Something to keep in mind…

Send one article in this newsletter to a friend. Pick up your phone and do it now. Or post it to Facebook or Twitter.

Be a citizen advocate and spread the word. Just do it. Don’t put it off. This is our climate, our Earth, our biosystem, our children’s future.

Because…

One of the hourly averages of CO2 exceeded 417 ppm just a few weeks ago at the Mauna Loa Observatory.

And because…

The Republicans and many of the major oil companies have founded a group called Americans For Carbon Dividends as the best way to coopt the environmental movement. Their plan would both end regulations on carbon emissions and protect companies from mounting lawsuits.

And…

Especially now, in the face of the inordinate push back of the current Admiration.

[Trump] came into office viewing agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency as bastions of what he calls the “deep state,” and his contempt for their past work on the issue is an animating factor in trying to force them to abandon key aspects of the methodology they use to try to understand the causes and consequences of a dangerously warming planet.

As a result, parts of the federal government will no longer fulfill what scientists say is one of the most urgent jobs of climate science studies: reporting on the future effects of a rapidly warming planet.

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Or, simply said, ixnay on these federally funded climate science studies.

We need to pick up the slack and start upping our messaging.

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In the meantime, we are moving forward on Climate Chaos remediation at glacial speeds, albeit said glaciers are advancing ever faster.
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The following essay is riveting and speaks to a point that I have been obsessing over for a very long time. It also addresses our collective failure to move forward quickly. It is well worth reading the whole article…

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Climate Change: 'We've Created a Civilization Hell Bent on Destroying Itself – I'm Terrified,' Writes Earth Scientist
The Conversation 5-23-19

by James Dyke Senior Lecturer in Global Systems, University of Exeter

It was the spring of 2011, and I had managed to corner a very senior member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) during a coffee break. … “Oh, I think we’re heading towards 3°C at least,” he said.

“Ah, yes, but heading towards,” I countered: “We won’t get to 3°C, will we?” (Because whatever you think of the 2°C threshold that separates “safe” from “dangerous” climate change, 3°C is well beyond what much of the world could bear.)

“Not so,” he replied.

That wasn’t his hedge, but his best assessment of where, after all the political, economic, and social wrangling we will end up.

“But what about the many millions of people directly threatened,” I went on. “Those living in low-lying nations, the farmers affected by abrupt changes in weather, kids exposed to new diseases?”

He gave a sigh, paused for a few seconds, and a sad, resigned smile crept over his face. He then simply said: “They will die.” …

Whatever other attributes Homo sapiens may have … our capacity to impact the environment far and wide is perhaps unprecedented in all of life’s history. If nothing else, we humans can make an almighty mess. … one explanation for our collective failure on climate change is that such collective action is perhaps impossible. It’s not that we don’t want to change, but that we can’t. We are locked into a planetary-scale system that, while built by humans, is largely beyond our control. This system is called the technosphere.

Coined by US geoscientist Peter Haff in 2014, the technosphere is the system that consists of individual humans, human societies – and stuff. In terms of stuff, humans have produced an extraordinary 30 trillion metric tons of things. …

Along with the physical transport of humans and the goods they consume is the transfer of information between humans and their machines. …

more than half of the global population now lives in urban environments and nearly all are in some way connected to industrialised activities. Most of humanity is tightly enmeshed into a globalised, industrialised complex system – that of the technosphere. …

George Monbiot argued that the root cause of climate change and other environmental calamities is capitalism and consequently any attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will ultimately fail if we allow capitalism to continue. …

The emergence and development of capitalism obviously lead to the growth of the technosphere: the application of markets and legal systems allows increased consumption and so growth. …

The idea that growth is ultimately behind our unsustainable civilisation is not a new concept. …

It may seem nonsense that humans are unable to make important changes to the system they have built. But just how free are we? Rather than being masters of our own destiny, we may be very constrained in how we can act.

… humanity’s path to decarbonisation isn’t going to be direct. It has to start from here and at least in the beginning use existing routes of development. …

We have just come to appreciate that our impacts on the Earth system are so large that we have possibly ushered in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The Earth’s rocks will bear witness to humans’ impacts long after we disappear. The technosphere can be seen as the engine of the Anthropocene. …

This idea frames human development as impacting on nine planetary boundaries, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and ocean acidification. If we push past these boundaries, then the Earth system will change in ways that will make human civilisation very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain. The value of, say, the biosphere here is that it provides goods and services to us. This represents what we can literally get from the system. …

The situation, then, may all seem rather hopeless. …

To understand you are in a prison, you must first be able to see the bars. That this prison was created by humans over many generations doesn’t change the conclusion that we are currently tightly bound up within a system that could, if we do not act, lead to the impoverishment, and even death of billions of people…

The above essay is from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

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HOT AIR NEWS ROUNDUP

New Report Warns Planet May Be Warming Twice as Fast as Expected
Truthout 5-29-19 h/t ggersh

Embedded in The Guardian article is an editorial in the journal Science on the new climate modeling to be presented by the IPCC report due out in April 2021 that will likely rock the climate culture world.

The new science that so radically increases danger over what we thought was radically dangerous before includes more modeling institutions, more models, more experiments and more data. … The buzz on this new modeling is about climate sensitivity. … Climate sensitivity includes not only warming from CO2, but warming from other greenhouse gases, as well as warming from things like changes in agriculture and forestry practices or in snow cover … Of the new modeling, preliminary results show eight out of the 13 models, with this latest most robust round of modeling ever coming in with a best estimate of 5°C or more climate sensitivity — an astonishing finding that modelers are challenged to explain. … The new modeling addresses holes in our data from the past … What all of this new detail means is that heating will plausibly happen nearly twice as fast as what has been projected for decades.

Anthropocene now: influential panel votes to recognize Earth’s new epoch
Nature 5-28-19

A panel of scientists voted this week to designate a new geologic epoch — the Anthropocene — to mark the profound ways in which humans have altered the planet. That decision, by the 34-member Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), marks an important step …Having decided to go ahead with the new epoch, the group will now focus on identifying a definitive geologic marker or ‘golden spike’, which is technically called a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP).

Here is the paper from the Anthropocene Working Group mentioned above…

Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy
Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy 5-28-19

Phenomena associated with the Anthropocene include: an order-of-magnitude increase in erosion and sediment transport associated with urbanization and agriculture; marked and abrupt anthropogenic perturbations of the cycles of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and various metals together with new chemical compounds; environmental changes generated by these perturbations, including global warming, sea-level rise, ocean acidification and spreading oceanic ‘dead zones’; rapid changes in the biosphere both on land and in the sea, as a result of habitat loss…

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After filtering the seasonal cycle from oxygen data, we see that the N. Hemisphere leads the S. Hemisphere in declining oxygen, just as the N. Hemisphere leads the S. Hemisphere in rising CO2 and light carbon isotopes. B/c 90% of fossil fuel emissions are in the N. Hemisphere. pic.twitter.com/yBDLd5Qqfq

— Doug Robbins (@dougrbbns) May 15, 2019

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'Blatant Attempt to Politicize the Science': Trump Reportedly Moving to End Long-Term Studies of Climate Crisis
Common Dreams 5-28-19

”As a result," according to the Times, "parts of the federal government will no longer fulfill what scientists say is one of the most urgent jobs of climate science studies: reporting on the future effects of a rapidly warming planet and presenting a picture of what the earth could look like by the end of the century if the global economy continues to emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels." … In addition to attempting to severely limit the government's climate science methodology, the Times reported, the Trump administration is also working "to question its conclusions by creating a new climate review panel" led by physicist William Happer, who once said the "demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.”

Putin’s Arctic Plans Are a Climate Change Bet
Bloomberg 5-28-19

The icebreaker Ural, launched at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, is the third and last ship, at least for now, of Project 22220. The other two, the Arktika and the Sibir, were launched in 2016 and 2017; the Arktika is expected to enter service this year. These powerful ships, capable of crashing through 3-meter-thick ice for clearing shipping routes, are the first nuclear-powered icebreakers designed in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union … The Northern Sea Route tracks Russia’s Arctic coastline from the Barents Sea in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. It cuts cargo delivery times between Europe and Asia by 10 to 15 days compared to shipping via the Suez Canal. The Russian government claims the right to regulate the whole of the route,

Fifth grade student hosts Climate Change Town Hall
Middleses East 5-24-19

The Town Hall is a part of Soderland’s “Inquiry, Maker and Passion” (IMP) project. Acera (a nonprofit K-8 Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics school) features IMP Projects as part of its annual middle school curriculum. Every week, middle school students have blocks of unstructured time during which specialist mentors are available to advise on independent projects.

First, Climate Change, Now the Global Extinction Crisis: Industry-Paid Hacks Deny Science to Congress
Desmog 5-23-19

But just as they have with hearings on the climate crisis, Congressional Republicans and their witnesses used this opportunity to attack the well-documented scientific evidence of a far-reaching global threat to life. And they even used some of the same climate science deniers and tired arguments to do it.

British village is abandoned to the sea due to climate change threat - and entire population will be moved
Mirror 5-25-19

A village is tipped to become the first in the UK to relocate its community out due to the threat of climate change. Fairbourne is currently protected by a multi-million flood management scheme, but as sea levels continue to rise, its council is considering stopping the funding. Sea levels are thought to have risen by 100 metres since the Ice Age, and are set to rise a further two over the next century. With the Welsh village being just feet away from the sea, Gwynedd Council in 2013 decided that it could not defend Fairbourne from nature's dangers in the long-term,

Under the dome: Fears Pacific nuclear 'coffin' is leaking
PHYS ORG 5-23-19

And because the 115-metre wide crater was never lined, there are fears radioactive contaminants are leaching through the island's porous coral rock into the ocean. The concerns have intensified amid climate change. Rising seas, encroaching on the low-lying nation, are threatening to undermine the dome's structural integrity.

The Precise Ways Climate Change Is Putting Food at Risk
Truth Dig 5-15-19

Unusually cold nights, ever greater numbers of extremely hot summer days, weeks with no rainfall, or torrents of storm-driven precipitation, account for somewhere between a fifth to 49% of yield losses for maize, rice, spring wheat and soy beans.

Intense Early Season Fires Burn Across Europe
ENS 5-15-19

From Norway to Spain, from the United Kingdom to Romania, the number and severity of wildfires burning at the start of this year have risen sharply from that of previous decades, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System, EFFIS. This year’s fire season started early and has already surpassed the 181,000 hectares burned over the entire 2018 fire season. … Climate change is predicted to further exacerbate the effects of such disasters. In 2018 alone, natural disasters killed more than 100 people in Europe.

Are coal-fired power plants affecting your drinking water?
PHYS ORG 5-27-19

When you get a drink of water from your fridge or sink, do you think about where that water came from? It has traveled through pipes from a water treatment plant where it underwent chemical processes to make it safe to drink. Chlorine is added to the water to eradicate harmful bacteria that cause illnesses like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. But the chlorine can react with natural materials in the water, creating disinfection byproducts (DBPs) that can be harmful to people. Specifically, when bromide is present in the water from natural sources or from human activities, such as wastewater discharges at power plants, the disinfection byproducts formed are more toxic.

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LEGISLATION, ELECTIONS & POLICY
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“The idea of having the first chief resilience officer is clear recognition of the importance of dealing with sea level rise”…

Florida appoints first chief science officer to take on climate crisis
The Guardian 5-28-19

“There’s a clear focus in this state right now on water quality issues, so that is my priority moving forward. Rising sea levels are [also] a priority issue and factor prominently in how we’re looking at some of the other issues we’re dealing with. I don’t know how to say it any clearer than that” … There is, however, no bigger pressing issue in Florida than global heating, which science has linked to higher sea levels and more powerful hurricanes, such as last October’s Hurricane Michael, the first category 5 storm to strike the state since 1992.

Vuntut Gwitchin is the first indigenous nation to declare a climate emergency
inhabitat 5-29-19

Last week, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation became the first indigenous tribe to declare an official climate emergency. Like other nations that have made similar declarations, the announcement is not backed with funding but rather is an official call to action. Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm is hopeful that the declaration will spur a domino effect among indigenous groups and lead to an Indigenous Climate Accord.

Get Ready As Climate Change Debate Will Go Mainstream In 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Campaign
Forbes 5-28-19

Part of the difference between Democrats and Republicans is driven by attitudes about regulation. Democrats by nature trust regulation to address social problems, while Republicans do not. Trust is psychological in nature. Fake news is not new to climate science debate. However, as the magnitude of the political stake increases, so too will the degree of misinformation. Combating misinformation by being well informed is going to be increasingly critical. For this reason, responsible voters from all sides of the political landscape should pay careful attention to what candidates, from all sides of the political landscape, say about climate change policy. A good starting point is Governor Inslee’s website.

'A Green Wave Has Swept the European Parliament': In Show of Demand for Climate Action, Green Parties Surge in EU Elections
Common Dreams 5-27-19

Underscoring the growing demand for bold climate action that has found expression in global youth-led strikes, marches, and civil disobedience over the past year, Green parties across Europe had their strongest-ever EU parliamentary election performance after running on a platform of transformative environmental change.

Green wave reaches the European Parliament
European Greens 5-26-19

Greens also had strong showings in Finland, France, and Ireland on the back of higher-than-usual voter turnout. "Finland's Greens... came second with 16 percent of the vote, while in a major upset, Europe Écologie-Les Verts, led by a former senior Greenpeace figure, came third in France with 13.3 percent, up from 8.9 percent," according to The Guardian. "Against all expectations, a Portuguese Green Party won its first European parliamentary seat."

Green surge in Germany puts Angela Merkel's coalition under fire
The Guardian 5-27-19

Not only did the SPD’s share drop to what party leader Andrea Nahles called an “extremely disappointing” 15.8%, the world’s oldest social democratic party was also pipped to second place by a Green party that gained a historic 20.5% of the vote. … In Brandenburg and Saxony, where citizens will vote in state elections in the autumn, the CDU was beaten into second place by the rightwing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Across Germany as a whole, the AfD only made minor gains in its second ever European election, with party leaders blaming the Austrian far right’s recent corruption scandal for their underwhelming result.

Concerns about climate change have prompted mass protests across Europe for the past year, turning the issue into a key topic ahead of the European Parliament elections taking place through Sunday…

Climate Change Is Hot Topic in the European Parliament Vote
US News 5-24-19

A recent opinion poll in Germany showed that climate change has overtaken immigration as the issue voters in the EU's most populous nation are most concerned about. Elsewhere across the EU, climate change also features prominently among the top issues — along with immigration and the economy — ahead of the European Parliament vote that began Thursday and runs through Sunday in all of the bloc's 28 nations.

We'll teach children about climate change from the age of five, vows Labour - as schools brace for another wave of pupil climate 'strikes'
Daily Mail 5-23-19

The move would develop the skills and knowledge needed to deal with future renewable energy. And she added: ‘Climate change should be a core part of the curriculum – and under a Labour government, it will be.’

Climate Change Is Catching On With Voters. Why Isn’t Jay Inslee?
NYT 5-24-19

For years, climate change was an issue of passionate concern to a few voters, but never enough to ripple presidential politics. The Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump debates in 2016 notoriously did not include any questions from moderators about global warming. … Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a co-author of the Green New Deal resolution in Congress, told her four million Twitter followers last week that Mr. Inslee’s climate plan was “the most serious + comprehensive” by any candidate.

Secrecy Versus Sunshine: Efforts to Hide Government Records Never Stop
Desmog 5-27-19

Many state legislatures are weighing changes in their open-records laws. … In Massachusetts, lawmakers are making it harder for the public to see elected officials’ financial disclosure statements. In California, the legislature has been considering the shuttering of records that could reveal misconduct or conflicts of interest in publicly funded research. Last year, Washington state lawmakers rushed through a bill that allowed them to hide lawmakers’ calendars and email exchanges with lobbyists. Only after public outrage erupted over the move did the governor veto the measure.

For the Midwest, Epic Flooding Is the Face of Climate Change
Wired 5-24-19

Fierce storms lashed across the central US this week, unleashing hundreds of powerful tornadoes that carved a path of destruction through parts of Missouri and Oklahoma Wednesday night, and left at least three dead. … rising temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture—about 7 percent more for every 1 degree rise in Celsius—which produces more precipitation and has been fueling a pattern of more extreme weather events across the US. And perhaps more than any other part of the country, the Midwest has had its capacity to store excess water crippled by human enterprise.

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FOSSIL FUELS
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Fossil fuel corporations would be shielded from climate lawsuits under a proposal several are supporting…

Oil companies slipped a present to themselves into this carbon tax plan
Think Progress 5-20-19

Two of the world’s most powerful oil companies are uniting behind a carbon pricing plan, in a surprising move that would require corporations to pay for the greenhouse gases they produce. But their support hinges on a major caveat: The plan would both end regulations on carbon emissions and protect companies from mounting lawsuits targeting the role of oil companies in contributing to climate change. … Under the plan, carbon regulations overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be scrapped, with the tax meant to serve as a substitute. That includes things like the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which has come under fire from the Trump administration. Moreover, the proposal would eliminate a growing source of concern for oil companies — the lawsuits holding them accountable for their contributions to global warming.

Here's How the Oil Industry Plans to Solve Climate Change
EP 5-24-19

Now even the fossil fuel industry is on board: Oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell both pledged $1 million each to Americans for Carbon Dividends, the lobbying arm of the right-leaning Climate Leadership Council … [But] there are two provisions in the Baker-Shultz plan that demonstrate the newfound support for climate action is more about self preservation than it is about protecting the planet: The carbon tax would completely replace existing federal regulations for carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act and would shield fossil fuel companies from climate-related lawsuits for past emissions and misinformation campaigns.

Oil companies join blitz for carbon tax
The Hill 5-22-19

The campaign brought representatives of Exxon, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Mobil Corp. to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, part of a broader coalition involving 75 Fortune 500 companies. … One major fossil fuel group though absent from Wednesday's lobbying blitz is the American Petroleum Institute, with over 600 members. … With Republicans in control of the Senate and President Trump in the White House, the visiting CEOs acknowledged that passing a carbon tax before 2020 appears unlikely, but insisted they aren’t deterred.

Australia's natural gas industry faces climate test despite conservative election win
World Oil 5-27-19

Australia’s gas industry is in a relative sweet spot. Its ideally placed to serve Chinese buyers avoiding tariff-laden U.S. LNG and the surprise re-election of its center-right government means producers face less immediate pressure to cut emissions. None of that alleviates growing investor scrutiny over the sector’s contribution to climate change. Industry leaders who meet Monday at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association conference are sure to debate domestic gas prices and a supply glut, but activists and executives agree how companies tackle climate change is perhaps the most urgent topic. …The country’s gas industry is gearing up for its next phase of expansion, with final investment decisions from Woodside on its Scarborough project and a joint venture including ConocoPhillips and Santos on the Barossa development both due in 2020.

Amazon Rejects Facial Recognition, Climate Change Proposals
US News 5-22-19

The climate change proposal, backed by more than 7,600 Amazon employees, pushed the company to describe how it's curbing its use of fossil fuels. After the shareholding meeting in Seattle, the employees said that they plan to continue to put pressure on Amazon to do more to combat climate change. They said they would file the same proposal next year.

Coal-hungry S. Africa introduces carbon tax
PHYS ORG 5-27-19

the primary objective of the carbon tax is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a sustainable, cost effective and affordable manner," the treasury said in a statement. It said the tax was part of South Africa's efforts to meet the global climate change agreement negotiated in Paris in 2015.

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WEATHER
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Climate Change is Destroying a Barrier That Protects the U.S. East Coast from Hurricanes
State of the Planet 5-23-19

There are two main factors that contribute to hurricane development and intensity: sea surface temperature and vertical wind shear. Vertical wind shear is the difference in wind speed or direction between the upper and lower troposphere. Warmer sea surface temperatures and low wind shear (meaning the wind speeds and directions are similar throughout the column of air) both raise the potential intensity of a hurricane. Scientists knew that ocean temperatures are heating up, but until now it has not been clear how climate change would impact wind shear.

Interdisciplinary program to examine potential coastal impacts of climate change, natural hazards
NCAR UCAR 5-16-19

The program leverages NCAR's interdisciplinary expertise on potential weather and climate threats with the goal of helping to build greater societal resilience. With storms, flooding, and other weather and climate disasters taking a more expensive toll on the world's growing population, atmospheric scientists are increasingly focused on understanding the far-reaching impacts of natural hazards on society. … "This program helps create a space for convergence research, bringing together scientists across multiple disciplines to better understand the impacts of environmental change on society,"

'A Drastic Difference': With Climate Crisis Fueling Storms and Floods, Historic Delay in Planting Season Threatens US Farmers and Food Prices
Common Dreams

Farmers in the Midwest are watching the spring planting season shrink due to the climate crisis as damaging storms and flooding are making fields from Oklahoma to Arkansas impossible to sow, a situation that is driving grain prices up in futures markets in a way that could have devastating consequences. … As Common Dreams has reported, the increasingly dangerous and damaging storms and flooding are likely due to the climate crisis, the sign of what environmental activist Bill McKibben calls "a hot new world."

