Environmental activist and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben was arrested on Thursday after staging a protest at a gas station in Burlington, Vermont to bring attention to Exxon Mobil's decades-long efforts to undermine climate action for the corporation's own gain—a strategy he called "unparalleled evil" in an op-ed for the Guardian on Wednesday.
Bill McKibben staging a protest at a gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Photo credit: 350.org
McKibben blocked a gas pump at Simon's Quick Stop and Deli Mobile station, armed with a sign that read, "This pump temporarily closed because Exxon Mobil lied about climate (#ExxonKnew)" with a link to a Tumblr page explaining his actions.
In recent weeks, two separate investigations by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times revealed that Exxon hid evidence of the role of fossil fuels in climate change from the public and stymied political action on global warming. "They predicted that some Arctic oil fields would become cheaper and more accessible," McKibben told the Burlington Free Press on Thursday.
To explain why he felt compelled to stage his solo protest, McKibben wrote on his Tumblr:
This is not just one more set of sad stories about our climate. In the 28 years I’ve been following the story of global warming, this is the single most outrageous set of new revelations that journalists have uncovered. Given its unique credibility—again, it was the biggest corporation on earth—ExxonMobil could have changed history for the better. Had it sounded the alarm—had it merely said "our internal research shows the world’s scientists are right"—it would have saved a quarter century of wheel-spinning. We might actually have done something as a world before the Arctic melted, before the coral reefs were bleached, before the cycles of drought and flood set fully in.
"I don't want this story to disappear in all this media clutter," McKibben said before his arrest. "We need to let people know what we now know about Exxon Mobil. In a noisy world, this may be what we have to do."
The demonstration drew immediate support from McKibben's fellow activist and writer Naomi Klein, who tweeted, "Exxon has earned hundreds of billions of profits off of decades of lies and deceit. So proud of my friend Bill today:"
Exxon has earned hundreds of billions of profits off of decades of lies and deceit. So proud of my friend Bill today https://t.co/zqtSKDPevz— Naomi Klein (@Naomi Klein)1444941083.0
"Recent reporting has shown Exxon to be the willing and cold-blooded perpetrators of one of the worst corporate crimes in U.S history," 350.org spokesman Karthik Ganapathy told The Huffington Post. "We should be paying more attention to it, collectively."
McKibben's protest came on the heels of a congressional push for a federal inquiry into Exxon to determine if the corporation broke the law by "failing to disclose truthful information" about climate change.
Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-Walnut Creek) on Wednesday wrote a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether Exxon violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as a slew of other laws, including those protecting public health, truth in advertising, and consumer safety.
"If these allegations against Exxon are true, then Exxon's actions were immoral," Lieu and DeSaulnier wrote. "We request the DOJ investigate whether ExxonMobil's actions were also illegal."
"When I read the Times investigation it occurred to me that it is very similar to what the tobacco companies were doing decades ago," Lieu told the Los Angeles Times. "Evidence showed that what they were saying was incorrect and they kept spreading this disinformation campaign."
.@BillMcKibben: 'No Corporation Has Ever Done Anything This Big & This Bad' http://t.co/NUpqWQOZ8J @democracynow http://t.co/vLqV1TkkmI— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)1444838235.0
Federal prosecutors used the RICO Act to charge tobacco companies after they were found to be withholding information about the health impacts and addictiveness of smoking. "Exxon's situation is even worse," said Lieu. "It was taking advantage of the science ... while denying the facts to the public."
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By Lynne Peeples
Editor's note: This story is part of a nine-month investigation of drinking water contamination across the U.S. The series is supported by funding from the Park Foundation and Water Foundation. Read the launch story, "Thirsting for Solutions," here.
In late September 2020, officials in Wrangell, Alaska, warned residents who were elderly, pregnant or had health problems to avoid drinking the city's tap water — unless they could filter it on their own.
<p style="">More than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) away, the people of <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7208933-Scituate-Water-Notification-9-10-2020.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Scituate, Massachusetts</a>, received a letter that same month cautioning about the same group of contaminants in their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a>.</p>
<p>At issue wasn't any of the well-known and widely feared water infiltrators such as <em>E. coli </em>or <a href="https://ensia.com/features/drinking-water-contamination-pfas-health/" target="_blank">per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)</a>. The culprit chemicals tainting taps from <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/2016/05/31/elevated-disinfection-byproducts-taint-cocoa-water/85184636/" target="_blank">Cocoa, Florida</a>, to the <a href="https://auburnpub.com/news/local/several-cayuga-county-water-systems-violate-standard-for-chlorination-byproduct/article_d5568ecc-edd0-55b1-a858-37aaf2b1c82f.html" target="_blank">Finger Lakes of New York</a> to a correctional facility in <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/drinking-water-enforcement-tennessee-98500/" target="_blank">Only, Tennessee</a>, are, in fact, less recognized yet more ubiquitous: disinfection by-products.</p><p>"Take a glass of water. You may or may not have pesticides, pharmaceuticals, PFAS and lead in it. Usually not," says Susan Richardson, a professor of biochemistry at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. "But there's always something that is in your drinking water, and that's disinfection by-products."</p><p>Aptly named, the chemicals form in water when disinfectants that are widely used to kill pathogens in municipal drinking water facilities react with organic compounds. These compounds may be present in the water as a result of natural processes such as the decay of leaves and animal matter, as well as human activities that may release solvents, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and industrial chemicals. Exposure to disinfection by-products through drinking, bathing or <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b00808" target="_blank">swimming</a> has been linked to potential <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213343720302876" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">increased risks</a> of <a href="https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/23264/study-disinfection-byproducts-drinking-water-may-increase-risk-low-birth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">low birthweight babies</a>, birth defects, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29676755/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">miscarriages</a> and <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/EHP4495" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cancer</a>.</p><p>"Disinfection is hugely important. We've got to kill those pathogens," says Richardson. "We had millions of people dying from waterborne illnesses before we started disinfecting water in the 1800s."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1OTg0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjIyNTA3OH0.DKXIFu4fZ0XqVAZV7df25Oy2M3D8In7XWlMAwuQZJbA/img.jpg?width=980" id="a78a8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="83c6c4c4dcac6fa45d912d7316b69bdb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="426" /><p>Cholera and typhoid fever were once deadly and pervasive threats. Still today, when concentrations of disinfectants fall too low, drinking water can become a breeding ground for dangerous pathogens such as <a href="https://ensia.com/features/legionella-pathogens-drinking-water/" target="_blank">Legionella</a>, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12638998/" target="_blank"><em>E. coli</em></a><em>, </em>even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/19/world/cholera-kills-1100-in-peru-and-marches-on-reaching-the-brazilian-border.html" target="_blank">cholera</a>.