2011 breaks record of 69 days in 1925.
Dallas, Texas – 70 days with 100-degree heat sets new record for any year. Previous record: 69 days in 1980.
Waco, Texas – Record 44 straight days with 100-degree highs June 30 – August 12. Record 87 total days of 100+ heat in 2011 (old record from 1980).
Tyler, Texas – 46 consecutive days with 100-degree highs June 28 through August 12. 79 days with 100+ highs in 2011 also sets new record.
Fort Smith, Ark. – Streak of 35 consecutive 100-degree days ended August 8. This is a new all-time record streak.
Amarillo, Texas – 50 days with 100-degree heat in 2011 sets new record for any year. 58 straight days of 90+ heat also sets new record.
Bill McKibben and other demonstrators are doing a peoples assembly and sit-in at Rio+20 “to demand real progress on fighting climate change and ending fossil fuel subsidies. ”
(or at least they were, 20 minutes ago)
http://www.facebook.com/350.org
This story could use a lift.
In Canada, don’t mention the sun, don’t mention oil spills. Hush!
Billboard rejected by major Canadian outdoor advertising firm:
When there’s a huge solar energy spill, it’s just called a nice day.
Green jobs, no more oil spills.
Apparently reading that is too dangerous.
Fossil fuels pollute more than our air and climate — the industries are so powerful that they pollute our press and our politics.
It is clear, sad, and terrifying.
Return to capitalism ‘red in tooth and claw’ spells economic madness
Because capitalism fuels an insatiable demand for consumption, the world will soon run up against the natural limits of growth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2012/jun/21/capitalism-red-tooth-claw-keynes
Wildfire in the tundra – no idea how common/uncommon these are.
Fire Information Report for Itkillik River
Wildland Fire Incident
Report Date: 21-JUN-12
Burnt Area: 2,311 Acres (273% increase from yesterday)
Location: County, AK (7 miles east of Nuiqsut)
Cause: Lightning
Incident Team Type: Unknown
Team Leader: Unknown
Containment Status: 0% contained)
Expected Containment: Unknown
Fuels: Tundra Medium 1438.00 0
Lightning starts eight new fires in Yukon
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2012/06/22/north-yukon-lightning-fire.html
I’m looking for the moral outrage and the moral core message repeated again and again.
Where’s the outrage? Giving many billions of ordinary Americans tax dollars to support fossil fuel companies when they would pass by a starving child with not a thought? Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians expressed outrage. What about Americans?
Wall Street wants us to spend Billions supporting their money-making fossil fuels and wants taxpayers to stop supporting the way out, the future for anyone who grabs the golden ring.
Just seeing perfect facts, facts that have rarely moved us towards our better or best selves. Data that falls into oblivion when the tested talking point gets nods of approval.
Fire sparked by shooters evacuates homes in Utah
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-22/utah-wildfire/55767730/1
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah (AP) – Residents of at least 2,300 homes in northern Utah were being evacuated Friday after high winds kicked up a fire started by target shooters.