OMNI
TEMPERATURE, HEAT, CLIMATE CATASTROPHE #2
1-20-20
Compiled by Dick Bennett
FOR A CULTURE of PEACE, JUSTICE, SPECIES, AND THE LAND
The future foretold in 2012 and discussed at the August 2013 OMNI Climate Book Forum was a summary of what was well-known by scientists.
--*Guzman, Overheated. 2012. Summary of what might happen to humans if average temp rises 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. The OMNI Forum August 2013 on Guzman was led by Chad Pollock. [The preceding copied from my annotated climate books bibliography.] That is, we have known basically, i.e., sufficiently, what we know today about the catastrophe of higher temperature at least since 2012, but even then the facts were already well-published. On the crucial cap of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level here’s a tiny sample of the books that reported the facts: Ward (2007, 2010 rev. B. Fitzpatrick), Lynas (2008), Dumanoski (2009, rev. Neath 2012), Monbiot (2009), Dyer (2010), Hertsgaard (2011), Guzman (2012). The members of this Forum have known the truth of the rapidly approaching planetary catastrophe for 13 years, and our leaders could have, should have known also if they had sought the truth. --Dick
Contents of #2: A Sample of Publications Mainly During 2019
Kendrick Frazier. “Hot Month, Hot Year, Hot Planet: Absorbing The Latest Climate News.” Skeptical Inquirer. Nov./Dec.2019.
WMO warns of record heat levels. UN Wire. 12-4-19.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. On the Green New Deal. 11-27-19
Jeffrey St Clair. The Big Heat: Earth on the Brink (Google search). 2019.
UN Wire. 12-20-19.
Nancy Shute. "Why This Warmer World Is Not just a Passing Phase." Science News. August 6, 2019.
Monthly Review. "Why Marx Matters: Capitalism and the Metabolic Rift." 8-15-19.Jordan Davidson. "Human Activity Caused Latest European Heat Wave," EcoWatch , August 5, 2019.
Monthly Review. “Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and The Future of Dangerously Hot Days.” 8-3-19.
Monthly Review. "For a new world." 7-28-19.
The Nation. Consequences of Warming: Creatures, wasps, snakes, Lyme disease, dengue fever, pitch pine beetles. July 2019.
Bill McKibben - 350 Action. On Green New Deal. 2019.
Rhoda Feng. “Outdoor Workers in Every Florida County Endangered by Heat.” Public Citizen News. Nov./Dec. 2018.
Monthly Review. “Burnt Workers Are the Newest Wave of Climate Casualty.” 7-5-19.
Heat Index, What It Is, Note and Google Search. 6-30-19.
TEXTS
Kendrick Frazier. “Hot Month, Hot Year, Hot Planet: Absorbing The Latest Climate News.” Skeptical Inquirer,Volume 43, No. 6
November / December 2019.
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November / December 2019.
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Frazier provides a succinct summation of facts of recent warming and how scientists and journalists are responding 2019.
Part I. The facts, reality. E.g., “current warming is unprecedented over the past 2,000 years.”
Disclosures by the NOAA’s State of the Climate (2019). “All in all, the first seven months of 2019…much-warmer-than-average conditions across much of the world’s land and ocean surfaces.”
Part II. Alaska and Iceland rapid warming, our canary in the coal mine for climate warming.
E.g., “Iceland is preparing for a world without ice.”
III. Three new studies show uniqueness of our unparalleled, unprecedented anthropogenic, simultaneous, global epoch (while discovering degrees and variations of change).
IV. Science journalists have reported the science, refuted the climate naysayers., and analyzed human behavior when confronted by dire facts (fear, evasion).
Frazier is editor of SI and “has reported on climate and weather research for decades when Earth Sciences editor and then editor of Science News.
The same no. of SI includes a rev. of the book Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy against Science Guide, ed. Kaufman and Kaufman. --Dick
Part I. The facts, reality. E.g., “current warming is unprecedented over the past 2,000 years.”
Disclosures by the NOAA’s State of the Climate (2019). “All in all, the first seven months of 2019…much-warmer-than-average conditions across much of the world’s land and ocean surfaces.”
Part II. Alaska and Iceland rapid warming, our canary in the coal mine for climate warming.
E.g., “Iceland is preparing for a world without ice.”
III. Three new studies show uniqueness of our unparalleled, unprecedented anthropogenic, simultaneous, global epoch (while discovering degrees and variations of change).
IV. Science journalists have reported the science, refuted the climate naysayers., and analyzed human behavior when confronted by dire facts (fear, evasion).
Frazier is editor of SI and “has reported on climate and weather research for decades when Earth Sciences editor and then editor of Science News.
The same no. of SI includes a rev. of the book Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy against Science Guide, ed. Kaufman and Kaufman. --Dick
WMO warns of record heat levels. UN Wire(12-4-19).
Temperatures reached record highs in the last decade, hovering around 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period average and approaching levels scientists say would prompt significant, damaging change, the World Meteorological Organization says. The world's oceans have also increased notably in temperature and acidity, the WMO reports.
11-27-19 | Wed, Nov 27, 4:49 PM (17 hours ago) |  | ||
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We’re on the brink, Dick.
The United Nations Environment Programme just issued a shocking warning: if we continue at our current pace, the Earth will warm 3.2 degrees Celsius by 2100. That would render huge parts of the planet uninhabitable, force millions to become climate refugees, endanger vital resources for even more, and lead to catastrophic natural disasters.
78% of ALL emissions come from G20 countries. If we wanted to meet the UN’s requirements, we could. But Trump shredding the Paris Climate Agreement has set us back, and allowed countries like China to brush off emissions. Every year that we don’t take big action makes it harder and harder to catch up in the future.
The eyes of all future generations are upon us. We must meet this crisis with the urgency it demands; the tools to do so are here for us to use, all we need is the courage to act.
In solidarity,
Team AOC
Team AOC
Paid for by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress
And now a full book on temp:
Editorial Reviews. Review. "The toughest book yet on global warming and its perpetrators. ... The Big Heat: Earth on the Brink (Counterpunch) by [St. Clair ... Environmental journalists Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank take you on a sobering ...
Earth on the Brink By Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank Click here for the digital book Click here for paperback & digital book.
Mar 18, 2019 - FEATURING JOSHUA FRANK – The recent Polar Vortex of 2019 was ... He is the co-author with Jeffrey St. Clair of 'The Big Heat: Earth on the ...
Mar 6, 2019 - ... Frank joins the show to discuss his new book, co-authored with Jeffrey St. Clair, The Big Heat: Earth on the Brink. We are living on the frontl.
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The global community is doing "stunningly little" to reduce carbon emissions and a worldwide revolution is needed if there is to be any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees as set out in the Paris climate deal, says United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston. "We will be extremely lucky if we get close to a rise of 2 degrees and the prospects are rising every day that we will be up 3 to 4 degrees," Alston warns. |
Why this warmer world is not just a passing phase
BY NANCY SHUTE. Science News. 5:00AM, AUGUST 6, 2019.
Magazine issue: Vol. 196 No. 3, August 17, 2019, p. 2
In the late 1990s, three scientists published a paper charting the Earth’s temperatures over the last millennium. For the first 900 years, the trend line was the definition of boring: just little blips up and down. That changed around 1900, when the mean global temperature shot up, and kept rising.
That now-famous trend line, dubbed “the hockey stick” because of its sharp upward slope, is so vivid that it has played a key role in two decades of argument over whether the Earth’s atmosphere is warming, and whether those changes are caused by heat-trapping gases generated by human activities.
It’s not hard to pick apart a single study’s data. Critics of the hockey stick pointed to centuries-long temperature shifts such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age to argue that anomalies in the 20th century were also short-term, natural shifts. Critics also noted the patchwork nature of the pre-1900 data, which didn’t rely on direct measurements, and said there was no direct evidence that increased greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels was causing the current temperature rise.
Uncertainty is central to the enterprise of science. It’s a rare day when a single study — or dozens, or hundreds — answers a question without a doubt. And because uncertainty almost always remains, scientists have to explain both quantitatively and qualitatively how uncertain they are. That’s good science. But climate change naysayers used that uncertainty to say, “The scientists aren’t sure.” And it meant that when we journalists reported accurately on the science by noting uncertainty, we gave more ammunition to doubters.
Well, scientists are now sure. In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international consortium convened by the United Nations to evaluate the science of climate, released a report saying there was greater than 95 percent certainty that the substantial warming was due to human activities. And scientists are increasingly linking extreme weather events worldwide, from heat waves to hurricanes, to human-caused climate change (SN: 1/19/19, p. 7).
In this issue, we report on how the city of Boston is regularly flooding due to rising sea levels. Freelancer Mary Caperton Morton explains how policy makers and scientists are racing to develop responses to keep the venerable city functioning as the water moves inland. And earth and climate writer Carolyn Gramling reports on a startling new study that lays to rest the argument that the warming we’re experiencing is just another normal climate shift. This one is clearly different, the data show: Those earlier temperature fluctuations were regional; what’s happening now is worldwide.
Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State who is one of the researchers who developed the hockey stick data chart, said back in 2005 that he thought that people wouldn’t take climate change seriously until they saw it in their own backyards. People in Boston think they’re seeing it, as do people in many other communities around the world who are bracing for more extreme heat, rainfall, drought and storms. Our charge at Science News is to continue to report on the science while chronicling humankind’s responses, for good or ill.
Why Marx matters: capitalism and the Metabolic Rift. Mronline.org (8-15-19)
CO2 was identified as a prime driver of global warming in the 1950s and has been the subject of many international meetings over the past 30 years. Despite increasing calls to reduce carbon emissions, they continue to rise faster and faster.
