Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #27
Today, we talk about the 'We drive together' movement, the winner of the 2024 Erasmus prize, the potential loss of the Risotto, coral bleaching in the Great barrier reef and B'lore's water crisis.
Welcome to another edition of Sunny climate, stormy climate, your climate focused newsletter, where we look at:
3 stormy stories that should be a cause for alarm
2 sunny stories that give us hope that all is not yet lost!
Sunny news
An unlikely partnership: Climate activists and the Berlin transport association!
Public transport workers demonstrate in Erfurt, Germany, in a nationwide wage dispute. Source: Guardian In an unlikely collaboration, the Berlin transport association (drivers of public transport) and Fridays for Future (climate activists) have come together to demand better working conditions for drivers of public transport.
The protests are demanding an investment of 16 bn euros/ yr and a doubling in public transport capacity by 2030.
The joint initiative is called 'We drive together' or ‘WirFahrenZusammen’
Why does this matter?
It is essential to scale public transport - a key lever of decarbonizing the economy if we are to meet our net zero goals.
Poor working conditions and work stress is the reason for a large % of workers quitting their jobs in recent years leading to unreliable service. Hence, solving for better working conditions is critical to scaling public transport.
The backing of Fridays for Future has given the workers’ campaign a new lease of life – and a new sense of purpose through the recognition that they are pivotal to any serious climate policy.
“It’s time we got together,” a worker said says, “even though, I admit, it’s like two worlds colliding.”
Sources for further reading:
Amitav Ghosh wins the Erasmus prize for his writings on climate change
What is the Erasmus prize?
The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in the Netherlands awards the prize annually for an organisation or individual’s “exceptional contributions” in the fields of the humanities, social sciences or arts in Europe and the rest of the world.
Previous awardees include Trevor Noah, Barabara Ehernreich and the Wikipedia foundation among others
Why did Ghosh get this prize?
He has been awarded “for his passionate contribution to the theme ‘imagining the unthinkable’, in which an unprecedented global crisis – climate change – takes shape through the written word”.
What are some of Amitav Ghosh’s notable works in this space?
The Nutmeg’s Curse - In this he goes back to history and talks about colonialism and its impact on environmental issues with particular focus on the Banda Islands
The Great Derangement - In this Ghosh discusses the cultural depictions, history and politics of climate change, and its relationship to colonialism.
Sources for further reading:
Stormy news
The beloved risotto may be at risk!
The River Po with rice fields stretching across the valley. Source: Guardian What is happening?
Italy is Europe's largest rice producer and grows more than 50% of the rice in EU. Most of this is grown in the floodplains of the river Po - Po valley in the northern region of the country.
Varieties of rice like Arborio and Carnaroli that are used in making risottos have traditionally been grown here.
The region has always had excess water. The problem has always been how do you keep the water out. But in the last few years the region is suffering from an extreme shortage of water.
This is mostly due to lesser rainfall and not enough snow on the Alps which means less meltwater in the summer.
How bad is it?
In 2022, River Po had its worst drought in 200 years. This makes a high water needing crop like rice extremely vulnerable to climate change.
In 2022, Italy lost 26,000 hectares (64,000 acres) of rice fields, according to Ente Nazionale Risi, the national rice authority, and rice production dropped by more than 30%. Last year, the drought persisted and the crop from another 7,500 hectares of rice fields was lost.
Farmers are hence thinking about quitting the production of these varieties of rice - Carnaroli and Arborio and diversifying into other crops
Why is Carnaroli special?
Thanks to its ability to resist high cooking temperatures and absorb flavours, carnaroli is considered the “king of risotto”, but it is also extremely delicate and vulnerable to changes in the climate.
Filip Haxhari, a researcher at Ente Nazionale Risi, says that, because of the prolonged drought, carnaroli production fell by 50% in 2022, threatening a unique rice variety. “Only carnaroli and other similar varieties have a varietal genetic trait that allows them to absorb seasoning, aroma and condiments and to create traditional risotto,” he says. “It’s different from all other rice varieties in the world.”
Are there any solutions in sight?
Scientists are working to develop new rice varieties that require less water and are more resistant to changes in the climate, however none of the new varieties developed so far are suitable to risotto cooking.
Sources for further reading:
Another coral bleaching event in the Great barrier reef - the 5th in 8 years!
Coral bleaching on Lizard island, picture on Fen 24; Source: Guardian What is happening?
The Great Barrier Reef is in the grip of another mass coral bleaching event driven by global heating – the fifth in only eight years – the marine park’s government authority has confirmed.
This come after the Australian Institute of Marine Science has completed aerial surveys across 300 reefs over two-thirds of the reef. “These surveys confirm a widespread, often called mass, coral bleaching event is unfolding across the Great Barrier Reef”
Why is this happening?
The bleaching was being driven by global heating and an El Niño climate pattern
Ocean temperatures around the world have been the highest on record for almost a year
Last week we spoke about a persistent heat wave in Australia
Why does this matter?
The Great Barrier Reef – the biggest coral system in the world – is about 2,300km long, covers an area bigger than the size of Italy and is made up of about 3,000 individual reefs. The bleaching event essentially means that large portions of these corals are dying.
This will impact marine animals and plants that depend on the reefs as their habitat
This will also affect local communities and businesses who rely on it for work
Sources for further reading:
An update on the Bangalore water situation - it’s only getting worse!
What are we talking about?
Last week we spoke about the acute water crisis in Bangalore, some of the underlying causes and what some long term solutions could look like.
The situation is only getting worse. So here’s a short update on what’s happened in the last fortnight.
Update from the last fortnight
Over 30 localities are now receiving water on a rotational basis only every alternate day
Government to take control of water tankers that draw water from borewells and supply it to private residences and restaurants.
BBMP has announced a ban on use of drinking water for gardening and other non potable uses.
Some residential societies are not receiving water at all or such little water that citizens are not able to carry out basic activities like using toilets or cooking!
There have been calls for ‘work from home’ from citizens concerned about the water situation and looking to leave Bangalore for the summer months
There are no major rains in sight, at least for a month
Sources for further reading:
