From a Venetian art installation and how the US voted yesterday at the UNGA to increased air turbulence and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s warning the GOP that climate change is an “existential threat,” here’s a short roundup of climate-related news gleaned from headlines and Twitter on March 30.
Climate of Coercion — Environmental and Other Drivers of Cross-BorderDisplacement in Central America and Mexico
Climate-related disasters exacerbate vulnerabilities of displaced people seeking U.S.protection
Many asylum seekers interviewed by the research team in Tijuana in January 2023 remarked that climate-related disasters, including extreme heat, droughts, hurricanes, and floods, have become more frequent in recent years. These disasters destroyed crops and forced businesses to close, crippling local economies and driving families into poverty.
Macron unveils plan to save water amid climate change toll
SAVINES-LE-LAC, France (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron launched a broad plan on Thursday to ensure that France has sovereignty over its water resources, growing increasingly scarce because of climate change, challenging farmers, drying lakes and leaving some households without water running from their faucets.
The water problem is urgent, he said, affirming that climate change will deprive France of 30% to 40% of available water by 2050.
Yellen calls climate change ‘existential threat’ after GOP lawmaker labels it ‘Trojan horse’ for spending
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday pushed back against a GOP congressman who voiced skepticism about the threat of climate change, suggesting the issue was being used by the Biden administration to secure funding and was not a serious concern.
“Can you provide to me, or do you know any research on your own to justify this drastic climate change that we have to do today or the next four or five years this world’s going to come to an end?” Rep Jerry Carl (R-Ala.) asked Yellen at a hearing on the banking system.
“There is a strong scientific consensus and enormous body of research,” Yellen responded.
Planes, Shipping Lanes, and Automobiles: Surprising Ways Climate Change Can Affect Transportation
Before the Industrial Revolution, human travels had little impact on Earth’s climate. That changed once we began burning fossil fuels to power trains, boats, cars, trucks, and planes. Today, transportation generates about a fourth of global carbon dioxide emissions, second only to the electric power sector.
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Our changing atmosphere may make future airline flights bumpier by strengthening vertical wind shear in jet streams. Jet streams are fast-moving belts of wind that travel around the planet in wavy, meandering paths in the upper parts of the atmosphere. Aviators often use or avoid them to increase the efficiency of their flights.
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- By 2050, the frequency of reported clear-air turbulence is expected to double, and the average strength of turbulence is expected to increase by 10 to 40 percent.
- Severe turbulence at typical airplane cruising altitudes could become two to three times more common. This will impact airspace over large regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Explore Time-Lapse Views of Our Changing Planet
Hudson Bay, which is considered a sea of the Arctic Ocean despite being surrounded by land, freezes over completely in winter and thaws in summer. These images show the decrease in ice over the course of 16 days in July 2020. During the thaw, polar bears travel over the slowly melting sea ice to hunt for ringed seals and other prey. When the ice becomes too scarce, the bears fast and wait for it to return. The area has lost about a third of the polar bear population since the 1980s, dropping the count from about 1200 to 800, apparently because declining summer sea ice has given them less opportunity to feed.