Will A Soggy Spring Rain Summer Trouble On Corn And Soybeans?
Seeking Alpha 5-27-19

But things are much worse in some of the other big-producing states. Illinois had 95% of its corn and 79% of its soybeans in the ground at this time last year. This year it has planted only 24% of its corn and 9% of its soybeans. Indiana had planted 86% of its corn and 70% of its soybeans this time last year. This year's plantings are 14% and 6%, respectively. Ohio had 69% of its corn and 40% of its soybeans in the ground last year. This year it has 9% and 4%, respectively. We are well into planting season. Conditions need to improve quickly to avoid potential yield damage down the road. Not surprisingly, this is getting factored into prices. Both corn and soybeans (see charts above) have rallied smartly over the past week, adding a little "umph" to the bullish corn and soybean options positions we've recommended over the past 7 months. Both markets are up again this morning.

AccuWeather: Smaller corn, soybean yields in 2019 as wet weather persists
Accuweather 5-27-19

Corn and soybean planting data showed a slight improvement in the May 20 U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Crop Progress compared to the previous week's report, but planting still remains behind schedule in 17 of 18 key states for both corn and soybean compared to their 2014-2018 averages.

US Hit With Record Slow Plantings
Allendale 5-29-19

Grain markets are focused on the same old song - planting which remains way behind the average pace, and a forecast that does not look to provide any reprieve. The questions in discovery now are just how much acreage is lost, and what is the impact on production potential?

[video: https://youtu.be/Ve9mJLXvOqI] 5 min
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70,000 families displaced in Paraguay flooding
PHYS ORG 5-27-19

Water levels on the Paraguay River are rising at a rate of 4-5 centimeters (1.5-2 inches) every day and is only 46 cm (18 in) below a "disaster" level, according to official data from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH). Crossing that threshold would "have a very strong impact" because of the number of Asuncion residents who have moved into the city's floodplains.

Destructive Tornado Hits Missouri Capital as Weeklong Outbreak Continues
Weather Underground 5-23-19

As of early Thursday, the Arkansas River at Muskogee was predicted to crest on Saturday at 43.5 feet—the second highest crest on record at Muskogee, topped only by a 48.2’ crest on May 21, 1943. Widespread flooding is also expected upstream in the Tulsa area, where the Arkansas is predicted to reach its highest level since a devastating 1986 flood. Many other waterways in northern Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and southwest Missouri are being affected by both thunderstorm-driven flash flooding and larger-scale river flooding.

Historic flooding predicted along Arkansas River
PHYS ORG 5-27-19

The river is expected to crest Tuesday near Fort Smith, Arkansas, at 41 feet (12.5 meters). The city on the border with Oklahoma has roughly 80,000 residents. Spokeswoman Karen Santos said the city is in "preparedness and warning mode." She says one home is already completely submerged and about 500 homes either have water very close or in them. Authorities predict hundreds more homes and businesses will flood by the time the river crests.

Summer extremes of 2018 linked to stalled giant waves in jet stream
PIK 4-29-19

Record breaking heatwaves and droughts in North America and Western Europe, torrential rainfalls and floods in South-East Europe and Japan - the summer of 2018 brought a series of extreme weather events that occurred almost simultaneously around the Northern Hemisphere in June and July. These extremes had something in common, a new study by an international team of climate researchers now finds: the events were connected by a newly identified pattern of the jet stream encircling the Earth.

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ADAPTION AND RESILIENCE

Good information…

In face of climate change, our future food systems must be resource efficient
Bangor Daily 5-24-19

The food we consume requires a lot of water to produce. A quarter pound of meat that goes into a hamburger takes 460 gallons of water to produce. A pound of bread takes close to 200 gallons of water. A pound of eggs takes 20 gallons of water. A pound of potatoes takes 100 gallons of water. Another perspective is the CO 2 footprint of what we consume. One serving (four ounces) of beef has an 8.2-pound CO2 footprint. Cheese has a 4-pound CO2 footprint per serving and for pork it is 3.6 pounds. Vegetables would give the lowest footprint, so eating more greens helps the environment.

A New Way to Slash CO2 Emissions
Truth Dig 5-19-19

But, E2 says, even if its eventual contribution to climate stabilisation falls well short of this figure, drawing attention to soil carbon sequestration could still concentrate minds on a climate solution often neglected in comparison with more complex and often riskier options for emission cuts. E2 says a critical step in advancing climate-friendly soil health in the US is the ground-breaking Soil Health Demonstration Trial, a carbon farming pilot project that a coalition of farmers,

Table scraps can be used to reduce reliance on fossil fuels
Science Daily 5-23-19

New technology developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo engineers natural fermentation to produce a biodegradable chemical that can be refined as a source of energy. The chemical could also be used to replace petroleum-based chemicals in a host of products including drugs and plastic packaging.

