[News] Sixth Mass Extinction Ushers In Record-Breaking Wildfires and Heat
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Aug 20 13:06:17 EDT 2018
https://truthout.org/articles/sixth-mass-extinction-ushers-in-record-breaking-wildfires-and-heat/
Sixth Mass Extinction Ushers In Record-Breaking Wildfires and Heat
By Dahr Jamail - August 20, 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There have been five mass extinction events on Earth, and it is a
scientific fact <http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/E6089> we are well
into the sixth mass extinction event.
By far, the worst of these was the Permian mass extinction that occurred
roughly 252 million years ago. That one annihilated 95 percent of all
life on Earth.
During the Permian mass extinction, global warming caused by a massive
amount of CO2 released from volcanism warmed both the oceans and the
atmosphere, which then triggered the release of colossal amounts of
methane that had been trapped underneath the ice in the Arctic. This
caused an even greater spike in planetary warming, which wiped out
nearly all life on Earth.
In our current mass extinction event, however, rather than the
CO2-caused warming coming from a volcano, it is anthropogenic
(human-caused), and the climate is not just warming, it is disrupted.
And this time, rather than the process taking tens of thousands of years
as it did during the Permian mass extinction, humans are increasing
atmospheric CO2 levels far, far more rapidly.
Whether or not humans go extinct remains to be seen, but there is no
denying that sustaining 7.6 billion
<http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/> humans while we are
forcing the extinction of between 150-200 other species
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/aug/16/nature-economic-security>
each day and have pushed Earth’s climate out of its natural state is
very much in question. I’ve spoken to prestigious scientists both on and
off the record who believe that sooner rather than later, global
population will be reduced to around 1 billion humans.
Whichever scenario runs its course, we are all facing massive loss in
the future. It is only then can we decide what is truly important in our
lives, and how to comport ourselves as we go through our days.
Just as warming seas caused the release of methane stores in the Arctic,
driving the Permian mass extinction, we are now facing what appears to
be a modern-day equivalent of this phenomenon.
Sea surface temperatures in the Arctic are warming at stunning rates. To
give you an idea, look at this blog containing images showing sea
surface temperatures
<https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/disappearance-of-arctic-sea-ice.html>
in one specific location near Svalbard for July 6 for each of the
following years:
2014: -0.8°C or 30.6°F
2015: 6.2°C or 43.2°F
2016: 8.3°C or 47.0°F
2017: 14.4°C or 57.9°F
2018: 16.6°C or 61.9°F
On July 30, 2018, the sea surface near Svalbard was as warm as 19.3°C
<https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10160578508995161&set=a.10150592349770161.675455.655795160&type=3&theater>
or 66.8°F — 13.9°C or 25°F warmer than it was during 1981-2011.
Elsewhere in the Arctic, Sweden’s highest mountain is no longer its
highest mountain, thanks largely to anthropogenic climate disruption
(ACD), as the top 13 feet of ice melted off of it
<http://time.com/5357175/sweden-highest-peak-melts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fworld+%28TIME%3A+Top+World+Stories%29>.
On July 30, a Norwegian town 350 miles into the Arctic Circle saw the
temperature reach 90°F
<http://time.com/5357175/sweden-highest-peak-melts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fworld+%28TIME%3A+Top+World+Stories%29>.
The trend is clear, and should be very alarming to anyone reading this.
Christie Aschwanden, writing for FiveThirtyEight
<https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-climate-change-looks-like-in-2018/>,
provided this synopsis on July 19:
It’s only July, but it has already been a long, hot spring and
summer. The contiguous US endured the warmest May
<https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-201805> ever
recorded, and in June, the average temperature
<https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/data-snapshots/data-source-average-monthly-temperature>
was 1.7 degrees Celsius
<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/national/rankings/110/tavg/201806#1>
(3.0 degrees Fahrenheit
<https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-201806>) above the
20th century average [June was Earth’s fifth warmest June ever
recorded, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
found that the only warmer June months on record were 2016, 2015,
2017 and 2014, in that order]. Iowa, New Mexico and Texas set record
highs for their minimum temperatures
<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-content/sotc/national/2018/jun/monthlysigeventsmap-062018.png>
in June, and as of July 3, nearly 30 percent of the Lower 48 was
experiencing drought conditions. And it’s not just the US. During
the first five months of 2018, nearly every continent experienced
record warm temperatures
<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201805>, and May 2018 marked
the 401st consecutive month
<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201805> in which temperatures
exceeded the 20th century average.
As if to underscore all of this, leading scientists recently published a
study <http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/31/1810141115> warning
a domino effect of climate events could easily move Earth into a
“hothouse” state, making any efforts to reduce emissions increasingly
futile. Their paper combines the consequences of 10 climate change
processes (methane release in the Arctic, the melting of the Greenland
ice sheet and the loss of coral reefs as a few examples), as each of
these is a feedback loop that could amplify the other nine.
While the authors stress that their analysis was not conclusive, they
warned the Guardian
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other>
that this trajectory “would almost certainly flood deltaic environments,
increase the risk of damage from coastal storms, and eliminate coral
reefs (and all of the benefits that they provide for societies) by the
end of this century or earlier.”
Another climate researcher, Phil Williamson, put it this way
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other>:
“In the context of the summer of 2018, this is definitely not a case of
crying wolf, raising a false alarm: the wolves are now in sight.”
Earth
Scientists recently pointed
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-20/climate-change-is-disrupting-the-planet-s-seasons>
out how ACD is shifting the planet’s seasons. Research spanning decades
of satellite data has proven that human fossil fuel emissions are
shifting what one researcher called the “march of the seasons
themselves.” The researchers also stated that the odds of this occurring
naturally and without human influence are approximately five in 1 million.
As the planet relentlessly warms, the health of more than 1 billion
people
<http://news.trust.org/item/20180716040058-2j73u?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=27b4983d5d-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-27b4983d5d-99065441>
is at risk, due to their inability to stay cool from lack of
air-conditioning and refrigeration to cool and preserve food and
medicine. The countries most at risk include Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Pakistan, Mozambique, Sudan, Nigeria, Brazil, India and China.
Meanwhile, the ancient cedar trees of Lebanon — which are depicted on
the national flag and some of which are more than 1,000 years old — are
succumbing to ACD
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/18/climate/lebanon-climate-change-environment-cedars.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>.
The trees depend upon a cool, moist climate, but as temperatures
increase and there is less moisture, the trees are migrating further
upslope. By 2100, at the current trajectory, it is expected they will
only exist on the higher mountains in the north of the country, then
after that, likely not at all.
Humans are suffering other types of impacts from ACD, in addition to the
obvious extreme weather events, water issues and political instability.
A recent study
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/23/rising-temperatures-linked-to-increased-suicide-rates?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=9c94fceab0-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-9c94fceab0-99065441>
has linked increasingly warm temperatures directly to an increase in
suicide rates. The study showed that ACD impacts could be as significant
as the impacts from economic recessions, which have already been shown
to generate an increase in self-harm. For example, the study showed that
suicide rates in Mexico rose by 2.1 percent when the average monthly
temperature increased by 1°C.
Ocean acidity will soon reach levels that have not been seen for 14
million years.
Anotherstudy
<https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/mental-health-climate.pdf>
warned of ACD’s looming mental health crisis. “Things like depression,
anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, domestic
abuse, all these things tend to go up in the aftermath of natural
disasters,” psychologist Susan Clayton, a co-author of the study, told
Wired magazine
<https://www.wired.com/story/climate-changes-looming-mental-health-crisis/>.
“As we have more natural disasters, one would expect to also have
increases in those kinds of mental health consequences.”
A group of experts recently warned Congress
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-is-unprepared-for-the-health-challenges-of-climate-change-experts-warn/?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=227415e2f7-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-227415e2f7-99065441>
that the US is ill-prepared for the health challenges ACD is already
bringing across the country. Things like insect-borne diseases, damage
to hospitals from extreme weather events and the impacts on impoverished
areas are some of their primary concerns. The experts urged policymakers
to invest in preparation plans, but so far it seems as though this
advice has largely gone unheeded.
*Water*
The most profound impacts of runaway ACD are showing up in the oceans.
Scientists recently revealed that ocean acidity will soon reach levels
that have not been seen for 14 million years
<https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/acidity-in-seas-to-reach-levels-not-seen-in-14-million-years-1-4772919?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=9c94fceab0-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-9c94fceab0-99065441>.
Ocean acidification occurs when oceans absorb CO2 from the atmosphere,
causing the water to have a lower pH, and was the key driver of the loss
of more than 90 percent of life on Earth during the Permian mass
extinction event.
A recently published study
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/science/fish-smell-co2.html> showed
that fish will begin to lose their sense of smell as CO2 levels continue
to rise and the oceans become increasingly acidic. This will change
their behavior as their ability to search for food and avoid predators
becomes impaired.
Meanwhile, the cryosphere continues melting at a breakneck pace.
In Canada, a glaciologist who was part of a recently published study
pointed out
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/canada-icebergs-shrinking-study-1.4749889?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=1f7e02b352-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-1f7e02b352-99065441>
how hundreds of glaciers in the Arctic are shrinking rapidly, and are
disappearing into what has been described as a “city of icebergs.” The
study showed that between the years 2000 and 2016, 1,353 out of 1,773
glaciers had shrunk significantly.
Meanwhile, the oceans continue to warm. Sea surface temperatures near
San Diego’s Scripps Pier recently logged
<http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-scripps-pier-20180802-story.html>
the highest ocean temperature in its 102-year history of record-keeping
when temperatures registered 78.6°F.
Warming oceans are also causing large species, including the hammerhead
shark, to _migrate
<https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-sharks-climate-change-migration-seas-cornwall-hammerhead-great-white-a8449996.html>_
from the Mediterranean and Spanish coastlines northwards into British
waters — a trend that will continue in the next few decades as waters
continue to warm.
As high temperatures and droughts continue to persist across the US
West, emergency measures
<https://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Drought-forces-emergency-measures-for-US-West-s-13096426.php>
had to be employed to rescue wild horses across the over-heated and
parched region. Volunteer groups are working feverishly to haul in water
and food to areas that no longer support vegetation in an effort to keep
the horses alive.
Due to the ongoing threat to its food supply, the country of El Salvador
recently declared an emergency
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-el-salvador-drought/el-salvador-declares-emergency-to-ensure-food-supply-in-severe-drought-idUSKBN1KE338>
amidst an ongoing and severe drought in an effort to save farmers and
food, as tens of thousands of farmers have lost their crops.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently announced measures
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45075838> to assist farmers
there who have been impacted by a severe drought, and stated
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45075838> that the country
is “the land of droughts.”
Fire
ACD is making itself obvious in this realm across the Northern
Hemisphere this summer.
In Sweden, forest fires have raged
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44871789> across the country,
including up into the Arctic Circle where at least 11 blazed
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/18/sweden-calls-for-help-as-arctic-circle-hit-by-wildfires>.
They have been intense and widespread enough to cause authorities there
to request international assistance.
And it’s not just Sweden. A weather station in Northern Finland hit
91°F, and a professor of fire safety at Western Norway University of
Applied Sciences called what was happening
<https://earther.gizmodo.com/scandinavia-is-on-fire-1827723769/amp?rev=1532027960751&__twitter_impression=true>
there the “worst wildfire season in Scandinavia that can be remembered.”
A record heat wave was behind 31 fires
<https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/ecology/2018/07/barents-region-fire>
in the Barents Region of the Arctic alone.
Meanwhile, the rest of Europe has been struggling with extremely hot
temperatures and wildfires. At least 94 people died
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/13/greece-fires-force-evacuation-of-evia-island-near-athens>
in Greece from the deadliest wildfires seen there in decades.
Back in the US, the heart of Yosemite National Park wasclosed
<https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/management/closures.htm> while crews
battled massive wildfires in the area. It’s the first time that part of
the park had to be closed down since a 1990 wildfire caused the same.
