Saturday 11 April 2015

Digest of strories on climate chaos - 04/09/2015

"This scenario alone almost guarantees the extinction of most life on this planet, shall we add in the melting permafrost releasing methane and 50 odd positive feedback loops? Join the dots family."

--Kevin Hester

This is all this coverage this landmark study warrants for Radio NZ.  It turns out that a New Zealander participated in a study coming out of the University of Ediburgh, although you wouldn't know it from the following report.

Ocean acidity caused extinction – scientist
International research led by a New Zealand scientist shows soaring ocean acidity was a key factor in the greatest mass extinction of life on Earth.


10 April, 2015

Otago University researcher Matthew Clarkson co-ordinated a just-published international study which has found direct evidence in Middle Eastern rocks that ocean acidification triggered by massive volcanic eruptions helped cause the mass extinction 252 million years ago.

It wiped out more than 90 percent of marine species and more than two-thirds of land species.

Dr Clarkson said this was a worrying finding, considering that we were now seeing an increase in ocean acidity as a result of carbon emissions caused by human activity.

Researchers say the oceans suddenly became more acidic, making it impossible for the vast majority of sea creatures to survive


Dead fish on the beach at Cape San Blas, Florida, after a 'red tide' event in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: Judy Baxter via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA).
Dead fish on the beach at Cape San Blas, Florida, after a 'red tide' event in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: Judy Baxter via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA).


Oxygen levels in our oceans are falling, writes Lee Bryant, producing growing 'dead zones' where only the hardiest organisms can survive. The causes are simple: pollution with nutrient-rich wastes, and global warming. But the only solution is to stop it happening - or wait for 1,000 years




University of Edinburgh researchers warn that the carbon emissions that drove a mass extinction event some 252 million years ago were released at a rate similar to today


NZ: Mussel shortage predicted as sea warms

A South Island mussel farmer is warning of a national shortage of mussels in two years time, because higher sea temperatures have affected the spat harvest.


11 April, 2015

Yesterday, the Sanford mussel plant in Christchurch announced its likely closure with the loss of up to 230 jobs, blaming warmer waters for a significant drop in mussel production.

Listen to more on Checkpoint ( 2 min 52 sec )

Paul Morgan of Kono New Zealand said water temperatures had risen two or three degrees because of climate change, and less rain has meant fewer nutrients going into the sea.

He said most of the industry's spat was collected at Kaitaia so many farms would not have mature mussels in 18 months time. Demand was growing at the same time as a reduction in volume being produced.

Sanford has started up a mussel hatchery at the Cawthron Aquaculture park in Nelson, but is not expecting it to have an effect on supply for a few years.
Marine scientist at Auckland University Andrew Jeffs said water around New Zealand varied, but had risen by at least one degree Celsius.

But he said drier weather was just as significant

"When we get more rainfall it washes nutrients off the land and then to the sea and that triggers growth that the food that shellfish like mussels consume in the water column. This las summer has been particularly dry especially in the north."

The government has been forced by the Green Party to correct an earlier false report. From Russel Norman,
via Facebook

Following my press release pointing out that more trees were being cut down than replanted, Tim Groser, the Minister for Climate Change, has had to correct his press release where he claimed the opposite. You nearly got away with it Tim!

New release:
While afforestation is currently happening slower than deforestation, as the carbon price rises I expect this trend will turn around,” Mr Groser said. [Corrected 5pm 10/4]


Original: The report also shows New Zealand is planting more trees, Mr Groser noted. “Forestry is an important part of our response to climate change, as forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For the past six years our level of afforestation has exceeded our rate of deforestation,” Mr Groser said.

Here is Radio NZ - 



The Ministry for the Environment (MFE) has published a lengthy report summarising New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 until 2013


The report found the total volume of those gas emissions rose from 66.7 million tonnes in 1990 to 81.0 million tonnes in 2013.

Brazil water crisis: 56 Northeastern cities are in state of collapse, says government

By Catherine Alencastro 

A former resident of the re-emerging old city of the Igarata. The ruins of a sunken town which had remained underwater since 1969 have re-emerged, as parts of Brazil grapple with the country's worst drought in 80 years. Photo: Nacho Doce / Reuters
9 April, 2015

[Translation by Microsoft Translator]


BRASILIA (O Globo) – In yet another government meeting to evaluate the water crisis in part of the country, the diagnosis is that, in the Northeast, there are currently 56 cities in a state of collapse, i.e., without water for more than four days. According to the government, there is an ongoing operation being managed by state and local governments. In the Southeast, despite the March rains, the water regime was lower than expected and the reservoirs of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are still operating below the average.

In relation to the Northeast, the Union asked for a diagnosis and said it will take further action with the army. It is estimated that up to 105 Northeastern cities can get into situation of collapse. The Minister of national integration, Gilberto Occhi, stated that at the next meeting of the working group which monitors the water crisis within the government, the situation of 500 wells and water supply systems in the Northeast will be assessed.

According to the government, there are studies indicating that this drought can last for up to three to four years. The Environment Minister, Izabella Teixeira, claimed that her team is devising a plan to adapt to climate change.

The Cantareira system, from São Paulo, is still below the dead volume, and follows operating with this water reserve. And the system of the Paraíba do Sul, Rio, is operating at its useful volume (so above the dead volume), but below average.

We're in the month of transition and, between now and June, the rains diminish too. The rains in the Southeast from October to March were 70% to 75% of the average historical values,” said Carlos Nobre, of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The President of the national water agency (ANA), Vicente Andreu, explained that the body has adjusted the withdrawal of water from the reservoirs of the Southeast to avoid depleting even more their levels. In the case of the Cantareira, the current water withdrawal is one third of the withdrawal in normal situations.

