FOURTH NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT

Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States The National Climate Assessment (NCA) assesses the science of climate change and  variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century.

Summary Findings :

These Summary Findings represent a high-level synthesis of the material in the underlying report.  The findings consolidate Key Messages and supporting evidence from 16 national-level topic chapters,  10 regional chapters, and 2 chapters that focus on societal response strategies (mitigation and adaptation). Unless otherwise noted, qualitative statements regarding future conditions  in these Summary Findings are broadly applicable across the range of different levels of future climate change and associated impacts considered in this report.

https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/

4,000 people are set to gather in Nairobi this week for the first global conference to focus solely on the sustainable blue economy. Hosted by Kenya, with Canada and Japan as co-hosts, the event will be the first to focus on how to channel global water resources in sustainable ways to enhance development.

Described as a “bold initiative” by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference is expected to draw participants from some 180 countries, as well as heads of state.

https://www.devex.com/news/in-nairobi-a-landmark-push-for-a-global-blue-economy-93874


Climate goals are off course. Which countries are to blame? New study shows China leading world to 5.1C of global warming,  US to 4C and EU to 3.2C

Policies of China, Russia and Canada threaten 5C climate change, study finds Ranking of countries’ goals shows even EU on course for more than double safe level of warming

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/16/climate-change-champions-still-pursuing-devastating-policies-new-study-reveals

and the study:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07223-9

 


Unlike a Globalized Food System, Local Food Won’t Destroy the Environment

https://truthout.org/articles/unlike-a-globalized-food-system-local-food-wont-destroy-the-environment/

 


Scores arrested as thousands block London bridges in climate rebellion

Protesters close five main bridges across Thames over extinction crisis in huge act of peaceful civil disobedience

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/17/thousands-gather-to-block-london-bridges-in-climate-rebellion

 


‘Precious little’: Democrats lack robust climate change plan despite global crisis

Party wary of wading into tough political fight on environment even though Democrats could retake House in midterms

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/31/climate-change-democrats-house-midterms-pollution-plan

 


Tackling Climate Change Requires Healing the Divide

Canadian climate change opinion is polarized, and research shows the divide is widening. The greatest predictor of people’s outlook is political affiliation. This means people’s climate change perceptions are being increasingly driven by divisive political agendas rather than science and concern for our collective welfare.

https://www.ecowatch.com/tackling-climate-change-requires-healing-the-divide-2619880310.html

 


World’s Largest Offshore Wind Developer to Invest $30 Billion in Green Energy

Danish energy company Orsted announced a major investment program as it seeks to become one of the “renewable majors” leading a global shift away from planet-warming fuels.

https://www.ecowatch.com/offshore-wind-developer-green-energy-2621762196.html

 


Farmers need flexibility to fight Lake Erie’s algae problem

Farmers are working hard to keep nutrients out of the Great Lakes. Let’s not let rigid regulation hamper their efforts. https://ensia.com/voices/lake-erie-algae/

 


Tripled climate cuts needed to fulfil pledge

https://climatenewsnetwork.net/tripled-climate-cuts-needed-to-fulfil-pledge/

 


Even Republicans at odds with Trump’s climate posture, poll finds

But many people still don’t agree with the consensus science

that shows humans are the dominant cause of climate change

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/29/even-republicans-at-odds-with-trumps-climate-posture-poll-finds

 


We Can Pay For A Green New Deal

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-green-new-deal-cost_us_5c0042b2e4b027f1097bda5b

 


A sharing economy for plants: Seed libraries are sprouting up

https://theconversation.com/a-sharing-economy-for-plants-seed-libraries-are-sprouting-up-106432

 


Photos: Indian tribe revives heirloom seeds for health and climate security

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/photos-indian-tribe-revives-heirloom-seeds-for-health-and-climate-security/

 


California’s misguided plan to ‘save’ tropical forests (commentary)

  Indigenous leaders, environmental justice campaigners, academics, and left-leaning green groups have raised vocal opposition to an updated version of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) now known in California policy circles as the Tropical Forest Standard.

  The argument behind the TFS is that jurisdiction-wide policies to reduce deforestation implemented by state and provincial authorities will be different from scattershot private-sector-led REDD projects. But proponents leave out a key fact: the failures of REDD+ have often been driven by weak governance — that is to say, corruption, graft, neglect, and abuse of power — in tropical states.

