Potential Tropical Cyclone Five expected to become tropical storm within next few days
Sara Filips – August 11, 2024
Potential Tropical Cyclone Five expected to become tropical storm within next few days
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The National Hurricane Center issued its first advisory for Potential Tropical Cyclone Five on Sunday as it’s likely to develop into a tropical storm within the next few days.
The system has a 90% chance of development within the next seven days and has ramped up to an 80% chance within 48 hours, the NHC said in a 5 p.m. update.
The wave, which is located about 1,530 miles east-southeast of Antigua, continues to show signs of organization.
The NHC said the system is moving toward the west-northwest at 21 mph with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph. It is expected to move across portions of the Leeward Islands on Tuesday and approach the U.S. and British Virgin Islands on Tuesday night.
“Some strengthening is forecast and the system is expected to become a tropical storm by late Monday,” the NHC said. Ernesto is the next storm name on the list.
“The good news is that it’s expected to turn to the north well to the east of the U.S. and Bahamas and may impact Bermuda later this week,” Max Defender 8 Meteorologist Eric Stone said. The system is not expected to impact Florida.
How Hungary’s Orbán uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark
Justin Spike – July 31, 2024
FILE – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech at Tusvanyos Summer University, in Baile Tusnad, Harghita county, Romania, on July 27, 2024. In Hungary, Orbán has extended his party’s control over the media, directly affecting informed democratic participation. (AP Photo/Alexandru Dobre, File)Members of the media work during the government’s press conference on Thursday, Jan 18, 2024. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has extended his party’s control over the media, directly affecting informed democratic participation. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)A headphone of a cameraman is seen in the press room during the government’s press conference on Thursday, Jan 18, 2024. Polarization has created “an almost Orwellian environment” in Hungarian media, where the government weaponizes control of a majority of outlets to limit Hungarians’ access to information. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — In the months leading up to elections for the European Parliament, Hungarians were warned that casting a ballot against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would be a vote for all-out war.
The right-wing Fidesz party cast the June 9 election as an existential struggle, one that could preserve peace in Europe if Orbán won — or fuel widespread instability if he didn’t. To sell that bold claim, Orbán used a sprawling pro-government media empire that’s dominated the country’s political discourse for more than a decade.
The tactic worked, as it has since Orbán returned to power in 2010, and his party came first in the elections — though not by the margins it was used to. An upstart party, led by a former Fidesz insider, attracted disaffected voters and took 29% of the vote to Fidesz’s 44%.
“Everything has fallen apart in Hungary. The state essentially does not function, there’s only propaganda and lies,” said Péter Magyar, the leader of that new party who has emerged in recent months as perhaps the most formidable challenge yet to Orbán’s rule.
This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series covering threats to democracy in Europe.
Magyar’s Respect and Freedom, or TISZA, party campaigned on promises to root out deep-seated corruption in the government. He has also been outspoken about what he sees as the damage Orbán’s “propaganda factory” has done to Hungary’s democracy.
“It might be very difficult to imagine from America or Western Europe what the propaganda and the state machinery is like here,” Magyar said in an interview before elections with The Associated Press. “This parallel reality is like the Truman Show. People believe that it’s reality.”
Since 2010, Orbán’s government has promoted hostility to migrants and LGBTQ+ rights, distrust of the European Union, and a belief that Hungarian-American financier George Soros — who is Jewish and one of Orbán’s enduring foes — is engaged in secret plots to destabilize Hungary, a classic antisemitic trope.
Such messaging has delivered Orbán’s party four consecutive two-thirds majorities in parliament and, most recently, the most Hungarian delegates in the EU legislature.
But according to Péter Krekó, an analyst and head of the Political Capital think tank in Budapest, Orbán has created “an almost Orwellian environment” where the government weaponizes control of a majority of news outlets to limit Hungarians’ decisions.
“Hungary has become a quite successful informational autocracy, or spin dictatorship,” Krekó said.
The restriction of Hungary’s free press directly affects informed democratic participation. Opposition politicians have long complained that they only get five minutes of air time every four years on public television, the legal minimum, to present their platforms before elections.
