WTF Climate Change News

[Isabeau]

My brother and sil are there right now. Or at least, close by in Ehrenberg for Skooliepalooza. He isn’t at all a Libertarian guns/anti govt freedumb type, but I don’t think he realizes the extent of how these communities affect the surroundings. I mean he does a little. He’s seen the underbelly of “van life” this past year, and how it impacts the environment they’re driving through… they’ve been a little disillusioned by it all. Maybe he just pushes these thoughts aside. Anyway, I shouldn’t speak for him, but will send him these articles.

 

[Grandma Bates]

Yes, but I think the point is that, whatever the rights and wrongs of the individual case, the underlying problem is that, because of the climate crisis, the Colorado River basin is increasingly unable to support the region's demands for water.


Doubtless their community's imprudence has greatly exacerbated the problem for the residents of Rio Verde Foothills in particular, but the underlying problem is that, because of the drought, there's a lot less water available than people planned for.

I briefly lived in Utah and saw so much of this kind of nonsense that as soon as I started reading the article I assumed that there was more going on. The Mountain West is clearly going through many changes, and it is entering a dry period that will require massive changes. As long as there have been people in that area, though, water has been a limiting factor. When the LDS settlers first arrived there they had to create water compacts to share water. The plans for further settlement that were drawn up by James Powell were inspired by the practices of the LDS Church, and required agreements about sharing water resources. This has always been a priority in that region.

The area is also filled with lazy libertarians who think they are taking principled stands against government interference with their lives, but they are the first to complain when the government's fire suppression efforts are not aggressive enough or they are no longer able to exploit BLM land because they ravaged what they were given for free. These people had many options to get water, but they require long term planning and communal action. Had they simply payed taxes and agreed to act responsibly they would not be in this position.

There is a climate crisis, and it is going to hit the Mountain West particularly hard. Unfortunately, local governments have not addressed the upcoming issues, and things are going to get worse. This particular case is the leading edge of that event, but it could have been easily avoided. The real pain and impact is yet to come.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

As the Guardian article concludes,

Now, as rain is scarcer and the region’s population has increased, there will be more water shortages, even as sprawling developments insist on golf courses, grassy parks and fountains.

Even in Rio Verde Foothills new home construction carries on apace, while the water is not there to support expansion.

The community’s plight, Eberle warned, is “sort of a canary in a coalmine”.

I've long thought that building large cities in deserts and semi-deserts can't be a very good idea, any more than were Stalin's attempts to overcome the constraints imposed by Russia's geography and climate through scientific socialist planning.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Loss of tiny organisms hurts ocean, fishing, scientists say

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The warming of the waters off the East Coast has come at an invisible, but very steep cost — the loss of microscopic organisms that make up the base of the ocean's food chain.

apnews.com

Even in the midst of a ecological disaster for the entire planet, the author of this article is clutching his pearls over "this is bad for business!!!".

The loss of the tiny organisms has the ability to disrupt valuable fishing industries for species such as lobsters and scallops, and it could further jeopardize imperiled animals such as North Atlantic right whales and Atlantic puffins, scientists said.

(emphasis mine)

 

[Grandma Bates]

As the Guardian article concludes,



I've long thought that building large cities in deserts and semi-deserts can't be a very good idea, any more than were Stalin's attempts to overcome the constraints imposed by Russia's geography and climate through scientific socialist planning.

One of the things I find frustrating from those sort of articles is the focus on off repercussions rather than big, immediate issues. In this case a bigger story is that Scottsdale did nothing about an irresponsible community until it was forced by new state regulations to define contingency plans for the impending crisis. The city of Scottsdale did nothing until now even though the situations at Lake Meade and Lake Powell have been a slow motion disaster. The current estimates indicate a reprieve for this year, but the long term trends have been horrible.

Not to worry. To no one's surprise it appears that there is no situation so bad that rapacious financiers cannot make it worse:

New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights, betting big on an increasingly scarce resource

Investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West. For some, that's concerning.

www.cbsnews.com

Literally, business as usual.

 

[Soen Eber]

One of the things I find frustrating from those sort of articles is the focus on off repercussions rather than big, immediate issues. In this case a bigger story is that Scottsdale did nothing about an irresponsible community until it was forced by new state regulations to define contingency plans for the impending crisis. The city of Scottsdale did nothing until now even though the situations at Lake Meade and Lake Powell have been a slow motion disaster. The current estimates indicate a reprieve for this year, but the long term trends have been horrible.

Not to worry. To no one's surprise it appears that there is no situation so bad that rapacious financiers cannot make it worse:

New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights, betting big on an increasingly scarce resource

Investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West. For some, that's concerning.

www.cbsnews.com

Literally, business as usual.

This is why we set up the Great Lakes compact several decades ago.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Jordan Peterson’s ‘zombie’ climate contrarianism follows a well-worn path | Temperature Check

The psychologist has turned his hand to exposing new audiences to old arguments from climate change deniers

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The perfect storm: the US city where rising sea levels and racism collide

Cross-currents of denialism, boosterism, broken governance systems and deep-seated racism will meet with rapidly accelerating sea level rise

www.theguardian.com

 

[Rose Karuna]

This was insane. This is where I used to live before relocating in 2019 and even during the worst hurricanes, we never got flood water like this. My former neighbor told me that her garage and house were flooded. (This means that if my husband and I still lived there we would have been flooded, we lived 10 minutes away from the airport).

Irony, I was regretting moving to central Florida partly because we got badly flooded by Hurricane Ian. Ruined our yard, barn, pond and my garden but never got in our house (40K in damage). If I'd still been in Fort Lauderdale, it would have been inside the house. So.. I guess we dodged a bullet. In any case, this is a One in One Thousand year storm. We are seeing a lot more of this because of climate change.

Fort Lauderdale faces chance of more rain Friday as devastating floods force hundreds of residents into emergency shelters | CNN

More storms could strike South Florida on Friday after monumental flooding wreaked havoc on Fort Lauderdale and surrounding communities, closing schools and government buildings and sending hundreds of residents to seek refuge at emergency shelters.

www.cnn.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

tl:dw - The dip in particulate emissions during the global pandemic shutdown may have triggered a tipping point for methane emissions from thawing permafrost. But don't let this ominous feedback loop stop us from drastically cutting back on CO2 emissions because that strategy is still the only hope we have.

 

[Beebo Brink]

This was insane. This is where I used to live before relocating in 2019 and even during the worst hurricanes, we never got flood water like this. My former neighbor told me that her garage and house were flooded.

 

[Beebo Brink]

 

[Beebo Brink]

More on the Asian heat wave.

Severe heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close

A severe heatwave has swept across much of Asia, causing deaths and school closures in India and record-breaking temperatures in China.

Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, described the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”.

In China, local media reported that record temperatures for April had been observed in many locations, including Chengdu, Zhejiang, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other areas of the Yangtze River delta region.

 

[Beebo Brink]

After all that heat, time for news from the colder areas of the globe. (Also not good news, but you knew that already.)

A once-stable glacier in Greenland is now rapidly disappearing

As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, one of Greenland's previously most stable glaciers is now retreating at an unprecedented rate, according to a new study.

phys.org

 

[Beebo Brink]

 

[Beebo Brink]

There's always a silver lining in even the worst catastrophe.

Armadillo invasion: Why the creatures are rapidly moving north

Don't be surprised if you spot an armadillo in Iowa or North Carolina.

www.axios.com

 

[Casey Pelous]

There's always a silver lining in even the worst catastrophe.

Armadillo invasion: Why the creatures are rapidly moving north

Don't be surprised if you spot an armadillo in Iowa or North Carolina.

www.axios.com

Not sure I'm seeing the silver lining there ....

 

[WolfEyes]

Dillos have been migrating further north for a few decades now so for some of us, this doesn't come as a surprise. I was seeing them in TN in the early 90s.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Not sure I'm seeing the silver lining there ....

HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE ARMADILLOS!! YOU SOCIOPATH!!!

 

[Erich Templar]

There's always a silver lining in even the worst catastrophe.

Armadillo invasion: Why the creatures are rapidly moving north

Don't be surprised if you spot an armadillo in Iowa or North Carolina.

www.axios.com

On the other hand...

Apocalypse Sow: Can Anything Stop the Feral Hog Invasion?

They’ve overrun nearly the entire state, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage annually in spite of widespread attempts at eradication—including traps, contraceptives, and a heavily armed Ted Nugent.

www.texasmonthly.com