Kentucky received record-breaking rainfall and flooding this past weekend. Keith Getter / Getty Images
Kentucky is coping with historic flooding after a weekend of record-breaking rainfall, enduring water rescues, evacuations and emergency declarations.
<p>More than a dozen rainfall records were broken in the state on Sunday, CNN Meteorologist <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/us/kentucky-flood-vaccine-boat-rescue/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michael Guy said</a>. Many parts of Kentucky received two to four inches of rain in 72 hours, while a few received as much as 10 inches. The rainfall mixed with melting snow to produce major flooding.</p><p>"We expect this to be one of the largest flash-flooding events that we've had," Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said Monday during a press conference, CNN reported.</p><p>Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a statewide emergency while 29 counties and seven cities also issued emergency declarations.</p><p>"We are acting swiftly to ensure the safety and security of Kentucky families and to get the needed help to our communities," Beshear said in a statement, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/floods-power-outages-kentucky-evacuations-tennessee-2c03eddc4918599e9bd8fa9a976c0edc" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p><p>Floodwaters filled downtowns and required water rescues. In the town of Beattyville, boats could be spotted on Main Street, <a href="https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/beattyville-experiencing-historic-flooding" target="_blank">LEX 18 reported</a>.</p>
<div id="0f31c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4290ab3e7ec4e142f8bce774bab39f03"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366307788155219969" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just got back from my office... downtown Beattyville Kentucky is not a pretty sight. @KySportsRadio… https://t.co/6nXwyMKtRb</div> — Tom Jones (@Tom Jones)<a href="https://twitter.com/8atticus/statuses/1366307788155219969">1614588136.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Lee County Judge/Executive Chuck Caudill said that water levels rose six to seven feet on most roads, prompting evacuations Sunday night. By Monday afternoon, there had been 25 evacuations and six major water rescues.</p><p>"We really had to do some serious lifesaving because they were literally walking out of houses with two to three feet of water in them," Caudill told LEX 18.</p><p>In addition to the human rescues, a batch of COVID-19 vaccines were also evacuated from the Lee County Health Department in Beattyville after rain threatened the department's power supply, CNN reported.</p><p>In Wolfe County, Kentucky, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hazelgreenvfd/posts/3975632505829919" target="_blank">Hazel Green Volunteer Fire Department</a> said it rescued 15 people Sunday night, including a family of five who were trapped in their car, and were only spotted thanks to their cell phone light.</p><p>Additionally, ninety-one patients were evacuated from Salyersville Nursing and Rehabilitation in Salyersville, Kentucky, Sunday night, according to <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2021-03-01-kentucky-west-virginia-flooding-evacuations-road-closures-rescues" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a>.</p><p>The rain also caused flooding in West Virginia and Tennessee. In West Virginia, flooding and mudslides closed more than 100 roads, while rising waters trapped 11 people in a church in Cross Lanes. In Tennessee, four adults and one infant were rescued after a truck slid off a flooded bridge in Dekalb County.</p>
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<p>Extreme precipitation events are set to increase with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. This is because warmer oceans mean more water evaporates into the air, turning into rain or snow when a storm system forms, the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heavy-precipitation" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency explained</a>. In the U.S. as a whole, extreme precipitation events have increased in the last three decades. Nine of the 10 years with the most single-day extreme precipitation events took place after 1990.</p><p>Kentucky has also gotten wetter overall in recent years, <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/lexington/news/2021/01/22/how-climate-change-explains-a-soggy-2020#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Army,to%20dump%20sediment%20on%20farmland." target="_blank">Spectrum News 1 reported in January</a>. While the state has not substantially warmed, five of its wettest years were in the last decade, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events have increased.</p><p>"It's a more complicated set of changes than just warming," Jeff Dukes, director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, told Spectrum News 1 about the impacts of climate change on the state. "It's the amount of precipitation. It's the timing of precipitation. It's rain when you got snow before. There are a lot of different things involved. It's why I think the better term is 'climate disruption,' because we're disrupting the stable climate that we've had for thousands of years."</p><p>He said Kentucky could anticipate more winter and spring rain, along with flooding, as the planet continues to warm.</p>
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Spring is coming. And soon, tree swallows will start building nests. But as the climate changes, the birds are nesting earlier in the spring.
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/17954696/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>"It's getting warmer overall. They're thinking, OK, it's a good time to breed, to lay my eggs," says Lily Twining of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany.</p><p>She says that despite recent warming, late-season cold snaps remain common. Those cold snaps can harm newborn chicks.</p>
<p>Hatchlings cannot regulate their body temperature, so they are vulnerable to hypothermia. And the insects they eat stop flying in cold weather, potentially leaving the chicks to starve.</p><p>"These chicks are growing very, very fast," Twining says. "They have very high energy demands, so… if they don't get a lot of that good high-quality food during this pretty specific time… that's when these cold weather events seem to be most devastating."</p><p>For example, data from Ithaca, New York, shows that a single cold snap in 2016 killed more than 70% of baby tree swallows.</p><p>"And there have been more and more of these severe cold weather die-off events for these tree swallows as they've been breeding earlier and earlier over the past 40 or so years," Twining says.</p><p>So for these songbirds, earlier springs can come with devastating consequences.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/03/climate-change-cues-tree-swallows-to-nest-earlier-in-spring/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
- Spring Is Arriving Earlier Across the U.S. - EcoWatch ›
- Climate Change Leading to Fatal Bird Conflicts - EcoWatch ›
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Like many other plant-based foods and products, CBD oil is one dietary supplement where "organic" labels are very important to consumers. However, there are little to no regulations within the hemp industry when it comes to deeming a product as organic, which makes it increasingly difficult for shoppers to find the best CBD oil products available on the market.
<p>Here you can learn about the importance of organic hemp oil, why it's better for the environment, and which CBD companies actually make trustworthy products with sustainable farming processes. origins which weigh heavily on many consumers who want to buy a product that's produced in the best way possible for not only themselves to ingest, but for the environment as well through sustainable farming methods. </p><h2>What Is CBD Oil?</h2><p>First things first, CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it's a cannabinoid found within cannabis sativa plants. This plant compound is believed to have many potential benefits, and it is primarily derived from hemp plants via a CO2 extraction process. </p><p>Since CBD is extracted from industrial hemp, which contains only trace amounts of THC (the psychoactive component in cannabis plants), this means that CBD won't make you feel high like marijuana, which has much higher levels of THC that causes psychoactive effects. Instead, the effects of CBD are much more subtle and promote a general sense of calm and relaxation in most users.</p><h2>What Makes a CBD Oil Organic?</h2><p>In terms of organic labels, perhaps the most important (and prominent) certification comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This government organization has been labeling foods as "organic" for many years, but what exactly does this certification entail? Essentially, a label indicating that a product is "USDA Organic" or "Certified Organic" means that at least 95% of the ingredients are obtained from organic sources.</p><p>For a crop to be considered organic by the USDA, it must be grown without the use of industrial solvents, irradiation, genetic engineering (GMOs), synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizer. Instead, farmers rely on natural substances and <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mechanical, physical, or biologically based farming</a> techniques to cultivate healthy and organic crops.</p><p>Before the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, no hemp-derived products could be dubbed as "certified organic" since the hemp plant and its extracts were still categorized as a Schedule I Controlled Substance. However, it's still difficult for CBD companies to obtain a USDA certified organic label for their products due to the legal grey area that still surrounds CBD extracts. </p><p>Because of these challenges, and due to the fact that industrial hemp has only recently become an agricultural crop, very few CBD oils are USDA certified organic. Rather, many CBD products contain hemp extracts from plants that were grown in organic conditions but may not be federally certified.</p><h2>What are the Best Organic CBD Oil Brands?</h2><p><em>Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.</em></p><em><br></em>
