Abstract
Books
Sea Level Rise: A Slow Tsunami on America's Shores
Orrin Pikley and Keith Pilkey
Duke University Press, $24.95
https://www.dukeupress.edu/sea-level-rise
Sea level rise presents risks to the United States' thousands of miles of coastline. Cities, such as Miami and New Orleans, will disappear, and their residents will become climate refugees. In addition to cities finding themselves underwater, ports will need to raise their docks and warehouses. However, despite the evidence that the seas are rising, developers continue to build along the shorelines, and people continue to purchase homes in these areas. Eventually though, the authors suspect people will get tired of rebuilding after floods and hurricanes.
The book connects the idea for readers that greenhouse gases are trapping heat, leading to warming climates and melting ice sheets—and that people are responsible for those increases in greenhouse gases. The book reports a 3-foot increase in sea level by the year 2100 as a good possibility, which would lead to more than four million people needing to relocate. The authors report there is no way to stay near the shorelines, despite the beautiful ocean views, and describe future sea level increases as a “slow-motion tsunami.”
The authors recommend retreating from the coasts now in a “peaceful and organized way” rather than waiting for a crisis reaction to flooding.
Climate Change and Ecosystems
National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society
The National Academies Press
Available as a free download at:
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25504/climate-change-and-ecosystems
Climate change and other human-made incidents are stressing the ecosystems, composed of plants, animals, people, and other living things interacting with the environment. As a result of climate change, water and air temperatures are rising, precipitation patterns are shifting, natural disasters are intensifying, species are under attack, and the very chemistry of the ocean is changing. These situations add to pollution, and losses of natural habitats are increasing pressure on natural ecosystems, essential for a healthy natural world.
Although such environmental assaults have put ecosystems at risk, many have become resilient to climate change. However, this more often occurs in healthy ecosystems that retain the diversity of their original species. Conservation efforts can help ecosystems to stay strong.
Healthy ecosystems can help to mitigate the effects of climate change by removing the carbon dioxide in greenhouse gases and storing it in biomass. Conservation efforts to maintain the mangroves and wetlands that protect the coastline from rising sea levels erosion and storm surges, and maintain forests to reduce erosion and manage flood waters would help mitigate the damage.
The book concludes that decision makers at all levels, from local through international, need to learn more about the value of ecosystems and how to properly manage them. However, the benefits from ecosystem management should be combined with reductions in the use of fossil fuels and changes in human behavior.
No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
Greta Thunberg
Penguin Random House, $10
Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year, Greta Thunberg, has put a human face on the quest to address climate change. In her recent book, the author compiles several speeches she has made to raise awareness of climate change and the urgency needed to change how people live and use the Earth's natural resources.
Described as “a cry for help,” the book emphasizes how critically important it is for people to take action to address climate change. She asks the media, influencers, and politicians to take climate and the environment seriously and not look away. Carbon emissions are still increasing.
The book discusses the mass extinction of species related to climate change and climate justice, explaining that rich countries must work to reduce emissions and then later poorer countries. She says that most people do not understand how their actions contribute to the climate problem. Yet, she says every person's actions count, just as every emission counts. She asks people to give children a future by getting involved now. Her rallying cry has been heard around the world: “Our house is on fire.”
Reports
Throwing Away the Future: How Companies Still Have It Wrong on Plastic Pollution “Solutions”
Greenpeace USA Senior Research Specialist Ivy Schlegel
Available as a free download at:
Plastic pollution has risen to crisis levels, with plastics floating in oceans and other bodies of water. Every minute, the equivalent of a truckload of plastic enters the oceans, breaking into smaller pieces that can be eaten by marine animals. As many as 50 trillion plastic particles are in the oceans. Plastic also ends up in landfills, and it does not break down like paper.
The fossil fuel industry aims to increase plastic production by 40 percent during the next decade, and much of it will be turned into plastic packaging, most often designed for single uses. This report aims to warn consumers to view “so-called solutions,” such as bioplastics or chemical recycling, by corporations with skepticism because they continue the use of single-use packaging and move people away from refill and reuse options for goods.
Chemical conversion recycling technologies give false hope, the report states, because they give people the impression that plastics can be improved so that they are less harmful to the environment. Greenpeace does not believe that is possible.
Underlying the report is the idea that real change will happen only when companies shift away from single-use models, stop expanding the use of plastic, and invest in systems that promote reuse.
Renewables 2019 Global Status Report
REN21
Available as a free download at:
http://www.ren21.net/gsr-2019/
Twenty-six percent of the electricity produced around the world comes from renewables, according to this report, which focuses on the 2018 market, investment, and policy trends in the renewable energy cycle. More than 90 countries have installed a minimum of 1 gigawatt (GW) of renewable power capacity, and 30 countries have put in more than 10 GW. In nine countries—Denmark, Uruguay, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Greece, United Kingdom, and Honduras—solar and wind produced more than 20 percent of the electricity generated. All together, 181 GW of renewable energy was added in 2018.
However, inconsistency and differing policy at country levels can hamper the ability of renewable energy to reduce carbon pollution and meet climate goals. As such, cities are becoming drivers of renewable energy adoption, with more than 100 cities depending on at least 70 percent renewable energy.
Opportunities exist for countries to expand their investment in renewable energy to include heating, cooling, and transport sectors, where renewables represent only 9.8 percent of energy for heating and cooling and 3.3 percent for transport. Unfortunately, the number of countries that have a renewable policy for heating declined in 2018. However, Brazil has an ambitious policy, as does California.
The report credits private sector investment and procurement with “driving renewable energy deployment,” with corporate sourcing more than doubling in 2018.
Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States
U.S. Global Change Research Program
Available as a free download at:
https://nca2018.globalchange.gov
The National Climate Assessment evaluates the science of climate change and how it affects the United States currently and projections for the future. After an introduction providing background for the research program, the report summarizes findings for 12 entities, everything from indigenous peoples to tourism and recreation.
The first volume of this report was released in 2017 and presented an assessment of the report's science. That volume formed a foundation for the current document.
This volume report indicates climate change and global average temperature increases are occurring faster now than at any other time in modern society, largely due to human activity. As people live through floods, droughts, and storms, they are starting to recognize the risks associated with climate change. The report directly connects climate change and the ways it is altering people's lives and livelihoods.
Additionally, the report discusses how vulnerable populations experience greater climate risks than other people, exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities. These vulnerable populations also may be adversely affected by others' actions to address climate change.
Climate action must include mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, or there will be property and infrastructure damage, slowing economic growth. People's health and well-being also are at risk. Actions must be taken now to reduce climate-related risks.
Films
Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Olly Bootle, director and producer
BBC, 58 minutes
Available as a free download at:
https://www.raw.co.uk/meat-a-treat-to-our-planet
This documentary investigates the role the meat industry has played in climate change. It shows how cattle raising is a leading source of biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions, and how pig farming creates manure, which produces runoff into the neighboring environment and waterways. The filmmakers travel to the Amazon, which is being cleared for cattle, and China to view “super farms” for meat production. The film also investigates ways to feed animals so that meat production does not kill the planet.
On a Wing and a Prayer
Dominic Gill, director
Mountainfilm, 9 minutes Annual Mountainfilm Festival, and other showings
https://www.mountainfilm.org/media/on-a-wing-and-a-prayer
Filmed by Ben Depp riding in a hand-built flier, this short documentary takes viewers above the Louisiana wetlands, which are disappearing. Depp flies above the coast to document losses of the complex ecosystem of swamps, barrier islands, and bayous, which protect the state's coastal communities. Those wetlands are disappearing as oil pipeline trenches have allowed saltwater into the inner areas of the ecosystem.
Websites/Apps
Leaf'd
Leaf'd offers a marketplace for Earth-friendly products and provides consumers with access to sustainable brands. Begun as a website to help the real estate industry make more sustainable choices, Leaf'd has evolved to include multiple products and vendors for home, fashion, food, beauty, health, and pet-care products. The site aims to guide “consumers toward fair trade brands and eco-friendly products while encouraging accountability from green businesses on what, how, and who is creating their products.”
Unprecedented Natural Disasters in a Time of Climate Change: A Governors Roundtable
The Forum: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (webinar):
https://theforum.sph.harvard.edu/events/unprecedented-natural-disasters-in-a-time-of-climate-change/
This webinar shares insights from four former U.S. governors about the natural disasters that kill people and cause extensive damage every year as the world grows warmer. Each governor has dealt with such natural disasters, including flooding in Arkansas and Louisiana, an ice storm in Kentucky, and tornadoes in the central United States. The program also discusses how to prepare for future natural disasters.