Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #30
Nature is officially an artist on Spotify, cycles outnumber cars in Central Paris, Dubai saw record flooding, heat waves rage in India and another mass coral bleaching event.
Welcome to a new edition of the news digest where as always, I bring to you 5 climate stories
2 sunny ones that give us hope
3 stormy ones that are a cause for alarm
🌞 Sunny news 🌞
1. Meet the new (old) kid on the block at Spotify: Nature
Nature, the OG creator, is now a registered artist on Spotify
What are we talking about?
Sounds Right is a music initiative to recognise the value of NATURE and inspire millions of fans to take environmental action.
‘Nature’ has got its own page as an artist and new and old songs that feature sounds from nature, such as ocean waves, rainstorms, wind, and birdsongs will be credited to it. For all songs that feature ‘Nature’ as an artists some royalties will flow towards the Sounds right project and be used for conservation activities.
Indian artist Anuv Jain has used the sound of Indian rains for Baarishein and credited the sound to NATURE. Many other global artists such as David Bowie and Ellie Goulding have also collaborated with the Sounds Right project.
Why does this matter?
It will allow 'Nature’ to generate royalties from its own sounds to support its own conservation. It is expected to generate more than $40 million for conservation in the next four years.
By crediting ‘Nature’ as an artist it reminds listeners of the important role Nature plays in our lives.
It leverages the power of music to engage millions of people to ignite global change at scale and drive a shift to a more sustainable lifestyle.
Sources to read further:
2. Cycles more popular than cars in Central Paris. Less than 5% of people coming into Central Paris use cars!
Apparently France’s love for cycling is not limited to the Tour De France. The cycling love is seeping into every day life. So if you needed another reason to love Paris, here’s one - Central Paris now has more people using cycles than cars!
What are we talking about?
A recent study has found that Parisians use bicycles for 11.2 % of their trips inside the city centre whereas people use cars for just 4.3 % of journeys.
This is a significant increase from 2010 when cycling accounted for just 3% of all journeys.
What’s even better is where the remaining 85% comes from - Walking was the most popular form of transport in the city centre accounting for 53.3% of all journeys, followed by public transport at 30%.
Why does this matter?
This is the result of a number of initiatives such as increasing the number of cycling lanes and reducing the number of parking spaces.
Vehicles powered by fossil fuels are a key source of emissions in many countries and especially cities, where it also results in poor air quality and the heat island effect.
This is a great example of how even large cities can drive behaviour change through the right initiatives.
Sources to read further:
⛈️ Stormy news ⛈️
3. Dubai floods: Cloud seeding or climate change?
Who would have ever though that the desert city of Dubai would be flooding but then it did. And it was NOT because of cloud seeding.
What are we talking about?
On 16 April 2024, heavy rains caused floods in the United Arab Emirates, affected cities of mainly Dubai and Sharjah. It received the amount of rainfall it typically gets in 2 years in a period of 24 hours.
According to the National Center for Meteorology, this was the country's heaviest rainfall recorded in 75 years, since record keeping started.
What caused this?
The heavy rainfall was caused by a storm that hit the region. The intensity of the low pressure system that caused the storm was exacerbated by warmer temperatures that we are seeing thanks to climate change
There was some speculation that this heavy rainfall was caused by cloud seeding - a process in which chemicals are implanted into clouds to increase rainfall. The UAE, located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation.
However, the UAE meteorology department has confirmed that there were no cloud seeding operations before the storm.
The flooding was also made worse by the lack of adequate infrastructure in the desert city to handle this amount of rainfall.
Why does this matter?
Climate change induced global warming is causing regions across the world to see warmer temperatures.
Warmer air can hold more moisture - about 7% extra for every degree Celsius - which can in turn increase the intensity of rain.
Such extreme events are thus expected to become more common in a warming world.
Sources for further reading:
4. The Indian summer: Heat wave season 2024
In the middle of a general election, India is experiencing record breaking heatwaves.
These temperatures are not normal and really testing the limits of human endurance. Stay safe.
As much as I love words, sometimes a picture does speak louder and this one seems pretty self explanatory. So that’s it for this story.
Sources for further reading
5. Mass coral bleaching happening again!
What is happening?
The world is currently experiencing a global coral bleaching event. This is the fourth global event on record and the second in the last 10 years.
What is coral bleaching and why is it happening right now?
Corals have color because of the algae living in their tissues. When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white.
The current coral bleaching event is triggered by prolonged heat stress.
Why should we care about corals?
Well if you have ever gone diving or snorkelling and seen the beautiful corals or even seen them on National Geographic you would know how exceedingly beautiful corals are. But corals add much beyond their beauty.
Coral reefs are the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They provide a home to many fish, invertebrate and other marine life and are crucial for maintaining the health of the oceans. They are also a massive carbon sink.
Coral reef bleaching impacts economies, livelihoods, food security and more
Sources to read further:
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Hi Sailee, great read , thanks very much 🙂, jelmer