The situation of the Paraíba do Sul, according to the ANA, is better. The reservoir had "significant improvement" and operates at 16% of its useful volume. In February, the usable volume of the Paraíba do Sul was zero. Over the past year, however, the situation has deteriorated. The tank, at this same time in 2014, operated at 40% of its useful volume.

Izabella, Occhi and technicians gathered at the Presidential Palace in the Minister's Office Aloízio Mercadante.



From Australia's ABC



Global warming shifts spin axis of Earth




Scientists might have to change their projected timelines for when Greenland’s permafrost will completely melt due to man-made climate change, now that new research from Denmark has shown it could be thawing faster than expected.

Published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, the research shows that tiny microbes trapped in Greenland’s permafrost are becoming active as the climate warms and the permafrost begins to thaw. As those microbes become active, they are feeding on previously-frozen organic matter, producing heat, and threatening to thaw the permafrost even further.


In other words, according to the research, permafrost thaw could be accelerating permafrost thaw to a “potentially critical” level.




The Pacific Ocean may have entered a new warm phase — and the consequences could be dramatic



NASA GOES PROJECT via AFP

Two new studies have just hit about the “warm blob” in the northeast Pacific ocean — a 2 degree C or more temperature anomaly that began in the winter of 2013-2014 in the Gulf of Alaska and later expanded. Scientists have been astonished at the extent and especially the long-lasting nature of the warmth, with one NOAA researcher saying, “when you see something like this that’s totally new you have opportunities to learn things you were never expecting.”


Scientists seek source of giant methane mass over Southwest




Scientists are working to pinpoint the source of a giant mass of methane hanging over the southwestern U.S., which a study found to be the country's largest concentration of the greenhouse gas

The report that revealed the methane hot spot over the Four Corners region—where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet—was released last year.

Now, scientists from the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA are conducting a monthlong study to figure out exactly where it came from.

The answer could help reduce methane emissions that contribute to global warming






California's New Era of Heat Destroys All Previous Records




Sadly, this is only the beginning




The California heat of the past 12 months is like nothing ever seen in records going back to 1895. The 12 months before that were similarly without precedent. And the 12 months before that? A freakishly hot year, too. 


What's happening in California right now is shattering modern temperature measurements—as well as tree-ring records that stretch back more than 1,000 years. It's no longer just a record-hot month or a record-hot year that California faces. It's a stack of broken records leading to the worst drought that's ever beset the Golden State

SMOG ALERT: Potentially deadly Sahara dust cloud swarms across Hampshire



A POTENTIALLY deadly combination of toxic air mixed with a dust cloud from the Sahara has sparked a warning by health chiefs.

People in Hampshire with underlying medical and respiratory conditions including asthma have been urged to take extra precautions today as the poor air quality could trigger further health problems.


Vulnerable people are being urged to reduce the amount of physical activity they do and those particularly at risk should avoid it all together.



switchgrass field
(Photo : Flickr: Vincent Lousi Carrell)


A new virus has been discovered in North America, and it's leaving its victims covered in splotchy discolored paths and with little energy to stand. However, it's not people we're talking about, but grasses. A new viral infection for grasses has been identified in the United States, and experts say there is reason to be worried that it will jump to some of the country's most important food crops.



A section of a car can be seen in a gaping sinkhole that opened up a residential street on Chicago's South Side after a cast iron water main dating back to 1915 broke during a massive rain storm Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Chicago.
A section of a car can be seen in a gaping sinkhole that opened up a residential street on Chicago’s South Side after a cast iron water main dating back to 1915 broke during a massive rain storm Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Chicago.


Last month, Farmers Insurance Co. filed nine class-action lawsuits arguing that local governments in the Chicago area are aware that climate change is leading to heavier rainfall but are failing to prepare accordingly. The suits allege that the localities did not do enough to prepare sewers and stormwater drains in the area during a two-day downpour last April. In what could foreshadow a legal reckoning of who is liable for the costs of climate change, the class actions against nearly 200 Chicago-area communities look to place responsibility on municipalities, perhaps spurring them to take a more forward-looking approach in designing and engineering for a future made different by climate change.


Radioactivity symbol

Legislation rushed through in the final hours of parliament allows local planning laws to be bypassed, seriously alarming anti-nuclear campaigners

Shell complaint claims Greenpeace activists risk success of Arctic dill



Greenpeace activists hold a banner that reads 'The People vs. Shell' as they scaled the Polar Pioneer drill rig in the Pacific Ocean.  Six Greenpeace climbers have intercepted an Arctic-bound Shell oil rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 750 miles north-west of Hawaii and have scaled the 38,000 tonne platform.  At dawn this morning, the six, from the USA, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden and Austria, sped towards the Polar Pioneer, which Shell intends to use to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea, in inflatable boats launched from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza.



 Greenpeace activists have boarded the Polar Pioneer rig in the Pacific Ocean to protest Shell’s ‘crazy, crazy plan’ to drill for oil in the Arctic. Photograph: Vincenzo Floramo/Greenpeace

Shell has warned it could miss a window to drill for oil in the Arctic this summer, if six Greenpeace activists occupying a rig under contract to the company are not removed, court filings by the oil company reveal.

Failure to act against the climbers who boarded the Polar Pioneer rig 750 miles north of Hawaii on Monday would result in “irreparable harm” and “monetary damages”, the document seen by the Guardian shows.


The Greenpeace activists, from the US, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden and Austria, used inflatable boats and climbing gear on Monday to board the rig where they still remain and have unfurled banners in protest at the planned drilling in the polar region.




Destructive tornadoes and thunderstorms ripped through northern Illinois Thursday night, killing one person and injuring eight others in one tiny DeKalb County community where some people became homeless following the нdisaster.


And one person's history of man - 

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