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[grupo] 01/11/2018 11:25

Yuan some water?
Meanwhile, Greenland might have another natural resource that could be of interest to China.

Climate change has led to inland glaciers melting at growing rates, which has led to more and more clean drinking water flowing down from the ice caps.

Greenland’s government has unveiled plans to utilise the trend and capitalise on China’s massive consumption of bottled drinking water.

The minister for industry and energy, Aqqalu Jerimiassen, is in China this week to promote Greenlandic ice water, which is considered to be some of the cleanest in the world – having been frozen in the inland ice for up to 50,000 years.

The combination of the cold climate and little human contact means that the spread of bacteria in the water has been minimal.

“The water is naturally sterile,” Jerimiassen told Politiken newspaper.

The government has commissioned the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) to locate areas suitable to tap and produce the clean water.

So far, six areas on the western coast of the island have been discovered – one of which has already yielded a licence to the firm, Inland Ice. The five others will be sent for a bidding round later on. All six sources live up to EU standards for clean drinking water.

[grupo] 01/11/2018 11:25

Yuan some water?
Meanwhile, Greenland might have another natural resource that could be of interest to China.

Climate change has led to inland glaciers melting at growing rates, which has led to more and more clean drinking water flowing down from the ice caps.

Greenland’s government has unveiled plans to utilise the trend and capitalise on China’s massive consumption of bottled drinking water.

The minister for industry and energy, Aqqalu Jerimiassen, is in China this week to promote Greenlandic ice water, which is considered to be some of the cleanest in the world – having been frozen in the inland ice for up to 50,000 years.

The combination of the cold climate and little human contact means that the spread of bacteria in the water has been minimal.

“The water is naturally sterile,” Jerimiassen told Politiken newspaper.

The government has commissioned the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) to locate areas suitable to tap and produce the clean water.

So far, six areas on the western coast of the island have been discovered – one of which has already yielded a licence to the firm, Inland Ice. The five others will be sent for a bidding round later on. All six sources live up to EU standards for clean drinking water.

[ariane] 01/11/2018 08:13

Climate change: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'
By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent



The world has seriously underestimated the amount of heat soaked up by our oceans over the past 25 years, researchers say.

Their study suggests that the seas have absorbed 60% more than previously thought.

They say it means the Earth is more sensitive to fossil fuel emissions than estimated.

This could make it much more difficult to to keep global warming within safe levels this century.

[sarkasm] 27/10/2018 11:17

Germany Releases Strategic Fuel Reserve to Cope With Record Drought
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08:11 27.10.2018(updated 08:12 27.10.2018) Get short URL
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Record-low water levels in the Rhine have severely disrupted oil shipments across the country.

The German government has authorized the use of strategic oil reserves in order to mitigate the consequences of a record drought that has hit the Rhine area in the last few weeks. Thanks to the record-low water levels in the river, the nation's internal deliveries of oil have been severely disrupted, says a report by Phys.org.

Months of scarce precipitation and hot sunny weather has driven the water level to such a low mark that German barges have either dramatically reduced their load in order to simply stay afloat or halted their service altogether. On Friday, Cologne reported a water level of just 73 centimeters.

Ramstein Air Base, Germany
© Photo: Airman 1st Class Kenny Holston, U.S. Air Force
German Politicians Raise Issue of Ban on US Missiles in Germany – Russian Envoy
While the railroad is able to deliver a certain amount of oil to customers, it is not nearly enough to compensate for the decreased river traffic.

According to German law, the government is authorized to tap the strategic reserve of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to "relieve a local crisis situation."

This is only the fourth time the government has done it in 40 years, Wirtschaftswoche magazine says.

As for the "local" part, the affected region stretches from Hesse to Frankfurt and then to Baden-Wuerttemberg, bordering the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland.

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An oil tanker is seen off the port of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran (File)
© AFP 2018 / ATTA KENARE
Iranian Oil to Be Available for Intl Traders at Energy Bourse - Reports
However, an economy ministry spokeswoman told reporters that the measure is only temporary and that it is "specifically aimed" at certain areas and that Germany is not facing a "long-term crisis."

According to Phys.org, German ingustrial giants Thyssenkrupp and BASF had to cut back production dut to "limited deliveries" or raw materials, while RWE energy group is struggling to supply the Hamm power plant with coal.

Other rivers have suffered because of the drought too, the report says, but without providing further details.

[ariane] 26/10/2018 08:50

News

East coast towns will be ‘given up to the sea’


Jillian Ambrose

25 October 2018 • 11:38pm

Around 90 miles of English coastline should be left to fall into the sea because the small communities there are not worth saving from climate change, government advisers have said.

Small towns along England’s east coast are likely to be abandoned to rising sea levels within the lifetime of the children living there today, said the Committee on Climate Change.

Sea levels could rise by more than 3ft by 2080, which would bring flooding for coastal residents, as well as 1,000 miles of major roads, 400 miles of railway line and 55 legacy landfill sites.

The warning of “tough choices” ahead for coastal communities emerged in a report that shows the cost of keeping the sea at bay will outweigh the benefit of saving small towns or low-grade farmland.


It could cost up to £30 billion to shore up the defences of the 1.2 million homes at risk of being submerged or washed away as sea levels rise.

For some communities the eye-watering price to keep rising waters at bay would not be a government investment worth making, the climate experts said.

“It’s time people woke up to the very real challenges ahead,” said Prof Jim Hall, the committee’s adaptation expert.
The sea defences at Happisburgh, north Norfolk have been failing over recent years
The sea defences at Happisburgh, north Norfolk have been failing over recent years Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty

He said the “complex patchwork” of local council plans and legislation are “optimistic221; and will not be enough to save many communities that wrongly assume that they are protected.

In addition, house prices do not fully reflect the risk to which many homeowners are exposed, meaning property prices in affected areas could slump. Instead, the committee said realistic plans need to be made to manage a retreat from areas that will not be able to justify funding a rescue.

“The Government and local authorities need to talk honestly with those affected about the difficult choices they face. Climate change is not going away: action is needed now to improve the way England’s coasts are managed today and in the future,” he said.

The committee declined to comment on which areas fall within the 90 miles of ill-fated coast. However, areas most at risk of flooding and erosion lie along Kent, East Anglia and parts of Devon. The teetering cliff-top homes in the small Norfolk towns of Hemsby and Happisburgh are already uninhabitable despite government spending of around £260 million across England every year to keep the waves at bay.

The doomed towns are likely to follow the plight of the coastal town in Fairbourne in Wales, which has already been earmarked as a place that should be abandoned to the sea. Its 1,000 residents were stunned by a report that recommended that the town be “decommissioned”.

That shock report triggered plummeting property prices and the threat of legal action by residents against its authors.


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[waldron] 16/10/2018 16:44

TRUMP SAYS




Trump: Climate change scientists have 'political agenda'

15 October 2018

Donald Trump has said he does believe the climate is changing

US President Donald Trump has accused climate change scientists of having a "political agenda" as he cast doubt on whether humans were responsible for the earth's rising temperatures.

But Mr Trump also said he no longer believed climate change was a hoax.

The comments, made during an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, come less than a week after climate scientists issued a final call to halt rising temperatures.

The world's leading scientists agree that climate change is human-induced.

[la forge] 08/10/2018 10:12

UN climate panel says ‘unprecedented changes’ needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C
UN climate panel says ‘unprecedented changes’ needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C
By agency reporter
October 8, 2018
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Limiting global warming to 1.5°C will require “far-reaching and unprecedented changes”, such as ditching coal for electricity to slash carbon emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said, launching a special report that finds some of the actions needed are already under way, but the world must move faster.

The IPCC, the United Nations top climate panel, issued the report from Incheon, Republic of Korea, where for the past week, hundreds of scientists and government representatives have been pouring over thousands of inputs to paint a picture of what could happen to the planet and its inhabitants with global warming of 1.5°C (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

“One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes,” said Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of one of the IPCC Working Groups.

The landmark Paris Agreement adopted in december 2015 by 195 nations at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) included the aim of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change by “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”

Tweeting shortly after the report was launched UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that it is not impossible to limit global warming to 1.5°C, according to the report. But it will require unprecedented and collective climate action in all areas. There is no time to waste.

The report highlights a number of climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C, or more.

For instance, by 2100, global sea level rise would be 10 cm lower with global warming of 1.5°C compared with 2°C. The likelihood of an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice in summer would be once per century with global warming of 1.5°C, compared with at least once per decade with 2°C. Moreover, coral reefs, already threatened, would decline by 70-90 percent with global warming of 1.5°C, whereas virtually all (> 99 percent) would be lost with 2°C, according to the report.

“Every extra bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5°C or higher increases the risk associated with long-lasting or irreversible changes, such as the loss of some ecosystems,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II.

“Limiting warming to 1.5°C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes”, said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III.

With that in mind, the report calls for huge changes would in land, energy, industry, buildings, transportation and cities. Global net emissions of carbon dioxide would need to fall by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach "net zero" around 2050.

Allowing the global temperature to temporarily exceed or ‘overshoot’ 1.5ºC would mean a greater reliance on techniques that remove CO2 from the air to return global temperature to below 1.5°C by 2100.

But the report warns that “the effectiveness of such techniques are unproven at large scale and some may carry significant risks for sustainable development.”

“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared with 2°C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being, making it easier to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said Priyardarshi Shukla, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III, referring to the 17 Goals adopted by UN Member States three years ago to protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

The new report will feed into a process called the ‘Talanoa Dialogue,’ in which parties to the Paris accord will take stock of what has been accomplished over the past three years. The dialogue will be a part of the next UNFCCC conference of States parties, known by the shorthand COP 24, which will meet in Katowice, Poland, this December.

* The IPCC report can be accessed here

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