In contrast, public television and radio channels consistently echo talking points communicated both by Fidesz and a network of think tanks and pollsters that receive funding from the government and the party. Their analysts routinely appear in affiliated media to bolster government narratives, while independent commentators rarely, if ever, appear.
During the campaign in May, Hungary’s electoral commission issued a warning to the public broadcaster for repeatedly airing Fidesz campaign videos during news segments, a violation of impartiality rules. The broadcaster carried on regardless.
Magyar, who won a seat in the European Parliament, credits his new party’s success partly to its ability to sidestep Orbán’s dominance by meeting directly with voters and developing a large following on social media.
But in Hungary, even those with a strong online presence struggle to compete with Fidesz’s control of traditional outlets.
According to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Orbán has used media buyouts by government-connected “oligarchs” to build “a true media empire subject to his party’s orders.” The group estimates that such buyouts have given Orbán’s party control of some 80% of Hungary’s media market resources. In 2021, it put Orbán on its list of media “predators,” the first EU leader to earn the distinction.
The title didn’t come out of nowhere: in 2016, Hungary’s oldest daily newspaper was suddenly shuttered after being bought by a businessman with links to Orbán. In 2018, nearly 500 pro-government outlets were simultaneously donated by their owners to a foundation headed by Orbán loyalists, creating a sprawling right-wing media conglomerate. And in 2020, nearly the entire staff of Hungary’s largest online news portal, Index, resigned en masse after its lead editor was fired under political pressure.
A network of independent journalists and online outlets that continue to function in Hungary struggles to remain competitive, said Gábor Polyák, head of the Media and Communication Department at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.
The government is the largest advertiser in Hungary, he said. A study by watchdog Mérték Media Monitor showed up to 90% of state advertising revenue is awarded to pro-Fidesz media outlets, keeping them afloat.
The government’s efforts to control media have moved beyond television, radio and newspapers, shifting into social media posts that are boosted by paid advertisements.
Hungary spent the most in the entire 27-member EU — nearly $4.8 million — on political ads on platforms owned by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, in a 30-day period in May and June, outspending Germany, which has more than eight times the population, according to a recent report based on publicly available data compiled by Political Capital, Mérték Media Monitor and fact-checking site Lakmusz.
The vast majority of that spending came from Fidesz or its proxies, the report found.
One major spender is Megafon, a self-declared training center for aspiring conservative influencers. In the same 30-day period, the group spent $800,000 on boosting its pro-government content on Meta platforms, more than what was spent in total by 16 EU countries in the same period.
With government narratives so pervasive across mediums, a level of political polarization has emerged that can reach deep into the private lives of Hungarians. In recent years, the views of Andrea Simon, a 55-year-old entrepreneur from a suburb of Budapest, and her husband Attila Kohári began to drift apart — fed, according to Simon, by Kohári’s steady diet of pro-government media.
“He listened to these radio stations where they pushed those simple talking points, it completely changed his personality,” Simon said. “I felt sometimes he’d been kidnapped, and his brain was replaced with a Fidesz brain.”
In December, after 33 years of marriage, they agreed to divorce.
“I said to him several times, ‘You have to choose: me or Fidesz,’” she said. “He said Fidesz.”
Still, like many Hungarians who hold fast to traditional values in a changing world, Kohári remains a faithful supporter of Orbán and his policies, despite the personal cost.
His love of his country and belief that Orbán has led Hungary in the right direction have him “clearly convinced that my position is the right one,” he said. “But it ruined my marriage.”
The media divide also has consequences for Hungary’s finances, says independent lawmaker Ákos Hadházy, who has uncovered dozens of suspected cases of graft involving EU funds.
Such abuses, he said, go largely unaddressed because the majority of voters are unaware of them.
“Following the Russian model, (the government) controls state media by hand and spends about 50 billion forints ($135 million) a year on advertisements … that sustain their own TV networks and websites,” he said. “The people that consume those media simply don’t hear about these things.”
On a recent day in Mezőcsát, a small village on the Hungarian Great Plain, Hadházy inspected the site of an industrial park that was built with 290 million forints ($795,000) in EU funds. The problem, he said, is that since the site was completed in 2017, it has never been active, and the money used to build it has disappeared.
