Climate change is making hurricanes even more destructive, research finds, Guardian, Oliver Milman, @olliemilman 15 Nov 18 Hurricane rainfall could increase by a third and wind speeds boosted by up to 25 knots if global warming continues. Climate change worsened the most destructive hurricanes of recent years, including Katrina, Irma and Maria, by intensifying rainfall by as much as 10%, new research has found.
High-resolution climate simulations of 15 tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans found that warming in the ocean and atmosphere increased rainfall by between 5% and 10%, although wind speeds remained largely unchanged.
This situation is set to worsen under future anticipated warming, however. Researchers found that if little is done to constrain greenhouse gas emissions and the world warms by 3C to 4C this century then hurricane rainfall could increase by a third, while wind speeds would be boosted by as much as 25 knots……
The research, published in the journal Nature, used climate models to see how factors such as air and ocean temperatures have influenced hurricanes. Projections into the future were then made, based upon various levels of planetary warming.
The findings suggest that enormously destructive storms have already been bolstered by climate change and similar events in the future are on course to be cataclysmic.
In a world where temperatures were 3C warmer on average, Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in nearly 2,000 deaths when levees breached near New Orleans in 2005, would’ve been even worse, with around 25% more rainfall. Cyclone Yasi, which hit Australia in 2011, would have had around a third more rain, while the deluge during Gafilo, a huge storm that killed more than 300 people in Madagascar in 2004, would have been 40% more intense. ….
Hurricanes, or cyclones as they are known in the Pacific region, draw their strength from warmth in the upper layers of the ocean, while their rainfall is influenced by the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Climate change, driven by human activity, is creating more favorable conditions for stronger hurricanes, with recent research finding that storms are intensifying more rapidly than they were 30 years ago…….https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/14/climate-change-hurricanes-study-global-warming
Beyond Nuclear 11th Nov 2018, As members of Three Mile Island Alert, a watchdog group, we are resolutely
opposed to the present attempts by utilities in Pennsylvania and Ohio to
secure huge subsidies to keep their aging and financially failing nuclear
power plants operational well beyond their “expiration dates”.
Such a decision would have national implications. The diversion of billions of
dollars into nuclear subsidies would distort markets and state regulatory
decisions and result in lower investment in renewable resources and energy
efficiency.
This in turn would prolong the uneconomic existence of a
resource that is not clean energy.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, in its new report, argues that the trajectories of existing renewable energy
and efficiency standards are insufficient to prevent a dangerous increase
in CO2 emissions, and that a price on carbon could serve to better mitigate
carbon emissions as long as nuclear reactors remain operational.
This latter requirement is roundly contradicted by reports over the last several
years that show that, even in Pennsylvania, a state with one of the highest
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rates, GHG reduction goals can be met under
the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan targets through
planned power plant retirements. https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2018/11/11/no-nuclear-bailouts-for-pennsylvania-and-ohio/
31 Dead In Devastating California Wildfires: Here’s What To Know | TIME
California Fires Could Be The ‘New Abnormal’ If Climate Change Continues A leading climate scientist says a worrying pattern helped light the match for the devastating California fires. 10 daily, 13 Nov 18
The fires have devastated the state, killing 31 people so far.
It’s not looking likely the blaze will calm any time soon.
One of the reasons for the scale of destruction being visited on the state is a collection of environmental triggers brought about by climate change, according to Doctor Daniel Swain of UCLA…….He said due to rising temperatures and dryness similar fires could affect the state for many years to come.
Deadly wildfires such as those raging in northern and southern California have become more common in the US state and elsewhere in the world in recent years. AFP talked to scientists about the ways in which climate change can make them worse.
Other factors have also fuelled an increase in the frequency and intensity of major fires, including human encroachment on wooded areas, and questionable forest management. “The patient was already sick,” in the words of David Bowman, a professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania and a wildfire expert.
“But climate change is the accelerant.”
Fine weather for a fire Any firefighter can tell you the recipe for “conducive fire weather”: hot, dry and windy. No surprise, then, that many of the tropical and temperate regions devastated by a surge in forest fires are those predicted in climate models to see higher temperatures and more droughts. Besides bringing more dry and hot air, climate change – by elevating evaporation rates and drought prevalence – also creates more flammable ecosystems,” noted Christopher Williams, director of environmental sciences at Clark University in Massachusetts.
In the last 20 years, California and southern Europe have seen several droughts of a magnitude that used to occur only once a century.
More fuel Dry weather means more dead trees, shrubs and grass – and more fuel for the fire. “All those extremely dry years create an enormous amount of desiccated biomass,” said Michel Vennetier, an engineer at France’s National Research of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA).“That’s an ideal combustible.”
Change of scenery To make matters worse, new species better adapted to semi-arid conditions grow in their place. “Plants that like humidity have disappeared, replaced by more flammable plants that can withstand dry conditions, like rosemary, wild lavender and thyme,” said Vennetier.“The change happens quite quickly.”
Thirsty plants With rising mercury and less rain, water-stressed trees and shrubs send roots deeper into the soil, sucking up every drop of water they can to nourish leaves and needles. That means the moisture in the earth that might have helped to slow a fire sweeping through a forest or garrigue is no longer there.
Longer season In the northern hemisphere’s temperate zone, the fire season was historically short – July and August, in most places. “Today, the period susceptible to wildfires has extended from June to October,” said IRSTEA scientist Thomas Curt, referring to the Mediterranean basin.In California, which only recently emerged from a five-year drought, some experts say there’s no longer a season at all – fires can happen year-round.
More lightning “The warmer it gets, the more lightning you have,” said Mike Flannigan, a professor at the University of Alberta, Canada and director of the Western Partnership for Wildland Fire Science. Especially in the northern areas, that translates into more fires.” At the same time, he noted that 95 per cent of wildfires worldwide are started by humans.
Weakened jet stream Normal weather patterns over North America and Eurasia depend heavily on the powerful, high-altitude air currents – produced by the contrast between polar and equatorial temperatures – known as the jet stream. But global warming has raised temperatures in the Arctic twice as fast as the global average, weakening those currents.
“We are seeing more extreme weather because of what we call blocked ridges, which is a high-pressure system in which air is sinking, getting warmer and drier along the way,” said Flannigan. “Firefighters have known for decades that these are conducive to fire activity.”
Unmanageable intensity Climate change not only boosts the likelihood of wildfires, but their intensity as well. “If the fire gets too intense” as in California right now, and in Greece last summer – “there is no direct measure you can take to stop it,” said Flannigan. “It’s like spitting on a campfire.”
Beetle infestations With rising temperatures, beetles have moved northward into Canada’s boreal forests, wreaking havoc – and killing trees – along the way. “Bark beetle outbreaks temporarily increase forest flammability by increasing the amount of dead material, such as needles,” said Williams.
Positive feedback Globally, forests hold about 45 per cent of Earth’s land-locked carbon and soak up a quarter of human greenhouse gas emissions.But as forests die and burn, some of the carbon is released back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change in a vicious loop that scientists call “positive feedback.”
This article highlights Sir Richard Branson (a nuclear power proponent) and correctly reminds us of the carbon footprint if air-conditioning, if fuelled by fossil power. Important to India, Australia, and many other counties. Why didn’t Ft mention this? – Solar air conditioning.
BUT – the logical alternative is renewable energy – either by use of a total renewable energy electrical system, or just a solar air-conditioner.
FT 12th Oct 2018 Air Conditioning A competition to find a breakthrough in air-conditioning technology has been launched with the backing of Sir Richard Branson and the Indian government, in an effort to avert the climate impact of the huge expected growth in the use of cooling systems.
The prize is intended to encourage inventors to find new ideas for indoor cooling that can be economically competitive against current technologies, while reducing energy consumption and the use of refrigerants such as hydrofluorocarbons that contribute to global warming.
There are about 1.2bn air-conditioning units installed worldwide today, and that number is forecast to rise to 4.5bn by 2050 as incomes rise and living standards improve in hot countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
If today’s technology is used for those units, they would by themselves emit enough greenhouse gases to raise global temperatures by 0.5C, according to Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy think-tank. The International Energy Agency has also sounded the alarm over air-conditioning, describing it as one of the most critical blind spots in international energy policy. https://www.ft.com/content/1e056bde-e5ef-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3
Nuclear watchdog group causes stir with call to financially support existing nuclear plants, “Hard choices” are needed in the face of dire climate projections, Union of Concerned Scientists says. Think Progress MARK HAND, NOV 9, 2018 The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) surprised environmental advocates and energy officials on Thursday when it called for keeping existing nuclear power plants open for as long as safely possible to provide a wider window for transitioning to renewable energy resources…….
Among the critics of the UCS report, Gregory Jaczko, former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Obama administration, said nuclear reactors “are a bad bet for a climate strategy.”
Jaczko, who has major concerns with the safety of nuclear power, noted that nuclear power was the cornerstone of Japan’s strategy to cut carbon emissions. But then the Fukushima accident occurred in 2011 and “wiped out all their greenhouse gas progress,” he said Friday in a statement.
According to Jaczko, the UCS report does not reflect the reality that renewable energy resources are getting cheaper faster than expected and in some cases are the least expensive source of electricity.
“In contrast, nuclear has only gotten more expensive,” he said. “New nuclear is a financial boondoggle.”
A fragile shield of gas around the planet, the ozone layer protects animal and plant life from the powerful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. When the ozone layer is weakened, more UV rays can get through, making humans more prone to skin cancer, cataracts and other diseases.
Scientists discovered huge damage to the layer in the 1980s and identified chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, as the main culprit.
CFCs used to be common in refrigerators, aerosol cans and dry-cleaning chemicals, but they were banned globally under the Montreal Protocol of 1987.
The decline in CFCs in our atmosphere as a result of those measures now mean the ozone layer is expected to have fully recovered sometime in the 2060s, according to the report by the UN Environment Programme, World Meteorological Organization, European Commission and other bodies.
In parts of the stratosphere, where most of the ozone is found, the layer has recovered at a rate of 1-3% per decade since 2000, the authors state.
The amount of ozone in the stratosphere varies naturally throughout the year, with zone depletion most pronounced in polar regions, resulting in so-called ozone holes.
At the recovery rates projected by the UN report, the northern hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone is scheduled to heal completely by the 2030s, followed by the southern hemisphere in the 2050s and polar regions by 2060.
Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment, described the Montreal Protocol as “one of the most successful multilateral agreements in history.”
NASA’s Paul Newman, joint chairman of the report, said that two thirds of the ozone would have been destroyed by 2065 had the measures not been implemented.
Back in May, however, scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported a sharp rise in CFCs from an unknown source.
“We’re raising a flag to the global community to say, ‘This is what’s going on, and it is taking us away from timely recovery of the ozone layer,’” NOAA scientist Stephen Montzka, the study’s lead author, said in a statement at the time.
Montzka said if the source of the new emissions could be identified and contained, the damage to the ozone should be minor.
However, if it could not be remedied the already slow recovery of the atmosphere’s protective layer could be further delayed.
Steve Kidd, writing in a pro nuclear essay in Compelo Energy, 5 Nov 18, urges the global nuclear industry to improve its propaganda. He especially advises them to drop their argument about climate change!
“The climate change argument is where the industry is majoring its efforts. Industry bodies point out that some of the countries with the best records on carbon emissions use a combination of nuclear and renewables, while claiming that nuclear plants have avoided carbon dioxide emissions.
This is, at best, disingenuous. None of the nuclear reactors around the world were built to abate carbon. They were built for other reasons, such as energy security and economics. Admittedly, it was believed that their environmental impact would mainly be benign, but investments are made for what a technology does, rather than what it does not do. ”
With the summer’s record high temp’s all over the world, Andy Rowell asked this pointed question in Oil Change International: “For the last decade the nuclear industry has been telling us it is the solution to climate change. But if their reactors can’t work in our rapidly warming world, are we just building a whole new generation of expensive white elephants?”
Indeed, Reuters reported Aug. 4 that Electricity de France (EDF) in Paris shut down four nuclear reactors at three sites due to the heat summer wave. EDF, the mostly government-owned utility, ordered the shut downs because the scorching summer heat that slammed Europe drastically raised temperatures in the Rhone and Rhine Rivers. Temperatures reached 98.6°F in the Rhone valley, home to 14 reactors. Highs in Spain and Portugal in early August hovered around 104°F and reached 116.6°F.
The warming of seawater caused by Europe’s heat wave forced Finland’s two Loviisa reactors, about 65 miles outside Helsinki, to reduce power in July, just as it did before, in 2010 and 2011, Reuters reported.
The July 2006 heat wave also forced European reactor operators to reduce or halt production due to dramatic increases in the temperature of river waters. The Guardian reported back then that Spain shut down its reactor on the River Ebro. Reactor operators in Germany also cut output then, and several German and French units were allowed to temporarily violate temperature limits on the hot water the reactors return to rivers.
Nuclear reactors exacerbate global warming In 2003, temperatures in French rivers reached record highs that also forced the temporary powering down of four reactors. France’s nuclear oversight authority then gave some reactor operators permission to return the river water at temperatures not normally allowed, a move that critics said would endanger fish and add to global warming.
Meanwhile, rising sea levels threaten to shutter one-out-of-four of the world’s 460 power reactors currently built on coastlines. John Vidal reports in the Aug. 21 edition of Hakai magazinethat experts have warned that even newly built seawalls may not provide sufficient protection. Vidal interviewed Pete Roche, a former adviser to the UK government and Greenpeace, who pointed out that the seawall at the $25-billion “Hinkley Point C” nuclear station being built in southwest England “does not adequately take into account sea-level rise due to climate change.”
“In fact,” Vidal reports, research by Ensia — a nonprofit environmental magazine published at the University of Minnesota — suggests that “at least 100 US, European, and Asian nuclear power stations built just a few meters above sea level could be threatened by serious flooding caused by accelerating sea-level rise and more frequent storm surges.”
The two St. Lucie reactors in Florida are among the US coastal nuclear sites considered most vulnerable to storm surges. While no US reactors have been “in imminent danger of a meltdown because of a storm surge,” Vidal notes, there have been many close calls. “Three US reactors were temporarily shut down because of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and a fourth, Oyster Creek in New Jersey, was put on alert when water levels rose dramatically, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”
But the NRC is not concerned about storm surges. In August 2017, as Hurricane Harvey pummeled east Texas, environmental groups called for the immediate shutdown of the two South Texas Project reactors near Bay City. Instead, the twin, 42-year-old behemoths were kept running at full capacity throughout the disaster, the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States.
6 Nov 18,The ozone layer is showing signs of continuing recovery from man-made damage and is likely to heal fully by 2060, new evidence shows.The measures taken to repair the damage will also have an important beneficial effect on climate change, as some of the gases that caused the ozone layer to thin and in places disappear also contribute to warming the atmosphere. Phasing them out could avoid as much as 0.5C (0.9F) of warming this century.
Recovery from the holes and thinning caused by aerosol chemicals has progressed at a rate of about 1% to 3% a decade since 2000, meaning the ozone layer over the northern hemisphere and mid-latitudes should heal completely by the 2030s, if current rates are sustained.
Over the southern hemisphere and in the more problematic polar regions, recovery will take longer, until the middle of this century in the former and about 2060 in the latter case.
The results, presented on Monday in a four-year assessment of the health of the ozone layer, represent a rare instance of global environmental damage being repaired, and a victory for concerted global action by governments. Scientific evidence of the depletion of the ozone layer over the Antarctic was first presented in 1985, and in 1987 the Montreal protocol was signed, binding world governments to reduce and phase out the harmful chemicals identified as causing the problem.
Ozone in the upper layers of the atmosphere protects the earth’s surface from most of the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Without it, skin and eye damage can occur, and evidence suggests a rise in skin cancers associated with the thinning of the ozone layer.
“The Montreal protocol is one of the most successful multilateral agreements in history for a reason,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “The careful mix of authoritative science and collaborative action that has defined the protocol for more than 30 years and was set to heal our ozone layer is precisely why the Kigali amendment holds such promise for climate action in future.”
The Kigali amendment to the Montreal protocol, coming into effect at the start of next year, will help reduce future climate change, by targeting HFC gases, mostly used in refrigeration, which have a warming effect tens of thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide.
Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, said: “Over the last three decades, the Montreal protocol has fulfilled its original objective to heal the ozone layer. But it didn’t stop there. Because CFCs and related gases are also super climate pollutants, phasing them out has reduced the climate problem by an amount that would have equalled the contribution of carbon dioxide today – more than half of all warming – with the Kigali amendment adding even more climate protection.”
Until recently, most major sources of ozone-harming gases were thought to have been closed down, until studies showed sites in China where gases were still emerging. The Chinese government has pledged to find and close down these sites.
Tue 30 Oct 2018 Scientists in Canada have warned that massive glaciers in the Yukon territory are shrinking even faster than would be expected from a warming climate – and bringing dramatic changes to the region.
After a string of recent reports chronicling the demise of the ice fields, researchers hope that greater awareness will help the public better understand the rapid pace of climate change.
The rate of warming in the north is double that of the average global temperature increase, concluded the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its annual Arctic Report Card, which called the warming “unprecedented”.
“The region is one of the hotspots for warming, which is something we’ve come to realize over the last 15 years,” said David Hik of Simon Fraser University. “The magnitude of the changes is dramatic.”
In their recent State of the Mountainsreport published earlier in the summer, the Canadian Alpine Club found that the Saint Elias mountains – which span British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska – are losing ice faster than the rest of the country.
Previous research found that between 1957 and 2007, the range lost 22% of its ice cover, enough to raise global sea levels by 1.1 millimetres.
“When I first went to the St Elias range, it felt like time travel – into the past,” said Hik, who co-edited the report. “What we’re seeing now feels like time travel into the future. Because as the massive glaciers are retreating, they’re causing a complete reorganization of the environment.”
The accelerating melt of the glacier has resulted in major shifts to water sources at lower elevations.
In 2016, the meltwaters of the glacier shifted dramatically away from the Slims river, cutting off critical water supplies to Kluane Lake – a Unesco world heritage site. Since the diversion, water levels at the lake have dropped more than 6.6ft – stranding thousands of fish from their natural spawning rivers.
Dust storms have begun to flare up along sections of the well-travelled Alaska Highway – at times halting traffic, the result of a dry river bed covered in glacial silt. The events at Kluane Lake are a precursor of what can be expected elsewhere, said Hik.
The dramatic changes to the landscape come amid predictions that the Arctic region is slated to experience far quicker – and potentially devastating –warming in the coming years.
“We’re seeing a 20% difference in area coverage of the glaciers in Kluane national park and reserve and the rest of the Unesco world heritage site [over a 60-year period],” Diane Wilson, a field unit superintendent at Parks Canada, told the CBC. “We’ve never seen that. It’s outside the scope of normal.”
In the St Elias range, researchers have found warming intensifies at higher altitudes – a phenomenon they are not quite able to explain.
“These types of events aren’t isolated to glacial events in the St Elias,” said Zac Robinson, the report’s co-author and professor at the University of Alberta. “We’re slated to lose 80% of the ice cover in the Rocky Mountains over the next 50 years.”
Earlier this year, Canada’s auditor general found that none of the three northern territories were adequately prepared for the impacts of climate change.
But Robinson and Hik cautioned against an overly pessimistic view of the rapidly changing ecosystem.
“Never before in human history have mountains been revered as they are today. Mountains are landscapes people adore – and with awareness, real change can be affected,” said Robinson.
