Top news and views about Environment and Cleantech for 20 Jul 2017
CrowdifyClub Category: Environment and Cleantech
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Global warming is now threatening wine production in the Mediterranean
We all know that global warming will trigger sea level rises, and cause mass disruption to our civilisation on a worldwide scale.
But there’s a more imminent danger which will leave some drinkers gasping - rising temperatures are disrupting wine production, threatening wine supplies from hotter countries.
A new report says slightly increased temperatures in the Mediterranean region as a result of global warming may result in labour and productivity losses in the European wine industry.
An article in the Temperature journal outlines the effects of high temperatures on the labour output and productivity of manual agricultural grape-picking workers.
Full story at http://ind.pn/2gMrXwT
Source: Independent
Why a Warming Arctic May Be Causing Colder U.S. Winters
When a U.S. Republican senator threw a snowball onto the Senate floor in late February of 2015, he used it to underscore his belief that human-made climate change was an alarmist conclusion. The snowball had been rolled from the Capitol grounds in Washington D.C., which, at the time, was experiencing an uncharacteristically cold winter.
If global warming was real, he posited, how could the nation's capital experience such severe cold?
Uncharacteristically cold winters, however, just might be one of the most hard felt effects of climate change, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience by a team of researchers.
The study found that unusually cold temperatures in northern North America and lower precipitation in the south central U.S. all coincided with periods of warmer Arctic weather.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2uLpYzl
Source: National Geographic
Colorado joins 'climate alliance' of states fighting global warming
(Reuters) - Colorado's governor signed an executive order on Tuesday making his state the latest to join a "climate alliance" of U.S. states and governors seeking to meet the goals of the Paris accord after President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the pact.
The order calls for Colorado to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 26 percent from 2005 by 2025 and lower carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 25 percent, among other goals.
"Coloradans value clean air and clean water," Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper said in a written statement. "Our strong economy is a reflection of how our exhilarating outdoors attracts young entrepreneurs and the talent they need for their businesses.
Full story at http://read.bi/2uERi18
Source: Business Insider
Doomsday narratives about climate change don't work. But here's what does
The title of David Wallace-Wells’ recent essay in New York magazine is catchy, if not uncomfortable. “The Uninhabitable Earth: Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreck – sooner than you think.”
The article asks us to peer beyond scientific reticence into a doomsday future. The accounts of mass heat deaths in cities and praying for cornfields in the tundra is disturbing, but they’re familiar. It’s the same frame for how we talk about a much more immediate climate change disaster – US communities at risk to sea level rise today.
We’ve labeled Shishmaref, Alaska, a community that voted to relocate because of climate change impacts last August, a “tragedy of a village built on ice”. We’ve marketed Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, the first US town to receive federal funding to relocate, as climate change refugees watching their town slip into the sea. And we ask “Should the United States Save Tangier Island From Oblivion?” on the Chesapeake Bay island’s future.
Each of these follows a recognizable storyline: a vanishing island, a culture slipping away and an ensemble of characters unsure of what their future holds. Each piece tells a cookie-cutter version of a vulnerable village in fear of rising tides and residents as victims on the frontline of climate change.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2uaBYXK
Source: The Guardian
Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children
The greatest impact individuals can have in fighting climate change is to have one fewer child, according to a new study that identifies the most effective ways people can cut their carbon emissions.
The next best actions are selling your car, avoiding long flights, and eating a vegetarian diet. These reduce emissions many times more than common green activities, such as recycling, using low energy light bulbs or drying washing on a line. However, the high impact actions are rarely mentioned in government advice and school textbooks, researchers found.
Carbon emissions must fall to two tonnes of CO2 per person by 2050 to avoid severe global warming, but in the US and Australia emissions are currently 16 tonnes per person and in the UK seven tonnes. “That’s obviously a really big change and we wanted to show that individuals have an opportunity to be a part of that,” said Kimberly Nicholas, at Lund University in Sweden and one of the research team.
The new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, sets out the impact of different actions on a comparable basis. By far the biggest ultimate impact is having one fewer child, which the researchers calculated equated to a reduction of 58 tonnes of CO2 for each year of a parent’s life.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2tsLF72
Source: The Guardian
Trump Navy secretary nominee: Climate change is real and poses a threat
President Trump’s Navy secretary nominee said Tuesday he is “totally aware” of the threat posed by climate change and committed to addressing it if confirmed.
“The Navy is totally aware of rising water issues, storm issues, etc.” nominee Richard V. Spencer told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
“We must protect our infrastructure, and I will work hard to make sure we are keeping an eye on that because without the infrastructure, we lose readiness.
Full story at http://bit.ly/2thECtz
Source: http://thehill.com
Prepared by @SydesJokes
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Hi Colin!! It is Sally from EK. Great to see your post here on your mission. Upvoted.
Hi Sally, Great to see you here :)