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Kitchen Table Kibitzing: CA Water Woes; Best (and Worst) US Cities in a Climate Changed World; NELD [1]
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Date: 2022-09-29
This week’s climate shorts
With California officials predicting that by 2040 drought could diminish the state’s water supply by 10%, Governor Gavin Newsom has announced actions and plans to ensure long-term water security for the state’s 8.4 million households.
Over the past two years, the state has invested $8 billion in projects to conserve, store and de-salinize the region’s water in an expensive and innovative battle with climate change.
The administration’s “strategy document” “California’s Water Supply Strategy, Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future” lays out suggestions such as investing in new water sources, jumpstarting projects, and using emerging technology to address how water is managed in the state.
“The best science tells us that we need to act now to adapt to California’s water future. Climate change means drought won’t just stick around for two years at a time like it historically has – extreme weather is the new normal here in the American West and California will adapt to this new reality,” Governor Newsom said at the Antioch Brackish Desalination Project. “California is launching an aggressive plan to rebuild the way we source, store and deliver water so our kids and grandkids can continue to call California home in this hotter, drier climate.”California’s Water Supply Strategy outlines actions needed now to invest in new sources, transform water management
x Hungry Hungry Hippos! This pod live up river from the KWS rhino base in Tsavo East. Due to the #drought they're having to travel many KMs from the river to find food. We're doing our little bit to help, providing them a few bales of lucerne every night to see them through pic.twitter.com/d0X1F9G9DI — Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (@SheldrickTrust) September 13, 2022
x 100% recyclable turbine blades now available for both offshore and onshore wind energy, making wind installations almost entirely waste-free
The DNA of #cleanenergy is #circulareconomy (not so Big Oil, on an environmental destruction path since 1859)
https://t.co/CZ7LFuO9OU — Assaad Razzouk (@AssaadRazzouk) September 28, 2022
The best and worst cities for climate change in 2022 Using 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data, we identified the 452 most populated metro statistical areas in the country. We then analyzed data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and several other studies across six key factors to determine which of those metro areas were the best and worst for climate change. heat and humidity
flooding and sea level rise
climate related disasters
air quality
social vulnerability
community resilience The top ten cities were: (with SF being the best) San Francisco
Seattle
Columbus, Ohio
Minneapolis
Baltimore
Milwaukee
Portland
Pittsburgh
RIchmond, VA
Denver WORST CITIES (with houston being the worst) 1. HOUSTON 2-5 FLORIDA: MIAMI, TAMPA, JACKSONVILLE, ORLANDO 6. NEW ORLEANS 7. LOS ANGELES 8. MEMPHIS 9. RIVERSIDE, CA 10: VIRGINIA BEACH
x "If we want to understand how the biosphere responds to #climatechange, that data is in the past. Without that, we're flying blind into our #environmental future.” @kenlacovara #REWIREDGreen
https://t.co/l5BkAvmVtT — WIRED Science (@WIREDScience) September 28, 2022
x 📜In another excellent article @daisydunnesci and @aruna_sekhar of @CarbonBrief explore Non-Economic #LossAndDamage (#NELD) from #ClimateChange with a focus on the challenges of documenting, measuring and assigning value to the intangible.
https://t.co/1xUWbymWLp — Loss and Damage Collaboration (L&DC) (@LossandDamage) September 28, 2022
In a poignantly intimate article, Loss and damage: What happens when climate change destroys lives and cultures? the authors reference a glacier in the Peruvian Andes whose disappearance is equated with the departure of the gods.
This is just one example of non-economic loss and damage (NELD) or intangible loss and damage, which refers to losses that cannot be quantified. In UNFCCC jargon, the term Loss and Damage has been used for many years as countries in the Global South seek recompense from the North to help them address the consequences of a climate crisis for which they bear no responsibility.
In the belief of the Quechua people, Mount Ausangate is a powerful god of the landscape and the decline of the glacier that sits atop it is a sign of the “wrath of the deity”. The glacier’s retreat has also put a stop to the centuries-old practice of collecting small blocks of ice during an annual pilgrimage, which are thought to have healing properties when consumed. - snip- Intangible loss and damage can result from climate-induced harm to: Biodiversity and species
Culture, traditions and heritage Ecosystem services or habitat
Human life
Human mobility
Human identity
Knowledge and ways of knowing
Mental and emotional wellbeing
Order in the world
Physical health
Productive land
Self-determination and influence
Sense of place
Social fabric
Sovereignty
Territory
University of Exeter Professor Neil Adger defines intangible loss and damage as a “catch-all term” for any type of loss that cannot be given a monetary value.
“We’ve got a category of things that are economic – and then we’ve got a category of things that we should really care about. Economics looks pretty unimportant if there’s a risk you’re going to lose your life.”
“Kailash is not the biggest mountain in that area – there are taller mountains – but because of its shape, its look, the sense of spirituality it inspires…if it loses its snow, would it still be Mount Kailash?” asks Janita Gurung, an ecologist who works at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, Nepal.
“For us, in the mountains, it is not just economic possessions that are important, it’s also the karmic accumulation that you have at the end of your life that’s going to decide how you die or how you feel about dying, right? And going on pilgrimages, doing good things – that is what’s going to contribute to that.”
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