Your Weather, Our Weather (1 Viewer)

[Huntn]

Since June we (East Texas) have been running mid 90s to low 100sF (32-40C) with with hear indexes about 110F, lows of 85F (29C) at night. A high pressure dome of heat parked over the Central US bringing no rain (at least to Texas) for several weeks and high temps. Comparing F to C. I prefer the spread of F over C, but consider I grew up with F. A recent trip to Corpus Christi we saw large large fields of immature brown/dead corn.
An alarming report is that the Oceans are turning green (more plant matter growing) due to the rise of temps, sharks are reported as dying. Another report said that El Niño usually causes a reduction of Atlantic hurricane activity, but with oceans heating up, that may change.

I never thought I would be living in such a transitional period for the Earth. We have been warned for 40 years, yet as a species, we just blunder along until we are smacked upside the head.

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Optimus Prime]

Not really “weather” but I guess this can go here
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Amazon, Microsoft and Google are operating datacentres that use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and are building many more, the non-profit investigatory organisation SourceMaterial and the Guardian have found.

With Donald Trump pledging to support them, the three technology giants are planning hundreds of datacentres in the US and across the globe, with a potentially huge impact on populations already living with water scarcity.

“The question of water is going to become crucial,” said Lorena Jaume-Palasí, founder of the Ethical Tech Society. “Resilience from a resource perspective is going to be very difficult for those communities.”


Efforts by Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, to mitigate its water use have sparked opposition from inside the company, SourceMaterial’s investigation found, with one of its own sustainability experts warning that its plans are “not ethical”.

In response to questions from SourceMaterial and the Guardian, spokespeople for Amazon and Google defended their developments, saying they always take water scarcity into account. Microsoftdeclined to provide a comment.

Datacentres, vast warehouses containing networked servers used for the remote storage and processing of data, as well as by information technology companies to train AI models such as ChatGPT, use water for cooling. SourceMaterial’s analysis identified 38 active datacentres owned by the big three tech firms in parts of the world already facing water scarcity, as well as 24 more under development.…….

Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacentres in water-scarce parts of five continents

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

The White House is ending funding for the body that produces the federal government’s pre-eminent climate report, which summarizes the impacts of rising global temperatures on the United States.

Every four years, the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is required by Congress to release a new national climate assessment to ensure leaders understand the drivers of – and threats posed by – global warming. It is the most comprehensive, far-reaching and up-to-date analysis of the climate crisis, playing a key role in local and national decision making about agriculture, energy production, and land and water use.

The next assessment is due by 2027. But now, Nasahas ended its contract with the consulting firm ICF International, which convened the USGCRP and coordinated the federal agencies that contribute to the quadrennial report.

“There’s really no coming back from this, and it means we are all less informed about climate impacts, and won’t have the most up-to-date information on risks and threats,” said one federal staffer who was engaged in USGCRP activities, and who requested anonymity to avoid retribution. “USGCRP helped me to leverage resources from other agencies for use in my own work. But without these networks, I’m left without a support system and the latest science on climate change.”


The end of the contract, first reported by Politico and confirmed by multiple sources to the Guardian, imperils the federal government’s climate research, say experts.

“The firing of USGCRP staff guts the entire climate research and services ecosystem leaving teetering silos of climate teams, already reeling from federal cuts due to Doge,” the anonymous staffer said.

Another federal worker with knowledge of the program, who was also granted anonymity, said the contract’s cancellation will mean “the Sixth National Climate Assessment is effectively destroyed.”………

White House ends funding for key US climate body: ‘No coming back from this’

Nasa cuts contract that convened USGCRP, which released assessments impacting environmental decision-making

www.theguardian.com

 

[longtime lurker]

https://www.milfordmirror.com/business/article/trump-exempts-nearly-70-coal-plants-from-20277901.php

 

[Optimus Prime]

https://www.milfordmirror.com/business/article/trump-exempts-nearly-70-coal-plants-from-20277901.php

In a completely unrelated story towns surrounding coal fired plants saw cancer rates triple over a two year span

 

[Dragon]

Extended heatwave in India, Pakistan to test survivability limits, with temperatures reaching Death Valley levels​

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weat...eratures-reaching-death-valley-levels/1765685

For hundreds of millions of people living in India and Pakistan the early arrival of summer heatwaves has become a terrifying reality that’s testing survivability limits and putting enormous strain on energy supplies, vital crops and livelihoods

Temperatures are expected to climb to dangerous levels in both countries this week.