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WILDLIFE & THE ENVIRONMENT

”The Duke of Burgundy is back from the brink – and the work to conserve it has helped other declining species. Does this mean there is hope in the face of Insectageddon?”…

The butterfly effect: what one species’ miraculous comeback can teach us
The Guardian 5-27-19

In recent years, however, the duke has staged a miraculous comeback. Or rather, it has been revived by human action. Last summer, its numbers increased by 65%. This wasn’t a seasonal fluke: the butterfly has bounced back in Kent, revived in Sussex and is booming in North Yorkshire, where its long-term trend is up 71%. … This landscape-scale approach also helps the duke and other species adapt to the climate crisis. Dry spells imperil the butterfly by causing cowslips to wilt and die back before the caterpillars can feed up to maturity. Last summer was a classic example: eggs laid on hot, south-facing slopes failed as the plants died. But because the butterflies also laid eggs on cooler north- and west-facing slopes, their offspring are flying again this year.

Climate change affects the genetic diversity of a species
EurekAltet 5-23-19

an international team of researchers studied the genome of the alpine marmot, an ice-age remnant that now lives in large numbers in the high altitude Alpine meadow. Results were unexpected: the species was found to be the least genetically diverse of any wild mammal studied to date. An explanation was found in the marmots genetic past. The alpine marmot has lost its genetic diversity during ice-age related climate events and been unable to recover its diversity since.

Climate change could cause octopuses to go blind
New York Post 5-20-19

Plastic pollution and climate change may be significantly altering the level of oxygen on our planet. Now, a new study dives into the impact it could have on marine life, including squids, crabs and octopuses – blindness.

Study predicts shift to smaller animals over next century
Science Daily 5-23-19

In the future, small, fast-lived, highly-fertile, insect-eating animals, which can thrive in a wide-variety of habitats, will predominate. These 'winners' include rodents, such as dwarf gerbil -- and songbirds, such as the white-browed sparrow-weaver. Less adaptable, slow-lived species, requiring specialist environmental conditions, will likely fall victim of extinction. These 'losers' include the tawny eagle and black rhinoceros.

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PROTESTS • EXTINCTION REBELLION • RESISTANCE

Climate change protesters in Bangkok call on government to cut pollution
msm 5-24-19

Protesters took part in a climate change demonstration in Bangkok calling on the Thai government to cut pollution this afternoon (May 24). Hundreds of locals and tourists converged in the centre of the capital waving placards criticising plastic waste, meat eaters and global warming. A two-hour-long march concluded with a speech by Greenpeace activist.

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Fridays for Future
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School strike for climate: Protests staged around the world
BBC 5-25-19

Organisers said more than a million people were expected to join the action in at least 110 countries on Friday. They are calling on politicians and businesses to take urgent action to slow global warming. … The protesting students have vowed to continue boycotting classes on Fridays until their countries adhere to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which aims to prevent global temperatures from rising 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels.

Excellent pictures…

NCR students go on climate strike
Times of India 5-25-19

“When I saw that thousands of kids around the world are marc for planet earth. None of my classmates joined, but I’m sure they will come the next time.”

ANI News

A possession was conducted by the students of various institutions to spread awareness about environment in J&K’s Leh on May 24. The rally was named as ‘Fridays for Future’ started from NDS stadium and culminated at Main Bazaar of Leh.

[video: https://youtu.be/Hg4hapcw2Uc?t=50]

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Greta Thunberg
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The longer we wait the harder it gets to turn this around.
So let’s wait no longer.
Those of you who can vote today - vote for a future!! #ClimateBreakdown #EcologicalBreakdown pic.twitter.com/MRfd0dwk0H

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) May 26, 2019

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Greta spoke in the Danish capital, Copenhagen on Saturday, 25 May 25, on the eve of European Parliament (EP) elections…

Sweden’s Thunberg demands climate action on day of global school strikes
DailyTimes 5-26-19

“If the EU were to decide to seriously fight the climate crisis, it would mean a decisive global change. And the EU election should reasonably only be about this. But it isn’t,” Thunberg told thousands gathered in Kungstradgarden square in Stockholm’s banking district.