</p><p>"It's a trade-off between inactivating pathogens that are going to make people sick today versus the long-term, low-level risk of chemicals in the water," says Christy Remucal, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.</p><p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213343720302876" target="_blank">Striking a balance</a> may be even more challenging today as waters become increasingly compromised due to population growth, wastewater intrusion, energy exploration, climate change — and now the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Richardson.</p><p>During the pandemic, many places have increased use of chlorine for disinfection in indoor and outdoor settings and during wastewater treatment, resulting in the potential for higher levels of disinfection by-products. Authors of a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c04394" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> published in October warn that this "upsurge and overuse of chlorine-based disinfectants" may pose a threat to human health "by impacting water quality."</p><p>Concentrations of harmful chemicals have also likely increased in buildings left vacant during Covid-19 shutdowns. The longer that water sits in pipes, explains Richardson, the longer it has to react with disinfectants and form more by-products.</p><p>Still, Gregory Korshin, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, encourages perspective on the issue of disinfection by-products. The answer, he and others say, is not to stop disinfecting water, nor is it for everyone to buy bottled water.</p><p>"There is a dark side of disinfection," adds Korshin. "But this doesn't compromise the notion that drinking water in the U.S. is safe."</p>
Unintended Consequences
<p>Chemists first discovered disinfection by-products in treated drinking water in the 1970s. The trihalomethanes they found, they determined, had resulted from the reaction of chlorine with natural organic matter. Since then, scientists have identified more than 700 additional disinfection by-products. "And those only represent a portion. We still don't know half of them," says Richardson, whose lab has identified hundreds of disinfection by-products. </p><p>Identification of disinfection by-products is incredibly difficult, she explains, because these chemicals are not simply flowing down a river from an industrial site or running off a farm. "They didn't exist before," she adds. "It's a complete unknown — there's no preconceived idea of what these chemicals look like."</p><p>Another research team recently discovered more previously unidentified disinfection by-products. As they described in a January 2020 <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b04926" target="_blank">study</a>, potentially carcinogenic chemicals are formed through the interaction of chlorine and not only organic matter in the environment but also manmade materials that include phenols such as <a href="https://ensia.com/features/what-will-it-take-to-rid-our-store-shelves-of-bpa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bisphenol A (BPA)</a> and other plasticizers, as well as sunscreen agents and antimicrobials.</p><p>"These phenol compounds are incredibly widespread because of their properties," says Carsten Prasse, a coauthor on the study and an assistant professor of environmental health and environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He highlights their use in both plastic pipes and plastic bottles, which frequently carry drinking water.</p>
What’s Regulated and What’s Not?
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently regulates 11 disinfection by-products — including a handful of trihalomethanes (THM) and haloacetic acids (HAA). While these represent only a small fraction of all disinfection by-products, EPA aims to use their presence to indicate the presence of other disinfection by-products. "The general idea is if you control THMs and HAAs, you implicitly or by default control everything else as well," says Korshin.</p><p>EPA also requires drinking water facilities to use techniques to reduce the concentration of organic materials before applying disinfectants, and regulates the quantity of disinfectants that systems use. These rules ultimately can help control levels of disinfection by-products in drinking water.</p><a href="https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/reviewed-disinfection-byproducts.php" target="_blank"><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1OTg1OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzYyNTAwNX0.1IaCMF-b4X9jtCSFsZuQfRvQCO54EqgfRcGulUoMP10/img.jpg?width=980" id="36d2f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e8502b4c0de9cbd99651d4978548af81" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1144" data-height="1036" /></a>
Click the image for an interactive version of this chart on the Environmental Working Group website.
<p>Still, some scientists and advocates argue that current regulations do not go far enough to protect the public. Many question whether the government is regulating the right disinfection by-products, and if water systems are doing enough to reduce disinfection by-products. EPA is now seeking public input as it considers potential revisions to regulations, including the possibility of regulating additional by-products. The agency held a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dwsixyearreview/potential-revisions-microbial-and-disinfection-byproducts-rules" target="_blank">two-day public meeting</a> in October 2020 and plans to hold additional public meetings throughout 2021.</p><p>When EPA set regulations on disinfection by-products between the 1970s and early 2000s, the agency, as well as the scientific community, was primarily focused on by-products of reactions between organics and chlorine — historically the most common drinking water disinfectant. But the science has become increasingly clear that these chlorinated chemicals represent a fraction of the by-product problem.</p><p>For example, bromide or iodide can get caught up in the reaction, too. This is common where seawater penetrates a drinking water source. By itself, bromide is innocuous, says Korshin. "But it is extremely [reactive] with organics," he says. "As bromide levels increase with normal treatment, then concentrations of brominated disinfection by-products will increase quite rapidly."</p><p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15487777/" target="_blank">Emerging</a> <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b05440" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">data</a> indicate that brominated and iodinated by-products are potentially more harmful than the regulated by-products.</p><p>Almost half of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, where saltwater intrusion can be a problem for drinking water supplies. "In the U.S., the rule of thumb is the closer to the sea, the more bromide you have," says Korshin, noting there are also places where bromide naturally leaches out from the soil. Still, some coastal areas tend to be spared. For example, the city of Seattle's water comes from the mountains, never making contact with seawater and tending to pick up minimal organic matter.</p><p>Hazardous disinfection by-products can also be an issue with desalination for drinking water. "As <a href="https://ensia.com/features/can-saltwater-quench-our-growing-thirst/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">desalination</a> practices become more economical, then the issue of controlling bromide becomes quite important," adds Korshin.</p>Other Hot Spots
<p>Coastal areas represent just one type of hot spot for disinfection by-products. Agricultural regions tend to send organic matter — such as fertilizer and animal waste — into waterways. Areas with warmer climates generally have higher levels of natural organic matter. And nearly any urban area can be prone to stormwater runoff or combined sewer overflows, which can contain rainwater as well as untreated human waste, industrial wastewater, hazardous materials and organic debris. These events are especially common along the East Coast, notes Sydney Evans, a science analyst with the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG, a collaborator on <a href="https://ensia.com/ensia-collections/troubled-waters/" target="_blank">this reporting project</a>).</p><p>The only drinking water sources that might be altogether free of disinfection by-products, suggests Richardson, are private wells that are not treated with disinfectants. She used to drink water from her own well. "It was always cold, coming from great depth through clay and granite," she says. "It was fabulous."</p><p>Today, Richardson gets her water from a city system that uses chloramine.</p>Toxic Treadmill
