The Netherlands, New Orleans, and Dealing with Sea Level Rise

In class 4 we watched a video about the amazing Dutch engineers managing the Netherlands water issues over centuries, but especially dramatic efforts since the late 1950's..... Holland's Barriers to the Sea. The New Orleans perspective begins about minute 32, and based on joint efforts of understanding for best options going forward, both New Orleans and the Netherlands are looking to use the Mississippi and the Rhine River runoff sediment to build up (elevate) marsh land and farm land surrounding populated areas as an additional protection.

In Delaware, we are in some ways doing the same, although in a more man made form. We are extensively dredging the Delaware River channel in the Delaware Bay to enable deeper draft, more economical ships to reach the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia......AND we are using much of the dredged materials to rebuild bay and coastal dunes for protection from storms and sea level rise.

Two other short Dutch videos explained their ingenious approaches to floating homes and farms:
Flood Proof Homes the Dutch Way   
Floating Farm Rotterdam

So in our final class, we will explore how Delaware might utilize what others are doing around the World to help us plan to deal with sea level rise more effectively. Joan and I hope you will come to our last class brimming-over with good ideas which we can pass on to those in power in Delaware.

Oceans and Climate Change Class - 3/2/15 Summary

The first class on 3/2 outlined topics planned for all 5 classes, plus covered details about sea level rise, its causes, effects and responses.

Planned topics for all 5 classes:
Sea level rise
Ocean acidification
Ocean temperature and current changes
Marine ecosystem changes
Arctic sea ice extent and its global impacts
Antarctica and Greenland ice loss
Change in intensity of major storms - scientific basis for worsening

Links to specific topics presented 3/2/15:
Article on "Willie" Soon from Washington Post
Quantifying CO2 contributions from Forbes
NASA home page for climate measurements
Yale video on West Antarctic Ice Sheet
NASA video on Greenland Ice Sheet
IPCC 2013 Projections of Sea Level Rise
Kivalina, AK
Vunidogoloa, FIJI
NYC Climate Change Report
Norfolk, VA video from PBS

Based on class input, topics to be emphasized in next 4 classes include:
More on local sea level rise, especially Delaware
Ocean temperature and current changes
Marine ecosystem changes - fish populations, coral reefs, clams and crabs
Arctic sea ice extent and its global impact
Changing intensity of major storms - scientific basis for worsening

And a final word from the Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross:
"Going to snow again? Get with the picture petrel! We are in the midst of a global warming crisis!!!"

YES, it is record COLD in the Northeast...

You saw we are just back from Africa (last post), so this current cold and snowy spell in Lewes DE is both unwelcome and unexpected. Now is it relevant OR irrelevant to climate change and often associated global warming???

You judge...and for background read James Taylor of Forbes.

Me, I miss my lobster dinners once each moth....because the lobster boats are frozen in.

Want a better answer....we will explore Alaska in our upcoming Osher Lifelong Learning class. The Arctic is where global warming is happening at a very accelerated rate in the past few decades. We tend to look at what is happening right now, and where we live, but OUR World is what really matters.

Below, a Hermit Thrush has found a holly berry in spite of the recent DE cold and snowy weather.

Bill Fintel photo on Prime Hook NWR field trip Feb 19, 2015

Climate Change 2014: IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (AR-5)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Nov 1, 2014 released a new report titled:

Climate Change 2014

Synthesis Report

It is available in 2 versions: a shorter version of 40 pages for policy makers, and a longer version of 116 pages. Both can be accessed HERE.

Even the shorter version for policymakers is very technical (but I am sure our policymakers have good technical people on their staff). Also many referenced figures are not yet included, and every page has a disclaimer at the bottom saying, "Subject to copy editing and layout".

Even so, there is a vast amount of current information on climate change prepared by some of the world's most qualified scientists. I will begin a series of posts on this subject by quoting a few highlights, then in subsequent posts I will focus on the oceans involvement, as I will be doing a class on The World's Oceans and Climate Change for Osher Lifelong Learning (Lewes, DE) in the spring of 2015.

Following are two paragraphs from page 3 of the 40 page summary for policy makers:

1.1 Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen.

Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850. The period from 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years in the Northern Hemisphere, where such assessment is possible (medium confidence). The globally averaged combined land and ocean surface temperature data as calculated by a linear trend, show a warming of 0.8 [0.65 to 1.06] °C over the period 1880 to 2012, when multiple independently produced data sets exist.

Food Waste Greenhouse Gas Emmissions - 3rd Largest Emitter behind China and US

I am only posting this NBC link because the reported magnitude of the problem is so large. From what I have read, the emissions include all energy used to grow and process the wasted food, as well as the CO2 and methane emitted by the disposal of the wasted food. That seems fair, but also a complicated series of calculations.

