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.

 

[zztop]

Justice Department sues Hawaii, Michigan, Vermont and New York over state climate actions

The Justice Department is suing four states over climate action. The office argued in filings Wednesday that a lawsuit out of Hawaii and pending litigation from Michigan against fossil fuel companies for harms caused by climate change would infringe on the federal government’s authority.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Puerto Rico drops climate lawsuit after DoJ sues states to block threats to big oil

Territory’s voluntary move comes as Trump administration makes good on pledge to end lawsuits against oil and gas

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Americans’ health at risk as Trump cuts EPA staff to 1980s levels, experts warn

Advocacy groups say gutting EPA’s scientific research arm would turn it into a purely political agency

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found.

Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Ricaand Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid’s new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World’s Favourite Fruit.

Bananas are the world’s most consumed fruit – and the fourth most important food crop globally, after wheat, rice and maize. About 80% of bananas grown globally are for local consumption, and more than 400 million people rely on the fruit for 15% to 27% of their daily calories.

An estimated 80% of banana exports which supply supermarkets around the world come from Latin America and the Caribbean – one of the most vulnerable regions to extreme weather and slow-onset climate disasters.


And yet the crop is under threat from the human-made climate crisis, and threatens a vital food source and the livelihoods of communities that have contributed virtually nothing to the greenhouse gases driving global heating.

“Climate change has been killing our crops. This means there is no income because we cannot sell anything. What is happening is that my plantation has been dying. So, what has been happening is death,” Aurelia Pop Xo, 53, a banana grower in Guatemala, told Christian Aid researchers.……

Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world’s most popular fruit, research shows

The fourth most important food crop is in peril as the Latin America and the Caribbean suffer from climate disaster

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Climate scientists are slamming plans from Donald Trump’s administration to end limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting a plan to end all limits on greenhouse gases emitted by coal and gas-fired power plants, The New York Times reports.

The agency argues that the greenhouse gasesemitted by these plants “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution,” according to a draft plan reviewed by the newspaper.


However, fossil fuels are the “single largest industrial source of climate destabilizing carbon dioxide in the U.S.,” according to Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. The United States is one of the world’s top greenhouse gas producers —second only to China.…….

Climate scientists sound alarm over EPA plan to end limits on power plant emissions

Lawsuits are expected against ‘reprehensible’ proposal from the EPA, experts say

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Incumbent]

Events like tornados and hurricanes understandably draw a lot more attention, but something I've become a lot more aware of is just how violent and frequent non-tornadic storms have been where I live. A specific area we lived in for several years was hit yet again yesterday, by a pop-up late evening storm. There are people in this neighborhood who have had to replace their roof, and repair other damage, at least twice in the past four years (we had to make a claim for a roof replacement on a house we had just put on the market), and now they are dealing with property damage again. This is a densely developed area so damage totals tend to be extensive in severe weather.

It's starting to feel like any random storm here has the potential now to cause a lot of wind and hail destruction, resulting in insurance claims.

I know states like Florida and Louisiana are already seeing skyrocketing insurance rates but this has me concerned about the future of the entire insurance industry and how that will negatively affect a growing number of people. The federal government gutting services is only going to accelerate this intensifying burden on the working class.

 

[Optimus Prime]

A group of 22 young Americans sued the Trump administration over executive orders the plaintiffs say will promote climate change.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Montana and challenges executive orders 14156, 14154 and 14261, which declare a “National Energy Emergency.” The Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NASA are named as defendants in the suit.

“[President] Trump’s fossil fuel orders are a death sentence for my generation,” plaintiff Eva Lighthiser said.

“I’m not suing because I want to — I’m suing because I have to. My health, my future, and my right to speak the truth are all on the line. He’s waging war on us with fossil fuels as his weapon, and we’re fighting back with the Constitution,” she added.

Lighthiser is joined by youth plaintiffs from Montana, along with others from Hawaii, Oregon, California and Florida.…….

https://thehill.com/policy/5324680-young-americans-sue-trump-climate-actions/

 

[Dragon]

This is beyond stupid — it’s dangerous. But with the way U.S. politics are funded, it’s sadly predictable. Banning reflective roofs that reduce extreme heat and lower energy use just because the “black roof” lobby threw money at lawmakers? It’s a perfect snapshot of how corporate influence trumps public health and common sense in American policy.

Tennessee Rep. Rusty Grills says the lobbyist proposed a simple idea: repeal the state’s requirement for reflective roofs on many commercial buildings.

In late March, Grills and his fellow lawmakers voted to eliminate the rule, scrapping a measure meant to save energy, lower temperatures, and protect Tennesseans from extreme heat. Grills, a Republican, said he introduced the bill to give consumers more choice.

It was another win for a well-organized lobbying campaign led by manufacturers of dark roofing materials.

Industry representatives called the rollback in Tennessee a needed correction as more of the state moved into a hotter climate zone, expanding the reach of the state’s cool-roof rule. Critics called it dangerous and “deceptive.”

“The new law will lead to higher energy costs and greater heat-related illnesses and deaths,” state Rep. Harold Love and the Rev. Jon Robinson wrote in a statement.

https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ctive-roofs-laws-lobbying-urban-heat-islands/

 

[Optimus Prime]

Donald Trump’s administration is set to claim planet-heating pollution spewing from US power plants is so globally insignificant it should be spared any sort of climate regulation.

But, in fact, the volume of these emissions is stark – if the US power sector were a country, it would be the sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reportedly drafted a plan to delete all restrictions on greenhouse gases coming from coal and gas-fired power plants in the US because they “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” and are a tiny and shrinking share of the overall global emissions that are driving the climate crisis.

However, a new analysis shows that the emissions from American fossil-fuel plants are prominent on a global scale, having contributed 5% of all planet-heating pollution since 1990.

If it were a country, the US power sector would be the sixth largest emitter in the world, eclipsing the annual emissions from all sources in Japan, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Canada, among other nations.…….

Trump’s EPA set to claim power-plant emissions ‘not significant’ – but study says otherwise

US power sector would be world’s sixth largest emitter of planet-heating greenhouse gas if it were a country, study finds

www.theguardian.com