<p>Most community water systems in the U.S. use chlorine for disinfection in their treatment plant. Because disinfectants are needed to prevent bacteria growth as the water travels to the homes at the ends of the distribution lines, sometimes a second round of disinfection is also added in the pipes.</p><p>Here, systems usually opt for either chlorine or chloramine. "Chloramination is more long-lasting and does not form as many disinfection by-products through the system," says Steve Via, director of federal relations at the American Water Works Association. "Some studies show that chloramination may be more protective against organisms that inhabit biofilms such as Legionella."</p><p>If a drinking water facility fails to meet EPA regulations for disinfection by-products, one relatively easy and cheap modification is to add ammonia to the existing treatment, turning chlorine to chloramine. Many large community water systems in the U.S. now use chloramine. By doing so, according to Richardson, they have dropped levels of regulated disinfection by-products by up to as much as 90%.</p><p>However, there is one major drawback to this shift: the creation of potentially more harmful by-products. "It might push down on regulated disinfection by-products, but then other things pop up that are even more toxic," says Richardson, whose research team discovered previously unknown disinfection by-products in chloraminated drinking water. One of those finds, <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es304786b" target="_blank">iodoacetic acid</a>, is the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30919613/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">most DNA-damaging disinfection by-product</a> known to date.</p><p>Prasse underscored the concern: "From a regulatory perspective, we could say we're fine. But it's a false sense of security."</p><p>Rather than continuing on the toxic treadmill of replacing one potentially toxic chemical for another, a more effective solution may be to focus upstream in the treatment process — such as keeping organics out of the system in the first place. "That requires engineers, chemists, toxicologists and regulators to come together and figure something out," says Prasse.</p>
Alternative Approaches
<p>When he moved to the U.S. from Germany, Prasse says he immediately noticed the bad taste of the water. "You can taste the chlorine here. That's not the case in Germany," he says.</p><p>In his home country, water systems use chlorine — if at all — at lower concentrations and at the very end of treatment. In the Netherlands, <a href="https://dwes.copernicus.org/articles/2/1/2009/dwes-2-1-2009.pdf" target="_blank">chlorine isn't used at all</a> as the risks are considered to outweigh the benefits, says Prasse. He notes the challenge in making a convincing connection between exposure to low concentrations of disinfection by-products and health effects, such as cancer, that can occur decades later. In contrast, exposure to a pathogen can make someone sick very quickly.</p><p>But many countries in Europe have not waited for proof and have taken a precautionary approach to reduce potential risk. The emphasis there is on alternative approaches for primary disinfection such as ozone or <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/eco-friendly-way-disinfect-water-using-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ultraviolet light</a>. Reverse osmosis is among the "high-end" options, used to remove organic and inorganics from the water. While expensive, says Prasse, the method of forcing water through a semipermeable membrane is growing in popularity for systems that want to reuse wastewater for drinking water purposes.</p><p>Remucal notes that some treatment technologies may be good at removing a particular type of contaminant while being ineffective at removing another. "We need to think about the whole soup when we think about treatment," she says. What's more, Remucal explains, the mixture of contaminants may impact the body differently than any one chemical on its own. </p><p>Richardson's preferred treatment method is filtering the water with granulated activated carbon, followed by a low dose of chlorine.</p><p>Granulated activated carbon is essentially the same stuff that's in a household filter. (EWG recommends that consumers use a <a href="https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/reviewed-disinfection-byproducts.php#:~:text=EWG%20recommends%20using%20a%20home,as%20trihalomethanes%20and%20haloacetic%20acids." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">countertop carbon filter</a> to reduce levels of disinfection by-products.) While such a filter "would remove disinfection by-products after they're formed, in the plant they remove precursors before they form by-products," explains Richardson. She coauthored a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b00023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2019 paper</a> that concluded the treatment method is effective in reducing a wide range of regulated and unregulated disinfection by-products.</p><br><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1OTg2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjI3OTk2NX0.XuxufjUTyOygRCpgnG2jXqOIy4isl7Vz1QlnMmKSyHM/img.jpg?width=980" id="003a3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0da178217c0a9dd4c3c880e1c05a86f9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1144" data-height="312" />
Greater Cincinnati Water Works installed a granulated activated carbon system in 1992, and is still one of relatively few full-scale plants that uses the technology. Courtesy of Greater Cincinnati Water Works.
<p>Despite the technology and its benefits being known for decades, relatively few full-scale plants use granulated active carbon. They often cite its high cost, Richardson says. "They say that, but the city of Cincinnati [Ohio] has not gone bankrupt using it," she says. "So, I'm not buying that argument anymore."</p><p>Greater Cincinnati Water Works installed a granulated activated carbon system in 1992. On a video call in December, Jeff Swertfeger, the superintendent of Greater Cincinnati Water Works, poured grains of what looks like black sand out of a glass tube and into his hand. It was actually crushed coal that has been baked in a furnace. Under a microscope, each grain looks like a sponge, said Swertfeger. When water passes over the carbon grains, he explained, open tunnels and pores provide extensive surface area to absorb contaminants.</p><p>While the granulated activated carbon initially was installed to address chemical spills and other industrial contamination concerns in the Ohio River, Cincinnati's main drinking water source, Swertfeger notes that the substance has turned out to "remove a lot of other stuff, too," including <a href="https://ensia.com/features/drinking-water-contamination-pfas-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PFAS</a> and disinfection by-product precursors.</p><p>"We use about one-third the amount of chlorine as we did before. It smells and tastes a lot better," he says. "The use of granulated activated carbon has resulted in lower disinfection by-products across the board."</p><p>Richardson is optimistic about being able to reduce risks from disinfection by-products in the future. "If we're smart, we can still kill those pathogens and lower our chemical disinfection by-product exposure at the same time," she says.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://ensia.com/features/drinking-water-disinfection-byproducts-pathogens/" target="_blank">Ensia</a>. </em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2649953730#/" target="_self"></a></p>
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Eat Just's cell-based chicken nugget is now served at Singapore restaurant 1880. Eat Just, Inc.
At a time of impending global food scarcity, cell-based meats and seafood have been heralded as the future of food.
