Agenda for a Prophetic Faith

We've missed our chance to seriously stop climate change, study finds :(

We've passed the point of no return when it comes to stopping a rise of 1.5°C in global temperatures, a new study has found. That 1.5°C figure was a 'stretch goal' set down by the countries who signed up to the Paris agreement last December, but we've already well and truly missed the mark.
Now the race is on to limit the damage in rising temperatures to 2°C globally through a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, but the signs aren't looking great on that front either.

It's official: May is now Earth's hottest on record We can't keep up.

Our climate is changing, and quickly: NASA says May 2016 was the hottest month on the planet since we started keeping records, with the Arctic in particular seeing temperatures way above what might normally be expected.
"Abnormal is the new normal," said David Carlson from the World Climate Research Programme, which helped collate the data.

Hellish Heat Could Spark ‘Climate Exodus’ In Africa And Middle East

Scorching temperatures brought on by climate change could leave large swaths of the Middle East and North Africa uninhabitable by the middle of this century, a new study predicts.
Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and The Cyprus Institute in Nicosia crunched the numbers and found that this area, a “climate change hotspot“ where days of extreme heat have doubled since 1970, could soon be plagued by weather so brutal that it triggers a “climate exodus.”

Why Companies Shouldn’t Hide The Financial Risks Of Climate Change

The threats posed by climate change could become as ubiquitous in companies’ financial reports as their earnings and sales information, if Michael Bloomberg has his way.
The challenge? Getting disparate companies and industries to agree on a common set of standards that would allow the public to compare them against one another.
Governments and environmental groups reckon that improving companies’ disclosures about the risks posed by climate change are key to promoting the kind of change in business practices necessary to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the aspirational goal of some 200 nations that agreed in December to aggressively combat climate change.

A Melting Antarctica Could Sink The World’s Coastlines Faster Than Predicted

Sea level rise could be double previous estimates, swamping Boston and New York by 2100.

A new paper says seas could rise more than six feet by 2100.

Many cities, including New York, Boston and Hong Kong, would be partially underwater.

The worst effects could be avoided if we slash or stop carbon emissions.

Arctic Sea Ice Volume Nears Record Low

In February, record high temperatures in the Arctic brought with them other records -- including record lows for that month's extent and area of Arctic sea ice. Until this year, the previous records for sea ice extent and area for February were set in 2011.
Moreover, the total volume of the Arctic sea ice, which many scientists see as the most important factor determining the health of Arctic sea ice, reached its second-lowest level ever recorded that same month. The record low for sea ice volume was set in 2012, a record that could fall this year or next, according to scientists.

Climate warming accelerating carbon loss from thawing Arctic soils

Date: March 16, 2016
Source: Dartmouth College
Summary: Warmer, wetter conditions in the Arctic are accelerating the loss of carbon stored in tundra and permafrost soils, creating a potential positive feedback that further boosts global temperatures, a new study finds.

Study: Man-Made Heat In Oceans Is Surging, Has Doubled Since 1997

WASHINGTON (AP) — The amount of man-made heat energy absorbed by the seas has doubled since 1997, a study released Monday showed.
…
The world's oceans absorbed approximately 150 zettajoules of energy from 1865 to 1997, and then absorbed about another 150 in the next 18 years, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

If The Oceans Keep Heating Up, Ocean Life Could Stop Making Oxygen

Tiny organisms called phytoplankton make more than half of the oxygen in our atmosphere, but a new study says warmer oceans could put an end to that. (Video provided by Newsy)

Companies and Investors Come Out in Force to Support the EPA Clean Power Plan

Check out this newsletter from CERES. (In its own words: Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership that mobilizes a powerful network of investors, companies and public interest groups to build a sustainable global economy. )

World's Glaciers Melting At Fastest Rate Since Record-Keeping Began

"Globally, we lose about three times the ice volume stored in the entirety of the European Alps every year."

Bill McKibben: The Pope and the Planet Bill McKibben on The Pope and the Planet

On a sprawling, multicultural, fractious planet, no person can be heard by everyone. But Pope Francis comes closer than anyone else. … From his seat in Rome he addresses the developed world, much of which descended from the Christendom he represents; but from his Argentine roots he speaks to the developing world, and with firsthand knowledge of the poverty that is the fate of most on our planet.
So no one could have considered more usefully the first truly planetary question we've ever faced: the rapid heating of the earth from the consumption of fossil fuels. … Since Francis first announced plans for an encyclical on climate change, many have eagerly awaited his words.

Exxon's Funding of Climate Denial Turned Americans Against Their Own Government for Profit

Exxon and other fossil fuel companies may have committed a crime of enormous proportions, and more and more elected officials and others are demanding an investigation.
The charge is that Exxon scientists and management knew since the late 1970s that the company's product was helping cause our planet to warm "catastrophically," but management responded by covering this up and disseminating disinformation - joining with other companies to commit an enormous fraud on the public for profit.

Two degree Celsius warming locks in sea level rise for thousands of years

A jump in global average temperatures of 1.5°C-2°C will see the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves and lead to hundreds and even thousands of years of sea level rise, according to new research published in Nature.
The research highlights the moral significance of decisions made now about mitigating climate change.

Snowpack In Sierra Nevada At 500-Year Low An "ominous sign of the severity of this drought," researchers said

California's record multiyear drought is severe, but new research suggests that, historically, it may be even worse than previously thought.
In a paper published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers, calling their findings "an ominous sign of the severity of this drought," found that the snowpack in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range is at the lowest it has been for more than 500 years.
What's worse is it may become the new normal in California.