<h2>Why Organic Hemp Oil Matters</h2><p>Hemp is a unique plant, not only for its rich cannabinoid content, but also for its ability to absorb a wide variety of components in soil. But this trait poses great risks when it comes to the creation of CBD products derived from hemp.</p><p>Because hemp has a high capacity for compound uptake, this means that the plants can retain <a href="https://www.remedyreview.com/industry/lab-test-results/" target="_blank">harmful chemicals like pesticides</a>, heavy metals, and other residual solvents. This is especially true when it comes to synthetic chemicals that are more toxic to humans, and difficult to remove once they have been absorbed by the hemp plant.</p><p>Organic farming practices help reduce the risk of hemp crops absorbing harsh chemicals that may later end up in CBD oil after extraction. When you're taking CBD as a wellness supplement to help alleviate your symptoms or improve your overall well-being, the last thing you want is to ingest compounds that might negatively outweigh the benefits of CBD. This is an important reason to look for third party lab test results when shopping for CBD products since these certificates of analysis can show the full cannabinoid and terpene profile of a hemp extract, as well as test results that search for the presence of any residual solvents.</p><p>In addition to creating a better end product, organic farming practices are also better for the environment. Sustainable and organic farming methods may <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy</a>. The use of natural pest deterrents as opposed to chemical pesticides is also better for nearby animal populations and ecosystems.</p><h3>Organic vs. Natural</h3><p>While there are only a select few companies offering certified organic ingredients in their products, almost every brand in the CBD market creates "natural" products. The term "all-natural" or "plant-based" does not mean that a product is organic, and since hemp oil is a natural derivative of hemp plants, these products are often referred to as all-natural. However, there are some synthetic CBD oils that should be avoided because they are chemically constructed and may produce unwanted side effects that are not caused by naturally derived CBD extracts.</p><h2>What are the Benefits of Organic CBD Oil?</h2><p>There's a long list of potential CBD oil health benefits, and some of the most common wellness advantages include:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503660/" target="_blank">Chronic pain relief</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/" target="_blank">Anti-anxiety effects</a></li><li>Better sleep</li><li><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201901/cbd-oil-mental-health-should-you-take-it-too" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Improvements in mood</a></li><li>Internal balance and regulation</li></ul><p>When dealing with pain, inflammation, sleep issues, and mental health struggles, it can be hard to find sufficient treatment options. The use of certain prescriptions can cause unwanted side effects, yet they are often the only solution for patients with these medical conditions. In search of other therapies, people have started to flock towards CBD oil as an alternative remedy for a variety of conditions. However, it should be noted that CBD products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and you should seek your doctor's advice before using CBD if you have a serious medical condition.</p><h2>Look at the Labels Before You Buy CBD Oil</h2><p>When you go online to buy CBD oil, you'll quickly realize there is an overwhelming number of brands that are saturating the market. It can be difficult to determine which products are truly as good as they make themselves out to be. Always look for up-to-date third-party lab tests so you know you are getting a great product, and don't hesitate to contact the brand if you have any additional questions. And if you're intent on purchasing 100% organic CBD oil, it's best to look for certified products or brands that are held to strict regulatory standards.</p><p><strong>Melena Gurganus </strong>is the Reviews Editor at EcoWatch. She is passionate health and wellness and her writing aims to help others find products they can trust. Her work has been featured in publications such as Health, Shape, Huffington Post, Cannabis Business Times, and Bustle.<br></p>
Spruce
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjI3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTM2NzgzOX0.axY0HjeqRctJsR_KmDLctzDpUBLBN-oNIdqaXDb4caQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="774be" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8379f35b1ca8a86d0e61b7d4bfc8b46e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="spruce organic cbd oil" data-width="710" data-height="959" /><p>As one of the best brands in the business, Spruce CBD is well-known for its potent CBD oils that feature many additional beneficial phytocannabinoids. This brand works with two family-owned, sustainably focused farms in the USA (one located in Kentucky and one in North Carolina) to create its organic, small product batches. The max potency Spruce CBD oil contains 2400mg of full-spectrum CBD extract, but the brand also offers a lower strength tincture with 750mg of CBD in total.</p>
$89
CBDistillery
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjkzNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTU4OTM4Nn0.ypRdeDSBcE87slYrFfVrRwtJ2qGIK6FD5jBB4pndTMo/img.jpg?width=980" id="b473b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9930b53c9d58cb49774640a61c3e3e75" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="cbdistillery cbd oil" data-width="1244" data-height="1244" /><p>All of the products from CBDistillery are <a href="https://ushempauthority.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">U.S. Hemp Authority Certified</a>, and for good reason. The company only uses non-GMO and pesticide-free industrial hemp that's grown organically on Colorado farms. Its hemp oils are some of the most affordable CBD products on the market, yet they still maintain a high standard of quality. CBDistillery has a wide variety of CBD potencies across its product line (ranging from 500mg to 5000mg per bottle) and offers both full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD oils to give customers a completely thc-free option.</p>
$35
FAB CBD
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDIwOTEyMn0.MlTjz096FJ0ev_-soK7_Z-FeQeJczWoeh9Qi9SSkHsY/img.jpg?width=980" id="04b26" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76aa4862f44603242e318982acea6646" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="fab cbd oil" data-width="800" data-height="800" /><p>For an organic CBD oil that has it all, FAB CBD offers plenty of variety for any type of consumer. All of its products are made with zero pesticides and extracted from organically grown Colorado industrial hemp. FAB CBD oil comes in five all-natural flavors (mint, vanilla, berry, citrus, and natural) and is also available in four strengths (300, 600, 1200, and 2400mg per bottle).</p>
$39
NuLeaf Naturals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDY4NjIxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzExNTgyMX0.D6qMGYllKTsVhEkQ-L_GzpDHVu60a-tJKcio7M1Ssmc/img.jpg?width=980" id="94e4a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3609a52479675730893a45a82a03c71d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="nuleaf naturals organic cbd oil" data-width="600" data-height="600" /><p>As an industry-leading brand, it comes as no surprise that NuLeaf Naturals sources its CBD extract from organic hemp plants grown on licensed farms in Colorado. The comany's CBD oils only contain two ingredients: USDA certified organic hemp seed oil and full spectrum hemp extract.</p><p>NuLeaf Naturals uses one proprietary CBD oil formula for all of its products, so you will get the same CBD potency in each tincture (60mg per mL), but can purchase different bottle sizes depending on how much you intend to use.</p>
$38.50
Charlotte's Web
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDcwMjk3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQ0NjM4N30.SaQ85SK10-MWjN3PwHo2RqpiUBdjhD0IRnHKTqKaU7Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="84700" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2174067dcc0c4094be25b3472ce08c8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="charlottes web cbd oil" data-width="1244" data-height="1244" /><p>Perhaps one of the most well-known brands in the CBD landscape, Charlotte's Web has been growing sustainable hemp plants for several years. The company is currently in the process of achieving official USDA Organic Certification, but it already practices organic and sustainable cultivation techniques to enhance the overall health of the soil and the hemp plants themselves, which creates some of the highest quality CBD extracts. Charlotte's Web offers CBD oils in a range of different concentration options, and some even come in a few flavor options such as chocolate mint, orange blossom, and lemon twist.</p>
$60
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An Exxon oil refinery is seen at night. Jim Sugar / Getty Images
Citigroup will strive to reach net-zero greenhouse gas pollution across its lending portfolio by 2050 and in its own operations by 2030, the investment group announced Monday.
