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February 27, 2017
The glaciers that provide much of La Paz, Bolivia's water have been melting due to a warming climate, contributing to water shortages for parts of the city. Photo courtesy of Matthew Straubmuller via flickr.org.
On February 22, days after Scott Pruitt’s swearing in as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, 6,000 pages of emails illustrating his close coordination with the oil and gas industry were released to the public. Senate Democrats had tried in the previous week to postpone a final confirmation vote on Pruitt until these emails had been released via a court order, but Republicans acted along party lines to beat the court's deadline. The emails capture Pruitt's efforts as Oklahoma's attorney general, and his close ties to the oil and gas industries, to oppose the agency he is now tasked with leading. “Thank you to your respective bosses and all they are doing to push back against President Obama’s EPA and its axis with liberal environmental groups,” said an email sent to Pruitt by an Oklahoma congressman in 2013. Another email from an industry representative to a Pruitt aide explains that actions to roll back environmental protections are "more credible coming from a state [office]," versus the private sector. The emails document "secret" meetings" between then Attorney General Pruitt and industry executives with the goal of weakening federal environmental regulations. Oil executives also engaged in fundraising for political organizations that Pruitt led during this period.
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New York Times, Washington Post
A new report from the city of Boston, titled “Climate Ready Boston,” recommended that the city should prepare for sea levels to rise at least 1.5 feet higher from 2000 levels by mid-century and 3 feet higher by 2070. As a result, officials have begun to consider building a massive sea wall in an effort to protect the $80 billion worth of real estate and 90,000 residents at risk of future flooding. The two main goals of this project would be to hold back the regular high tide (which could cause frequent flooding under expected sea level scenarios) and to blunt the impact of cresting waves during a storm. While building such a barrier could cost the city an estimated “tens of billions of dollars, or more,” according to engineers at Tetra Tech, the cost of inaction could be even greater. It is predicted that if sea levels rise three feet from current levels, Boston would experience an average of $1.4 billion a year in flood damages. The sea wall is one of many actions being considered by the city.
Boston Globe
A coalescence of factors in China, including the nation's economic maturation and an increased international focus on climate change, have led its leaders to consider more aggressive measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the greatest motivation for action has been the widespread smog plaguing major Chinese cities. China has begun to unleash climate activists and state-controlled media that had been previously discouraged from discussing China’s environmental problems and the polluters most responsible. In 2014, the government started releasing regularly updated data on thousands of domestic factories. Environmental activist Ma Jun's non-profit Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs used the data to develop a smart phone app allowing the public to track the pollution where they live and report offenders. Ma said, “[In 2016] alone, we got seventy thousand records of violations." He explains that “this is historical progress” in transparency that he and others had been fighting to bring about for years. He added the efforts demonstrate "real political will from the government to fight against pollution."
CNN
Carlsberg Brewery recently vacated its large industrial plant in Copenhagen, leaving behind a wealth of opportunity for developers who seek to repurpose the 6.45 million square feet of space by constructing the world’s first carbon neutral city. The proposal includes nine high-rise residential buildings, as well as other townhouses and low-rise buildings. In total, these areas will have space for 3,100 apartments, 600 of which are designed specifically to be low-cost or student housing. The neighborhood will be home to the University College Copenhagen, as well as schools, bars, restaurants and cafes. All of the buildings will be designed to be 100 percent carbon neutral by employing renewable energy and achieving the best possible energy efficiency. This includes installing wind turbines and solar panels near the city, as well as building green roofs onto the buildings. Residents will also play a role in going carbon neutral: they are encouraged to ride bicycles or opt for electric or hydrogen-powered cars.
New York Times
The city of La Paz, Bolivia has always relied on its neighboring glaciers for water, with runoff providing 10 to 20 percent of its annual water supply and providing a crucial buffer in times of drought. However, as global temperatures rise, these glaciers are beginning to disappear. Thirty-seven percent of the tropical glaciers around La Paz melted between 1980 and 2009. As a result, many parts of Bolivia are now dealing with water shortages; the combined impact of drought, melting glaciers, faulty infrastructure systems, and ineffective or negligent government institutions have caused cities like La Paz to struggle. The water shortages have led to rationing, with some neighborhoods in La Paz receiving water once every three days for a short period. The resulting hardship and a lack of transparency from the government has led to protests and tense meetings between citizens and public officials. The region's agricultural sector was also hit hard by drought, causing farmers to migrate to urban areas.
Popular Science
Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, is now moving to construct an extension of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, which would cut through the heart of Louisiana’s rural bayou country. Supporters of the pipeline characterize it as a necessary piece of energy infrastructure, but the company has already begun to face significant opposition in the form of environmentalists, individual property owners, disgruntled crawfish farmers, and flood protection advocates. Those against the pipeline state that the construction and operation of the pipeline would impose major damages on the bayou ecosystem and threaten to pollute water supplies in the event of a pipeline leak. Energy Transfer and its affiliates have one of the highest leakage rates of any pipeline company and have experienced nearly 260 leaks of hazardous liquids across its systems since 2010. Many residents fear construction will move ahead despite the vocal opposition, much as it did with the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Reuters
In 2015, a group of young people brought a case against the United States government, arguing that the government failed to protect them from the public health hazards of climate change, despite the fact that there has been sufficient evidence of its existence for decades. During recent court proceedings, however, the lead attorney for U.S. manufacturers and oil and gas companies, Frank Volpe, was unable to answer a basic question about the present level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, claiming he did not know. The atmospheric CO2 level is considered to be settled science, according to Russell Schnell, deputy director of the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory. There are no peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate atmospheric CO2 levels below 400 ppm. Despite being presented with this evidence, Volpe continued to defer to expert witnesses, repeatedly stating that he did not know what the global CO2 levels were. Volpe is not the first to use this kind of language in an attempt to skirt widely accepted climate science. The plaintiffs hope to move the case to trial by fall of 2017.
Scientific American
Lobbying groups collectively representing the automobile manufacturing industry have written letters to new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to reverse last month’s decision by the Obama administration to advance the tougher fuel-economy fleet standard of 54.5 miles per gallon automakers are currently required to meet by 2025. On January 13th, then EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy determined the fuel efficiency rules put in place by President Obama should be finalized. Automakers claim that the implemented rules could result in around 1 million jobs lost, as the targets will be difficult and expensive to reach. They argue consumers will be less willing to buy more efficient vehicles, as they will be more expensive than models that are less fuel-efficient. “An increasing number of cars achieve the goal now. The industry is just trying to take advantage of Trump’s anti-regulation policies and put the health of people and the environment at risk," stated Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign.
Reuters, New York Times
A new study in Nature Communications discovered challenges for 27 "pure liquid" candidates to replace hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), chemicals currently used in refrigerators and air conditioners. Researchers spent years looking at millions of liquid candidates to replace the current HFCs, while accounting for various aspects, such as their “global warming potential (GWP), toxicity, energy efficiency, and flammability.” According to Mark McLinden, the study’s primary author at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, “There are no perfect options for low GWP refrigerants. There are tradeoffs and the biggest tradeoff is [between] GWP and flammability.” Chemical blends represent an additional option, but are more complicated and expensive than the pure liquid HFCs they are designed to replace, causing concern for less developed countries that may not be able to afford the transition. Under the recently approved Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, HFCs will be largely phased out by 2050, helping to avoid half a degree of global warming by 2100.
Inside Climate News
The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface and is home to millions of species around the globe. Six particular marine "hotspots" boast especially high biodiversity levels. However, these six areas are also most at risk, due to the dual threats of climate change and overfishing. As increasing temperatures slow the natural processes that mix water columns in the ocean, nutrient availability also decreases, leading to less primary productivity and food. Each hotspot will experience climate change differently, depending on the actual impacts and the habitat needs of the wildlife living there. The world's fisheries are also under enormous pressure, as the global fishing industry exceeds the rate at which species can replenish themselves. Much of this overfishing is occurring in these "hotspot" zones in tandem with climate impacts. Ultimately, protecting these hotspots will rely on international cooperation to support climate change mitigation, as well as enforcing sustainable fishing practices.
Carbon Brief
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