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/californias-misguided-plan-to-save-tropical-forests-commentary/

 


Big Oil v the planet is the fight of our lives. Democrats must choose a side David Sirota

The industry has political supremacy even in left-leaning states,

but immediate action can hold off an environmental state of emergency

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/15/climate-change-democrats-oil-gas

 


Why companies should help pay for the biodiversity that’s good for their bottom line

https://theconversation.com/why-companies-should-help-pay-for-the-biodiversity-thats-good-for-their-bottom-line-106298

 


Arctic Drilling Is “Ecocide on an Incredible Diversity of Wildlife”

https://truthout.org/articles/arctic-drilling-is-ecocide-on-an-incredible-diversity-of-wildlife/

 


‘Why not sequence everything?’  A plan to decode every complex species on Earth

The Earth BioGenome Project aims to sequence 1.5 million genomes and will probably cost US$4.7 billion.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07279-z

 


5 recycling myths busted

What really happens to all the stuff you put in those blue bins?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/5-recycling-myths-busted-plastic/


How to stop half a trillion bottles polluting our planet each year

https://storyofstuff.org/blog/how-to-stop-half-a-trillion-bottles-polluting-our-planet-each-year/?akid=85751.138307.stFEQi&rd=1&t=10

 


The plastic backlash: what’s behind our sudden rage – and will it make a difference?

Decades after it became part of the fabric of our lives, a worldwide revolt against plastic is under https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/13/the-plastic-backlash-whats-behind-our-sudden-rage-and-will-it-make-a-difference

 


Why I Have Hope in the Face of Human Extinction

Around the world, people are realizing the current path will lead only to disaster, and they’re beginning to ask the hard questions about what to do next.

https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/why-i-have-hope-in-the-face-of-human-extinction-20181101

 

Trump administration


‘It’s a ghost page’: EPA site’s climate change section may be gone for good

Material that said humans were warming the planet was taken down last year for an ‘update’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/01/epa-website-climate-change-trump-administration

 


Federal judge blocks Keystone XL pipeline, saying Trump administration review ignored ‘inconvenient’ climate change facts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/09/keystone-xl-pipeline-blocked-by-federal-judge-major-blow-trump-administration/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.229ed868ad60

 


New rules and relaxed regulations have touched off a fracking boom in the western United States

The administration is auctioning off millions of acres of drilling rights and rolling back regulations, raising environmental concerns in states like Wyoming.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/climate/trump-fracking-drilling-oil-gas.html

 


Zinke’s own agency watchdog just referred him to the Justice Department

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has come under scrutiny on multiple fronts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/30/zinkes-own-agency-watchdog-just-referred-him-justice-department/?utm_term=.0fcb16a0f21e

 


Amazon rainforest sees more rain

https://physicsworld.com/a/amazon-rainforest-sees-more-rain/

 


Conservationists Worry about Amazon’s Fate after Bolsonaro’s Victory in Brazil

The far-right president-elect has proposed opening the rainforest to trade and

withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservationists-worry-about-amazons-fate-after-bolsonaros-victory-in-brazil/

 


Ethiopia and Norway Thursday signed a grant agreement amounting $21.6 million (180 million Norwegian kroner) to support the east African Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy.

https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/ethiopia-gets-over-21m-grant-from-norway/

 


Climate change: ‘Wetlands vital to protect cities’

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46020176

 


The IEA Comes Up Short on Climate (Again)

http://priceofoil.org/2018/11/12/business-as-usual-iea-climate/

 


Al Gore calls Trump ‘the principal global face of climate denial’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/11/29/al-gore-calls-trump-principal-global-face-climate-denial/?utm_term=.ac88cd3a1933

 


Claws out: crab fishermen sue 30 oil firms over climate change

Fossil fuel companies including Chevron and ExxonMobil ‘knowingly caused harm’ by contributing to warming, group says

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/14/crab-fishermen-sue-oil-firms-exxon-chevron


Five Big Ways the United States Will Need to Adapt to Climate Change

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/climate/adaptation-us-climate-change.html

Bitcoin’s popularity has a downside: It’s an energy glutton

that could hurt Earth’s climate, study finds

The new research finds that bitcoin’s greenhouse gas emissions are already comparable to those of a midsize country. But critics aren’t so sure.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/29/bitcoins-popularity-has-downside-its-an-energy-glutton-that-could-hurt-earths-climate-study-finds/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ddac3243b478

 


Agroforestry saves soil and boosts livelihoods in Tajikistan

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/agroforestry-saves-soil-and-boosts-livelihoods-in-tajikistan/

Whendee Silver’s recent paper


The potential of agricultural land management to contribute to lower global surface temperatures

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/8/eaaq0932

 


The Chicken And The Egg: Stop Linear Farming And Embrace Circular Agriculture

Agronomist Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin wants to transform the food system  from the ground up by introducing poultry-powered, planet-cooling, regenerative agriculture. Ashoka’s Simon Stumpf caught up with Haslett-Marroquin  to hear more about his approach, what his Tree-Range™ system is all about, and what’s on the horizon for the smallholder farmers in his network.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2018/10/23/the-chicken-and-the-egg-stop-linear-farming-and-embrace-circular-agriculture

 


Part of the Answer to Climate Change May Be America’s Trees and Dirt, Scientists Say

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/climate/climate-change-natural-solutions.html

 


Growing the future

High-tech farmers are using LED lights in ways that seem to border on science fiction

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/lifestyle/led-growing/

 


Trump administration to cut air pollution from heavy-duty trucks

EPA to start writing rule requiring new trucks produce less nitrogen oxide, one of its first moves to regulate industry

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/13/epa-new-heavy-duty-truck-pollution-rule-nitrogen-oxide

 


Green New Deal? Bring It! But Don’t Forget Your Union Card.

