Climate News June 2023
Plus Books I'm Devouring!
In This Edition of The Dandelion Report…
🔥 The Hot Take
Climate News June 2023
❝ Recommended Reading
Finance, Climate, and Political Upheaval
🔥 The Hot Take
Section: The Natural World
Title: Climate News June 2023
The headlines coming out of climate Twitter (the place where environmentalists, meteorologists, climate experts share their findings) are difficult to process quite honestly.
The problem of course is that it’s all in techno-babble, the impacts aren’t immediate and global, everything interweaves with everything else (making it difficult to explain) and mainstream media isn’t paying attention.. making it seem “less credible”.
I fear even writing about it all will put me squarely in the box of a “bad news bear” - a doomer that only feeds on negativity.
But perhaps facing the reality of what’s to come actually helps us all enjoy the moment more, stop spinning our wheels on solutions that don’t work, and most importantly… stop worrying about sh*t that isn’t going to matter soon.
I’ve scoured, read, bookmarked, and tried to curate the most current newsworthy threads in the climate world this past week.
(If any of this interests you, click the links I’ve added throughout this. Everything I’ve linked, I personally have read/listened/etc)
El Nino is Coming
First, confidence about an upcoming El Nino appears to be forming (possibly arriving by August). First, this is a NORMAL weather pattern and not a function of climate change, but this is adding to the concern about warming temps.
If this is a normal pattern, why are people worried?
Simply because we haven’t had an El Nino since 2016, and the temps have been smashing records in the last several years of natural cooling. The theory is what happens when our already heating up planet adds a warming cycle on TOP of it?
Right now the sea surface temps in the ocean are already well above any previous record, and El Nino hasn’t even officially arrived!
“Part of what’s making this so jarring is that ENSO is coming out of an unusually long La Niña phase. They typically last one to two years, but the world has been in one since 2020. “There’s only been three triple-dip La Niñas in the last 50 years: One in 1973 to 76, one from 1998 to 2001, and then this one,” said McPhaden. That has allowed more heat energy to accumulate in the ocean and may have helped cushion some of the warming due to climate change. However, the World Meteorological Organization noted that the past eight years were still the hottest on record.” - A Big El Nino Is Forming, Vox
In laymen’s terms, it’s about to get REALLY hot in some places. This puts crops at risk, animals at risk, and people at risk.
In fact in Peru (where the waters off the coast are incredibly warm), the Peruvian government has already declared a state of emergency for 60 days in 131 districts. Currently battling a Dengue fever outbreak, warmer temps and increased rainfall are factors in the spread of this disease.
No one is quite sure what to expect but some are warning that we’ll temporarily breach the touted “1.5C degrees of warming” that we’ve been trying to avoid.
1.5C Degrees Of Warming May Be Breached
This was the magic number that all the countries agreed we were supposed to stay under during the creation of the Paris agreement in 2015.
Not only did we all break the agreement, but some are thinking we might hit 1.5C by 2024, with every tenth of a degree causing a ton of additional hardship for all life on the planet. Even if we only hit that threshold because of an El Nino cycle, the chance of consistently hitting over 1.5C is coming faster than most expected.
Some scenarios are projecting 4C or higher of warming by 2100, which puts us at levels of total civilizational collapse.
The goalposts are moving. Even just a few years ago, most scientists didn’t think 1.5C would be possible by 2030. Now it’s all but a foregone conclusion.
It’s hard for us to understand why such a small temp change would wreck havoc, but in the most simplest terms… this increase warms the oceans, which makes the jet stream unstable, leading to unpredictable and more extreme weather that is out of balance (both hot and cold).
Some places with too much rain, some with too little, dangerous heat waves, storms, wildfires, and other disasters that impact energy, food, and homes.
Insurance Is Not Insuring
Even though weather disasters are more sensational, there’s another reason communities in vulnerable areas might see rapid decline: enter insurance companies.
In California, State Farm (a HUGE company) has stopped insuring new homes in the ENTIRE state (citing inflation in construction costs and increased risk of catastrophic damage due to wildfires).
In Florida, they are jacking up prices (just go ask your Florida friends living on the coast).
What do the insurance companies know that the everyday person does not? The chance of destruction due to floods and wildfires is rapidly increasing in certain communities.
An incredible article by Umair Haque describes why this is just a warning sign of what he’s calling “The Extinction Economy.”
The biggest insurance company in the country can’t absorb the risks of climate change. And we’ve barely even begun to experience it. It’s just 2023. That is how dire shape we’re in. Our systems already can’t cope. - Umair Haque
Another article (behind a paywall at New York Times) reported that 10 insurance companies have gone belly up in Florida. The author says the insurance crisis is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change.
Edited to Add: Another article appeared (during the writing of this) on the front page of CNN about Florida and home insurance.
Sea Ice Anomalies
Zack Labe is always posting interesting graphs and data points about the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. 2023 is shaping up to be another record breaker.
Right now, scientists are watching to see if the ice returns to the Antarctic. Winter is coming there so ice should be forming. And it’s coming back much more slowly than normal.
This pretty comprehensive article explains what’s going on.
The satellites don’t lie: Antarctic sea ice is at a never-before-charted low. But it’s going to take some time for scientists to fully understand what’s going on, and what the consequences might be for the frozen continent and the rest of the globe - Wired
Spain is Undergoing Desertification
This simply means that Spain (and some parts of Italy) are slowly turning into a desert climate vs the Mediterranean one it is now.
A combination of drought, soil erosion, loss of plant life and trees contributes to the “dying” of the land… making it less friendly to agriculture and farming. Another place that is at risk is the Amazon, but this is largely due to deforestation (plus climate change).
Food shortages through both floods and droughts are already starting.
A few other articles and videos worth noting…
The Canadian Wildfires are wrecking havoc across the country, especially in Nova Scotia where they’ve lost thousands of homes
Construction in Arizona has been limited due to groundwater disappearing
A great podcast I discovered with a discussion worth listening to! Climate, Fiction + The Future - Nick Hagen - The Great Simplification
New video from a very well respected thought leader in the climate discussion: The Big Picture: Beyond Hope and Fear - Michael Dowd
As time goes on, it appears that more and more people are coming to grips with the fact that technology is not going to save us. All this converting to electric, reduce fossil fuels discussion doesn’t really help us as much because it exacerbates other issues.
If all of this is tough to digest, watch The Big Picture video I linked above. It will give you a sense of hope!
❝ Recommended Reading
Section: Finance, Politics, and Climate
Title: 4 Books I Recommend!
If you’re a voracious reader or like to listen to books while walking and working out, here are 4 books I’ve been devouring. They are all related to the current state of affairs in this world, climate, and how to live in the midst of uncertainty. Most of this is related to the financial situation and how it interweaves with climate change and political upheaval.
Check Your Financial Privilege - Bitcoin, Human Rights, and Personal Freedom (also check out the podcast Debt Colonialism, The Petrodollar, and Bitcoin with Nate Hagen)
Die With Zero - Getting All You Can From Your Money + Life
Escape from Overshoot - Economics for a Planet in Peril
Eviction - Profit and Poverty In the American City