“When we have a an opportunity for early warning, we might as well take it,” said Hik.
Oceans Are Warming Up Much Faster Than Previously Thought https://e360.yale.edu/digest/oceans-are-warming-up-much-faster-than-previously-thoughtThe world’s oceans have soaked up much more excess heat in recent decades than scientists previously thought — as much as 60 percent more, according to anew study published in the journal Nature. The new research suggests the global could warm even faster in the coming decades than researchers originally predicted, The Washington Post reported.The researchers, led by geoscientist Laure Resplandy of Princeton University, found that oceans absorbed 13 zettajoules — a joule, the standard unit of energy, followed by 21 zeroes — of heat energy each year between 1991 and 2016. Based on these findings, they argue, nations must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent more than previously estimated if they hope to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.“Imagine if the ocean was only 30 feet deep,” Resplandy said in a statement. “Our data show that it would have warmed by 6.5 degrees C [11.7 degrees Fahrenheit] every decade since 1991. In comparison, the estimate of the last IPCC assessment report would correspond to a warming of only 4 degrees C [7.2 degrees F] every decade.”
Scientists have long struggled to quantify ocean warming before 2007 — the year that a network of robotic sensors known as Argo were deployed into the world’s oceans to track things like temperature and salinity. For pre-2007 data, the new research examined the volume of oxygen and carbon dioxide released from the oceans as they heated up, providing scientists an indicator for ocean temperature change.
“We thought that we got away with not a lot of warming in both the ocean and the atmosphere for the amount of CO2 that we emitted,” Resplandy told The Washington Post. “But we were wrong. The planet warmed more than we thought. It was hidden from us just because we didn’t sample it right. But it was there. It was in the ocean already.”
In the lead-up to the 2015 election, he said the economy and environment “go together like paddles and canoes. Unless you have both, you won’t get to where you are going.” Such vacuous statements helped him win a majority government.
Did Liberal voters think “real change” would mean maintaining fossil fuel subsidies, buying the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and promoting new nuclear reactors?
When the Liberals renamed the cabinet committee on “Environment, Climate Change and Energy” to “Environment and Clean Growth” on August 28, 2018, Trudeau’s office said this “reflects the government’s commitment to addressing climate change through growing the economy.” But putting “clean” in front of “growth” is a con job — like putting “sustainable” in front of “development.”
Behind closed doors in the “clean growth” cabinet committee, the minister of natural resources will discuss next year’s “Clean Energy Ministerial” — a gathering of energy ministers from the world’s richest nations, hosted by Canada.
One of Canada’s objectives for this meeting, together with the U.S., is to advance plans for the “next generation” of nuclear reactors. In preparation, a federal nuclear reactor “road map” will be released next month at a Canadian Nuclear Society conference in Ottawa subsidized by the Trudeau government.
For the one-percenters, “clean growth” includes nuclear power. The military industrial complex needs nuclear power and nuclear weapons just as much as it needs fossil fuels.
Government officials and lobbyists who call nuclear power “clean energy” cannot provide a shred of evidence that a new generation of reactors will help Canada and other nations achieve the Paris Agreement greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The real point of this exercise is to perpetuate the military industrial complex.
The nuclear industry is desperately casting about for ways to attract young scientists and engineers. It promotes fantasies of reactor technologies that will provide carbon-free electricity, eliminate existing nuclear waste stockpiles, desalinate ocean water, power remote Indigenous communities, and enable travel to Mars.
But these technologies have been around for decades. They are enormously expensive. They require huge government subsidies, waste taxpayer dollars and generate budget deficits characteristic of the U.S. military industrial complex.
Climate justice incompatible with economic growth
Addressing climate change through economic growth is an ecocidal fantasy. To claim that humans can appropriate more and more of the planet’s resources, and still protect the environment and halt climate change is ludicrous.
This is business as usual — continuation of the “great acceleration” created by post-Second World War governments who transformed the war machine into the “peacetime” military industrial complex.
Politicians and corporate executives — the one-percenters — have no intention of putting the brakes on this machine. They need to fuel the nuclear sub fleets in the U.S. and U.K., and the armoured vehicles that Canada makes and sells to Saudi Arabia. They will try to extract every last gram of uranium and drop of oil. Nuclear and fossil fuels are both the means and end of war.
Ultimately, the military industrial complex is waging war against the planet, against ourselves and against all living creatures. The Earth is in great peril.
Revolution is brewing. Activists, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike are rejecting these corporate-driven technological fantasies. Energy is changing. The capitalist system will not survive. But what will replace it?
Ole Hendrickson is a retired forest ecologist and a founding member of the Ottawa River Institute, a non-profit charitable organization based in the Ottawa Valley.
Police investigation into overheated river at Paks NPP after report by MEP Benedek Jávor, ATLATSZO English OROSZI BABETTby Babett Oroszi English version by Zsuzsanna Liptákné Horváth. 1 Nov 18 You can read the original, Hungarian-language story here.Hungarian police are investigating whether the water in the river Danube was warmer than 30 degrees at the Paks nuclear plant during the August heatwave. According to Hungarian regulations, if the water temperature reaches that point, the nuclear plant has to be shut off. It was not, but there is a suspicion that water temperature did reach 30 degrees. Hungarian MEP Jávor Benedekfiled a report at the police and now the case is being investigated.According to measurements by Átlátszó and Energiaklub, the temperature of the river Danube reached 30 °C during the August heatwave, exactly where the Paks nuclear plant’s cooling water enters the river.
According to a 2001 government decree, the Paks nuclear plant must cease operations for environmental reasons if the temperature of the Danube reaches 30 °C anywhere in the 500 meters following the point where the cooling water is deposited into the river.
The nuclear plant’s official thermometer never measured more than 30 °C in August, therefore the power plant or any of its blocks were not shut off. Concerned about the river’s ecosystem, MEP Benedek Jávor requested a police investigation.
The first step that led to the current investigation was when Átlátszó and Energiaklub, a Hungarian NGO, measured the water temperature in August. Energiaklub had requested the official data about the river’s temperature before, filing a freedom of information request. However, during the time of the heatwave Paks stopped announcing their official data. Átlátszó’s group of experts had assumed that the temperature of the water rose above 30 °C.
To prove this, and to protect wildlife in the river, we traveled to Paks and measured the water temperature. Before the point of entry of the nuclear plant’s cooling water, we measured 25-26 °C. Downstream, however, within 500 meters from the cooling water’s entry point, we measured above 30 °C at multiple locations.
We took a video of the process and published an article about our unofficial data. These show that at every single location downstream where we measured the river’s temperature, it exceeded the 30 °C.
The Nation 2nd Nov 2018 *Climate** Are we doomed? It’s the most common thing people ask me when they learn
that I study climate politics. Fair enough. The science is grim, as the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just reminded us with
a report on how hard it will be to keep average global warming to 1.5
degrees Celsius. But it’s the wrong question.
Yes, the path we’re on is ruinous. It’s just as true that other, plausible pathways are not.
That’s the real, widely ignored, and surprisingly detailed message of the
IPCC report. We’re only doomed if we change nothing. The IPCC report
makes it clear that if we make the political choice of bankrupting the
fossil-fuel industry and sharing the burden of transition fairly, most
humans can live in a world better than the one we have now.
And yet doom is what’s being amplified by seemingly every major newspaper and magazine,
and the mainstream media more broadly. A standout example was David
Wallace-Wells’s hot take on the IPCC report for New York magazine,
charmingly titled, “UN Says Climate Genocide Is Coming. It’s Actually
Worse Than That.” There’s a lot to say about the emotional texture of
this kind of reporting. But the deeper problem is how this coverage fails
to capture climate breakdown’s core cause-and-effect dynamic, thus
missing how much scope for action there still is. https://www.thenation.com/article/mainstream-media-un-climate-report-analysis/
nuclear-news 