‘Desperately hot' summer drives push to keep public housing cooler

When the temperature inside their home climbs above 40 degrees, Jay soaks a sheet, spreads it over his three-year-old daughter Hayley and turns the fan on high in the hope she will sleep.

Jay, with his daughter Hayley, 3, in her bedroom,
which has the only fan in the house. 

Sometimes he blocks the drain in the bathroom, floods the small room (which has a waterproof seal) and turns it into a splash pool. “She’s only a kid, I want her to have some fun”.

But the truth is that living without an air conditioner in their public housing unit in Mildura during the prolonged stretches of summer heat, when the temperature reached 47 degrees, is not much fun at all.

In an era of climate change, and in the wake of Australia’s warmest summer on record, housing and health services are urging the state government to revise a 20-year-old law which means people who live in public housing can’t apply for air conditioning unless they have a chronic health condition.

Read the story from The Age by Miki Perkins - “‘Desperately hot' summer drives push to keep public housing cooler.”

Because of climate change, some birds are nesting earlier

In springtime, baby birds hatch and huddle in their nests, featherless and vulnerable. The survival of these hatchlings is highly dependent on temperature.

Climate change is impacting on the life of birds.

Tingley: “When they are eggs, and when they are sort of helpless, naked young living in nests, those are the periods of a bird’s life when it might be most sensitive to climate.”

Morgan Tingley is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut. His research shows that in response to the warming climate, some birds are changing their breeding times.

Tingley: “Over a period of about 70 to 80 years, 164 species of birds in California had shifted their breeding time – so the timing of egg laying and egg hatching – by about nine days.”

Read the Yale Climate Connections story by Diana Madson - “Because of climate change, some birds are nesting earlier.”

Earth’s temperature history is good news for finding alien life

An analysis of temperature during early Earth’s history supports more moderate average temperatures throughout the billions of years when life slowly emerged on Earth.

Theories about the early days of our planet’s history vary wildly. Some studies have painted the picture of a snowball Earth, when much of its surface was frozen. Other theories have included periods that would be inhospitably hot for most current lifeforms to survive. The new research suggests a milder youth for our planet.

“Ideas about the early Earth’s environment are all over the place, from a very hot world, to one locked in a permanent ice age, from a world with acidic oceans to one with seawater so alkaline it would sting your eyes,” says David Catling, a professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington.

Read the Futurity story by Hannah Hickey from the University of Washington - “Earth’s temperature history is good news for finding alien life.”

Starting the Dialogue on Climate Engineering Governance: A World Commission

Climate engineering can, if appropriately governed within a coherent overall climate change strategy, reduce risks beyond what mitigation and adaptation can achieve alone, and is probably essential to achieve the Paris Agreement temperature targets. Climate engineering also poses significant new risks, and needs expanded research and scrutiny in climate assessments.

Starting the conversation on
climate engineering governance.

Both types of climate engineering — carbon removal and solar geoengineering — also pose significant challenges to governance. The governance challenges of solar methods are particularly novel and severe, and urgently need international examination and consultation, both to learn how (and whether) climate engineering can deliver societal and ecosystem benefits, and to prepare for the likelihood that some states, facing mounting climate change impacts, will pursue climate engineering, and the international system will have to respond.

The needed international dialogue on geoengineering governance will have broad international participation; engage high-level expertise in international policy and institutions; draw closely on parallel advances in scientific knowledge and technical capability, while keeping governance the central focus; and facilitate open, exploratory investigations of governance needs and potential responses, rather than pursue specific decisions, at least in initial stages. Present institutions are not well equipped to support these needs.

Read the Centre for International Governance Innovation by Edward A. Parson - “Starting the Dialogue on Climate Engineering Governance: A World Commission.”

(Read the "Conclusion" closely and you will see that such an idea is not without its challenges - Robert McLean)

It’s 50 years since climate change was first seen. Now time is running out

Fifty years ago, the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) delivered a report titled Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric Polluters to the American Petroleum Institute (API), a trade association for the fossil fuel industry.

 ‘Scientists attribute 15-40% of the epic rain
 of Hurricane Harvey to climate change.’

The report, unearthed by researchers at the Center for International Environmental Law, is one of the earliest attempts by the industry to grapple with the impacts of rising CO2 levels, which Stanford’s researchers warned if left unabated “could bring about climatic changes” like temperature increases, melting of ice caps and sea level rise.

The year was 1968, and the term “global warming” would not appear in a peer-reviewed academic journal until 1975. Famed Nasa scientist James Hansen would not testify before Congress that “global warming has begun” for another 20 years. And the US would not enter into – only to later pull out of – the Paris climate accord for nearly half a century.

Read the climate change opinion piece on The Guardian by Richard Wiles - “It’s 50 years since climate change was first seen. Now time is running out.”

The heat is on all of us

LIKE many in the bush, my family keeps a close eye on rainfall.

Looking for leader: Support is needed on climate, energy and agriculture policy.

There are detailed records for our part of the Mallee dating to the 1880s, and I have kept them since the 1980s.

We have watched as decade averages have dropped and high temperature records topple.

Of course, some years were better for rainfall than others, but overall the trend only travels in one direction: down.

What I see on my farm tallies with what scientists around the world are saying: the climate is changing — and fast.

From federation to today Australia as a whole has warmed by more than 1C.

Does 1C matter? Well yes, a hell of a lot.

According to US weather agencies, 2017 was one of the hottest years on record for the globe. Our own Bureau of Meteorology tells us 2017 was Australia’s third warmest since 1900.

Read the story boy Steven Hobbs as puhblished in The Weekly Times - “The heat is on all of us.”

Australia’s severe heat is affecting the sperm of the bird population: study

Recent heatwaves and temperature increases are severely impacting bird fertility, according to an Australian-led study.

A pair of Zebra Finches in the Australian heat.

For the avian population, functional and competent sperm is critical for reproduction, and this study led by Macquarie University shows the recent heat is having a devastating impact on the sperm quality of the common zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).

The zebra finch is commonly found throughout mainland Australia and is considered a very environmentally adaptable bird, capable of breeding in both hot and cool climates. 

The researchers periodically sampled male zebra finches, exposing them to high temperatures from three to 14 consecutive days.

Read the story by Kamin Gock from today’s Melbourne Age - “Australia’s severe heat is affecting the sperm of the bird population: study.”

Eastern U.S. braces for coldest start to a new year in decades

Eight degrees. That’s the predicted average low temperature for the lower 48 States on New Year’s Day.

A third (34 percent) of the area in the contiguous states is forecast to plummet below zero.

Temperatures in 90 percent of the nation will be below freezing and, in the east, all but the Florida peninsula will feel the wrath of subfreezing wind chills. A remarkable 156 million people are under wind chill alerts across the nation.

Read The Washington Post story by Jason Samenow -  "Eastern U.S. braces for coldest start to a new year in decades.”

In a Warming California, a Future of More Fire

“This is looking like the type of year that might occur more often in the future,” said A. Park Williams, a climate scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y.

Severe wildfire seasons like the one that has devastated California this fall may occur more frequently because of climate change, scientists say.

A Warming California, a Future of More Fire.

The reason is an expected impact of climate change in California: increasing year-to-year variability in temperature and precipitation that will create greater contrast between drought years and wet years. And that can lead to much greater fire risk.

That contrast has occurred this decade in the state, where years of drought were followed last winter by very wet weather that led to a bumper crop of grasses and other vegetation.

Read the story by Henry Fountain in The New York Times - “In a Warming California, a Future of More Fire.”

Climate Change Fingerprints Confirmed in Lucifer’s Wicked Heat: Europe’s Record Hot Summer Made Much Worse by Human Activity.

Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, senior
researcher at the Royal Netherlands
 Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Scientists with World Weather Attribution (WWA), using a combination of observed temperature data and climate models, have concluded that human-caused climate change made the record-breaking 2017 summer temperatures in the Euro-Mediterranean region at least 10 times more likely. WWA is an international coalition of scientists focused on assessing possible climate change in uences on extreme weather events.

“We found clear evidence of human influence on this summer’s record warmth — both in the overall summer temperatures and in the heat wave dubbed Lucifer,” said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). "In many towns and cities across Southern Europe, there is now a one in 10 chance of seeing a heat wave as hot as we saw during this past summer every summer,” van Oldenborgh added. “In the early 1900s, a summer like the one we just experienced would have been extremely rare.”

Read the World Weather Attribution story “Climate Change Fingerprints Confirmed in Lucifer’s Wicked Heat: Europe’s Record Hot Summer Made Much Worse by Human Activity.”

BOM: Australia's hottest winter on record, maximum temperatures up nearly 2C on the long-term average

Winter in Australia this year was hot and dry with the average maximum temperature up nearly 2 degrees Celsius above the long-term trend.

Higher temperatures and low rainfall dominated
Australia's winter weather patterns.

The 2017 winter was the hottest since 1910 when national records began, according to Bureau of Meteorology figures released today.

The average maximum daily temperature recorded across all Australian recording locations for June, July and August 2017 was 23.7C.

That is a whopping 1.9C degrees above the baseline 1961 to 1990 average of 21.8C and smashes the previous record of 23.4C set in 2009.

Read the ABC News story - “BOM: Australia's hottest winter on record, maximum temperatures up nearly 2C on the long-term average.”

Kuwait’s inferno: how will the world's hottest city survive climate change?

It is 9am and the temperature in Kuwait City is 45C and rising, but already people working outside. A row of litter-pickers are already hard at work along a coastal highway, their entire bodies covered to protect them from the sun. Outside one of the city’s many malls, valets hover beside the air-conditioned entrance, while two men in white hats huddle wearily next to their ice cream stands.

Road to ruin? … labourers at work on the Sheikh Jaber
Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah causeway in Kuwait City in February. 

Other city residents are luckier. They can avoid the outdoors altogether, escaping the inferno by sheltering in malls, cars and office buildings, where temperatures are kept polar-cold.

For years, Kuwait’s climate has been steadily heating up. In the summer months, the Gulf state now frequently touches 50C, and was last year awarded the grim prize of being the hottest place on earth, when temperatures reached a staggering high of 54C.

Read Ruth Michaelson on The Guardian - "Kuwait’s inferno: how will the world's hottest city survive climate change?”

In hot weather, air conditioning can save lives

Summer in Miami is getting longer and hotter. When people have air conditioning units in their home, it helps cool down their core body temperature. And that can greatly reduce the risks of a heat-related illness or even death.

Attempting to stay cool in Miami.

But not everyone can afford an air conditioner. That means low-income residents must rely on places like malls or libraries when temperatures get dangerously hot. And there are a lot of low-income people in Miami-Dade County. About one-fifth of residents live below the federal poverty level. So it puts a lot of pressure on cooling centers.

Caroline Lewis, the executive director of the nonprofit CLEO Institute says cooling centers are not a perfect fix. For example, people do not always know where they are or have a way to get to them.

Read/listen to the Yale Climate Connections story - “In hot weather, air conditioning can save lives.”

Suicides of nearly 60,000 Indian farmers linked to climate change, study claims

Climate change may have contributed to the suicides of nearly 60,000 Indian farmers and farm workers over the past three decades, according to new research that examines the toll rising temperatures are already taking on vulnerable societies.

Tamil Nadu is suffering its worst drought in 140 years.
Protestors claim it has triggered hundreds of suicides. 

Illustrating the extreme sensitivity of the Indian agricultural industry to spikes in temperature, the study from the University of California, Berkeley, found an increase of just 1C on an average day during the growing season was associated with 67 more suicides.

An increase of 5C on any one day was associated with an additional 335 deaths, the study published in the journal PNAS on Monday found. In total, it estimates that 59,300 agricultural sector suicides over the past 30 years could be attributed to warming.

Temperature increases outside the growing season showed no significant impact on suicide rates, suggesting stress on the agriculture industry was the source of the increase in suicides

Read Michael Safi’s story on The Guardian - “Suicides of nearly 60,000 Indian farmers linked to climate change, study claims,”

The human fingerprint of Europe’s recent heat

This June, Europe experienced some remarkable heat. Temperature records were smashed across the west of the continent with extremely hot days followed by warm uncomfortable nights for many.

The June 2017 European heatwave
was likely caused by human influence on the climate

While the heat was fun for some, it took its toll on others, contributing to the Portuguese wildfires, which killed at least 64 people. Undoubtedly the heat will have caused many more deaths across the continent through heat stroke and pre-existing conditions exacerbated by the hot weather.

Previous research has found that excess deaths during recent European heatwaves can be attributed to the human influence on the climate. These extreme heat events are becoming more common in Europe and around the world. In order to be prepared for future severe heatwaves we need to understand how and why they are changing.

Read the Pursuit story by Dr Andrew King from the University of Melbourne - “The human fingerprint of Europe’s recent heat.”

State of the Warming Climate in 2016: 'Truly Uncharted Territory’

Arctic ice melted to new lows in 2016, temperatures soared to scorching highs and extreme weather rocked all parts of the planet.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual State of Global Climate report on Tuesday, noting a year of broken records and extreme weather events—climate change trends that are continuing into 2017.

"This report confirms that the year 2016 was the warmest on record—a remarkable 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. That temperature rise marks a 0.06 degrees Celsius increase over the record set in 2015. The Paris climate agreement commits the world's nations to holding the atmospheric temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius, to try to stave off potentially catastrophic global warming.

Much of that increased warmth was centered in the Arctic in 2016, where mean temperatures hit at least 3 degrees Celsius above the average from 1961-90 in some areas. Norway's Svalbard Airport, in the high Arctic, reported an average temperature of -0.1 degrees, which was 6.5 degrees above the 1961-90 average and 1.6 degrees above the previous record.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “State of the Warming Climate in 2016: 'Truly Uncharted Territory’.”

2016 was 2nd warmest year on record for U.S.

Last year will be remembered as warmer than average for much of the nation, and depending on where you live, 2016 was either parched, soggy — or both.

To understand how, here’s our U.S. “climate by the numbers” summary for 2016:

Full year, January through December

The average U.S. temperature in 2016 was 54.9 degrees F (2.9 degrees F above average), which ranked as the second warmest year in 122 years of record-keeping. This is the 20th consecutive year the annual average temperature exceeded the average. Every state in the contiguous U.S. and Alaska experienced above-average annual temperatures, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

Precipitation for the year totaled 31.70 inches, ranking as the 24th wettest year. The national drought footprint expanded from about 18 percent in January to about 23 percent by the end of December. At just under 19 percent, the average area of drought in the U.S. for 2016 was the smallest since 2010.

Read the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report - “2016 was 2nd warmest year on record for U.S.”

Melbourne heat to ease by New Year's Eve, BOM says, but showers for Boxing Day Test

Hundreds flocked to Melbourne's St Kilda
 beach to cool off after celebrating
Christmas Day.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is assuring Victorians their New Year's Eve celebrations will be a lot cooler after Melbourne roasted through its hottest Christmas in 18 years, but there may be some showers around for the cricket.

It reached 36 degrees Celsius in city on Sunday, and it was even hotter in the north-west, with some areas reaching 40C.

Across the border, Adelaide sweltered through its hottest Christmas Day in 70 years.

It was a hot and sticky night in the city, and the temperature was already hovering around 28C at 7:00am today.

Michael Halfpenny from the BOM said it would not heat up too much, with the mercury reaching the mid-20s in the afternoon.

Read the ABC story - “Melbourne heat to ease by New Year's Eve, BOM says, but showers for Boxing Day Test.”

A warming climate produced a cold day in Melbourne

A sense of winter descended
upon Melbourne today.

Melbourne, where did summer go?

With grey skies over the city, the mercury dipped to 13 degrees on Tuesday morning.

But the apparent temperature, which takes the wind chill into account, was just 11.1.

It was even colder at Laverton, south-west of the city, where the apparent temperature was 9.

The average temperature this time of year is more like 26.

Read the Melbourne Age story - “Melbourne weather: Temperature dips as chilly southerly winds hit city.”

(The heading: “Melbourne weather”, says it all as this story is about the weather rather than the climate and so while it is decidedly cold, it is also confusing as most people don’t delineate between weather and climate – Robert McLean).

El Niño felt more on the land than in the oceans

W

e regularly hear about how El Niño events raise the temperature across much of the planet, contributing to spikes in global average temperature such as the one witnessed in 1998, with severe bush fires, droughts and floods.

Indeed, the extra warmth is typically much more apparent over land than in the oceans, despite El Niño being chiefly thought of as an ocean temperature phenomenon.

How is it that an event predominantly characterised by a warm blob of water in the tropical eastern Pacific can have such a pervasive effect on global land temperatures?

Read the story on The Conversation - “The tropical steam-engine: how does El Niño warm the entire globe?”