Jordan Davidson. EcoWatch , August 5, 2019.
The street thermometer in front of the EU Commission headquarters shows a temperature of 46° Celsius (114° F), on July 25 in Brussels, as a new heatwave hits the Belgium capital. Thierry Monasse / Getty Images
The latest heat wave that crippled Paris with 109 degree Fahrenheit heat and saw the mercury hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the Netherlands and Belgium was caused by humans, according to a new study published on Friday, as the Associated Press reported.
“Killer heat in the United States: Climate Choices and The Future of Dangerously Hot Days.” Mronline.org (8-3-19).
Extreme heat is poised to rise steeply in frequency and severity over the coming decades, bringing unprecedented health risks for people and communities across the country.
For a new world. mronline.org (7-28-19)
Basking in record-breaking high temperatures, slowly barbecuing ourselves, Britons may well welcome the benefits of global warming. Don’t fool yourselves. Source ![share on Twitter]()
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Consequences of Warming:Creatures, wasps, snakes, Lyme disease, dengue fever, pitch pine beetles, The Nation, July 29/August 5, 2019, p. 4.
The hottest June in history
Dear Dick,
Dear Dick,
It is very hot. According to the satellites, last month was the hottest June ever recorded. France just saw 115 degrees Fahrenheit; Anchorage, Alaska, which had never topped 85 degrees, hit 90 last week. And it's very wet — Washington, D.C. just suffered 'historic' flooding, and as I write this today it's the French Quarter of New Orleans that's underwater, after the wettest 12 months in American history.
What we have long feared is playing out, faster and more brutally even than most scientists imagined. But politics is hot too. One candidate after another has embraced the Green New Deal.Working alongside many allies, we’ve been pushing for it as hard as we know how — because it’s the first legislation on the same scale as the crisis it tries to solve.
So on we fight, for as long and as hard as we have to. And to do it we need resources — especially for the next few crucial years that will tell the tale in this battle. Please make a gift to 350 Action today.(Note: Gifts to 350 Action are not tax-deductible).
Around the world, we got a wonderful shot in the arm a few weeks ago when our partners and colleagues at 350 Africa announced that plans for a massive Kenyan coal-fired power plant had been beaten, a breakthrough victory for an entire continent.
But we all can fight some of the time — so even if you can't afford a penny, don't worry. Just make sure your calendar is marked for September 20th for the first all-ages climate strike.
With thanks,
Bill McKibben
 The New York Times |
Wednesday, July 3, 2019 |
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Across Europe in June, heat records shattered. In years to come, researchers say, many more heat waves are likely to batter the Continent.
Rhoda Feng. “Outdoor Workers In Every Florida County Endangered by Heat.” Public Citizen News (Nov./Dec. 2018), 7. “…the problem is rapidly getting worse due to global warming.” PC and partners are calling on OSHA to issue heat standards to protect workers.
Burnt workers are the newest wave of climate casualty. Mronline (7-5-19).
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has just released a brief—but very important—report on the impact of heat stress on workers. What the ILO finds is that the areas of the world most threatened by heat deaths of workers are Southern Asia and Western Africa. Source ![share on Twitter]()
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HEAT INDEX
From Bill McKibben, Falter
P. 39 on heat—“heat alone, the most obvious effect of climate change.” Nine of the deadliest heat waves in human history have happened since 2000.” In 2016 temperatures in cities in Pakistan and Iran “peaked at slightly above 129 degrees F.” But it was dry heat. Simultaneously at the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, the high humidity produced a heat indexover 140 degrees F.
What is survivable? When temperatures pass 95 degrees F. and the humidity is above 90%, humans can survive only “for a few hours.” Unfortunately, 1.5 billion people, a fifth of humanity, including Iran, lives in an area of such temperatures, and the planet is warming.
A note on the politics of warming. I am writing this June 22, 2018, when the US is threatening Iran with ruin both by economic and military violence. “In 2015, in the Bandar-e Mahshahr in Iran, the heat index reached 165 degrees, the highest ever witnessed on the planet.” But this evokes no compassion on the part of US leaders and many of the populace, who seek 1% America First domination of the planet through control and use of the fossil fuels that caused the heat, and not the well-being of the human or other species. --Dick
Heat Index Google Search 6-30-19
Noun: a measure indicating the level of discomfort the average person is thought to experience as a result of the combined effects of the temperature and humidity of the air.
Bring Me The News
Baltimore Sun
1 day ago
In order to determine the heat index using the chart above, you need to know the ... the heat index will be 124°F. When the relative humidity is low, the apparent ...
People also ask
How do you calculate the heat index?
What is a dangerous heat index?
How does the heat index work?
May 9, 2018 - Please note: The Heat Index calculation may produce meaningless results for temperatures and dew points outside of the range depicted on ...
The heat index (HI) or humiture is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent ...
END OMNI TEMPERATURE NEWSLETTER #2