Bob Such Memorial Lecture (Treenet), 2016: Forests, nature and the interacting global crises
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Keynote talk: September 1, 2016, Adelaide, SA, Australia 17th National symposium, https://www.treenet.org/ Dr Colin Butler Bob Such lecture (second); video will be posted on web in due course
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Bob Such Memorial Lecture (Treenet), 2016: Forests, nature and the interacting global crises
- 1. CRICOS #00212KCRICOS #00212K Bob Such Memorial Lecture, 2016 Forests, nature and the interacting global crises Dr Colin Butler 17th National Treenet Symposium; September 1, 2016
- 3. CRICOS #00212K Urban forests, health and well-being Climate change, forests and well-being Climate change, “planetary overload” and refugees Conclusion
- 4. CRICOS #00212K Urban forests and health Recreation Noise reduction Air quality Reduced “heat island” effect; shade
- 5. CRICOS #00212K Part of the two-mile-long lime tree avenue at Clumber Park. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler
- 6. CRICOS #00212K "We do not live on the planet earth but with the life it harbours and within the environment that life creates"
- 7. CRICOS #00212K .. people adapt so unconsciously to their surroundings .. no longer mind the stench of automobile exhausts, ugly urban sprawl, "starless skies, treeless avenues, shapeless buildings, tasteless bread, joyless celebrations“ (Dubos) Speculated (1950s) that reduced human contact with Nature, then evolving in urban areas, might trigger increased demand for artificial forms of stimulation, including through drugs .. 50% world population urban 60% urban projected for 2030
- 9. CRICOS #00212K growth in electronic stimulation partial compensation for less contact with nature?
- 10. CRICOS #00212K Improved air quality Air pollution: a major cause of mortality and morbidity globally Sources: Biomass burning (including wood burning for heat) Coal burning and industrial sources Traffic exhausts
- 11. CRICOS #00212K Lung disease Cardiac disease Morbidity as well as mortality
- 12. CRICOS #00212K
- 13. CRICOS #00212K Kõlves, K., Barker, E. & De Leo, D. 2015. Allergies and suicidal behaviors: A systematic literature review. Allergy and Asthma Proceedings, 36, 433- 438. Drawbacks Allergens – far more than a nuisance? VOCs – precursor to ozone Leaf litter and falling hazard Shade in the wrong places Fires Public liability
- 14. CRICOS #00212K
- 15. CRICOS #00212K
- 16. CRICOS #00212K
- 17. CRICOS #00212K Reduced “heat island” effect
- 18. CRICOS #00212K Two research ideas (related) 1. Burden of disease from urban air pollution with and without the urban forest 2. Average summer temperatures with and without the urban forest
- 19. CRICOS #00212K Climate change, forests and well-being
- 20. CRICOS #00212K Climate change, forests and well-being Heat Floods and fires The carbon budget and forest health Sea level rise Conflict and migration
- 21. CRICOS #00212K
- 23. CRICOS #00212K
- 24. CRICOS #00212K
- 25. CRICOS #00212K stepping outside is like “walking into a fire,” said Zainab Guman, a 26-year-old university student who lives in Basra. “It’s like everything on your body — your skin, your eyes, your nose — starts to burn,” she said.
- 26. CRICOS #00212K stepping outside is like “walking into a fire,” said Zainab Guman, a 26-year-old university student who lives in Basra. “It’s like everything on your body — your skin, your eyes, your nose — starts to burn,” she said.
- 27. CRICOS #00212K Floods and fires Climate change, forests and well-being
- 28. CRICOS #00212K Image: Mary Anne Sexsmith-Segato/The Canadian Press via AP
- 29. CRICOS #00212K
- 30. CRICOS #00212K
- 31. CRICOS #00212K
- 32. CRICOS #00212K July 29, 2016
- 33. CRICOS #00212K a microburst in Phoenix, AZ, USA July 2016
- 34. CRICOS #00212K Baseline: 1901-1960: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing- climate/heavy-downpours-increasing
- 35. CRICOS #00212K > 20k Louisiana residents rescued from their homes; 12k currently in shelters in the wake of historic, devastating flash flooding http://www. latimes.co m/nation/la -na- louisiana- flooding- 20160814- snap- story.html August 14, 2016
- 36. CRICOS #00212K Flooding in Louisiana, USA, August 2016 http://jezebel.com/the-historic-flooding-in-louisiana-is-looking-pretty-da-1785299122? utm_campaign=socialfow_jezebel_twitter&utm_source=jezebel_twitter&utm_medium=so cialflow
- 37. CRICOS #00212K Flooding in Khartoum, Sudan, August 2016 http://camuudmedia.com/archives/2016/08/75540
- 38. CRICOS #00212K Flooding in Khartoum, Sudan, August 2016 http://camuudmedia.com/archives/2016/08/75540
- 39. CRICOS #00212K
- 40. CRICOS #00212K Climate change, forests and well-being The carbon budget and forest health
- 41. CRICOS #00212K Carbon budget: 1 trillion tones: to have at least 66% chance of limiting global temperature increases to < 2 C already emitted 2/3rds of this NDC= Nationally determined contibution
- 42. CRICOS #00212K Mountain pine beetle infections are becoming more intense as weather warms in coniferous forests, like this one in central British Columbia. Infected trees die slowly, resulting in a forest full of various levels of colorful dieback. Science 2015
- 43. CRICOS #00212K Red foliage colour indicative of attack by the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae
- 44. CRICOS #00212K
- 45. CRICOS #00212K Climate change, forests and well-being Sea level rise
- 46. CRICOS #00212K
- 47. CRICOS #00212K
- 49. CRICOS #00212K Credits: Dave/Flickr Creative Commons/CC BY 2.0 http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/new-nasa-web-portal-shines-beacon-on-rising-seas/# Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Florida
- 50. CRICOS #00212K Flooding is becoming a “normal” nuisance in Miami, as the sea inexorably rises Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images https://weather.com/science/environment/news/miami-flooding-increase-over-past-decade
- 51. CRICOS #00212KMar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida
- 52. CRICOS #00212K 2016 2045 200 150 100 50 0 Source: Coastal Risk Consulting, Graphic: Jan Diehm, The Guardian (2016) 2016 2045 2016 2045 2016 2045
- 53. CRICOS #00212K Conflict and migration Climate change, forests and well-being
- 54. CRICOS #00212K PNAS - 2015
- 55. CRICOS #00212K “a risk multiplier”
- 56. CRICOS #00212K
- 57. CRICOS #00212K
- 58. CRICOS #00212K “the most amazing technical abilities, the most astonishing economic growth, unless they are accompanied by authentic social and moral progress, will definitively turn against man” Pope Paul VI, 1970 Address to FAO on the 25th Anniversary of its Institution (16 November 1970)
- 59. CRICOS #00212K The far-sighted amongst you are anticipating broader global impacts on property, migration and political stability, as well as food and water security. … Past is not prologue … the catastrophic norms of the future can be seen in the tail risks of today. Mark Carney, 2015 (Governor of the Bank of England) Carney M. Breaking the tragedy of the horizon – climate change and financial stability. http://wwwbankofenglandcouk/publications/Pages/speeches/2015/844aspx
- 60. CRICOS #00212K
- 61. CRICOS #00212K
- 62. CRICOS #00212K "When I speak of war I speak of wars over interests, money, resources, not religion”
- 63. CRICOS #00212K
- 66. CRICOS #00212K Rod Simpson 66 Some good news for a change
- 67. CRICOS #00212K Solar is now cheaper than coal, says India energy minister http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/04/18/solar-is-now-cheaper-than-coal-says-india-energy-minister/
- 68. CRICOS #00212K
- 69. CRICOS #00212K Jackson et al, Nature Climate Change, 2016
- 71. CRICOS #00212K
- 72. CRICOS #00212K
- 73. CRICOS #00212K Sonia Guajajara, head of The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil: unimpressed by the interpretation of history in the show: “The images beautiful but hide reality. “Amazon threatened with extinction from logging, fires, growing demand from soy and beef. So much from demand for what people eat in other countries. We are not folkloric we are real and we are the only ones who can protect the forest.”
- 74. CRICOS #00212K
Editor's Notes
- 11/10/2014
- The garden designer W.S. Gilpin planted the lime avenue in the 1830s for the 4th Duke of Newcastle, https://nttreasurehunt.wordpress.com/category/nottinghamshire/
- http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-failing-to-regulate-air-pollution-environment-lawyers-20160421-goc7dc.html Queensland failing to regulate air pollution: Environment lawyers Jorge Branco State governments are failing to regulate dangerous air pollution and Queensland is the worst of a bad bunch, an environmental law firm says. Environmental Justice Australia researcher Dr James Whelan said the latest national pollutant figures showed it was time for the Commonwealth to wrest pollution control responsibilities away from the states. PM10 particles mostly come from mechanical activities such as mining. Photo: Robert Rough The National Pollutant Inventory released its latest data on Friday, showing central Queensland was home to nine of the worst 10 mines in Australia for coarse particle pollutants (PM10), which can cause respiratory problems, cancer and leach toxic chemicals into the blood, depending on the source. Dr Whelan raised concerns that in south-east Queensland, despite the closure of several large projects in or before the monitoring period, pollutant levels had remained relatively steady. &quot;The states are failing demonstrably,&quot; he said, after analysing the NPI data over the weekend. &quot;The reason I spend as much time as I do is not to find rogue polluters but to find instances of significant improvement, reduction in pollution and they&apos;re few and far between. &quot;The Victorian government is not doing enough to control pollution in the Latrobe Valley. &quot;The New South Wales government is failing to protect the people of the Hunter (Valley) and the official story from the Queensland government is air pollution&apos;s not a problem. Well, it is.&quot; The Queensland government has 28 air monitoring stations in south-east Queensland and central Queensland, Mount Isa and Townsville, about one for every 61,500 square kilometres of land. That number includes one monitoring station at the mining hub of Moranbah but no others in the expansive Bowen Basin, stretching from Collinsville, west of Airlie Beach, to Theodore, south-west of Gladstone. Dr Whelan said that compared to 17 stations monitoring &quot;smaller and less polluting&quot; operations in the Hunter Valley. A Department of Environment and Heritage Protection spokeswoman said most of the stations were placed to measure information typical PM10 exposure by people living in the area. &quot;In addition to the government&apos;s network of air monitoring stations measuring ambient air quality, mine operators and intensive resource or industrial activities are required to monitor their air quality,&quot; she said. &quot;This is a requirement under their environmental authorities. &quot;They have to report any exceedances in air quality parameters to the department, and then fix any issues.&quot; But Dr Whelan raised concerns with those data, which is where the NPI comes from, saying the figures weren&apos;t audited. He said information about the actual concentration of pollutants in the air was not available to the public. Air pollution kills more than 3000 Australians every year, costing up to $24 billion in health and almost trebling the road toll. The NPI data showed total PM10 emissions, particles about the size of a hair usually stemming from mechanical sources such as coal mines, have increased 69 per cent in one year nationally, and 194 per cent in five years. The DEHP spokeswoman said monitoring stations in Queensland &quot;rarely&quot; exceeded guidelines for human health protection. &quot;Where exceedances have occurred these are a result of events such as dust storms or bush fires, not industrial activities,&quot; she said. Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham told parliament on Wednesday departmental inspectors were taking &quot;firm action&quot; against a mine that exceeded dust limits in March. Don&apos;t miss important news stories. Like us on Facebook.
- http://static.businessinsider.com/image/55fc6e799dd7cc23008bb84a/image.jpg
- http://climate.nasa.gov/news/2465/2016-climate-trends-continue-to-break-records/ 2016 climate trends continue to break records By Patrick Lynch,NASA&apos;s Goddard Space Flight Center Chunks of sea ice, melt ponds and open water are all seen in this image captured at an altitude of 1,500 feet by the NASA&apos;s Digital Mapping System instrument during an Operation IceBridge flight over the Chukchi Sea on Saturday, July 16, 2016. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Operation IceBridge. Two key climate change indicators — global surface temperatures and Arctic sea ice extent — have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016, according to NASA analyses of ground-based observations and satellite data. Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880, according to scientists at NASA&apos;s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The six-month period from January to June was also the planet&apos;s warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the late nineteenth century. Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880. Meanwhile, five of the first six months set records for the smallest monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979. This video is public domain and can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio. Five of the first six months of 2016 also set records for the smallest respective monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979, according to analyses developed by scientists at NASA&apos;s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland. The one exception, March, recorded the second smallest extent for that month. While these two key climate indicators have broken records in 2016, NASA scientists said it is more significant that global temperature and Arctic sea ice are continuing their decades-long trends of change. Both trends are ultimately driven by rising concentrations of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The extent of Arctic sea ice at the peak of the summer melt season now typically covers 40 percent less area than it did in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arctic sea ice extent in September, the seasonal low point in the annual cycle, has been declining at a rate of 13.4 percent per decade. &quot;While the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific this winter gave a boost to global temperatures from October onwards, it is the underlying trend which is producing these record numbers,&quot; GISS Director Gavin Schmidt said. Previous El Niño events have driven temperatures to what were then record levels, such as in 1998. But in 2016, even as the effects of the recent El Niño taper off, global temperatures have risen well beyond those of 18 years ago because of the overall warming that has taken place in that time. The first six months of 2016 were the warmest six-month period in NASA&apos;s modern temperature record, which dates to 1880. Credit: NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The global trend in rising temperatures is outpaced by the regional warming in the Arctic, said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA Goddard. &quot;It has been a record year so far for global temperatures, but the record high temperatures in the Arctic over the past six months have been even more extreme,&quot; Meier said. &quot;This warmth as well as unusual weather patterns have led to the record low sea ice extents so far this year.&quot; NASA tracks temperature and sea ice as part of its effort to understand the Earth as a system and to understand how Earth is changing. In addition to maintaining 19 Earth-observing space missions, NASA also sends researchers around the globe to investigate different facets of the planet at closer range. Right now, NASA researchers are working across the Arctic to better understand both the processes driving increased sea ice melt and the impacts of rising temperatures on Arctic ecosystems. NASA&apos;s long-running Operation IceBridge campaign last week began a series of airborne measurements of melt ponds on the surface of the Arctic sea ice cap. Melt ponds are shallow pools of water that form as ice melts. Their darker surface can absorb more sunlight and accelerate the melting process. IceBridge is flying out of Barrow, Alaska, during sea ice melt season to capture melt pond observations at a scale never before achieved. Recent studies have found that the formation of melt ponds early in the summer is a good predictor of the yearly minimum sea ice extent in September. &quot;No one has ever, from a remote sensing standpoint, mapped the large-scale depth of melt ponds on sea ice,&quot; said Nathan Kurtz, IceBridge’s project scientist and a sea ice researcher at NASA Goddard. &quot;The information we’ll collect is going to show how much water is retained in melt ponds and what kind of topography is needed on the sea ice to constrain them, which will help improve melt pond models.&quot; Operation IceBridge is a NASA airborne mission that has been flying multiple campaigns at both poles each year since 2009, with a goal of maintaining critical continuity of observations of sea ice and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. At the same time, NASA researchers began in earnest this year a nearly decade-long, multi-faceted field study of Arctic ecosystems in Alaska and Canada. The Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) will study how forests, permafrost and other ecosystems are responding to rising temperatures in the Arctic, where climate change is unfolding faster than anywhere else on the planet. ABoVE consists of dozens individual experiments that over years will study the region&apos;s changing forests, the cycle of carbon movement between the atmosphere and land, thawing permafrost, the relationship between fire and climate change, and more. For more information on NASA&apos;s Earth science activities, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/earth For more information about NASA&apos;s IceBridge, visit: www.nasa.gov/icebridge For more information about the ABoVE mission, visit: http://above.nasa.gov/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/an-epic-middle-east-heat-wave-could-be-global-warmings-hellish-curtain-raiser/2016/08/09/c8c717d4-5992-11e6-8b48-0cb344221131_story.html
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/an-epic-middle-east-heat-wave-could-be-global-warmings-hellish-curtain-raiser/2016/08/09/c8c717d4-5992-11e6-8b48-0cb344221131_story.html
- http://mashable.com/2016/05/04/fort-mcmurray-fire-global-warming/#83O7I4UhiSqc
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-flooding-1.3702881 Fort McMurray flooding a &apos;bad dream&apos; after wildfire &apos;It&apos;s just not our year,&apos; city councillor says after flooding damages homes that escaped wildfire By Zoe Todd, CBC News Posted: Aug 01, 2016 6:00 AM MT Last Updated: Aug 01, 2016 10:15 AM MT Torrential downpours flooded areas of Fort McMurray, Alta., on the weekend, prompting the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to reopen its emergency operations centre. (Derek Walker/Facebook) 3192 shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Google Share Email Related Stories Researchers in Fort McMurray learning about PTSD brought on by the &apos;Beast&apos; Battling the Beast: The untold story of the fight to save Fort McMurray Oilsands production drops 25% in May on fallout from Alberta wildfires People in Fort McMurray are taking stock of water damage after torrential rain flooded parts of the city over the weekend, including some areas that escaped devastation from the wildfire that forced tens of thousands out of the northern Alberta community in May. Heavy rain causing localized flooding in Fort McMurray Rising water prompted the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to reopen its emergency operations centre for the first time since the wildfire, which has come to be known as the Beast. &apos;It&apos;s a bad dream . . . I think I&apos;m in a bit of a denial state. How can this happen? How can so much happen within the span of three months?&apos; - Keith McGrath, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo councillor City crews in drainage trucks pumped water out of those neighbourhoods on the weekend, even as it trickled into basements and forced road closures. &quot;It&apos;s a bad dream,&quot; said city Coun. Keith McGrath. &quot;I think I&apos;m in a bit of a denial state. How can this happen? How can so much happen within the span of three months?&quot; City crews in drainage trucks worked to pump water out of flooded streets in Fort McMurray on Sunday. (Brenda Toutant/Facebook) McGrath said the flooding is a further drain on Fort McMurray, which reopened to wildfire evacuees in June. Even though the physical damage appears manageable, he said, the emotional toll is high. &quot;It&apos;s an upsetting time for a lot of people,&quot; he said. &quot;When do we get a break? &quot;It just seems like it never ends for us ... It&apos;s just not our year.&quot; McGrath said the full extent of damage won&apos;t be known until the floodwaters turn to puddles. &quot;All you can do is be strong for each other, but it gets old,&quot; he said. &quot;We won&apos;t give up.&quot; Water began to recede Sunday evening. Even still, fire crews stood by to wade into any rescue efforts. But their boots stayed dry, said Brad Grainger, the fire department&apos;s deputy chief of operations. Grainger said it was a relief for firefighters, who had assembled quickly at the hint of another possible natural disaster. &quot;We just went through the largest disaster in Canadian history, so I think we&apos;re OK for a couple of years. It&apos;s somebody else&apos;s turn.&quot; @ZoeHTodd
- This dramatic photo of a microburst in Phoenix earlierthis month probably inspired a wildly misleading&apos;clickbait article in Bloomberg New
- Figure: Observed U.S. Trend in Heavy Precipitation Caption: One measure of a heavy precipitation event is a 2-day precipitation total that is exceeded on average only once in a five-year period, also known as a once-in-five-year event. As this extreme precipitation index for 1901-2012 shows, the occurrence of such events has become much more common in recent decades. Changes are compared to the period 1901-1960, and do not include Alaska or Hawai‘i. The 2000s decade (far right bar) includes 2001-2012. (Figure source: adapted from Kunkel et al. 20131).
- Historic flooding continued to submerge vast swaths of southern Louisiana on Sunday, stranding residents in homes and shutting down highways. As hundreds were airlifted from a church and more than 5,000 took refuge in shelters, forecasters warned that just one more inch of rain could cause more flash floods. More than 7,000 people have been rescued in the last few days as homes — including the basement of the Governor&apos;s Mansion — have been deluged with water. At least four people died, authorities said. “Obviously, this is a serious event. It is ongoing. It is not over,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a news conference, announcing he had requested a disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Waters are going to continue to rise in many areas. This is no time to let your guard down.” See the most-read stories this hour &gt;&gt; Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for several counties in his state as it also battled the heavy rainfall. Rain has been torrential for days, with many areas around Baton Rouge, La., receiving 10 to 15 inches in 48 hours. More than 21 inches of rain had fallen in Livingston, near Baton Rouge, from Thursday morning to Saturday morning, said Andrew Ansorge, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisiana. “It’s historic,” Ansorge said. “There’s nothing really comparable to this.” Among the deaths reported so far was that of a 68-year-old man, William Mayfield, who died Friday in Zachary, 16 miles north of Baton Rouge, after he slipped and fell into a flooded ditch near his trailer. Another body was pulled from a submerged pickup truck Friday evening near Louisiana Highway 10. According to the Louisiana State Police, Samuel Muse, 54, of Greensburg was swept off the road after attempting to drive through high water. On Saturday, a woman’s body was pulled from the Tickfaw River in St. Helena Parish, northeast of Baton Rouge. The woman had been riding home from a hospital on Friday morning when floodwaters swept the car into the river. Rescuers found her husband and another family member clinging to trees, said Michael Martin, chief of operations for the St. Helena Parish Sheriff’s Office. And late Sunday, Devin George, Louisiana&apos;s registrar for vital records, said the Tangipahoa Parish coroner had confirmed a 59-year-old man had drowned. He was last seen Friday walking along Highway 440 in Tangipahoa city, where he is believed to have been swept away by the current. His name was not immediately made public. Volunteers pull a boat with a woman and young child as they evacuate from their homes on Aug. 13 in Baton Rouge, La. (John Oubre / Advocate) “Now we’ve rescued everyone, we’re trying to repair,” Martin said, noting that 110 residents were in shelters in Greensburg, a city of barely more than 700 that was largely cut off by the floods. Officials were focused on fixing sections of major highways that had been washed away, he said. Although the storms that created the flooding had subsided and moved to the west, forecasters warned that lingering scattered showers could exacerbate the flooding in the Baton Rouge area. About 1 inch of rain was forecast over south-central Louisiana and 1 to 2 inches across east Texas and western and central Louisiana. “Any rainfall that falls over those areas that have had already had flooding — even if it’s only 1 or 2 inches — it’s definitely not going to help,” Ansorge said. As the sun started shining Sunday morning, Edwards urged residents to remain in their homes and off the roads. &quot;Even a typical afternoon summer thunderstorm has the potential to cause flooding,&quot; he said. It was too early to say how many homes had been damaged, Edwards said, but it was probably in the thousands. Across Louisiana, more than 5,000 people stayed in Red Cross and government-run shelters Saturday night, said Marketa Garner Walters, secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Children & Family Services. “Things are still escalating, and we’re still in saving-lives mode,” said Col. Edward Bush, a public affairs officer for the Louisiana National Guard, which has mobilized 1,700 personnel and rescued 3,500 people and 400 pets across 12 parishes. “The biggest challenge is the rivers are continuing to rise and the flood conditions are changing.” Louisiana National Guard&apos;s high-water vehicles rescued stranded motorists Saturday night until rising water prevented access. By Sunday afternoon, hundreds of drivers remained stuck on islands of dry highway land. Some were choosing to stay because they didn’t want to leave their vehicles and possessions. Helicopters were dropping food and bottles of water on Interstate 12 to stranded motorists. A vehicle is submerged in floodwaters in Youngsville, La., Aug. 14. (Scott Clause / Layfayette Advertiser) More than 200 people were airlifted from Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge and dropped off at the Baton Rouge police hangar. Scores of residents in a Baton Rouge nursing home were also rescued, as well as a solitary resident who was found clinging to a streetlight on a submerged bridge over the Comite River. Harrowing rescue attempts were shared on social media. A video from CBS affiliate WAFB showed men aboard a boat attempting to rescue a woman from a red convertible that was almost submerged in murky brown water. “Oh my God, I’m drowning,” the woman, who is not visible, yells from her vehicle. “We’re coming, we’re coming,” a man reassures her as rescuers attempt to break her window and rip open the convertible’s fabric roof. “Please help me,” she cries as the car disappears under the water. A man jumps out of the boat, tears through the roof of the convertible and reaches down for the woman’s wrists to pull her out of the car. Frantically, she pleads with him to find her dog. “I think she’s gone,” the rescuer tells her as he ducks underwater. A few seconds later, he pops up. “I’ve got your dog,” he says.
- http://jezebel.com/the-historic-flooding-in-louisiana-is-looking-pretty-da-1785299122?utm_campaign=socialfow_jezebel_twitter&utm_source=jezebel_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow How an oddball, nameless storm unleashed a disastrous deluge in Louisiana By Jeff Halverson August 17 at 10:22 AM In this Aug. 15, 2016 U.S. Coast Guard handout photo, flooded areas of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are seen from the air. (Melissa Leake/U.S. Coast Guard/AFP/Getty Images) With the terrible Ellicott City flash flood fresh on our minds, another nearly unimaginable flood unfolded over southern Louisiana, beginning Aug. 11 and continuing to today. While the Ellicott City flood had laserlike focus (6 to 8 inches of rain in just three hours), the relentless torrent across Louisiana created a regional-scale disaster to the tune of 25 to 30 inches accumulating over three to four days. Rainfall estimates for Aug. 11-14 across southern Louisiana. Not shown on the map are several locations that picked up 25 inches of rain or more, with the maximum rain received — 31.4 inches — occurring in Watson, La. (NWS) How does the atmosphere create such astounding waterworks over a short period of time? The answer: Combine a sopping-wet air mass, featuring record-setting humidity levels, with a peculiar type of cyclonic storm running against the grain of the mid-latitude, westerly air current. You end up with a rogue vortex operating in a near-infinite water supply, creating both hell and high water for many, many thousands of people. Cyclonic vortices — some people just call them storms — are the bread-and-butter weather-makers in both the tropics and middle-latitudes. At one end of the spectrum are the tropical cyclones, a.k.a. hurricanes, fed by warm ocean waters and featuring a warm core. On the other end are the deep, cold-core extratropical cyclones of the mid-latitudes, powered by contrasting air masses. In the middle of this spectrum sits a no man’s land, a gray area, of hybrid storms. Here we have the nor’easters, subtropical cyclones, extratropically transitioning hurricanes, “Hurricane Huron” (a bizarre, hurricane-like vortex that formed over the namesake Great Lake in 1996) and polar cyclones (“arctic hurricanes”). Sandy was considered a hybrid storm when it made landfall. The storm behind the Louisiana flood disaster was a strange area of low pressure more toward the tropical end of the spectrum but a hybrid nonetheless. It resembled a type of inland, tropical depression — a precursor, perhaps, to something more intense — but that never became strong or deep enough to acquire an intense inner core of wind and earn a name. The system was embedded beneath a massive upper-level anticyclone or high-pressure cell. It turns out that high pressure aloft — which creates airflow spreading outward, away — helped to ventilate and draw moist air upward through the core of the vortex. More interestingly, this nameless, pseudo-tropical vortex progressed steadily westward — contrary to the general mid-latitude, westerly flow, from Aug. 11-13. The rogue motion is termed retrograde, and is actually the direction that lone vortices in the northern hemisphere tend to travel (because of their internal dynamics), in the absence of jet stream processes. But 99 percent of the time, low pressure systems over the United States are created, embedded and maintained by a relatively swift, westerly jet stream current. This one was far, far to the south, orphaned completely from the windy highway (located during this period over the Northern Plains). For three days, the vortex drew in low-level air streams on its southwestern side, squeezing them together, forcing the periodic ascent of air into concentrated pulses called convective bursts (huge thunderstorm clusters). At times, this storm drew in air containing record-high precipitable water (a measure of total water vapor vertically integrated through the atmosphere) — peaking at 2.7 to 2.8 inches. Individual convective cells continuously erupted in the southwestern zone or “sweet spot,” training one after another over the same locations. By Aug. 14, the parent vortex stopped moving westward all together, and simply “sat and spun” over the same location in East Texas. All the aforementioned processes are shown in the summary diagram below. Note the parent, tropical-like low (red “L”), confluent low-level air streams, high-humidity air mass (light green shade and contours), and the rainfall-generating sweet spot (magenta scalloped region). Summary of processes generating heavy rain across southern Louisiana from August 11-14, 2016. (NWS) Whereas the origins of this tropical-like vortex are nebulous, the sopping wet air mass derived from abnormally high ocean temperatures in the Gulf, which facilitated tremendous evaporation of moisture. As all that moisture condensed in the cyclone’s sweet spot, it released tremendous amounts of heat energy (the “latent heat of condensation”). This warmed the interior of the vortex, generating a characteristic tropical, warm-core system. However you describe it, it was the source of the nation’s worst flooding disaster in years. The fact that it did not have a name or neat definition posed serious communication challenges and may have led to less overall public awareness of the event’s danger.
- Flooding in Khartoum, Sudan, August 2016 http://camuudmedia.com/archives/2016/08/75540
- Mountain pine beetle infections are becoming more intense as weather warms in coniferous forests, like this one in central British Columbia. Infected trees die slowly, resulting in a forest full of various levels of colorful dieback.
- Red foliage colour indicative of attack by the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae
- May 15 2016 Queensland&apos;s mangrove ecosystem dying in secret Drew Creighton The proverbial canary in the coal mine of the Queensland ecosystems went off months ago and we missed the calls. There have been large scale diebacks of mangrove trees in the Gulf of Carpentaria for months and scientist have only just noticed as they are in the most remote areas of Queensland. Aerial imagery of large scale diebacks of Mangrove trees. Photo: James Cook University Scientists are not exactly sure what happened up there but they know the damage is extensive and unprecedented. James Cook University Professor and spokesman for the Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Network, Norm Duke, said they were only guessing at what happened, but he had some prevailing theories. &quot;It is coincident with a very hot dry period in northern Australia, in some ways it is coincident, in the same season at least, with the dieback of corals on the east coast. &quot;We don&apos;t have any other indications of major events up there, the only other kinds of things that could cause such a wide area of mangrove death would be a large oil spill, very large, or a cyclone, or a tsunami. &quot;But there&apos;s been nothing like that the, only the dead mangroves.&quot; Mangroves protect shorelines from erosion, stopping sediment going offshore. Professor Duke liked to think of them as coastal kidneys because they clean the water that comes from the land and goes into the sea. &quot;That&apos;s absolutely essential for ecosystems such as coral and seagrass, the rely on clean water and mangroves do the filtering on the coast. &quot;Mangroves are also fish habitat and nursery and the fishermen are telling us their catches have dropped in the Karumba area for example.&quot; Karumba sits on the Gulf of Carpentaria coastline to the east of Burketown. Mangroves play another role in the ecosystem, carbon storage, not only do they store carbon within, they keep it trapped underground in their extensive root network, Professor Duke said. &quot;They can store up to five times or more carbon than a normal forest and if they are dying like this they will release the carbon into the atmosphere and contribute further to global warming.&quot; The Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Network has no funding and is relying on Google Earth imaging and concerned locals for their information. &quot;We&apos;re hearing from indigenous rangers in the Northern Territory, WWF and other organisations that may be able to support an initial field survey,&quot; Professor Duke said. Prawn and barramundi fisheries are a large industry in the Gulf and the decline of the trees will also signal the decline of those fisheries. &quot;The worst case is they all die, the shore line starts to erode, the sediment becomes mobilised and they redeposit elsewhere. &quot;There will be a lot of muddy water and there will be a decline in fishery values associated with the areas.&quot; Professor Duke said the loss of the mangroves would totally disrupt the ecosystem, smaller fish would not have safe habitat and the whole food cycle will deteriorate. &quot;Once the trees have died, they can only grow back from seedling which may take 20 to 30 years before you get a functioning forest again,&quot; he said. &quot;The problem with sea edge is you&apos;ve got waves, currents and storms, It&apos;s very difficult in some circumstances for plants to get started.&quot; Professor Duke said the ownership of the mangroves fell under the purview of the state government. &quot;Mangroves in the state of Queensland are protected species, there&apos;s a state government obligation for protection.&quot;
- Miami Beach flooding. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images https://weather.com/science/environment/news/miami-flooding-increase-over-past-decade
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/06/donald-trump-climate-change-florida-resort Water world: rising tides close in on Trump, the climate change denier Climate change has barely registered as a 2016 campaign issue, but in Florida, the state which usually decides the presidential election, the waters are lapping at the doors of Donald Trump’s real estate empire In 30 years, the grounds of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago could be under at least a foot of water for 210 days a year. Photograph: Alamy Suzanne Goldenberg @suzyji Wednesday 6 July 2016 21.00 AEST Last modified on Saturday 6 August 2016 00.40 AEST Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ This article is 1 month old Comments 477 Save for later On a hot and lazy afternoon in Palm Beach, the only sign of movement is the water gently lapping at the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, the private club that is the prize of Donald Trump’s real estate acquisitions in Florida. Trump currently dismisses climate change as a hoax invented by China, though he has quietly sought to shield real estate investments in Ireland from its effects. But at the Republican presidential contender’s Palm Beach estate and the other properties that bear his name in south Florida, the water is already creeping up bridges and advancing on access roads, lawns and beaches because of sea-level rise, according to a risk analysis prepared for the Guardian. In 30 years, the grounds of Mar-a-Lago could be under at least a foot of water for 210 days a year because of tidal flooding along the intracoastal water way, with the water rising past some of the cottages and bungalows, the analysis by Coastal Risk Consulting found. Trump’s insouciance in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change – even lapping up on his own doorstep – makes him something of an outlier in south Florida, where mayors are actively preparing for a future under climate change. Trump, who backed climate action in 2009 but now describes climate change as “bullshit”, is also out of step with the US and other governments’ efforts to turn emissions-cutting pledges into concrete actions in the wake of the Paris climate agreement. Trump has threatened to pull the US out of the agreement. And the presidential contender’s posturing about climate denial may further alienate the Republican candidate from younger voters and minority voters in this election who see climate change as a gathering danger. When Guardian US asked its readers about their most urgent concern in these elections as part of our Voices of America series, the single issue looming on their minds was climate change. Real estate professionals, with perhaps an extra dash of self-interest, hold similar views. In a survey published in the Miami Herald last month, two-thirds of high-end Miami realtors were concerned sea-level rise and climate change could hurt local property values, up from 56% of them last year. So too for mayors in south Florida. About a third of the civic leaders in south Florida’s compact of mayors are working on strategies to protect their towns from rising seas – and lobbying Florida’s governor and fellow Republicans in Congress to acknowledge the gathering threat. Elected officials in those same Florida towns say they are already spending heavily to rebuild disappearing beaches and pump out water-logged streets. Republicans in coastal districts can’t afford to play politics with climate change, said Steve Abrams, a Republican and mayor of Palm Beach County. “We don’t have the luxury at the local level to engage in these lofty policy debates,” said Abrams. “I have been in knee-deep water in many parts of my district during King Tide.” King Tides, the extreme high tides of the autumn, are a growing nuisance in Miami and other areas of south Florida – and are creeping up the manicured lawns of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago from the intracoastal waterway, according to the CRC analysis. Parts of the estate are already at high risk of flooding under heavy rains and storms, the analysis found. By 2045, the storm surge from even a category two storm would bring waters crashing over the main swimming pool and up to the main building, the analysis found. The historic mansion at the heart of Mar-a-Lago is not going to be underwater, “but they are going to have more and more issues with health and safety, access, and infrastructure,” said Keren Bolter, chief scientist for the firm. Who supports Donald Trump? The new Republican center of gravity Read more Despite Trump’s pronouncements, there is strong evidence that he – personally – could pay the price for climate change in his property interests along the south Florida oceanfront and intracoastal waterway. In south Florida, sea level is projected to rise up to 34in by the middle of the century and as high as 81in by 2100, according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. South of Mar-a-Lago, where the elevation is lower, water already pools in the road in front of the Trump Hollywood condos after the briefest of cloud bursts. The luxury development, where three-bedroom units are on sale for up to $3m apiece, offers “pristine beaches”. “Right outside your door you’ll find the Hollywood Beach broadwalk, ranked as one of the five best boardwalks in the country,” the company website says. But Peter Bober, a