Hadházy said that Hungarians “who consciously seek out the real news hear about these cases and don’t understand how it’s possible that there are no consequences when I present such things almost daily.”
He continued: “But it’s not important for the government that nobody hears about them, it’s important that more people hear their lies, and that’s the way it is now. Far more people hear their messages than the facts.”
This story has been corrected to show that the building of the industrial park in the village of Mezőcsát involved EU funds in the amount of 290 million forints, not 290 million euros.
This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series covering threats to democracy in Europe.
Trump splits with GOP lawmakers on national security, raising alarm
Alexander Bolton – August 1, 2024
National security-minded Republican lawmakers are alarmed by what they see as a growing split between themselves and former President Trump on key issues, including the war in Ukraine, preserving the NATO alliance and protecting Taiwan from Chinese aggression.
Trump’s actions over the past three weeks have stirred confusion and concern among Republican senators who voted earlier this year to approve tens of billions of dollars to contain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to deter China from attacking Taiwan, an important U.S. ally and trading partner.
Defense-minded GOP senators viewed Trump’s invitation to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to visit him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after the NATO summit in Washington as a worrisome development, given Orbán’s close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his efforts to undermine NATO’s support for the defense of Ukraine.
GOP senators who support U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine were dismayed when Trump selected Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who led the opposition to the Ukrainian assistance package, as his running mate.
And Senate Republicans are feeling uneasy about Trump’s assertion that Taiwan should pay more for its defense and refusal to commit to defending the island.
One Republican senator, who requested anonymity, said “it’s a big question” whether Trump will support the war in Ukraine or would come to Taiwan’s defense if attacked by China.
“I don’t think he desires to be in conflict or to pay for conflicts around the world,” the senator observed.
“There’s no question where JD Vance is,” the lawmaker said of Trump’s selection of the Ohio senator as his running mate.
And the senator called Trump’s meeting with Orbán at Mar-a-Lago “concerning.”
“I can’t tell you why he’s doing it,” the lawmaker remarked.
‘Turned the corner’
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) argued earlier this year that the Republican Party has “turned the corner on the isolationist movement” within its ranks when a majority of GOP senators voted for a $95 billion foreign aid package, which included $61 billion for Ukraine.
But that’s now in doubt after Trump picked Vance to join him on the GOP ticket.
Opponents of continued funding for the war in Ukraine cheered the selection and touted it as a sign Trump would change course if elected in November.
“JD is probably one of the most outspoken individuals about continuing to fuel the flames of that bloody stalemate. I happen to agree with him. I think President Trump does as well,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who opposes sending more funding to Ukraine.
Johnson said Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate “kind of confirms the position of, hopefully, the next administration.”
“The president said he’d end that thing in 24 hours,” Johnson said, referring to Trump’s comments on the war.
Vance told The Hill in April that the $61 billion approved for Ukraine would be the last major assistance package of its kind to get through Congress.
“If Ukraine thinks that it’s getting another $60 billion supplemental out of the United States Congress, there’s no way,” Vance said.
McConnell told reporters he will support the GOP ticket with Vance on it but insisted he’s going to keep arguing for the importance of stopping Russia’s invasion.
“I support the ticket. I also support Ukraine, and I’m going to be arguing, no matter who gets elected president” for deterring Russian aggression, McConnell said. “It’s not just Ukraine, we’ve got worldwide organized authoritarian regimes talking to each other — China, North Korea, Russia, Iran and Iran’s proxies.
“This is a serious challenge,” he warned. “This is the single largest problem facing the democratic world, no matter who wins the election. And that’s what I’m going to be working on the next couple years.”
McConnell didn’t explicitly criticize Trump for meeting with Orbán in Florida but made it clear he views the Hungarian strongman as NATO’s “weakest” member and someone who has undermined U.S. security interests in Europe.
“He’s the one member of NATO who’s essentially turned his country over to the Chinese and the Russians. [He’s] been looking for ways to undermine NATO’s efforts to defeat the Russians in Ukraine. So Viktor Orbán, I think, has now made Hungary the most recent problem in NATO,” McConnell said.
