07/11/2017

Children Sue Trump Over Climate Change

Washington Examiner - 

Although President Trump has sought to roll back the Clean Power Plan, the move is in the proposed rule stage and has not been been implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency. Until it is a final regulation, courts may not have room to rule on the litigation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Two children sued President Trump and members of his Cabinet on Monday for rolling back federal regulations meant to curb the effects of climate change.
The lawsuit was filed on the behalf of two Pennsylvania children in federal district court by a group called the Clean Air Council in Philadelphia.
“We will not stand idly by while President Trump and his agencies raze crucial environmental protections, ignore climate science, dispute well-documented facts and force future generations of Americans to suffer the consequences of this administration’s reckless choices and ignorant policies,” said Joseph Minott, the Clean Air Council's executive director and counsel.
The lawsuit says the administration's reasons for rolling back the climate rules are baseless and that the court should rule immediately to stop the administration's efforts.
The "rollbacks" of the regulations would "increase the frequency and/or intensity of the life-threatening effects of climate change,” including hurricanes such as Irene and Sandy, according to Minott and the Clean Air Council. One of the two children in the suit says he or she was harmed by Sandy. The other child is affected by asthma.
“We must hold the federal government accountable for the long-term environmental harm that is propagating under its direction," Minott said. "It’s time to fight back.”
The primary climate regulation that Trump is rolling back is the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of former President Barack Obama's climate change agenda.
The lawsuit is similar to another one filed by Our Children's Trust this year representing 21 young people against Trump for "perpetuating climate chaos."
Although the president has sought to roll back the Clean Power Plan, the move is in the proposed rule stage and has not been been implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency. Until it is a final regulation, the federal court may not have room to rule on the litigation.
Nevertheless, the earlier case with Our Children's Trust is scheduled to go to court Feb. 5.
Monday's lawsuit is part a number of actions planned this week to protest the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change deal as U.N. climate negotiations opened in Bonn, Germany on Monday.
Groups of protesters called the U.S. People's Delegation will arrive in Bonn beginning Saturday "to counter the Trump Administration’s fossil fuel agenda and to hold U.S. states, cities, businesses and the public accountable to commitments to climate action."
Groups of states and cities are participating in the COP23 U.N. climate change talks now that the federal government plans to leave the deal.
The talks in Bonn extend from Nov. 5 to Nov. 17.

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Fiji Brings First-Hand Experience With Effects Of Climate Change To UN Summit

Toronto Star - Associated Press)

 Fiji and other Pacific island nations are vulnerable to rising seas that have flooded villages and forced residents to abandon their homes.
Sailosi Ramatu looks over the sea at his old village Vunidogoloa in Fiji. In 2014, the entire village moved inland in what the government described as a pioneering relocation project driven by global warming.  (Eroni Valili / The Associated Press)
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND—Each time the ocean surged through their coastal Fijian village, residents would use rafts to move from house to house. They watched crops die as saltwater contaminated the soil. Finally, in 2014, the entire village of Vunidogoloa moved inland in what the government described as a pioneering relocation project driven by global warming.
Starting Monday, Fiji will preside over a UN climate change summit in Bonn, Germany. Fiji and other Pacific island nations are particularly vulnerable to rising seas and changing weather and want the world to understand their plight. While Fiji doesn’t face an existential threat like some of its Pacific neighbours, it is already battling the effects of climate change.
Sailosi Ramatu, the 57-year-old headman of Vunidogoloa village on Vanua Levu island, said he felt deep sadness the day the 130 villagers had to leave their homes. Most were subsistence fishermen. Some, in their 80s and 90s, had lived there their entire lives.
“I can’t explain those last moments,” Ramatu said. “There were people living in their old houses, crying, alone. They looked back at their homes; they looked back at the village. It was the last time they’d see the village before moving to their new homes.”
Three years later, Ramatu said moving was their only option. He said their new location means they can now grow crops without fearing they will be destroyed. He said the new village has given the children hope and a chance at a future. The headman said the 30-minute walk to the old village and the ocean beyond hasn’t stopped villagers from continuing their tradition of fishing.
Government information officer Nemani Turagaiviu said the old village occasionally flooded throughout its history, but the problem got progressively worse after about the year 2000.
He said the village began flooding once a month on every full moon, and would get swamped in storms. He said the government formed a partnership with locals to build the new village, and that other vulnerable villages in Fiji have been moved since.
“All throughout their lives, people had been born and brought up in the old village, and for some people, the move was very difficult to accept,” Turagaiviu said. “Since then, life has moved on, and they have adapted.”
Ramatu said he now understands the destructive force of climate change. He said he has a simple message for the leaders in Bonn: “We all need help.”
The governments, scientists and industry groups gathering in Germany are trying to hammer out technical rules on monitoring emissions, after the historic Paris climate accord to mitigate global warming came into effect last year.
But the accord was dealt a blow this year when U.S President Donald Trump said he’d withdraw from the agreement. Other countries have pledged to press on regardless.
Fiji’s government says it has recorded sea-level rises larger than the global average, making portions of the nation uninhabitable. It says warmer weather is also increasing the susceptibility of its people to outbreaks of viral diseases.
Fijian authorities also expect storms to become more frequent and powerful as the climate changes. Last year, Cyclone Winston ripped through Fiji with winds of up to 285 km/h, killing 44 people and destroying thousands of homes.
Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who will preside over the Bonn summit, has offered to take in the entire populations of neighbouring Pacific nations Kiribati and Tuvalu if climate change makes those low-lying countries uninhabitable.
In an address to Fiji’s people last week, Bainimarama said he was taking a team of 50 to Bonn and would make sure to stamp the famous Fijian “Bula Spirit” on those attending. Germany says it expects up to 25,000 people at the summit.
Bula is a ubiquitous greeting in Fiji that is often accompanied by a smile. For many, it symbolizes the friendliness of the island nation.
Bainimarama said his team was leaving the Pacific “to embark on the most important mission we have ever undertaken as a nation for the entire world.”

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2017 Is Set To Be Among The Three Hottest Years On Record

The Conversation -  | 

A fireman tackles one of the wildfires that swept through parts of California in October. Jim Urquhart/Reuters
The year isn’t over yet, but we can already be sure that 2017 will be among the hottest years on record for the globe. While the global average surface temperature won’t match what we saw in 2016, it is now very likely that it will be one of the three warmest years on record, according to a statement issued by the World Meteorological Organization.
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What is more remarkable is that this year’s warmth comes without a boost from El Niño. When an El Niño brings warm waters to the tropical east Pacific, we see a transfer of heat from the ocean to the lower atmosphere, which can raise the global average temperatures recorded at the surface by an extra 0.1-0.2℃. But this year’s temperatures have been high even in the absence of this phenomenon.
We can already say with confidence that 2017 will end up being the warmest non-El Niño year on record, and that it will be warmer than any year before 2015. The average global temperature between January to September this year was roughly 1.1℃ warmer than the pre-industrial average.
This trend is associated with increased greenhouse gas concentrations, and this year we have seen record high global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and the biggest recorded surge in CO₂ levels.

A year of extremes
Of course, none of us experiences the global average temperature, so we also care about local extreme weather. This year has already seen plenty of extremes.
Global sea ice extent continues to decline. NASA Earth Observatory
At the poles we’ve seen a continuation of the global trend towards reduced sea ice extent. On February 13, global sea ice extent reached its lowest point on record, amid a record low winter for Arctic ice. Since then the Arctic sea ice extent has become less unusual but it still remains well below the satellite-era average. Antarctic sea ice extent also remains low but is no longer at record low levels as it was in February and March of this year.
East Africa saw continued drought with failure of the long rains, coupled with political instability, leading to food insecurity and population displacement, particularly in Somalia.

Storms and fires
This year also saw a very active North Atlantic hurricane season. Parts of the southern United States and the Caribbean were struck by major hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and are still recovering from the effects.
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Other parts of the globe have seen a quieter year for tropical cyclones.
There have also been several notable wildfire outbreaks around the world this year. In Western Europe, record June heat and very dry conditions gave rise to severe fires in Portugal. This was followed by more severe fires across Spain and Portugal in October.
Parts of California also experienced severe fires following a wet winter, which promoted plant growth, and then a hot dry summer.
Australia is now gearing up for what is forecast to be a worse-than-average fire season after record winter daytime temperatures. A potential La Niña forming in the Pacific and recent rains in eastern Australia may reduce some of the bushfire risk.

The overall message
So what conclusions can we draw from this year’s extreme weather? It’s certainly clear that humans are warming the climate and increasing the chances of some of the extreme weather we’ve seem in 2017. In particular, many of this year’s heatwaves and hot spells have already been linked to human-caused climate change.
For other events the human influence is harder to determine. For example, the human fingerprint on East Africa’s drought is uncertain. It is also hard to say exactly how climate change is influencing tropical cyclones, beyond the fact that their impact is likely to be made worse by rising sea levels.
For much of 2017’s extreme weather, however, we can say that it is an indicator of what’s to come.

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