Author: Chrismal Abraham

Each year, Greenland loses 270 billions tons of ice as the planet warms, however new research shows that some of the water may be trapped in the ice sheet. In the summer of 2015, scientist directly measuring a river of meltwater runoff on the top of the ice. What they concluded was that not as much meltwater flows immediately through the ice sheet and drains to the ocean as previously estimated. This has serious implications for sea level rise considering the enormous size of Greenland. The scientist say that the reason for this is being some of the meltwater is retained in porous ice instead of flowing to the bottom of the ice sheet and out of the sea. Greenland is currently losing an average of about 260 billions tons of ice per year which would contribute about two inches to sea level rise by the end of the century. The flow data, collected over 72 hours, showed that current models are overestimating the amount of runoff by 2- percent to nearly 60 percent. The apparent problem with the current models is that they didn’t consider the possibility of water retention in the ice. Sunlight hits the ice sheet which melts the surface but since some of the light reaches deeper into the ice, it causes melting underneath the surface of the ice sheet. The ice around this internal melting developed a porous texture and can, according to findings, hold on to some of the meltwater. This had led to scientists to change their current models to more accurately measure the amount of meltwater that’s being dumped into the ocean.

Now that scientists know to create new models that account for meltwater trapped in the ice caps due to water retention in deeper layers of the ice, they will be able to collect more accurate data in order to measure sea level rise due to the melting ice water in Greenland and other areas as well. Sea levels continue to rise with projections showing anywhere between 1 to 5 feet of rise by the end of the century. Depending on how accurately scientist are able to measure the rising sea levels determines how exactly prepared we can be to adjust to the changing earth. Sea level also has an impact of climate and natural disasters as rising sea levels could make tsunamis and coastal hurricanes more dangerous and damaging making it all the more important that scientist can accurately measure sea level rise.

Citation:

Fountain, Henry, and Derek Watkins. “As Greenland Melts, Where’s the Water Going?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/05/climate/greenland-ice-melting.html.

The company, Xcel Energy, wants to stop buying energy from three biofuel plants in Minnesota, one that runs on wood and turkey droppings and two others that run on wood only. Xcel is doing this because it claims energy from biomass plants, such as the plant supplying turkey droppings, are 10 times more expensive than wind-generated power and using other sources instead of the biofuel plants could save customers nearly $700 million over the next 11 years. However the plants support at least 100 jobs, the loggers and truckers say, and bolster the state’s commitment to renewable energy. And without the biomass plants, Minnesota’s forests would be cluttered with damaged or low-grade trees for which there is little other use, decreasing the health of woodlands and increasing the risk of forest fires. If the company decides not to use the renewable energy from the plants, they will shut down leading to further environmental problems as well as the loss of jobs for the workers in the plants. Turkey litter apparently is a good fuel and a valuable resource and if the turkey droppings are not processed, they would be stuck with an estimated 250,000 tons of turkey excrement per year.

The loggers and truckers are suing Xcel in an effort to save the plants. The impact of this case is significant because the shutting down of these plants can have serious ecological effects leading to increased chances of forest fires. Also the jobs of the people working at the plants are also at risk and for manual labor jobs, finding more work might be more difficult for these workers without relocation. Also having large amounts of turkey waste just lying around is a waste of perfectly good resources. Even if biomass is more expensive than other forms of fuel it’s a resource that can be used to generate energy and clean the environment further. This conflict is also furthered by a dramatic fall in the costs of wind and solar power which has made the use of biomass as fuel more unattractive by fuel companies.

 Citation:

Tabuchi, Hiroko. “Giving Thanks, but Not for Turkey-Powered Energy.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/climate/turkey-droppings-biofuel.html.

In past couple years industrial emissions of carbon dioxide had reached a plateau, but in the recent months emissions are projected to rise to reach record highs in 2017. Global emissions from fossil fuels and industry are on track to increase roughly 2 percent over last year’s levels, driven in part by increased coal use in China which is the world’s largest emitter of CO2. Global carbon dioxide emissions increased at a rate of more than 2 percent per year for much of the 21^st century. This is large due to rapidly industrializing countries like China and India which have built hundreds of coal plants and put millions of new cars on the road in this period. This fact clearly shows the link between economic development and carbon dioxide emissions growth no matter the anti-emissions policies that are currently in place. However from 2014 to 2016, industrial emissions barely grew at all, even as the global economy continued to expand which contrasted previous data gathered. Some people thought the sharp cost reductions in renewable energy, combined with the growing push to tackle climate change in the United States, Europe and China, had fundamentally altered the path the worth is going towards concerning carbon dioxide emissions. However data recorded in 2017 again follows the previous trend of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. After a brief dip last year, China’s carbon dioxide emissions are projected to rise approximately 3.5 percent this year. India also increased its emissions by 2 percent as well and although Europe and the United States show decreased emissions of greenhouse gases the total percent decrease is less than the decrease from previous years. Much of the fall in American emissions has come as increasing supplies of natural gas, wind and solar power have driven hundreds of coal plants into retirement but in order for there to be significant world change, China and India have to follow the trend.