What also seems so very unfortunate and unnecessary, is wasting this vast quantity of food with so many people on Earth needy and starving.

Bill

PS - Our class agenda for "Predicting Climate Change", Oct 23 through Nov 20 at Osher Lifelong Learning in Lewes DE, will be posted very soon. I am looking forward to an educationally stimulating and interesting fall.

The Pantanal, Brazil

It is nice to be back home, but Sally and I also had a wonderful time in the Pantanal of Brazil. The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the World....10 times the size of the Everglades. Obviously we visited only a small portion of this, but had some wonderful encounters with Hyacinth Macaws, Jaguars, and Harpy Eagles.

Now how do we reconcile all the CO2 emitted by the aircraft we flew on? We donate generously to organizations that support positive climate action, like the EDF, NRDC, TNC and Seacology. 

Responding to Global Warming - Class schedule

After our discussion in class 1 today, I have decided to use the priorities arrived at by voting on the various topics to govern the amount of time spent on each topic, and to try to cover more than 6 topics. On this basis, following is the agenda for the remaining 3 classes.

Feb 6 – Solar Photovoltaic (PV), Solar Thermal and Geothermal. Solar thermal is also known as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).

Feb 13 – Wind, Waves, Tide, OTEC and Ocean Clouds. In other words, this class will focus on the ocean.

Feb 20 – Presidents Day, NO class.

Feb 27 – Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Fusion, Biofuels and Forest preservation (see REDD). 

Mar 5 - NO Class

Where's the Beef?

It would be good for Earth and all life on it, if this was a current valid question. But it is not. Anyway, some tidbits from the linked Washington Post article by Ezra Klein from July 2009:

• "livestock accounts for 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions."
• "switching to a vegan diet would have a bigger impact than trading in your gas guzzler for a Prius."

And from me, more vegetables and less livestock is also a much healthier way to eat. Thanks to Dorothy Greet for providing this article and her great class on Plant Based Nutrition at Osher Lifelong Learning, Lewes, DE.

Class 4 Wildlife and Vegetation Changes

The Title link goes to the original program in Powerpoint format, and now located in Google Docs (aka The Cloud). Note that some links did not convert to active links, but you can still cut and paste them into you browser window to get to the referenced site.

Earth and Its Climate in 2031 (Osher class title)

Following is the agenda for the next 4 classes of this Osher Lifelong Learning Course at the University of Delaware in Lewes, DE. The overall question to be addressed: "What will the Earth be like in 2031 in regard to the following subjects?"

October 24 - Global weather changes, and the effect on agriculture, potable water and feeding a growing world.

October 31 - Geographic population shifts and climate refugees.

November 7 - Wildlife and vegetation changes, plus the role of forests.

November 14 - Tipping points, what are the most troublesome ones, and how likely are they to occur?

Earth and Its Climate in 2031

Following is the schedule and plans for the fall 2011 Class with the above title at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Delaware in Lewes:

This will be a workshop style course with participants contributing their ideas. In the first class, Bill will present where he thinks the Earth’s climate will be in 2031 relative to rising sea levels. We will then discuss class interests relative to the Earth and its climate. In this fall’s 5 classes we will focus on what is taking place, and what is forecast to happen relative to Earth’s climate. Next spring, in a planned continuation of this course, we will discuss what can be done to reduce global warming, through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and through potential geoengineering approaches.

Oct 17 – Sea Level Rise
The focus of the first class will be the causes of sea level rise, how it is measured, what the known history is, and what the forecast is. The class will begin with a 45 min. presentation, the same as will be presented to the Friends of Overfalls on Oct 14 (mentioned so you don’t attend both presentations). After that, we will discuss what specific climate topics most interest the class, and finalize a tentative agenda for the remaining 4 weeks (Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7 and Nov 14).

Potential future class topics include, but are not limited to:
1. A hypothetical vision of a warmer Earth in 2031 (and 2100?) relative to:
    a. sea level rise (continued with thoughts from others in the class)
    b. agriculture changes and feeding a growing world
    c. population changes and climate refugees
    d. wildlife changes, on land and in the oceans
2. The role of forests in global warming
3. Tipping points, what are they and how likely is one to occur?
4. Also see index in this blog for more ideas about possible topics.

Bill Fintel
Instructor

Earth and Its Climate in 2031

Perhaps you are checking this Blog because of the new Osher catalog for fall 2011.

If yes, I heartily welcome you, and please accept my apology for me being behind on posting about current climate events. I have been very busy, and will continue to be very busy until early September, but then a major portion of my attention will focus on this Blog and the Osher class “Earth and Its Climate in 2031” .

If this subject interests you, in addition to reviewing past posts on this blog, you may also want to review the web site finblizclimate for some background information on climate change, the science behind what has been happening, and some of the earth changes that are predicted, such as rising sea level.