Climate Change This Week: Nerd Power, Deadly Heat Waves, Biblical Deluges, and More!

Americans' Exposure To Heat Extremes Could Rise 6-Fold By 2050 - exposing vastly more Americans to dangerous heat waves due to a combination of rising temperatures and rapid population growth in the South and West, a new study warns.
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Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.

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Computer servers emit huge amounts of heat, a costly item to remove. One company is recycling it instead. Source www.bbc.com

OO Heating Houses With 'Nerd Power' - to recycle the huge amount of heat emitted from computer servers, Nerdalize is spreading their data center across domestic homes linked by fiber-optic cable - saving on cooling costs and heating homes: Win-Win!

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An Indian child tries to cool himself during India's deadly heat wave, worsened by humidity, which lowers sweat evaporation and its resulting coolness, raising the temperature a person feels. Credit MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty Images at wunderground.com

India: Earth's 5th Deadliest Heat Wave Ever Recorded Kills 1,800+ - deadly, because of persistent heat and humidity, reports Jeff Masters at Wunderground.com.

Takeaways:

- highest"felt" temperature due to heat & humidity (heat index) recorded: 149 F -- OMG!
- high heat day AND night for several days stresses then kills vulnerable (young and old)
- 2nd deadliest recorded heat wave in India

Expect more with continuing climate change... including in the US

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Expect more heat exhaustion in the US as Earth continues to heat. Source prehab.com

OO Americans' Exposure To Heat Extremes Could Rise 6-Fold By 2050 - exposing vastly more Americans to dangerous heat waves due to a combination of rising temperatures and rapid population growth in the South and West, a new study warns.

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Source blog.cheaperthandirt.com

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Source EnergyDesk/Greenpeace

China's Emissions Have Been Plummeting Lately. What's Going On? an 8% reduction in just Jan-Apr of 2015 alone, equal to the emissions of the entire United Kingdom during that period.

It may be a mix of things: a rainy 2014 surge in hydropower, heavy industry deceleration, faulty statistics (there is a history), and a push towards more clean energy, less coal - although coal is still the energy source of choice there, reports Brad Plumer at Vox.

Related Headline:

OO China Preps Launch Of Cutting-Edge National Carbon Market
To Fight Climate Change
-if successful, it could play a big part in cutting China's emissions - and help the world tackle global warming.

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Satellites have been tracking thinning Antarctic ice. Warm waters undercut frontal glacial shelves; as they fall into the sea, the rest of the glacier, unplugged, rushes forward, dumping more ice into the sea and raising sea levels. Source www.carbonbrief.org

Antarctic Glaciers Thinning So Fast, It's Like A Switch Was Flipped reports Pete Spotts at the Christian Science Monitor - global warming heats ocean water, which is melting the undersides of frontal glacial shelves surprisingly quickly in the southern Antarctic Peninsula and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

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An Antarctic ice shelf. As these break into the sea, unplugged glaciers are following behind, adding ice to sea and raising sea levels faster than thought, new studies indicate. NASA

Takeaways:

- glacial ice shelves sit on sea floors, slowing the glaciers behind them
- in 2009 warmer ocean water started melting away southern shelf underbellies fast

- as shelves break into the sea, glaciers push forward, dumping ice into the sea
- LOTS of ice: about 150 billion tons yearly now - raising sea levels

** any ice that drops into the sea from the land raises sea level **

Related Headline:

OO Bad News Keeps Flowing From Antarctica

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Oklahoma and Texas has seen a prolonged drought broken by historic storms and flooding.

Extreme Weather Uptick:
Historic Flooding Follows Prolonged Drought in Oklahoma, Texas:

OO 30 Dead After Historic Week of Flooding in Texas, Oklahoma

Related Headline:

OO Oklahoma Farms Grapple With Drought, Then Downpours

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@@ The BIG Waste: Why do we throw away so much food? The US wastes 30-40% of all its food. Some are acting towards redirecting some of that food away from waste. Check out this video!

"If global food waste were a country,
it would rank third in terms of
greenhouse gas emissions."

- Karim Chrobog, "Why do we throw away so much food?"

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Health or Fossil Fuels: Which One Do You Want Your Taxes to Support?

OO Coal, Oil, Gas Subsidies Higher Than Public Health Spending - about 1.6 million premature deaths would be prevented annually if the world's governments stopped subsidising fossil fuels, says a new International Monetary Fund study.

OO Energy Subsidies, Esp Fossil Fuels, Cost Governments $5 Trillion Yearly
-- And Worsening Pollution

Bipolar Arabia

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Dawn over Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Credit Gab1209 at Flickr

OO Saudi Oil Minister Says World Can't Abandon Fossil Fuels - it doesn't make sense to invest in solar in the short term -- on the other hand...

OO Saudi Oil Minister: 'Fossil Fuels Doomed, We're Switching To Solar.' when fossil fuels are depleted, about 2040-2050, they envisage... What are they putting in his tea?

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If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.

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The new coffee table photo book with graphic imagery of how we are changing our planet.

OO Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot:
Humans' Staggering Effect On Earth
, full of graphic images of consumption , addressing environmental deterioration through subjects including materialism, consumption, pollution, fossil fuels and carbon footprints -- and the population growth that is fueling this.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Engage the next generation into activism on the issue. Really. It's their world.

And there are many more actions you can do, right here.

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SOLAR KEEPS flyING

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A solar plane is flying around the world as you read this.