Study Predicts Antarctica Ice Melt if All Fossil Fuels Are Burned - The New York Times

Burning all the world’s deposits of coal, oil and natural gas would raise the temperature enough to melt the entire ice sheet covering Antarctica, driving the level of the sea up by more than 160 feet, scientists reported Friday.
In a major surprise to the scientists, they found that half the melting could occur in as little as a thousand years, causing the ocean to rise by something on the order of a foot per decade, roughly 10 times the rate at which it is rising now. Such a pace would almost certainly throw human society into chaos, forcing a rapid retreat from the world’s coastal cities.

Global climate on verge of multi-decadal change

The global climate is on the verge of broad-scale change that could last for a number of decades a new study implies. The change to the new set of climatic conditions is associated with a cooling of the Atlantic, and is likely to bring drier summers in Britain and Ireland, accelerated sea-level rise along the northeast coast of the United States, and drought in the developing countries of the Sahel region.

SPOILER ALERT: Climate change will destroy the planet’s circulatory system

. . . A pair of new studies suggests that warming temperatures and melting Arctic ice sheets could have drastic effects on global ocean currents. . . .
Part of the problem with melting ice, argues the first study, is that it’s mostly freshwater. Don’t get me wrong, I love freshwater — can’t get enough of the stuff — but cold freshwater doesn’t sink the same way cold saltwater does (because it’s not as dense). And part of what helps the currents do their job is the fact that cold water tends to sink. Any disruptions in temperature and salinity are likely to toy with that system in a severely objectionable manner. . .

Nick Visser: World's Glaciers Melting At Fastest Rate Since Record-Keeping Began
"Globally, we lose about three times the ice volume stored in the entirety of the European Alps every year."

The world's glaciers have melted to the lowest levels since record-keeping began more than 120 years ago, according to a study conducted by the World Glacier Monitoring Service that was released on Monday.
The research, published in the Journal of Glaciology, provides new evidence that climate change has spurred the rapid decline of thousands of the world's ice shelves over the past century. The first decade of the 21st century saw the fastest loss of ice since scientists began tracking it in 1894 -- and perhaps in recorded history, WGMS reported.
"Globally, we lose about three times the ice volume stored in the entirety of the European Alps every year," Michael Zemp, director of the WGMS and lead author of the study, told The Huffington Post.

Ceres July 2105 Newsletter: Companies and Investors Come Out in Force to Support the EPA Clean Power Plan

Today, Ceres coordinated 365 businesses and investors to send letters to more than two-dozen governors voicing their support of the EPA Clean Power Plan, aimed to reduce U.S. power plant carbon pollution by 30 percent by 2030.
The support of these 365 signatories is critical to encouraging governors to finalize and implement state's plans to meet the standards.
"Our support is firmly grounded in economic reality," wrote the businesses, including industry giants such as General Mills, Mars Inc., Nestle, Staples, Unilever and VF Corporation. "Clean energy solutions are cost effective and innovative ways to drive investment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Increasingly, businesses rely on renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions to cut costs and improve corporate performance."

Lance Simmons: Turn Up the Heat on Climate Change

The mad scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other well-respected research institutions worldwide continue to churn out reports that document long-term trends that serve to alert us to ominous consequences for those who will outlive us: namely, our children and grandchildren. Yet collectively we remain hesitant if not defiant in the face of such warnings to demand that our leaders actually lead by telling us things we don't necessarily want to hear. We reward our leaders for pandering rather than leading and the appearance of a dispute when in actuality there is no dispute as to what is happening is a security blanket that many wish to pull over their own eyes.

Items of more general interest.

At Liberty University, an Irreligious Bernie Sanders Voices a Progressive Embrace of Faith

While Bernie Sanders distanced himself from organized religion, he recently used his speaking engagement at Liberty University as an opportunity to locate points of connection with his audience. But did it work?

The European Migrant Crisis Is A Nightmare. Climate Change Will Make It Worse.

The hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe or dying on the way to its shores could be a harbinger of things to come, researchers and policymakers warn, because a potentially greater driver of displacement looms on the horizon: climate change.
As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned at a recent State Department-led conference on climate change in the Arctic, the scenes of chaos and heartbreak in Europe will be repeated globally unless the world acts to mitigate climate change.

Radioactive contaminants found in coal ash — Landfill, pond storage of coal ash is currently unregulated

From Duke University: A new study has found radioactive contaminants in coal ash from all three major US coal-producing basins. Levels of radioactivity in the ash were five to eight times higher than in normal soil or in the parent coal itself. This finding raises concerns about the environmental and human health risks posed by coal ash, which currently is unregulated and is stored in coal-fired power plants' holding ponds and landfills nationwide.

Soaking up carbon dioxide and turning it into valuable products — Researchers double down on a good thing by incorporating catalysts into crystalline sponges

From DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Researchers have incorporated molecules of porphyrin CO2 catalysts into the sponge-like crystals of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) to create a molecular system that not only absorbs carbon dioxide, but also selectively reduces it to CO, a primary building block for a wide range of chemical products.

Jeff Biggers: Call It What It Is: A Global Migration Shift From Climate, Not a Migrant or Refugee Crisis

Hundreds more died off the coast of Libya today, on the heels of 71 deaths of migrants trapped in the back of a truck near Vienna, Austria. At the same time, NASA officials just warned that rising global sea levels from climate change could affect coastal regions, including 150 million residents in Asia who lived "within a meter from the sea."

Dr. James Hanson: Disastrous Sea Level Rise Is an Issue for Today's Public -- Not Next Millennium's

My conclusion, based on the total information available, is that continued high emissions would result in multi-meter sea level rise this century and lock in continued ice sheet disintegration such that building cities or rebuilding cities on coast lines would become foolish.

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