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Extinction Rebellion
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Police pushing for the prosecution of 1,130 Extinction Rebellion protesters
The Sun 5-26-19

The warning came from Metropolitan Police’s deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor as files are prepared for prosecutors. He said: “We arrested over 1,100 people over Extinction Rebellion. We currently have a dedicated team who are looking at every single one of those arrested with a view to present them to the Crown Prosecution Service.”

The media’s acceptance of the green movement is unprecedented but welcome
inews 5-26-19

The popularity of the Extinction Rebellion protests and the raised profile of the Green Party have boosted environmental awareness. …This is unprecedented support from a news media that has long been fickle in its coverage of environmental matters. In the hard-bitten culture of the newsroom, green stories were for too long regarded as being a bit fluffy for the front page.

Thousands of Extinction Rebellion climate change 'warriors' will shut down Melbourne's central business district TODAY by staging a mass 'die-in'
Daily Mail 5-23-19

Thousands of protesters will to take over the streets of Melbourne today to pressure the federal government to take action on climate change. A group called Extinction Rebellion will host a climate rally at Victoria's Parliament House on Friday at noon before leading a march through the streets.

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CLIMATE STUDIES

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Widespread permafrost degradation seen in high Arctic terrain
Science News 5-23-19

Rapid changes in terrain are taking place in Canada's high Arctic polar deserts due to increases in summer air temperatures. The research team noted that:

• There has been a widespread development of retrogressive thaw slumps in high Arctic polar deserts over a short period, particularly during the unusually warm summers of 2011, 2012 and 2015;

• That the absence of vegetation and layers of organic soil in these polar deserts make permafrost in the area particularly vulnerable to increases in summer air temperatures;

• Despite its relatively short duration, the thaw season (which lasts for just 3-6 weeks a year) initially drives the development of slumps and their later expansion in size, as their headwall retreats; and

• Over a period of a few years after the initiation of slumps, study results suggest various factors related to terrain (e.g. slope) become more important than air temperature in maintaining active slumps.

More CO2 than ever before in 3 million years, shows unprecedented computer simulation
PIK 4-3-19

CO2 greenhouse gas amounts in the atmosphere are likely higher today than ever before in the past 3 million years. For the first time, a team of scientists succeeded to do a computer simulation that fits ocean floor sediment data of climate evolution over this period of time. Ice age onset, hence the start of the glacial cycles from cold to warm and back, the study reveals, was mainly triggered by a decrease of CO2-levels. Yet today, it is the increase of greenhouse gases due to the burning of fossil fuels that is fundamentally changing our planet, the analysis further confirms. Global mean temperatures never exceeded the preindustrial levels by more than 2 degrees Celsius in the past 3 million years, the study shows – while current climate policy inaction, if continued, would exceed the 2 degrees limit already in the next 50 years.

Climate change may make the Arctic tundra a drier landscape
Science Daily 5-23-19

With climate change, the Arctic tundra is likely to become drier. Lakes may shrink in size and smaller lakes may even disappear according to a new study. In western Greenland, Kangerlussuaq experienced a 28% decrease in the number of smaller lakes (those less than 10,000 square meters) and a 20% decrease in total area from 1969 to 2017. Many of the lakes that had disappeared in 1969 have since become vegetated.

Melting small glaciers could add 10 inches to sea levels
Science Daily 5-23-19

This is the only comprehensive and systematic endeavor to date to compare global-scale glacier models and their projections. The paper is part of GlacierMIP, an international project to compare glacier research to understand glacier changes and their contributions to global sea level rise.

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Global Warnings

QMS: Time to disconnect greed from the welfare of earth, if survival means anything. I like trees.

Paul Beckwith: "I declare a global climate change emergency to claw back up the rock face to attempt to regain system stability, or face an untenable calamity of biblical proportions."

Kevin Hester: "There is no past analogue for the rapidity of what we are baring witness to. There has been a flood of articles ... 2C is no longer attainable and that we are heading for dangerous climate change"

Magi Amma: We need to turn on a dime at mach nine!

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Equivalencies:
• 1 gigatonne = 1 billion tons
• 1 gigatonne Carbon = 3.67 gigatonnes CO2
• 1 part per million (ppm) of atmospheric CO2 = 7.81 gigatonnes CO2
• 1 part per million of atmospheric carbon = 2.13 gigatonnes of carbon

Enjoy!