To be truly transformational, any bold green jobs proposal must be rooted in the right to organize. https://inequality.org/research/green-new-deal-union-rights/

 


Brazil could lose Nepal-size area of rainforest due to policy revision

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/brazil-could-lose-nepal-size-area-of-rainforest-due-to-policy-revision/

 


Oreo maker linked to destruction of orangutan habitat in Indonesia

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/oreo-maker-linked-to-destruction-of-orangutan-habitat-in-indonesia/

 


Palm oil supplier to PepsiCo, Mars, and Hershey resumes deforesting in Indonesia

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/palm-oil-supplier-to-pepsico-mars-and-hershey-resumes-deforesting-in-indonesia/

 


Industry studies show evidence of bias and misleading conclusions on widely used insecticide: Scientists Data just doesn’t add up behind industry conclusions on chlorpyrifos—  a controversial insecticide linked to brain impacts for children

https://www.ehn.org/industry-studies-on-chlorpyrifos-misleading-2619918322.html

 


Shorebird egg theft is becoming a big problem in the Arctic.

And climate change is behind it. The daily rate of eggs stolen from shorebirds’ nests in the Arctic is three times higher than it was 70 years ago.  The trouble, which coincides with warming temperatures, could impact vulnerable populations of stunning birds.

https://www.ehn.org/shorebird-egg-theft-is-becoming-a-big-problem-in-the-arctic-and-climate-change-is-behind-it-2618708808.html

 


Bugs are full of our drugs—and they could be getting other critters hooked, too

Wildlife that feed on bugs near streams are at a higher risk of being dosed with pharmaceuticals  Insects near streams are taking in loads of pharmaceutical drugs and can pass the compounds on to predators higher in the food chain,  such as frogs, birds and bats, according to a new study. “Predators that consume aquatic invertebrates in wastewater-influenced streams may be exposed to about one quarter  and up to one half of a human dose of some pharmaceuticals,” the authors wrote in the study, published today in Nature Communications. Pharmaceuticals are increasingly detected in waterways around the world as prescription drug use increases.  The drugs get into the water via people excreting them or when they’re flushed down the toilet. Wastewater treatment plants were not designed to handle such contamination and previous research shows only about half of drugs are removed by sewer treatments.   https://www.ehn.org/pharmaceuticals-in-streams-and-wildlife-2618088803.html

 


Using Trump Tax Cut for Good: Patagonia Donates $10 Million to the Planet

https://www.ecowatch.com/patagonia-donates-10-million-2621774314.html

 


85% of Tampons Contain Monsanto’s ‘Cancer Causing’ Glyphosate

https://www.ecowatch.com/do-tampons-contain-glyphosate-1882112780.html

 


WMO GREENHOUSE GAS BULLETIN

The State of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere

https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=5455

 


The Mainstream Media Is Lying About the California Fires

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-mainstream-media-is-lying-about-the-california-fires/

 


CALIFORNIA IS ON FIRE. TRUMP’S SOLUTION: RAKES?

America’s largest state is suffering one of its worst climate catastrophes to date, but the president refuses to see the obvious.

https://otherwords.org/california-is-on-fire-trumps-solution-rakes/

 


Minimal Media Attention Helped Sink Crucial Climate Initiatives

https://fair.org/home/minimal-media-attention-helped-sink-crucial-climate-initiatives/

 


Addressing Climate Change Through Degrowth: It May Be Less Contentious Than You Think.

It may seem far-fetched and radical to hope that degrowth could receive widespread public support, but it is impossible to shift society unless we begin putting forth a vision of what alternatives could look like

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/11/30/addressing-climate-change-through-degrowth-it-may-be-less-contentious-you-think

 


Fight Climate Change in Your Own Garden

Your backyard could be the next front in the war against global warming.

https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/fight-climate-change-in-your-own-garden-20181112

 


The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/climate/coal-global-warming.html

 


Tropics hit hardest – Humanity faces simultaneous climate disasters: study

https://www.yahoo.com/news/humanity-faces-simultaneous-climate-disasters-study-203653696.html?platform=hootsuite