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TEEC
Temple Energy & Environment Committee
NEWS and LINKS
"Today the planet is warming 10 times faster
than anytime in the last 65 million years
and we are living through the sixth mass extinction of life."
But another world is still within reach. One where we protect the living world, thrive in harmony with nature, We can get there -- but with deadlines this urgent, we need a surge of people-power unlike anything we've done before."
COP 27 UN Conference on Climate Change
November. 6 -22 in Egypt
" COP 27 held high-level and side events, key negotiations, and press conferences, hosting more than 100 Heads of State and Governments, over 35,000 participants "
Although the long sought reparation commitments from developed nations to help vulnerable undeveloped countries cope wth the climate catastrophes they are experiencing was a hard fought victory at the conference. But it was far from what is needed.
"Progress on eliminating fossil fuel useage - the key to slowing climate change - again seemed beyond the international community"
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop27
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The COP 26 UN Conference on Climate Change
in Scotland - 10/31 - 11/12/21
COP 26 is a ‘minute to midnight moment,’ U.K.’s Johnson says.
"G-20 must lead efforts to reduce emissions", UN’s Guterres says
"Biden: ‘None of us can escape the worst that’s yet to come if we fail to seize this moment".
President Biden also told delegates that there is only a “brief window left to rise to meet the task that’s rapidly narrowing.”
He said this would be the “decisive decade” in which to prove that the goal of limiting global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius could be met."
The International Energy Agency announced that pledges made by governments to cut carbon and methane emissions could limit global warming to 1.8 degrees Celsius, or just over 3 degrees Fahrenheit, this century. But 1.5 degrees Celsius is the LIMIT we need to not exceed for us to not have climate change become completely and unimaginably catastrophic. And we are already beyond that TOP LIMIT!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/11/02/biden-methane-rule-epa/
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3/15/22 - The Enormous Conger Ice Shelf Collapsed Off Eastern Antarctica,
The Size of Los Angeles
At 460 square miles, that massive ice shelf collapse shocked scientiests who were convinced of the solidity and stability of the eastern side of the Antarctic ice shelves. It is a strong indication of the impact of global warming, particularly since it happened during a heat wave when the temperature
rose to 40 degrees above normal.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/25/1088840912/antarctica-ice-shelf-collapses
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In 2021 - 1/3 of Pakistan Was Underwater
Followed By an Unbearable
"Heat Apocalypse"
Deadly flooding throughout 1/3 of the country from rains 508% beyond the norm
was followed by "51 days straight of 100 degrees Fahrenheit with
"high humidity and temperatures up to 123.8 degrees F, pushing the limits of
livability on a warming planet."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-third-of-pakistan-is-underwater-amid-its-worst-floods-in-history
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20062022/jacobabad-pakistan-heat-health/?
utm_source=InsideClimate+News&utm_campaign=bfd4c85ad1-
&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-bfd4c85ad1-329677181
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Wildfires in the West
Severe heat plus the most extreme drought in 1200 yrs. continue to escalate massive
wildfires year-round in the US West to the extent that in 2022, it is no longer reasonable to talk about the "fire season," fire experts say.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/is-there-still-a-fire-season-in-california/
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History-Making Tornado
“The 1st quad-tornado in US history” carved a 250 mile path through 4 states
–”a mile wide, its severity and time on the ground unprecedented."
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quad-state-tornado-may-be-longest-lasting-ever/
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The US Is Joined by 32 Other Countries Pledging to
Slash Methane Emissions - 10/11/21
Scientists say the "promised cuts could help avert the worst consequences of climate change." Methane is largely produced by fracked gas ("natural" gas).".
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US and China Commitment - 4/18/21
"The United and China are committed to cooperating with each other
and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis," their joint statement said.
The two countries will continue to discuss "concrete actions in the 2020s to
reduce emissions aimed at keeping the Paris Agreement-aligned temperature
limit within reach."
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BUT
“We are on the verge "of the abyss,
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press conference announcing the findings of the World Meteorological Organization’s flagship 'State of the Global Climate' report."
"The global average temperature in 2020 was 'dangerously close' to the 1.5-degree Celsius limit advocated by scientists to stave off
The six years since 2015, have been the warmest on record, and the decade beginning up to this year, was the warmest ever."
The annual rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 years is about 100 times faster than previous natural increases, such as those that occurred at the end of the last ice age 11,000-17,000 years ago.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1090072
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"Two Thirds of North American Birds
Are at an Increasing Risk of Extinction
Due to Climate Change and Higher Temperatures"
"389 bird species are on the brink"
https://www.audubon.org/climate/survivalbydegrees
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“The Worlds’ Ice is Melting Faster Than Ever”
"Alaskan glaciers are melting 100 times faster than previously thought," raising sea levels & causing the release of long-sequestered methane from the newly thawing permafrost, further escalating GHG emissions. As the tundra thaws, it is also capable of releasing ancient bacteria, viruses and fungus, such as the anthrax that was released in Siberia in 2016, killing over 2,000 reindeer and a child as well as sickening 13 individuals before the entire village could be evacuated.
For eons “ice had helped regulate earth’s temperature!” But now it's melting!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/25/ice-melt-quickens-greenland-glaciers/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/07/alaskan-glaciers-melting-faster-than-previously-thought/------------------------------------------------------------------------
Battery Storage Steps Up to Support Renewables
From the Clean Economy Newsletter, May 7, 2021
Southern California Edison plans to build "an eye-popping 770 megawatts
of battery storage" by 2021 via 7 lithium-ion battery storage projects in CA."The 300-megawatt Moss Landing project in central CA will be the largest
battery storage project in the world when it opens near the end of this year,
according to developers. It's being led by a different utility, Pacific Gas and
Electric." And the Manatee Energy Storage Center in Florida, "scheduled to
go online in late 2021, will be 409 megawatts". "This is an important part of
fighting climate change because the combination of renewable energy and
battery storage can function much like a traditional power plant, capable of
being dispatched when needed by grid operators during times of high
demand".
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100% Renewable Energy by 2030
Temple's citizens voted at our 2018 Town Meeting to adopt a Warrant Article requesting the creation of a Renewable Energy Task Force to recommend options for powering all of our municipal energy usage with 100% renewable energy by 2030.
A volunteer task force, charged with manifesting that mission, is meeting monthly to study various cost-effective and viable paths to implementing that goal.
We are also evaluating a variety of options for establishing a Community Power Plan to provide more local control and cost savings for Temple's entire community.
The CPP opportunity has arisen from the passage of NH state legislation RSA-E and Senate Bill 286, signed by the governor and effective as of October, 2019.
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US Rejoins the Paris Accord in January 2021
The Paris Agreement came into force on November 4, 2016,
committing 197 nations to an aspirational goal of holding global
temperature rise to “well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-
industrial levels” and cutting net greenhouse gas emissions to zero
in the second half of this century. Negotiations "lead to strong
transparency and accountability measures to ensure that China and
India do their fair share. It included the ability for every country—
including the U.S to set its own non-binding emissions reduction
targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions. The U.S.
target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 26–28 percent below
2005 levels by 2025."
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know
But as of 2021. . .
"Paris goals still ‘long way off’, says President of UN climate conference"
https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/climate-change
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To Sustain Civilization as We've Known It
for the last 10,000 Years . . .
the SAFE LIMIT for C02 in the atmosphere is 350 parts per million.
But
In April 2021, CO2 hit the dangerously UNSAFE measurement of
421.36 ppm
And the monthly average for May 2021 was
419 ppm. . . a concentration of CO2
"not seen in 4 million years
since the Mid-Pliocene Epoch
when sea levels were 78 feet higher."
Recorded at NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii
by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03595-0
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The Planet is Relentlessly Heating
with 19 of the last 20 years the warmest on record."
NOAA has predicted . . .
"2020 is on track to be the hottest year on record",
without even an El Nino event.
And on June 20, 2020, the small Siberian town of Verkhoyansk recorded
the hottest temperture ever recorded ABOVE the ARCTIC CIRCLE - 100.4° Fahrenheit!"
in spite of that town's highest winter temperatures typically being
MINUS 44 degrees Fahrenheit
https//www.sciencenews.org/article/siberia-verkoyansk-record-heat-wave-arctic-circle
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"One of the Highest Temperatures Ever Recorded
On the Planet -
130 degrees Fahrenheit",
occurred on 8/16/20 and AGAIN on 7/9/21 in Death Valley, CA.
It was also 120 degrees in Los Angeles on 8/16/20.
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"CA's record heat
exacerbated the region's most severe drought
in the last 1,200 years" (Stanford Univ. study),
fueling the "unprecedented wildfire season in CA" -
burning over a staggering 5 million acres by 9/27/20.
CA Dept. of Forestry & Fire Protection
https//www.cnn.com/2020/9/27/weather/west-wildfires-weather-forecast-sunday/index.html?
utm_term=16012113169801eb3392f4356&utm_source=Five+Things+for+Sunday%2C+September
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In 2019, "Greenland’s Ice Sheet Melted
at the Fastest Rate Ever Recorded”
And scientists have discovered that "Arctic glacial Ice is
melting 100 times faster than previously thought".
Now “the flammable peat forests along Greenland’s shorelines are
burning, releasing long-ago-sequestered carbon into the atmosphere”
The newly discovered “warm water flowing UNDER
Greenland’s sheet is causing it to melt faster.”
“Currently, it’s the single largest driver of sea level rise globally.”
And it is a climate tipping point" - it can no longer be stopped.
"Observations from 11 satellite missions monitoring the ice sheets
in the Antarctic and Greenland have revealed that the regions are
losing ice six times faster than they were in the 1990s."
Discovering the warm water flowing below both the Antarctic
glaciers and Greenland's, lead to the 5th IPPC's Assessment
prediction that "global sea levels would rise by 28 inches by 2100 - its worst case scenario."
https:https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2958/greenland-antarctica-melting-six-times-faster-than-in-the-1990s/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200129174526.htm
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The Ocean's Regulation of Global Temperatures Nears a Crisis
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)
is "a conveyor belt of ocean water that loops the planet,
regulates global temperatures
and could be heading for a tipping point.”
"Changes in the conveyor belt have been responsible for
some of the strongest and most rapid climate shifts
during the past 2.6 million years!”
“Greenland’s melting of glacial ice is now DISRUPTING that current!”
Glacial fresh-water melt is not as heavy as the frigid salt water that has plunged
deeply down into the ocean depths for eons, pumping the conveyor belt of icy
salt water down and pushing up the southern warm water from the Gulf Stream,
moderating northern hemisphere temperatures..
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04086-
The AMOC
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The Oceans' Rate of CO2 Absorption Threatens Mass Extinctions
"When the rate at which CO2 enters the ocean pushes passed
a critical threshold it can trigger a reflex of severe ocean
acidification that lasts for 10,000 years".
And "today's oceans are absorbing CO2 at a rate faster than
the worst case in the geologic record". .
Ocean acidification is destructive to marine eco-systems and
lethal to many species, threatening sea food world-wide.
MIT Study, July, 2019
https/news.mit.edu/2019/carbon-thresthold-mass-extinction-0708
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AIRS instrument on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft shows
high carbon dioxide concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere