The World Is Losing Fish to Eat as Oceans Warm, Study Finds. The new findings — which separate the effects of warming waters from other factors, like overfishing — suggest that climate change is already having a serious impact on seafood. The oceans have absorbed 93 percent of the heat that is trapped by the greenhouse gases that humans pump into the atmosphere, and the study published in January, in Science, found that ocean temperatures were increasing far faster than previous estimates. As the oceans have warmed, some regions have been particularly hard-hit. In the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Sea of Japan, fish populations declined by as much as 35 percent over the period of the study. “Fish provide a vital source of protein for over half of the global population, ” said Chris Free, the lead author of the study, “The ecosystems in East Asia have seen some of the largest decline in fisheries productivity, and that region is home to some of the largest growing human populations and populations that are highly dependent on seafood”- The New York Times
- Stop Freaking Out About the Future of Climate Change and Start Worrying About the Present – Mother Jones
- The Green New Deal Is Better Than Our Climate Nightmare – New York Times
- How climate change is revealing, and threatening, thawing relics – CNN
- Is the fight against ocean plastic distracting us from bigger, deadlier problems? – Fast Company
- 4 black women leaders on climate, justice, and the green ‘Promised Land’ – Grist
- Is ocean acidification knocking the scents out of salmon? – Science News for Students
- Can Stradivarius violins weather climate change? – DW – Made For Minds
Gilet jaunes: Yellow vests go green, as Europeans demand climate action. The yellow vest demonstrations, now in their third month, have focused on economic grievances, and called for ordinary people to have a greater say in the democratic process. These days, French yellow vests and green activists are coming together in a spirit of revolt ahead of EU elections this spring. “It seems to me climate is even more in danger than French democracy,” Monique Pedron, a yellowed-vested pensioner who regularly attends climate rallies. A school teacher and vetern yellow vest Francois Gilles told DW, “I think the fight against climate change in France is similar to demands by yellow vest protesters — for the government to take the population’s decisions into account.” Marie Toussaint, founder of environmental group Notre Affaire a Tous said of the French government, “they want France to be one of the climate leaders, but they actually don’t do anything inside the territory. What we see is, we’re late on all our climate commitments.” Toussaint co-sponsored an online petition threatening to sue the French government for not doing enough to fight climate change. So far, it has gathered a record 2 million signatures. A similar petition in the Netherlands forced the Dutch government to deepen emissions cuts – DW – Made For Minds
The Guardian view on the hottest winter day: sunny side down. Unseasonably balmy February days can be pleasant, but scientists are increasingly linking extremes of heat, storms and other meteorological events to global warming. While many people are enjoying this week’s record-breaking temperatures – 20.3C in Wales on Monday, and 21.2C in London on Tuesday, the hottest winter days on record – many of the same people are also worried. Extreme or unusual weather in the UK is becoming widely recognised as an indication that the climate is changing. Last summer’s UK heatwave, when average temperatures in June, July, and August were 2C above pre-industrial levels, was made 30 times more likely by greenhouse gases. For too long, and in defiance of evidence, climate deniers such as former chancellor Lord Lawson were offered prominent platforms to air their views without challenge. Partly as a consequence, public opinion lags behind scientific knowledge. Recent survey data shows that while 93% of British people know climate change is happening, only 36% believe that humans are mainly responsible, while just 25% describe themselves as very worried. As our heating planet turns from a threat into an emergency, with emissions still increasing, we must reject passivity in favour of action – The Guardian
Jay Inslee Wants to Be a Presidential Candidate for the Climate-Change Era. Inslee has been in politics for a quarter century but has never become a national figure. He has an eager and direct manner: his thoughts emerge in lists and his mind moves toward details. And though he has not been a single-issue governor, the case for his Presidential candidacy rests on his decades-long interest in political solutions to climate change. Inslee praised the young climate activists who have coalesced around the Green New Deal for their energy and their emphasis on communities, often poor and of color. “They’ve raised the ambition level,” he says. “They’ve married this to environmental justice. Now it’s my job and others’ to put policy behind it.” “We do have to build an economy that is not based in fossil fuels. It has to be the organizing principle of the federal government. We don’t like to use conflict or war as a metaphor, but it requires the mobilization of our system like we’ve experienced in times of war.” Twice in the past three years, Inslee has tried to persuade the state to adopt a relatively modest tax on carbon, once through the legislature and once by referendum; both efforts failed. In 2017, Inslee joined Andrew Cuomo, of New York, and Jerry Brown, of California, to create the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of states that have pledged to adhere to the provisions of the Paris climate accord, even if the Trump Administration did not – The New Yorker