osce--2019-05-23--In visit to Arctic region OSCE PA leadership explores local and global impact of climate change

In visit to Arctic region, OSCE PA leadership explores local and global impact of climate change

LONGYEARBYEN, 23 May 2019 – The concrete impact of global warming and the changing nature of the Arctic region are the focus of an OSCE PA visit hosted by the Norwegian parliament this week. In Svalbard, one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, OSCE parliamentarians explored new local realities in the High North and considered how climate change poses security risks for the entire OSCE region.  The PA delegation included President George Tsereteli (Georgia), Second Committee Chair Nilza de Sena (Portugal) and Rapporteur Elona Gjebrea Hoxha (Albania), and Secretary General Roberto Montella (Italy). It was joined north of the Arctic Circle by the Delegation of Norway to the OSCE PA.  In a series of seminars and field visits in Tromsø and Svalbard, Members were sensitized to the severe disruptions to the Arctic environment caused by a rise of temperatures in the region.  “The Arctic is warming up twice as fast any other region in the world, and in just one generation we have been able to note critical alterations to the local fauna and flora. Here in Svalbard, we can clearly observe how Arctic livelihoods are being impacted,” said Norwegian Head of Delegation Siv Mossleth.  OSCE parliamentarians also discussed ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the High North with local authorities.  “This visit is important for us to better understand the concerns emerging from Norway and other Arctic countries, and we can find inspiration in their close co-operation to promote sustainable development and protect biodiversity,” said President George Tsereteli. “As a forum of 57 countries covering the Northern Hemisphere, the OSCE PA is ideally suited to encourage discussions on these new threats and to promote a deeper involvement of parliamentarians in the fight against climate change.”  The visit illustrated the importance of monitoring variations in the Arctic ecosystem, and of understanding the ripple effect of changes in the Arctic climate.  “The Svalbard archipelago is one of the most sensitive areas to global warming, and the tangible impact on the Arctic environment and ecosystem we witness here causes disruptions at a larger scale in the rest of the world,” said the Chair of the OSCE PA’s economic and environmental committee, Nilza de Sena. “While few live in the Arctic region, the risks associated with climate-related disasters have become a reality for more and more people on the globe. This compels us to act with urgency to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.”  Throughout the visit, participants were briefed on Arctic exploration, satellite observation, and other environmental research efforts undertaken to understand climate change and its impact on the Arctic region. Experts and scientists underlined the urgency to curb global greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit the effects of climate change.  “Even if drastic measures are taken, it will still take time for the climate to stabilize. But real action is necessary to prevent a complete shift,” said Second Committee Rapporteur Elona Gjebrea Hoxha. “It is therefore crucial to increase the awareness of parliamentarians all across the OSCE region and respond to this challenge before it is too late.”  The visit will inform debates of the OSCE PA’s General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment at the upcoming Luxembourg Annual Session (4-8 July 2019). The PA’s flagship event will be held this year under the theme “Advancing Sustainable Development to Promote Security: The Role of Parliaments.”  “It is important to closely engage parliamentarians to address the effects of climate change,” said Secretary General Roberto Montella. “I expect the discussions we have had this week will reinforce the Parliamentary Assembly’s engagement on Arctic issues, and we stand ready to support greater international co-operation and dialogue to respond to security, economic and environmental concerns in the High North and beyond.”  The visit continues tomorrow in Oslo, where President Tsereteli and his delegation will hold talks with Storting President Tone Trøen, Minister for Climate and Environment Ola Elvestuen, and Foreign Affairs State Secretary Marianne Hagen.


prepareforchange--2019-09-15--NASA Climate Change Caused by Changes in Earths Solar Orbit and Axial Tilt Not Man-Made Causes

NASA: “Climate Change” Caused by Changes in Earth’s Solar Orbit and Axial Tilt (Not Man-Made Causes)

For more than 60 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has known that the changes occurring to planetary weather patterns are completely natural and normal.  But the space agency, for whatever reason, has chosen to let the man-made global warming hoax persist and spread, to the detriment of human freedom.  It was the year 1958, to be precise, when NASA first observed that changes in the solar orbit of the earth, along with alterations to the earth’s axial tilt, are both responsible for what climate scientists today have dubbed as “warming” (or “cooling,” depending on their agenda).  In the year 2000, NASA did publish information on its Earth Observatory website about the Milankovitch Climate Theory, revealing that the planet is, in fact, changing due to extraneous factors that have absolutely nothing to do with human activity.  This information has yet to go mainstream, some 19 years later, which is why [people with shady agendas] have now begun to claim that we really only have 18 months left before the planet dies from an excess of carbon dioxide (CO2).  The truth, however, is much more along the lines of what Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitch, after whom the Milankovitch Climate Theory is named, proposed about how the seasonal and latitudinal variations of solar radiation that hit the earth in different ways, and at different times, have the greatest impact on earth’s changing climate patterns.  The below two images (by Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC) help to illustrate this, with the first showing earth at a nearly zero orbit, and the second showing earth at a 0.07 orbit.  This orbital change is depicted by the eccentric, oval shape in the second image, which has been intentionally exaggerated for the purpose of showing the massive change in distance that occurs between the earth and the sun, depending on whether it is at perihelion or aphelion.  The eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit changes slowly over time from nearly zero to 0.07. As the orbit gets more eccentric (oval) the difference between the distance from the Sun to the Earth at perihelion (closest approach) and aphelion (furthest away) becomes greater and greater. Note that the Sun is not at the center of the Earth’s orbital ellipse, rather it is at one of focal points.  Note: The eccentricty of the orbit shown in the lower image is a highly exaggerated 0.5. Even the maximum eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit — 0.07 — it would be impossible to show at the resolution of a web page. Even so, at the current eccentricity of .017, the Earth is 5 million kilometers closer to Sun at perihelion than at aphelion. (Images by Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC)  “Even the maximum eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit – 0.07 – it would be impossible to show at the resolution of a web page,” notes the Hal Turner Radio Show. “Even so, at the current eccentricity of .017, the Earth is 5 million kilometers closer to Sun at perihelion than at aphelion.”  The biggest factor affecting earth’s climate is the SUN  As for earth’s obliquity, or its change in axial tilt, the below two images (Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC) show the degree to which the earth can shift on both its axis and its rotational orientation. At the higher tilts, earth’s seasons become much more extreme, while at lower tilts they become much more mild.  A similar situation exists for earth’s rotational axis, which depending on which hemisphere is pointed at the sun during perihelion, can greatly impact the seasonal extremes between the two hemispheres.  Left: The change in the tilt of the Earth’s axis (obliquity) effects the magnitude of seasonal change. At higher tilts the seasons are more extreme, and at lower tilts they are milder. The current axial tilt is 23.5°. Image by Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC)  Right: Precession — the change in orientation of the Earth’s rotational axis [this can be seen more clearly in an animation (small (290 kB QuickTime) or large (1.2 MB QuickTime))] — alters the orientation of the Earth with respect to perihelion and aphelion. If a hemisphere is pointed towards the sun at perihelion, that hemisphere will be pointing away at aphelion, and the difference in seasons will be more extreme. This seasonal effect is reversed for the opposite hemisphere. Currently, northern summer occurs near aphelion. (Image by Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC  Based on these different variables, Milankovitch was able to come up with a comprehensive mathematical model that is able to compute surface temperatures on earth going way back in time, and the conclusion is simple: Earth’s climate has always been changing, and is in a constant state of flux due to no fault of our own as human beings.  When Milankovitch first put forward his model, it went ignored for nearly half a century. Then, in 1976, a study published in the journal Science confirmed that Milankovitch’s theory is, in fact, accurate, and that it does correspond to various periods of climate change that have occurred throughout history.  In 1982, six years after this study was published, the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences adopted Milankovitch’s theory as truth, declaring that:  “… orbital variations remain the most thoroughly examined mechanism of climatic change on time scales of tens of thousands of years and are by far the clearest case of a direct effect of changing insolation on the lower atmosphere of Earth.”  If we had to sum the whole thing up in one simple phrase, it would be this: The biggest factor influencing weather and climate patterns on earth is the sun, period.  Depending on the earth’s position to the sun at any given time, climate conditions are going to vary dramatically, and even create drastic abnormalities that defy everything that humans thought they knew about how the earth worked.  Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm.


sputnik--2019-08-08--Climate Change May Kill Off Californias Famous Joshua Trees By 2100

Climate Change May Kill Off California’s Famous Joshua Trees By 2100

In the study, researchers obtained data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of the United Nations, to evaluate the effects of global warming on the namesake plants of the Joshua Tree National Park in southern California.  Using statistical models and field measurements to forecast emissions scenarios, researchers determined that Joshua trees, a species of the agave family, would be almost completely eliminated by the end of the century in the “business-as-usual” scenario, where no actions are taken to curb climate change. Under an optimistic scenario involving “high and moderate mitigation,” the trees’ distribution would still decrease by around 80% by 2100.  “We have a range of scenarios,” Lynn Sweet, a UC Riverside plant ecologist and the lead author of the study, told the Los Angeles Times. “If there’s global action on climate change, we might preserve [the] habitat. And if not, we might see it disappear.”  In fact, by the end of the century, “it could look like a forest of dead trees and no new trees,” Sweet noted, or “it could look like just a few trees hanging on. We’re not really sure.”  The study concludes that regional and global strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are imperative, including measures to sustain refugia, areas that support populations of species that were formerly more widespread.  “This also underscores the need to protect areas predicted to support refugia from multiple management threats. Rather than an ominous prediction of extinction,  climate refugia provide land stewards with targets for focusing protective management, giving desert biodiversity places to weather the future,” the study’s abstract concludes.


sputnik--2019-09-25--Climate Change Threatening Oceans Rapidly Destroying Ecosystems - UN Report

Climate Change Threatening Oceans, ‘Rapidly’ Destroying Ecosystems - UN Report

The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate released Wednesday by the IPCC reveals that oceans are getting warmer and more acidic due to increased absorption of carbon dioxide, and their concentration of oxygen is lowering.  In fact, the report states that the rate of ocean warming has more than doubled since 1993, with marine heatwaves becoming more intense and doubling in frequency since 1982. With the loss of oxygen in the oceans, coral and marine ecosystems are in severe danger.  Global warming has also resulted in “widespread shrinking of the cryosphere, with mass loss from ice sheets and snow cover.” According to the US National Oceanic Service, the cryosphere is defined as the “frozen part of the Earth system.”  Ice and snow on land, including ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, are considered parts of the cryosphere. The report also notes that ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has contributed to the increasing sea-level rise, and sea levels will increase by 1.1 meters by 2100 if emissions continue at their current rate.  Without dramatic decreases in greenhouse gas emissions, the frequency of hurricanes and flash flooding will continue to grow, the report warns.  “This report should erase any doubts about the peril that climate change poses for the health of the ocean and, as a consequence, for human well-being," John Tanzer of the World Wildlife Fund's global oceans program is quoted as saying by USA Today. "From coral reefs and mangroves to fish populations and coastal habitats, climate change and human pressures are rapidly destroying the natural capital that supports the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world."  The report was compiled by more than 100 scientists from 30 countries around the world and comes just days after 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg criticized world leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York for not taking action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.  In her passionate address to UN delegates, a tearful and visibly shaking Thunberg accused world leaders of having “stolen [her] dreams and [her] childhood.”  "For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away?" Thunberg said in her address.


theguardianuk--2019-01-21--What can we do right now about climate change

What can we do, right now, about climate change?

Calamitous weather events and warnings from scientists that the planet is warming faster than previously believed are causing alarm. Global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, describes the shifts needed to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5C. Plus: David Conn on how football and gambling have become inseparable  A series of extreme weather events in 2018 again highlighted the urgency of making the social and political changes needed to keep the increase in global warming to a maximum of 1.5C (2.7F). In September this year, the UN will convene a dedicated climate summit where agreement will be sought for ambitious and far-reaching policies.  Joining India Rakusen today is the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, to discuss the extent of the political change required if the world has any chance at all of keeping within the 1.5C upper limit on warming. He also explores some of the most effective ways individuals can join the battle against global warming: a vital, existential issue often drowned out by other news events.  Also today, the Guardian’s David Conn examines new research on the extent of the gambling industry’s hold over professional football in the UK – and its often dire consequences.

Presented by India Rakusen with Jonathan Watts and David Conn; produced by Joshua Kelly, Mythili Rao, David Waters, Ammar Kalia and Ivor Manley; executive producers Phil Maynard and Nicole Jackson


theguardianuk--2019-04-01--Insects have no place to hide from climate change study warns

Insects have ‘no place to hide’ from climate change, study warns

Insects have “no place to hide” from climate change, scientists have said after analysing 50 years’ worth of UK data.  The study found that woodlands, whose shade was expected to protect species from warming temperatures, are just as affected by climate change as open grasslands.  The research examined records of the first springtime flights of butterflies, moths and aphids and the first eggs of birds between 1965 and 2012. As average temperatures have risen, aphids are now emerging a month earlier, and birds are laying eggs a week earlier. The scientists said this could mean animals were becoming “out of sync” with their prey, with potentially serious ramifications for ecosystems.  Researchers are increasingly concerned about dramatic drops in populations of insects, which underpin much of nature. In February it was said that these falls could lead to a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, and in March there was further evidence of widespread loss of pollinating insects in recent decades in Britain.  Other studies, from Germany and Puerto Rico, have shown falling numbers in the last 25 to 35 years. Another showed butterflies in the Netherlands had declined by at least 84% over the last 130 years.  James Bell, at Rothamsted Research institute, who led the woodlands research, said: “Under global warming you would expect woodlands to have some protection for insects, a buffer against change. But we didn’t see that. It is the major surprise and is disturbing. There is really no place to hide against the effects of global warming if you are an insect in the UK.”  Another surprise was that insects and birds living in farmland are emerging later in the spring, not earlier as expected. “We can only assume this is to do with other, non-climate factors,” Bell said. The loss of wild areas and changing crop types could be among the factors, he said, along with declining food availability leading to delayed breeding.  James Pearce-Higgins, of the British Trust for Ornithology, said: “Birds are at the top of many food chains and are sensitive to the impacts of climate change on the availability of their insect prey.”  A separate new study found that populations of birds that rely on insects for food fell by 13% across Europe between 1990 and 2015, and by 28% in Denmark, which the scientists used as a national case study. The omnivorous birds assessed did not show a decline.  The UK research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, found that the shift to earlier emergence or egg-laying varied considerably according to the type of habitat and how far north the species lives. Aphids breed very rapidly and can adapt to changing temperatures quickly. Their first flight is now an average of 30 days earlier than 50 years ago. Birds, butterflies and moths are appearing one to two weeks earlier.  Bell said the changing timings were affecting farming, with aphids arriving earlier but potato crops being planted later due to wetter winters. This combination meant the aphids, which transmit viruses, were attacking much younger plants. “Plants are just like babies, with very poorly developed immune systems, so when a virus is transmitted into a young potato plant it has a much greater effect,” he said.  Jon Pickup, of the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture division of the Scottish government, said: “As pests, it remains a concern that aphid migrations are getting earlier at a dramatic rate and this piece of work shows us that signal across the UK very clearly.”  Bell said timing mismatches were also affecting wildlife. “For example, the leafing date of the oak tree determines when the caterpillars will appear, and that determines when blue tits that feed on caterpillars lay their first egg,” he said. “If they become desynchronised, it has cascading effects through the food chain, leading to fewer eggs, and this has been seen.”  During February’s exceptionally warm weather there were sightings of rooks nesting, ladybirds mating and dozens of migratory swallows arriving along the south-west coast, all more than a month ahead of schedule.


theindependent--2019-02-04--Climate change will cause a third of ice in Himalayas and Hindu Kush to thaw this century scientist

Climate change will cause a third of ice in Himalayas and Hindu Kush to thaw this century, scientists warn

At least a third of the ice in the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush will thaw this century as temperatures rise, disrupting river flows vital for growing crops from China to India, scientists have said.  Vast glaciers make the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region - home to the world's highest peaks, including Mount Everest and K2 - a "third pole" behind Antarctica and the Arctic region.  Philippus Wester, of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), who led the report, said: "This is the climate crisis you haven't heard of.  "Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks of the HKH cutting across eight countries to bare rocks in a little less than a century."  The report, by 210 authors, said more than a third of the ice in the region will melt by 2100 even if governments take tough action to limit global warming under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.  Two-thirds of the ice could also vanish if governments fail to rein in greenhouse gas emissions this century.  "To me, this is the biggest worrying thing,” Mr Wester told Reuters at an event to launch the report in Kathmandu.  Glaciers have thinned and retreated across most parts of the region since the 1970s. Ice in the HKH region would push up sea levels by 1.5 metres if it all melted, Eklabya Sharma, deputy director general of ICIMOD, told Reuters.  The study said the thaw will disrupt rivers including the Yangtze, Mekong, Indus and Ganges, where farmers rely on glacier melt water in the dry season. About 250 million people live in the mountains and 1.65 billion people in river valleys below.  Changes in river flows could also harm hydropower production and cause more erosion and landslides in the mountains.  But more research is needed to gauge exactly how glaciers affect distant crops, said Wouter Buytaert of Imperial College in London, who was not involved in the study.  "While glacier meltwater propagates downstream, it mixes with water from other sources such as direct rainfall, wetlands, and groundwater, up to a point where the impact of glacier melting may become negligible," he said.  The authors said people living in small island states were often viewed as the most vulnerable to climate change because of rising sea levels.  "It's not just occupants of the world's islands that are suffering," said Dasho Rinzin Dorji, an ICIMOD board member from Bhutan. He said in a statement mountain regions were also extremely vulnerable as "climate hotspots".


theindependent--2019-07-23--Climate change is increasing hurricanes tropical storms and floods scientists confirm

Climate change is increasing hurricanes, tropical storms and floods, scientists confirm