Hollywood native who is now the city’s mayor, said flooding was becoming a regular occurrence, when storms coincided with high tide. “We have had neighbourhoods where the water has been up to people’s front doors. That is not something that I remember as a kid growing up in the city of Hollywood,” he said. Meanwhile, the city is spending heavily on pumping systems and to truck in sand to replenish beaches disappearing due to erosion. Bober said he had seen storms with water pouring over the sea walls of the intracoastal. “Water just floods the entire neighbourhood, and there is nothing we can do about it,” Bober said. “We have occasional storms where we are totally overwhelmed.” Such instances are only growing more frequent. Bolter’s modelling suggests Trump’s Hollywood condos could be turned into islands for up to 140 days a year by 2045, cut off from the low-lying A1A coastal road because of tidal flooding and storm surges. Under a category two storm, a storm surge could wash right up to the front gate. Further south, the Trump Grande in Sunny Isles also faces a soggy future, according to the projections. In 30 years, the boundaries of the property could face tidal flooding and storm surges for 97 days a year, cutting off access to the A1A road. The beaches could also be scoured away by erosion. “The big issue here is that if a big storm hits, you have 5ft, 6ft waves, and that is going to eat away even at the grass here. It could push the waves even to where we are standing, And if that is going to eat away this whole area, that could do some serious damage,” Bolter said. Other Trump-branded properties, such as the golf clubs in Doral and Jupiter, are at higher elevations, above the water line amid projected sea-level rise this century. But Bolter said the courses faced different risks from heavy rainfall and poor drainage because of Florida’s high water table. Scientists have long expected sea level rise on the south-east Florida coast to occur faster than the global average, advancing rapidly on barrier islands and beaches. The low-lying coastal areas are exposed to an additional threat of inland flooding, from the intercoastal waterways, and contamination of fresh water supply by high tides and storm surges. But the pace of sea-level rise has accelerated over the last decade because of the collapse of ice cover in Greenland and Antarctica, and because of the weakening of ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream. Nowhere is this as evident as in south Florida. Since 2006, the average rate of sea-level rise in south Florida has increased to 9mm a year from 3mm a year, for a total rise over the decade of about 90mm, or about 3.5in, according to Shimon Wdowinski, a research scientist at the University of Miami. As a result, flooding in Miami Beach and other low-lying areas has doubled over the last decade, Wdowinski found, using tide gauges, rain records, insurance claims and other data to construct the flood record. “People should be aware of where they want to invest for their properties,” he said. “I think for the next 20 years it will be OK, but I don’t know if it will be in 50 or 80 years. That’s a different story.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Barron Trump at the Trump Invitational Grand Prix at Club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach last year. Photograph: Larry Marano/Rex/Shutterstock Other sections of the low-lying south Florida coast are just as vulnerable. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy barely grazed Florida, reserving its fury for New York and New Jersey. But a subsequent storm unleashed huge waves that uprooted traffic lights and street signs, and caused the collapse of a 1.5-mile stretch of the A1A coastal artery in the center of Fort Lauderdale. “When the road collapsed, that was basically a huge wake-up call,” said Jason Liechty, environmental projects coordinator for Broward County. “Sometimes when you talk about climate change and sea-level rise it seems very abstract, but if you see big chunks of concrete just sticking up out of the road, it becomes very real. “It took $20m and 40,000 truckloads of imported sand so far to raise the mile-long section of road by 2ft, sink in metal sheets 40ft down, and rebuild sand dunes to provide buffers from future storms – and the repairs are still under way four years later. “So let’s do the math here: you are talking about several hundred million dollars if the whole coast line is affected, and that’s a lot of money,” Liechty said. A number of towns in south Florida are already beginning to make the investment, calculating that it would be cheaper to put in defences against rising seas now than wait for a catastrophe. Miami Beach is spending $400m to raise roads and install pumps to drain streets that experience regularly flooding at high-tide – and to prevent salt water from contaminating fresh water storage inland. In other sea level hotspots, such as Hollywood, newer construction – including Trump-branded buildings – are being built on top of steeply graded driveways, above the flood zone. But for some of south Florida’s cities, there may be no alternative to retreat – even if it means abandoning some of the wealthiest real estate in the country. In his offices in the historic city hall of Coral Gables, James Cason keeps a poster-size map showing a wide swathe of land, sliced up by canals, yacht moorings and multimillion dollar homes in gated communities with elevations below 4ft. About 34 miles of Coral Gables are exposed to the ocean. The entire area – representing about $3bn in property and about 10% of homes – will be underwater in the second half of the century, according to Noaa’s projections. Two schools, 20 bridges, 21 pumping stations will all be swamped, according to the projections. Some 302 yachts will almost certainly be trapped behind low-lying bridges. Water treatment plants and pumping stations will no longer work. Cason has no patience for those, like Trump, who deny climate change is occurring. “It’s an existential threat to a city like us,” he said. So much so that Cason has hired consultants to contemplate a future when it may no longer be able to engineer a way out of sea-level rise. “What do you do if and when the water is up so high you can’t provide services – when do you stop charging taxes?” he asked. “If your house is underwater, can you stop paying taxes on it?” He would like to believe that by the end of the century scientists will have figured out a solution to the rising seas that threaten his city. But there is one thing of which he is certain: Coral Gables will not survive by retreating behind a sea wall. “There is no Dutch solution,” he said. “You can’t really build a wall around it. It will just come up from below.” More features Topics Florida Climate change Donald Trump US elections 2016 US politics Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ Save for later Reuse this content Most popular in Australia David Gilmour: ‘I’ve been bonded to Charlie since he was three. We were incensed by the injustice’ Rouen fire: at least 13 dead in birthday disaster at bar in French city For Donald Trump, this was more than a terrible week. It was a turning point | Richard Wolffe Rio 2016 opening ceremony a mix of pared patriotism and climate concern BP reveals Great Australian Bight oil drilling sites are within marine reserve comments (477) This discussion is closed for comments. 1 2 3 4 5 YouWantARealNameBut 6 Jul 2016 21:26 4 5 Florida, &quot;the state that usually decide elections...&quot;This is not true. The last two Presidential elections would have the same result even if Florida had gone the wrong way (Republican). The elections were decided way before Florida counted the votes.I was there, watching the election unfold minute by minute. Obama didn&apos;t really needed Florida Share Facebook Twitter Report JackGC YouWantARealNameBut 6 Jul 2016 23:15 5 6 Florida is the state Republicans MUST win in order to have a chance of winning a national election. If they lose there, it&apos;s over. Share Facebook Twitter Report AdamSpokes YouWantARealNameBut 6 Jul 2016 23:22 11 12 Yeah that&apos;s the important bit. Well spotted. Share Facebook Twitter Report ghotiface 6 Jul 2016 21:31 38 39 Really what can you say ...... I&apos;m assuming that rather like his equally evil twin Boris he is only saying this because he thinks it will help him get elected... but it makes you want to despair !!! Share Facebook Twitter Report palfreyman ghotiface 7 Jul 2016 14:18 6 7 Not despair. The US can learn from the UK&apos;s fiasco - if you want, as decent minded people do, to stop Trump, you need to come up with communications campaigns grounded in facts, but actually appealing to emotions. We made the mistake of assuming argument and fact would be enough for Remain and it wasn&apos;t. Don&apos;t make the mistake of misunderestimating the Donald. Go emotional, go early, go at it consistently. 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- Kelley, C.P., Mohtadi, Shahrzad., Cane, Mark.A. Seager, Richard, and Kushnir, Yochanan., 2015. Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA).
- Carney M. Breaking the tragedy of the horizon – climate change and financial stability. http://wwwbankofenglandcouk/publications/Pages/speeches/2015/844aspx accessed 21 March, 2016. 2015.
- Pope Francis warns on &apos;piecemeal World War III&apos; 13 September 2014 From the section Europe Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Pope Francis prays by the gravestones of the 100,000 Italian soldiers who gave their lives in World War I A &quot;piecemeal&quot; World War III may have already begun with the current spate of crimes, massacres and destruction, Pope Francis has warned. He was speaking during a visit to Italy&apos;s largest military cemetery, where he was commemorating the centenary of World War I. &quot;War is madness,&quot; the Pope said at a memorial to 100,000 Italian soldiers at Redipuglia cemetery near Slovenia. The Argentine Pope has often condemned the idea of war in God&apos;s name. Only last month, Pope Francis said the international community would be justified in using force to stop what he called &quot;unjust aggression&quot; by Islamic State militants, who have killed or displaced thousands of people in Iraq and Syria, including many Christians, the BBC&apos;s David Willey reports. In Saturday&apos;s homily, standing at the altar beneath Italy&apos;s fascist-era Redipuglia memorial - where 100,000 Italian soldiers killed during WWI are buried, 60,000 of them unnamed, the Pope paid tribute to the victims of all wars. &quot;Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep,&quot; he said. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pope Francis is presented with the document with which his grandfather enlisted to fight for Italy before emigrating to Argentina &quot;Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction,&quot; he said. The pontiff&apos;s visit was also infused with personal meaning, our correspondent says. His grandfather fought in - and survived - Italy&apos;s offensive against the Austro-Hungarian empire, in north-east Italy in 1917 and 1918. In recent months the Pope has called for an end to conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, and parts of Africa.
- http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/07/28/pope-francis-says-religion-not-reason-world-war Pope Francis says religion is not the reason &apos;the world is at war&apos; Pope Francis arrives to Krakow Jean Paul II airport.On Wednesday, 27 July 2016, in Krakow, Poland. (Getty Images) Pope Francis has said the world was at war but argued that religion was not the cause, as he arrived in Poland a day after a Catholic priest was murdered in France. Source: AFP 28 Jul 2016 - 7:30 AM UPDATED 28 Jul 2016 - 11:15 AM In his first speech after touching down in the city of Krakow, the pontiff said the way to &quot;overcome fear&quot; was to welcome people fleeing conflict and hardship. Opening doors to migrants demands &quot;great wisdom and compassion&quot; he said, chastising a right wing government that has refused to share the burden during Europe&apos;s worst refugee crisis since World War II. &quot;We must not be afraid to say the truth, the world is at war because it has lost peace,&quot; the pontiff told journalists on the flight out from Rome. &quot;When I speak of war I speak of wars over interests, money, resources, not religion. All religions want peace, it&apos;s the others who want war.&quot; The brutal killing of the elderly priest during mass in France on Tuesday, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group, has cast a shadow over Francis&apos;s trip to headline World Youth Day, a gathering of young Catholics from across the globe. &quot;This holy priest who died in the moment of offering prayers for the church is one (victim). But how many Christians, innocents, children?&quot; Francis said. Polish stance softening? &quot;The word we hear a lot is insecurity, but the real word is war. The world has been in a fragmented war for some time. There was the one in 14, one in 39-45 and now this,&quot; he said referring to World War I and II. A string of terror attacks targeting civilians in Europe appears to have dampened turnout for the World Youth Day festival, a week-long faith extravaganza dubbed &quot;the Catholic Woodstock&quot;. Flag-waving crowds of youngsters nonetheless turned out in force to cheer on the pope as he sped to the Wawel Royal Castle in his open-top popemobile, defying security fears. &quot;I saw him! He was just five metres (yards) away, it&apos;s incredible to see a man like him in person and not just on TV,&quot; Polish teenager Karina Borowicz told AFP.
- http://trees.wwf.org.au/
- Solar is now cheaper than coal, says India energy minister http://sumo.ly/i30U via @ClimateHome Published on 18/04/2016, 3:51pm Energy minister says power realities are changing fast, predicting a fast uptake in solar energy despite concerns over baseload and storage (pic; http://www.qasolar.com/) By Ed King India is on track to soar past a goal to deploy more than 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2022 , the country’s energy minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday. Speaking at the release of a 15-point action plan for the country’s renewable sector, Goyal said he was now considering looking at “something more” for the fast growing solar sector. “I think a new coal plant would give you costlier power than a solar plant,” he said. “Of course there are challenges of 24/7 power. We accept all of that – but we have been able to come up with a solar-based long term vision that is not subsidy based.” In the past financial year, nearly 20GW of solar capacity has been approved by the government, with a further 14GW planned through 2016 according to the Union Budget. UN: China, India driving new clean energy investments Capital costs have fallen 60% in the past four years and could drop a further 40% reports Deutsche Bank, which said in a report last year solar investment would overtake coal by 2020. Solar energy prices hit a new record low in January with the auction of 420 megawatts in Rajasthan at 4.34 rupees a kilowatt-hour. In comparison coal tariffs range between 3-5 rupees/kWh. The looming bankruptcy of renewables giant Sun Edison has left many Indian investors nervous about backing solar, Bloomberg reported last week, but Goyal said the sector had a strong outlook. “If one airline goes bankrupt I don’t think people stop flying in aircraft,” he joked, insisting India had renewable energy benchmarks that are “unparalleled in the world”. Analysis: Will doubling coal tax boost India’s clean energy sector? Goyal added India was now willing to help developing countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific to develop clean energy plans free of charge. The Delhi government would “supply expertise” to any poor country that needed help, promising it would “never charge a single rupee”. “I sincerely believe that what the West is doing in this respect is anti-development and anti the fight against climate change,” he said, accusing rich countries of charging too much for clean technology. The World Trade Organisation recently incurred the anger of the Modi government when it ruled India was illegally supporting domestic over international solar producers. Poorer nations were receiving “absolutely no support” from developed governments, said Goyal, calling for the easing of trade agreements to allow countries to accelerate green energy deployment. Report: India affirms commitment to sign Paris climate accord “India should stop following the world and now is destined to lead the world as champion for underdeveloped, clean tech and clean energy,” he said. Levels of climate finance support are an open sore between rich and poor countries, with progress towards a 2009 pledge to deliver $100 billion a year by 2020 still uncertain. A report from the OECD club of industrialised nations released last year said $62 billion was flowing to poorer nations to help develop them green their economies – a number many contest. Goyal said he hoped to win more support for an Indian-led global solar alliance when he travels to New York this week to witness the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change. “I believe this is the single most important world agreement that is going to be executed on 22 April,” he said.
- Rapid growth in global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry ceased in the past two years, despite continued economic growth. Decreased coal use in China was largely responsible, coupled with slower global growth in petroleum and faster growth in renewables. Jackson RB, Canadell JG, Le Quere C, Andrew RM, Korsbakken JI, Peters GP, et al. Reaching peak emissions. Nature Clim Change. 2016;6:7–10.
- Brazil salutes Chico Mendes 25 years after his murder Tributes to man who campaigned to stop forest clearance in Amazon tempered by resurgent influence of landowners&apos; lobby Chico Mendes, who was assassinated in his house in the Amazon in 1988. Photograph: Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images Jan Rocha in São Paulo and Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro Saturday 21 December 2013 04.35 AEDT Last modified on Saturday 21 December 2013 04.44 AEDT When Chico Mendes was gunned down in the Amazon, the two policemen who were supposed to protect him were playing dominoes at his kitchen table. It was 22 December 1988. The officers had been sent to the union activist&apos;s small wooden home in Xapuri after he received death threats from landowners, who were enraged by his campaign to prevent forest clearance. But the police dropped their guard when Mendes stepped out to have a shower in the backyard. A single bullet from a .22 rifle killed him instantly. The assassin, a rancher named Darcy Alves, said &quot;it was like shooting a jaguar&quot;. This weekend, Brazil will mark the 25th anniversary of that murder, which far from killing off the forest conservation campaign has boosted its profile throughout the country and across the world, influencing a generation of conservationists and policymakers. Mendes is now a symbol of the global environment movement. The Brazilian government has declared him Patron of the Brazilian Environment. Institutions have been named after him, including the main state agency in charge of conservation – the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade. After his death, Mendes&apos;s home state of Acre in the western Amazon has pioneered the establishment of extractive reserves. Mendes&apos;s story has been the subject of books and films. In recognition of his achievements, there will be memorial ceremonies, documentaries and discussions about his legacy this weekend. Many of his ideas live on through associates, notably Marina Silva, who became environment minister and put in place Amazon protection systems that are credited with an impressive fall in the rate of deforestation until recently. But the celebrations will be tempered by the resurgent influence of the landowners&apos; lobby, a recent sharp uptick in Amazon clearance and renewed questions about the Brazilian government&apos;s willingness to protect forest workers and conserve the biodiverse habitat on which they depend. Mendes would have recognised the destructive forces at work, though contrary to his reputation as an environmentalist, he was first and foremost a union activist campaigning on behalf of rubber tappers whose way of life was being decimated along with the loss of the Amazon. Mendes had personal experience of the consequences. Born in 1944, Francisco Alves Mendes Filho – as he was christened – was the son of a soldier in the &quot;Rubber Army&quot;, the 50,000 men recruited in 1943 from Brazil&apos;s impoverished north-east and shipped to the Amazon to tap rubber for the allied war effort. With Malaya occupied by the Japanese, the US was desperate for rubber, and Brazil promised to revive its once booming rubber industry to meet the need. The tappers were largely abandoned to their own fate, many dying from disease or attacks by wild animals. When the war ended, government promises of compensation and tickets home were forgotten and many, including Mendes&apos;s father, never returned. Growing up in the forest, Chico began tapping as a child. Influenced by priests of the progressive Liberation Theology movement and former members of the Communist party, he helped found the Acre branch of the PT, the Workers&apos; party. As president of the Xapuri tappers&apos; union, he set up a national organisation, bringing the tappers&apos; fight to save the forest to global attention. American environmentalists took him to Washington to persuade the World Bank, the Inter-American Bank and Congress that cattle projects in the Amazon, which covers an area bigger than western Europe, should not be funded. As an alternative, he proposed the creation of extractive reserves – protected areas that would allow public land to be managed by local communities, with rights to harvest forest products. It marked an important step forward for the conservation community. In 1987 Mendes won the UN&apos;s Global 500 award in recognition of his environmental achievements, although he saw himself primarily as a campaigner for a fairer society. As he said: &quot;At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.&quot; His opponents were cattle ranchers, who had been moving into the Amazon since the 1970s when they were encouraged by the military who ruled Brazil and financed by official banks. After the dictatorship ended in 1985, these landowners set up the Rural Democratic Union – better known by its Portuguese initials UDR – to thwart the land reforms promised by the government and intimidate unionists and conservation activists. Beatings and killings were common in the remote and largely lawless Amazon region, which is often described as Brazil&apos;s wild west. Mendes was neither the first nor the last to lose his life for standing up to landowners. Since 2002, Brazil has accounted for half the killings worldwide of conservation activists, according to a survey last year by Global Witness. Some victims, such as American nun Dorothy Stang who was murdered in 2005, have become martyrs. Others like José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo – who were shot as they got out of a car near a landless workers camp in 2011 – or Mouth Organ John – who was killed in Para in 2012 after he reported on the illegal logging – make the headlines for a few days. Many other killings, particularly of indigenous land rights activists, go largely unreported in the international media. Dozens more activists are thought to have fled or gone into hiding. Mendes was an obvious target. As well as lobbying successfully to end international financing for Amazon clearance, he organised the rubber tappers in non-violent resistance. Men, women and children would form human barricades known as &quot;empates&quot; to prevent the bulldozers from tearing down trees. His success made him many enemies and he knew he was a marked man. His killer was from a family of cattle ranchers, whose efforts to expand their pastures was held up by the empates. Darcy Alves, 22, and his father Darly were convicted in 1990 and jailed for 19 years. Although they are now free, former associates of Mendes said the assassination backfired. &quot;Those who killed Chico got it wrong. They thought by killing him, the tappers&apos; movement would be demobilised, but they made him immortal. His ideas still have a huge influence,&quot; said Gomercindo Rodriquez, who came to Xapuri as a young agronomist in 1986, and later became Mendes&apos;s trusted adviser. Mendes wanted the forest to be used sustainably rather than cut off from economic activity (as some environmentalists wanted) or cut down (as the farmers wanted). He proposed the establishment of extractive reserves for tappers, Brazil nut collectors and others who harvested nature in a balanced way. After his death the first of many such reserves in Brazil, the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, was created, covering 1m hectares of forest around Xapuri. After years of decline, the demand for latex from a local condom factory has boosted the price of rubber, and many tappers, who had turned to raising cattle, have returned to the forest. &quot;This is Chico&apos;s legacy,&quot; said Gomercindo. &quot;The extractive reserves have meant the preservation of the forest – all around it has been destroyed for cattle pasture. They have become an example, they now exist in other areas of Brazil.&quot; The Chico Mendes Reserve has electricity and schools. Many students have graduated from university. Some tappers now have motorbikes and cars and some have become forest guides. Trees are sustainably harvested, and there is an eco-lodge. Building on this model, 68 extractive reserves have been established in the Brazilian Amazon, covering more than 136,000 sq km. The Brazilian Space Institute INPE also started satellite monitoring of deforestation the year that Mendes was killed. The timing was a coincidence, but the effectiveness of this program has been heavily influenced by those who were inspired by Mendes. After forest clearance peaked in 2004, the environment minister Marina da Silva, another child of a rubber tapping family and former colleague of Mendes, put in place a more rigorous system of monitoring, penalties and incentives that has resulted in an 80% slowdown in the rate of deforestation. But this progress is at risk as power in Brazil moves towards big landowners and away from the rural workers, conservationists and indigenous groups that Mendes fought for. Last year, president Dilma Rousseff – who depends on the rural lobby for support in Congress – signed into law a change in the forest code reform of the forest code, which diluted environmental protection of the Amazon and other areas of biodiversity. The landowners&apos; bloc in the legislature, which includes former members of the UDR, is now pushing for revision of other environmental laws and policies, including the rights of indigenous peoples guaranteed by the constitution of 1988 and the Brazilian National Protected Areas System. In a sign of the worrying trend, satellite data showed a 28% rise in deforestation this year, breaking a five-year trend of decline. Ahead of this weekend&apos;s anniversary, landowners in Congress vetoed a move to give Mendes&apos;s name to the room where the parliamentary agriculture committee meets. But conservation groups have vowed to continue his struggle. &quot;His legacy is an example that should guide all of us in keeping nature in our minds as a solution and a means to constructing a better world for all&quot;, said Claudio Maretti, head of WWF&apos;s Amazon Initiative – one of many international organisations that will show their respects for Brazil&apos;s Patron of the Environment at this weekend&apos;s anniversary.
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