Climate Change

[Jackie22]

[h=1]Obama to Unveil 'Biggest Step Ever' in Climate Fight[/h]Source: Discovery

President Barack Obama will Monday unveil what he called the “biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken” to fight climate change, a sensitive issue central to his legacy.

The White House will release the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan, a set of environmental rules and regulations that will home in on the pollution from the nation’s power plants, setting limits on power-plant carbon emissions.

Laying out how climate change was a threat to the health, well being and security of millions of Americans, and adding that time was of the essence, Obama said in a video released early Sunday: “Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore.”

“Power plants are the single biggest source of harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change,” added Obama, who made the battle against climate change a core promise of his 2008 election campaign.

Read more: http://news.discovery.com/earth/glo...biggest-step-ever-in-climate-fight-150802.htm

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[Jackie22]

[h=1]At Least 1.5 Million Juvenile Fish "Cooked Alive" Across PNW By Drought, Record Water Temperatures[/h]Freakishly hot, dry weather in the Pacific Northwest is killing millions of fish in the overheated waters of the region's rivers and streams. "We've lost about 1.5 million juvenile fish this year due to drought conditions at our hatcheries," Ron Warren of Washington State's Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement. "This is unlike anything we've seen for some time."

Sockeye salmon losses in the Columbia River due to the heat are in the hundreds of thousands, said Jeff Fryer, senior fishery scientist with the river's Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The fish were returning from the ocean to spawn when the "unprecedented" warm water killed them, he said.

Water temperatures in the Columbia River — part of which runs along the border of Oregon and Washington — reached the low 70s shortly after July 4, something that doesn't usually happen until August, if at all, Fryer said. High temperatures — coupled with the low water levels — can be lethal to fish, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. With no end to the drought in sight, there could be additional fish die-offs, said Rod French, a fish biologist with the department.

Dead and distressed sockeye salmon found earlier this month in the Deschutes River in Oregon likely came from the Columbia River and were bound for other locations before they swam into the Deschutes in search of cooler water, the department said. Early pathology results suggest they died from columnaris, a bacterial infection typically associated with high water temperatures and/or low levels of dissolved oxygen.



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/heat-drought-cook-fish-alive-in-pacific-northwest/ar-BBlhM6s

 

[Jackie22]

[h=1]Scientists fear toxic algae bloom spreading on Pacific coast[/h]Stretching from southern California to Alaska, this year’s blooms thought to be the largest ever recorded

by Ryan Schuessler

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The toxic algae blooms in the Pacific Ocean stretching from southern California to Alaska — already the largest ever recorded — appear to have reached as far as the Aleutian Islands, scientists say.

“The anecdotal evidence suggests we’re having a major event,” said Bruce Wright, a scientist with the Aleutian Pribilof Island Association, the federally recognized tribal organization of Alaska’s native Aleuts. “All the populations are way down in the Aleutians.”

While algal blooms are not uncommon in the Pacific, 2015’s blooms appear to be the largest on record, scientists say. Stretching from Southern California to Alaska, the blooms are responsible for unprecedented closures of fisheries and unusual deaths of marine life up and down the Pacific coast.

Pseudo-nitzchia is one species of algae that produces domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can be lethal to humans and wildlife. The toxin is ingested by shellfish and krill that, when consumed, pass the toxin onto the predator — in some cases, people.

more

http://america.aljazeera.com/articl...ar-toxic-algae-bloom-continues-to-spread.html

 

[BobF]

Lots of scary stuff there. But I wonder who might be causing all the problems. I don't think the US is the major culprit here at all. We have some very good energy producing power plants compared to other places.

Our winds and pollution come from China, Japan, Russia. It seems that if we are suffering from pollution that most of it is blown in from the west, just as our weather and ocean junk is from the west of the US.

I agree that we can still improve our pollution problems. But not in a panic method of trying to use unproven methods to fix what are likely not the problem.

It will be interesting to hear of anything Obama proposes. Not sure what he wants now. Will likely hear some soon but more will come later. I hope he keeps an eye on the disruptions and costs of pushing changes too fast for no real reasons. The US is supposed to be among the cleanest and the big problems are in China and parts of Europe and Russia. Where much of our polluted air comes from on the west coast at least.