<p>The plan, published by CEO Jane Fraser, on her first day in the role, included few details but promised more within the coming year. </p><p>Citi's pledge follows similar announcements by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase amid efforts by the group <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VW12pK3RP4wWW7VrLG-4gQ48qW1KLHGL4nHcLsMDyKnp3p_9LV1-WJV7CgZcVW6dxBrb6S8q3rW3qnwpq6YMcnXW6X81xF814HdPW30bQ6285vNx7N3nSYpGv9zFlW9hrJNB7my_bTN2WsJFgWsZR9V5XHC06LHFvjW8vcRxB2-qW9PW25SPND8nSh3QW8HpGht1BnD2wW8QKdqg4Jbh3FW96YSVp91by3NN3zch6CrYKdDW813L1n1bCw-4N9dpv0LBj3ncW2J4ZWs1_rzYJVjPyNV8YwXBrM_RvMg-QsqhW3GWgH539JwwnMf01t66F3jWW71GP2Q96r9kXW92pGBf1TQgyBN5lqmlC5Qt2KW99HT6z3D7f98W1Lv39L1JLLnGW20xsgC3nr4ysW2gVGXx65byDd33K41" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BankFWD</a> to push U.S. banks to slash greenhouse gas pollution from their investments. </p><p>Those three firms, plus Citigroup, have provided more than $705 billion to fossil energy companies since the Paris Agreement went into effect. </p><p>Also Monday, Exxon Mobil Corp. named activist investor Jeffrey Ubben and former Comcast executive Michael Angelakis to its board, in a move to parry calls for the oil giant to focus more on clean energy. </p><p>Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission determined both Citigroup and Exxon could not prevent shareholders from voting on resolutions tied to racial equity and climate change.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p>Citigroup: <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/541020-citigroup-sets-goal-to-achieve-net-zero-emissions-by-2050?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8JAMXp-yLHJbHxbvmDGfX2S-FYGMVpbawKZ0L_lon_lqt14dH4LzmTvKI9aESVbIEqfL5G6YJ6-pGTa1bLJiM5rXr3PdBqynfiMb0C44NWBz50EpQ&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://login.politicopro.com/?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fsubscriber.politicopro.com%2Farticle%2F2021%2F03%2Fciti-pledges-to-stop-financing-greenhouse-gas-emissions-3987303%3Futm_campaign%3DHot%2520News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_YfzbNr-q9hDWRJo3ACPfkC6i-2ocHo2VrVypVvHdxMn84PsEPB2n14IuJVzaekX5gUUqqYtQPXv5U0TEnijLlOmJ8JD_57BDmBrvhcv3McLvcvVs&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Politico Pro</a>; Fossil investments: <a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2021/03/01/stories/1063726287?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--M0ZQdvCKkCSpUAWG5LdObCV0J2zGbgHNOiPuaHy_aA4Z4AykqIkE-8HD3lLwg-10v9dJVM7940Kbo0YNxlYL_nwyiKA8LPdRHEwUwVHptx9BPfug&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">E&E</a>; Exxon: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-adds-two-new-board-members-after-activist-pressure-11614607512?mod=searchresults_pos2&page=1&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--m9T1M8rNEEIgOwgajbNq3NTDkvWWMjdPqPqnlUPN2A5aW3UJUO4y4NEB5ps-OKz-2N3IG_4UuqYEKoDiUZ_UZZS7aB2kHN0-I3lVkrqR70PwD3gI&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal,</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AT2K0?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8f5L7QA1MNONzvBKjuP6s_y3zBOIbjn8Rc4K0b6zPnO_UslDCfWD_twOH98CoQPPesIGDeZHPSVDC6AXN8A5PqHyx6kRft3u0pBSIwKEeGwKcGtQo&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Reuters,</a> <a href="https://www.axios.com/exxon-board-activist-climate-195cbfb1-cd52-4c92-bd59-13d6781d9896.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_LGXqzYZPEqroDVZv-euFStCRUvQgVX3D3fItkuSfAKB0fOwASTqpFThUU8Bt7d_kgwIlNUfkbWostNHKFWu6Pig81CqI57Cy9lMAdkRXRQ3hAm4M&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Axios</a>; SEC: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-01/citigroup-exxon-must-let-investors-vote-on-esg-issues-sec-says?sref=oUjKJw8m&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113718159&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9-4on_47qkmXwBeosuro4FJLIPnKjdgOKraW7KJJa0HwquHKfV2lO8eCjRfs2ZqAAQgrKbMR6HGZwqpENToCahHevV-7ATh-8GkFy0M09MkmH3gAU&utm_content=113718159&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>. </em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Ahead of UN COP26, Survey Finds International Support for Greater Environmental Protection
12h
Politics
Young protesters participate in the Global Strike For Future march to raise climate change awareness in September 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. Thierry Monasse / Getty Images
By Brett Wilkins
An international survey conducted by the University of Cambridge and YouGov ahead of this November's COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and published on Monday, found overwhelming support around the world for governments taking more robust action to protect the environment amid the worsening climate crisis.
<p>The pollsters surveyed 14,627 adults in seven countries—Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. According to Cambridge University:</p><blockquote>Participants were randomly assigned to read either one of four 'treatment' texts about climate change—drafted to reflect current U.N. messaging, public health, social norms, and patriotism—or a neutral text, unrelated to climate and used to test "baseline" support. The participants were then asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement that "all national governments should do more to protect the environment."<br></blockquote><p>In all of the countries except the U.S., at least 90% of baseline respondents agreed with the statement. In the U.S., the figure was 79%.</p>
<div id="26ea0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7aa0d6136bd98584572b3d9cc3ccc8fc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366418460289470467" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Nine out of ten people in the UK, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia and Poland want governments to “do more” to prote… https://t.co/URLdsms6LB</div> — Cambridge University (@Cambridge University)<a href="https://twitter.com/Cambridge_Uni/statuses/1366418460289470467">1614614522.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Compared to the baseline, exposure to one of the climate change texts led to a small but significant rise of about one or two percentage points on average," wrote University of Cambridge political psychologist Lee de-Wit. "The figures ranged in the U.K. from 89-93%; as against 96-98% in Brazil, 91-95% in China, 92-97% in India, 99-100% in Indonesia, 91-94% in Poland, and 76-79% in the USA."</p><p>In the U.S., the survey found tremendous differences between people who voted for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election—only 55% of whom said governments should do more to protect the environment—and those who elected President Joe Biden, 95% of whom agreed that governments should make more of an effort to safeguard the environment.</p><p>When asked to choose from a list of specific actions governments can take to better protect the environment, the most popular choice among survey respondents was "to protect and preserve" wildlife, marine life, and plants; followed by a policy "to plant more trees to absorb the gases that cause climate change"; spending more on developing clean technologies; and finally reducing "the production over 30 years of the gases that cause climate change."</p><p>On average, 58% of survey respondents also agreed that businesses should be forced "to pay for the damage they do when their activities contribute to climate change."</p>
<p>De-Wit wrote that "we live in a time of polarization, and environmental issues have long embodied the political divisions in society."</p><p>"However, this may be changing," he wrote. "We can see an overwhelming consensus emerging for greater government-led action to protect the environment in major nations."</p><p>"As we approach COP26, politicians the world over should take confidence from these findings," added de-Wit. "Voters across party lines want to see more government action. The time is now."</p><p>"We face huge challenges protecting the environment, but global public opinion may no longer be chief among them," concluded de-Wit.</p><p>The COP26 conference—which was delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic—will take place in Glasgow, Scotland November 1-12.</p><p>A U.N. report released last week <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/26/red-alert-our-planet-new-un-report-shows-radically-bolder-action-needed-hit-15degc" target="_blank">revealed</a> the world is far from meeting the emission-reduction goals of the Paris climate agreement, with scientists warning that accomplishing the accord's target of a maximum global temperature rise of 1.5°C requires cutting planet-heating emissions 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/01/time-now-survey-finds-overwhelming-international-support-greater-environmental" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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The Sierra Nevada mountains are among the ranges most at-risk for early snowpack melt. CampPhoto / Getty Images
As the planet warms, mountain snowpack is increasingly melting. But "global warming isn't affecting everywhere the same," Climate Scientist Amato Evan told the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.
<p>In a recent study, a team of researchers examined if snowpack melted faster in the Western U.S. than in other areas. Their <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-00996-w" target="_blank">findings</a> were published Monday in the journal <em>Nature Climate Change.</em></p><p>Snowpack disappearance is occurring most rapidly in coastal regions and the south, according to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_blank">scientists</a>. This means that the Sierra Nevadas, Cascades and Southern Arizona mountains are at most risk for melting compared to the Rockies or Utah mountains. </p><p>"As you get closer to the ocean or further south in the U.S., the snowpack is more vulnerable, or more at-risk, due to increasing temperature, whereas in the interior of the continent, the snowpack seems much more impervious, or resilient to rising temperatures," Evan, the study's lead author, told Scripps Oceanography. </p><p>Funded by NOAA's Climate Program Office, the study analyzed regional variations in snowpack melt with temperature increases. Using four decades of observations, the scientists created a new model to understand the "discrepancy in the timing of snowpack disappearance," according to Scripps Oceanography.</p>
<p>They found shorter winters and early springs changed the amount of time snow had to accumulate and cover the ground. "Our theory tells us why that's happening, and it's basically showing that spring is coming a lot earlier in the year if you're in Oregon, California, Washington, and down south, but not if you're in Colorado or Utah," Evan told Scripps Oceanography.</p><p>For example, California's snowpack is not only melting faster but also accumulating less, threatening the state's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/the-california-drought-who-gets-water-and-whos-hung-out-to-dry-1881866570.html" target="_blank">water</a> supply — one-third of which comes from the Sierras, <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/climate-in-crisis/sierra-snowpack-has-major-drop-over-the-past-decade/2475777/" target="_blank">NBC Bay Area reported</a>. Rapid melting could also have "adverse societal effects because it contributes to a longer fire season," Scripps Oceanography wrote.</p><p>During a typical summer, gradual snowpack runoff keeps soil and plants moist. Yet in early spring 2020, the West experienced a warm and dry climate, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/08/california-snowpack-fire-season/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Washington Post reported</a>.</p><p>"The magnitude we're seeing right now is pretty startling," Bryan Henry, a meteorologist with the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, told The Washington Post last spring. By September, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_blank">wildfires</a> had burned more than five million acres in California, Oregon and Washington, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/24/climate/fires-worst-year-california-oregon-washington.html#:~:text=With%20more%20than%20a%20month,the%20largest%20fires%20ever%20recorded." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The New York Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding the threats limited snowpack had on regions, researchers were also able to use their models to make global projections. Coastal regions, the Arctic, Central Europe and South America will experience rapid snowpack melts sooner than the northern interiors of North America and Eurasia, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-00996-w" target="_blank">the scientists wrote</a>.</p><p>While their findings offer a dire warning, they could also help climate leaders focus on areas where action is most needed.</p><p>"I was excited by the simplicity of the explanation that we ultimately arrived at," Climate Scientist Ian Eisenman told Scripps Oceanography. "Our theoretical model provides a mechanism to explain why the observed snowmelt dates change so much more at some locations than at others, and it also predicts how snowmelt dates will change in the future under further warming."</p>
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With restaurants and supermarkets becoming less viable options during the pandemic, there has been a growth in demand and supply of local food. Baker County Tourism Travel Baker County / Flickr
By Robin Scher
Beyond the questions surrounding the availability, effectiveness and safety of a vaccine, the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to question where our food is coming from and whether we will have enough.
<p><br/></p>
<p>According to a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/covid-19-will-double-number-people-facing-food-crises-unless-swift-action-taken" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a>, COVID-19 might have left up to 265 million people with acute food shortages in 2020. The combined effect of the pandemic as well as the emerging global recession "could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems," which would "result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century," states another UN <a href="https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-impact-covid-19-food-security-and-nutrition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a>.</p>
<p>In the United States, "food insecurity has doubled overall, and tripled among households with children" due to the pandemic, states a <a href="https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/documents/reports/ipr-rapid-research-reports-pulse-hh-data-10-june-2020.pdf#link=%7B%22role%22:%22standard%22,%22href%22:%22https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/documents/reports/ipr-rapid-research-reports-pulse-hh-data-10-june-2020.pdf%22,%22target%22:%22%22,%22absolute%22:%22%22,%22linkText%22:%22June%20report%22%7D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">June 2020 report</a> by the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern University, which relied on data provided by the <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey</a>. In a recent <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/staggering-need-covid-19-has-led-to-rising-levels-in-food-insecurity-across-the-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview</a> with CBS News, IPR Director Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach warned that these statistics would likely "continue to hold," with the numbers indicating particularly dramatic rises in food insecurity among Black and Latinx families. Indeed, families of color are being disproportionately impacted. According to an analysis of new Census data by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/struggling-families-and-economy-need-robust-bipartisan-covid-relief-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">22 percent of Black and 21 percent of Latinx respondents reported not having enough to eat</a>, compared to just 9 percent of white people.</p>
<p>Globally, the effects of COVID-19 on food security are equally, if not more, severe. According to a CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-famines-united-nations-warning/" target="_blank">report</a>, WFP Director David Beasley <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-hunger-pandemic-covid-19-spreads-statement-un-security-council" target="_blank">told</a> the UN Security Council in April 2020 that the world is on "the brink of a hunger pandemic." He added, "In a worst-case scenario, we could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries, and in fact, in 10 of these countries we already have more than one million people per country who are on the verge of starvation."</p><p>"The number of chronically hungry people increased by an estimated 130 million last year, to more than 800 million — about eight times the total number of COVID-19 cases to date," <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/prevent-next-food-crisis-now" target="_blank">wrote</a> Mark Lowcock, the under-secretary-general and emergency relief coordinator at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Axel van Trotsenburg, managing director of operations at the World Bank. "Countries affected by conflict and climate change are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. Empty stomachs can stunt whole generations."</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) <a href="https://www.usda.gov/oce/energy-and-environment/food-security" target="_blank">warns</a> that climate change "is likely to diminish continued progress on global food security through production disruptions that lead to local availability limitations and price increases, interrupted transport conduits, and diminished food safety." The same might be said about the pandemic, which has made it abundantly clear: climate resilience, food security and global health are closely intertwined.</p><p>In terms of food security, another major concern is the pandemic-related school closures that have occurred across the globe, with UNICEF reporting that more than <a href="https://data.unicef.org/covid-19-and-children/" target="_blank">1.6 billion children and young people</a> have been affected. Schools provide a food lifeline for children; for so many, that is where they get their only nutritious meal of the day. In January, the UNICEF Office of Research — Innocenti, and WFP released a new <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nutrition-crisis-looms-more-39-billion-school-meals-missed-start-pandemic-unicef-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> that found that more than 39 billion in-school meals have been missed worldwide since the pandemic began, with 370 million children worldwide having missed 40 percent of in-school meals.</p>
<p>In early 2020, when COVID-19 was still a looming specter rather than the deadly virus we're more familiar with today, the threat of food insecurity was a practical problem. Scenes of shoppers descending on aisles to stock up on supplies were a common sight. As <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/18/business/supermarkets-rationing-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a> in March 2020, supermarkets around the world rationed food and other products such as toilet paper and cleaning supplies, in an effort to curb stockpiling.</p><p>In Vermont, for instance, a steady increase in food insecurity since the start of the pandemic has correlated to employment levels, according to a <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/uvm-survey-food-insecurity-vermont-rose-33-during-pandemic" target="_blank">survey</a> conducted by the University of Vermont between March and April 2020. Approximately 45 percent of respondents "had lost their jobs, been furloughed or had their hours reduced during the pandemic," and a further two-thirds of survey participants who recorded scarcity of food in their households "had experienced job losses or work disruptions since the outbreak of the pandemic," according to the survey. Vermont is just one example; the impact has been felt across the U.S. During the week before Thanksgiving in 2020, the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/nov/25/us-hunger-surges-spiraling-pandemic?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that 5.6 million U.S. households "struggled to put enough food on the table," while referring to the analysis of the Census data by CBPP.</p>
<p>As the pandemic continues to upend lives across the world, it has impacted the entire food supply chain. With factory and supermarket workers being <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31200-9/fulltext" target="_blank">highly susceptible</a> to COVID-19, there's been a concomitant <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2020/05/28/another-look-availability-and-prices-food-amid-covid-19-pandemic" target="_blank">decline</a> in food production and a rise in prices. As Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/04/what-if-coronavirus-strikes-tens-thousands-food-and-farm-workers-same-time" target="_blank">reported</a>, farmers in the U.S. were already facing labor shortages prior to the pandemic, and with tightened immigration as well as the heightened risk and poor compensation associated with these jobs, "food processors and farm labor contractors may struggle to find other workers willing to risk their lives to work in meat plants, packing sheds or produce fields."</p><p>The pandemic has exposed the weakness of the industrialized global food system, which depends on long, complex transportation chains and cross-border travel. "[T]he monstrous and unsustainable food industry known as <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/big-ag-monopolies-have-stifled-small-farmers-2020-democrats-want-to-break-them-up" target="_blank">Big Ag</a>... relies on the horrendous <a href="https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2018/01/18/improving-working-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">treatment</a> of laborers, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wasteful allocation of resources</a>, worldwide <a href="https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/factory-farming-is-killing-the-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">environmental devastation</a> — and in a pinch, can quickly devolve into near-collapse of the entire system, as evidenced by the delays, shortages and <a href="https://www.usda.gov/coronavirus/food-supply-chain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pressure</a> during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pandemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deepening hunger crisis</a> in America," April M. Short, a fellow at the Independent Media Institute, recently <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/02/04/covid-19-has-exposed-the-fragility-of-our-food-system--heres-how-we-can-localize-it_partner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote</a> in Salon. "Among the many necessary systemic changes 2020 has illuminated is the need to majorly restructure the way we cultivate and access food in our communities."</p>
<p>It didn't take the pandemic to reveal the inefficiency and injustice of our food system: Globally, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/health/global-food-waste-higher/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a third of all food is wasted</a>, while nearly <a href="https://gho.unocha.org/global-trends/hunger-rising-covid-19-will-make-it-worse" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">690 million people were undernourished in 2019</a> — almost 60 million more people than in 2014. But the pandemic has underscored the matter: According to <a href="https://gho.unocha.org/global-trends/hunger-rising-covid-19-will-make-it-worse" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OCHA</a>, "the number of acutely food insecure people could increase to 270 million due to COVID-19, representing an 82 percent increase compared to the number of acutely food insecure people pre-COVID-19."<br></p><p>And the disruption of transportation has shown that the long distances it normally takes for food to get from one place to another can be a serious liability during a crisis. "[F]ood banks are under tremendous pressure to meet the skyrocketing demand," said a CNN article quoting from a letter Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Feeding America CEO, and Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/13/business/farmers-food-supply-food-banks-donations-trnd/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote</a> to then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in April 2020. "At the same time, however, we are seeing literally tons of agricultural goods being discarded because of the shutdown of so much of the economy."</p>
<p>Consumer demand has shifted from eating out at restaurants and food services away from home, and food supply chain operations have had to be retooled. And that impact has been felt within the transportation sector. Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysplitter/2020/03/18/covid-19-and-truck-driver-shortage-may-threaten-food-supply-chain/?sh=5495ccbd523e" target="_blank">reported</a> that Andrew Novakovic, an agricultural economist at Cornell University, "points to a number of weak spots in the food transportation system that could be aggravated by the increased demand for food." A shortage of truck drivers is one potential weak spot, says Novakovic. Although he concedes there is debate on this matter, Novakovic maintains that "[t]rucking companies are finding it much harder to recruit [those] long haul drivers." China, which was the first country to be hit by the virus, offers insight into the prolonged impact of the pandemic on transportation and food systems. The lockdown in the Hubei province of China, which is home to 66 million people, led to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-will-delay-agricultural-export-surges-promised-in-trade-deal-with-china-132227" target="_blank">shortage</a> in delivery of animal feed as well as refrigerated containers full of imported vegetables, fruit and frozen meat in February 2020, according to an article in The Conversation.</p>
<p>In addition to shifting consumer demand, the pandemic has also made us take a closer look at where our food comes from and how it impacts not only the lives of food workers but also the lives of animals trapped in the food system. According to a <a href="https://www.aspca.org/news/survey-says-covid-19-crisis-drives-americans-desire-reform-animal-agriculture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new public opinion survey</a> conducted by Lake Research Partners and commissioned by the animal rights group American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, "[t]he vast majority (89 percent) of Americans are concerned about industrial animal agriculture, citing animal welfare, worker safety or public health risks as a concern." The survey also found that "85 percent of farmers and their families support a complete ban on new industrial animal agriculture facilities — almost twice the level of support expressed by the general public." This finding shows key support for the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3221/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Farm System Reform Act</a>, legislation that was introduced in 2019 by Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey that, among other reforms, seeks to put a <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-unveils-bill-to-reform-farm-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">moratorium on new or expanding factory farms</a>.</p>
<p>Food insecurity has long been a pressing issue, particularly for developing countries. However, as Mir Ashrafun Nahar, a research associate at the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling, <a href="https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/fallout-of-covid-19-on-food-security-1603117667" target="_blank">explained</a> in a Financial Express article, "the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more acute." In response, Nahar argues for a policy-based approach that includes "subsidy based transportation systems for agriculture" to support supply chains, as well as policies aimed at cutting down on agricultural production costs in order to help farmers recover from the effects of the pandemic.</p><p>With the pandemic still affecting food supply, though, there are a number of logical measures for reducing the impact of the virus and maximizing output. "First, OSHA [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] and the USDA must be directed to issue emergency standards that require employers to provide personal protective equipment, enough space to work without spreading the virus, and housing and transportation options that will reduce the spread of the virus," <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/04/what-if-coronavirus-strikes-tens-thousands-food-and-farm-workers-same-time" target="_blank">wrote</a> Faber.</p>
<p>Proposed in April 2020, Faber's suggestions, unfortunately, remained <a href="https://www.ewg.org/testimony-official-correspondence/covid-19-bill-fails-protect-workers-and-hungry-families" target="_blank">unaddressed</a> under the Trump administration. Faber's relief measures further include the expansion of USDA programs to purchase surplus commodities to offset supply chain disruption; redirecting food that might be destroyed toward food banks; and increasing the standard SNAP benefit (food stamps) by 15 percent. And, echoing Nahar, Faber also proposes adopting policies that will help to alleviate financial burdens faced by farmers and food suppliers, as well as offering subsidy support.</p><p>The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic group with 37 member countries, said that the pandemic "has laid bare pre-existing gaps in social protection systems" in a <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y2jp7zk9" target="_blank">report</a> published in June 2020. "While the impacts of COVID-19 are still unfolding, experience so far shows the importance of an open and predictable international trade environment to ensure food can move to where it is needed," the OECD report states. "The biggest risk for food security is not with food availability but with consumers' access to food: safety nets are essential to avoid an increase in hunger and food insecurity."</p>
<p>Another problem is the lack of media coverage about the food insecurity being witnessed around the world, particularly during the COVID-19 era. As the Economist recently <a href="https://espresso.economist.com/6d94f9a8ea3ab919370c4bbd22ce9956" target="_blank">pointed out</a>, journalists in 2020 "wrote more than 50,000 articles about the canceled Eurovision song contest, but only around 2,000 about drought and hunger in Zambia."</p><p>Fortunately, beyond the failings of a state-led response to the pandemic, some positives have emerged at a community level. With restaurants and supermarkets becoming less viable options, there has been a growth in demand and supply of local food. According to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-small-local-farms-food_n_5e86332cc5b6d302366ccdcc" target="_blank">HuffPost</a><em>,</em> farmers have seen "a massive rise in demand for local produce." The result of this trend is that consumers who are able to access local food are changing their behavior toward procurement and consumption of food permanently.</p>
<p>Things are changing on a federal level, too. In a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/dining/usda-food-policy-biden.html" target="_blank">article</a> about how the U.S. food system could be transformed during the Biden administration, New York Times food correspondent Kim Severson noted that "[h]unger relief is a pressing issue" for Tom Vilsack, who has been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/politics/tom-vilsack-confirmed-agriculture-secretary/index.html" target="_blank">confirmed</a> by the Senate to become the agriculture secretary in Biden's Cabinet, a job the former Iowa governor also held under the Obama administration. However, while Severson notes that Vilsack has his <a href="https://secure.everyaction.com/9xZA4zPWO0m7iAvPbf4H4A2" target="_blank">critics</a>, President Biden has already made changes at the top, signing an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/22/fact-sheet-president-bidens-new-executive-actions-deliver-economic-relief-for-american-families-and-businesses-amid-the-covid-19-crises/" target="_blank">executive order</a> meant to deliver relief to families and businesses amid the COVID-19 crisis, including "expanding and extending federal nutrition assistance programs" to "[a]ddress the growing hunger crisis facing 29 million Americans." His proposal to Congress includes a $3 billion package to "help women, infants and children get the food they need" and "access to nutritious food for millions of children missing meals due to school closures."</p><p>For meaningful reform to the food system to occur, change is going to have to happen at every level: from federal, state and local governments, to Big Ag, small farmers and everyday consumers. With the future looking ever more uncertain due to the climate crisis — one of President Biden's top priorities — adapting to new ways of producing and transporting food will be key to our survival.</p>
<p>Robin Scher is a writer based in South Africa. He is a graduate of the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University. Find him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/robscherhimself" target="_blank">@RobScherHimself</a>.<br/></p><p><em>T</em><em>his article first appeared on </em><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/pandemic-may-have-left-265-million-people-with-acute-food-shortages-in-2020" target="_blank"><em>Truthout</em></a><em> and was produced in partnership with </em><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Earth | Food | Life</em></a><em>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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- Three Ways to Support a Healthy Food System During the COVID ... ›
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Biden Admin Sets Interim Obama-Era 'Social Cost' Estimates for Greenhouse Pollution
01 March
Climate
The Biden administration is temporarily using Obama-era calculations of the "social cost" of three greenhouse gas pollutants while calculating a more accurate estimate. Bloomberg Creative / Getty Images
The Biden administration announced it will use Obama-era calculations of the "social cost" of three greenhouse gas pollutants while an interagency working group calculates a more complete estimate, the White House announced Friday.
<p>Often described as "the most important number you've never heard of," the "social cost" of greenhouse gases estimates the harms to society caused by each ton of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emitted into the atmosphere.</p><p> Those estimates are used across government in calculating the costs and benefits of proposed actions. </p><p>Though the administration did not specify the exact costs, multiple outlets report the interim estimate of the social cost of carbon will be approximately $51 per ton. </p>
<p>The interagency working group also set the social cost of methane, a far more potent heat trapping gas, at $1,500 per ton and at $18,000 for nitrous oxide, Politico reported. </p><p>The Trump administration had slashed those estimates to as low as $1 per ton for carbon dioxide and <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VWc3Ss16j4jqVWBHHP4LN2tpW5n2k0f4nF4btN52hRhc3p_97V1-WJV7Cg_0YW6pZTk92WhPGZW37hr0G4H1BjCW1hRCb65rgpCwW5Dp1C_38qPy9N2lz_9P4cjQTW2Q7ZGb2_Hr8KW7XqZ-N4MFD8BW54d7b08j9gc2W2wYlzG49736YW20Tf_B4_c467VM9dbX1KYGlgW2Ypf4p4TX1tHW4pSwzw2sW2ZXW4rbyBx4v8CkSW8l-CvK9043PvW96NMMm3WC-MKW1sXNd24n6KZDW8JVWhZ74_RjLW7y55q17qm1j0W7MnxFs7g-NvFN15zNdW7tZVVW29PxT_51Z0nqW3Nm3LL3t34rvW8-lpqK12JxWD320g1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$55</a> per ton for methane. </p><p>The final estimate for the social cost of carbon produced by the interagency working group could reach as high as $125 after accounting for scientific advances and climatic damage over the past four years but the Obama-era estimates were subject to extensive scientific and agency review and public comment, making them more likely to withstand legal challenges.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/02/26/biden-cost-climate-change/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--ZE8aiLDfC1QFojOTg1BB2q5abyDKJicVOMcpB29ATwGIsOANclRCPjAsgbaDQFGpYLjgqua9bYwI35knDuFvvTbqToMPVfnZasx76dmkrs1rhgKI&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-26/biden-turns-back-to-obama-era-method-of-valuing-climate-change?sref=oUjKJw8m&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_a7BG_sgkNJUhtT5UjieNfPpo4xMvuWivfjr9CdY0eWIJW8gCnms5cqr-8twjTAch6UPmHDprjCp7vh9lxWcKwErrkiyWwcehJTz9dxw8-kq4z2_s&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/26/biden-carbon-price-climate-change-471787?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--L7SQELIPyKsbRfozxkJC1QnfZGlSfYGpccTlJNPFW3VRPlcQNF_SiMojxDSE9bPd7f-o3IooLdGiROyX-P1mNnFNNE1V9h8P-IWpmsoi3D1s3Jj4&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Politico</a>, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/540754-biden-returns-to-obama-era-greenhouse-gas-calculation?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--O2t2RIGRoS4Bgo0jBxzJ5W6NFEPzX1h5n_kwd6gdEpPn6IxwmJsS7qbnOmpHLp9rdcI82BLrvjsUX-SRvXNjh1C94yIJpr6hD3RLXnyjSJz6Lc8g&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-13/why-biden-is-reviving-climate-change-s-magic-number-quicktake?sref=oUjKJw8m&utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--d2o4iO9QMaGPCI2xN2SNJYhDsfar9qIurb3_2HeXN4ulu5M5MEZvxFD5C1PeOVvFMUP8PeUI1h2M2UVk_qizhhKIQAH5EQqG9pKMbjC4B5GVuF_A&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2021/03/01/stories/1063726223?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--tuTQw9FQncUu6oCfAVaoAegk4MIV09o4wFpoRZsxYBieazAdsMd8nF5Gl6SVgeb3t3Hy_vRdhnRiIq8hqDZy97azF0GJGiHk5qHuMlUiOs75PX7s&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">E&E</a>, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26022021/carbon-cost-biden-climate-change/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_K9P-nN2bNBxNwHRPnnmOAoicP6nmjDyzwZ-GNWPDO9PBs4IXemV4weEB5doyxDn456PLZgjpZmNtnbDoAxTb8u_Pn88benWb0V9VE2noCMvstJMc&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">InsideClimate News</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AQ335?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--Xl9dS7eM0mLl-usTffaL0yg_eHxYvFxS2BDC41G3aqhae6FMlFj8ei_b3GshuaPtIUsIOotjSt1vezMMmvntWES5oTm0OyXgmFuzh3UQ5k3ExQoc&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/biden-matches-obamas-social-cost-of-carbon-for-now-its-a-figure-roughly-50-times-greater-than-trumps-11614380130?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9Oz_wuWo6RCfaqO4enpWn1xsDRPgxFl_q4pxfRGcBQW8rxoPB58Tz62_xHTOe-NwT3oW_jKrM96_Cq8pXEyuy9TdOZVpprDUBNLYcINWFWuHAyRS8&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">MarketWatch</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-social-cost-raised-by-biden/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113518301&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_ifIfvZnWIMu0aNfHhPZWpAGtI8MvaODgAzJ3YcSqC_dos4p6QduJShsXxWqlLOABHqQXwZSk3Dvk0y6v7Xpu4Agz_rpDGHuEkPsJ8jWqLCfT8ieE&utm_content=113518301&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">CBS</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>. </em></p>
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Posts about climate change will now automatically be labelled with an information banner that directs people to accurate climate science data at Facebook's Climate Science Information Center. Facebook
By Anne-Sophie Brändlin
Facebook has started tackling dangerous climate change myths and anti-environment propaganda that circulates among the platform's almost 3 billion monthly users.
<p>In a <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/connecting-people-with-credible-climate-change-information/" target="_blank">new trial</a> that was launched in the UK in late February, posts about climate change will now automatically be labelled with an information banner that directs people to accurate climate science data at the company's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/climatescienceinfo" target="_blank">Climate Science Information Center.</a></p><p>"We do recognize that we have a bigger role to play when it comes to informing people accurately about climate change," Alexandru Voica from Facebook's tech communication team told DW.</p><p>"This will make users more aware of what information they share," he said.</p><h2>Debunking Climate Myths</h2><p>The Climate Science Information Center, which uses research that has been vetted by leading scientific organizations, also has a climate-myth-busting unit that actively debunks false information circulating online.</p><p>It explains, for instance, that the decline of polar bear populations is actually caused by rising temperatures, that global warming is not just part of a natural cycle of temperature fluctuation and that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere harms Earth's plant life.</p><p>Misinformation about climate change is not new, but experts believe it has been greatly amplified in the new digital world, where the topic is increasingly polarizing.</p><p>"Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are the most relevant infrastructure for information these days," Markus Beckedahl, editor in chief of Netzpolitik, a German platform advocating the digital right to freedom, told DW.</p><p>"These companies have a monopoly and dominate the market when it comes to how people get informed, communicate and debate society. That's why they carry a huge responsibility."</p>
<h2>Fighting Climate Change Starts With Fighting Misinformation Around It</h2><p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gch2.201600008" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research</a> has shown that the best way to counteract the politicization of science is to convey the high-level consensus among experts about the reality of human‐caused climate change. </p><p>That's why Facebook's UK-based trial is putting short, corrective messages into posts containing climate-change misinformation. These messages include information like the fact that 97% of the world's scientific community agree that global warming is real and caused by humans.</p><p>Behavior and communication experts from George Mason University, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the University of Cambridge helped advise Facebook on how best to debunk such climate myths in a way that is tailored to the psychology of misinformation. Dr. Sander van der Linden is one of the experts behind the UK trial.</p><p>"One common error that we often see media outlets make, for instance, is to prominently repeat the myth in an attempt to debunk it. But that tends to strengthen people's mental associations with the myths and people kind of forget about the correction," van der Linden, who is a professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, told DW.</p><p>So instead of repeating the myths, they start by stating the facts.</p><p>The next step "is not to argue with people over the specifics, but to actually show what's misleading about the presentation of a particular argument and what the underlying technique is."</p>
<h2>Social Media Business Model a 'Catalyst for Misinformation'</h2><p>The Climate Science Information Center was launched in the US, Germany, the UK, and France last year and was just expanded to Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, India, Indonesia and Taiwan. If the UK trial goes well, these countries could see climate information banners and corrective message next, says Voica.</p><p>"We'll need to see the results from the UK tests first before we either expand the test or we make it into a real feature."</p><p>But for Markus Beckedahl, the climate misinformation trial comes years too late. He believes social media giants haven't done enough in the past years to combat misinformation. On the contrary, he says, they have actually promoted it through their own business model of collecting data and selling ads to keep people on the site.</p><p>"And the easiest way to do that is by showing content that creates emotions and anger. That's why disinformation and conspiracy theories have been shared and promoted massively on these sites in past years," he said.</p>
<h2>Opinion Loophole Makes Fact-Checking Even Harder</h2><p>Facebook has been coming under increasing pressure in recent years for failing to weed out false information, including myths about the climate crisis.</p><p>"The future of our planet is at stake, and there should be no company too big, too powerful, and too opaque to be held accountable for its role in the climate crisis. Facebook is no exception," U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and her colleagues <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-carper-whitehouse-schatz-call-on-mark-zuckerberg-and-facebook-to-stop-the-deliberate-spread-of-climate-disinformation-on-the-companys-social-media-platforms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote in a statement</a> last year.</p><p>One way the company tried to combat this problem is by outsourcing fact-checking to more than 80 independent organizations, including journalists who review and rate public Facebook and Instagram posts.</p><p>"Fact-checking posts is often very complex. There are some parts that are true, others that are not. So there is a need for explanation; this is why we need the expertise of journalists to do this work," Basak Tezcan, who leads Facebook's sustainability team in Germany, told DW.</p><p>Content that has been rated false or altered will be labelled and will be limited in its distribution. It won't be deleted, though, unless it contributes to "the risk of imminent violence or physical harm," according to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/help/315131736305613?id=673052479947730&recommended_by=2593586717571940" target="_blank">Facebook's Community Guidelines</a>.</p><p>Here's the catch, though: "The fact-checking program is not meant to interfere with individual expression or debate," which means that opinion and speech from politicians, for example, isn't necessarily subjected to a fact check.</p><p>This has led to a backlash from climate activists, saying the policy is a huge loophole for climate change deniers.</p>
<h2>Pre-Bunking Instead of Debunking</h2><p>Considering the risk to society of climate misinformation, Van der Linden believes Facebook's climate misinformation trial is at least a small step in the right direction.</p><p>In the future, van der Linden hopes Facebook will work not just on debunking, but also "pre-bunking." In his <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gch2.201600008" target="_blank">previous research</a> he has found that facts about scientific consensus can also be used to "pre-bunk" – pre-emptively debunk – the public against climate misinformation.</p><p>"Once people are exposed to a falsehood already, it's so much more difficult to undo the damage. So the better thing is a pre-bunk."</p><p>Another question is whether, as Beckedahl sees it, tech giants will agree to give independent scientists and government agencies access to their internal data so they can better understand how misinformation and climate myths spread exactly and what impact this has on society and our planet.</p><p><span></span>"Right now, it's a big black box, and the only ones who know what's really going on are the tech giants themselves — and they won't share their information. And that's a huge and dangerous asymmetry of power."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/facebook-launches-climate-project-to-tackle-misinformation/a-56713217" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>
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A bridge over the Delaware river connects New Hope, Pennsylvania with Lambertville, New Jersey. Richard T. Nowitz / Getty Images
In a historic move, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voted Thursday to ban hydraulic fracking in the region. The ban was supported by all four basin states — New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York — putting a permanent end to hydraulic fracking for natural gas along the 13,539-square-mile basin, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
<p>The vote affirms a 2010 moratorium by the DRBC, an agency that manages the water. Pressured by environmental groups, commissioners used their authority to safeguard public and environmental health and limit future pollution, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.</p><p>"Today's decision is a historic watershed moment and one that will significantly contribute to a clean energy future," Patrick Grenter, associate director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2021/02/fracking-outlawed-delaware-river-basin-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in a statement</a>. "Fracking threatens the health of our people, water, climate, and communities and we're relieved to see it outlawed in the Delaware River Basin."</p><p>Fracking for natural gas involves blasting high volumes of pressurized water and chemicals into rock formations. This has led to contaminated water wells, while wastewater spills have transmitted radioactive materials into surface and groundwater, <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2021/02/25/delaware-river-basin-commission-votes-to-ban-fracking-in-the-watershed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">StateImpact Pennsylvania reported</a>. These pollutants and chemicals are linked to cancers and other health issues in humans and wildlife, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/marisa-guerrero/fracking-banned-delaware-river-basin" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NRDC reported</a>. </p><p>If fracking were to be allowed in the Delaware River Basin, these same impacts could affect the 17 million people that rely on the basin for drinking water, putting 45,000 people who live within a mile of the planned fracking well locations at high risk for those health problems, the NRDC added. The basin is also a critical habitat for one of the most important fisheries in the country, home to diverse species such as native trout, American eels and bald eagles.</p>
<p>The debate on fracking in the region began over a decade ago. During Pennsylvania's natural gas boom, commissioners expressed concern over the high quantity of basin water required to support it, StateImpact Pennsylvania found.</p>
<p>In response, the DRBC imposed a fracking moratorium in 2010, but never finalized drilling regulations, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Supporters of basin drilling argued that the commission did not have the authority to regulate drilling, StateImpact Pennsylvania noted. </p><p>Despite yesterday's vote, the ban still faces opposition. </p><p>Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Gene Barr said that the votes by New York, New Jersey and Delaware did not have Pennsylvania's "best interests in mind," StateImpact Pennsylvania reported. </p>
<p>"There is no support to any claim that drilling results in widespread impacts to drinking water, rivers or groundwater," <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fracking-ban-vote-delaware-river-16dbb425b97cff0fb6f10186b0a2bae8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Barr told AP</a>. "This was a political decision uninformed by science."</p>
<p>Last month, State Sens. Gene Yaw (R., Lycoming) and Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne) and the Pennsylvania Republican Caucus said the moratorium, now a ban, "amounts to an illegal taking of property from Pennsylvania owners of mineral rights and from taxing authorities," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.</p>
<p>While Thursday's fracking ban could be seen as a promising sign for reducing fossil fuel reliance, the Biden team will face challenges addressing the climate crisis without also slashing jobs in an industry that accounts for a significant amount of U.S. employment. </p>
<p>For the time being, environmental groups are celebrating a rare climate victory. </p><p>"Banning fracking in the Delaware River Basin is an historic event," the NRDC added, crediting years of hard-fought advocacy by environmental groups and activists alike. "It marks a commitment to protecting human and environmental health — not just for those who depend on the Delaware River, but for an entire planet threatened by climate change."</p>
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An oil pumpjack is seen in a Texas cotton field against a backdrop of wind energy. ChrisBoswell / Getty Images
Many congressional districts with the most clean energy potential are current fossil fuel hubs, potentially reducing political barriers to a just transition away from the energy sources that cause climate change, a Brookings report says.
<p>Of the 155 congressional districts with high renewable energy potential, 91 are currently represented by a Republican.</p><p>Although fossil fuel companies have laid off well over 100,000 workers in the last year alone, in some cases while their executives raked in <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/MVY1h1-_RTJN7mQ5ZLkJ0w4W3fCDQw4nwFmrMQqrWk3p_9LV1-WJV7CgLcCV2Df3L1V8BtsW2_x6NM3601T9W5c5Qtv1W8mMBW74KJT267rhm4W17YTpJ8p5pTPW6kyj365Dcpr0W84Kmdm5JDgWFN8w9R8dmmRHNW3QMyqv4jhm4BN3W2BvyqbzFjW4CCrmM8WKztLW8YKVFK6vCrRLW3nCpt375_vHRW2sDJXQ1R8Kc4W8lQ9pd8M5g2HW2f1fnZ5F_X1PW6F98Pr8kHHRSW3b9jnl6hY8MvW1RmG5X8ysxJ0W2cRmR06xHGjfW6FqMSC6pd4yNW8Gn8zS5rfsl9W3XfPnx4zdZgVVjgcXV4b1fyyW4llG__99Vgp2W48Ds8c5QqTfYW3CwWFf5tS3Q2W96QcZ99487Rr31Ng1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bonuses funded by government bailouts</a>, the Brookings researchers describe a fear of transitioning to renewable energy in geographically concentrated regions and communities historically dominated by the fossil fuel industry. </p><p>The Brookings report did not address the billions of dollars spent by fossil fuel companies over decades to deny the science of climate change and fund politicians who support their industries. </p><p>While many workers in the fossil fuel industry are finding <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/MVY1h1-_RTJN7mQ5ZLkJ0w4W3fCDQw4nwFmrMQqrTy5nxG7V3Zsc37CgL8bW40b_lj927k13W7BcJZT8BqWSMW3tbhQG4bHXgFW639_Rf3s01YkW1bcZZ55dDP_PW5sqqPG6HcmKgN3ZmLcg9KXlDW9fDBRM4d8ls6W6c6tr62qqs6LW50t0NS2WVbq3N7XF1wXYV06kW7_Fh133KRKM8W5Z2j8k3PNYKmW3j7RDX1SBHYBW5D7SM44RNQL4W71Pf2Z7bWdt6V1SGF85j4knsW5ZdjY673mNQGW6vP-_G4dRgFsVjntSb6LHB7pW5gxjl28rpMVtW6xjfx21t26zKW6VNVL68Mng3TN64Mq75nctXmW2xS4BD7N0tXkW49tMfh5fQGRkW4NQskf7BkRkHW5x5BdW7CzVKNW7-HWBP5HnvCTW3vb3D55RC2_3W3tyYzP78jh4wW8vNy9y6k4D863nqX1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">their skills transfer easily</a> to renewable energy, oil and gas workers could also be employed plugging orphaned wells, which leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and other pollutants.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p>Brookings: <a href="https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2021/02/25/stories/1063725859?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113098412&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-839hnX7b4zvCuqLUebVBKHK2HmH_2m8irPUGeEuycSZygZjz_VnUscwzq9nRj6WUpT1dNLTFsa-40M5MyUjMRwCs0j3w3Rs855EyCa7x_gAR9tTT0&utm_content=113098412&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">E&E</a>, <a href="https://www.axios.com/clean-energy-jobs-transition-biden-c656cb47-fe7e-4a8c-9737-981e006aff6f.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113098412&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-820Rqwn19yHmMV1VXr5zuWUaA-6TDDux8h9pANCdwtRhxc1z_MdVhdY31lRccPdnX-I5iaExEyGuZyPUBiHzAnGEPeejcUei8O-dxiI8GSKaM4iNU&utm_content=113098412&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Axios</a>; Bonuses: <a href="https://bailoutwatch.org/analysis/bailed-out-oil-firms-lay-off-workers?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113098412&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9u3p0E67jWSCvYD7I-2YFDhEp58vEJzLASuQGVA_qPbufk2qtOPkaRawD25U7NHyobohaYbVYDBBfVGhmzqNRKbEDNNbRvanzDupjNjauDi0ddZWM&utm_content=113098412&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">BailoutWatch</a>; Orphaned Wells: <a href="https://www.kxan.com/weather/weather-blog/curbing-climate-change-while-also-putting-unemployed-oil-gas-workers-back-to-work/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113098412&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-89DPzr9Bwxk-sF9J39afc8oKu10cH4J_RQhKymU3VaHOTdmij2mnhRByaaz24lZD0thps-E4K4IDbaBotigWb2c4l9MRB_1lVfJVGNDTzr2br-O4A&utm_content=113098412&utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">KXAN</a><br/></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, sign up for daily </em><a href="https://www.linktrack.live/hot-news-sign-up" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>, and visit their news site, </em><a href="https://nexusmedianews.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Nexus Media News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Could a 'Digital Twin of Earth’ Help Scientists Predict the Future of Climate Change?
25 February
Science
A "digital twin of Earth." European Space Agency
As the weather grows more severe, and its damages more expensive and fatal, current weather predictions fall short in providing reliable information on Earth's rapidly changing systems.
<p>That's why a team of European scientists and ETH Zurich computer scientists are putting their heads together to "marry" the earth sciences and computer sciences to create a "<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-00986-y?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nclimate%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+Climate+Change+-+Issue%29" target="_blank">digital twin of Earth</a>." The simulation will provide an information system for scientists and policymakers to test scenarios with different sustainable development options, <a href="https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/02/a-highly-accurate-digital-twin-of-our-planet.html" target="_blank">ETH Zurich reported</a>.</p><p>"If you are planning a two-metre high dike in The Netherlands, for example, I can run through the data in my digital twin and check whether the dike will in all likelihood still protect against expected extreme events in 2050," Peter Bauer, deputy director for Research at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and co-initiator of the project Destination Earth, told ETH Zurich.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a> events have been on the rise, according to a <a href="https://www.undrr.org/news/drrday-un-report-charts-huge-rise-climate-disasters" target="_blank">report by the United Nations</a>. From 2000 to 2019, 1.23 million people were killed by 7,348 major natural disasters. Twenty years before that, in comparison, there were 4,212 natural disasters, killing 1.19 million. This increase comes with a heavy price tag. Extreme natural weather cost $2.97 trillion in global economic losses in the past two decades, compared to the $1.63 trillion, two decades prior.</p><p>These numbers are expected to grow, urging researchers to design large-scale policy solutions across nations.</p><p>As part of their plans to become climate neutral by 2050, the European Union launched the Destination Earth initiative to track and plan for the future of extreme weather, monitor the health of the planet and support and inform EU environmental policy, according to a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/destination-earth-destine" target="_blank">EU policy report</a>.</p>
<p>In an effort to advance the "digital revolution of earth-system sciences" a team of scientists and researchers, including Bauer looked at the steady advancement of weather models since the 1940s, <a href="https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/02/a-highly-accurate-digital-twin-of-our-planet.html" target="_blank">ETH Zurich reported</a>. Their <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-021-00023-0" target="_blank">paper</a> was published Monday in <em>Nature Computational Science.</em></p><p>The climate problem is a complex one, requiring weather predictors to cover more than just local regions, but encompass the "complex processes of the entire Earth system," ETH Zurich reported. Yet, while their findings are not meant to "invalidate the steady progress achieved in weather prediction over the past decades," the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-021-00023-0" target="_blank">authors stress</a> the urgent need to develop a "high resolution" and "more realistic representation" of Earth's changing atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, land surfaces and biosphere.</p>
<p>"We are willfully destructive," Mami Mizutori, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction <a href="https://www.undrr.org/news/drrday-un-report-charts-huge-rise-climate-disasters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in a statement</a> about the UN report on natural disasters. "Disaster risk is becoming systemic with one event overlapping and influencing another in ways that are testing our resilience to the limit. The odds are being stacked against us when we fail to act on science and early warnings to invest in prevention, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction."</p><p>While the "digital twin of Earth" model is a bold step forward, it is necessary to ensure nations are prepared to handle the future of extreme weather, the authors wrote.</p><p>"The apparent effects of climate change on our environment — in particular on the frequency of occurrence and the intensity of environmental extremes — require urgent political response and much faster progress in delivering skillful predictions of future change," the authors wrote.</p>
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Melting ice in places such as Greenland could stop a critical ocean current. Paul Souders / Getty Images
The climate crisis could push an important ocean current past a critical tipping point sooner than expected, new research suggests.
<p>The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) helps move heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, and is one of the reasons why Europe has relatively mild winters, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/a-major-ocean-current-might-be-on-the-verge-of-a-climate-change-tipping-point" target="_blank">Science Alert explained</a>. However, the current has begun slowing down in recent years, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientists</a> want to know what it would take for the current to stop. A study published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/9/e2017989118" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday</a> calculates that this moment could come sooner than expected.</p><p>"It is worrying news. Because if this is true, it reduces our safe operating space," Johannes Lohmann of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen and study co-author said in a <a href="https://www.tipes.dk/steady-now-unfortunate-timing-and-rate-of-change-may-be-enough-to-tip-a-climate-system/" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>Essentially, the new findings come down to timing. The AMOC is threatened by increasing freshwater into the North Atlantic as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greenland" target="_self">Greenland</a> ice sheet melts. A certain amount of freshwater will cause the current to stop. But Lohmann wanted to test what would happen if that water were added quickly instead of gradually.</p><p>"These tipping points have been shown previously in climate models, where meltwater is very slowly introduced into the ocean," Lohmann told <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/a-major-ocean-current-may-be-hurtling-towards-collapse-1846337333" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>. "In reality, increases in meltwater from Greenland are accelerating and cannot be considered slow."</p>
<p>So researchers used an ocean model called Veros to calculate when the current would stop if freshwater were gradually added, the press release explained. Researchers then added freshwater at increased rates and found that quickly added freshwater would stop currents before reaching the initial freshwater threshold.</p><p>This has serious implications for the AMOC current itself. If it were to completely halt, tropical monsoon patterns would shift, rainfall in the Northern Hemisphere would decrease and the North Atlantic would get stormier. It also raises concerns about other climate tipping points, such as polar ice sheets collapsing or the Amazon rainforest drying out. If the AMOC can stop before the previously calculated tipping point is reached, is the same true for other systems?</p><p>"The results show that the safe operating space of elements of the Earth system with respect to future emissions might be smaller than previously thought," the study authors wrote.</p>
<p>However, outside scientists urged caution. Dave Sutherland, an associate professor in Earth sciences at the University of Oregon, told Gizmodo that the findings were important and timely, but that the models did not take all details into account, such as the location of the meltwater entering the ocean from Greenland.</p><p>Lohmann agreed that more testing is needed, but also pressed the urgency of climate action.</p><p>"Due to the potentially increased risk of abrupt climate change in parts of the Earth system that we show in our research, it is important that policymakers keep pushing for ambitious short- and mid-term climate targets to slow down the pace of climate change, especially in vulnerable places like the Arctic," Lohmann told Gizmodo.</p>
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