Category: Global Warming

bookmark_borderClimate Crisis Update

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Florida town dealing with sea level rise
“Our risk is undeniable. The modelers get it. The mortgage institutions get it. Insurance gets it.”
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2019/12/27/a-south-florida-towns-pioneering-plan-to-fund-retreat-from-sea-rise/

sea level rise and storm surge
“every 10cm of sea level rise increases the frequency of a given coastal flood by a factor of three.”

“This means that 10cm of sea level rise will turn a one-in-100-year coastal flood into a one-in-33-year event. With another 10cm of sea level rise, it becomes a one-in-11-year event, and so on.”

“A 10cm rise in sea levels might translate to 30 or 40 metres of inland movement of the high tide line”

“Another 30cm of sea level rise is already â??baked inâ??, guaranteed over the next 40 years, regardless of what happens with greenhouse gas emissions and action on climate change. By the end of the century, at least another 20cm on top of that is virtually certain.”

“The 30cm rise multiplies the chances of coastal flooding by a factor of around 27 (3x3x3) and 50cm by the end of the century increases coastal flooding frequency by a factor of around 250. That would make the one-in-100-year coastal flood likely every few months”

In reality we may see 200 cm sea level rise by 2100, and 100 cm by 2050

https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-why-coastal-floods-are-becoming-more-frequent-as-seas-rise-127202

Panama Canal hit by climate change
” recurrent droughts caused by climate change are the main threat to the 80 kilometer-long canal ”

“A historic deficit of rainfall has lowered the water level in the lakes which supply the Canal and the “challenge is now to find the solution to this lack of water for the next 50 years,” he explained. ”

“the temperature of Gatun Lake, the main tributary of the Canal, has increased by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past ten years, which causes significant loss of water by evaporation.”

“Panama is studying the possibility of finding other freshwater resources for the Canal, such as pumping or desalinating seawater, or even building reservoirs.”

https://phys.org/news/2019-12-panama-years-canal-climate-threat.html

Do you need flood insurance?

  • Homeowners insurance does NOT cover flooding
  • Flood insurance is obtained through the government’s flood insurance program
  • Flood insurance does not cover the basement of a house
  • Flood insurance covers a lifetime maximum of $250,000 in coverage
    This means if you make a claim for $150,000 the maximum coverage for the life of the property drops to $100,000.

The Human Induced Climate Change Experiment

bookmark_borderSea Level Rise in New Jersey

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A report by Rutgers University documents the greater than average rise in sea level along the New Jersey shore. Not only is the sea level rising, but the land is also sinking.

Among the report’s findings: Sea levels rose an average of 1.5 feet along the New Jersey coast from 1911 to 2019, compared with the global average of 0.6 feet. New Jersey coastal areas are likely to experience a sea-level rise of up to 2.1 feet by 2050.

Coastal flooding, storm surges and extreme weather events are also wreaking havoc on the Jersey shore.

“Human-caused climate change is accelerating sea-level rise in New Jersey and, together with shifts in coastal storms, driving increases in coastal flood hazards,” according to the authors.

Read the report: Sea Level Rise in New Jersey

Related Information:
Atlantic City Going Under

Climate Change

Rising Sea Level

Flood Insurance

Extreme Weather Events

bookmark_borderThe Hemp Myth, Carbon Sinks and the Environment

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by Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee

Q: Is hemp a good solution for carbon sequestration (carbon sinks) and/or beneficial to the environment?

A: No, not really. In general, hemp only acts as a carbon sink while it is growing and left unharvested. The harvesting usually negates any net-negative carbon sink. (ie more CO2 is released in the harvesting than is being sequestered.) In addition, production of oil, pulp, fibers, or other products usually results in a large carbon footprint. Hemp is not known to be more efficient in the production of anything. It’s also important to note, plant based oils and alcohols result in more low level ozone than petroleum, not to mention, any carbon that is combusted is converted to CO2. Ozone is killing many trees and humans (Death By Ozone, 2016).