Climate change is increasing hurricanes, tropical storms and floods, according to a new study that looked at 120 years of data for the latest research to confirm a link between human activity and the dramatic rise of extreme weather events.  Increased temperatures not only make heatwaves more extreme and wildfires more likely, they also tamper with weather patterns, making storms more intense.  As part of the study, scientists looked at three storms in North Carolina from the past 20 years – hurricanes Floyd, Matthew and Florence.  They found the probability of them occurring randomly in such a short period of time is just two per cent.  “North Carolina has one of the highest impact zones of tropical cyclones in the world, and we have these carefully kept records that shows us that the last 20 years of precipitation events have been off the charts,” said Professor Hans Paerl, lead author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.  The scientists analysed records of tropical cyclone landfalls and rainfall associated with Costal North Carolina storms since 1898.  They found that six out of the seven largest hurricanes, tropical storms and floods occurred in the last 20 years. This frequency is probably caused by “increased moisture carrying capacity of tropical cyclones due to the warming climate”, the study said.  As well as more storms, North Carolina has also experienced unprecedented levels of rainfall since the late 1990s. In the long term it has also seen an increase in rainfall from tropical storms over the past 120 years.  This is increasingly problematic as the state is now home to more than 10.3 million people and climate change is already having a devastating impact on people’s lives.  “The price we’re paying is that we’re having to cope with increasing levels of catastrophic flooding,” said Professor Paerl, from the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences.  “Coastal watersheds are having to absorb more rain. Let’s go back to Hurricane Floyd in 1999, which flooded half of the coastal plain of North Carolina. Then, we had Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Just recently we had Hurricane Florence in 2018. These events are causing a huge amount of human suffering, economic and ecological damage.”  Increased rainfall results in more runoff into coastal waters and estuaries. This results in organic matter and nutrient losses from soil erosion which results in damaging algal blooms.  “We are in part responsible for what’s going on in the context of fossil fuel combustion emissions that are leading to global warming,” Prof Paerl said. “The ocean is a huge reservoir that is absorbing heat and seeing more evaporation. With more evaporation comes more rainfall.”  At the end of last year, research found that extreme weather events cost the world billions of pounds in the previous 12 months.  The report by Christian Aid identified 10 of the most expensive natural disasters that struck in 2018, all of which cost at least $1bn (£790m) each.  The costs established for these events are likely to be underestimates, as they often only included insured losses and did not take into account long-term costs to productivity.


theindependent--2019-07-29--Hundreds of reindeer starve to death on Arctic islands aposdue to climate changeapos

Hundreds of reindeer starve to death on Arctic islands 'due to climate change'

More than 200 reindeer have died of starvation on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, with scientists blaming their deaths on climate change.  The wild deer carcasses were found on the Arctic islands this summer by researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), which said it had never logged so many deaths at once in 40 years of monitoring the animals' population level.  “It’s scary to find so many dead animals,” project leader Ashild Onvik Pedersen told state broadcaster NRK. “This is an example of how climate change affects nature. It is just sad.”  Svalbard’s capital Longyearbyen, the northernmost town on earth, is thought to be warming quicker than any other settlement on the planet, climate scientists warned earlier this year.  The milder temperatures in the region led to unusually heavy rainfall in December, leaving a thick layer of ice when the precipitation froze. This meant the reindeer could not dig through the hardened tundra to reach the vegetation they graze on in their usual pastures, the NPI said.  Svalbard’s reindeer have been observed eating seaweed and kelp when food is scarce, but these are less nutritious and cause them stomach problems.  A relatively high number of calves born last year increased the death toll, as the youngest and weakest are often the first to die in harsh conditions.  “Some of the mortality is natural because there were so many calves last year. But the large number we see now is due to heavy rain, which is due to global warming,” said Ms Onvik Pedersen.  A team of three scientists spent 10 weeks investigating population of the Svalbard reindeer earlier this year.  Researchers warned the decline of reindeer would cause unwanted plant species, currently kept in check by the animals’ grazing, to spread across Arctic ecosystems in Europe, Asia and North America.  Arctic reindeer and caribou populations have declined 56 per cent in the last two decades, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last year. The report said food security was partly to blame for was partly to blame for falling herd numbers, while warmer summers also could also put the animals at greater risk of diseases spread by flies and parasites.  The average temperature in Longyearbyen has risen by 3.7C since 1900, more than three times the global average increase of about 1C.  In 2016, the entrance to the town’s “Doomsday” seed vault – which stores specimens of almost all the world’s seeds – was flooded following heavy rainfall.


theindependent--2019-11-19--How climate change is killing Japan's salmon trade one melted ice cap at a time

Lined up along the side of their boat, the fishermen haul a huge, heavy net up from swelling waves. At first, a few small jellyfish emerges, then a piece of plastic. Then net, and more net. Finally, all the way at the bottom: a small thrashing mass of silvery salmon.  It’s just after dawn at the height of the autumn fishing season, but something is wrong.  “When are the fish coming?” boat captain Teruhiko Miura asks himself.  The salmon catch is collapsing off Japan‘s northern coast, plummeting by about 70 per cent in the past 15 years. The disappearance of the fish coincides with another striking development: the loss of a unique blanket of sea ice that dips far below the Arctic to reach this shore.  The twin impacts – less ice, fewer salmon – are the products of rapid warming in the Sea of Okhotsk, wedged between Siberia and Japan. The area has warmed in some places by as much as 3C since preindustrial times, making it one of the fastest-warming spots in the world, according to data from the nonprofit organisation Berkeley Earth.  That increase far outstrips the global average and exceeds the limit policymakers set in Paris in 2015 when they aimed to keep Earth’s average temperature rise “well below” 2C.  The rising temperatures are starting to shut down the single most dynamic sea ice factory on Earth. The intensity of ice generation in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk exceeds that of any single place in the Arctic Ocean or Antarctica, and the sea ice reaches a lower latitude than anywhere else on the planet. Its decline has a cascade of consequences well beyond Japan as climate dominoes begin to fall.  When sea ice forms here, it expels huge amounts of salt into the frigid water below the surface, creating some of the densest ocean water on Earth. That water then sinks and travels east, carrying oxygen, iron and other key nutrients out into the northern Pacific Ocean, where marine life depends on it.  As the ice retreats, that nutrient-rich current is weakening, endangering the biological health of the vast northern Pacific – one of the most startling, and least discussed, effects of climate change so far observed.  “We call the Sea of Okhotsk the heart of the North Pacific,” says Kay Ohshima, a polar oceanographer at the Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University. “But the Sea of Okhotsk is significantly warming, three times faster than the global mean. “That causes the power of the heart to weaken.”  The cascade starts more than a thousand miles away in a uniquely frigid area of Siberia known as the “Cold Pole”, where the coldest temperature ever recorded in the Northern hemisphere (-67.7C) was measured in 1933.  The Cold Pole, too, is warming rapidly, by about 2.7C since preindustrial times in the village of Oymyakon. That means the bitter north wind that blows down onto the Sea of Okhotsk is also warming.  The warmer wind inhibits the formation of sea ice. Across the Sea of Okhotsk, ice cover during the peak months of February and March has shrunk by nearly 30 per cent in the past four decades, a vanishing of about 130,000 square miles of ice, an area larger than Arizona.  Masanori Ito, 67, senior executive director at the Okhotsk Sightseeing Federation, recalls how, during his childhood, the ice would drift down from the sea’s northern reaches – a thick, white carpet descending on Abashiri, a city on the northeastern shore of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture.  “The drift ice used to arrive with a force, pushed and pushed from behind, from far out at sea,” he says. It would pile up upon itself, forming “mountains over 10 meters high”.  Today, those mountains are long gone, and the coast of Hokkaido is hemmed in by ice for fewer than 25 days a year on average, says Arctic scientist Shuhei Takahashi, who runs the Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum of Hokkaido in Mombetsu.  A century ago, the coast typically had ice for more than 50 days each winter, Takahashi says; based on current trends, the drift ice could disappear entirely by the end of this century.  Meanwhile, the ice itself is also changing. Those who know it well say it sounds different, less intense, no longer an indomitable winter colossus.  “Years ago, our nose hair froze and stuck out. And our eyelashes would get moist and go all white,” says Shigeru Yamai, 66, captain of the icebreaker Garinko II. “When we walked on the ice, we heard squeaking sounds. The sound today is different. It hardly gets that severe anymore.”  For fisherman Nobuo Sugimura, 63, the changing climate is evident in his steadily diminishing catch. At home after a fishing trip on Miura’s vessel the Hokushin Maru, Sugimura brings out his logbooks and diaries, pulling records for his most recent catch in late September and for the same period seven years ago.  In 2012, Sugimura’s records show he and fellow crew members brought in between 21 and 52 metric tons of fish per day. This year, the catch one day was a meagre six tons.  “We had a bad time 30 or 40 years ago, and this reminds me of that,” he says. “But that only lasted a year or two, not this long.”  In the nation that invented sushi, there is no region better known for its seafood than Hokkaido. And there is no fish more synonymous with Hokkaido, more central to its culture, than the salmon.  The relationship stretches back as long as humans have lived here. The indigenous Ainu people had 133 words for salmon and used its skin to make boots. The fish and its orange roe are critical ingredients in Hokkaido’s famous seafood sashimi rice bowl, savoured by foodie tourists across this gourmet nation. The image of a bear clamping a salmon between its powerful jaws is an iconic symbol of Hokkaido, reproduced on T-shirts and in wood carvings on sale in almost every souvenir shop.  Though Hokkaido’s salmon hatcheries are working harder than ever, releasing a billion juvenile fish into the island’s rivers every spring, the number of returning chum salmon has declined sharply, from 68 million fish in 2003 to just 28 million in 2018. Nationwide, Japan’s annual chum salmon catch has also fallen from 258,000 metric tons in 2003, when a sharp decline began, to 80,000 last year, according to the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.  Salmon are highly sensitive to changes in water temperature. As they swim into the Sea of Okhotsk at the start of their long migration across the Pacific, the warmer waters act as a force field, pushing them off their ancient track.  Compelled to travel faster and farther to reach cooler northern waters, the young salmon use up stores of energy when they can least afford it. If they delay their departure date, they won’t survive at all.  Masahide Kaeriyama, an emeritus professor in the Arctic Research Center at Hokkaido University, says Japanese salmon migrate up what he calls a “ladder” of suitable temperatures. For more than a decade, he has been predicting that climate change would cut Hokkaido’s salmon catch in half. Now, he says global warming is happening even faster than he expected.  “As the optimal temperature moves away from Hokkaido, the ladder of migration is being taken away,” he adds.  Japan’s loss has been Russia’s gain. Waters near the Siberian coast – once too cold for salmon – are now in the optimum range for the fish. Even as Japan’s catch began to decline in 2003, Russia’s chum salmon quadrupled to a record high of nearly 144,000 metric tons in 2015. The same phenomenon is happening around the world, as warmer waters cause key species to seek cooler habitats closer to the poles. The lobster population off the northeast coast in the United States is seeing a similar disruption.  If the Hokkaido salmon survive the first leg of their journey, they move into the Bering Sea, and then on to the Gulf of Alaska for their second winter. By the age of four or five, they return to Japan, to the very same river where they hatched.  The smaller number of returning fish is keenly felt on Hokkaido’s Shiretoko Peninsula, home to the largest concentration of brown bears in the world. Each fall, as the salmon amass offshore, the bears are waiting, splashing in the streams at the mouth of every river. Here, the iconic image of a bear catching a salmon comes to life.  Salmon nourish the bears, and the bears’ leftovers discarded in the forest nourish birds, insects and plants, creating “one of the richest integrated ecosystems in the world”, according to Unesco, the educational, scientific and cultural agency of the United Nations.  Unesco made Shiretoko National Park a World Heritage Site in 2005. But as the drift ice recedes and the salmon catch shrinks, Unesco worries that the park’s unique ecosystem will be irrevocably damaged.  “Japanese people see salmon as a source of food,” Kaeriyama says. “But salmon is, in fact, the very foundation of the ecosystem where we live.”  The link between sea ice and prosperity is not lost on the towns and cities of northern Hokkaido and the Shiretoko Peninsula, where the ice drives a vital tourism industry.  In the spring, as the ice melts and sunlight hits the water, the sea blooms with phytoplankton, the anchor of marine life and the base of the ocean’s food web.  That makes the Sea of Okhotsk a spectacularly bountiful stretch of water, home to whales and dolphins, sea lions and seals, scallop and crabs, and hundreds of species of fish. Its shores provide homes to many migratory and sea birds, from the largest owl in the world – the endangered Blakiston’s fish owl – to the heavy Steller’s sea eagle.  In Abashiri alone, about 110,000 people, nearly half of them foreigners, took sightseeing cruises last year across the vast expanse of sea ice. On the eastern side of the peninsula, tourist boats set out from the town of Rausu every winter to gaze at eagles perched on the ice and seals bobbing through it, and in the spring, summer and fall to watch humpback, sperm and killer whales splash through the waves.  Meanwhile, key nutrients, especially iron, flow into the Sea of Okhotsk from Russia’s Amur river. Undersea currents carry those nutrients into the north Pacific, forming an intermediate layer of water roughly 600-2,600 feet below the surface. Eventually, the water rises back up, bringing the iron that is vital for phytoplankton with it.  The Okhotsk sea ice decline jeopardises that giant convection current. Ohshima, his fellow scientists from Hokkaido University and other institutions in Japan have documented a marked warming in the north Pacific’s intermediate layer, much more rapid than the general warming of the ocean – a sign that less cold, dense water is being formed in the Sea of Okhotsk.  Scientists have also documented growing zones in the north Pacific, at depths of about 1,300 and 2,300 feet, where ocean oxygen levels are in fast decline.  In other words, the “heart of the Pacific” is indeed weakening. The scientists don’t know all of the consequences yet, but they’re worried because of the irreplaceable contribution of the Sea of Okhotsk to a much larger region.  Back on Hokkaido, the falling salmon catch is triggering cascading economic impacts.  Last year, salmon processors paid high prices for dwindling supplies of Japanese chum salmon, only to find that consumers weren’t prepared to pay more. Japanese salmon was soon displaced by cheaper imports from places such as Norway, Chile, Russia and Alaska.  Tetsuya Shinya, head of the Abashiri Fisheries Cooperative, says he is reluctantly considering something once unthinkable: raising salmon on fish farms.  “It’s still not the right time to do it,” he says. “Even so, I feel we are getting into a pretty tough time.”  Wild salmon tend to be hardier and more resistant to changing temperatures than salmon reared in the more-controlled environment of a hatchery. One solution is a campaign to reduce Hokkaido’s dependence on salmon hatcheries by encouraging more wild salmon to return to the island’s rivers.  Scientists and volunteers are clearing rivers along the Shiretoko Peninsula, where anything from silt to concrete dams can prevent wild salmon from returning to spawn.  Among the volunteers is Yuto Sugimura, 32, the son of the fisherman whose records document the salmon’s startling decline.  Yuto says he never used to think much about climate change beyond what he saw on the news. But as he dives into the sea to set salmon nets, he doesn’t need any records to tell him the temperature is rising.  “I’ve been going under the water for 15 years, but these days it feels quite lukewarm,” he says. “Until you feel it on your skin or experience it in reality, you don’t talk about [climate change]. Today, with the changes in the water, I am beginning to feel it on my skin, and I am beginning to think about it.”


theindependent--2019-11-25--Climate change: Greenhouse gas levels hit record high 'with no sign of slowdown', UN warns

Levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases have reached another record high, “with no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline”, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned.  Despite pledges made under the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide all surged by higher amounts in 2018 than average for the past decade.  Levels of CO2 – the main gas driving global warming – reached new highs of 407.8 parts per million (ppm) in 2018, up from 405.5ppm the previous year, a report by the UN body shows.  This concentration is now 47 per cent higher than before the Industrial Revolution began in 1760, when CO2 levels were around 280ppm.  “We need to translate the commitments into action and increase the level of ambition for the sake of the future welfare of mankind,” said WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas.  The last time Earth experienced comparable concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was three to five million years ago, when temperatures were 2C to 3C warmer and sea levels were 10-20 metres higher than today, Mr Taalas said.  Human activity is increasing greenhouse gas emissions, which are driving up these gases’ concentration in the atmosphere, where they have a warming effect on the Earth’s climate.  Since 1990, there has been a 43 per cent increase in this warming effect by long-lived greenhouse gases, the report said.  According to the report, CO2 contributes towards 66 per cent of this warming effect, with methane at 17 per cent, and nitrous oxide at six per cent.  The report focuses on concentration levels – which represent what remains in the atmosphere after a complex system of interactions between the atmosphere, land, trees and oceans.  Trees and oceans each absorb roughly a quarter of the total emissions, but this effect is already slowing down in the latter as they grow increasingly warmer.  In addition, global greenhouse gas emissions rose again in 2018 at the fastest rate in seven years, according to a preliminary report by the Global Carbon Project.  The resultant heating of the planet is driving impacts such as melting glaciers and sea level rise, more extreme droughts, heatwaves and storms, also posing a threat to food security, water supplies and wildlife.  If our current emissions trends continue unchecked, many researchers predict mass displacement on an unprecedented scale.  Large swathes of North Africa and the Middle East would likely become uninhabitable due to scorching heat and drought, with sea level rises affecting many of the world’s most populous cities.  The WMO warned that despite agreements made under the Paris Agreement, global emissions are not estimated to peak by 2030, let alone by the 2020 date that scientists have said is necessary to curb dangerous climate change.  “The findings ... point us in a clear direction – in this critical period, the world must deliver concrete, stepped-up action on emissions,” said the UN Environment Programme’s executive director Inger Andersen.  “We face a stark choice: set in motion the radical transformations we need now, or face the consequences of a planet radically altered by climate change.”


theirishtimes--2019-01-04--Dramatic weather events of 2018 show climate change becoming more evident

Dramatic weather events of 2018 show climate change ‘becoming more evident’

