technogenic disaster – Page 29

A man carries his mother as he arrives at an emergency ward at a hospital in Ballia District in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, 21 June 2023. Photo: Adnan Abidi / REUTERS

July 2, 2023

Climate nears point of no return as land, sea temperatures break records, experts say – “We’ve run out of time because change takes time”

By David Stanway 30 June 2023 SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The target of keeping long-term global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) is moving out of reach, climate experts say, with nations failing to set more ambitious goals despite months of record-breaking heat on land and sea. As envoys gathered in Bonn in early June […]

Seasonal managed honeybee colony loss rates in the United States across years 2008-2023 (A), and by operation type (B-D): backyard (managing up to 50 colonies), sideline (managing 51-500), and commercial (managing >500 colonies) beekeepers. The loss rate was calculated as the total number of colonies lost divided by the number of colonies at risk during the season. Colonies at risk were composed of living colonies at the start of a period, as well as new colonies made or acquired, while excluding colonies sold or parted with. Annual loss covers the whole period from one 1 April to the next 1 April (in red); summer (1 April – 1 October, in yellow); winter (1 October – 1 April, in blue). Error bars represent the 95% confidence interval obtained from a bootstrap resampling of the data (n-out-of-n, 1000 rep). Graphic: Bee Informed Partnership

June 30, 2023

Nearly half of U.S. honeybee colonies died in the 2022-2023 season – “This is a very troubling loss number when we barely manage sufficient colonies to meet pollination demands in the U.S.”

By Seth Borenstein 22 June 2023 WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies, an annual bee survey found. But using costly and Herculean measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday’s University of Maryland […]

Tuvalu’s Minister for Justice, Communication, and Foreign Affairs, Simon Kofe, gives a COP26 statement while standing in the ocean in Funafuti, Tuvalu 5 November 2021. Photo: Tuvalu Ministry of Justice, Communication, and Foreign Affairs / REUTERS

June 30, 2023

What happens to a people when their land disappears – “We could lose our status as a state”

By Jonathan Watts 27 June 2023 (The Guardian) – Small island nations would rather fight than flee, but rising sea levels have prompted apocalyptic legal discussions about whether a state is still a state if its land disappears below the waves. The Pacific Islands Forum, which represents many of the most vulnerable countries, has invited international […]

Map showing the heat index in the United States for 30 June 2023. Graphic: The Washington Post

June 30, 2023

Solar power bails out Texas grid during major heat wave – “This is what’s happening with 1 degree Celsius of global average warming. And we’re on track for 3 degrees.”

30 June 2023 (Reuters) – The Texas power grid comfortably met record demand during this week’s heat wave with abundant power supply from wind and solar plants, data from the grid operator showed. The Texas grid is a focus in the United States whenever it is tested by extreme weather after a catastrophic failure in […]

Prof. Michael E. Mann posted this map of wind speeds at at 500 hPa on 20 June 2023. He commented, “I'm honestly at a loss to even characterize the current large-scale planetary wave pattern. Frankly, it looks like a Van Gogh.” Data from https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/500hPa/equirectangular. Graphic: earth.nullschool.net

June 27, 2023

“Insane”, “Astonishing” jet stream leaves scientists “at a loss” for words

By Peter Sinclair 21 June 2023 (Climate Crocks) – It just keeps on coming. [more] “Insane”, “Astonishing” Jet Stream Leaves Scientists “At a Loss” for Words

On 27 June 2023, Texas once again braced for a record spike in electricity demand as 110F heat spurred air-conditioning usage. An early heat wave gripped the second most-populous US state, buckling highways, stressing oil refineries and pushing up natural gas prices. At least two deaths were attributed to the searing temperatures and it was only expected to get hotter as the week wears on. It was not a new problem for Texas: The Lone Star State broke power-demand records 11 times in the summer of 2022. Graphic: Bloomberg

June 27, 2023

Texas power demand again forecast to peak amid Summer 2023 heat wave – “Texas is running about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it did during the 20th century”

26 June 2023 (Reuters) – Texas’ power grid operator on Monday again projected electricity use would break records this week as homes and business cranked up air conditioning amid soaring temperatures. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid for more than 26 million customers representing about 90% of the state’s power […]

An aerial view shows the normally submerged colonial-era Dominican church in Quechula, Mexico, in June, 2023. The 16th-century construction emerged from reservoir waters amid a drought. Photo: Raul Vera / AFP / Getty Images

June 19, 2023

Drowned 16th-century church emerges from bottom of Mexico reservoir after drought – “What do I support my family with? Right now, I have nothing.”

By Aristos Georgiou 19 June 23 (Newsweek) – A 16th-century church has emerged from the waters of a reservoir in Mexico amid a drought. The colonial-era Dominican church is located in Quechula in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The building had been almost entirely submerged since 1966 when a dam was built on a […]

Meena Tiwari, center, cries standing in front of the body of her son Ashutosh Tiwari, who allegedly died of heat stroke, at the district government hospital, in Ballia district of northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Monday, 19 June 2023. Nearly 170 people have died in the last few days in northern India as searing heat combined with lack of preparedness and resources at local hospitals is resulting in a constantly increasing body count. According to local news reports and health officials in Uttar Pradesh state, 119 people have died and in neighboring Bihar state, government officials say 47 people have died due to heat-related illness. Photo: Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP Photo

June 19, 2023

Days of sweltering heat, power cuts in northern India overwhelm hospitals as death toll climbs – “So many people are dying from the heat that we are not getting a minute’s time to rest. On Sunday, I carried 26 dead bodies.”

By Rajesh Kumar Singh, Piyush Nagpal, and Sibi Arasu 19 June 2023 BALLIA, India (AP News) – A scorching heat wave in two of India’s most populous states has overwhelmed hospitals, filled a morgue to capacity and disrupted power supply, forcing staff to use books to cool patients, as officials investigate the number of deaths that […]

Time series of summer forest fire burned area and spring to summer (April to October) maximum near surface temperature 1971-2021 in California; (B) observed versus out-of-sample 10-fold predicted changes in BA. Vertical gray lines indicate 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles of 10,000 different predictions. Colors indicate the decade of each sample. The Inset shows a map of California with the domain of interest shaded in gray. Turcu, et al., 2023 / PNAS

June 18, 2023

Global warming at the center of recent California wildfires – “We show that nearly all of the observed increase in burned area in California over the past half-century is attributable to human-caused climate change”

By Anne M. Stark 12 June 2023 (LLNL) – Summer wildfire seasons in California routinely break records. The average summer burn area in forests in northern and central portions of the state have increased fivefold between 1996 and 2021 compared to between 1971 and 1995. Although the drivers of increased temperature and dryness are known, […]

The human Ecological Footprint measured as “Overshoot Day”, 1971-2023. The Ecological Footprint is the most comprehensive biological resource accounting metric available. Based on 15,000 data points per country per year, it adds up all of people’s competing demands for biologically productive areas – food, timber, fibers, carbon sequestration, and accommodation of infrastructure. Currently, the carbon footprint, i.e., the carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel, make up 61 percent of humanity’s Ecological Footprint. For the last 5 years, the trend has flattened. How much of this is driven by economic slow-down or deliberate decarbonization efforts is difficult to discern. Still, overshoot reduction is far too slow. To reach the UN’s IPCC target of reducing carbon emissions by 43 percent worldwide by 2030 compared to 2010 would require moving Earth Overshoot Day 19 days annually for the next seven years. Graphic: Global Footprint Network / National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts / FoDaFo / York University

June 18, 2023

The 2023 Earth Overshoot Day lands on August 2 – Trend is flattening but still far from reversing – “Persistent overshoot leads to ever more prominent symptoms including unusual heat waves, forest fires, droughts, and floods, with the risk of compromising food production”

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, 5 June 2023 – August 2nd marks this year’s Earth Overshoot Day, according to the latest National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts. They now track countries’ performance up to 2022, reducing reporting lag by three years. However, Earth Overshoot Day’s apparent delay by five days compared to last year’s isn’t all good news, as genuine advancements amount […]

Desdemona Despair

Category: technogenic disaster

Climate nears point of no return as land, sea temperatures break records, experts say – “We’ve run out of time because change takes time”

Nearly half of U.S. honeybee colonies died in the 2022-2023 season – “This is a very troubling loss number when we barely manage sufficient colonies to meet pollination demands in the U.S.”

What happens to a people when their land disappears – “We could lose our status as a state”

Solar power bails out Texas grid during major heat wave – “This is what’s happening with 1 degree Celsius of global average warming. And we’re on track for 3 degrees.”

“Insane”, “Astonishing” jet stream leaves scientists “at a loss” for words

Texas power demand again forecast to peak amid Summer 2023 heat wave – “Texas is running about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it did during the 20th century”

Drowned 16th-century church emerges from bottom of Mexico reservoir after drought – “What do I support my family with? Right now, I have nothing.”

Days of sweltering heat, power cuts in northern India overwhelm hospitals as death toll climbs – “So many people are dying from the heat that we are not getting a minute’s time to rest. On Sunday, I carried 26 dead bodies.”

Global warming at the center of recent California wildfires – “We show that nearly all of the observed increase in burned area in California over the past half-century is attributable to human-caused climate change”

The 2023 Earth Overshoot Day lands on August 2 – Trend is flattening but still far from reversing – “Persistent overshoot leads to ever more prominent symptoms including unusual heat waves, forest fires, droughts, and floods, with the risk of compromising food production”