Q: Remember the awful hole in the ozone layer in the 80-90’s? Don’t we want more ozone?

A: No. Ozone is a volatile gas and changes form rapidly. In general, there are 2 types of ozone — Tropospheric and Stratospheric. Tropospheric is low level ozone and deadly to life on earth. Stratospheric is in the upper level atmosphere (stratosphere) that protects life on earth (The Ozone Know Zone, 2005).

Q: Won’t the carbon be sequestered in the fiber and stay there until it rots (and hemp is resistant to rotting)?

A: Saying the carbon will stay in the fiber is partially correct… it will also stay in the leaves and the roots. The leaves and roots will decay faster. But, as for the fibers, to harvest them takes more carbon than the carbon that is sequestered. In all cases of plants as carbon sinks, it does nothing to solve the problem of the CO2 in the atmosphere that was released by fossil fuels. Plants are just a temporary store for their own carbon. Trees absorb and release about the same amount of carbon over a 100-year cycle (with many shorter time cycles for the leaves — about 1-2 years.) Comparatively, hemp’s cycle is only a few years. Another important factor in calculating the length of time of a carbon sink with plants is that plants also breath: “Plants release up to 30 per cent more CO2 than previously thought.” During daylight and night there is the process of plant respiration in which plants breath in O2 and breath out CO2. This is different than during daylight hours when a separate process called photosynthesis takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. Plants release up to 30 per cent more CO2 than previously thought, 2017)

Q: Would it is better to have tarmac than grow hemp? Even though hemp can replace petroleum-based plastic with biodegradable products?

A: No, not at all. We should plant as many plants with the longest sink-cycle (trees). Most importantly we should stop releasing CO2 that has been sequestered for millions of years. Then, we should figure how to re-sequester CO2 for millions of years.

Hemp has far more benefits and significantly less costs than petroleum products; however, agriculture in general has many costs (in fact, the invention of flooded rice paddy agriculture thousands of years ago in China was one of the first major human causes of climate change.” The origins of human-influenced climate change may be traced back 5,000 years“, 2004) Monoculture of hemp, corn, and other bio-fuels release all the CO2, create more ozone and require vast areas of land. Having a single crop produced in large scale has a devastating effect on biodiversity. Bio-plastics and other petroleum substitutes create the same sort of environmental problems. They don’t instantly bio-degrade. They initially breakdown into micro-bio-plastics.

The little live creatures on this planet have evolved for a couple billion years to eat what plants make — like carbohydrates. So, they eat carbohydrates much faster than they can eat hydrocarbons from fossil fuels. (But they are working on it, we already see evolution in that direction.)

Unfortunately, there are no good carbon sinks known to Man (other than petroleum / hydrocarbons.) The best solution is to stop human Green House Gas emissions. A study published in the Journal Nature, The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition found, “Worldwide, dead and decaying wood releases roughly 10.9 gigatons of carbon every year. This is roughly 115% of annual fossil fuel emissions.”

“We found both the rate of decomposition and the contribution of insects are highly dependent on the climate, and will increase as temperatures rise,” study co-author David Lindenmayer said.

At present, bio derived packaging is to be preferred to fossil derived packaging since the former made out of carbohydrate will break down faster than fossil derived hydrocarbon. More important, the bio derived packaging is only returning to the atmosphere recently obtained CO2, since the plants from where the packaging came would decay anyway. But, if fossil plastic decays, that’s dumping into the atmosphere fossil C which was buried hundreds of millions of years ago. Maybe it’s a good thing the little bugs haven’t yet found a widespread, efficient way to eat fossil plastic.

Relative to petroleum, plants are much more beneficial. Hydrocarbons have a much greater cost to the environment. Relative to trees, hemp is far more costly; however, the real solution is to cut down on packaging and consumption.

The Human Induced Climate Change Experiment

bookmark_borderThawing Permafrost

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In an article by Harvard, entitled “No Laughing Matter”, the impact of thawing permafrost is examined:

About a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere is covered in permafrost. Now, it turns out these permanently frozen beds of soil, rock, and sediment are actually not so permanent: They’re thawing at an increasing rate.

Human-induced climate change is warming these lands, melting the ice and loosening the soil, and that can cause severe damage. Forests are falling; roads are collapsing; and, in an ironic twist, the warmer soil is releasing even more greenhouse gases, which could further exacerbate the effects of climate change.

Shortly after scientists first noticed signs of thaw in the early 1970s, they rushed to monitor emissions of the two most influential greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide and methane. But until recently, the threat of the third-most-prevalent gas, nitrous oxide (N2O) — known in dentistry as laughing gas — has largely been ignored.

More About Feedback Loops

bookmark_borderScientists Declare Climate Emergency

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Over 11,000 scientists have issued a warning over the climate crisis.

The American Institute of Biological Science published the report World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.

Climate-Emergency

Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to “tell it like it is.” On the basis of this obligation and the graphical indicators presented below, we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.

The climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy lifestyle. The most affluent countries are mainly responsible for the historical GHG emissions and generally have the greatest per capita emissions (table S1). In the present article, we show general patterns, mostly at the global scale, because there are many climate efforts that involve individual regions and countries. Our vital signs are designed to be useful to the public, policymakers, the business community, and those working to implement the Paris climate agreement, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Profoundly troubling signs from human activities include sustained increases in both human and ruminant livestock populations, per capita meat production, world gross domestic product, global tree cover loss, fossil fuel consumption, the number of air passengers carried, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and per capita CO2 emissions since 2000 (figure 1, supplemental file S2). Encouraging signs include decreases in global fertility (birth) rates (figure 1b), decelerated forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon (figure 1g), increases in the consumption of solar and wind power (figure 1h), institutional fossil fuel divestment of more than US$7 trillion (figure 1j), and the proportion of GHG emissions covered by carbon pricing (figure 1m). However, the decline in human fertility rates has substantially slowed during the last 20 years (figure 1b), and the pace of forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon has now started to increase again (figure 1g). Consumption of solar and wind energy has increased 373% per decade, but in 2018, it was still 28 times smaller than fossil fuel consumption (combined gas, coal, oil; figure 1h). As of 2018, approximately 14.0% of global GHG emissions were covered by carbon pricing (figure 1m), but the global emissions-weighted average price per tonne of carbon dioxide was only around US$15.25 (figure 1n). A much higher carbon fee price is needed (IPCC 2018, section 2.5.2.1). Annual fossil fuel subsidies to energy companies have been fluctuating, and because of a recent spike, they were greater than US$400 billion in 2018 (figure 1o).

bookmark_borderReal Estate, Climate Change, Health and Wellness

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Where you live is greatly impacted by climate change. Pollution that causes global warming impacts your health and well-being. Sea level rise and extreme weather events impact the value of your real estate, insurance and your financial health.

Climate Change and Health

Death By Ozone

Ozone primarily affects the respiratory and immune systems. The damage is permanent, untreatable and often results in death. The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District reports, “Roughly one out of three people in the U.S. is at risk of experiencing ozone-related health effects.”

Health Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States

Impacts from climate change on extreme weather and climate-related events, air quality, and the transmission of disease through insects and pests, food, and water increasingly threaten the health and well-being of the American people, particularly populations that are already vulnerable.

Pollution Kills Part 2

Pollution will kill you. Usually, it is a slow, painful death.

Air Pollution Kills

Air pollution may be the largest problem facing the world. 600,000 children die per year to indoor and outdoor air pollution.

bookmark_borderSea Level Rising Faster

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Articles The New York Times “Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows” and the BBC “Climate change: Sea level rise to affect ‘three times more people” report:

“Rising seas could affect three times more people by 2050 than previously thought, according to new research, threatening to all but erase some of the world’s great coastal cities.”

New Sea Level Rise Forecast for China
New Sea Level Rise Forecast for China

“In other places, the migration caused by rising seas could trigger or exacerbate regional conflicts.”