A large portion of China could literally become uninhabitable in the
coming decades as heat waves are becoming progressively more intense.
Elsewhere in California, a record-breaking wildfire spawned a tornado
that packed more powerful winds than had ever been recorded in such
phenomena. The National Weather Service estimated
<https://twitter.com/NWSSacramento/status/1025125984465498112> the fire
tornado packed winds stronger than 143 mph. “This is historic in the
US,” Craig Clements, director of San Jose State University’s Fire
Weather Research Laboratory, told BuzzFeed News
<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jimdalrympleii/the-fire-tornado-that-ripped-through-a-california-city-may>.
“This might be the strongest fire-induced tornado-like circulation ever
recorded.”
At the time of this writing, at least 10 people
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/05/california-wildfires-seventh-victim-trump-declares-major-disaster?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other>
had been killed by the fires across California, and the federal
government declared the situation a natural disaster.
One of the blazes has already become the largest in the state’s history
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildfires/california-wildfire-becomes-second-largest-in-state-history-idUSKBN1KR0SA>,
and at least 12 other fires were burning at the time of this writing.
Scientists have long since linked
<https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/how-climate-change-contributed-to-this-summers-wildfires>
the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires to ACD.
Air
Summer temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere have been wreaking havoc.
Japan has seen some of its highest temperatures ever recorded
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44910435> during a heat wave that
killed at least 30 people and hospitalized more than 22,000.
Elsewhere in Asia, recent research has shown that a large portion of
China could literally become uninhabitable
<https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/heatwave-china-climate-change-carbon-emissions-greenhouse-gas-tropics-mit-a8471751.html>
in the coming decades as heat waves are becoming progressively more intense.
Across Europe, calls for assistance for farmers
<https://www.dw.com/en/calls-for-farm-support-intensify-as-europe-struggles-with-heat-wave-drought/a-44902321?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=12f2a40331-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-12f2a40331-99065441>
have been common, as blistering heat has baked the country and deep
drought conditions persist.
Temperatures across that continent have soared this summer. Sweden saw
its hottest July in at least 260 years
<https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/07/the-european-heat-wave-is-brutal/565955/>,
along with its worst drought in 74
<https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/07/the-european-heat-wave-is-brutal/565955/>
years. Northern Ireland and Wales saw their hottest June temperatures
ever recorded
<https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/07/the-european-heat-wave-is-brutal/565955/>.
Berlin baked
<https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/07/the-european-heat-wave-is-brutal/565955/>,
the UK has been wracked with wildfires
<https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/07/the-european-heat-wave-is-brutal/565955/>,
and Paris announced a heat alert
<https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/07/the-european-heat-wave-is-brutal/565955/>.
Some reports are now warning that every weather event could possibly
result in a state of emergency.
Death Valley, California, broke its own record
<http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/399838-death-valley-in-california-hits-its-hottest-month-in-recorded?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=349a4b945e-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-349a4b945e-99065441>
for the hottest full month ever recorded on the planet. It averaged
108.1°F for July, breaking the previous record, set just last year, by
half a degree. It is worth noting that the record that was set last year
had broken a 100-year-old record.
“In many cases, the [heat] records were not simply beaten, they were
obliterated,” ThinkProgress reported
<https://thinkprogress.org/heat-waves-bother-you-under-trump-climate-policies-add-another-add-12f-fd4ef3ec514e/>
about heat records across California recently. “As [the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)] reported in Southern California,
where temperature records go back 140 years, records for July 6 were
disintegrated by 14°F in downtown Los Angeles and Camarillo, and by 16°F
in San Luis Obispo. In Van Nuys, it hit 117°F … destroying the previous
record for the day (99°F) by an astounding 18°F — and that record was
just set last year.”
Some reports are now warning that every weather event could possibly
result in a state of emergency
<https://theoutline.com/post/5344/climate-change-is-catching-places-off-guard-and-driving-death-counts?zd=1&zi=4cvd32r3>,
as ACD is amping up weather around the planet.
