Posted on 14 October 2017 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick

Record Amazon fires stun scientists; sign of sick, degraded forests

If climate change continues to worsen unchecked, and forest degradation continues unabated, then unstoppable Amazon mega-fires could be seen in this century; such fires would greatly increase the release of carbon into the atmosphere worsening climate change. Photo courtesy of IBAMA 

• With the fire season still on-going, Brazil has seen 208,278 fires this year, putting 2017 on track to beat 2004’s record 270,295 fires. While drought (likely exacerbated by climate change) worsens the fires, experts say that nearly every blaze this year is human-caused.
• The highest concentration of fires in the Amazon biome in September was in the São Félix do Xingu and Altamira regions. Fires in Pará state in September numbered 24,949, an astonishing six-fold increase compared with 3,944 recorded in the same month last year.
• The Amazon areas seeing the most wildfires have also seen rapid change and development in recent years, with high levels of deforestation, and especially forest degradation, as loggers, cattle ranchers, agribusiness and dam builders move in.
• Scientists warn of a dangerous synergy: forest degradation has turned the Amazon from carbon sink to carbon source; while globally, humanity’s carbon emissions are worsening drought and fires. Brazil’s rapid Amazon development deepens the problem. Researchers warn that mega-fires could be coming, unless trends are reversed. 

Record Amazon fires stun scientists; sign of sick, degraded forests by Sue Branford & Maurício Torres, Mongabay, Oct 11, 2017 

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Oct 8, 2017

• Back-to-Back Hurricanes Take Heavy Toll on the Caribbean by António Guterres, Inter Press Service (IPS), Oct 4, 2017
• Buffeted but not sunk: Paris resilience plan tackles inequity and climate change by Megan Rowling, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Oct 8, 2017
• From cloud nine to climate change, here’s why you should always look up by Amy Ellis Nutt, Health & Science, Washington Post, Oct 7, 2017
• Our Changing Climate Mind-Set, Opinion by Robert Jay Lifton, Sunday Review, New York Times, Oct 7, 2017
• Hurricane Nate Weakens to Tropical Storm After Landfall by Chas Danner, Daily Intelligencer, New York Magazine, Oct 8, 2017
• Friendly policies keep US oil and coal afloat far more than we thought by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 7, 2017
• Walruses face 'death sentence' as Trump administration fails to list them as endangered by Oliver Milman, Guardian, Oct 4, 2017
• Elon Musk says he can rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid with solar, BBC News, Oct 6, 2017

Mon Oct 9, 2017

• Australia's energy trainwreck: How we ended up with the world's highest power bills, Perry Williams, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 6, 2017
• NSW bids to skirt court's coal mine ruling by weakening laws protecting Sydney's water by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 9, 2017
• Tokyo Is Preparing for Floods ‘Beyond Anything We’ve Seen’ by Hiroko Taubuci, New York Times, Oct 6, 2017
• Germany’s Shift to Green Power Stalls, Despite Huge Investments by Stanley Reed, New York Times, Oct 7, 2017
• E.P.A. Announces Repeal of Major Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule by Lisa Friedman & Brad Plumer, Climate, New York Times, Oct 9, 2017
• Trump’s plan to bail out failing fossil fuels with taxpayer subsidies is perverse by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Oct 9, 2017
• Mega-battery plant to come online in Sheffield by Adam Vaughn, Guardian, Oct 9, 2017
• Hyperthermals: What can they tell us about modern global warming? by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Oct 9, 2017

Tue Oct 10, 2017

• Chief Scientist Alan Finkel makes last ditch plea for clean energy target by James Massola & Cole Latimer, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 9, 2017
• Growing acidification of the Chesapeake Bay threatens crabs, oysters, other life by Scott Dance, Baltimore Sun, Oct 5, 2017
• Science, religion aren't in opposition when it comes to climate change, Opinion by Chris Werle, Hattiesburg American, Oct 8, 2017
• At least 11 dead as fires rage in Northern California by Madison Park & Ralph Ellis, CNN, Oct 10, 2017
• How 4 a.m. chats persuaded Miami’s Republican mayor to care about sea-level rise by David Smiley, Miami Herald, Oct 6, 2017
• Warming Oceans May Make ‘Nemo’ Harder to Find by Craig Welch, National Geographic, Oct 10, 2017
• E.P.A. Says It Will Write a New Carbon Rule, but No One Can Say When by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Oct 10, 2017
• Are Electric Vehicles Pushing Oil Demand Over a Cliff? by Erica Gies, InsideClimate News, Oct 10, 2017

Wed Oct 11, 2017

• IMF tells rich nations that greater urgency needed on climate change by Gareth Hutchens, Guardian, Oct 10, 2017
• Tony Abbott's climate change claims just don't stack up by Andrew P Street, ABC News, Oct 10. 2017
• How will climate change hurt our ocean species? Scientists investigate by Jami Morton, New Zealand Herald, Oct 8, 2017
• How California's firestorm spread so mind-bogglingly fast: From 'Diablo' winds to climate trends by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, Oct 10, 2017
• New EPA document reveals sharply lower estimate of the cost of climate change by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 11, 2017
• Coal War Games: How Pruitt and Perry are Working the System to Save Dirty Energy by John H Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, Oct 10, 2017
• Coal Boss Takes Climate Change Denial to the Extreme by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Oct 11, 2017
• Despite Trump, American companies are still investing in renewable energy by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Oct 11, 2017

Thu Oct 12, 2017

• What Dead Birds Tell Us about Climate Change by Chelsea Harvey, Climate Wire/Scientific American, Oct 11, 2017
• A Giant, Mysterious Hole Has Opened Up in Antarctica by Kate Lunau, Motherboard, Oct 10. 2017
• Worrying new research finds that the ocean is cutting through a key Antarctic ice shelf by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 11, 2017
• Evacuations widened as Northern California wildfires spread to 170,000 acres with at least 23 dead by Louis Sahagun, Paige St. John, Panzar & Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times, Oct 12, 2017
• Interpreting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature limit, Guest Post by Joeri Rogelj & Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Carbon Brief, Oct 10, 2017
• October 2017 ENSO update: Still watching for La Niña by Emily Becker, NOAA's Climate.gov. Oct 12, 2017
• Weather-company chief is Trump's pick to lead climate agency by Jeff Tollefson, Nature, Oct 12, 2017
• Conflicts of Interest? NOAA’s Nominees AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers, and Dr. Neil Jacobs of Panasonic by Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists, Oct 12, 2017

Fri Oct 13, 2017

• The climate-change fire alarm from Northern California, Opinion by Editorial Board, Los Angeles, Times, Oct 12, 2017
• Hurricane Irma, global warming and the bomb: comparing energy giants by Barry Saxifrage, National Observer, Oct 11, 2017
• How Deep Ocean Wind Turbines Could Power the World by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Oct 12, 2017
• UK releases plan to ‘lead the world’ on growth with carbon cuts by Megan Darby, Climate Home, Oct 12, 2017
• AP-NORC Poll: Americans blame wild weather on global warming by Seth Borensein & Emily Swanson, AP, Oct 12, 2017
• Trump taps climate skeptic for top White House environmental post by Brady Dennis & Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 13, 2017
• Scientists See Climate Change in California's Wildfires by Debra Kahn & Anne C. Mulkern, E&E News/Scientific American, Oct 12, 2017
• Record Amazon fires stun scientists; sign of sick, degraded forests by Sue Branford & Maurício Torres, Mongabay, Oct 11, 2017

Sat Oct 14, 2017

• Penguin disaster as only two chicks survive from colony of 40,000 by Michael Slezak, Guardian,Oct 13, 2017
• UK climate change plan branded a 'blueprint for under-achievement' by Lizzy Buchan, The Independent, Oct 13, 2017
• SkS Analogy 10 - Bathtubs and Budgets by Evan & jg, Skeptical Science, Oct 12, 2017
• Not True that Hunger Doesn’t Discriminate — It Does by Baher Kamal, Inter Press Service (IPS), Oct 13, 2017
• New research, October 2-8, 2017 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Oct 13, 2017
• GAO to probe whether Trump administration is protecting agencies’ scientific integrity by Juliet Eilperin, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 11, 2017
• Fossil fuels win billions in public money after Paris climate deal, angry campaigners claim by Damian Carrington, Guardian, Oct 11, 2017
• Germany to miss climate targets ‘disastrously’: leaked government paper by Sören Amelang, Climate Home, Oct 11, 2017