<p>This cell-based industry is where scientists, environmentalists and food technology companies intersect to offer more sustainable ways to feed the world's growing population. The high-tech food innovations take "the animal out of the meat" and create "seafood without the sea," respectively coined by <a href="https://newatlas.com/lab-grown-meat-public-attitudes/48921/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body" target="_blank">New Atlas</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/05/05/720041152/seafood-without-the-sea-will-lab-grown-fish-hook-consumers" target="_blank">NPR</a>. These products — real meat and seafood — are originally cultured from animal cells but made without the actual animal. Because of this, many of the personal and global concerns about safety, ethics and the environment can be avoided without sacrificing food preferences.</p><p>Two leading industry examples are Eat Just and BlueNalu. Last month, Singapore issued San Francisco-based Eat Just the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/lab-grown-chicken-approved-singapore-2649108790.html" target="_self">world's first regulatory approval for cell-based meat</a>. The "chicken nuggets" are now available at downtown Singapore restaurant 1880. Meanwhile, San Diego's BlueNalu has pioneered "cellular aquaculture" to create cell-based seafood fillets from fish, including yellowtail, mahi-mahi, red snapper and tuna. In mid-2020, the company increased its research and development facilities six-fold after completing a $20 million funding round, <a href="https://thefishsite.com/articles/blue-nalu-set-for-6-fold-expansion" target="_blank">The Fish Site</a> reported. These two companies are pushing the industry to the next level with key regulatory developments and new innovations.</p><h3>The Science Behind Cell-Based</h3><p>In a nutshell, this is how cell-based food works: muscle stem cells are obtained from an actual animal, like chicken or fish, and cultivated in steel tanks with the same nutrients that living animals consume. The goal is not to grow a full animal, so the end result doesn't include the head, tail or heart, for example, while the original cell donor isn't sacrificed. The harvested cells multiply and are shaped to form meat or fish that cooks, looks and tastes just like its real counterpart.</p><p>"The process is somewhat like culturing a beer. At the end of the process, you have chicken meat," Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2021-01-11/would-you-eat-lab-grown-meat-video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>.</p><p>BlueNalu's President and CEO Lou Cooperhouse agreed, telling EcoWatch, "We aren't making a living being, it's just a fish fillet. It's live tissue until we freeze it. Then it's no longer live; it's the product you might have and consume every day."</p>
<h3>The Taste</h3><p>But how does it really taste? Identical to what consumers are used to, both companies told EcoWatch.</p><p>Cooperhouse described how his company mimics the "mouth feel" of conventional fish by recreating the same proportions of muscle, fat and connective tissue in their cell-based fillets. The company uses starter cells to grow all three types of tissue and then combines them to create the same exact product that consumers are used to eating.</p><p>"We're creating identical mahi-mahi to conventional mahi-mahi, from a sensory perspective and a functional perspective," Cooperhouse told EcoWatch. "When you cook it, it smells like fish. You can fry it, bake it, saute it. It caramelizes. It has all the same characteristics as fish, because it is fish. We just made it out of the body. We made it in steel tanks."</p><p>Andrew Noyes, head of global communications for Eat Just, similarly said that their chicken product "cooks, looks and tastes like chicken," including the flavor profile and texture, "because it is chicken."</p>
<h3>The Many Advantages of Cultured Foods</h3><p>Both companies emphasized how cell-based foods don't require killing animals or adding growth hormones or antibiotics. Cell-based food also removes the environmental impact of industrial farming and commercial fishing. This "critical overlay of benefits at every level" creates a new solution for global supply chains that supports biodiversity and the planet's health, Cooperhouse said.</p><p>"We want consumers to know our fillets are different in these ways," Cooperhouse added. "They're not wild, not farmed." On a <a href="https://medium.com/eat-blue/not-wild-not-farmed-but-what-should-we-call-our-seafood-made-from-fish-cells-136fa0343b4d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">company blog</a>, Cooperhouse said that BlueNalu's products are a third alternative way to enjoy fish that is "as delicious and nutritious as their wild-caught or farm-raised counterparts... but without the mercury, microplastics or other pollutants that might be associated with conventional seafood."</p><p>Tetrick also emphasized the safety advantage of cultured meat over conventional. "This way of making meat radically decreases the probability of zoonotic diseases through our food system," he told Bloomberg, because it avoided pathogens like E. coli and salmonella, as well as sanitization concerns.</p><p>The environmental benefits of cell-cultured meat also mean less environmental destruction. Conventional <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat-consumption" target="_self">meat production</a> requires massive amounts of land for grazing and food production. Just growing feed for livestock <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/meat-consumption-2021-2649770271.html">uses 71 percent of global arable land</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-rainforest-collapse-2649776959.html#:~:text=The%20future%20of%20the%20world's,dry%2C%20shrubby%20plain%20by%202064." target="_self">drives Amazonian deforestation</a>.</p>
<p>"Chicken is the world's most consumed (and fastest growing) meat," Noyes told EcoWatch. "Chickens also consume more feed collectively than other farmed animals. Today, more than one-third of the ice-free land on Earth and tens of millions of acres of rainforest teeming with our planet's most diverse life forms have been replaced with fields of chicken feed."</p><p>According to the <a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I9540EN" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations</a>, 60 percent of the world's fisheries are fully fished, or at maximum output capacity, and 33 percent are overfished. Additionally, in the last half-century, oceanic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dead-zones" target="_self">dead zones</a> have quadrupled due to fishing and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, reported <a href="https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/lab-grown-fish?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Big Think</a>. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fish-farms" target="_self">Fish farming</a>, once thought to be a solution to declining wild fish populations, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/industrial-agriculture-problems-boycott-2554509022.html" target="_self">brings its own issues</a>, including the loss of critical mangrove habitat and the proliferation of sea lice and other diseases from farms, which escape and kill wild fish, <a href="https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-basics/sustainable-solutions/preserve-habitats#:~:text=The%20exponential%20growth%20of%20aquaculture,the%20local%20people%20and%20ecosystems." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Seafood Watch</a> reported.</p><p>Cell-based seafood won't put pressure on these depleted stocks and fragile habitats and will also avoid bycatch, a serious threat to biodiversity when unintentionally fished creatures are injured or killed.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/beef-and-climate-change-2634244134.html" target="_blank">Meat production</a> is also energy-intensive and generates vast amounts of methane and other greenhouse gases. Cell-based foods are more carbon efficient and climate-friendly than conventional meat and seafood because of production efficiency and a localized distribution plan.</p><p>"If you look at climate change, this way of making meat is 90 percent more carbon-efficient than the typical approach," Tetrick told Bloomberg.</p><p>BlueNalu is preparing to scale for global cities to house 150,000-square-foot facilities, each capable of producing enough cell-based seafood to feed more than 10 million local residents, NPR reported. This way, cell-based seafood will avoid greenhouse gas emissions caused by shipping.</p>
<p>Finally, waste is reduced because these companies are only growing the animal parts to be consumed. Traditionally, cattle are inefficient, requiring five to 20 pounds of plant-based feed to create one pound of conventional beef, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/beyond-the-impossible-meat-grown-from-cells-better-for-planet-if-you-will-eat-it/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNet</a> reported. <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lab-grown-meat/" target="_blank">Scientific American</a> estimated that one tissue sample from a cow could yield enough muscle tissue to make 80,000 quarter-pounders.<br></p><p>Cooperhouse estimated that a typical fish would produce a 60 percent yield after cutting off the head and tail and removing the skin and bones, whereas his fillets yield 100 percent.</p><p>"It's a total paradigm shift from an environmental and sustainability perspective," he told EcoWatch. "All that freight, oil, labor, dry ice, foam coolers — all goes away."</p><p>The consistency of quality, readily available products has also garnered interest from foodservice operators, Cooperhouse said. Having a stable supply available year-round will help restaurants combat the variability they currently experience.</p>
<h3>Challenges</h3><p>The big question is whether or not the general public will eat the products, once available.</p><p>"If there's an ick factor to cell-based fish, remember that most processed foods are already created in laboratories," argued Big Think. "There are no Oreo trees or ketchup plants to harvest."</p><p>A University of Queensland survey found that a majority of respondents would try the products, but less would eat them regularly or see them as conventional meat replacements, <a href="https://newatlas.com/lab-grown-meat-public-attitudes/48921/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New Atlas</a> reported. Respondents reported that taste would be a driving factor in favor of cell-based foods.</p><p>Cost is the other issue. For Eat Just, their products are competitively priced with premium chicken, although they foresee a pathway for a cheaper price within the next five years, Tetrick told Bloomberg. BlueNalu doesn't yet have a price point for their inaugural mahi-mahi fillet, but are aggressively partnering with known brands and distributors to lower costs.</p><h3>What's Next</h3><p>Singapore's approval of Eat Just's nugget is paving the way for other companies and nations to follow suit, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/02/no-kill-lab-grown-meat-to-go-on-sale-for-first-time" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. Both Eat Just and BlueNalu are actively engaging regulators in the U.S. and other countries to bring their products online as quickly and safely as possible. Since the products are not genetically modified, "the approval will be about whether this is safe, clean, and are the manufacturing processes reliable and accountable," Cooperhouse told NPR.</p><p>While not a substitute for all conventional food, if cell-based meats and seafood are scaled up and accepted, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/meat-consumption-predictions-vegan-lab-2638801931.html" target="_self">many hope to feed the world's anticipated 9.5 billion people</a> without stripping the planet bare and ruining the climate.</p><p>"The simplest way to think about it is it allows all of us to consume meat, the good part, the nutritional composition, the taste, and do away with the bad part, which is the killing, the environmental deforestation, the acceleration of zoonotic disease, and we can still have a fried chicken," Tetrick told Bloomberg.</p>
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New Zealand sea lions are an endangered species and one of the rarest species of sea lions in the world. Art Wolfe / Photodisc / Getty Images
One city in New Zealand knows what its priorities are.
Dunedin, the second largest city on New Zealand's South Island, has closed a popular road to protect a mother sea lion and her pup, The Guardian reported.
<p>"We've closed John Wilson Ocean Drive to vehicles for the next month to allow some special residents to use the road safely - a New Zealand sea lion and her pup have taken up residence at the golf course next door and are regularly crossing the road to get to the beach," the Dunedin City Council wrote in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DunedinCityCouncil/posts/3687384977973820" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook Post Monday</a>.</p>
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<p>The council said that residents could still walk or ride bikes in the area, but should stay at least 20 meters (approximately 66 feet) away from the sea lions at all times and keep any dogs on a leash.</p><p>The mother sea lion, named Hiriwa, was first spotted on the Chisholm Links golf course about a week ago and is now nesting with her pup in a bush near the 13th hole, <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/434504/sea-lion-makes-itself-at-home-on-dunedin-golf-course" target="_blank">Radio New Zealand reported</a>.</p>
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<p>This is her fifth pup, Department of Conservation (DOC) coastal Otago <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> ranger Jim Fyfe said.<br></p><p>"She has come up John Wilson Drive and into the golf course to have her pup in some bushes there," he told Radio New Zealand.</p><p>Fyfe also told the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dunedin-road-temporarily-closed-for-sea-lion-and-pup/XMOZAJTUISN7OCIRS6H7OSGPHY/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New Zealand Herald</a> that the pup was born Thursday, Jan. 7 and immediately made its presence known by making lots of noise.</p><p>The mother and pup will now spend about a month nesting before heading out to sea, Fyfe explained. During that time, the mother will need to walk 500 meters (approximately 1,640 feet) to the beach each day to feed. On these journeys, she will think to avoid male sea lions, but she won't be thinking about cars, people or dogs. That is why the road closure is so important, Fyfe explained.</p>
<p>Local residents have responded favorably to the council's decision, The Guardian reported.</p><p>"Awesome! Love our little country in this way," one commenter wrote on Facebook.</p><p>The golf course has also welcomed its new residents.</p><p>"We're lucky to have marine mammals on our coastline and we need to share the space with them, as this is what makes our coastal Links and Dunedin's coastline so unique!" it wrote in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ChisholmLinks/posts/3417932631666520" target="_blank">Jan. 5 Facebook post</a>.</p>
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<p>New Zealand sea lions are an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> and one of the rarest species of sea lions in the world, the city council noted. There are around 12,000 left in the world, according to DOC figures reported by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/new-zealand-sea-lions-road-closure-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. Killing one can bring a penalty of up to two years in prison or a fine of up to $178,000.</p><p>Dunedin's 120,000 residents are used to road closures to protect <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>, but usually these closures last for a day rather than a month, The Guardian explained. The city is also used to welcoming breeding sea lions since 1993, and their numbers in the city have increased since <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> efforts intensified.</p><p>Despite this, the overall breeding population of New Zealand sea lions is still falling. The main threats to the species are fishing, disease, human activity and lack of food.</p><p>Still, this is shaping up to be a good year for sea lions in Dunedin.</p><p>"This year we expect 20 sea lions around Dunedin to give birth. This is going to be a record number for us," Fyfe told Radio New Zealand. "New Zealand sea lions are a threatened species that is just recovering on the mainland coastline, so it's really good news."</p>
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In an alarming new study, scientists found that climate change is already harming children's diets.
<p>It has long been understood that climate change will impact diet and food security globally. But up until now, little research proved how diet diversity is impacted by climate change outcomes, like warmer temperatures and increased precipitation, over a span of geographical areas.</p><p>Led by researchers at the University of Vermont, the study surveyed the diets of more than 107,00 children under the age of five, across 19 countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, with 30 years of precipitation and temperature data, according to the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abd0ab" target="_blank">study</a>.</p>
<p>Higher, long-term temperatures were associated with decreased diet diversity among children. "It surprised us that higher temperatures are already showing an impact," Meredith Niles, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont, said in an <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/gund/news/climate-change-hurting-childrens-diets-global-study-finds-0" target="_blank">article</a>.</p><p>In 2019, over 144 million children under the age of five were malnourished, <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/malnutrition/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%2021.3%20per%20cent,5%20worldwide%20had%20stunted%20growth.&text=Between%202000%20and%202019%2C%20stunting,199.5%20million%20to%20144.0%20million." target="_blank">according to data by the UNICEF</a>. This number could have grown by an additional 6.7 million in 2020 alone, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-additional-67-million-children-under-5-could-suffer-wasting-year-due-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report published in July</a>.</p>
<p>In the study, researchers used a scale developed by the United Nations to understand intakes of micronutrients like iron, folic acid, zinc and vitamins A and D.</p><p>On average children ate 3.2 out of 10 food groups. But in "emerging economies" like in China, children ate 6.8 out of 10 food groups, more than doubling the overall average, according to the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/gund/news/climate-change-hurting-childrens-diets-global-study-finds-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Vermont</a>. Household wealth, consequently, was the biggest factor in children's diet diversity, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/global-climate-food/scientists-warn-climate-change-is-harming-childrens-diets-idUSL8N2JO4P4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"These results suggest that, if we don't adapt, climate change could further erode a diet that already isn't meeting adequate child micronutrient levels," Brendan Fisher from UVM's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/gund/news/climate-change-hurting-childrens-diets-global-study-finds-0" target="_blank">said</a> about children's diets in developing countries.</p>
<p>Although the study proved what researchers had long expected regarding warming temperatures, they did find surprising results on how precipitation alters diet diversity.</p><p>Higher precipitation, linked to countries in West and Southeast Africa and Central America, was associated with higher diversity in children's diet, the University of Vermont <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/gund/news/climate-change-hurting-childrens-diets-global-study-finds-0" target="_blank">reported</a>.</p><p>"Higher rainfall in the future may provide important diet quality benefits in multiple ways, but it also depends on how that rain comes," Molly Brown, a co-author of the study <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/gund/news/climate-change-hurting-childrens-diets-global-study-finds-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>. "If it's more erratic and intense, as is predicted with climate change, this may not hold true."</p><p>Changes in the agriculture and the food industry can also be linked to worsening diets, Paolo Vineis of Imperial College London, who studies the effects of climate change on the disease, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/global-climate-food/scientists-warn-climate-change-is-harming-childrens-diets-idUSL8N2JO4P4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told Reuters</a>.</p><p>By 2050, global demand for food may increase by 59 to 98 percent from a larger population. Although this will require major agricultural and food industries to rapidly expand their production, droughts and higher temperatures will threaten their ability to do so, <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/07/25/climate-change-food-agriculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Columbia University's Earth Institute reported</a>.</p>
<p>In the United States alone, for example, the production of corn, which is used to feed livestock, could decrease by 50 percent if the planet warms by four degrees Celsius, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/26/6644" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a study found</a>, a likely temperature increase predicted for 2100.</p><p>So what kind of solutions can help?</p><p>Educating investors on the financial risks and potential opportunities of the climate crisis could help the food industry adapt to the climate impacts already being felt, Columbia University's Earth Institute <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/07/25/climate-change-food-agriculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a></p><p>"Food security is going to be one of the most pressing climate-related issues, mainly because most of the world is relatively poor and food is going to become increasingly scarce and expensive," Peter De Menocal, founding director of Columbia's Center for Climate and Life, <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/07/25/climate-change-food-agriculture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told Columbia's Earth Institute</a>.</p><p>As for improving diets globally, researchers at the University of Vermont <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abd0ab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stress</a> the need for more research aimed at protecting children's nutrition especially for "vulnerable populations in low and middle-income countries across the tropics where the most profound climate changes are expected."</p>
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Wildfires within the Arctic Circle in Alaska on June 4, 2020. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data processed by Pierre Markuse. CC BY 2.0
By Jeff Masters, Ph.D.
Earth had its second-warmest year on record in 2020, just 0.02 degrees Celsius (0.04°F) behind the record set in 2016, and 0.98 degrees Celsius (1.76°F) above the 20th-century average, NOAA reported January 14.
<p><a href="https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v4/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NASA</a> and the <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-global-november-temperatures-reached-record-high-while-europe-experienced-its-warmest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European Copernicus Climate Change Service</a> rated 2020 as tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record (NASA rates the margin of error at .05 degrees C); the <a href="https://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/temp/nov_wld.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Japan Meteorological Agency</a> rated 2020 as the warmest year on record. Minor differences in rankings often occur among various research groups, the result of different ways they handle data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.</p>
<p>Global ocean temperatures in 2020 were the third-warmest on record, global land temperatures the warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures in 2020 for the lowest eight kilometers of the atmosphere were the second-warmest or warmest in the 42-year record, according to the University of Alabama, Huntsville and Remote Sensing Solutions, respectively.</p><p>The Northern Hemisphere had its warmest year on record in 2020 and the Southern Hemisphere its fifth-warmest. By continent, here are the 2020 temperature rankings:</p><p>Europe: first warmest<br>Asia: first warmest<br>South America: second warmest<br>Africa: fourth warmest<br>Australia (and Oceania): fourth warmest<br>North America: 10th warmest</p><p>As detailed in a January 12 post at <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/01/hurricanes-wildfires-and-heat-dominated-u-s-weather-in-2020/" target="_blank">this site</a> by Bob Henson, 2020 for the U.S. was the fifth-warmest year in history going back to 1895. Ten states had their second-warmest year on record and four had their third-warmest year. None of the contiguous 48 states was below-average in temperature in 2020.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1OTQ5OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzIwNDk3M30.go-eShbJt_FePHwnZhlSFiknsgGrSy-EsznNYrynmio/img.png?width=980" id="b8e38" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a4933e877b2e372b62762614d4ee7d9b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="974" data-height="717" />
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for 2020, the second-warmest year the globe has seen since record-keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA. Record-high annual temperatures over land and ocean surfaces were measured across parts of Europe, Asia, southern North America, South America, and across parts of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. No land or ocean areas were record cold for the year. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
<p>The remarkable global warmth of 2020 means that the seven warmest years on record since 1880 were the most recent seven years — 2014 through 2020. The near-record global warmth in 2020 is all the more striking since it occurred during the minimum of the weakest solar cycle in more than 100 years and during a year without a strong El Niño. Record-warm global temperatures typically occur during strong El Niño events and when the solar cycle is near its maximum. The warmth of 2020 is a testament to how significantly human-caused global warming is heating the planet.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1OTUwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDkwMTY0M30.G7_nUNl5YT4mDUvTPkRi1wiNcE7RYgJYwuK6dhYJles/img.jpg?width=980" id="6744d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f4a37c32117691ae2b858335bfc11d3a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="974" data-height="496" />
Figure 2. Total ocean heat content (OHC) in the top 2000 meters from 1958-2020. Cheng et al., Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
<h4>Warmest Year on Record for Total Ocean Heat Content</h4><p>Despite the presence of a prominent La Niña event that began in August, the total heat content of the world's oceans in 2020 was the warmest in recorded human history, according to a January 13, 2021 paper by Cheng <em>et al.</em>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00376-021-0447-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020</a>, published in <em>Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</em>. In the uppermost 2,000 meters of the oceans, there were 211 to 234 zettajoules more heat in 2020 than the 1981-2010 average, and 2020 had 1 to 20 zettajoules more ocean heat content than in 2019 (a zettajoule is one sextillion joules — ten to the 21st power). For comparison, in 2010, humans <a href="https://twitter.com/johncarlosbaez/status/1216783686957297672?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">used</a> a total of 0.5 zettajoules of energy.</p><p>More than 90% of the increasing heat from human-caused global warming accumulates in the ocean because of its large heat capacity. The remaining heating manifests as atmospheric warming, a drying and warming landmass, and melting land and sea ice. Increasing ocean heat content causes sea-level rise through thermal expansion of the water and melting of glaciers in contact with the ocean. It also produces stronger and more rapidly intensifying hurricanes; causes more intense precipitation events that can lead to destructive flooding; contributes to "marine heat waves" that damage or destroy coral reefs; and disrupts atmospheric circulation patterns.</p>
<h4>A Slew of Heat Records in 2020</h4><p>International records researcher <a href="https://twitter.com/extremetemps" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maximiliano Herrera</a> keeps the pulse of the planet in remarkable detail, and he logged 11 nations or territories that set or tied their all-time heat records in 2020. That total fell far short of the record of 24 such records in 2019. No nations or territories set or tied an all-time cold record in 2020. Here are the all-time heat records set in 2020:</p><p>Colombia: 42.6°C (108.7°F) at Jerusalem, February 19 (tie);<br>Ghana: 44.0°C (111.2°F) at Navrongo, April 6;<br>Cuba: 39.2°C (102.6°F) at Palo Seco, April 10; broken again April 11 with 39.3°C (102.7°F) at Veguitas, and again on April 12 with 39.7°C (103.5°F) at Veguitas;<br>Mayotte, France department: 36.4°C (97.5°F) at Trevani, April 14;<br>Taiwan: 40.5°C (104.9°F) at Taimali Research Center, July 16;<br>Lebanon: 45.4°C (113.7°F) at Houche Al Oumara, July 27;<br>United States: 54.4°C (129.9°F) at Death Valley, California, August 16;<br>Japan: 41.1°C (106.0°F) at Hamamatsu, August 17;<br>Dominica: 35.7°C (96.3°F) at Canefield Airport, September 15;<br>Puerto Rico (U.S. territory): 37.8°C (100.0°F ) at Aguirre, September 17; and<br>Paraguay: 45.5°C (113.9°F ) at Pozo Hondo, September 26.</p><p>Among global weather stations having at least 40 years of record-keeping, Herrera documented 348 that exceeded their all-time heat record in 2020; only eight stations with a long-term period of record set an all-time cold record in 2020. For comparison, 632 stations set their all-time heat record in 2019 and 11 their all-time cold record.</p>
<h4>Notable Global Heat and Cold Records for 2020</h4><p>Hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: 54.4°C (129.9°F) at Death Valley, U.S., August 16;<br>Coldest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: -66.0°C (-86.8°F) at Summit, Greenland, January 2;<br>Hottest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 48.9°C (120.0°F) at Penrith Lakes, Australia, January 4;<br>Coldest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: -80.8°C (-113.4°F) at Dome Fuji, Antarctica, August 16;<br>Highest 2020 average temperature worldwide: 31.5°C (88.7°F) at Yelimane, Mali, and Matam, Senegal; and<br>Highest 2020 average temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 29.8°C (85.6°F) at Surabaya Airport, Indonesia, and Wyndham, Australia.</p><p>Earth's record for hottest yearly average temperature was 32.9°C (91.2°F) at Makkah, Saudi Arabia, in 2010 and 2016.</p>
