Posted on 8 April 2017 by John Hartz

Editor's Picks

Costa Rican Town Fears That the Sea Will Steal Its Shiny New Face

Reynaldo Charles and Ezequiel Hudson talk with Eliécer Quesada (left to right) about the state of the breakwater on which they are standing. This is the part where the waves reach closest to the houses, and at high tide the water crosses over the new bicycle lane and the street and reaches the homes, in the town of Cienaguita on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. Credit: Diego Arguedas/IPS

Two years have gone by since the new government initiative which subsidises community works changed the face with which the coastal town of Cienaguita, on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, looks out to the sea.

In place of a battered path between the beach and the first houses, the investment allowed the construction of a paved coastal street with a bicycle lane, playgrounds for children and a sports space where groups of young people exercise around mid-morning, since March 2015.

“The boulevard has brought about a 180-degree change in this part of the community,” 67-year-old community leader Ezequiel Hudson told IPS about the new recreational spaces available to the 5,400 inhabitants of this town next to the city of Puerto Limón, in the centre of the country’s Caribbean coast.

However, the 2.5 million-dollar investment is threatened by coastal erosion and the rise in the level of water in the sea, which occasionally floods the new street.

Local residents of Cienaguita are worried about the effects that climate change may have on their town.

Costa Rican Town Fears That the Sea Will Steal Its Shiny New Face by Diego Arguedas Ortiz, Inter Press Service (IPS), Mar 28, 2017

EPA head Scott Pruitt may have broken integrity rules by denying global warming

 A pile of future carbon dioxide emissions, also known as coal.

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is under investigation by his own agency for misstating the basic scientific consensus on human-caused global warming.

Turns out that providing misguiding scientific information to the public isn’t a cool thing to do, after all — even in the Trump administration.

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is fast becoming one of the most controversial of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. He is leading the push to unravel the Obama administration’s landmark climate change policies while overseeing a historic downsizing of the agency he runs.

But Pruitt may have crossed a legal line when, during an interview on March 9 with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” morning show, he denied the reality of human-caused climate change, contradicting findings published on his own agency’s website.

EPA head Scott Pruitt may have broken integrity rules by denying global warming by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, Apr 4, 2017

'Barbaric': Adani's giant coal mine granted unlimited water licence for 60 years

Nine coal mines are planned for Queensland's Galilee Basin. Photo: Glenn Hunt

The proposed Adani coal mine, which will be Australia's biggest, has been granted unlimited access to groundwater by the Queensland government in a move farmers fear will drain huge amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin.

According to a copy of Adani's water licence signed last Wednesday and obtained by Fairfax Media, the $16 billion Carmichael mine merely needs to monitor and report the amount of water it extracts under a permit that runs until 2077.

The mine – one of nine proposed for the Galilee Basin west of Rockhampton – can conduct its own review of its groundwater model without independent or government oversight.

There are also no impact levels specified that will trigger a halt to mining, and the company is able to offset any significant water loss elsewhere, the licence shows.

Barbaric': Adani's giant coal mine granted unlimited water licence for 60 years by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Apr 5, 2017

Parts of the Arctic Ocean are Turning Into the Atlantic

Reseachers recovering mooring M6b north of Severnaya Zemlya, a Russian archipelago.
Credit: Ilona Goszczko 

The Arctic is undergoing an astonishingly rapid transition as climate change overwhelms the region.

New research sheds light on the latest example of the changes afoot, showing that parts of the Arctic Ocean are becoming more like the Atlantic. Warm waters are streaming into the ocean north of Scandinavia and Russia, altering ocean productivity and chemistry. That’s making sea ice recede and kickstarting a feedback loop that could make summer ice a thing of the past.

“2015 was a really anomalous year when we had problems finding a suitable ice flow to launch our drifting buoys,” Igor Polyakov, an oceanographer at the University of Alaska who led the new study, said. “(There was) nothing like that in the past, and it became a motivation to our analysis: why was ice in 2015 so rotten? What drives this huge change?”

The findings published in Science on Thursday, show that while warming air has a role to play, processes are playing out in the ocean itself that are fundamentally altering the region. 

Parts of the Arctic Ocean are Turning Into the Atlantic by Brian Kahn, Climate Central, Apr 6, 2017

Climate change could spur "brain drain" from developing world - researcher

Children stand on a makeshift banana plant raft in front of their house at a flooded village in Kurigram (Bablaesh) in this 2012 archive photo. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj

Miami's Fight Against Rising Seas

Sun Apr 2

• Video: Climate scientists discuss record lows in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice by Roz Pidcock, carbon Brief, Mar 28, 2017
• Trump Leaves Science Jobs Vacant, Troubling Critics by Cecilia Kang & Michael Shear, New York Times, Mar 30, 2017
• Trump may have signed Earth's death warrant, Opinion by Van Jones, CNN, Mar 30, 2017
• Trump aims deep cuts at energy agency that helped make solar power affordable by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Wahsington Post, Mar 31, 2017
• Grim search for missing resumes after flood in Colombia kills at least 200, AP/CBS News, Apr 2, 2017
• How climate skeptics are trying to influence 200,000 science teachers by Charlie Wood, Christian Science Monitor, Mar 30, 2017
• A Running List of How Trump Is Changing the Environment by Michael Greshko, National Geographic, Mar 31, 2017
• New EPA documents reveal even deeper proposed cuts to staff and programs by Juliet Eilperin, Chris Mooney & Steven Mufson, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Mar 31, 2017

Mon Apr 3

• Trump Thinks the “Best Available” Data on Climate Change Is From 2003 by Ramin Skibba, Slate, Mar 29, 2017
• Nine-year-old girl files lawsuit against Indian Government over failure to take ambitious climate action by Chloe Farand, Independent, Apr 1, 2017
• Women’s Crucial Role in Combating Climate Change  by Alina Tugend, New York Times, Apr 1, 2017
• Total failure': Calls for tougher controls as coal-related pollutants jump by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Apr 3, 2017
• Study Re-Emphasizes: If You Want To Advance Science, Try Explaining It More Simply by Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, Mar 26, 2017
• The facts on climate change — and what to do about it, PBS News Hour, Apr 1, 2017
• EPA chief says Paris climate agreement "bad deal" for U.S. by Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, Apr 2, 2017
• This is China’s strongest statement yet on climate action by Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home, Mar 30, 2017

Tue Apr 4

• Next 50 years will determine humanity's outcome "for 10,000 years" by Alex Whiting, Reuters, Apr 3, 2017
• These stunning timelapse photos may just convince you about climate change by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Apr 3, 2017
• Mudslide in Colombia May Portend El Niño Chaos by Delany Chambers, National Geographic, Apr 2, 2017
• What the optimists get wrong about Trump’s climate policies by Brad Plumer, Energy & Environment, Vox, Apr 3, 2017
• We need to talk about “ecoanxiety”: Climate change is causing PTSD, anxiety, and depression on a mass scale by Zoë Schlanger, Quartz, Apr 3, 2017
• Inconceivable! The latest theatrical House 'Science' committee hearing by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus -the 97%, Guardian, Apr 4, 2017
• The Climate Could Hit a State Unseen in 50 Million Years by Brian Kahn, Climate Central, Apr 4, 2017
• Trump’s budget would slash funding for EPA’s top science panel by Chris Mooney, Energy & Envionment, Washington Post, Apr 4, 2017

Wed Apr 5

• What Financial Markets Can Teach Us About Managing Climate Risks by Michael Greenstone, New York Times, Apr 4, 2017
• Nixing EPA's climate-change plan will cost lives, expert says by Alice Kantor & David Heath, CNN, Apr 4, 2017
• Analysis: North Sea industry cost UK taxpayers £396m in 2016 by Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, Apr 3, 2017
• At Trump's EPA, going to work can be an act of defiance by Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times, Apr 4, 2016
• Dear Mr President 2.0: the discovery of the Greenhouse Effect - in Tweets by John Mason, Skeptical Science, Apr 3, 2017
• Oklahoma Bar Association Probing Ethics Complaint Against Scott Pruitt by Mary Papenfuss, Huffington Post US, Huffington Post US, Mar 31, 2017
• The end of coal: EU energy companies pledge no new plants from 2020 by Arthur Neslen, Guardian, Apr 5, 2017
• EPA head Scott Pruitt may have broken integrity rules by denying global warming by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, Apr 4, 2017

Thu Apr 6

• Alan Alda's Crusade to Make Science Talk a Jargon-Free Zone by Claudia Dreifus, Guest Blog, Scientific American, Apr 5, 2017
• Disaster alley’: Australia could be set to receive new wave of climate refugees by Ben Doherty, Guardian, Apr 4, 2017
• Analysis: Just four years left of the 1.5C carbon budget, Carbon Brief, Apr 5, 2017
• U.S. coal companies ask Trump to stick with Paris climate deal by Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, Apr 4, 2017
• The 'simple question' that can change your mind about global warming by John Sutter, CNN, Apr 5, 2017
• Renewable electricity in Africa could outstrip demand in 2030, study says by Roz Pidcock, Carbon Brief, Apr 6, 2017
• Climate Change Denial: the Lysenkoism of the present-day Republican Party by Dr. Kevork N. Abazajian, 314 Action, Apr 5, 2017
• Fifty-nine percent of voters want the U.S. to do more to address global warming by Scott Waldman, Scientific American/ClimateWire, April 6, 2017

Fri Apr 7

• The role a melting glacier played in Exxon’s biggest disaster by Dino Grandoni, Asaf Shalev, Michael Phillis & Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, Apr 6, 2017
• Costa Rican Town Fears That the Sea Will Steal Its Shiny New Face by Diego Arguedas Ortiz, Inter Press Service (IPS), Mar 28, 2017
• Peru's Floods Follow Climate Change's Deadly Extreme Weather Trend by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Apr 6, 2017
• The Myth of 'Clean Coal' | Climate Chats, ClimateAdam, Apr 2, 2017
• Parts of the Arctic Ocean are Turning Into the Atlantic by Brian Kahn, Climate Central, Apr 6, 2017
• New study links carbon pollution to extreme weather by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Apr 7, 2017
• Make climate change an economic - not green - issue, urges ex-president of Maldives by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Apr 6, 2017
• Brazil halves environment budget amid rising Amazon deforestation by Megan Darby, Climate Home, Apr 3, 2017

Sat Apr 8

• How do you manage climate risk? Ask those on the frontline by Zoe Tabary, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Apr 7. 2017
• Climate change could spur "brain drain" from developing world - researcher by Nellie Peyton, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Apr 7. 2017
• California's Climate Leadership Gets a Boost as Court Upholds Cap and Trade by John H Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, Apr 7, 2017
• French foreign minister: The world can’t fight climate change without the U.S., Opinion by Jean-Marc Ayrault, Washington Post, Apr 6, 2017
• Miami's fight against rising seas by Amanda Ruggeri. BBC Future, Apr 4, 2017
• Barbaric': Adani's giant coal mine granted unlimited water licence for 60 years by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Apr 5, 2017
• Is it time to boycott America?, Opinion by Peter Singer, Japan Times, Apr 7, 2017
• Trump moves to open Atlantic coast to oil drilling for first time in more than 30 years by Juliet Eilperin & Steven Mufson, Washington Post, Apr 7, 2017