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August 11, 2014
Senator Patty Murray Released Memo on How to Discuss Climate Change
On August 1, a memo about climate change was released by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. In the memo, Murray discussed the harm of climate change to the federal budget. Sen. Murray wrote, “. . . this is not just an environmental issue. Climate change will also have serious ramifications for our economy and the federal budget, and failure to confront it will make it harder to meet our nation’s long-term fiscal challenges.” The memo outlined climate change impacts on the federal budget, including national security, extreme weather disaster relief, agriculture, and transportation and water infrastructure. Sen. Murray urged the government to take actions in fighting climate change as soon as possible.
For more information see:
Washington Post, Memo
USAID and Rockefeller Foundation Announce $100 Million Partnership for Climate Resilience
On August 4, a $100 million Global Resilience Partnership was announced at the US-Africa Leaders Summit by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rockefeller Foundation. The purpose of this public-private partnership is to reduce the vulnerability of poor and at-risk communities when confronting the climate change. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, the disasters caused by extreme weathers have tripled over the last 30 years, and 48 percent of death in poor countries was caused by weather related disasters. USAID administrator Rajiv Shah said, "Disasters and shocks pose an unparalleled threat to the world's most vulnerable communities and hamstring the global humanitarian response. This new bold partnership will help the global community pivot from being reactive in the wake of disaster to driving evidence-based investments that enable cities, communities, and households to better manage and adapt to inevitable shocks.” This partnership will help African countries by activities such as investing in resilience building technologies and improve the disaster early warning systems. Shah believed that this $100 million is an “initial investment in what we hope, over time, is a shift of billions of dollars from dealing with disasters after the fact, to building better communities up front to avoid disasters to begin with.”
Philanthropy News Digest, Bloomberg, Prevention Web
States Sue EPA Over Carbon Emissions Rules
On August 1, 12 states sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over EPA’s power-plant rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions, known as 111(d). The states used a 2011 high court ruling in their argument, stating, “EPA may not employ section 111(d) if existing stationary sources of the pollution in question are regulated under . . . the ‘hazardous air pollutants’ program.” The lawsuit is led by West Virginia, and co-signed by Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Carolina, and Wyoming. David Doniger, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “This is a laughable lawsuit . . . I don’t think the courts will take more than 15 minutes to dismiss this.”
Bloomberg
Florida Solar Companies Ask State for More Time on Public Comment on Carbon Rules
On August 5, a coalition of 17 Florida solar companies urged Governor Rick Scott and the Public Service Commission (PSC) to extend Florida’s public comment period on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan. While the EPA has set a deadline of October 16, 2014 to receive comments regarding the overall plan, the PSC announced on July 10 that the public would have until August 8 to submit comments on how Florida will meet its carbon pollution reduction goals. The companies argue in the letter that the time frame provided is not adequate to fully address their concerns, stating that, “given how key the role of the Florida Public Service Commission will be to this process, it is imperative we have ample opportunity to have our voices heard.” Currently, renewable energy makes up only 2.2 percent of Florida’s energy mix, but this coalition of Florida-based businesses cited a 2008 report by Navigant which said that renewable energy sources have enormous potential in the state. While Governor Scott refuses to comment on the issue, a recent survey by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that 71 percent of Floridians believe climate change is caused by carbon pollution and 77 percent back the Clean Power Plan (see Climate Change News August 4).
Tampa Bay Times, Letter
African Leaders Call US Action ‘Critical’ For UN Climate Deal
From August 4 to 6, head climate negotiators from several African countries – including Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Ethiopia – met in Washington, DC, at the first United States-Africa Leaders Summit. Reuters reported the climate negotiators were optimistic the US would craft a global deal to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the 2015 Conference of the Parties (COP) United Nations meeting, although they noted that the partisan divide in the US makes a climate agreement more difficult. According to Jennifer Morgan, Director of the World Resources Institute (WRI) climate program, African countries, which produce only three percent of the world’s GHG emissions, are especially vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change. During the Summit, the United States announced several initiatives to address both causes and impacts of climate change in Africa. This included a new $300 million annual commitment to the Power Africa initiative (announced in 2013), as well as a $100 million Global Resilience Partnership between USAID and the Rockefeller Foundation. The White House commented, “Climate Change poses serious challenges for Africa, as it does for regions around the world, from extreme weather to sea level rise to drought. But building resilience to climate impacts and expanding clean energy resources will create opportunities for entrepreneurs, innovators and young people across Africa – and help the continent continue its progress toward building sustainable, dynamic economies for decades to come.”
Whitehouse.gov, Reuters, The Hill
European Forests Vulnerable to Climate Change
On August 3, a study published in Nature Climate Change found that climate change has been the primary driver behind increasing forest disturbances over the past century, including incidences of bark beetle infestations, wildfires, and wind. The report, from the European Forest Institute, found damage to the forest reached 56 million cubic meters of timber per year from 2002-2010 and predicted problems will intensify, resulting in an additional one million cubic meters of damage every year for the next 20 years. “Disturbances such as windthrow and forest fires are part of the natural dynamics of forest ecosystems, and are not a catastrophe for the ecosystem,” said Rupert Seidl, the study’s principal researcher and senior scientist at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria. “However, these disturbances have intensified considerably in recent decades, which increasingly challenges the sustainable management of forest ecosystems.” Further, the carbon sink effect of Europe’s forests – already nearing saturation point according to a 2013 study – is diminished by the disturbances, causing feedback within the climate system, and effectively strengthening the effects of climate change. The study emphasizes the need for forest policy and management to cultivate a resilient and adaptive approach to ensure forests remain productive and healthy.