Increasing CO2 admissions should be a major concern for not just select modernized countries that produce the majority of CO2 admissions but for nations worldwide. Global temperature changes are a real thing and the fact the rising temperatures can be seen in direct correlation with an increase in industrialization over the past decades and centuries show that human industrialization is the problem. And if we caused the problem then we should put our best efforts to fix it. Under the 2015 Paris agreement countries around the world agreed that they would reduce greenhouse gases emissions in order to combat the rising issue of climate and temperature change. While most countries have been successful in reducing their emissions the rate at which we reduce emissions is too low and for some countries like China and India CO2 emissions actually increased. Glen Peters, a researcher at the Center for international Climate Research in Norway says “These numbers suggest we still don’t have sufficient policies in place to prevent global emissions from rising, let alone to force them downward.” In order for there to be the legitimate change in how our use of industrialization and coal plants affect CO2 emissions every nation has to put increased efforts into reducing emission through policy changes and if necessary, an international conference to discuss the 2015 Paris agreement concerning greenhouse gases.

Citation:

Popovich, Brad Plumer And Nadja. “CO2 Emissions Were Flat for Three Years. Now They’Re Rising Again.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/13/climate/co2-emissions-rising-again.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront.

Endangered animals are already put on an ever growing list because of the low numbers of remaining descendants of that particular species that still exist on this earth. Natural disaster especially such as forest fires and hurricanes have the potential to threaten these endangered species to the point of extinction. When lighting struck the Pinaleno Mountains in southeast Arizona, igniting a 48,000 acre fire that reduced an ancient forest to blackened poles and stumps, a proportionally large number of an existing group of already endangered rare squirrels disappeared into the ashes. Only 35 out of the previously existing 252 remained pushing the species that much further to complete extinction. A large wildfire in Southern California completely decimated the surrounding environment pushing species like the mountain yellow-legged frog, endangered salmon and steelhead and the Armargosa vole further into complete extinction of an entire species. The fires destroy the animals habitats including their homes, nesting grounds, food, and winter shelters. Such destruction can only lead to further deaths along the line making the lives of these already endangered animals a huge concern. Another catastrophic disaster, Hurricane Harvey, wiped out 24 of the remaining 29 rare prairie chickens being tracked at the Attwater Prairies Chicken National Wildlife Refuge near Houston.

The effect of these natural disasters on the local environment is tremendous and cannot be ignored. While humans can prepare for these disaster by warnings and evacuations as well as relocation for many animals, especially for these endangered creatures, they have a singular habitat. The destruction of these habitats by forest fires and hurricanes can destroy the remains of an entire species of animals on this planet which would be a huge loss of life and significant blow to the scientific community studying animal life. The fact that these occurrences happen in fall season only adds to the dangers as these endangered species no longer have homes to hibernate and gain protection during the cold winter where food is scarce and shelter becomes much more important. Animals without homes or food will die out in the cold and for the few that remain from their individual species this can be a devastating blow as relocation cannot guarantee the same food sources the animals are used to and the same temperature and environmental comfortability ideal for their survival.

Citation:

Albeck-ripka, Livia. “For an Endangered Animal, a Fire or Hurricane Can Mean the End.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/climate/fires-hurricanes-endangered-animals.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront.

This article talks about the Arctic wildlife refuge and the political debate on whether to drill into the area to access oil reserves as well as conduct seismic research. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge consists of about 19 million acres of pristine land in northeastern Alaska. The area serves as a nesting place for several hundred species of migratory birds, wolves, polar bears, caribou and other mammals. In 1984 and 1985, several oil companies undertook seismic studies, in which special trucks “thumped” the ground and recorded the reflected sound waves which was then able to provide details about rock formations and potential oil and gas reserves in them. Years later a 1998 assessment by the United States Geological Survey that relied in part in the seismic studies estimated that the area contained 4 billion to 12 billion barrels of recoverable oil. There is political debate in Congress on whether to send more equipment up there to drill and recover the trapped oil underneath the preserve and continue more seismic research. However the main problem remains that drilling and even studying the ground below damages the land according to Environmental groups and would affect the significant amount of wildlife that live near the area.

Whether or not the bill is passed to allow further drilling and research in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a big deal. If the bill is passes companies would conduct new seismic studies in the area using technology that produces three dimensional images of underground formations. Eventually production wells would be drilled and the oil would be drilled out. However the environmental impact cannot be ignored. Drilled and altering the landscape could disturb caribou and lead them to abandon their usual calving sites for less suitable locations outside the area. The other wildlife normal survival routines would probably be affected as well especially if companies plan to continue to drill the oil for years to come. The area is still a recognized wildlife preserve which technically should not be an area for companies to drill for oil due to damaging effects it may have on all the surrounding animals. If the bill is passed oil companies may have new access to untapped oil reserves but are the environmental consequences worth the cost.

Citation:

Fountain, Henry. “Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge: How the G.O.P. Could Finally Break the Impasse.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/climate/arctic-drilling.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront.