global warming – Page 23 – Desdemona Despair

The California State Capitol in Sacramento. Photo: Rschlie / Getty Images

July 23, 2023

Oil and gas lobbying threatens California’s game-changing climate bills – Legislation aims to shine a light on corporate climate pollution and carbon offsets – “Delay is the new denial”

By Aaron Cantú 26 June 2023 (Capital & Main) – Two transparency bills in the California Legislature would require corporations to disclose more information about their emissions and their efforts to fight the climate crisis. The oil and gas industry is spending millions to kill them. The bills would force big companies that do business in California to […]

Aerial view of the Paso Severino reservoir that supplies water to Montevideo, Uruguay, in July 2023. It is nearly completely empty and currently only holds only 3 percent of its normal capacity due to three consecutive years of drought. Uruguay is facing the worst water crisis in its history due to the prolonged drought. Photo: Guardian News

July 15, 2023

Three consecutive years of drought leave millions in Uruguay without tap water fit for drinking – Main reservoir for capital at 3 percent of capacity

By Martín Tocar 15 July 2023 (The Guardian) – More than half of Uruguay’s 3.5 million citizens are without access to tap water fit for drinking, and experts say the situation could continue for months. Some had predicted the crisis years ago when pointing out the vulnerability of the single reservoir supplying water to the […]

Meridional winds in m/s (contours; purple: southerly, orange: northerly winds, in (a–c, e–g) contours start at an absolute value of 3 m/s and increase/decrease by 3 respectively, in (d, h) contours start an absolute value of 0.5 and increase/decrease by steps of one) and near surface temperature anomalies filled contours during (a–c) wave-7 and (e–g) wave- 5 events relative to the respective climatology in the northern hemisphere summer (JJA) based on (a, e) ERA5 reanalysis (1960–2014), (b, f) historical (1960–2014) and (c, g) future (SSP5-8.5, 2045–2099) bias-adjusted output from CMIP6 simulations (four models). d, h) Difference in meridional winds and temperature response during wave events comparing historical and future patterns in four bias-adjusted CMIP6 models (for twelve non adjusted models see Fig. S6). Hatching shows statistical significance on a 95% confidence level (a, d, e, h) or 100% model agreement in sign (4 out of 4 models, b, c, f, g) While the phase positions and intensity of the wave patterns (line contour) are well represented in the models their surface imprint are considerably underestimated in historical simulations. Changes in the temperature response are identified over North America, Eurasia and East Asia (d, h). Graphic: Kornhuber, et al., 2023 / Nature Communications

July 15, 2023

Study finds climate risk to crops greater than thought – Simultaneous harvest failures across major crop-producing regions threaten global food security – “These types of concurring events are really largely underestimated”

By Kelly Macnamara 4 July 2023 (AFP) – The risks of harvest failures in multiple global breadbaskets have been underestimated, according to a study Tuesday that researchers said should be a “wake up call” about the threat climate change poses to our food systems. Food production is both a key source of planet-warming emissions and […]

A Jet takes flight over downtown Phoenix on 12 July 2023, when the high hit 111 degrees. Nationwide, more than 113 million Americans were under some form of heat alert, the National Weather Service said. The alerts, which included excessive heat warnings and heat advisories, stretched 2,000 miles from Oregon to Louisiana. Photo: Matt York / AP

July 15, 2023

Climate change isn’t a top issue for Democrats or Republicans. Record heat should change that.

By Clifford Young 15 July 2023 (USA TODAY) – Extreme weather events are on the rise. States across the south-central and western U.S. are roasting. New York to New England is dealing with catastrophic floods. After years of drought, California went the opposite way and experienced one of the wettest winters in decades. And the across the country, […]

Map showing OSHA reported heat deaths per 1 million workers in the U.S., 2017-2022. Oklahoma and Arkansas had the highest death rates, at 2.26 / million and 2.1 / million, respectively. Data: OSHA / Census Bureau / Bloomberg Law. Graphic: Jacob Bogage and Eli Tan / The Washington Post

July 15, 2023

Forcing people to work in deadly heat is mostly legal in the U.S. – As the planet records some of its highest average temperatures, workers have barely any legal protections from extreme heat – “They send us with two bottles of water, and that’s it”

By Jacob Bogage and Eli Tan 14 July 2023 (The Washington Post) – The pain usually starts for Karla Perez when the temperature reaches 100 degrees. “When it’s too hot, I feel like vomiting,” said Perez, who has worked landscaping and construction jobs in the Dallas area for the last decade. “My legs are shaking. […]

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry testifies during the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability hearing entitled, “The State Department’s Climate Agenda: A Budget Overview by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate” at the Capitol on Thursday, 13 July 2023. Kerry said the U.S. would “under no circumstances” pay reparations to other countries ravaged by climate change. Photo: Tierney L. Cross

July 15, 2023

White House climate envoy John Kerry testifies “under no circumstances” will U.S. pay climate reparations to other countries ravaged by climate change

By Zack Budryk 14 July 2023 (The Hill) – White House climate envoy John Kerry said the U.S. would “under no circumstances” pay reparations to other countries ravaged by climate change in testimony Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s oversight subcommittee. During the hearing, subcommittee chairman Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) directly asked Kerry whether the U.S. would pay […]

Steam rises from the cooling towers of the Electricite de France nuclear power station of Le Bugey in Saint-Vulbas near Lyon, 13 April 2015. Robert Pratta / REUTERS

July 15, 2023

High river temperatures to limit French nuclear power production – Hot weather likely to halve available power from two plants

By Forrest Crellin 12 July 2023 PARIS (Reuters) – Output restrictions are expected at two nuclear plants along the Rhone River in eastern France due to high temperature forecasts, nuclear operator EDF (EDF.PA) said, several days ahead of the similar warning last year, but affecting fewer plants. The hot weather is likely to halve the available power […]

Satellite view Townshend Dam in Vermont on 9 July 2023 (above) and 11 July 2023 (below). On 9 July 2023, the reservoir held just 1 percent of its maximum capacity. Two days later it was at 82 percent and rising. Southern Vermont experienced catastrophic, generational flooding during Tropical Storm Irene in July 2023. Photo: Evan Dethier

July 15, 2023

Vermont flood damage is so severe it can be seen from space

By Anna Skinner 12 July 2023 (Newsweek) – Flooding in Vermont this week was so severe that it showed up on satellite images. A long-duration rainstorm overwhelmed state creeks and rivers and pushed the Wrightsville Dam to its limits, severely flooding Mountpelier, Vermont’s capital. Water rose quickly, destroying roads and causing evacuations. Some people felt they couldn’t abandon […]

Map showing forecast surface temperature highs in the United States, 14 July 2023 - 19 July 2023. Graphic: WeatherBell

July 14, 2023

Dangerous, record-setting coast-to-coast heat wave to peak in mid-July 2023 – Relentless heat dome will intensify, threatening all-time records

By Matthew Cappucci 14 July 2023 (The Washington Post) – Mid-July is the hottest time of year for many in the Lower 48 states, but the historically intense heat dome that’s sprawled over the southern and western U.S. is exceptional and pushing temperatures into uncharted territory. Triple-digit temperatures are expected to impact at least 10 […]

A sick sea lion and her pup are shown recovering from domoic acid poisoning at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, California, on 6 July 2023. During the summer of 2023, the center cared for sea lions that were sickened by a historically bad algal bloom along California’s Coast. Photo: Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY

July 9, 2023

“Death coming out of the ocean”: Red tide killing California sea lions, dolphins – “I have been a marine mammal veterinarian for 35 years, and this is definitely the worst in my professional lifetime”

By Amanda Lee Myers 8 July 2023 (USA TODAY) – Jalapeño the sea lion turned up on a crowded California beach in a daze, experiencing seizures and heavily pregnant. Instead of giving birth in a remote location like sea lions prefer, Jalapeño had her pup on Southern California’s Hermosa Beach on a busy Saturday, surrounded by throngs […]