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In south-east Detroit, the Environmental Protection Agency says, the air is clean.

Robert Shobe’s lungs tell a different story.

Like a lot of Detroiters, Shobe suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, a long-term lung ailment that flares up when the air is smoggy or smokey. On those days, Shobe said: “I probably am low on energy, and I feel like I’m seeing a haze in the air.”

Traffic, industrial sources and meteorological conditions often worsen pollution in his part of town. One of Shobe’s closest neighbors is the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant, where Jeep Wagoneers roll off the line. Since opening a paint shop on the property just over two years ago, it has racked up eight air pollution violations and fines.

So Shobe was baffled when he heard in May 2023 that Detroit had three years of clean air data, and that according to the EPA, the region met strict federal air-quality standards.

Regulators for Wayne county, where Detroit is located, accomplished that feat by removing two of the highest-ozone days from their calculations. They could do that because they had identified a surprising source of dirty air: wildfires burning across the border, in other states and in Canada.

Using a little-known loophole in the Clean Air Act, the Michigan environment, Great Lakes and energy department had made the case to the EPA that pollution on those days stemmed from an exceptional event, defined as something uncontrollable, unlikely to recur and, often, natural: wildfires.

The “exceptional events rule” allows the EPA to strike pollution caused by these events from the record, allowing regulators to meet clean-air goals on paper, without forcing local industry to comply with tighter pollution controls.

In Michigan, a regulator referred to the process as a “magic wand”.……

Had a tornado warning in portland Oregon yesterday. Now thats a new one.

Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are “dire”, scientists say, and mean some coastal cities may have to be abandoned.

The ice sheet of west Antarctica would push up the oceans by 5 metres if lost completely. Previous studies have suggested it is doomed to collapseover the course of centuries, but the new study shows that even drastic emissions cuts in the coming decades will not slow the melting.

The analysis shows the rate of melting of the floating ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea will be three times faster this century compared with the previous century, even if the world meets the most ambitious Paris agreement target of keeping global heating below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Losing the floating ice shelves means the glacial ice sheets on land are freed to slide more rapidly into the ocean. Many millions of people live in coastal cities that are vulnerable to sea level rise, from New York to Mumbai to Shanghai, and more than a third of the global population lives within 62 miles (100km) of the coast.……

Optimus Prime said:

Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are “dire”, scientists say, and mean some coastal cities may have to be abandoned.

The ice sheet of west Antarctica would push up the oceans by 5 metres if lost completely. Previous studies have suggested it is doomed to collapseover the course of centuries, but the new study shows that even drastic emissions cuts in the coming decades will not slow the melting.

The analysis shows the rate of melting of the floating ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea will be three times faster this century compared with the previous century, even if the world meets the most ambitious Paris agreement target of keeping global heating below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Losing the floating ice shelves means the glacial ice sheets on land are freed to slide more rapidly into the ocean. Many millions of people live in coastal cities that are vulnerable to sea level rise, from New York to Mumbai to Shanghai, and more than a third of the global population lives within 62 miles (100km) of the coast.……

Rapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable, research shows

Sea level will be driven up no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, putting coastal cities in danger

www.theguardian.com

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I read about that today on CNN from the same source material. I'm quoting from it, but it's probably in your source to:

West Antarctica is already the continent’s largest contributor to global sea level rise and has enough ice to raise sea levels by an average of 5.3 meters, or more than 17 feet. It’s home to the Thwaites Glacier, also known as the “Doomsday glacier,” because its collapse could raise sea levels by several feet, forcing coastal communities and low-lying island nations to either build around sea level rise or abandon these places, Naughten said.

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The Thwaites Glacier is likely going to collapse within the next 15 to 20 years, because every time models are updated with new information and discoveries, the predicted time of the collapse moves up by a decade or two. Sea level rising a few feet in a matter of days to weeks is really bad, but the worse part of it is the cascade of problems that it sets off.

