Trump's promises to oil companies

 Washington Post -As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including the rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.

Devastating drought in Amazon result of climate crisis, study shows

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/24/devastating-drought-in-amazon-result-of-climate-crisis-study-shows

 

@dpcarrington
Wed 24 Jan 2024 12.00 EST

 

The climate crisis turned the drought that struck the Amazon rainforest in 2023 into a devastating event, a study has found.

The drought was the worst recorded in many places and hit the maximum “exceptional” level on the scientific scale. Without planet-warming emissions from the burning of oil, gas and coal, the drought would have been far less extreme, the analysis found.

It also showed the drought was made 30 times more likely to happen by global heating. The return of the natural El Niño climate phenomenon is associated with drier conditions but played only a small role, the scientists said.

The climate crisis is supercharging extreme weather across the planet, but the extreme Amazon drought is a stark and worrying example because the rainforest is already thought to be close to a tipping point into a drier state. This would result in a mass die-off of trees in the world’s most important store of carbon on land, releasing large amounts of CO2 and driving global temperatures even higher.

Millions of people in the Amazon have been affected by the drought, with some rivers at their lowest levels for more than a century. There have been drinking water shortages, failed crops and power cuts, as hydroelectric plants dried up. The drought also worsened wildfires and high water temperatures were linked to a mass mortality of river life, including the deaths of more than 150 endangered pink river dolphins in a single week.

-----

 

Extreme weather more coomon

 

Climate disruption is making many climate extremes happen more often and more extreme. Citing previous extreme weather as "proof" there is no change is like saying covid doesn't cause increased deaths because people have always died.

Climate change is hastening the demise of Pacific Northwest forests

https://apnews.com/article/trees-climate-environment-pacific-northwest-iconic-cedars-d1f58b79c5c92376f4fe835f6b433602 

By NATHAN GILLES, Columbia Insight

Nov. 16, 2023

Last year, Buhl and colleagues reported that red cedars were dying throughout the tree’s growing range not because of a fungus or insect attack, but due to the region’s “climate change-induced drought.”

Red cedars aren’t alone.

In recent years, at least 15 native Pacific Northwest tree species have experienced growth declines and die-offs, 10 of which have been linked to drought and warming temperatures, according to recent studies and reports.

-----

Storm Ciarán whips Western Europe, blowing record winds in France and leaving millions without power

 https://apnews.com/article/storm-ciaran-uk-france-winds-climate-61b722101874e7f0610961c03c509229 

Nov. 2, 2023

Record-breaking winds in France and across much of Western Europe left at least seven people dead and injured others as Storm Ciarán swept through the continent Thursday. The storm devastated homes, causing travel mayhem and cut power to a vast number of people.

Winds of more than 190 kph (118 mph) slammed the northern tip of France’s Atlantic coast overnight, uprooting trees and blowing out windows.

-----

Hurricanes are now twice as likely to zip from minor to whopper than decades ago

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-hurricanes-minor-whopper-decades.html

by Seth Borenstein

With warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes are now more than twice as likely as before to rapidly intensify from wimpy minor hurricanes to powerful and catastrophic, a study said Thursday.

Last month Hurricane Lee went from barely a hurricane at 80 mph (129 kph) to the most powerful Category 5 hurricane with 155 mph (249 kph) winds in 24 hours. In 2017, before it devastated Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria went from a Category 1 storm with 90 mph (145 kph) to a top-of-the-chart whopper with 160 mph (257 kph) winds in just 15 hours.

The study looked at 830 Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1971. It found that in the last 20 years, 8.1% of the time storms powered from a Category 1 minor storm to a major hurricane in just 24 hours. That happened only 3.2% of the time from 1971 to 1990, according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports.

-----

Earth Started Getting Less Green 20 Years Ago

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-stopped-getting-greener-20-years-ago/

By Chelsea Harvey, E&E News on August 15, 2019

The world is gradually becoming less green, scientists have found. Plant growth is declining all over the planet, and new research links the phenomenon to decreasing moisture in the air—a consequence of climate change.

-----

Climate records suggest the declines are associated with a metric known as vapor pressure deficit—that’s the difference between the amount of moisture the air actually holds versus the maximum amount of moisture it could be holding. A high deficit is sometimes referred to as an atmospheric drought.

-----

[The wording in this article might be misleading to non-scientists.  Warmer air holds more moisture, so the atmosphere holds more total moisture than previously because it is sucking up more moisture from the earth, making the earth drier.  The extra moisture in the atmosphere also causes more precipitation when the air cools.]

