News Roundup
‘…Rush Limbaugh was one of the pioneers of anti-environmentalism, science denial, and climate change conspiracy. For 30 years, he falsely told his audience of more than 15 million listeners on nearly 600 U.S. stations that the entire scientific profession had been indoctrinated by liberals and were unworthy of trust.’
Source: Liar, 70, dies – HEATED
‘Rising global temperatures are causing frozen Arctic soil— permafrost—in the northern hemisphere to thaw and release CO2 that has been stored within it for thousands of years. The amount of carbon stored in permafrost is estimated to be four times greater than the combined amount of CO2 emitted by modern humans.’
Source: Arctic permafrost releases more carbon dioxide than once believed | phys.org
‘…While some have said the incident shows the growing impact of the climate crisis – a 2019 survey found that the Himalyan glaciers are melting at “alarming speed” – local activists and writers have also blamed the intensive building along Uttarakhand’s rivers and mountains of dams and hydropower infrastructure, which they argue is destabilising the ecologically fragile Himalayan region and resulting in more extreme weather events.’
Source: Scores feared dead as glacier causes dams to burst in north India | World news | The Guardian
‘February marks one year since Australia’s catastrophic wildfire season started to ease, after leaving 34 people dead and torching at least 18 million hectares of land (nearly 44.5 million acres). It was, in the words of one state premier, “the most devastating natural disaster in living memory.”’
‘A week after President Joe Biden signed executive orders intended to combat the worst effects of global warming, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers urged him to go even further and declare a national emergency on climate change. Along with other liberal lawmakers, the independent Vermont senator and the New York Democratic congresswoman introduced legislation in the House and Senate that would direct Biden to declare a national climate emergency.’
Source: Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez seek climate emergency declaration | PBS NewsHour
‘…As the story of Keystone XL shows, no fossil fuel project is inevitable. Wherever people are willing to take a stand, there’s a battle to be won. May our victories be fuel for the fights to come.’
Source: Here’s How We Defeated the Keystone XL Pipeline | Sierra Club
‘The first 10 days of Biden’s presidency have represented a startling handbrake turn from Donald Trump’s term, where climate science was routinely disparaged or sidelined and policies to cut planet-heating emissions were jettisoned. A complete rewiring of the economy is now needed to avert what the president calls an “existential threat” to civilization.’
‘…What could stand in Biden’s way in passing major climate reform on issues — such as phasing out coal and oil with clean energy technology — is moderate Senate Democrats and Republicans from fossil-fuel states who oppose policies they view as harmful to the industry in their home state.’
Source: Biden’s climate change agenda to face obstacles with Senate | CNBC
‘Scientists have resolved a controversial but key climate change mystery, bolstering climate models and confirming that Earth is hotter than it’s been in at least 12,000 years, and perhaps even the last 128,000 years, according to the most recent annual global temperature data.’
‘The climate emergency has arrived and is accelerating more rapidly than most scientists anticipated, and many of them are deeply concerned. The adverse effects of climate change are much more severe than expected, and now threaten both the biosphere and humanity. There is mounting evidence linking increases in extreme weather frequency and intensity to climate change.’
Source: The Climate Emergency: 2020 in Review – Scientific American