New estimate versus old estimate:

China – 93 million vs 29 million
Bangladesh – 42 million vs 5 million
India – 36 million vs 5 million
Vietnam – 31 million vs 9 million
Indonesia – 23 million vs 5 million
Thailand – 12 million vs 1 million

bookmark_borderThe Horror World will Face from Climate Change

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, explains:

“I said it was the new normal a few years ago,’’ Brown said in an exclusive interview with POLITICO. “This is serious …. but this is only the beginning. This is only a taste of the horror and the terror that will occur in decades.’’

“And it will occur in various spots: in America, in Africa, in Canada,’’ said Brown, who will travel to Washington this week to speak on climate change issues. “It’s unpredictable, other than the fact that it will get worse in present trajectory. Washington, under Trump, is doing very little — and even the Congress has been unable to mobilize under Washington.’’

“It’s a real threat, but it has to be managed. This is the world we live in. And it will get more dangerous.”

bookmark_borderMortgage-backed Securities Exposed to Coastal Flooding Risk

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An article in the Business Telegraph entitled “Climate change: the CMBS angle” explains:

“… $56bn in commercial mortgage-backed securities that are exposed to coastal flooding risk in the US, and it’s not pretty viewing.”

“It is often asked why US politicians are blasé about climate change, but we may suggest that will all change if the real estate of their high-profile donors begins to shed value as it slips into the sea. Suddenly, a Green New Deal, perhaps with state-subsidised housing insurance for victims of flooding, may not sound quite so bad.”

Coastal Flooding Risk Map
Coastal Flooding Risk Map

bookmark_borderChesapeake Bay and Sea Level Rise

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The Capital Gazette reports:
Fox Island has been washed away by sea level rise, forcing end of Chesapeake Bay education program

“After 40 years there offering magical teaching moments, environmental educators are saying goodbye to Fox Island as it sinks into the Chesapeake Bay.

Foundation educators say sea level rise and erosion are destroying the protective salt marshes surrounding the island between the Tangier and Pocomoke sounds, making the foundation’s educational center there unsafe to hold its three-day program.”

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation said:

This will be our last season on Fox Island. It’s hard to imagine CBF without it—Fox was our first residential education center. It had an outsized role in shaping the immersive, experiential learning that is the hallmark of our environmental education programs.

From its unique perch in the middle of the Chesapeake, we’ve provided lifechanging learning experiences for tens of thousands of the watershed’s teachers and students for more than 40 years. Many of them went on to pursue careers in science, public service, education, and environmental advocacy. It’s a testament not only to the magic of the island, but also to the exceptional cast of CBF educators and staffers who stewarded its shores for so long.

Letting it go is hard, for all of us.

But if you’ve visited the island recently, you’ve seen there isn’t much of Fox Island left. Due to sea level rise and erosion, there has been a dramatic loss of the protective salt marshes surrounding the center. The marshes and shallow-water grass beds were one of the main reasons Fox was such a powerful space to connect students and teachers to the Bay, and they helped reduce the impact of wind and waves on the center. Over the past 50 years, more than 70 percent of the island’s land area washed away.

As a result, we believe it will inevitably become unsafe to continue operating the Fox Island center for students in the future. The Fox Island Education Program will conclude its final season this fall.

The center’s closure illustrates the real and immediate threat climate change poses to the Chesapeake, especially to the island and coastal communities on the frontlines. Sea levels in the Bay are rising at some of the fastest rates in the nation. Wildlife habitat and human infrastructure are in the path, but so too are the unique voices and experiences that exist only in these places.

That’s why we aren’t backing away. We are committed to the island communities and to educating the next generation of environmental stewards about their way of life, which depends on the health of the Bay. While we are forced to close Fox, we plan to reconfigure other island facilities to continue connecting students and teachers to these critical issues firsthand.

Just as they did on Fox, students and teachers will have the opportunity to explore salt marshes, crab with local watermen, and experience the magic of island living. We know they will continue to build invaluable and lasting connections to the Bay.