 

[Josiah]

Our president is doing everything he (the executive branch of government) can do to address the enormously serious problem of climate change. Legislation to address the problem is sorely needed perhaps in the form of a carbon tax, but alas a Republican led Congress is not in the least bit interested in disappointing their friends in the fossil fuel industry. Here is the ultimate reason why we need change the make up of the next Congress by electing a Democratic majority in both houses. Climate Change is real, it's man made and the only solution is for man to stop pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

 

[Jackie22]

Our president is doing everything he (the executive branch of government) can do to address the enormously serious problem of climate change. Legislation to address the problem is sorely needed perhaps in the form of a carbon tax, but alas a Republican led Congress is not in the least bit interested in disappointing their friends in the fossil fuel industry. Here is the ultimate reason why we need change the make up of the next Congress by electing a Democratic majority in both houses. Climate Change is real, it's man made and the only solution is for man to stop pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

Totally agree with all you said, Josiah, I believe CC is the most pressing and important issues facing the world.

 

[BobF]

Unfortunately not all believe in this panic solution to questionable climate change. That is why we have some difficulties in implementing these panic moded solutions.

No comments on my opinion that at least the west coast of the US is dirtied by other countries and not by the eastern US states.

 

[Jackie22]

[h=2]List of countries by 2013 emissions estimates[edit][/h]EDGAR (database created by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) released 2013 estimates. The following table lists the 2013 annual CO[SUB]2[/SUB] emissions estimates (in thousands of CO[SUB]2[/SUB]tonnes) along with a list of emissions per capita (in tonnes of CO[SUB]2[/SUB] per year) from same source.

Country	CO[SUB]2[/SUB] emissions (kt)[SUP][12][/SUP]	Emission per capita (t)[SUP][12][/SUP]
World	35,270,000	-
China	10,330,000	7.4
United States	5,300,000	16.6
European Union	3,740,000	7.3
India	2,070,000	1.7
Russia	1,800,000	12.6
Japan	1,360,000	10.7
International transport	1,070,000	-
Germany	840,000	10.2
South Korea	630,000	12.7
Canada	550,000	15.7
Indonesia	510,000	2.6
Saudi Arabia	490,000	16.6
Brazil	480,000	2.0
United Kingdom	480,000	7.5
Mexico	470,000	3.9
Iran	410,000	5.3
Australia	390,000	16.9
Italy	390,000	6.4
France	370,000	5.7
South Africa	330,000	6.2
Poland	320,000	8.5

 

[Shalimar]

Appalling stats. Bravo, Mr. President, for your actions on this matter. I only hope that my own country's disgusting stance (denial), around climate change is mitigated by the upcoming general election. It is bad enough to be viewed as ecoterrorists. I am ashamed of my corrupt, secretive, conservative govt.

 

[Josiah]

Interesting chart Jackie especially the Emission per capita column. Why are we nearly 3 times worse than France, a modern 1st world nation like ourselves. Canada and Australia are disappointingly high too. Brazil deserves a big pat on the back for choosing to commit to renewable ethanol and doing it a whole lot more efficiently than our ethanol program which ought to be ended.

 

[BobF]

Part of the US problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/w...pollution-to-western-us-study-finds.html?_r=0

[h=3]Asia Pacific[/h] [h=1]China Exports Pollution to U.S., Study Finds[/h] By EDWARD WONGJAN. 20, 2014

Photo

Smog enveloping Beijing last summer. A group of researchers found that trans-Pacific air pollution is a hidden price of the goods sent abroad from China. Credit European Pressphoto Agency

BEIJING — Filthy emissions from China’s export industries are carried across the Pacific Ocean and contribute to air pollution in the Western United States, according to a paper published Monday by a prominent American science journal.


The research is the first to quantify how air pollution in the United States is affected by China’s production of goods for export and by global consumer demand for those goods, the study’s authors say. It was written by nine scholars based in three nations and was published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which last year published a paper by other researchers that found a drop in life spans in northern China because of air pollution.


The latest paper explores the environmental consequences of interconnected economies. The scientists wrote that “outsourcing production to China does not always relieve consumers in the United States — or for that matter many countries in the Northern Hemisphere — from the environmental impacts of air pollution.”


The movement of air pollutants associated with the production of goods in China for the American market has resulted in a decline in air quality in the Western United States, the scientists wrote, though less manufacturing in the United States does mean cleaner air in the American East.


Jintai Lin, the lead author of the paper, said in an interview that he and the other scientists wanted to examine the transborder effects of emissions from export industries to look at how consumption contributes to global air pollution.


“We’re focusing on the trade impact,” said Mr. Lin, a professor in the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at Peking University’s School of Physics. “Trade changes the location of production and thus affects emissions.”