“This is unfortunately the new normal,” Ahira Sanchez-Lugo, a physical
scientist at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, told
CBC News
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/climate-change-heat-waves-1.4751633?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=a1dcb79c70-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-a1dcb79c70-99065441>.
“When it comes to extreme heat, we can say the odds of extreme heat or
heat waves have been significantly increased by climate change,” said
Clare Nullis
<https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/climate-change-heat-waves-1.4751633?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=a1dcb79c70-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-a1dcb79c70-99065441>,
a spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization. “We have to
start getting used to it.”
According to NOAA’s June Global Climate Report,
<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201806> that month ended up being
the fifth-warmest such month on record. “Four of six continents had a
June temperature that ranked among the seven warmest Junes since
continental records began in 1910,” the report noted.
As bad as all of this is, it will all be made worse thanks to the
policies of the Trump administration. The climate policies of his team,
or lack thereof, will cause these severe and deadly heat waves we are
already seeing to become the new summer normal over just the next few
decades.
According to one report, the typical five-day heat wave in the US will
become 12°F warmer by between 2036-2065 alone, and some heat waves could
bring _131°F
<https://thinkprogress.org/heat-waves-bother-you-under-trump-climate-policies-add-another-add-12f-fd4ef3ec514e/>_
temperatures, the level above which the human body cannot continue to
function properly, according to the US National Climate Assessment (NCA)
<https://science2017.globalchange.gov/>. The report warned that much of
the world, including the US, will begin to see huge “humid heat waves”
where the heat index reaches a fatal 131°F every other year by just the
end of this century, not even to speak of what will occur after that.
Denial and Reality
The Trump administration continues its denial of ACD and persists in its
efforts to eviscerate the natural environment.
Since the last dispatch
<https://truthout.org/articles/global-temperature-projections-could-double-as-the-world-burns/>,
the administration has moved forward on plans to replace the Obama
administration’s climate plan
<https://www.apnews.com/5b3fcc01b5694f88b69db56167b8bffc/Trump-replacement-for-Obama-climate-plan-moves-forward>
aimed at cutting US greenhouse gas emissions. The Trump plan is more of
an “all-in” for the coal industry, in addition to having already
withdrawn the US from the Paris climate agreement. Hence, the US now has
no ACD plan.
The Trump administration also announced plans to weaken US fuel
efficiency laws
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/climate/trump-auto-emissions-california.html>
and pollution standards, in effect freezing rules that require cleaner,
more efficient cars. This is another move toward dismantling Obama’s
plan to mitigate ACD.
Furthermore, Congress recently authorized the inclusion of six
icebreakers
<https://www.alaskapublic.org/2018/08/01/congress-authorizes-six-icebreakers-in-pentagon-bill/>
in the annual defense policy bill, since oil exploration and drilling in
the Arctic is their chosen path instead of working to mitigate the
impacts of ACD.
Meanwhile, a recent study
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0320-y> revealed that the
Gulf Stream current, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning
Circulation, is slowing down due to ACD impacts, and this is expected to
boost planetary warming for 20 years.
Finally, to underscore everything you have just read, a NOAA
oceanographer warned during a recent press call
<https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/atmospheric-carbon-last-year-reached-levels-not-seen-800000-years>
that even if humans ceased adding all CO2 to the atmosphere, the amount
of CO2 there already is enough to cause the atmosphere to continue to
warm for the “next couple decades, to maybe a century.”
The NOAA’s State of the Climate in 2017
<https://www.ametsoc.net/sotc2017/StateoftheClimate2017_lowres.pdf>
report states unequivocally that last year, Earth’s atmosphere saw CO2
levels reach the highest levels “in the modern atmospheric measurement
record and in ice core records dating back as far as 800,000 years.”
Furthermore, CO2 concentrations, methane and nitrous oxide — other
impactful greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — also all hit “record
highs
<https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/atmospheric-carbon-last-year-reached-levels-not-seen-800000-years>.”
--
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