SUVs emit more climate damaging gas than older cars do, study finds

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/16/suvs-emit-more-climate-damaging-gas-than-older-cars-do-study-finds

Peter Walker

Mon 16 Oct 2023 01.00 EDT

The increasing popularity of ultra-heavy SUVs in England means a conventional-engined car bought in 2013 will, on average, have lower carbon emissions than one bought new today, new research has found.

The study by the climate campaign group Possible said there was a strong correlation between income and owning a large SUV, which meant there was a sound argument for “polluter pays” taxes for vehicle emissions based on size.

-----

Over 100 Dolphins Dead in Brazilian Amazon

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/over-100-dolphins-dead-in-brazilian-amazon

Chaya Tong

Breaking News Intern

Published Oct. 01, 2023 11:42AM EDT 

Over a hundred dolphins were found dead in the Brazilian Amazon over the last seven days, amid record-breaking water temperatures of more than 102 degrees. Researchers are working to rescue surviving dolphins and transfer them to other bodies of water, but the task has proved difficult.

-----

Swiss glaciers have lost 10% of their volume in the past 2 years

 

https://apnews.com/article/switzerland-glaciers-melt-climate-change-913bfe5b1d182a70900784b2c4313385 

 A Swiss Academy of Sciences panel is reporting a dramatic acceleration of glacier melt in the Alpine country, which has lost 10% of its ice volume in just two years after high summer heat and low snow volumes in winter.

Switzerland — home to the most glaciers of any country in Europe — has seen 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023, the second-biggest decline in a single year on top of a 6% drop in 2022, the biggest thaw since measurements began, the academy’s commission for cryosphere observation said.

-----

Antarctic winter sea ice hits 'extreme' record low

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/antarctic-winter-sea-ice-hits-record-low-sparking-climate-worries-2023-09-25/

Sea ice that packs the ocean around Antarctica hit record low levels this winter, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said on Monday, adding to scientists' fears that the impact of climate change at the southern pole is ramping up.

Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice, while also hastening global warming by reducing how much sunlight is reflected by white ice back into space.

-----

By Jake Spring

September 26, 20231:09 AM EDTUpdated

Global warming is causing increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heavy rainfall events

 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05256-8

Coumou, D., Di Capua, G., Vavrus, S. et al. The influence of Arctic amplification on mid-latitude summer circulation. Nat Commun 9, 2959 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05256-8

-----

We show that interactions between Arctic teleconnections and other remote and regional feedback processes could lead to more persistent hot-dry extremes in the mid-latitudes

-----

The observed increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat and heavy rainfall events since the late 1980s, especially in mid-latitude regions, have been linked to anthropogenic global warming.

-----

recent studies that indicate that summer weather has become more persistent in several regions in the mid-latitudes23,24,25. In summer, the hot tail of the distribution is associated with persistent, blocking weather systems, and an increase in their persistence leads to more extreme temperatures.

-----

Texas paid bitcoin miner Riot $31.7 million to shut down during heat wave in August

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/06/texas-paid-bitcoin-miner-riot-31point7-million-to-shut-down-in-august.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

PUBLISHED WED, SEP 6 20235:08 PM EDT

MacKenzie Sigalos@KENZIESIGALOS

Jordan Smith@JORDANCNBC

During the crypto boom of 2021, Riot Platforms was raking in cash from bitcoin mining. Now the company is losing so much money that it’s counting on energy credits from selling power back to the Texas grid to keep its costs under control.

Riot said on Wednesday that it earned $31.7 million in energy credits last month from Texas power grid operator ERCOT. The company generated the credits by voluntarily curtailing its energy consumption during a record-breaking heatwave.

-----

Rapid shifts from drought to downpour occurring more often

 

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-rapid-shifts-drought-downpour.html

by University of Texas at Austin

-----

The research looked at four decades of meteorological and hydrological data on a global level and found seven regional hotspots around the world where the trend was getting worse: eastern North America, Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, southern Australia, southern Africa, and southern South America.

-----

Not a single emperor penguin chick survived spring in parts of Antarctica

 

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/not-a-single-emperor-penguin-chick-survived-spring-in-parts-of-antarctica-20230822-p5dykw.html

Laura Chung

August 25, 2023

As the world goes through what some scientists believe to be its hottest year on record, emperor penguin populations in the Antarctic are suffering catastrophic losses, with no chicks surviving the spring of 2022 in four of five colonies observed for a new study.

The loss of the chicks coincides with record low sea ice coverage and was predicted as the world warmed, but the collapse in numbers has happened faster and sooner than expected, prompting fears for the future of the animal.

-----

It’s Getting Harder for Fish in the Sea to Breathe

 3zdLawK

https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/07/07/Harder-Fish-Sea-Breathe/

Nicola Jones7 Jul 2023Yale Environment 360
-----
As the atmosphere warms, oceans around the world are becoming ever more deprived of oxygen, forcing many species to migrate from their usual homes. Researchers expect many places to experience a decline in species diversity, ending up with just those few species that can cope with the harsher conditions.
-----
Our future ocean — warmer and oxygen-deprived — will not only hold fewer kinds of fish, but also smaller, stunted fish and, to add insult to injury, more greenhouse-gas producing bacteria, scientists say. The tropics will empty as fish move to more oxygenated waters, says Pauly, and those specialist fish already living at the poles will face extinction.
-----

when researchers take the time to compare the three effects — warming, acidification and deoxygenation — the impacts of low oxygen are the worst.

“That’s not so surprising,” says Wilco Verberk, an eco-physiologist at Radboud University in the Netherlands. “If you run out of oxygen, the other problems are inconsequential.” Fish, like other animals, need to breathe.

-----

Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans have already dropped more than 2 per cent between 1960 and 2010, and they are expected to decline up to seven per cent below the 1960 level over the next century. Some patches are worse than others — the top of the northeast Pacific has lost more than 15 per cent of its oxygen.

-----

The Global Ocean Oxygen Network — a scientific group set up as part of the United Nations’ Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021-30 — reports that since the 1960s, the area of low-oxygen water in the open ocean has increased by 4.4 million square kilometres. That’s an area a little more than half the size of Canada. By 2080, a 2021 study reported, more than 70 per cent of the global oceans will experience noticeable deoxygenation.

-----

One issue, he notes, is that low-oxygen conditions tend to host a class of anoxic bacteria that produce methane or nitrous oxide — potent greenhouse gases.

------

In general, a hot fish has a higher metabolism and needs more oxygen. Trout, for example, need five to six times more dissolved oxygen when waters are a balmy 24 C than when they are a chilly 5 C. So as waters warm and the oxygen seeps out, many marine creatures take a double hit. “Fish require a lot of oxygen, particularly the large

-----

A 2021 paper showed that the oceans are already committed to a fourfold greater oxygen loss, even if CO2 emissions stop immediately.

-----

Parts of tropical rainforests could get too hot for photosynthesis, study suggests

 https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/23/world/tropical-forest-heat-photosynthesis-climate-scn-intl/index.html

by Laura Paddison

Wed August 23, 2023

Some leaves in tropical forests from South America to South East Asia are getting so hot they may no longer be able to photosynthesize, with big potential consequences for the world’s forests, according to a new study.

Leaves’ ability to photosynthesize – the process by which they make energy from carbon dioxide, sunlight and water – begins to fail when their temperature reaches around 46.7 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit).

While this may seem high, leaves can get much hotter than the air temperature, according to the report published Wednesday in Nature by a group of scientists from countries including the US, Australia and Brazil.

-----

Extreme heat is affecting oil refineries in Texas, pushing up gas prices

 

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/environment/2023/07/27/extreme-heat-is-hobbling-oil-refineries-in-texas--pushing-up-gas-prices

By Susan Carpenter

PUBLISHED 2:23 PM PT Jul. 28, 20

If you’re paying more at the pump, extreme heat is partially to blame.

Multiple days of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in the Southern states are affecting oil refineries in Texas and Louisiana, diminishing gas supplies and increasing prices.

Nationally, gas prices are up 13 cents compared with a week ago, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.

-----

By Susan Carpenter Dallas

PUBLISHED 2:23 PM PT Jul. 28, 2023

The Pollution Paradox

 

https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1686380581469528064?t=pltLRqb_ixitSHExMsuc2A&s=19

George Monbiot

Aug. 1, 2023

It’s because of the Pollution Paradox, which I see as essential to understanding modern politics. The most damaging companies have the greatest incentive to invest money in politics. So politics, in our money-driven system, comes to be dominated by the most damaging companies.

Exxon Knew about Climate Change almost 40 years ago

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/

A new investigation shows the oil company understood the science before it became a public issue and spent millions to promote misinformation

• By Shannon Hall on October 26, 2015

Exxon was aware of climate change, as early as 1977, 11 years before it became a public issue, according to a recent investigation from InsideClimate News. This knowledge did not prevent the company (now ExxonMobil and the world’s largest oil and gas company) from spending decades refusing to publicly acknowledge climate change and even promoting climate misinformation—an approach many have likened to the lies spread by the tobacco industry regarding the health risks of smoking. Both industries were conscious that their products wouldn’t stay profitable once the world understood the risks, so much so that they used the same consultants to develop strategies on how to communicate with the public.