Dunlaw Wind Farm at Soutra Hill North in the Scottish Borders. The US president has claimed that climate action is too costly. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

Almost all nations would benefit economically from keeping global warming to 1.5C, a new study indicates

CLICK HERE - ABSTRACT - Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH LETTER - Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets

theguardian.com - by Damian Carrington - May 23, 2018

A new study found that hurricanes intensify more quickly now than they did 30 years ago. Hurricanes from 2017 like Irma (center), and Jose (right) are examples of these types of hurricanes. Hurricane Katia is seen on the left.  (Photo: NOAA)

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - May 10, 2018

With the start of hurricane season just three weeks away — and memory of last year's disastrous storms still fresh — scientists reported that powerful hurricanes are strengthening faster than they did 30 years ago.

Four of the monster hurricanes last year (Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria) all intensified rapidly — when the maximum wind speed increases at least 29 mph within 24 hours . . .

 . . . According to a study out this week, the main cause appears to be a natural climate phenomenon that warms the seawater where hurricanes typically intensify in the Atlantic.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

who.int - May 8, 2018

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Bikoro in Equateur Province today (8 May). The outbreak declaration occurred after laboratory results confirmed two cases of EVD.

The Ministry of Health of Democratic of the Congo (DRC) informed WHO that two out of five samples collected from five patients tested positive for EVD at the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in Kinshasa. More specimens are being collected for testing.

A transmission tower and downed lines in the mountainous terrain of eastern Puerto Rico. Workers from the island and throughout the United States have worked to restore power after Hurricanes Irma and Maria last September.

It took months to restore electricity in Puerto Rico after hurricanes dealt a one-two punch. Many homes are still without power, and the system’s future is far from certain.

nytimes.com - by JAMES GLANZ and FRANCES ROBLES - Photographs by TODD HEISLER - May 6, 2018

 . . . After Maria and the hurricane that preceded it, called Irma, Puerto Rico all but slipped from the modern era . . .

 . . . an examination of the power grid’s reconstruction — based on a review of hundreds of documents and interviews with dozens of public officials, utility experts and citizens across the island — shows how a series of decisions by federal and Puerto Rican authorities together sent the effort reeling on a course that would take months to correct. The human and economic damage wrought by all that time without power may be irreparable.

(Photo: Getty Images)

CLICK HERE - Scripps Institute of Oceanography - CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE HITS RECORD HIGH MONTHLY AVERAGE

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - May 4, 2018

Carbon dioxide — the gas scientists say is most responsible for global warming — reached its highest level in recorded history last month, at 410 parts per million.

This amount is highest in at least the past 800,000 years, according to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Prior to the onset of the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels had fluctuated over the millennia but had never exceeded 300 parts per million.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Onshore wind and solar farms at Grischow in the north-east of Germany. Photograph: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Companies face world where falling cost of solar and wind power pushes down prices

theguardian.com - by Adam Vaughan - March 17, 2018

Seven years after an earthquake off Japan’s eastern coast led to three meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, the aftershocks are still being felt across the world. The latest came last Saturday when E.ON and RWE announced a huge shakeup of the German energy industry, following meetings that ran into the early hours.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Frank says his experience with electrical work helped him tackle the solar panel installation.

cnn.com - by Paul P. Murphy - April 19, 2018

Another day, another blackout in Puerto Rico; Wednesday's blackout was the latest to hit the island still recovering from Hurricane Maria. But one man beat the power outages and his troublesome gas generator by switching to solar power.

"As I'm typing this, we are in the middle of a blackout and my fridge, lights and fans are running worry free," a man named Frank told CNN.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(Daniel Stein/iStock)

You're probably not amongst the lucky few.

CLICK HERE - REPORT - State of Global Air 2018

sciencealert.com - by David Nield - April 19, 2018

How's the air in your neighbourhood today? A new State of Global Air report suggests more than 95 percent of the planet's population currently have to breathe polluted air – air containing fine particle levels that exceed the global air quality guidelines.

What's more, the burden of bad air quality is affecting the poorest communities the most. According to the US Health Effects Institute (HEI), which carried out the study, the gap between the most polluted and least polluted countries is steadily growing bigger.

This is having a real effect on health, too – an estimated 6.1 million deaths across the world in 2016 could be attributed to air pollution, the HEI reports. Strokes, heart attacks, lung cancer, and chronic lung disease were some of the health issues to blame.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Energy Innovation's Michael O'Boyle and Silvio Marcacci outline the barriers to high-penetration wind and solar in the least-cost era

The following is a viewpoint from Michael O'Boyle, electricity policy manager for Energy Innovation, and Silvio Marcacci, communications director for Energy Innovation

utilitydive.com - by Michael O'Boyle, Silvio Marcacci - March 21, 2018

Wind and solar are now cheaper than virtually anyone predicted, and renewable technologies have reached an inflection point: Rapid cost declines made renewable energy the cheapest available sources of new electricity, even without subsidies, in 2017.  In many locations across America, building new wind energy projects is cheaper than running existing coal-fired power plants.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

braced.org

BRACED is helping people become more resilient to climate extremes in South and Southeast Asia and in the African Sahel and its neighbouring countries. To improve the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation methods into development approaches, BRACED seeks to influence policies and practices at the local, national and international level.

http://www.braced.org/about/about-the-projects/

An artist’s rendering of a deep-sea vehicle designed by Dutch company IHC to harvest polymetallic nodules from the seabed.  Royal IHC

greenbiz.com - by Todd Woody - September 28, 2017

At the International Seabed Authority’s ocean-side headquarters, delegates from dozens of countries strolled through breezeways adorned with the works of Jamaican artists as the United Nations-chartered organization’s annual meeting began its second week. No one, however, was entering a conference room where the seabed authority’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) was in session and men in dark suits stood watch. A sign advised that the meeting was "closed."

Behind heavy wood doors, the 30 members of the commission convened in secret to discuss, among other things, confidential contracts issued to corporations and state-backed companies to explore and potentially mine vast, barely explored deep-sea habitats that scientists believe play a key role in the global ecosystem.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Smoke rose from Douma, the last rebel holdout in the suburbs around Damascus, on Saturday, after an attack by government forces. Activists reported that poison gas was used in the assault.  Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

CLICK HERE - UK - Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) - statement on reports of a chemical weapons attack in Syria

reuters.com - April 7, 2018

A chemical attack on a rebel-held town in eastern Ghouta has killed dozens of people, medical services reported, and Washington said the reports - if confirmed - would demand an immediate international response.

A joint statement by the medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the civil defense service, which operates in rebel-held areas, said 49 people had died in the attack late on Saturday. Others put the toll at 150 or more.

The Russian-backed Syrian state denied government forces had launched any chemical attack as the reports began circulating and said the rebels were collapsing and fabricating news.

Stack of school papers on a desk in an empty classroom in Puerto Rico.

cnn.com - by Nicole Chavez - April 6, 2018

Puerto Rico is closing 283 schools this summer following a sharp drop in enrollment in the past year, officials said.

Since May, schools have lost 38,762 students as the US territory works to rebuild following a devastating hurricane last year, the education department said in a statement.

"Half of the existing schools are at 60% of their capacity," it said. The department said only 828 schools will reopen in August.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE SAME ARTICLE HERE

nytimes.com - By JUSTIN GILLIS  Illustrations by JON HAN.

We know. Global warming is daunting. So here’s a place to start: 17 often-asked questions with some straightforward answers.

1. Climate change? Global warming? What do we call it?

Both are accurate, but they mean different things.

You can think of global warming as one type of climate change. The broader term covers changes beyond warmer temperatures, such as shifting rainfall patterns.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
http://www.ipcc.ch

The Paris Agreement - COP 22 - COP 21
http://us.resiliencesystem.org/cop-22-marrakech-dozens-heads-state-and-government-attend-un-climate-conference

Cape Town, South Africa

meetingoftheminds.org - by Manohar Patole - April 3, 2018

The growth of urban settlements is subject to a range of factors influenced by demographic, economic, political, environmental, cultural, and social factors. Weather variability, or climate change, has recently risen up this list. These two factors: climate change and urban population growth, are dramatically affecting urban water management. On one hand, growing populations increase urban water demand and on the other, climate change has increased water variability (volume, distribution, timing and quality) . . . 

 . . . How will cities adapt? Reframe. Develop new responses.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)