McConnell also spoke out about the need to stand with Taiwan and other Far East allies when asked about Trump’s reluctance to commit to defending the island nation, which is a major source of semiconductors for U.S. industry.
“We don’t know yet who’s going to be the new administration. But it’s pretty clear that our allies in Asia, and now you can add the Philippines to the group, are all concerned about Chinese aggression. They are watching what happens to Russia in Ukraine carefully,” he said.
“This is the clearest example of the democratic world needing to stand up to these authoritarians,” he said. “Reagan had it right. There’s one thing that works. Peace you get through strength.”
Blame for Carlson
Other Republican senators are balking at Trump’s pick of Vance as his running mate and outreach to Orbán.
A second GOP senator who requested anonymity voiced hope that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served under Trump, would serve as Defense secretary in a new Trump administration and convince him to stay the course in supporting Ukraine.
The lawmaker blamed the influence of conservative media personality Tucker Carlson in pushing Trump toward Vance and Orbán.
“Not the way I would do it,” the senator said.
A third Republican senator said McConnell and other GOP colleagues aren’t happy with how Trump’s recent moves telegraph how he might run foreign policy out of the White House if he’s elected in November.
“I think Trump goes in and tries to negotiate a deal [to end the war in Ukraine] where they cede certain territory to Putin knowing that Putin can’t walk away a loser. Putin’s only graceful exit from this is Zelensky and company ceding some territory, the Russian-speaking parks of Ukraine,” the senator said, predicting that Trump will lean on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“My guess is that doesn’t sit well with McConnell, at all. But Trump and McConnell have had a pretty rocky relationship,” the source said.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), an outspoken advocate for supporting the war in Ukraine and a McConnell ally, told reporters Wednesday he thinks Trump is open to continued U.S. support for Ukraine.
“If you take a look at the fact that we passed a $60 billion-plus supplemental package [for Ukraine], the House passed it, I’ve got to believe there was some tacit support from Trump … or he could have blocked it,” Tillis said. “It’s on us to convince President Trump why it’s in our best national interest to support Ukraine.”
But other GOP senators are skeptical that Trump will support sending tens of billions of dollars in additional military aid to Ukraine if he returns to the White House.
“His instinct is always toward nonintervention, caution. I don’t know that there’s well-formed philosophy about this is. It’s just his gut. He kind of does this by gut, and his gut is nonintervention,” said a fifth GOP senator who requested anonymity.
Experts say nuclear energy bill is proof of bipartisan consensus
Zack Budryk – August 1, 2024
The recent passage of major legislation to boost the deployment of nuclear reactors is evidence of a bipartisan consensus on nuclear power as an opportunity to keep pace with China on renewable energy, experts said Thursday at a panel discussion with The Hill.
The ADVANCE Act, which President Biden signed into law in July, passed the Senate 88-2. It directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to explore methods of quickening the licensing process for new nuclear technology, as well as streamlining the Energy Department’s technology export process.
The bipartisan vote on the legislation indicates “members of both parties are looking to build on decades of innovation and … create this new opportunity to build new gigawatt-scale clean energy facilities in the United States,” said Lesley Jantarasami, managing director of energy programs at the Bipartisan Policy Center
Jantarasami made the remarks at “The Nuclear Frontier: Securing America’s Energy Future,” which was hosted by The Hill and sponsored by The Nuclear Company. The discussion was moderated by Rafael Bernal, a staff writer at The Hill. Bob Cusack, The Hill’s editor in chief, moderated a separate conversation during the event.
“There’s a lot going on today in recognition of the fact that we are moving toward modernizing our economy, towards building a new energy economy that needs to be centered around clean energy and that nuclear is a foundational piece of that portfolio,” Jantarasami said.
Jantarasami added that widespread interest exists within industry and utilities in deploying new nuclear technology, but the process has been stymied by anxiety about the pressure of being “first out of the gate.”
Panelists also emphasized that there is not a binary choice between a more efficient licensing and approval process and cutting corners on safety. Former Deputy Energy Secretary Mark W. Menezes, president and CEO of the U.S. Energy Association, pointed to reforms at the Food and Drug Administration that reduced the approval timeline as an example of how a balance could be struck.
