Friday 10 April 2015

Rapid climate change - headlines - 04/08/2015


Climate collapse: one day’s coverage



Melting Accelerates in Antarctica: So Far, 2015 Is Hottest Year Yet


Iceberg melt

(Image: Iceberg melt via Shutterstock)
According to NASA, every year for the last decade alone, 130 billion tons of ice have melted in Antarctica. For context, that is the weight of more than 356,000 Empire State Buildings and enough ice melt to fill more than 1.3 million Olympic swimming pools. And the melting is accelerating at a pace that is making scientists' heads spin.

To make matters worse, recent research casts doubt on other studies that have oversold the role of the natural climate's ability to halt anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) during the next 15 years. Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann, one of the authors of the study said, "Our work reinforces the notion that there is no pause in human-caused global warming. If anything, we've been lulled into a false complacency by the fact that internal oscillations in the climate system temporarily masked some of that warming.


That may come back to bite us as these oscillations swing back in the other direction and add to global warming in the decades ahead."




Study shows microbes may accelerate loss of permafrost in Greenland




Among the best preserved kitchen-middens in the world, the Qajaa site has until now been preserved by permafrost in one of the most Northern World Heritage sites. Credit: Bo Elberling


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-microbes-loss-permafrost-greenland.html#jCp
Study shows microbes may accelerate loss of permafrost in Greenland




Among the best preserved kitchen-middens in the world, the Qajaa site has until now been preserved by permafrost in one of the most Northern World Heritage sites. Credit: Bo Elberling


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-microbes-loss-permafrost-greenland.html#jCp
Study shows microbes may accelerate loss of permafrost in Greenland




Among the best preserved kitchen-middens in the world, the Qajaa site has until now been preserved by permafrost in one of the most Northern World Heritage sites. Credit: Bo Elberling


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-microbes-loss-permafrost-greenland.html#jCp

A small team of researchers working in Greenland has found that as microbes become active in permafrost, they produce heat, which can increase the rate of permafrost loss. In their paper published in Nature Climate Change, the researchers, affiliated with the University of Copenhagen and the National Museum of Denmark describe simulations they created that showed possible impacts of microbe activation in permafrost areas.

"Cannot be directly attributed to climate change" .So they say!




A remarkable heat wave warmed Antarctica’s northernmost peninsula to slightly above 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius) in March — a record high for the normally cold continent. But scientists say the balmy conditions were caused by a "freak weather event," and cannot be directly attributed to climate change.


These two videos illustrate the effects of rapid climate change in areas we rarely hear about.

From Davao City in the Philippines

Bandila: Beware of summer diseases; El Nino drying up rice and corn fields





Walking under the scorching sun during midday is a terrible task due to the extreme heat and humidity. Health officials warn the public to be cautious to prevent having summer diseases. The weak El Nino affects thousands of hectares of corn and rice fields. 


From Vietnam




Your Almond Habit Is Sucking California Dry



The almond boom may prove bad news for everyone who relies on California's farms for sustenance. You might have heard that the state, supplier of half of US-grown produce, is locked in its worst drought on record. Meanwhile, it takes 1.1 gallons of water to produce a single almond, as my colleagues Alex Park and Julia Lurie have shown. You don't have to scramble to figure how many almonds make up 2.1 billion pounds to realize that that's a hell of a lot of water.”


Calif. Continues to Shatter Temperature Records


A time series of California annual temperatures, with an arrow pointing to the incredible heat of the past few years.  Credit: NOAA

The dubious records keep piling up for California, a state wracked by four years of drought brought on by a pernicious weather pattern that has kept rains at bay and exacerbated by human-induced warming. Just one week after the state measured its lowest-ever snowpack, U.S. scientists have announced that the year so far has been the warmest on record, setting expectations for a long, hot, dry year ahead.


2015 to date has been truly astonishingly warm in California, and we're breaking almost all the temperature records there are to break,” Daniel Swain, an atmospheric science PhD student at Stanford University, said in an email.





(Photo: NASA/Reuters)
A report finds that the state that supplies the world with food, technology, and entertainment faces economic calamity as temperatures soar.


April 1 snowpack the 3d-lowest in 30 years; state preps for low runoff and summer streamflows.

sfdg
Colorado snowpack started to decline in March, a month ahead of schedule.

Colorado water users need to prepare for below-average spring and summer runoff and streamflow based on the all-important April 1 snow survey, which showed a startling drop in the state’s snowpack since early March.

After tallying readings from automated SNOTEL sites and manual snow surveys, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service said the water content of the snowpack is just 64 percent of average, down from 89 percent at the beginning of March.

Harbor seals, sea lions gather by the thousands near mouth of Columbia River


This aerial photo taken earlier this month shows a record number of harbor seals and California sea lions resting on a sandbar in the Columbia River estuary.


Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/03/21/3693522_harbor-seals-sea-lions-gather.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

At low tide, a record 6,500 harbor seals sprawl like maggots across the exposed carcass of the lower Columbia River estuary.

An estimated 1,600 California sea lions are so brazen in Astoria’s East Mooring Basin that some shuffle up the ramp and threaten tourists on the viewing causeway.

Biologists and sport and commercial fishing fleets alike are fearfully watching as the smelt that brought them here fade to spring chinook salmon.


No one is optimistic.




Solar Seawater Distiller Turns Salt Water into Drinking Water Using Only Sunlight








Ezequiel Antônio Castanha accused of operating network that illegally seized federal lands and is blamed for 20% of Amazon deforestation in recent years


The Chevron Tapes: Video Shows Oil Giant Allegedly Covering Up Amazon Contamination


Another twist has emerged in a decades-long legal battle pitting residents of Ecuador's Amazon forest and their controversial trial attorney against one of the world's largest energy companies.


Environmental advocates released a video today that they describe as evidence of attempts by Chevron to skirt Ecuadoran law and cover up contamination of the Amazon.

The footage, shared exclusively with VICE News by the environmental group Amazon Watch and released to the public on Wednesday, appears to show workers associated with Chevron looking for clean, uncontaminated soil but instead finding samples tainted with crude oil. The work appears to take place in an area of the jungle that has been the focus of a lawsuit between Chevron and local residents, who claim that the company is responsible for oil spills that have damaged their health and the environment.

Representatives from Amazon Watch said that they were mailed 47 DVDs of internal Chevron videos in April 2011, including those shown to VICE News. No return address was listed on the package, which the group says is no longer in its possession. Along with the DVDs, the envelope included a note that read: "I hope this is useful for you in the trial against Texaco/Chevron! A friend from Chevron."

Chevron purchased Texaco in 2001, assuming its assets and legal liabilities.

Steven Donziger, the lawyer representing the Ecuadoran residents, and Amazon Watch, which has advocated on behalf of them, say that Chevron conducted the inspections shown on the video in anticipation of a visit to the area by Ecuadoran court officials — a practice that they argue violated the law while illustrating the extraordinary lengths the company has gone to cover-up its toxic legacy.

Chevron denies those claims and points to a recent US court ruling against Donziger








Cargo ship spills toxic oil in Vancouver's English Bay


Image: Seaside Signs
Port Metro Vancouver says there was an oil spill in the waters of English Bay on Wednesday.

The Canadian Coast Guard is leading the cleanup operation and has been working with Western Canada Marine Response Corporation to contain and recover the substance since last night.

The City of Vancouver has stated that the substance is bunker fuel used to run a vessel and is toxic. There have been social media reports that some of the oil has reached the beaches and seawall of downtown.


The Western Canada Marine Response Corporation has set up a boom around ship Marathassa in an attempt to contain the spill and police, park rangers and Stanley Park Ecology Society staff are stationed at the beach areas to keep the public away.

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.

The US drought
USDM 4 7 15: Still just under 37% of lower 48 in , with slight intensification.



Another State Agency Just Banned the Words "Climate Change"




Yesterday, the three-person commission that oversees a public land trust in Wisconsin voted 2-1 to block the trust's dozen public employees "from engaging in global warming or climate change work while on BCPL time."


McDonald's to build new retaurant at Machu Picchu



McDonald's to open site in Macchu Picchu

McDonald’s Peru have today announced plans to build the first fast food outlet on Macchu Picchu, in a move they say will ‘bring the taste of McPeru to one of the world’s greatest heritage sites’.

The restaurant will be located in the former workers’ houses, 5 minutes walk from the famous Temple of the Sun. In a press release, McDonald’s have stated their commitment to building a ‘sympathetic’ addition to the complex, by using local traditional techniques such as a straw roof and dry-stone walling. To protect the beauty of the site, only an extractor vent and the signage will be visible from the exterior.

House Votes To Sell Apache Land To Foreign Corporation, The Tribe Is Furious




For over 5 years, a measure to cede 2,400 acres sacred to the Apache tribe for use in copper mining has been pushed in Congress. Backed by various well-paid corporatist congress members such as Senator John McCain, this measure inevitably dies from the outrage of the native tribes who care for this land. So, this year the members backed by legalized bribes by foreign corporations have attached the measure to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act in a lame duck session of congress.

The land in question is part of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. The areas which would be destroyed by the mining operation include Devil’s Canyon, a popular hiking trail, and Apache’s Leap where 75 Apache men, women and children were massacred by US troops in 1871. The loss of either would be a cultural loss not only for the Apache nation, but for all of us.

The attempt to hide this brazen attempt to sell off cultural heritage for mere coin tells us how these congress members feel about their duty to protect this nation. One must wonder how much of the estimated $61 billion in revenue is to be lining these congress members pockets if the bill passes intact. After all, members of congress regularly reap huge profits from bills they introduce......


Harbor seal pups also impacted by food shortage in Monterey Bay





350.org have produced a video called "Tipping Points" How much else are they not telling us about (to please their corporate sponsors)?


Tipping Pints
Our earlier post was about a possible 9°C rise if we burn all our fossil fuels. Here's why even a 2°C rise makes us really anxious. http://watchdisruption.com
Posted by 350.org on Wednesday, 8 April 2015

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