Climate Change

Reports of the Louisiana Oyster Commission – 1902 to 1910

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These reports are of contemporary interest because they remind us that oysters are not traditionally a major part of the Mississippi Delta Ecosystem. From p.77 of the First Biennial Report 1902-1904:

There are vast areas of soft mud bottoms, in your State, which may be made just as productive in oysters as is the ground of Messrs. McLaughlin & Lobrano and others, but not until vast quantities of sand and shells are deposited upon them, and they are effectively protected by locks and dams from fresh water floods, and this fresh water is regulated and utilized either in fattening the oyster or in protecting the beds from an excess of salt water after a severe “norther.”

First Annual Report 1902-1904 Oyster Commission of Louisiana

Second Biennial Report 1904-1906 Oyster Commission of Louisiana

Third Biennial Report 1906-1908 Oyster Commission of Louisiana

Fourth Biennial Report 1908-1910 Oyster Commission of Louisiana

 

Climate Change

National Hurricane Center – Hurricane Harvey Report

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National Hurricane Center – Hurricane Harvey Report (2018)

Harvey started as a typical weak August tropical storm that affected the Lesser Antilles and dissipated over the central Caribbean Sea. However, after re-forming over the Bay of Campeche, Harvey rapidly intensified into a category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) before making landfall along the middle Texas coast. The storm then stalled, with its center over or near the Texas coast for four days, dropping historic amounts of rainfall of more than 60 inches over southeastern Texas. These rains caused catastrophic flooding, and Harvey is the second-most costly hurricane in U.S. history, after accounting for inflation, behind only Katrina (2005). At least 68 people died from the direct effects of the storm in Texas, the largest number of direct deaths from a tropical cyclone in that state since 1919.

Climate Change

Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change in Alaska

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Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change in Alaska (2018)

(This is an excellent, detailed report of the present and potential impacts of climate change on health in Alaska.)

Over the past century, the air and water temperatures in Alaska have warmed considerably faster than in the rest of the United States. Because Alaska is the only Arctic state in the Nation, Alaskans are likely to face some climate change challenges that will be different than those encountered in other states. For example, permafrost currently underlies 80% of Alaska and provides a stable foundation for the physical infrastructure of many Alaska communities. As has already been seen in numerous villages, the groundcover that overlies permafrost is vulnerable to sinking or caving if the permafrost thaws, resulting in costly damage to physical infrastructure. The reliance on subsistence resources is another contrast to many other states. Many Alaskans depend upon subsistence harvests of fish and wildlife resources for food and to support their way of life. Some Alaskans report that the changing environment has already impacted their traditional practices.

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Climate Change

California Communities Confronting Rising Sea Levels Sue Fossil Fuel Companies

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Breaking News! Oakland and San Francisco climate cases removed to federal court and held there.

People of the State of California v. BP P.L.C. et al., San Francisco Superior Court Case No. CGC 17-561370

People of the State of California v. BP P.L.C. et al., Alameda County Superior Court Case No. RG17875889

Breaking News! Exxon sues activists and local officials for for pre-litigation discovery.

Marin and San Mateo Cos., City of Imperial Beach Go to Court to Hold Largest Fossil Fuel Polluters Accountable

San Mateo County Full Complaint; Marin County Full Complaint; City of Imperial Beach Full Complaint

(For a detailed presentation of the legal theories, see: SMOKE AND FUMES The Legal and Evidentiary Basis for Holding Big Oil Accountable for the Climate Crisis (2017)

(Redwood City, CA, San Rafael, CA, and Martinez, CA) – Faced with mounting costs to respond
to threats to their communities from rising sea levels, Marin and San Mateo Counties, along
with the City of Imperial Beach, today filed complaints in California Superior Court to hold
accountable 37 oil, gas, and coal companies for the ongoing harm they knew their fossil fuel
products would cause by significantly increasing carbon dioxide pollution and contributing
to global warming and sea level rise. The complaint states:

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Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Warming, Historical Events, Teaching Materials

ARkStorm – The weather equivalent of the Big One for California

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The Great California Flood of 1861-1862 was a series of four floods from December 9, 1861, Dec. 23-28, January 9-12, 1862 and January 15-17. The winter rains started early in November and continued nearly interrupted for four months. Marysville and Sacramento suffered the worst damage in the Northern California valley. This scene shows the floodwaters along K Street looking west from 4th Street in Sacramento, Calif. Photo taken January 1862.
Courtesy photo California State Library

California – The Flood that Could Change Everything 

California is spending billions to protect the millions at risk of a megaflood, but thanks to climate change, it’s too little too late.

ARkStorm@SierraFront 2.0

This updates the USGS analysis below.

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Climate Change

GAO – DOD Needs to Better Incorporate Adaptation into Planning and Collaboration at Overseas Installations

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Severe Erosion at a Department of Defense (DOD) Munitions Storage Complex in the Pacific

The expected impacts of weather effects associated with climate change pose operational and budgetary risks to overseas infrastructure according to the Department of Defense (DOD), but DOD does not consistently track the impacts’ estimated costs. Operational risks (including interruptions to training, testing, and missions) and budgetary risks (including costs of repairing damages) are linked to these impacts. However, installations inconsistently track these costs because there is no requirement for such tracking. Without a requirement to systematically track such costs, DOD will not have the information it needs to integrate climate-related impact resource considerations into future budgets.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: DOD Needs to Better Incorporate Adaptation into Planning and Collaboration at Overseas Installations GAO-18-206: Published: Nov 13, 2017. Publicly Released: Dec 13, 2017.

 

Climate Change

Arctic Report Card 2017

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Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably frozen region of recent past decades

Despite relatively cool summer temperatures, observations in 2017 continue to indicate that the Arctic environmental system has reached a ‘new normal’, characterized by long-term losses in the extent and thickness of the sea ice cover, the extent and duration of the winter snow cover and the mass of ice in the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic glaciers, and warming sea surface and permafrost temperatures.

Arctic Report Card 2017

Arctic Report Card 2017 – Home

Climate Change

Category 6 Blog – Why Is It So Hard to Fix the National Flood Insurance Program?

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A tangle of politics and problems may force yet another delay in long-sought updates to the broke, beleaguered U.S. National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Congress has the unenviable task of putting NFIP back in the black without raising rates too quickly on folks who can’t afford to leave vulnerable coastal homes. And the weather isn’t helping.

The NFIP was due for reauthorization in September, after several years of challenge in the wake of the enormously costly Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Then came Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria this year—which complicated matters further by adding another $10-plus billion to the program’s $25-billion debt.

Congress passed a temporary extension of the NFIP that runs out in early December. There’s now a good chance that another extension will be needed, perhaps into 2018. The 21st Century Flood Reform Act, a House bill that appeared this week to be nearing a vote, instead found itself bottled up in committee. Several other draft bills in the House and Senate this year have failed to gain traction.

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Climate Change

Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment

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Highlights of the U.S. Global Change Research Program
Climate Science Special Report

The climate of the United States is strongly connected to the changing global climate. The statements below highlight past, current, and projected climate changes for the United States and the globe. Global annually averaged surface air temperature has increased by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) over the last 115 years (1901–2016). This period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization. The last few years have also seen record-breaking, climate-related weather extremes, and the last three years have been the warmest years on record for the globe. These trends are expected to continue over climate timescales.

This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.

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Climate Change

From Bali To Marrakech: A Decade Of International Climate Negotiations

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From Bali To Marrakech: A Decade Of International Climate Negotiations (2017)

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Since its entry into force in 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been at the centre of international efforts to address global warming and the rising risks it represents to people and economies across the globe. The adoption and early entry into force of the Paris Agreement was a monumental achievement that has put every nation on Earth on a clear pathway and with a clear destination for delivering a safer and more secure future.

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