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May 21, 2018
Researchers have found that large-scale algae blooms are on the rise in the United States, in part due to warmer temperatures. Photo courtesy of NOAA via flickr.com.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has reportedly received staunch pushback from the agency's Science Advisory Board (SAB) regarding his proposal to restrict the types of scientific studies that may be used to formulate new rules. The proposal would specifically ban EPA from using studies that do not reveal their underlying data and methodology, which could consequently exclude vital public health studies that require participant confidentiality. These types of health studies tend to be significant resources for EPA in making the case for the benefits of clean air standards. Ten SAB members issued a signed memo calling for the full board to assess Pruitt's proposal at its May 31 meeting. The memo notes that Pruitt's action was formulated without key input from the scientific community. The memo stated, "The development of guidelines and rules in this arena requires careful collaboration between the government and the scientific community. Major national science organizations have taken on a separate campaign to halt Pruitt's proposal.
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InsideClimate News
Officials in the western United States are dealing with a range of issues stemming from low flow in parts of the Rio Grande and Colorado River. States in the Colorado River Basin are being urged to install drought contingency plans by the end of 2018 to prepare for an increasingly strained water supply. Meanwhile, officials are trying to save endangered fish in New Mexico, where the Rio Grande is beginning to run dry at an unusually early time of year. The Southwest's wildfire season has also started early, with at least 10 major wildfires having already burned tens of thousands of acres. Researchers are eyeing diminished mountain snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains as one culprit behind the parched conditions. The California Department of Water Resources found that the Sierra's snowpack levels were only 52 percent of its historical average. The Colorado River Basin has also experienced some of its lowest snowpack levels in decades. Collectively, the mountain snowpack provides drinking water to millions of people, while the spring runoff helps moisten the soil and reduce stress on vegetation.
Scientific American
The state of Alaska is actively discussing policies to address climate change, including greenhouse gas emission reduction goals targeting 2025 and a potential carbon tax on industry emissions. Alaska is already experiencing the effects of global warming. The permafrost located underneath much of the state's buildings and infrastructure is beginning to thaw and destabilize the construction above. At least 31 towns and cities may have to relocate farther inland due to the loss of sea ice buffers and severe wave erosion of the shoreline. Alaska's Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott said, “The change has been so real and so widespread that it’s become impossible to ignore. Folks are realizing that it’s something we have to deal with." A task force established by Gov. Bill Walker is scheduled to provide recommendations by September 2018 on policies to help Alaska reduce its emissions and better adapt to climate change. This desire to deal with climate change is contradicted by the fact that 85 percent of Alaska's budget is funded by revenue from oil production. Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Mallott recently declared in an op-ed that “[Alaska] will continue to be an energy producer for as long as there is a market for fossil fuels."
New York Times
A study from researchers at the University of East Anglia has documented an increasing number of industries relocating from China and India to less-developed Asian countries. This trend may undermine global emission reduction targets outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, since the less-developed nations typically have less capacity or resources to deal with large-scale emission reductions. The study found that energy-intensive industries, including electronics manufacturing and steel production, are moving to countries with cheaper labor like Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Meanwhile, China's economy is beginning to shift to "higher value-added" products and services as its labor costs rise. China itself has sought to cut its emissions from these industries in order to improve its air quality and preserve worker health, but less-developed countries have begun exporting more and experienced a simultaneous surge in emissions. International trade increased by 50 percent between 2005 and 2015, with 60 percent of that representing growth in exports from developing countries. Lead author Dabo Guan said that China and India should help ensure their former industries adopt energy efficient technologies and methods in less-industrialized nations.
Reuters
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a report predicting the number of air-conditioning units worldwide will explode from 1.6 billion today to 5.6 billion by 2050. If this looming trend is not addressed, air-conditioners could end up consuming as much electricity in the future as the entire country of China uses today. The report calculates that generating enough electricity to power all those air-conditioning units could lead to twice as many greenhouse gas emissions, thus exacerbating global warming and the need for air-conditioning. Today, most air-conditioners are located in a few countries, primarily the United States and Japan. Ninety percent of American homes have air-conditioning. IEA predicts that as incomes increase in the developing world, much of the growth in air-conditioning units will occur in India, China, and Indonesia. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said, “When we look in fact at the hot countries in the world, in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, where about 2.8 billion people live, only about 8 percent of the population owns an air-conditioner."
Chlorofluorocarbons were initially phased out and subsequently banned from use around the world under the 1987 Montreal Protocol. Thus, scientists were surprised to discover that global emissions from the chemical (CFC-11) have increased by 25 percent since 2012. A U.S. observatory in Hawaii traced the CFC-11 emissions to somewhere in eastern Asia, but were unable to narrow down the source. A group scientists at NOAA collaborated with researchers in the Netherlands and United Kingdom on the results, which were published in the journal Nature. Monitors suspect that someone is continuing to manufacture CFC-11 illegally, but are perplexed as to why given its virtually non-existent market and the availability of substitute chemicals. Durwood Zaelke, founder of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, said, "There’s some slight possibility there’s an unintentional release, but … [the researchers] make it clear there’s strong evidence this is actually being produced.” CFC-11 is used primarily in foam production, contributes to the destruction of atmospheric ozone, and is a highly potent greenhouse gas.
Washington Post
According to a new study appearing in the British Journal of Management, most American insurance companies have failed to adequately modify their strategies to cope with the risks of climate change. The alleged complacency is expected to force the industry to increase insurance rates or even deny coverage in the most vulnerable areas. Thousands of people who live in areas that are regularly struck by extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, could end up unable to afford insurance in the future or lose their coverage altogether. In 2017, three record-setting hurricanes hit the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, causing billions of dollars in damage, but the study found that the majority of insurance companies continue to treat such storms as "anomalous rather than correlated to climate change." A 2015 analysis by reinsurer Swiss Re noted that insured losses reached an all-time high between 2004 and 2014. However, as of 2015, only three percent of a sample of 178 property insurers and reinsurers were taking climate change into consideration in their operations and investments.
A report from the non-profit Environmental Working Group documented nearly 300 large algae blooms across the United States since 2010. In 2017 alone, 169 such events occurred. Scientists have projected an increase in algae blooms as a consequence of climate change. The blooms themselves can also emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases, as a recent report from the University of Minnesota, Minnesota Sea Grant, and U.S. EPA found. Lead researcher John Downing and his team examined lakes and impoundments, finding that "as the lakes go greener, more eutrophic, the atmospheric effect of the lakes skyrockets. That's because plants are decomposing and shooting methane and CO2 into the atmosphere." Downing added that a modest increase in algae blooms could increase the greenhouse effect of lakes by 5-40 percent. Algae blooms, particularly in the Great Lakes, are largely fueled by phosphorus contained in agricultural runoff. In 2014, a toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie caused health officials to declare the city of Toledo's water supply unsafe for drinking and bathing.
A study appearing in the journal PLOS One has found that hundreds of fish and invertebrate species will move as much as 900 miles farther north to escape warming ocean waters. The mass migration would significantly disrupt the fishing industry on the east and west coasts of the United States and Canada. Some of the species expected to be most affected include Atlantic cod, black sea bass, and Pacific rockfish. Lead author James Morley of Rutgers University said, "We’ve already seen that shifts of a couple of hundred miles in a species’ range can disrupt fisheries." Co-author Malin Pinsky of Rutgers added that the shift in habitat for commercially valuable species will lead to longer trips and higher fuel costs for fishermen. The study drew from 16 different climate models to project future ocean temperatures, then combined this data with statistical models on the known temperature preferences of various fish species. In New England, warming waters could decrease the region's cod population by 90 percent, while lobster populations are expected to continue their northward march.
Boston Globe
Federal Appeals Court Halts Progress on Atlantic Coast Pipeline Due to Vague Environmental Review
Survey: Nearly 60 Percent of Americans Say Climate Change Is Currently Affecting Their Community
Investors Managing More Than $2.5 Trillion Urge Oil Companies to Avoid Risk of Drilling in ANWR
Warmer Waters from Atlantic and Pacific Oceans Infiltrate the Arctic, Alter Ecosystems
NOAA: Multiyear Sea Ice Is on the Decline in the Arctic
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