“This is not about cutting corners [or] creating a process that isn’t diligent,” Jantarasami added, saying there have been “misconceptions around speeding up a process and not doing as much due diligence—we can do both those things.”
Maria Korsnick, CEO at the Nuclear Energy Institute, added that it “isn’t the conversation we had in the 70s and 80s anymore,” when incidents like the Chernobyl disaster and the Three-Mile Island accident led to widespread fears around nuclear power.
Spain, France, Germany: Heatwaves sweep across Europe with devastating consequences
Angela Symons – August 1, 2024
Spain, France, Germany: Heatwaves sweep across Europe with devastating consequences
There’s no end in sight for Europe’s searingly hot summer, as heatwave warnings have been issued from Spain to Germany.
In Paris, too, Olympians have been forced to compete in searing heat – extremes that would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, according to climatologist group World Weather Attribution (WWA).
Droughts and wildfires have broken out across the Mediterranean as a result of the hot weather, which looks set to continue throughout August and beyond in some parts.
Extreme heat currently claims more than 175,000 lives annually in Europe, with numbers set to soar, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today.
Spain: Temperatures could surpass 43C
Yellow, orange and extreme red heatwave warnings have been issued by Spain’s Meteorological Agency (AEMET) as temperatures threaten to reach 43C in the southeast.
Sweltering highs are forecast across the country’s east coast, south and centre for the majority of August, reaching peak intensity on Thursday – with one in nine of AEMET’s weather stations reaching 40C or higher.
Baza in Grenada and northwest Murcia will be the hardest hit.
The temperature in Barcelona broke records on Tuesday, racing 40C – the hottest day the Catalan capital has seen in at least 110 years, when records began.
According to AEMET, temperatures are likely to be higher than normal until October across much of Spain.
Italy: Rome under maximum heat warning
Helicopters and fire engines tackled a large fire in north-west Rome on Wednesday as a heatwave gripped the Italian capital.
The city has been placed under a maximum heat warning, with temperatures in the high 30s expected on Thursday and Friday.
Florence, Bologna, Milan and Turin are among the other cities also under a red weather warning.
While the blaze on Monte Mario is now under control, Rome and the surrounding areas remain on high alert for wildfires.
The south of the country is facing persistent drought, with farmers in Sicily forced to slaughter or sell off livestock due to severe water shortages.
Germany: Heat warning issued as temperatures creep over 35C
It’s not only southern Europe facing the heat: German Weather Service DWD has issued a warning as parts of the country face 35C-plus temperatures.
Wednesday was expected to be the hottest day of the year – particularly southwest Germany, which will today be hit with thunderstorms and heavy rain as the warm air moves north.
Campaign groups have warned that the country is ill prepared for heatwaves, with Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Society for Nature Research urging the development of early warning systems as the threat of wildfires ramps up.
Environmental non-profit Deutsche Umwelthilfe, meanwhile, released a ‘heat check’ revealing that less than half of the 190 German cities analysed are adequately protecting their citizens against hot weather.
They say more unsealed surfaces and green spaces are needed in cities like Frankfurt and Stuttgart to make them liveable.
Temperatures in Paris reached 35C this week as the city continues to host the Olympic Games.
WWA has warned the high temperatures could impact athletes’ performance and lead to an increase in heat related illness.
Southeastern France is also facing extreme weather, with temperatures of up to 40C expected until at least 4 August. Orange heatwave warnings have been issued by weather service Météo-France in Corsica, Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and the Occitanie region.
“Extreme heat events like July 2024 in the Mediterranean are no longer rare events,” says WWA. “Similar heatwaves affecting Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Morocco are now expected to occur on average about once every 10 years in today’s climate.”
Mediterranean heatwave ‘virtually impossible’ without climate change: scientists
AFP – July 31, 2024
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group say the heatwave that hit countries around the Mediterranean in July would have been up to 3.3 degrees Celsius cooler in a world without climate change (FADEL SENNA)
The punishing heat experienced around the Mediterranean in July would have been “virtually impossible” in a world without global warming, a group of climate scientists said Wednesday.
A deadly heatwave brought temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to southern Europe and North Africa, where such extreme summer spells are becoming more frequent.
Scorching heat claimed more than 20 lives in a single day in Morocco, fanned wildfires in Greece and the Balkans, and strained athletes competing across France in the Summer Olympic Games.
World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists who have pioneered peer-reviewed methods for assessing the possible role of climate change in specific extreme events, said this case was clear.
“The extreme temperatures reached in July would have been virtually impossible if humans had not warmed the planet by burning fossil fuels,” according to the WWA report by five researchers.
The analysis looked at the average July temperature and focused on a region that included Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece.
Scientists used this and other climate data to assess how the heat in July compared to similar periods in a world before humanity began rapidly burning oil, coal and gas.
They concluded the heat recorded in Europe was up to 3.3C hotter because of climate change.
Beyond the Mediterranean, intense heat reached Paris this week where athletes competing in the Olympic Games withered as temperatures hit the mid-30s this week.
“Extremely hot July months are no longer rare events,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, a co-author of the study.
“In today’s climate… Julys with extreme heat can be expected about once a decade,” she said.
Scientists have long established that climate change is driving extreme weather and making heatwaves longer, hotter and more frequent.
This latest episode came in a month when global temperatures soared to their highest levels on record, with the four hottest days ever observed by scientists etched into the history books in July.
The past 13 months have been the warmest such period on record, exceeding a 1.5C limit that scientists say must be kept intact over the long term to avoid catastrophic climate change.
China reveals nuclear energy breakthrough with world’s first ‘meltdown-proof’ plant — here’s how it could change the future of nuclear power
Jeremiah Budin – July 30, 2024
Researchers in China have developed the world’s first meltdown-proof nuclear power plant, The Independent reported.
Nuclear power is one clean alternative to dirty energy sources such as gas, oil, and coal — all of which produce massive amounts of planet-overheating air pollution. However, the development of more nuclear power plants has been hampered by public fear of catastrophic nuclear-plant meltdowns such as the widely known meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima.
While disasters like these are rare, they are still a real concern, which makes China’s new meltdown-proof plant potentially exciting for the future of clean energy.
The researchers from Tsinghua University used several new methods to create the plant, which relies on a “pebble-bed reactor” to virtually eliminate the possibility of a meltdown. The reactor is cooled by helium instead of water and uses highly heat-resistant billiard-ball-sized graphite spheres filled with tiny uranium fuel particles in place of large fuel rods.
While the pebble-bed design cannot be retroactively applied to new nuclear power plants, it could serve as a blueprint for future plants, the scientists explained.
While wind and solar tend to garner more headlines as clean energy sources that can replace dirty energy, nuclear power also has an important role to play. One of the main challenges of replacing dirty energy lies in generating enough clean energy to meet demand, so diversifying and relying on a wider variety of sources makes a lot of sense.
In Wyoming, another nuclear power plant is being built on the site of a retired coal plant — that one also bills itself as being virtually meltdown-proof, by using liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water.
In addition, researchers have discovered a way to make nuclear power plants safer by getting water to boil off and evaporate at a lower temperature. Although nuclear power is already safer than many people believe, these discoveries and inventions are making it safer than ever for future generations.
New research suggests major change in China’s air pollution may have kick-started bizarre effects: ‘It will give us surprises’
Leo Collis – July 30, 2024
In the global battle against harmful air pollution, China is both a leader in production and reduction.
According to the 2023 Global Carbon Budget, shared by Our World in Data, the country was responsible for annual carbon dioxide pollution of over nine billion tons from coal in 2022. The next highest polluter, India, was responsible for two billion.
However, government controls on dirty fuel industries have resulted in a 70% reduction in aerosol emissions over the last 10 years, as Yale Environment 360 detailed.
It’s a slightly confusing state of affairs. What’s more confusing, though, is how that aerosol reduction has impacted ocean warming.
What’s happening?
According to analysis published by PNAS and shared by Yale Environment 360, improvements made in reducing air pollution by China have led to warming effects in the Pacific Ocean.