Dramatic weather events in Ireland and elsewhere that marked last year shows “the fingerprint of climate change is becoming more evident”, the former head of forecasting at Met Éireann has said.  Gerald Fleming, who retired from the national meteorological service last year, said the one degree rise in the global mean temperature “increases the chance of extreme events” occurring.  Mr Fleming pointed to the two “once in 30- to 40-year type events” that took place in Ireland in 2018 – the heavy snowfall in March and the unusually hot summer – as examples.  Reporting on last year’s weather, his former employers in Met Éireann said that above-average temperatures, sunshine and widespread snow in March dominated the year, along with mild and unsettled weather in December.  “The interesting thing is that the averages don’t tell the story,” says Fleming, “The southeast of the country, for example, had a very dry summer but was wet towards the end of the year, which balanced out the averages.”  Heatwaves from late June through to early July saw Shannon Airport recording 32 degrees on June 28th, the highest June temperature recorded in the State since 1976. However, average temperatures were only slightly up.  The unusually warm summer was offset by colder months in February, March, September and October. The lowest temperature recorded was -7 degrees on March 1st in Cork Airport during Storm Emma.  Storms such as Eleanor in January, Ali in September and Callum in October brought high winds, with the highest gust recorded at Knock airport, Co Mayo, on January 2nd at 156 km/h.  Despite the public’s concentration on storms during 2018, Mr Fleming said the year was not actually all that unusual, bar the fact that Ali’s arrival in September brought significant bad weather “earlier than normal”.  Despite the storms, it was a year of sunshine, too. Casement Aerodrome on the outskirts of Dublin had its sunniest year since 1964, while Malin Head in Donegal saw 16.5 hours on June 28th – its highest daily total since 1955.  Two-thirds of Met Éireann’s weather stations experienced a drier than average year, particularly between May and October. However, January, February and the last two months of the year were wetter than normal.  December’s figures saw higher than usual temperatures, strong winds and heavy rainfall in some areas. Mean air temperatures everywhere were above long-term averages (LTA) for the month.  Mean temperatures ranged from 6.6 degrees (2.2 degrees above its LTA) at Knock airport to to 10.1 degrees (2.1 degrees above its LTA) at Sherkin Island, Co Cork, in December.  In October, a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a stark warning that there are only 12 years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 degrees.


theirishtimes--2019-08-08--Climate change report main points

Climate change report: main points

– Rising temperatures due to human activity, notably the burning of fossil fuels, combined with land abuses are putting global food supplies at risk;  – Tackling rising emissions from land is not on its own enough to curb climate disruption as greenhouse gases must be slashed from all sectors to keep global warming well below 2 degrees and preferably 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels;  – Global warming will increasingly lead to extremes such as drought, heatwaves and wildfires and threaten food security – reducing yields, pushing up food prices and disrupting supply chains;  – Sustainable farming, changing diets to eat less meat, replanting forests and protecting habitats, such as peatlands and mangroves, can cut emissions and deliver other benefits such as securing food supplies;  – Land is under immense pressures, with around 70 per cent of the world’s ice-free land affected by human activity – while global heating is driving more problems such as turning land to desert, and soil erosion;  – How people use land is fuelling global warming – notably intensive activities such as growing crops, raising livestock and cutting down forests, which accounted for almost a quarter of greenhouse gases between 2006 and 2017;  – Balanced diets, consuming plant-based foods such as grains, beans and lentils, nuts, fruits and vegetables and animal-based food produced in sustainable systems with low greenhouse gas emissions can help curb climate change and benefit health;  – 13 per cent of carbon dioxide emitted between 2007 and 2016 was caused by human abuses of land, mostly from cutting down forests;  – Land also accounted for 44 per cent of methane emissions, with livestock such as cattle and expansion of rice paddies driving rising levels of the greenhouse gases, and 82 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions arising from fertilisers for crops and from livestock;  – 25 to 30 per cent of all food produced is lost or wasted, contributing even more greenhouse gases;  – Sustainable food production, improved forest management, protecting soils, conserving habitats and restoring land, reducing deforestation and food loss and waste can all tackle climate change, help wildlife and boost livelihoods;  – Conserving peatlands, wetlands, grasslands, mangroves and forests can have an immediate impact in capturing carbon;  – Planting monocultures of trees or crops for bioenergy on a large scale in an unsustainable way will have negative impacts, and may lead to insufficient land to grow food.


theirishtimes--2019-08-08--Scientists call for immediate action on UN climate change report

The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was broadly welcomed by scientists across the globe as a framework to transform land use and increase food security.  Although the report stopped short of explicitly advocating going meat-free, it calls for big changes to farming and eating habits to limit the impact of population growth and changing consumption patterns on already over-exploited land and water resources.  “This is a perfect storm,” said Prof Dave Reay of the University of Edinburgh, who was an expert reviewer for the report. “Limited land, an expanding human population, and all wrapped in a suffocating blanket of climate emergency. Earth has never felt smaller, its natural ecosystems never under such direct threat.”  Dr Oyinlola Oyebode, associate professor in public health at the University of Warwick, said the IPCC verdict fits with growing evidence of the multiple benefits that could accrue if people shift their diet towards plant-based alternatives to meat.  These benefits included reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and releasing land which could then be reclaimed as habitat for animal and plant species.  “In addition, though, there are benefits to human health.”  Jonathan Baillie, chief scientist for the National Geographic Society, said the IPCC report was another important wake-up call to find a more sustainable path.  “This is a global problem, which requires action by all sectors of society – countries, companies and communities – to solve.”  Oxfam’s senior climate policy advisor Aditi Sen said land management was central to the fight against the climate crisis and hunger. Industrial agriculture, deforestation and increasing weather shocks were destroying the land needed for food, while the world’s poorest were hit hardest.  “Politicians must aim for zero hunger as well as zero emissions. They must reject false solutions that divert land away from growing food and into producing crops and trees for energy and carbon capture.”  IPCC representative Prof Jim Skea of Imperial College London said land was already struggling and climate change was adding to its burden. Almost three-quarters of ice-free land was now directly affected by human activity, the report says.  “There are certain kinds of diets that have a lower carbon footprint and put less pressure on land,” he said.  Large-scale tree-planting and bioenergy production are important tools to limit global warming, but could threaten food security, according to the IPCC. In late-running negotiations on how to summarise the latest science for policymakers, representatives of forest nations stressed that with sustainable management, these conflicts could be minimised.  “Land already in use could feed the world in a changing climate and provide biomass for renewable energy, but early, far-reaching action across several areas is required,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, one of the other scientists coordinating the report. “Also for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity.”


theirishtimes--2019-09-25--Oceans report makes Irish action on climate change more urgent experts say

Oceans report makes Irish action on climate change more urgent, experts say

Ireland may escape the devastation of increased superstorms and tsunamis predicted to occur due to increased global warming, but it faces major sea level rise and increased flooding risk, according to Irish experts.  Responding to the latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Prof Peter Thorne of Maynooth University said even if greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised oceans and the cryosphere (where ice covers the Earth’s surface) will continue to change “for many centuries to millennia thereafter”.  “Without aggressive mitigation efforts we are committing to multi-metre sea-level rises, while ocean acidification, stratification and deoxygenation are huge issues which will lead to less diverse and productive global oceans,” said Prof Thorne, Ireland’s most senior climate scientist within the IPCC.  In areas relying upon mountain glaciers for water supply there are potential issues in future, he added.  “The wildcard of permafrost melt and greenhouse gas releases remains poorly understood. However, what is clear is that the stored gas trapped by ice is huge – more than twice our cumulative emissions to date. So there is a real risk here.”  The report adds urgency to the need to undertake aggressive mitigation to reduce emissions, he said. The sea-level projections meant “we need to rethink our adaptation planning and responses in coastal communities. It is doubtful that areas of Dublin, Galway and Cork could be protected from multi-metre sea-level rise which we may – by our collective actions – commit to in our emissions over coming decades”.  Green Party MEP Grace O’Sullivan said the report confirms irreversible damage is already being done to marine environments and ice sheets. “In Ireland, we will see a worsening in coastal and inland flooding, increasing numbers of extreme storms, fodder shortages and accelerated land-loss.”  There was every indication this would get worse if urgent and massive change was not immediately implemented, she added. “The report rings every alarm bell and tells us that unless such steps are taken, we will be a world in deep crisis, with water – that most basic necessity for survival – set to be at the centre of a collapsing life-system. There will be a continuing rise in climate disruption and climate emergencies.”  Dr Donal Mullan of Queen’s University Belfast School of Natural and Built Environment said Ireland – along with the rest of the planet – has received a bailout from oceans up to now. “They have been protecting us from devastating excess heat by absorbing over 90 per cent of the extra heat generated by global warming. But with any bailout comes payback.”  Absorbing that excess heat has made the oceans “much warmer, less salty and more acidic. All of this will bring about devastating payback that will impact most on coastal ecosystems and people living in small island states and low-lying cities”.  The consequences would also be felt in Ireland, where over 40 per cent of the population live within 5 km of the coast. Sea levels are projected to rise potentially as high as 1.1 metres owing to a combination of water expanding with heat, ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and melting glaciers.


theirishtimes--2019-11-21--‘Global community’ has accepted reality of climate change – scientist