OO New Record Efficiency for Black Silicon Solar Cells - a type of cell that can gather sunlight even from tight angles -- a good way to increase the yield of solar cells throughout the day, particularly in countries at higher latitudes. And cheaper, too - they don't need the antireflection coatings used by many types of solar cells.

OO Low-Income Homeowners Get Free Solar Panels Thanks To Cap And Trade - through a
A new California program that uses money from the state's fight against global warming.

OO Global Renewable Energy Industry Added 1+ Million Jobs Last Year says a new report, in solar, wind, biofuels, and smaller renewable industries (hydropower wasn't counted).
This marks an 18% gain, worldwide, in a single year. Solar remains the biggest player, employing 2.5 million workers globally.

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Check it out here, right now!

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GOOD CLEAN NEWS

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Source GreenTechMedia

OO Clean Energy Investment in Non-G-20 Countries Grows to 8% of Global Total - says a PEW report, finding that the shift to emerging markets creates an export opportunity for the U.S.

OO France's Largest Insurer Divesting of Coal Companies - Axa broadens support for the fossil-fuel divestment movement to a major mainstream investor.

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WHAT WORKS

Speaking Out:

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Obama warned about the peril of climate change at the US Coast Guard Academy recently. Source The Daily Climate

OO Obama Recasts Climate Change As A More Far-Reaching Peril in recent speech.

OO California PTA To Lobby Lawmakers
To Act on Climate Warming
- the Parent Teacher Association adopting a resolution to also urge schools to prioritize climate curriculum and improve energy efficiency.

OO Leading Health Charities Should Divest
From Fossil Fuels, Say Climate Scientists
- and have called on the world's two leading health charities to review their fossil fuel investments.

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Pope Francis Wikipedia

OO Pope's Climate Change Aide Urges Business To Favor Planet Over Profit

OO Catholics Organize To Promote Pope's Climate Change Message when it is published.

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The New Green World Leader: Thanks for leading the way, President Janos Ader!

OO First Head Of State In The World Backs Campaign To Save The Planet - it's Hungary's president, who boosts an ambitious plan to collect a billion-signature petition aimed at pressuring politicians to agree on radical measures to tackle global warming at the upcoming Paris climate talks.

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Former BP boss Tony Hayward says subsidies are incompatible with combating climate change and should be eliminated before setting carbon price to curb emissions. The Guardian

OO Ex BP Boss Calls For End To Fossil Fuel Subsidies

OO Multinational Executive Urges World Leaders To Reduce Carbon Output saying governments must set clear CO2 targets to force low-carbon innovation.

Good Ideas:

OO EPA's Alleged 'War On Coal' May Actually Be A War On Wasting Energy says a new analysis.

Insights:

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Pikas are small mountain animals that are disappearing from western US mountains, possibly due to climate change. Credit Jen Joynt

OO Mountain Species Especially Vulnerable To Climate Change - these species tend to be highly specialized and do best in particular habitats and narrow temperature ranges.

OO Findings Cast Doubt On Plant Benefits From Rising CO2 - based on 40+ years'of evidence from a Montana meadow showing that increasing carbon dioxide levels don't help plants.

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WHAT DOESN'T WORK

Fossil Fuel Follies

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the recent California oil spill killed pelicans and much more, including tourism. Source www.abcnews.go.com

OO California Oil Spill Closes Parks, Fish Ban Imposed, Wildlife Killed

OO Peabody Energy Coal Co Exploited Ebola Crisis For Corporate Gain,
Say Health Experts

OO Turkey Plans To Double Coal Capacity In Four Years adding to its climate change woes.

Not Doing Enough:

OO UN Sustainable Energy Goals Falling 'Substantially Short' - $1+ trillion in investment is needed to make substantial gains globally.

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WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS

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Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, May 31, 2015

How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.

Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues to prevent much rain from reaching California, sending it into further drought.

Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.

Natural Repercussions:

OO Past 12 Months Tied for Warmest on Record: May 2014 - April 2015

OO Heat Is Piling Up Deep In The Indian Ocean - conveyed on the oceanic conveyor belt from its Pacific source, which is, consequently, showing a slight surface cooling.

Social Repercussions:

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National science advisor John Holdren notes 4 links to climate change that are occurring in California - heaviers storms, less snow, a drying environment, and earlier springmelt, which means less water later in the summer. Source www.nature.com

OO Climate Change Could Overwhelm California,
National Science Adviser Says
- climate change is moving faster than expected, is intensifying California's drought, and unless greenhouse gas emissions are slowed, the state's efforts to adapt will ultimately be overwhelmed, John Holdren said.

OO USDA Allocates $21 Million To Help Farmers, Ranchers Battle Drought via installing new irrigation systems, plant cover crops and implement other water conservation practices.

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Source The Daily Climate

OO India: Crop-Loss Farmers Sell Their Children To Survive - worsening crop failures, brought on by extreme weather, are leading to increasing financial desperation and a rash of suicides and child trafficking.

OO Asia-Pacific Highly Vulnerable To Climate Change - the Global Cimate Risk Index 2015 shows, with 5 of the top 10 countries most affected by climate change-induced disasters during 1994-2013 located in Asia Pacific.

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There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.

To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!

Every day is Earth Day, folks, as these personal May postcards I send to you from the Colorado Rockies show - a late spring blizzard, an avalanche (becoming more common with global warming), the fox family that lives beneath our cabin, the rocks, the lichens, the flowers.

Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.

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