Powerful global winds called westerlies can carry pollutants from China across the Pacific within days, leading to “dangerous spikes in contaminants,” especially during the spring, according to a news release from the University of California, Irvine, where one of the study’s co-authors, Steven J. Davis, is an earth system scientist. “Dust, ozone and carbon can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states,” the statement said.

(And more)

 

[Don M.]

I think the globe is in a race between Climate Change, and Overpopulation...as to which will become the Bane of Humanity. In all likelihood, it will be a combination of Both. Most climate scientists seem to place a date of between 2025 and 2030, as being the "Tipping Point", beyond which nothing we do will reverse the consequences of the pollutants in our atmosphere. About the Only way a major reversal in this pollution could be achieved in the next 10 or 15 years, would be if everyone parked their cars, and we shut down ALL fossil fuel power plants, and went back to living by candlelight. Can you imagine the "whining" if TV, cell phones, and the Internet were all eliminated???

Any attempts to reign in pollution are admirable....but I have a bad feeling that it is all going to prove to be Too Little..Too Late.

 

[Josiah]

Pollution is a serious environmental problem Bob, but it is only tangentially a factor affecting Climate Change. The key measure that frightens us is solar energy that should be reflected back into space is being trapped by primarily by CO2 and as a result the earth is heating up. The CO2 that we contributed by burning carbon based fuels.

 

[Don M.]

Pollution is a serious environmental problem Bob, but it is only tangentially a factor affecting Climate Change. The key measure that frightens us is solar energy that should be reflected back into space is being trapped by primarily by CO2 and as a result the earth is heating up. The CO2 that we contributed by burning carbon based fuels.

Another factor that is affecting this "reflected" energy is the Dirty Ice that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the Arctic, Antarctic, and especially Greenland. The airborne pollutants are leaving a black dust on many of these massive ice fields, and instead of reflecting the sunlight, this ice is absorbing it, and increasing the ice melt....which will, in turn, accelerate the rise in the oceans, and put many coastal cities at risk even faster than once thought.

 

[Josiah]

I think the globe is in a race between Climate Change, and Overpopulation...as to which will become the Bane of Humanity. In all likelihood, it will be a combination of Both. Most climate scientists seem to place a date of between 2025 and 2030, as being the "Tipping Point", beyond which nothing we do will reverse the consequences of the pollutants in our atmosphere. About the Only way a major reversal in this pollution could be achieved in the next 10 or 15 years, would be if everyone parked their cars, and we shut down ALL fossil fuel power plants, and went back to living by candlelight. Can you imagine the "whining" if TV, cell phones, and the Internet were all eliminated???

Any attempts to reign in pollution are admirable....but I have a bad feeling that it is all going to prove to be Too Little..Too Late.

There is a lot of pessimism, which I share, that mankind can work together in a concerted manner to make the changes that have to be made. Eliminating fossil fuels is not an impossible goal, but human beings have little experience cooperating on this sort of scale. Just getting people to comprehend and accept what has to be done has so far proven beyond out capacity. Facts just don't matter to a lot of people.

 

[AZ Jim]

It is possible that climate change, with it's ramifications in our water, food production and over population could bring on our end. Just a matter of when.

 

[Josiah]

Another factor that is affecting this "reflected" energy is the Dirty Ice that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the Arctic, Antarctic, and especially Greenland. The airborne pollutants are leaving a black dust on many of these massive ice fields, and instead of reflecting the sunlight, this ice is absorbing it, and increasing the ice melt....which will, in turn, accelerate the rise in the oceans, and put many coastal cities at risk even faster than once thought.

I agree that dirty ice is a factor and so is no ice (open water) which has a very poor reflective index.

 

[SeaBreeze]

I don't know exactly what President Obama plans to do in his next step, but I support his efforts to do whatever he can for the United States and world pollution. Here's some of his accomplishments. https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change#section-the-latest

THE UNITED STATES IS LEADING GLOBAL EFFORTS TO ADDRESS THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE. WIND POWER HAS TRIPLED, AND ENERGY FROM THE SUN HAS INCREASED TENFOLD. U.S. CARBON EMISSIONS HAVE FALLEN BY 10 PERCENT FROM 2007 TO 2013 – THE LARGEST ABSOLUTE EMISSIONS REDUCTION OF ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. TO BUILD ON THAT PROGRESS, PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS TAKEN A SERIES OF AMBITIOUS STEPS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE.​

 

[Don M.]

Convincing the majority of people that Climate Change is real seems to be 50/50, at best. Then, getting nations to work together for solutions is an even greater challenge. The IPCC has been meeting, for years, and it seems that the Only thing they can agree on is where to hold next years opulent conference.

It seems to be human nature to do Nothing, until it becomes a crisis. In this case, however, the crisis Will be overwhelming. This planet has undergone extended periods of heating...And major Ice Ages....all of which have resulted in disruption to existing life forms...even extinction. However, in the past, there weren't billions of people involved.

 

[BobF]

Far too many folks think that it only became a problem when the lefties took charge. Before that happened it was an open discussion between scientist and politicians from both sides of the topic. But lately it has all been driven from the left side and no right side conversations are accepted. But there certainly are some web sites that still want to be heard.

 

[Josiah]

Heck Bob, if I type "climate change" in the You Tube search box more than half the videos that come up are right wing climate deniers. I give the right wing credit, they know how to get their message out.

 

[tnthomas]

Any attempts to reign in pollution are admirable....but I have a bad feeling that it is all going to prove to be Too Little..Too Late.

I got that bad feeling too; still think the human race should at least try to save its collective self.

 

[Josiah]

I don't know exactly what President Obama plans to do in his next step, but I support his efforts to do whatever he can for the United States and world pollution. Here's some of his accomplishments. https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change#section-the-latest

THE UNITED STATES IS LEADING GLOBAL EFFORTS TO ADDRESS THE THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE. WIND POWER HAS TRIPLED, AND ENERGY FROM THE SUN HAS INCREASED TENFOLD. U.S. CARBON EMISSIONS HAVE FALLEN BY 10 PERCENT FROM 2007 TO 2013 – THE LARGEST ABSOLUTE EMISSIONS REDUCTION OF ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. TO BUILD ON THAT PROGRESS, PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS TAKEN A SERIES OF AMBITIOUS STEPS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE.​

Am I wrong, SB, in remembering that a while back you didn't take Climate Change all that seriously?

 

[Jackie22]

[h=1]U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change[/h]

Beijing, China, 12 November 2014​

​

​

1. The United States of America and the People’s Republic of China have a critical role to play in combating global climate change, one of the greatest threats facing humanity. The seriousness of the challenge calls upon the two sides to work constructively together for the common good.
2. To this end, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation on climate change and will work together, and with other countries, to adopt a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties at the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris in 2015. They are committed to reaching an ambitious 2015 agreement that reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances.
3. Today, the Presidents of the United States and China announced their respective post-2020 actions on climate change, recognizing that these actions are part of the longer range effort to transition to low-carbon economies, mindful of the global temperature goal of 2℃. The United States intends to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26%-28% below its 2005 level in 2025 and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28%. China intends to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030 and to make best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030. Both sides intend to continue to work to increase ambition over time.
4. The United States and China hope that by announcing these targets now, they can inject momentum into the global climate negotiations and inspire other countries to join in coming forward with ambitious actions as soon as possible, preferably by the first quarter of 2015. The two Presidents resolved to work closely together over the next year to address major impediments to reaching a successful global climate agreement in Paris.
5. The global scientific community has made clear that human activity is already changing the world’s climate system. Accelerating climate change has caused serious impacts. Higher temperatures and extreme weather events are damaging food production, rising sea levels and more damaging storms are putting our coastal cities increasingly at risk and the impacts of climate change are already harming economies around the world, including those of the United States and China. These developments urgently require enhanced actions to tackle the challenge.
6. At the same time, economic evidence makes increasingly clear that smart action on climate change now can drive innovation, strengthen economic growth and bring broad benefits – from sustainable development to increased energy security, improved public health and a better quality of life. Tackling climate change will also strengthen national and international security.


..then it goes on describing how this will be done, here.........
[FONT=HelveticaNeue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif]https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-change

This agreement between the US and China goes along with SeaBreeze's post..... whatever future plans the President has he'll have to bypass congress to get it done....anyway we'll know more tomorrow what those plans are.



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[Don M.]

I got that bad feeling too; still think the human race should at least try to save its collective self.

It would be a Great World if people could act for the Common Good. However, most seem incapable of any compromise..."My Way, or the Highway". I'm not very religious...in a "Biblical" sense, but the older I get, and the more attention I give to what people are doing, I often wonder if the predictions of Armageddon aren't in humanities future.