After decades of denial, the “global community” has accepted the reality of human-induced climate change and the imperative of tackling it, climate scientist Dame Julia Slingo has said.  So is the science done and dusted, and all we need now are technological solutions and getting on with implementing the landmark Paris Agreement? Wrong, wrong and wrong, she replies.  “The work of the climate scientist is far from over as the science continues to evolve. Our knowledge and understanding of how the climate system works and how it’s going to change continues to depend on answering fundamental scientific questions.”  Moreover, the role of climate science is greater than ever before, as we face immense challenges in mitigating global warming (by reducing carbon emissions), how to adapt to a disruptive climate, “and how to make ourselves more resilient to weather and climate hazards”– notably, more frequent extreme events.  Speaking before delivering an EPA climate lecture in Dublin, Dame Slingo cites big advances in the past decade but the one limiting factor is glaring; lack of adequate supercomputer capacity to do number crunching on staggering vast amounts of data using climate models that chart likely scenarios where the world’s climate is increasingly disrupted.  She has served as chief scientist at the UK Met office, worked at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, a leading developer of models to predict future climate scenarios, the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research and Reading University.  Her influence is indicated by the impact of a letter she – with scientific peers – wrote to former British prime minister Theresa May, calling on the UK to declare unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency and to enshrine it in law. The UK was the first national parliament to do so; others followed including Ireland. Revoking legislation is never easy, she adds, especially when it would run against the tide of public opinion.  Those unanswered questions include: “Where does all the heat go? Where does all the carbon in the atmosphere go? Where does all the water go?” The water issue, especially in the form of rising sea levels, will become more acute in coming decades in coming decades, she predicts.  Meanwhile global society will have to take hard decisions based on understanding the extent to which people are exposed to extreme events; dangerous “tipping points” and “feedback effects” separate to warming that determine the future climate state.  Fortunately, she notes, climate scientists have been considering such questions. Their answers combined with actions taken by global society will determine whether it’s possible to keep global heating to with 1.5 to 2 degrees.  Overcoming the limitations of current tools to observe the Earth requires big co-operation “to build up capacity”. That means met services and academics “must share not duplicate” their work, and for it all to be underpinned by international collaboration.  The political response is a vital cog, but she believes climate science is not fully understood by some within that circle, though the UK is in a better position because of its structure for innovative research and robust climate governance, setting it on the right course. She has no fears that global leadership will be diluted by Brexit.  The challenge in the “adaptation-mitigation response” is to overcome the view that the task is overwhelming. This, she believes, is a blockage on progress, which is all down to communication.  On a positive note, public understanding of climate change “is in an unbelievable place now . . . Acceptance is overwhelming. That social tipping point was reached in the past year or two.” It contrasts with push back from sceptics a decade ago when “climategate” raged, which was “so, so difficult”.  The deniers in the climate science field “have pretty well evaporated”; though the arguments have shifted to a different realm – indicated by lines such as, “it’s not as bad as we make it out to be” or the economic implications of radical action are too great.  Looking at the pace of climate change and risks even in today’s world, “it’s not acceptable to claim it’s not that big a deal”, she says.  As for persuading people to act rather than be despondent, Dame Slingo urges people to understand the issues – “the facts and how to interpret them”.  Everyone can make a difference, especially in influencing politicians, through their investments, their businesses and their communities caring about their environment and embracing the principles of Earth stewardship.  On an individual basis, reducing carbon footprint and changing purchasing habits make a difference – this combined with embracing energy efficiency “can take you a long way to [achieving] the Paris goals”.


themanchestereveningnews--2019-07-22--Rochdale has declared a climate change emergency - bosses say the effects are being felt in the town

Town hall chiefs have committed to making the borough carbon-neutral by 2038 - 12 years earlier than the target set by the government.  Councillors voted almost unanimously in favour of a motion, which binds the authority to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s green ambitions for the conurbation.  In an impassioned speech, Lib Dem leader Coun Andy Kelly called on colleagues to recognise the urgency of the situation.  Presenting his motion, he said: “Climate change is real, whether we like it or not.  “We are in a state of emergency - sea levels are rising, temperatures are rising across the globe, pollution is the highest it has ever been.”  He added that while climate change may be a global issue, its effects were already being felt much closer to home.  “It affects us locally with air quality, with the flooding issues we see time and again in this borough and it’s certainly going to affect our children and grandchildren - and those children not yet born,” he said.  “For future generations, if we don’t do something about this now, we are poisoning future generations and shortening their lives.”  The Lib Dem chief said that by declaring a climate emergency the council would give itself a platform to develop green policies.  “Declaring a climate change emergency gives us a chance to promote the elimination of single use plastics, to invest in a better transport system, to reinvest in planting trees, improving air quality, biodiversity and improving the natural heritage of the borough," he added.  “Every new house we can ensure is of the greenest standard, some very practical things we can get behind as a council; ensuring every new house has electric car points.  “All these things we can do, not just to reduce pollution but ensure a long term sustainability for the borough.”  In a final rallying call, he added: “Councillors, it’s not too late to change things with climate change, but it’s getting very, very late in the day.”  Labour, whose amendment set the target date at 2038 for both the borough and council achieving carbon neutrality, backed the motion.  Coun Wendy Cocks said: “We owe it to our citizens who may suffer from extreme weather, food shortages and other climate related dangers. And owe it to our young people who are concerned about their future.”  Warning that ‘the clock is ticking’ she added: “We have perhaps 10 or 12 years, our own experience, with the Boxing Day floods and other events will continue to be more frequent without action. We in Rochdale must move quickly for the benefit of all the community, our children’s future and the survival of the whole planet.”  Tory leader Coun Ashley Dearnley said his party was ‘absolutely committed to ensure that this time, for the first time our generation will leave a better planet for the next generation to come and to safeguard for the future’.  He also said the motion’s call to set up a working group to tackle the issue was ‘really important’ and called for every council report to be made relevant to the issue of climate change.  “At times when it’s been necessary to do that, this council has always done the right thing to ensure that we improve how the council works to the benefit of everyone that lives here," he said.  There is no single definition but it involves the recognition that urgent action is needed if global warming is to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C.  A UN report warns that the risk of catastrophic climate change -  including extreme heat, drought and flooding - would significantly increase if temperatures rise beyond this point.  It says we could have just 11 years left to limit a climate change catastrophe.  The UK government declared a climate change emergency in May - a move Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described as ‘a huge step forward’  It was one of the key demands of campaign group Extinction Rebellion - however, it does not compel the government to take any specific action.  Scotland declared a climate emergency in April - and targets are being set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045.  The idea of a local area declaring a climate emergency was first put forward by Bristol councillor Carla Denyer and the motion was passed by the city council in November.  Since then dozens of authorities across the country have declared a climate emergency - with many setting a target of being carbon neutral by 2030.  Scotland declared a climate emergency in April -  targets are being set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045  Greenhouse gases are released through the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy, whether for industry, homes or transportation.  For an area or organisation to call itself carbon neutral it will have to remove the same amount of carbon dioxide from the environment as it releases into it.


themoscowtimes--2019-11-15--How Does a Powerful Russian Lobby Plan to Halt Climate Change? With Coal, Oil and Gas

Fear of extinction as a result of runaway climate change has shocked the world into scrambling to reduce carbon emissions and develop green technologies before it’s too late. Russia’s most powerful business lobby, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), has a different take on the crisis. “We have to maximize our sales of gas, oil and coal as much as we can without stopping while there is still a buyer for it, and use that money to stimulate innovations in new technologies so we can keep up with other economies,” David Iakobachvili, the chairman of RSPP’s corporate social responsibility and sustainable development committee, told The Moscow Times. “We have to think about what we will leave behind for our kids,” he added. “Cultures that didn’t think about this, well, they’re gone now.”  In 2015, 195 countries signed on to the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to fight climate change. Russia, the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, was one of them. But because the Paris accord takes 1990 as its baseline for reducing emissions to 70% by 2030, Russia has already met its requirements, because the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 triggered one of the biggest economic contractions in recent history. In September, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev finally ratified the deal just as Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry released a report warning that the country is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. According to the ministry, if unchecked, this will result in epidemics, drought and famine, among other disasters. It will also, according to Russian government estimates, cost the country $2.3 billion per year. To signal its commitment to fighting climate change nonetheless, the Russian government has tasked the Economic Development Ministry with drafting legislation to accompany the Paris Agreement. In its original form, the draft legislation included quotas on carbon emissions at Russia’s largest companies, a new national carbon trading system and penalties for the biggest polluters. That was before RSPP stepped in. At a March hearing at the State Duma, the group warned that the proposals would force companies to abandon investment plans. It also argued that increased energy prices and inflation would “negatively affect the well-being of ordinary people.” Last month, the Kommersant business daily reported that the proposed measures have since been scrapped, and that the legislation, which is now at the final stages before being passed, will only include a climate audit. ‘Naive to take our money’ RSPP’s headquarters sits on a bend on the banks of the Moscow River just east of the Kremlin. The stately building is a former almshouse, built in the late 19th century at the behest of a wealthy philanthropist to provide accommodation for impoverished women from the merchant classes. Today, it houses representatives from the companies that form the backbone of the Russian economy, most of them in the business of carbon and the targets of the Economic Development Ministry’s proposed measures. Skim through the list of committee members and you’ll find some of Russia’s most well-known oligarchs. In an interview in his office this week, RSPP’s vice president for corporate relations Alexander Varvarin at times grew heated defending the group’s lobbying against the proposed climate regulations for its members. “We are well aware that certain new systems for tracking carbon footprints can be introduced,” he said, referring to taxes that European countries are considering implementing on imports like oil and gas. “We are closely following what other countries are doing, and for now, these risks haven’t been realized.” “It would be naive to take our money and decide how to solve our problems for us,” he added, noting the plans to fine companies and a suggested tax on carbon that was also reportedly axed from the proposed legislation. “Do you really think that we do not understand all of our risks?”  In arguing that there was no current need for additional regulation, Varvarin pointed out that Russia has already fulfilled its Paris agreement requireents. Critics argue that signing the accord with the knowledge that there is no obligation to change behavior is a cynical strategy that allows Russia to be seen as doing something about climate change without actually doing anything substantive. “It’s good of course to talk about moving to renewable sources of energy,” Varvarin continued. “But then let’s count how much that will cost, its effect on inflation for our companies, how much we will have to increase the price of our products, and how much utility prices will go up for people.” In its consultations with Russian officials, RSPP has not shied away from hammering home its view that ordinary people will suffer under green legislation. “All of our big companies bankroll Russian regions — not just with our taxes, but with donations for infrastructure. We are talking about billions,” said one RSPP member who helped lobby against the Economic Development Ministry’s proposals and who asked to remain anonymous. “What we showed was that there would be huge holes in local budgets if these measures were passed.” Leading experts on sustainable development, however, argue that, even putting aside the immediate need for climate change mitigation, Russia’s leading businesses will only be shooting themselves in the foot further down the road if they do not try to move away from carbon-heavy industries — now. “I do fear that over a 20-year horizon, Russia faces an existential shock,” said Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Bank. “It’s like the Saudi oil minister said in the 1970s: ‘The Stone Age didn't end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.’” Not only will these companies be hurting themselves as the global economy shifts to renewable energy sources, said Sergei Bobylev, an economics professor at Moscow State University specializing in sustainable development, but also the regions and ordinary people they claim to be protecting in the short-term. “Russian authorities and businesses are short-sighted,” Bobylev said. “Our economy is based on companies like Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosneft and so on. And the prognosis for them isn’t looking very good.” “Costs may very well go up at first, but if we don’t implement these carbon regulations and these companies suffer, poor people will lose even more down the line,” he added.


thesun--2019-06-19--Sled dogs walk on water instead of 4ft thick sea ice in Greenland as climate change brings dramatic

Sled dogs walk on water instead of 4ft thick sea ice in Greenland as climate change brings dramatic thaw

A PACK of Huskies appeared to be walking on water as they pulled a sled across melted ice in Greenland - showing the dramatic effects of climate change.  The startling image was captured by Steffen Olsen, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) following a bout of unusually warm weather.  Steffen and his team were collecting equipment from a weather station in the Inglefield Fjord area and as they stepped on the 4ft thick ice, water began to pool on the surface.  He took to Twitter to share the bleak image he took on June 13.  Steffen wrote: "Communities in Greenland rely on the sea ice for transport, hunting and fishing. Extreme events, here flooding of ice by abrupt onset of surface melt call for an increased predictive capacity in the Arctic."  Because the sea ice is so compact with almost no cracks, the image gives the impression that the dogs are running on water.  Due to the extreme heat, Greenland is estimated to have lost the equivilent of two billion tonnes of ice.  The temperatures were around 22C above normal the day before.  But this year climate change experts say that the melt has begun early.  Speaking to the BBC, William Colgan, senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said: "It's very unusual to have this much melt so early in the season.  "It takes very rare conditions but they are becoming increasingly common."  In 2012 Greenland saw record-breaking ice sheet loss and it was down to two factors, which is what has happened this year.  One is high pressure lodged over Greenland and the other is low cloud cover and snowfall - meaning solar radiation can strike the sheet surface.  William pointed the finger at global warming, explaining: "What climate change is doing is increasingly loading the dice to set up weather conditions that can tip the ice sheets into these mass loss events."  "You're losing something like 250 billion tonnes of ice a year on average. A huge mass is being transferred from the land into the oceans."  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thetelegraph--2019-08-02--Climate change may have added nearly three degrees to British heatwave say scientists

Climate change may have added nearly three degrees to British heatwave, say scientists

Climate change may have added nearly three degrees to the British heatwave, scientists have calculated as July looks set to be declared the hottest ever month worldwide since records began.  The World Weather Attribution Group (WWA) said that the mini-heatwave in Britain which saw temperatures reach 101F (38.7F) for the first time last week was made twice as likely by man-made global warming.  Researchers used long term temperature observations and climate models to look at how the weather would have unfolded with or without the human influence on the climate.  The researchers say the intensity of the heatwave was increased by between 1.5 and 3C across Europe and between 1.5 and 2.5C in Britain.  “Every European heatwave we and others have analysed was found to be made much more likely and more intense due to human-induced climate change, so it was not surprising that climate change played a role,” said Dr Friederike Otto, acting director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and member of WWA.  “But how much more likely the heatwave is depends very strongly on the event definition: location, season, intensity and duration.  “This July 2019 heatwave was so extreme over continental Western Europe that the observed magnitudes would have been extremely unlikely without climate change.”


theweekuk--2019-03-21--How climate change could crash the global insurance sector

Climate change could make insurance unaffordable for ordinary people leading to wide-ranging social issues, the world’s largest reinsurance firm has warned.  Citing £18bn of losses from the recent Californian wildfires, Ernst Rauch, Munich Re’s chief climatologist, told The Guardian costs could soon be widely felt, with premium rises already under discussion with clients holding asset concentrations in vulnerable parts of the state.  “If the risk from wildfires, flooding, storms or hail is increasing then the only sustainable option we have is to adjust our risk prices accordingly. In the long run it might become a social issue,” he said, warning that “affordability is so critical [because] some people on low and average incomes in some regions will no longer be able to buy insurance.”  “What makes the insurance industry's relationship with climate change so unique is the fact that the industry is built on the concept of managing risk,” says The Ecologist, and “with climate change set to be one of the greatest risks of them all, insurers stand to be impacted in significant and far-reaching ways.”  Analysing decades worth of data, Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company, concluded the spike in wildfires, and hence insurance claims, was “broadly consistent with climate change”.  It is the first time an insurer has linked wildfires to climate change, and the repercussions across the entire sector could be huge.  The UK insurance industry is the largest in Europe and the third largest in the world. The industry manages total investments that equate to 25% of the UK’s net worth, “making it pivotal to our economy”, says the Ecologist.  This “may also influence several court cases testing the liability of fossil fuel companies for the effects of global warming”, The Guardian says.  In the US, for example, numerous cities and one state — Rhode Island — are suing the oil industry over the impact of fossil fuel emissions.  “The litigation is likely to run for some years, and it is not yet clear whether it will be decided in state or federal courts”, says the Financial Times, “but if the 38 oil companies being sued lose, they are very likely to claim some or all of their costs back on their insurance policies.”  Neil Beresford, partner at law firm Clyde & Co, predicts “the insurance industry’s exposure could go up to tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars.”  This could easily see firms increase their premiums, the knock-on effect of which could pose a threat to social order warns Nicolas Jeanmart, the head of personal insurance, general insurance and macroeconomics at Insurance Europe, which speaks for 34 national insurance associations.  “The sector is concerned that continuing global increases in temperature could make it increasingly difficult to offer the affordable financial protection that people deserve, and that modern society requires to function properly,” he said.


thinkprogress--2019-04-22--Climate change is already exacerbating global economic inequality

Global economic inequality has been “exacerbated” by climate change since the 1960s, according to a new study published Monday. Cooler countries have experienced stronger economic growth as temperatures have risen while economic growth in hotter countries has been slowed by global warming.  According to a Stanford University study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the gap between countries with the highest economic output per person versus those with the lowest is 25% larger than it would have been without climate change.  “By impacting poor countries so robustly, global warming has exerted a drag on long-term improvements on economic inequality,” Noah Diffenbaugh, study author and Stanford climate scientist, told ThinkProgress. And in most cases, the countries most impacted have historically contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, Diffenbaugh added.  Researchers combined data on how annual temperatures impact 165 nations’ gross domestic product (GDP) with more than 20 different climate change scenarios. This allowed them to determine how much climate change has hurt or helped economies — including analyzing what economic output may have been in the absence of climate change.  They found that between 1961 and 2010, the wealth per person in the world’s poorest countries decreased between 17% to 30% as a result of rising greenhouse gas emissions.  The five countries most affected were Sudan, India, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Brazil; climate change caused the per capita GDP in these countries to drop 25 to 36%. Meanwhile, the per capita GDP of Norway, Sweden, and Canada increased 25 to 34%.  As a press release accompanying the study notes, while “economic inequality between countries has decreased in recent decades, the research suggests the gap would have narrowed faster without global warming.”  The UK and France also saw a 9.5% and 8.5% increase in their economies as a result of warmer global temperatures, while the world’s three largest economies were minimally impacted: the United States took a small 0.2% hit in growth, Japan dropped by 1.1%, and China’s growth decreased by 1.4%. This suggests these major economies may have temperatures well-suited to economic growth but that could change as the world warms.  The study supports wider scientific findings regarding the impact of warmer temperatures on production. “[There are a] number of pathways by which the building blocks of economic activity are influenced by temperature,” Diffenbaugh said. Higher temperatures impact agricultural production, especially crops like corn, soy, and wheat. Labor productivity also declines with higher temperatures, as does cognitive performance. Meanwhile, interpersonal conflicts increase.  “The historical data clearly show that crops are more productive, people are healthier and we are more productive at work when temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold,” study co-author Marshall Burke, an assistant Earth system science professor at Stanford, said in a statement. “This means that in cold countries, a little bit of warming can help. The opposite is true in places that are already hot.”  In order to account for uncertainty in the data, the researchers ran 20,000 different versions of what each country’s economic growth could look like without climate change. “For most countries, whether global warming has helped or hurt economic growth is pretty certain,” said Burke, adding that there’s “essentially no uncertainty” that economies in tropical countries have been “harmed.”  As the study concludes, it’s been widely noted that wealthy countries have benefited disproportionately from the activities that have caused climate change, while poor countries suffer disproportionately the impacts.  “Our results show that, in addition to the direct benefits of fossil fuel use, many wealthy countries have likely been made even more wealthy by the resulting global warming,” the authors wrote. “Likewise, not only have poor countries not shared in the full benefits of energy consumption, but many have already been made poorer (in relative terms) by the energy consumption of wealthy countries.”