• The obvious is localized flooding that forces millions to billions of people to have to evacuate and lose almost everything they have and need to restart a life for themselves somewhere else. Individuals and businesses will not get any help from insurance companies and the global insurance industry will collapse. Most of the evacuees will be trapped in a perpetual state of poverty and diaspora. History has taught us that people trapped in diaspora eventually end up oppressed and treated inhumanely. The US is going to be hit hard and may not survive it politically or economically, unless we start preparing for it right now.
• Millions to billions more people who live above the new coast created by the rise in sea level will not have fresh (salt free) water to drink. Salt water from the sea infiltrates a lot farther inland below ground level, than it does above ground. Ground water and aquifers far in land from the new coastal zones will be tainted with undrinkable salt water and there will be no way to desalinate the water at the scale that will be needed, unless we start preparing now. An area that doesn't have access to fresh water for people is not permanently inhabitable, so people in those areas will have to evacuate as well.
• Most of the world's existing ports will have to be abandoned either from being inundated by the sea level rise or from the area it's located no longer being able to sustain the people needed to work the ports. It's going to lead to a near total collapse of shipping which means food and other vital goods will no longer be available for most of the world, unless we start preparing right now.
• The global diaspora, drinking water shortage, and food shortage is going to cause intense desperation and conflict all across the planet which will turn violent. There will be global economic and political collapse. There will be military conflicts all across the planet operating from an "every person for themself" desperation.

All of that happens within the first 3 months after the Thwaites glacier collapses. It gets even worse after that point. It could actually lead to our eventual extinction, unless we start preparing for it right now. Our collective hubris and denial tells us that it won't happen or that we will invent something at the last minute that will save us. That is what will be our doom. Right now today, we are not doomed. There is a lot we can do to prepare for it and to minimize the inevitable damage and disruption, and to prevent further damage and disruption. Our doom is that we refuse to collectively do something about it while we still have a chance. We are dooming ourselves and one of life's mechanisms of correction is to let destructive things destroy themselves.

Oil and gas production in Texas is spewing out double the rate of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, than in the more regulated state of New Mexico, new satellite data shared with the Guardian shows, prompting calls for tougher curbs of “super-emitter” sites that risk tipping the world into climate breakdown.

Satellite imaging of methane leaks across the Permian basin, a vast geological feature at the heart of the US oil and gas drilling industry, show that sites in Texas have emitted double the amount of the gas than in New Mexico, per unit of production, since 2019.

Methane is a potent planet-heating gas, around 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, and is routinely released via leaks or intentionally vented and burned, in a process called flaring, by fossil fuel companies when drilling for oil and gas. Scientists have warned of a “scary” surge in methane emissions in the past two decades, posing a major threat to efforts to contain dangerous global heating.

The new satellite data, gathered by Kayrros, a French climate technology company, shows that methane is being leaked at a far higher rate from sites in Texas compared with neighboring New Mexico. Despite increasing its own oil production in recent years, New Mexico has no site with repeated methane leaks, unlike in Texas, which Kayrros said is likely due to a 2021 state law aimed at curtailing methane emissions from industry.

“The effect that methane has on the global climate is devastating,” said Antoine Rostand, chief executive of Kayrros. “Good operators will re-inject the gas while others will vent it, which means it’s very easy to eliminate leaks of methane that would have a massive impact upon the climate.”

Rostand said the difference between visible leaks in Texas and New Mexico is “huge” and should spur governments in the US and other countries to crack down on this pollution. “It seems the regulation in New Mexico has had an impact without hurting business,” he said. “It’s a message of hope because it shows that if you have regulation it works. Governments need to take up their responsibilities with this.”…….

Not only did Rishi Sunak spend more time travelling to Cop28 on his private jet than attending the conference itself, he also delivered a speech at the Dubai summit doubling down on the decision to abandon crucial climate policies on heat pumps and energy efficiency, as revealed in his September announcement.

All this while using the diminishing strength of the UK’s green credentials as a shield. These actions lay bare the troubling path the Conservatives have chosen ahead of the next general election.

But across western states, abandoning long-held climate commitments is becoming the norm for rightwing parties.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ Freedom party has secured the most votes in the country’s recent general election and wants to undo the green transition.

In New Zealand, the National party has formed a coalition with the populist NZ First party and ACT, a rightwing party that wants to repealthe Zero Carbon Act.

In Germany, the AfD, the far-right party that is second in national opinion polls, has previously called for an end to all climate action efforts.

In Canada, polls show that the Conservatives, who voted not to recognise the climate crisis as real two years ago, would win the upcoming 2025 election if it were held today.

Previously in the UK, the climate crisis has not been a partisan issue. Despite differences in approaches, the broad political consensus of the last 20 years has been that we need climate action regardless of which party is in power.

Yet progress is slipping, and the Climate Change Committee, an independent body that advises the government on emissions, isn’t confident that the UK will meet its 2030 carbon budget delivery plan target.

Conservatives have failed to deliver on climate policy before. Though David Cameron’s government once declared itself the greenest ever, he later decided to “cut the green crap”.

Theresa May approved a third Heathrow runway and infamously got rid of the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Boris Johnson’s plans for a green industrial revolution were criticisedfor being “nowhere near enough to manage the British government commitment to net zero emissions by 2050”. In her brief stint in No 10, Liz Truss wanted to ban solar power from most of England’s farmland……..

COP28 is a facade. Hosts by the UAE and leads by an oil CEO, Sultan al-Jaber, who claimed that there is “no science” behind the calls to phase out fossil fuels.

Conflict of interest?
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Dozens of US charities, including ones prioritizing climate action, are employing lobbying firms who also work for fossil fuel companies, new data shows.

Pew Charitable Trusts work on environmental issues while sharing a lobbying firm with Chevron. New Venture Fund’s priorities include a “range of conservation, climate, and energy issues”, yet it employed lobbying firms representing oil and gas companies in six states since the beginning of 2022. And Ballmer Giving funds climate and Indigenous rights programs, yet represents a company building fossil fuel infrastructure on tribal land.

The data comes from a new report from F Minus, a lobbying watchdog and database project launched earlier this year.

“These foundations are helping lobbyists to greenwash their image,” said James Browning, executive director of F Minus.

Browning, a former lobbyist for Common Cause, identified 86 US foundations that shared lobbying firms with fossil fuel companies since the start of 2022, 19 of which list environmental issues as major grant-making priorities.

For Pew Charitable Trusts, for instance, a major focus is preserving marine environments from plastic and fossil fuel pollution. It acknowledges that oil and gas production are a threat to ocean health, and in 2020, it released a report with recommendations for reducing plastic pollution

But in 2022 and 2023, Pew employed a Colorado lobbying firm, Politicalworks, that also represents Chevron, which is one of the worlds’s biggest carbon emitters and whose subsidiary Chevron Phillips Chemical Company is one of the world’s top plastic producers. The company has a recordof oil spills, and in August, it joined the state of Louisiana in suing the Biden administration for limiting oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Politicalworks might be Exhibit A in when it comes to American lobbying firms playing both sides of the climate crisis,” the report says.…….

Climate misinformation is rapidly mutating across social media, allowing nefarious actors to skirt restrictions and continue to profit, according to a new report.

With climate-driven disasters now impossible to ignore, outright denials of climate change no longer hold up with most people.

In the murky online realm of climate misinformation, a shift in tactics is in motion.

Researchers analysed thousands of hours of YouTube content from the past six years and found that “old” climate crisis denial – which claims that global heating is not happening and burning fossil fuels is not the cause – is giving way to a new type of misleading content intended to muddy the waters.

The report, by the non-profit research group Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), found that this “New Denial” falls into a few broad groups: that the impacts of global heating are beneficial or harmless; that climate solutions won’t work; and that climate science and the climate movement can’t be trusted.

Climate scientist and author Michael Manndescribes these new misinformation strategies as the “five Ds of inactivism: deflection, delay, division, despair and doomism”.……

Optimus Prime said:

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"Don't Look Up" used an asteroid as a metaphor for climate change, because climatologists told the writer that the best way to explain climate change denial was if there was an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and people either denied it or were more concerned about personal profit than saving the planet from destruction.

The weakening mid atlantic current can be felt in northern Europe

The extreme temperature comes amid a deep freeze that gripped Scandinavian countries in early January 2024. The extent and intensity of the cold snap is displayed in this map of modeled land surface temperatures—a reflection of how hot or cold a surface would feel to the touch—from 4 a.m. local time in Sweden (03:00 Universal Time) on January 3. It was produced by combining satellite observations with temperatures calculated by the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) global model.

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https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152288/extreme-nordic-cold#:~:text=In the northern Swedish village,) on January 3, 2024.

A lawsuit first instituted over 10 years ago, brought by an esteemed climate scientist over alleged defamation by a rightwing blogger and an analyst, goes to trial this week.

The 2012 court case was brought by the University of Pennsylvania earth and environmental scientist Michael Mann, who is alleging that online attacks on his work amount to defamation.

The litigation targets two writers: Rand Simberg, analyst at the rightwing thinktank Competitive Enterprise Institute, who published a piece comparing Mann to a convicted serial child molester, and the National Review blogger Mark Steyn, who in a blogpost favorably quoted Simberg and called Mann’s research “fraudulent”. (Mann originally went after both publishers as well, but in 2021 a court ruled that neither the Competitive Enterprise Institute nor National Review could be held responsible for the attacks.)


The case comes amid concerns that online abuse of climate scientists has increased in recent years while misinformation about the climate crisis is also on the rise.

The attacks on Mann came as part of a wider campaign against him by a network of climate skeptics connected to the fossil fuel billionaire Charles Koch, experts have said.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, which claims to fight “climate alarmism”, has financial ties to the Charles Koch Foundation, while the National Review regularly publishes articles dismissing climate concern science as alarmist and has also accepted Koch-linked funding.

After the renowned scientist co-published the famous “hockey stick” graph in 1998, which showed unprecedented global warming in the last century, a slew of groups in the Koch network also bombarded Mann with freedom of information requests. A Republican congressman, who was backed by a Pac established by Koch, also servedhim with a subpoena………

The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, a study has revealed, which is 20% more than was previously thought.

Some scientists are concerned that this additional source of freshwater pouring into the north Atlantic might mean a collapse of the ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is closer to being triggered, with severe consequences for humanity.

Major ice loss from Greenland as a result of global heating has been recorded for decades. The techniques employed to date, such as measuring the height of the ice sheet or its weight via gravity data, are good at determining the losses that end up in the ocean and drive up sea level.…….

Optimus Prime said:

The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, a study has revealed, which is 20% more than was previously thought.

Some scientists are concerned that this additional source of freshwater pouring into the north Atlantic might mean a collapse of the ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is closer to being triggered, with severe consequences for humanity.

Major ice loss from Greenland as a result of global heating has been recorded for decades. The techniques employed to date, such as measuring the height of the ice sheet or its weight via gravity data, are good at determining the losses that end up in the ocean and drive up sea level.…….

Greenland losing 30m tonnes of ice an hour, study reveals

Total is 20% higher than thought and may have implications for collapse of globally important north Atlantic ocean currents

www.theguardian.com

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Wasn't that the whole premise of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow"?

coldseat said:

Wasn't that the whole premise of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow"?

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yes...But that movie was rather one sided.. Only took the greenland melt in consideration. Add to that the extreme water temperatures along the US coast and you may have part of the reason why new cold records are being set all over scandinavia this winter. No I dont believe we are heading for a new ice age but the extremes are getting worse. This summer we got more rain than ever before in july/august and had new heat records in june. And this winter it is COLD

Dragon said:

yes...But that movie was rather one sided.. Only took the greenland melt in consideration. Add to that the extreme water temperatures along the US coast and you may have part of the reason while new cold records are being set all over scandinavia this winter. No I dont believe we are heading for a new ice age but the extremes are getting worse. This summe we got more rain than ever before in july/august and had new heat records in june. And this winter it is COLD

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Yeah, AMOC weakening or shut down doesn't cause a global ice age, but it does cause major global climate extremes. Like you said, Western Europe gets very cold and frozen for most of the year. Northeast and much of north-central North America does as well. The central and southern Atlantic coast of America gets an extreme rise in hurricane activity as well as sea level rise along most. I can't remember how it affects the Gulf of Mexico and southern North America and South America.

If I remember correctly, the glaciers melting at the end of the last ice age weakened the AMOC which caused the mini ice age in North America and Europe.

Overall, the weakening of the AMOC leaves some of the most heavily populated areas of North America and Europe as very harsh environments for humans to live in and global food production takes a major hit causing a major global food crisis.

A good article about the AMOC

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ould-collapse-as-early-as-2025-study-suggests