<h4>126 Additional Monthly National/Territorial Heat Records Beaten or Tied</h4><p>In addition to the 11 all-time national heat records, 126 other national monthly heat records were set in 2020, for a total of 137 national monthly heat records:</p><p>– January (13): Norway, South Korea, Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Dominica, Mexico, Indonesia, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Cuba, British Indian Ocean Territory, Singapore;<br>– February (12): Spain, Antarctica, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Switzerland, Maldives, Gambia, Russia, Seychelles, Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands;<br>– March (7): Paraguay, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Seychelles, United States, Thailand, Northern Mariana Islands;<br>– April (14): Paraguay, Niger, St. Barthelemy, Honduras, Guernsey, Haiti, Congo Brazzaville, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, China, Saba, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic;<br>– May (10): Niger, Greece, Saba, Cyprus, Solomon Islands, Turkey, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Chile, Uzbekistan;<br>– June (6): Maldives, Thailand, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saba, Kenya, Ghana;<br>– July (7): Mozambique, U.S. Virgin Islands, Laos, Myanmar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Northern Mariana Islands;<br>– August (6): Solomon Islands, Mexico, Australia, Cocos Islands, Paraguay, U.S. Virgin Islands;<br>– September (18): Laos, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Mexico, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Botswana, St. Barthelemy, Mayotte, Argentina, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory;<br>– October (11): Algeria, Brazil, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, Peru, Myanmar, Northern Marianas Islands, Botswana, Maldives;<br>– November (11): Luxembourg, Finland, Nepal, Mexico, Aland Islands, Sweden, Maldives, Northern Marianas, Taiwan, Swaziland, Sudan; and<br>– December (11): Mexico, Ghana, Pakistan, Algeria, Qatar, Maldives, Niger, Taiwan, Dominica, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands.</p>
<h4>One Monthly National/Territorial Cold Record Beaten or Tied in 2020</h4><p>– April: St. Eustatius.<br></p><p>An October monthly record reported in Aruba was judged to be unreliable.</p>
<h4>Hemispherical and Continental Temperature Records in 2020</h4><p>– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere in January: 29.1°C (84.4°F) at Bonriki, Kiribati, January 17;<br>– Highest maximum temperature ever recorded in North America in January: 42.0°C (107.6°F) at Vicente Guerrero, Mexico, January 21;<br>– Highest temperature ever recorded in continental Antarctica and highest February temperature ever recorded in Antarctica plus the surrounding islands: 18.4°C (65.1°F) at Base Esperanza, February 6;<br>– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in February in Antarctica: 7.6°C (45.7°F) at Base Marambio, February 9;<br>– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in February in the Northern Hemisphere: 32.0°C (89.6°F) at Yelimane, Mali, February 23;<br>– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in April in the Southern Hemisphere: 31.1°C (88.0°F) at Argyle, Australia, April 2;<br>– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in May in Europe: 30.1°C (86.2°F) at Emponas, Greece, May 17;<br>– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in May in North America: 35.0°C (95.0°F) at Death Valley, California (U.S.), May 28;<br>– Highest temperature ever recorded in the polar regions: 38.0°C (100.4°F) at Verkhoyansk, Russia, June 20;<br>– Highest reliable temperature ever recorded on Earth: 54.4°C (129.9°F) at Death Valley, California, August 16;<br>– Highest reliable minimum temperature ever recorded in August in North America: 40.0°C (104.0°F) at Death Valley, California (U.S.), August 17;<br>– Highest temperature ever recorded in Australia and Oceana in August: 40.7°C (105.3°F) at Yampi Sound, Australia, August 22; beaten again with 41.2°C (106.2°F) at West Roebuck, Australia, on August 23; and<br>– Highest temperature ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere in November: 44.8°C (112.6°F) at San Francisco and Tubares, Mexico, November 5.</p>
<h4>December 2020: Earth's Eighth-Warmest December on Record</h4><p>December 2020 was the eighth-warmest December since global record-keeping began in 1880, NOAA's <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202007" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Centers for Environmental Information</a> reported January 14. NASA and the <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/monthly-climate-bulletins" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European Copernicus Climate Change Service</a> rated the month as the sixth-warmest December on record, and the <a href="https://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/temp/nov_wld.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Japan Meteorological Agency</a> rated it as the tenth-warmest. Again: Minor differences in rankings often occur among various research groups, the result of different ways they handle data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1OTU2OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTk0NDM2Nn0.3r2cwf3HoC4VpfY55HWUNmWLkkQbi7P1FFJaKRd9sso/img.png?width=980" id="90900" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cb409e32a162eab1ecacd24986b35566" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="768" data-height="384" />
Figure 3. Departure of sea surface temperature from average in the benchmark Niño 3.4 region of the eastern tropical Pacific (5°N-5°S, 170°W-120°W). Sea surface temperature were approximately one degree Celsius below average over the past month, characteristic of moderate La Niña conditions. Tropical Tidbits
<h4>A Moderate La Niña Event Continues</h4><p>La Niña conditions remained in the moderate range during December and early January, prompting NOAA to continue its <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">La Niña</a> advisory in a January 14 <a href="https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/forecasts/enso/current/?enso_tab=enso-cpc_update" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monthly discussion</a> of the state of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, or ENSO.</p><p>Over the past month, sea surface temperatures in the benchmark Niño 3.4 region of the eastern tropical Pacific (5°N-5°S, 170°W-120°W) have been approximately 1 degree Celsius below average. The threshold for "strong" La Niña conditions is 1.5 degrees Celsius below average; "moderate" La Niña conditions are 1.0-1.5 degrees below average.</p><p>Forecasters at NOAA and at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society <a href="https://iri.columbia.edu/our-expertise/climate/forecasts/enso/current/?enso_tab=enso-cpc_plume" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expect La Niña conditions</a> will continue through the winter (95% chance during January-February-March), and potentially transition to "neutral" during the spring (55% chance during April-May-June). About half of all La Niña events continue into a second year, but fewer than 20% of the ENSO models predicted that La Niña conditions would last into the summer of 2021.</p>
<h4>Arctic Sea Ice: Third-Lowest December Extent on Record</h4><p>Arctic sea ice extent during December 2020 was the third-lowest in the 42-year satellite record, behind 2016 and 2017, according to the <a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Snow and Ice Data Center</a>. <a href="https://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Antarctic sea ice extent</a> in December 2020 was near-average.</p>
<h4>Notable Global Heat and Cold Marks for December 2020</h4><p>– Hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: 41.5°C (106.7°F) at Matam, Senegal, December 2;<br>– Coldest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: -57.5°C (-71.5°F) at Oymykon, Russia, December 29;<br>– Hottest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 48.7°C (119.7°F) at Birdsville, Australia, December 5; and<br>– Coldest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: -44.9°C (-48.8°F) at Dome A, Antarctica, December 3.</p>
<h4>Major Weather Stations' New All-Time Heat or Cold Records in December 2020</h4><p>Among global stations with a record of at least 40 years, two stations set all-time cold records in December, and no stations set an all-time heat record:</p><p>Hamamasu (Japan) min. -21.5°C (-6.7°F), December 31; and<br>Bibai (Japan) min. -26.5°C (-15.7°F), December 31.<br></p><p><em>Statistics courtesy of <a href="http://www.mherrera.org/temp.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maximiliano Herrera</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/01/noaa-names-2020-second-hottest-year-on-record-nasa-says-it-tied-for-hottest-ever/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- NASA and NOAA: Last Decade Was the Hottest on Record - EcoWatch ›
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