The decline in smog particles has offered less shading protection from the sun’s rays, which has increased the rate of ocean warming and set off a chain reaction of atmospheric events.
As Yale Environment 360 detailed, aerosols can deter around a third of the warming that’s caused by greenhouse gases — which are different from aerosols as they trap heat rather than shade it.
Why is ocean warming concerning?
Since 2013, the Pacific Ocean has been witnessing a warming event known as “The Blob,” which periodically increases water temperatures between California and Alaska by as much as seven degrees Fahrenheit.
This has led to toxic algal blooms, reductions of fish stocks, sea lion displacement, and the forcing of whales into shipping lanes in the hunt for food, among other issues, according to Yale Environment 360.
The analysis suggests that the aerosol reduction in China is at least partly responsible for “The Blob.” Despite these negative effects, cutting the production of aerosol is still an important factor in curbing overall air pollution.
“Aerosol reductions will perturb the climate system in ways we have not experienced before,” atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University Yangyang Xu, who was not involved in the study, told Yale Environment 360. “It will give us surprises.”
What can be done about rising ocean temperatures?
As Fred Pearce of Yale Environment 360 noted: “To be clear, nobody — but nobody — suggests that we should stop the cleanup of aerosols. The death toll would just be too great.”
The World Health Organization says that outdoor air pollution was responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019, and aerosols are a key contributor to that statistic.
With that in mind, Michael Diamond from Florida State University, an expert on aerosols and climate, has suggested that reducing methane immediately would mitigate against the warming created in the absence of aerosols.
According to NASA, around 60% of the world’s methane pollution is caused by human activities. Agriculture, landfills, and burning dirty energy are among the leading producers of this harmful gas, which is 28 times more potent in terms of planet-warming potential than carbon dioxide.
So, cutting our consumption of meat and dairy, keeping as many items from heading to landfills as possible, and ramping up the production of electricity from renewable sources are essential to keep methane levels down. If we can do that, we can offset the unusual heating effects that cleaning up aerosols is having on our oceans without compromising human health.
Wisconsin Republicans ask voters to take away governor’s power to spend federal money
Scott Bauer – July28, 2024
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks before President Joe Biden at a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School in Madison, Wis., Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor’s power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was free to spend most of that money as he pleased, directing most of it toward small businesses and economic development, angering Republicans who argued the Legislature should have oversight.
That’s what would happen under a pair of related constitutional amendments up for voter approval in the Aug. 13 primary election. The changes would apply to Evers and all future governors and cover any federal money to the state that comes without specific spending requirements, often in response to disasters or other emergencies.
Democrats and other opponents are mobilizing against the amendments, calling them a legislative power grab that would hamstring governors’ ability to quickly respond to a future natural disaster, economic crisis or health emergency.
If the amendments pass, Wisconsin’s government “will become even more dysfunctional,” said Julie Keown-Bomar, executive director of Wisconsin Farmers Union.
“Wisconsinites are so weary of riding the partisan crazy train, but it is crucial that we show up at the polls and vote ‘no’ on these changes as they will only make us go further off the rails,” she said in a statement.
But Republicans and other backers say it’s a necessary check on the governor’s current power, which they say is too broad.
The changes increase “accountability, efficiency, and transparency,” Republican state Sen. Howard Marklein, a co-sponsor of the initiative, said at a legislative hearing.
The two questions, which were proposed as a single amendment and then separated on the ballot, passed the GOP-controlled Legislature twice as required by law. Voter approval is needed before they would be added to the state constitution. The governor has no veto power over constitutional amendments.
Early, in-person absentee voting for the Aug. 13 election begins Tuesday across the state and goes through Aug. 11. Locations and times for early voting vary.
Wisconsin Republicans have increasingly turned to voters to approve constitutional amendments as a way to get around Evers’ vetoes. Midway through his second term, Evers has vetoed more bills than any governor in Wisconsin history.
In April, voters approved amendments to bar the use of private money to run elections and reaffirm that only election officials can work the polls. In November, an amendment on the ballot seeks to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in local elections.
Republicans put this question on the August primary ballot, the first time a constitutional amendment has been placed in that election where turnout is much lower than in November.