Parts of Pakistan are likely to experience heat up to 8 degrees Celsius above normal between April 14-18, according to the country’s meteorological department. Maximum temperatures in Balochistan, in country’s southwest, could reach up to 49 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit).

That’s like living in Death Valley – the hottest and driest place in North America – where summer daytime temperatures often climb to similar levels.

Where are all these people going to go when the temperature is above the level of survival? But I guess climate change is just a Hoax according to Trump and his cult members

 

[Ayo]

https://www.milfordmirror.com/business/article/trump-exempts-nearly-70-coal-plants-from-20277901.php

You know, I was just thinking the other day about how much I missed those days fishing on Bayou d'Inde and Contraband Bayou and having to throw some fish back while only eating certain parts of others (handy dandy signs of how to clean them and which parts were safeR to eat than others) because of mercury poisoning.

Kept wondering and hoping those days would come back. And here we are.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal climate disaster agency – and the full-throttle deregulation of fossil fuels and water-guzzling datacentres – could prove catastrophic for America’s endangered rivers, threatening the food, water and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new report.

American Rivers’ annual most-endangered rivers list lays bare a myriad of human-made threats including floods, drought and other extreme weather events driven by the climate crisis, as well as industrial pollution and poor river management – all of which Trump’s regulatory rollbacks will almost inevitably make worse.

In most danger is the great Mississippi, spanning 10 states from the headwaters in Minnesota to its mouth in Louisiana. The 2,320-mile-long snaking river is the primary source of drinking water for more than 50 municipalities.

Longstanding threats to the Mississippi River include chemical runoff that has led to frequent toxic algae outbreaks and hypoxic dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, sea level rise that is hastening wetland loss and saltwater intrusion, as well as intermittent droughts.………

The great Mississippi tops list of most endangered rivers amid fears over Trump rollbacks

Cuts to disaster agency and deregulation of fossil fuels, plus rise of water-guzzling datacentres, highlighted in new report

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[longtime lurker]

Donald Trump’s crusade against offshore wind just got more serious

The Trump administration halted construction of a permitted wind farm.

www.theverge.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said he can “absolutely” assure the public that the various deregulation efforts undergone by the agency will not harm the environment.

Zeldin joined CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where he was asked if he could ensure the deregulation wouldn’t have an adverse impact.

“Absolutely,” he replied. “We have to both protect the environment and grow the economy.”

Zeldin argued that it’s what the American people are demanding out of the Trump administration. He criticized Biden-era regulations that were “targeting entire industries.”

“When the American public went to vote last November, they were talking about economic concerns, about struggling to make ends meet. That includes the cost of being able to heat their home,” he said. “The choice of whether or not to be able to heat their home or fill up their fridge with groceries or afford prescription medication.”

Zeldin’s remarks come about a month after the Trump administration unveiled a list of climate and pollution regulations they were looking to dismantle.

Under the reversed regulations are some of the Biden administration’s most championed measures, including increasing electric vehicles and quickly closing coal mines.

The Trump administration said it was considering rolling back regulations on neurotoxic mercury from power plants and general air pollution limits for soot. It will also reconsider that climate change poses a threat to the public, laying regulatory groundwork for future climate action.

The agency also indicated that it would be closing offices dedicated to fighting pollution in underserved and minority communities.

Zeldin said last month that the deregulation efforts would make it easier for Americans to buy a car and heat their homes.

Environmentalists have sounded the alarm over the administration’s plans, but Zeldin remained confident that the public and environment would not be negatively impacted.……..

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5257850-zeldin-public-epa-deregulations-wont-harm-environment/