Sunny climate, stormy climate | Weekly digest #19
This week we talk about UK's U-turn on climate commitments, the increase in global rhino population, and the law suit filed by California against Big Oil
For the ones who are new here - Every week I bring to you 5 stories about the changing climate and its impact on us!
3 stormy ones - concerning stories that are a source of alarm
2 sunny ones - green shoots that tell you that all is not yet lost
If you would like to get future editions of the newsletter delivered to your mailbox, please hit subscribe.
Sunny news
Global Rhino numbers rebound; Big win for conservationists
Southern white rhino roam in South Africa. Their numbers have increased for the first time since 2012. Photograph: Luca Sola/AFP/Getty Images (Guardian) The global tally of rhinos has risen to 27,000 despite populations being ravaged by poaching and habitat loss.
Mainly due to efforts of conservationists who have established new populations that have increased in size
This is still a far cry from the 500,000 population that the animal had in the 20th century
The black rhinos (native to East and South Africa) population increased by 5% for the first time in a decade.
The Javan and Sumatran rhino, however, remain critically endangered, in steady decline, and appear likely to go extinct.
Rhinos have been around for ~60 mn years and play a crucial role in our ecosystem. They are considered a keystone species, one that affects the survival and abundance of other life in the environment.
They are important grazers and play an important role in maintaining grazing lawns. Animals like zebras depend on Rhinos to keep the grassy plains healthy and plentiful.
Loss of rhinos will lead to ecological imbalance: Fewer rhinos > fewer grazing lawns > fewer herbivores > impact on predators eating them
Sources to read further:
California government is suing Big Oil for deception and damage to envt. and communities
The state of California is suing the oil companies BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and ConocoPhillips and their trade group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), over what the state says is a long-standing pattern of deceiving the public over the risks associated with fossil fuels and causing billions of dollars in damage to communities and the environment.
The law suit claims:
The defendants have created a public nuisance
Damaged natural resources and state property
Violated California law by misleading state residents with false advertising and misleading environmental marketing.
The complaint claims the companies and API have known since 1968 that burning fossil fuels would warm the planet and change the climate, but have instead downplayed the risk of burning fossil fuels
Source to read further:
Stormy news
UK makes a U-turn on climate commitments
The UK Prime Minister has rolled back some important green commitments made by the UK govt. in a speech last week. Key points of change:
Delaying the deadline for phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, from 2030 to 2035.
Earlier the UK govt. had announced that new sale of petrol and diesel cars would be completely banned from 2030.
Delaying the deadline for eliminating the sale of gas boilers to homes
Under his new policy, homeowners will only have to replace their gas boilers with electric heat pumps when they are replacing their boilers anyway and not until 2025 in any case. And some houses will never have to make the switch.
The prime minister also said there would be no new taxes to discourage flying or on eating meat and ruled out proposed recycling schemes with multiple bins or compulsory car-sharing saying “he believes most people want to do the right thing but it would not be right for Westminister to impose such significant costs on working people, especially on those who are already struggling to make ends meet”
He also said it was okay for UK to roll back their green promises and go slower on some of these commitments as they would still be able to meet the 2050 net zero commitment and were already far ahead of most other countries.
Sources to read further:
Wildfires turn Canada’s forests from friends to foes - the carbon sink has become a C02 emitter
Flames reach upwards along the edge of a wildfire near Mistissini, Quebec, Canada, on 12 June 2023. Photograph: Canadian Forces/Reuters The large Canadian forests have been prized for generations - Not only do they provide a home to hundreds of species, but they also absorb more greenhouse gases than they emit, acting as a huge carbon sink. During the 1990s these forests removed on an average 160 mn ton of C02 from the atmosphere.
This summer, however, as flames devoured the forests, ~2 bn tonnes of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere.
This is almost 3X of the emissions tied to Canada’s economy each year (which emit a total of 670m tonnes) !
This summer has been exceptionally bad for Canada’s wildfires: 6,369 wildfires have scorched nearly 18m hectares of woodland, far in excess of historical norms. More than 200,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes.
The trajectory of the country’s wildfires has raised questions about how Canada can better tackle the blazes – and whether the issue is a global problem as nations race to reduce the volume of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.
Source to read further:
Japan swelters through an ‘abnormal’ autumn after a record-breaking summers
Japan experienced record-breaking heat this summer, with daytime highs exceeding 38C on some days. Photograph: Richard A Brooks/AFP/Getty Images (Guardian) It is time for autumn in Japan. Seasonal beers and sake has appeared in super markets and children are getting ready for school sports days but the autumn weather has not yet made an appearance.
Instead, experts are warning that the crisp, sunny days that usually offer relief at the end of a sweltering summer are still some way off, with one describing the weather as “abnormal”.
In 2023, Japan experienced its hottest summer since 1898, when the meteorological agency started collecting data.
Conditions have eased since the start of September, but only marginally. Earlier this month, organisers of a marathon in the north-east city of Morioka terminated the race midway through after a large number of runners retired due to the heat, with one pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital.
According to the meteorological agency, the combined effect of El Niño and global heating means that unusually hot weather will continue through to the end of the month and into October.
Sources for further reading:
