Tag: climate change

Evidence of climate change abounds amid extreme weather in the Pacific Northwest

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website August 14, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA:

A man sunbathes last week in view of the Space Needle, which is partially obscured by wildfire smoke covering the region from British Columbia fires. Soggy Seattle clocked the wettest winter on record just months ago. Then the city went in the other extreme: its longest dry streak ever. (Elaine Thompson/AP)

SEATTLE—This city known for its rain just went a record-breaking 55 days without any.

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had not measured any precipitation since June 18 until the wee hours of Sunday morning, when it drizzled. Barely. Some sprinkles also allowed Portland to break its own 57-day dry streak.

Climate change is leading to more extreme weather, and no other region has experienced that so much over the last year as the Pacific Northwest. Seattle got 44.9 inches of rain between Oct. 1 and April 30, the wettest such period ever. That means, even with the record dry streak, 2017 remains above normal for rainfall.

America faces many grave challenges. The horrifying events in Charlottesville this weekend highlighted several, including racism and the enduring stain of America’s original sin. (Much more on that below.) Climate change is another. Continue reading “Evidence of climate change abounds amid extreme weather in the Pacific Northwest”

Trump’s Children Will Watch Mar-a-Lago Sink Into The Atlantic

The following article by Gene Lyons was posted on the National Memo website June 7, 2017:

Image: National Memo (Getty Images)

If cosmic justice prevails, Donald J. Trump could live to see the Atlantic Ocean roll through his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort from the sea to the Intracoastal Waterway. His children almost certainly will.

The plush country club is built upon what geologists call a barrier beach—essentially a sandbar between the ocean and the bay. Already, water pools on parts of the property during coastal storms and extreme high tides, as sea levels driven by global warming rise a bit faster every year.

Within 30 years, climatologists estimate, Mar-a-Lago could be vulnerable to flooding as many as 210 days a year. It’s a growing problem across South Florida. Even mighty Donald cannot command the sea. Continue reading “Trump’s Children Will Watch Mar-a-Lago Sink Into The Atlantic”

Capital Weather Gang Perspective Trump thinks weather and climate are unpredictable. He’s wrong and overdue for a briefing.

The following article by Jason Samenow was posted on the Washington Post website June 5, 2017:

President Trump speaks about the Paris climate accords on June 1 in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

On Sunday, President Trump uttered one of the most widely held misconceptions about weather and climate change: Weather forecasters can’t get it right and, therefore, we can’t say anything about climate change.

The claim, used to justify leaving the Paris climate agreement, is demonstrably wrong and has been debunked repeatedly. The president should know better.

Politico reported that the remarks were made after a round of golf at Trump National on Sunday. Its account: Continue reading “Capital Weather Gang Perspective Trump thinks weather and climate are unpredictable. He’s wrong and overdue for a briefing.”

Post-ABC poll: Nearly 6 in 10 oppose Trump scrapping Paris agreement

The following article by Scott Clement and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website June 5, 2017:

Most Americans oppose President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, with a majority saying the move will damage the United States’ global leadership, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Opposition to Trump’s decision outpaces support for it by a roughly 2-to-1 margin, with 59 percent opposing the move and 28 percent in support. The reactions also break down sharply along partisan lines, though Republicans are not as united in support of the withdrawal as Democrats are in opposition to it. A 67 percent majority of Republicans support Trump’s action, but that drops to 22 percent among political independents and 8 percent of Democrats. Just over 6 in 10 independents and 8 in 10 Democrats oppose Trump’s action. Continue reading “Post-ABC poll: Nearly 6 in 10 oppose Trump scrapping Paris agreement”

Climate March draws massive crowd to D.C. in sweltering heat

The following article by Chris Mooney, Joe Heim and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website April 29, 2017:

On a sweltering April day, tens of thousands of demonstrators assembled in Washington on Saturday for the latest installment of the regular protests that punctuate the Trump era. This large-scale climate march marked President Trump’s first 100 days in office, which have already seen multiple rollbacks of environmental protections and Obama climate policies.

The Peoples Climate March, which originated with a massive demonstration in New York in September 2014, picked a symbolically striking day for its 2017 event. The temperature reached 91 degrees at D.C.’s National Airport at 2:59 p.m., tying a heat record for April 29 in the district set in 1974 — which only amplified the movement’s message. Continue reading “Climate March draws massive crowd to D.C. in sweltering heat”

China Poised to Take Lead on Climate After Trump’s Move to Undo Policies

The following article by Edward Wong was posted on the New York Times website March 29, 2017:

Burning coal at an unauthorized steel factory in Inner Mongolia in November. China consumes as much coal as the rest of the world combined. Credit Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

For years, the Obama administration prodded, cajoled and beseeched China to make commitments to limit the use of fossil fuels to try to slow the global effects of climate change.

President Obama and other American officials saw the pledges from both Beijing and Washington as crucial: China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by the United States.

In the coming years, the opposite dynamic is poised to play out. President Trump’s signing of an executive order on Tuesday aimed at undoing many of the Obama administration’s climate change policies flips the roles of the two powers. Continue reading “China Poised to Take Lead on Climate After Trump’s Move to Undo Policies”

Pruitt Disbelief in Global Warming

The following letter to the editor was submitted to, but did not appear in, the Minneapolis Star Tribune March 10, 2017:

Did I just mishear a comment by Scott Pruitt, the new GOP approved EPA Administrator, on CNBC regarding his disbelief in the science of global warming and the impact of human generated greenhouse gases on the planet?

I thought I heard him say: “I think that measuring with precision that the earth is round is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of roundness, if any. So no, I would not agree that it’s primarily round as we see it. We don’t know that its round yet. We need to continue the debate if its round and continue the review and the analysis.”

This reminds me of a line from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl – “You’re off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters.”

J. Albers

White House proposes steep budget cut to leading climate science agency

The following article by Steven Mufson, Jason Samenow and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website March 3, 2017:

The Trump administration is seeking to slash the budget of one of the government’s premier climate science agencies by 17 percent, delivering steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs, according to a four-page budget memo obtained by The Washington Post.

The proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs, including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and “coastal resilience,” which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas. Continue reading “White House proposes steep budget cut to leading climate science agency”

WMO: Five hottest years on record have occurred since 2011

_92322067_mediaitem92322066We know we now have a president-elect who refuses to believe in climate change or that it’s something China is doing to us. But, that doesn’t stop climate change from happening.

The following article by Matt McGrath was published on the BBC website November 8, 2016:

New data released by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) shows that the five years from 2011 to 2015 were the warmest on record.

The report, published at global climate talks in Morocco, strongly links human activities to rising temperatures. Continue reading “WMO: Five hottest years on record have occurred since 2011”