The Guardian, Discovery News, Study, 2013 Study
World’s Top PR Firms Refuse to Represent Climate Deniers
On August 4, results from a survey issued by the Guardian and the Climate Investigations Center (CIC) found that 10 of the top 25 global public relations (PR) companies will no longer work with climate change deniers, marking a shift in the multi-billion dollar PR industry. Several of the firms refusing to work with climate deniers include: WPP, Waggener Edstrom (WE) Worldwide, Weber Shandwick, Text100, and Finn Partners. A spokesman for Edelman, a US-based PR firm, did not rule out taking climate deniers on as clients, but instead said it will consider clients on a case-by-case basis. According to Kert Davies, founder of CIC, this is an important issue because, “The PR industry is a major component of the influence peddling industry that stretches across Washington [DC] and the world, and they are making large sums of money from energy companies and other important players that have businesses connected to fossil fuels and energy policy.” The results of this survey are not conclusive, as not all of the top 25 PR firms responded. Some of those not commenting have a history of working for groups calling for climate action.
The Guardian, Salon
Study Shows Warming of Atlantic Ocean Leading to Other Climate Changes
On August 3, a study published in Nature Climate Change linked the strengthening of the Pacific trade winds to the warming of the Atlantic Ocean. Since the late 1990s, the Pacific winds known as the Walker circulation are growing stronger, moving air and moisture away from the southwestern U.S. and depositing it in southeastern Asia. The intensity of the winds are amplifying drought in California, speeding up sea-level rise in the western Pacific, and causing Pacific cooling, contributing to a pause in global surface temperature rises. The study found that Atlantic warming, also an effect of climate change, has led to pressure differences between the Atlantic and Pacific basins. “The enormous pressure see-saw with high pressure in the Pacific and low pressure in the Atlantic gave the Pacific trade winds an extra kick, amplifying their strength,” said Axel Timmermann, co-lead author of the study. “It's like giving a playground roundabout an extra push as it spins past." Climate scientists are hesitant to accept the findings as final, however. “[This] proposal isn’t crazy, but figuring out how these things are connected will take months and years,” said Carl Wunsch, visiting professor of physical oceanography and climate at Harvad. “Causality in anything remotely as complicated as the climate system is an exceedingly difficult concept.”
New York Times, Motherboard, Sydney Morning Herald, Study
Study Shows Melting Permafrost May Cause Siberian Craters
On July 31, an article was published in Nature explaining the cause behind a recently formed 30-meter wide crater in the Yamal peninsula in Siberia. Andrei Plekhanov, archeologist at the Scientific Centre of Arctic Studies in Salekhard, Russia, said the crater was caused by a methane build-up resulting from thawing permafrost. While air normally contains 0.000179 percent methane, the expedition led by Plekhanov found that the air at the bottom of the crater contained methane levels of up to 9.6 percent. The summers of 2012 and 2013 in Yamal were warmer by an average of five degrees Celsius, and the researchers suggested that the rising temperatures in Yamal led to permafrost thaw and collapse, resulting in the release of methane previously trapped beneath the icy layer. Other scientists argue that a gradual thaw in the region could have caused the methane burst, as permafrost at a depth of 20 meters has increased in temperature by 2 degrees Celsius in past 20 years. Larry Hinzman, permafrost hydrologist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and director of the International Arctic Research Center, said the appearance of these craters could become more common as the permafrost continues to thaw.
The Washington Post, EcoWatch, Study
Wildfire Smoke Shown to Cause Mortalities and Climate Change
On July 30, Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson published a study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres that found smoke from wildfires and open burning biomass is contributing more to climate change, and causing more mortalities, than previously stated. “We calculate that 5 to 10 percent of worldwide air pollution mortalities are due to biomass burning,” Jacobson said. “That means that it causes the premature deaths of about 250,000 people each year,” and perhaps up to 435,000 a year. Jacobson calculated that 8.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution is caused by biomass burning, about 18 percent of the anthropogenic CO2 emitted each year. In addition to CO2, biomass burning produces black carbon and brown carbon, which cause further warming. According to Jacobson, the planetary warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases – including the warming caused by black and brown carbon – amount to a temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius during the 20-year period in their computer simulation. There is a cooling effect from light-colored particles in organic carbon pollution, which cause cooling of “slightly more than one degree Celsius,” Jacobson said, “So you end up with a total net warming gain of 0.9 degrees Celsius or so. Of that net gain, we’ve calculated that biomass burning accounts for about 0.4 degrees Celsius,” or more than 44 percent of the total. “As raging wildfires are becoming increasingly common, these studies reiterate the escalating effect of climate change right now,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “Fast action to reduce agriculture burning and to manage the fire risk of our forests can provide critical mitigation, and save millions of lives a year.”
In related news on August 3, a second research paper in Nature Geosciences further confirms the warming effect of brown carbon released from biomass burning. In addition, on August 5, White House Counselor to the President John Podesta sent a message called The Cost of Inaction to the White House email list, which stated that anthropogenic climate change is happening, climate change is contributing to wildfires, and waiting to act on climate change is increasing economic costs to communities threatened by wildfires. In the email, Podesta said, “Make no mistake: The cost of inaction on wildfires and climate change is too high a price for Americans to pay, particularly when we have a chance to address this right now.”
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Study, Nature Geoscience Study, Stanford News, John Podesta’s Cost of Inaction, IGSD Primer of Short Lived Climate Pollutants
Headlines
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1. Oysters Dying Off in Washington State
2. Climate Change Contributing to Algal Blooms in Lake Erie
3. Climate Change Pushing Wolverine Towards Endangered Species Listing
4. New York Times Blog: Dispelling Climate Change Myths
5. China to Ban Coal Power in Beijing
6. The Case for Reducing Population to Reduce Carbon Emissions
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