thinkprogress--2019-08-18--Only you know if we did it Scientists write dire letter to the future about climate change

‘Only you know if we did it’: Scientists write dire letter to the future about climate change

Scientists are gathering in Iceland Sunday to memorialize Okjökull — the country’s first glacier to be destroyed by global warming.  Okjökull, nicknamed Ok, lost its status as a glacier 2014. The monument being unveiled at the “funeral” is inscribed with an ominous warning, titled “A letter to the future.”  “Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier,” it states in English and Icelandic. “In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.”  Only future generations will “know if we did it” — if we melted all of the glaciers, raised sea level tens of feet, destroyed all of our coastal cities, and ruined our livable climate.  But the truth is that human-caused global warming is disintegrating Arctic glaciers and the great ice sheets at such a rapid and accelerating pace that we will all know within a decade whether humanity has acted fast enough to avert catastrophe.  As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported in December, “Arctic air temperatures for the past five years (2014-18) have exceeded all previous records since 1900.” And 2019 is on track to be the hottest year yet.  NOAA’s report makes clear we’re in an all-but irreversible Arctic death spiral — which is driving more extreme weather in this country, faster sea level rise everywhere, and more rapid disintegration of the carbon-rich permafrost, which in turn causes even faster global warming.  Prof. Cymene Howe of Rice, told the UK Guardian last month that the plaque “would be the first to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world.” She said that an Icelandic colleague told her: “Memorials are not for the dead; they are for the living.”


upi--2019-12-05--Early climate change models were pretty accurate, study finds

Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Early climate models get a bad wrap for being imprecise, but new research suggests they were surprisingly accurate.  Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA reviewed 17 climate models described in scientific papers over the last several decades. The earliest were developed in the 1970s, while the most recent were created in late 2000s.  Of the 17 models, analysis showed 14 were very accurate in predicting the average global temperature in the years following their publication.  Scientists published their review this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.  "The real message is that the warming we have experienced is pretty much exactly what climate models predicted it would be as much as 30 years ago," lead study author Zeke Hausfather, a doctoral student in UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group, said in a news release. "This really gives us more confidence that today's models are getting things largely right as well."  Scientists looked at each model's prediction for the Earth's average temperature based on greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and compared the predictions to actual global temperatures recorded at similar greenhouse gas levels.  In effect, the study's authors looked at how well models simulated the relationship between emissions and temperature increases, not at how well models predicted changes in global emissions.  "We did not focus on how well their crystal ball predicted future emissions of greenhouse gases, because that is a question for economists and energy modelers, not climate scientists," Hausfather said. "It is impossible to know exactly what human emissions will be in the future. Physics we can understand, it is a deterministic system; future emissions depend on human systems, which are not necessarily deterministic."  One of the first models to draw attention to the problem of global warming, developed by James Hansen of NASA in 1988, overestimated methane emissions and underestimated the impact of the Montreal Protocol treaty, which banned chlorofluorocarbons. As a result, the model predicted inflated temperature increases.  But when researchers accounted for these missteps and looked only at the model's understanding of the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and temperature increases -- the physics of global warming -- they found Hansen's work was quite accurate.  "If you account for these and look at the relationship in his model between temperature and radiative forcing, which is CO2 and other greenhouse gases, he gets it pretty much dead on," Hausfather said. "So the physics of his model was right. The relationship between how much CO2 there is in the atmosphere and how much warming you get, was right. He just got the future emissions wrong."  When scientists plugged real-world greenhouse gas levels into most of the surveyed models, they spit out temperatures close to what weather stations actually recorded.  Climate models continue to improve, but the accuracy of most models is judged on their ability to predict -- or replicate -- past climate scenarios. The latest is one of the first to take a shorter look back to see how climate models predicted the future of global warming. The study's authors suggest their work can help climate modelers continue to improve their model's predictive powers.  "Climate models are a really important way for us to understand how the climate could change in the future, and now that we have taken a detailed look at how well past climate models have held up in terms of their projections, we are far more confident that our current generation of models are getting it right," Hausfather said.


vox--2019-06-28--Climate change got just 15 minutes out of 4 hours of Democratic debates

The first two Democratic presidential debates for the 2020 election this week devoted more attention to climate change than in all the 2016 debates combined. But the climate crisis got just 15 minutes across four hours of airtime. And it wasn’t time particularly well spent: The questions were muddled, the discussion was shallow, and most viewers probably didn’t come away better informed.  All of this helps to make activists’ case for why the Democratic National Committee should hold a separate climate change debate. Groups like the Sunrise Movement and Greenpeace have been calling for one and were disappointed with this week’s performances.  “This is not how you behave in an emergency,” Greenpeace USA Climate Campaign Director Janet Redman said in a statement. “Despite the candidates’ acknowledgement of the existential threat that climate change represents to humanity, we heard next to nothing over two days about how they would actually address this monumental challenge.”  DNC Chair Tom Perez has declared that the party does not want to host an event centered on the issue and that candidates who create their own climate debates would be barred from other DNC debates. (A climate change “forum” or a “town hall” would be allowed.)  His argument is that a climate change debate would show unnecessary prejudice toward the issue and end up favoring the candidates like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who has built his entire campaign around climate. “If we change our guidelines at the request of one candidate who has made climate change their campaign’s signature issue, how do we say no to the numerous other requests we’ve had?” wrote Perez on Medium earlier this month.  However, the debates ended up revealing several reasons why holding a separate climate debate makes sense:  With more than two dozen Democrats running for the White House, it’s hard to tell them apart. This is especially true on climate change, a complex problem that needs sophisticated, thoughtful solutions.  We got a hint of what some of the candidates would do, and how they differ, during the debates. But despite having published several long, thorough policy proposals on fighting climate change, Inslee barely had more than a couple minutes to discuss his ideas.  On Thursday, we learned about how California Sen. Kamala Harris’s visits to communities affected by wildfires exacerbated by climate change in her home state drove her to support the Green New Deal. It would have been nice to more from her on how she intends to both reduce emissions and mitigate the impacts of global warming.  South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he wants to use the money raised from a carbon tax and distribute it back to people as a progressive dividend, an idea to address economic inequality and reduce emissions.  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders frankly talked about how advancing an adequate climate agenda would require a political upheaval generated by millions of voters focused on averting dangerous levels of warming.  This is an issue where many of the candidates have a wealth of interesting proposals that could be parsed in greater depth — and debated. Yet in a standard debate format, where upwards of six issues must be discussed, the candidates will never have an opportunity to do it.  The Democratic debates also revealed that the moderators had allotted only a narrow window to ask about climate. And some of those precious opportunities to ask questions were squandered.  On Wednesday, moderator Rachel Maddow posed an awkward question of whether a candidate’s plan would “save Miami.” But it’s a question that almost impossible to answer given that the city that’s already regularly battered by extreme weather and faces frequent flooding from rising seas. Significant damage from climate change has already been done, much more is still to come, and most of it is irreversible. In Miami, it’s now a race to adapt or retreat.  Moderator Chuck Todd turned a question about climate change policy into one about winning over people opposed to big government. Todd also started to pose an interesting question about whether the government should continue to rebuild homes damaged in climate-related disasters, but it came out muddled, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro barely had time to answer:  There was also at times a stark contract in how the moderators handled climate compared to other issues, like how they parsed all the fine distinctions among the candidates in Medicare-for-all and the role of private insurance.  So far, 15 Democratic candidates have said that they support holding a climate change debate, including frontrunners like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.  Outside the DNC headquarters in Washington, DC, activists from the Sunrise Movement have been calling for a climate change debate for nearly three days. Democratic primary voters routinely rank climate change among their top concerns. Clearly, huge parts of the Democratic base are energized and mobilized around the issue.  But climate change rarely receives a substantive prime-time policy discussion, so voters don’t often hear about it on television. A debate asking presidential hopefuls to walk through how they plan to cope with a warming world would be a public service and help educate voters who may not realize just how much a warming world will impact agriculture, the economy, health, and national security.