The effort to curb the governor’s spending power also comes amid ongoing fights between Republicans and Evers over the extent of legislative authority. Evers in July won a case in the Wisconsin Supreme Court that challenged the power the GOP-controlled Legislature’s budget committee had over conservation program spending.
Wisconsin governors were given the power to decide how to spend federal money by the Legislature in 1931, during the Great Depression, according to a report from the Legislative Reference Bureau.
“Times have changed and the influx of federal dollars calls for a different approach,” Republican Rep. Robert Wittke, who sponsored the amendment, said at a public hearing.
It was a power that was questioned during the Great Recession in 2008, another time when the state received a large influx of federal aid.
But calls for change intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic when the federal government handed Wisconsin $5.7 billion in aid between March 2020 and June 2022 in federal coronavirus relief. Only $1.1 billion came with restrictions on how it could be spent.
Most of the money was used for small business and local government recovery grants, buying emergency health supplies and paying health care providers to offset the costs of the pandemic.
Republicans pushed for more oversight, but Evers vetoed a GOP bill in 2021 that would have required the governor to submit a plan to the Legislature’s budget committee for approval.
Republican increased the pressure for change following the release of a nonpartisan audit in 2022 that found Evers wasn’t transparent about how he decided where to direct the money.
One amendment specifies the Legislature can’t delegate its power to decide how money is spent. The second prohibits the governor from spending federal money without legislative approval.
If approved, the Legislature could pass rules governing how federal money would be handled. That would give them the ability to change the rules based on who is serving as governor or the purpose of the federal money.
For example, the Legislature could allow governors to spend disaster relief money with no approval, but require that other money go before lawmakers first.
Opposing the measures are voting rights groups, the Wisconsin Democratic Party and a host of other liberal organizations, including those who fought to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business lobbying group, and the Badger Institute, a conservative think tank, were the only groups that registered in support in the Legislature.
Scientists make ‘incredibly worrying’ discovery after observing pattern in one of Earth’s largest ice fields: ‘We risk irreversible, complete removal of them’
Leslie Sattler – July 28, 2024
Alaska’s Juneau Icefield is melting at an alarming rate, doubling its pace of decline in recent decades.
This vast expanse of interconnected glaciers is shrinking faster than ever before, according to The New York Times, raising what it said scientists called “incredibly worrying” concerns about the future of our planet’s ice.
What’s happening?
The Juneau Icefield lost 1.4 cubic miles of ice annually between 2010 and 2020, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications. That’s twice the rate of melting observed before 2010.
Since the late 18th century, this massive ice field has shed a quarter of its volume, with the most dramatic losses occurring in recent years.
Bethan Davies, who led the research, gave a stark statement to the New York Times: “If we reduce carbon, then we have more hope of retaining these wonderful ice masses. The more carbon we put in, the more we risk irreversible, complete removal of them.”
Why is the melting Juneau Icefield concerning?
The rapid melting of this Alaskan ice field is a clear sign that our planet is overheating.
Climate feedback loop: As ice melts, it exposes darker land beneath, which absorbs more heat and accelerates warming.
Fresh water supply: Glaciers act as natural reservoirs, providing fresh water for ecosystems and human communities.
Wildlife impact: Many species depend on these icy habitats for survival.
The changes in the Juneau Icefield serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address our planet’s overheating. By taking action now, we can help protect these vital ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
What’s being done about the Juneau Icefield?
While the situation is serious, there’s still hope. Scientists, policymakers, and laypeople are working together to slow the melt.
For example, studies like this one help us understand the problem and develop targeted solutions. International efforts, such as the Paris Agreement, aim to limit planetary heating and protect vulnerable areas. And many communities are switching to renewable energy sources to reduce carbon pollution.
You can make a difference, too, with actions big and small. The most important thing you can do is get educated about topics like this and use your voice to help steer public sentiment and beyond, however you feel.
By making these small changes in our daily lives, we can contribute to a cooler future for our planet. Remember, every action counts when it comes to preserving our planet’s incredible ice fields and the vital role they play in our global ecosystem.
