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Arctic ice - Disintegrating fast -
08 06 2015
Radical
Predictions
Should
we fear near-term human extinction?
6
August, 2015
Most
of us have figured out by now that we are toast: Humanity will be
wiped out by an asteroid, supernova, massive volcanic eruptions,
global axis shift, some untreatable virus, nuclear war or climate
change. Our sun is going supernova. We've seen the disaster movies,
read the books and laughed at the cartoons.
But
how quickly?
University
of Arizona emeritus natural resources professor Guy McPherson, author
of Extinction Dialogs: How to Live with Death in Mind, which
he co-authored with Carolyn Baker, recently spoke at a Unitarian
Universalist Church in Eugene, Oregon, offering dire, even shocking
predictions.
In
his talk, McPherson figures the sixth extinction in Earth's geologic
history is already under way. We could see massive die-offs of humans
and other species in as little as 18 months, and humanity has at best
10 to 20 years. "I could be wrong," he admits.
McPherson
accuses climate scientists of "malpractice" for not being
candid with the public about "our 99 percent certainty of
death."
"There
is no expiration date stamped on us, but we have triggered events
that will lead to our extinction in the not-too-distant future,"
he says.
"Near-term
human extinction" even has an acronym, NTHE, and McPherson is
certainly not the first scientist or science writer to say we've
damaged our ecosystem too much to fix it. The perfect storm of
overpopulation, industrialization, pollution, deforestation,
monocrops and pesticides, invasive species, urban sprawl,
overfishing, warfare, reliance on fossil fuels, ignorance and
corruption (and accompanying bad public policy) have had scientists
waving distress flags for decades, even before Rachel Carson's Silent
Spring of 1960.
The
warnings have been ignored or ridiculed at the international,
national, state and even local level, thanks in part to a
well-funded, right-wing campaign representing the short-term
interests of heavy industry, mining and fossil fuel corporations. A
growing number of Americans, a record 40 percent, think the dangers
of climate change are exaggerated, according to Gallup polling in
recent years.
President
Obama has helped Democrats wake up to the seriousness of climate
change, but 68 percent of Republicans believe the threat is
non-existent or overblown. Science is playing second fiddle to
politics.
McPherson
is correct that few climate scientists are talking about imminent
human extinction, but is it a matter of professional "malpractice"
or is the scientific community simply less inclined to radical
extrapolation for fear of losing credibility (and grants)? Although
McPherson is a scientist, he's not a climate scientist doing field
research.
Phil
Mote, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at
Oregon State University, is skeptical of McPherson's predictions:
"I've been connected to national and international assessments
of the state of the science of climate change, and although my
colleagues and I are generally very concerned about what challenges
climate change is bringing to humankind, no expert that I have read
has used language like 'extinction of the human race.' I refer
of course to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, U.S.
National Climate Assessment and various U.S. National Academy of
Sciences reports."
Mote
is involved with the IPCC, which won the Nobel Prize in 2007 along
with Al Gore for their "efforts to build up and disseminate
greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the
foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such
change."
Elizabeth
Kolbert, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth
Extinction, says, "What is clear, and what is beyond
dispute, is that we are living in a time of very, very elevated
extinction rates, on the order that you would see in a mass
extinction, though a mass extinction might take many thousands of
years to play out."
What
do local climate change activists think about McPherson and his
predictions? "I can appreciate the
sledgehammer—especially when people with great influence do great
harm," says Delaney Pearson of the 350 Eugene Leadership Team.
"But his claim that we have no chance to
change anything for the better—no matter what we do—feels like
surrender."
Pearson
continues: "I certainly don't think our work is a waste of
time, and I'm more than happy to keep on talking and
writing and, yes, tweeting about all the ways we might change the
world for the better." She says, "For now, I choose Bill
McKibben and all the people around me and around the world
working so hard to turn this crisis into an amazing opportunity for
good."
McKibben
is a leading voice for climate action, and he recognizes the threat
of global climate catastrophe, but his optimistic book Hope,
Human and Wild focuses on the many inventive solutions
supporting sustainability that he has found around the world.
International
journalist and author Dahr Jamail wrote on the nonprofit news
site Truth-out.org in
December 2014 that "coal will likely overtake oil as the
dominant energy source by 2017, and without a major shift away from
coal, average global temperatures could rise by 6 degrees Celsius by
2050, leading to devastating climate change. This is dramatically
worse than even the dire predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, which predicts at least a 5-degree Celsius
increase by 2100 as its worst-case scenario."
Jamail
adds, "There is nothing to indicate in the political or
corporate world that there will be anything like a major shift in
policy aimed at dramatically mitigating runaway anthropogenic
[human-caused] climate disruption."
Mary
DeMocker of 350 Eugene was in the front row at McPherson's talk, and
she says: "Until James Hansen or a lot of scientists of his
caliber and expertise call it game over, I'm fighting to win and
holding onto the thread of hope he offers that it's a closing window,
but it's a window nonetheless, and it's still open."
DeMocker
adds that McPherson "never mentioned that you can pull carbon
out of the atmosphere and reduce the 400 ppm to a livable amount. And
in that he's doing a profound disservice. It can be done, 7 percent
yearly reduction."
The
rationale for extinction
What
does McPherson base his NTHE predictions on? In his lectures and on
his blog Nature Bats Last (see guymcpherson.com),
he says, "I've been accused of having no hope, and that's true."
Environmental scientists tend to specialize, and McPherson has
collected their published research from around the world. He cites
and documents "irreversible, self-reinforcing feedback loops"
from hundreds of scientific studies.
He
admits to "cherry picking" his data, but "no matter
how dire the situation becomes, it only gets worse when I check the
latest reports." He was so convinced by the evidence that he
left his academic career behind and became a certified grief
counselor to help people through their final days.
Even
the relatively staid IPCC has warned of such a scenario: "The
possibility of abrupt climate change and/or abrupt changes in the
Earth system triggered by climate change, with potentially
catastrophic consequences, cannot be ruled out. Positive feedback
from warming may cause the release of carbon or methane from the
terrestrial biosphere and oceans."
Here
are a few of McPherson's conclusions. If this is all too depressing,
skip to the "What We Can Do About It?" sidebar.
• The
Arctic ice cap is breaking up for the first time in recorded history.
"An ice-free Arctic could be this year, in September,"
McPherson says, "and this could lead to a burst of methane at
any time" from the shallow Arctic seabed. An ice-free Arctic
could also lead to large-scale drilling for oil and gas, which would
exacerbate our overdependence on fossil fuels.
• Methane,
a greenhouse gas, is also trapped in permafrost and peat bogs in
boreal forests. Warming would release vast volumes of methane into
the atmosphere. Giant "methane blowholes" are appearing in
Siberia. Thawed peat can also catch fire and smolder for years,
releasing carbon and covering ice fields with soot. The "dark
ice" in turn absorbs sunlight and hastens melting.
• Earth's
soils contain countless trillions of microorganisms that hold about
half the sequestered carbon on the planet. Soil warming will release
carbon dioxide.
• Rising
atmospheric carbon dioxide gets a lot of attention (think Al Gore's
An Inconvenient Truth), but it's only one factor in rising
temperatures. Ozone doesn't get as much attention, but atmospheric
ozone is blamed for forest dieback, which in turn reduces carbon
sequestration.
• Heat
by itself will not kill humanity, he says, but hot summers will lead
to crop failures and mass migration. "We are clever but we
cannot live without habitat, at least not for long." Countries
closer to the poles, he says, don't have fertile soils and can't grow
nearly enough food to feed billions of people.
• Lack
of fresh water is already a huge problem worldwide, and it will get
much, much worse. Water shortages will stifle agriculture (think dust
bowls and desertification) and seriously hamper business, industry
and drinking water supplies. Desalination is expensive and
energy-intensive with our current technology.
• The
world's 443 nuclear power plants could melt down due to lack of
cooling water, blanketing the planet with toxic radiation. It takes
decades and many millions of dollars to decontaminate and
decommission a single nuclear plant, and more than 60 new nuclear
reactors are being built today.
• Rising
sea levels will inundate cities and lowlands, displacing more than
one billion people and flooding low-elevation farmland with
saltwater. Coastal erosion will also destroy plant habitat and
release carbon dioxide. A global hike in temperatures of just 1-2
degrees Celsius could raise sea levels by 20 feet, according to a
study of the geologic record just released last week by OSU scholars
Anders Carlson and Peter Clark.
• Our
oceans and their prevailing currents are in flux for a variety of
reasons, and jellyfish could take over, destroying the food chain for
the rest of sea life. Billions of people rely on seafood and seaweed
as diet staples.
• El
NiƱo, a natural cycle of ocean warming, can exacerbate both flooding
and drought, along with storm intensity, wildfires and other factors
in the "vicious cycle" of climate change.
• Water
vapor in the troposphere increases with warming and in turn "absorbs
more heat and further raises the Earth's temperature," McPherson
reports.
• Our
planet in relationship to the sun is already at the "inner edge
of the habitable zone, and lies within 1 percent of inhabitability,"
McPherson says. "A minor change in Earth's atmosphere removes
human habitat." None of our neighboring planets can support
human life on any significant scale.
Contrary
perspectives
Noted
Australian science writer Geoffrey Chia, M.D., writes in The
Canadian Daily online, "I have learned a great deal
from the writings and presentations of Dr. Guy McPherson. However, I
do not agree with all of his conclusions or views."
"Everyone
gets things wrong," Chia says. "It is impossible to
conceive of any credible scenario in which the mass die-off of
billions of people will not occur in the century. Mass culling is
guaranteed. ... Is it, however, possible that a small number of
humans may be able to survive the next couple of thousand years,
given adequate preparations in certain geographical pockets, until
the overall global climate becomes more conducive to humans?"
Chia
figures planetary temperatures will "eventually cool in the long
term in the absence of large numbers of humans," and
biosequestration of carbon will resume.
Hydrologist
and science writer Scott K. Johnson is more skeptical and writes on
his Fractal Planet blog: "It takes careful examination of
McPherson's references, and a familiarity with the present state of
climate science, to uncover that his claims aren't scientific at
all."
Johnson
says McPherson "just latches onto anything that sounds scary,"
he is "especially fast and loose with timeframes," and "his
argument fundamentally reduces to 'positive feedbacks exist, ergo
extinction.'"
Some
final thoughts on extinction
"After
his talk I went home and read his book—whole—gobbled it up
nearly," says Jungian psychoanalyst Jennifer Gordon of 350
Eugene. "I wanted to ask him to say more about 'It depends on
the political will of the people,' the only hopeful thing I heard him
say."
Delaney
Pearson of 350 Eugene says, "To McPherson I would also
argue that we (the privileged first world) have debts
to pay, and it's not good enough to just give up and
'face the truth' while billions of people continue to experience the
worst effects of climate change. This is about
justice—on all levels. The animals and trees,
rivers, oceans and skies, children and new babies everywhere need
and deserve our attention."
Laurie
Granger of the Raging Grannies and 350 Eugene says, "We're all
living in this moment. In every forum we share our concerns and
knowledge and passionately try to make a difference. As we're on
this path, there's no room for doom and gloom."
Laurie
Ehlhardt of 350 Eugene says Pope Francis departs from McPherson's
outlook concerning where we go from here. She quotes his recent
encyclical: "Many things have to change course, but it is we
human beings above all who need to change. A great
cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and
it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal."
This
story was originally published in the
Eugene Weekly. Ted Taylor has been editor-in-chief at Eugene Weekly
since 1998. He is a University of Oregon journalism grad with 30
years experience in daily and weekly newspaper writing, editing and
managing.
What
can we do about it?
Guy
McPherson quotes Edward Abbey, saying, "Action is the antidote
to despair," and encourages activists to go down fighting.
Giving up and being depressed accomplishes nothing and is no way to
die, or live for that matter. He advocates for "the simple
life," echoing the idea that we should "live simply so that
others may simply live."
"Do
what you love to do and live life by striving for excellence every
day," he says. "Treat people with dignity and compassion,
and think about how you are going to live and not about how you are
going to die."
He
says to "not worry about the jerks in your life, the guy in the
Hummer who just cut you off. He will die, too."
Knowing
we are all going to die soon can also be liberating, McPherson says.
No more worries about that retirement plan, that bucket list, how to
pay for the grandkids' education, etc. Money, in fact, will be
worthless when the world economy collapses. Even gold and silver will
lose their value when they can no longer buy food, water and shelter.
Worried
about your personal legacy? It takes about 10 million years to
recover from mass extinction. The next evolution of Homo sapiens will
have no knowledge of you, Beethoven, Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian's
butt.
Groups
of people who have accepted abrupt climate change (ABC, another new
acronym) are forming, and a website is up at onlyloveremains.org.
The website offers low-cost workshops and reads, "You've come to
grips with near-term human extinction. It's a lonely conclusion, one
that interferes with many relationships. You want somebody with whom
to discuss the most important topic in the history of our species. It
seems most of your friends and family are in denial. Now what?"
"The
ever reliable Dahr Jamail lays out for us the dire circumstances we
face as our biosphere unravels. Only the most ignorant denier could
not see the trajectory we are on.
"All this chaos is happening when we
are at 1C above baseline. As we track to 6C and beyond there won't be
a vertebrate nor a tree left standing and the oxygen generating phyto
plankton will be gone very soon. That is both of the planets major
oxygen generators gone in quick succession"
---Kevin Hester
We
know things are a bit "off" when a rainforest is on fire.
Over
400 acres of the Queets Rainforest, located in Olympic National Park
in Washington State, nearby where I live, have burned recently, and
it is continuing to burn as I type this. Fires in these rainforests
have historically been rare, as the area typically receives in excess
of 200 inches of rain annually.
But
this is all changing now.
The
new normal is that there is no longer any "normal."
The
new normal regarding climate disruption is that, for the planet,
today is better than tomorrow.
As
temperatures rise, some of the organic carbon stored in Arctic
permafrost meets an unexpected fate—burial at sea. As many as 2.2
million metric tons of organic carbon per year are swept along by a
single river system into Arctic Ocean sediment, according to a new
study an international team of researchers published today in Nature.
This process locks away carbon dioxide (CO2) - a greenhouse gas - and
helps stabilize the earth's CO2 levels over time, and it may help
scientists better predict how the natural carbon cycle will interplay
with the surge of CO2 emissions due to human activities.
"The
erosion of permafrost carbon is very significant," says Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Associate Scientist Valier
Galy, a co-author of the study. "Over thousands of years, this
process is locking CO2 away from the atmosphere in a way that amounts
to fairly large carbon stocks. If we can understand how this process
works, we can predict how it will respond as the climate changes."
Permafrost—frozen
ground found in the Arctic and in some alpine regions—is known to
hold billions of tons of organic material. Amid concerns about rising
Arctic temperatures and their impact on permafrost, many researchers
have directed their efforts to studying the permafrost carbon
cycle—the processes through which carbon circulates between the
atmosphere, the soil and plants (the biosphere), and the sea. Yet how
this cycle works and how it responds to the warming, changing climate
remains poorly understood.
Why is the North Pacific Ocean like a sauna?
The El NiƱo has greatly warmed the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and will continue to build up until Christmas. However, the North Pacific water temperatures are way warmer than normal, and have been that way well before the El NiƱo appeared. I propose that the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) has greatly slowed or shut down, and wonder why Hansen never discussed this. Algae blooms are enormous, and marine life is collapsing in the North Pacific Ocean.
Permafrost—frozen ground found in the Arctic and in some alpine regions—is known to hold billions of tons of organic material. Amid concerns about rising Arctic temperatures and their impact on permafrost, many researchers have directed their efforts to studying the permafrost carbon cycle—the processes through which carbon circulates between the atmosphere, the soil and plants (the biosphere), and the sea. Yet how this cycle works and how it responds to the warming, changing climate remains poorly understood.
Poorly
designed studies leave future uncertain for sea dwellers.
According
to a survey published last month by marine scientist Christopher
Cornwall, who studies ocean acidification at the University of
Western Australia in Crawley, and ecologist Catriona Hurd of the
University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, most reports of such
laboratory experiments either used inappropriate methods or did not
report their methods properly (C. E. Cornwall and C. L. Hurd ICES J.
Mar. Sci. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsv118; 2015).
Cornwall
says that the “overwhelming evidence” from such studies of the
negative effects of ocean acidification still stands. For example,
more-acidic waters slow the growth and worsen the health of many
species that build structures such as shells from calcium carbonate.
But the pair’s discovery that many of the experiments are
problematic makes it difficult to assess accurately the magnitude of
effects of ocean acidification, and to combine results from
individual experiments to build overall predictions for how the
ecosystem as a whole will behave, he says.
The
survey, published in the journal ICES Journal of Marine Science, was
based on a search of the Scopus database of research papers. Cornwall
and Hurd analysed 465 studies published between 1993 and 2014 that
manipulated seawater chemistry and found that experiments often
failed to implement widely accepted measures to ensure quality.
For
geographer and author M Jackson, knowing climate science isn’t
enough. We need to get our hearts involved too.
Author
M Jackson’s While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate
Change was released last week by Green Writers Press. In the book,
Jackson’s first, she examines climate change by combining personal
stories with scientific exploration. As both a scientist and a writer
by trade, Jackson studied climate change and how to communicate
science through writing at the Environmental Science Graduate Program
at the University of Montana.
“Climate
change, like the loss of parents, necessitates an experience of
grieving.”
“I
wanted to explore our capacity to experience personal loss—the loss
of family, the loss of lovers, the loss of a local landscape, the
loss of certainty in the weather—to grieve profoundly while
simultaneously not giving in,” Jackson says.
The
worst predicted impacts of climate change are starting to happen —
and much faster than climate scientists expected
Historians
may look to 2015 as the year when shit really started hitting the
fan. Some snapshots: In just the past few months, record-setting heat
waves in Pakistan and India each killed more than 1,000 people. In
Washington state's Olympic National Park, the rainforest caught fire
for the first time in living memory. London reached 98 degrees
Fahrenheit during the hottest July day ever recorded in the U.K.; The
Guardian briefly had to pause its live blog of the heat wave because
its computer servers overheated. In California, suffering from its
worst drought in a millennium, a 50-acre brush fire swelled
seventyfold in a matter of hours, jumping across the I-15 freeway
during rush-hour traffic. Then, a few days later, the region was
pounded by intense, virtually unheard-of summer rains. Puerto Rico is
under its strictest water rationing in history as a monster El NiƱo
forms in the tropical Pacific Ocean, shifting weather patterns
worldwide.
A
heat wave that has already killed dozens and sickened thousands in
Japan reached another torrid milestone Thursday as the nation's
capital, Tokyo, suffered an unprecedented eighth consecutive day of
extreme heat.
Tokyo
reached 36.7 degrees Celsius (98.1 degrees Fahrenheit) shortly before
noon local time Friday, marking its eighth straight day of highs at
or above Japan's "extreme heat" threshold of 35 C (95 F).
An analysis of Japan Meteorological Agency data, conducted by The
Weather Channel, confirmed that the previous record was just four
consecutive days sent on five different occasions between 1978 and
2013. Records began in central Tokyo in June 1875.
The
torrid late-morning reading also marked central Tokyo's highest
reported temperature since Aug. 30, 2013. The city's all-time record
high remains 39.5 C (103.1 F) set July 20, 2004.
The
toll from Japan's ongoing heat wave accelerated last week, boosting
the year's official tally to 55 heat-related deaths and sending more
than 11,000 to the hospital according to new government figures
released Tuesday.
According
to Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency, 25 people died from
heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses nationwide during the
week of July 27 through Aug. 2. It was by far the deadliest week so
far this year in Japan, nearly equaling the death toll of 30 in the
preceding three months combined.
Many
of the buildings used to lie 60 feet below the surface
On
July 28, 2015, the Operational
Land Imager (OLI)
on Landsat
8 captured
these images of algal blooms around the Great Lakes. The bloom is
visible as swirls of green in western Lake Erie (top) and in Lake St.
Clair (bottom).
Earlier
in July, NOAA
scientists predicted that
the 2015 season for harmful algal blooms would be severe in western
Lake Erie. They suggest that algae growth in western Lake Erie could
rival the blooms
of 2011.
Algae in this basin thrive when there is an abundance of nutrients
(many from agricultural runoff) and sunlight, as well as warm water
temperatures. The season runs through summer and peaks in September.
Research
confirmed that
in 2011, phosphorus from farm runoff combined with favorable weather
and lake conditions to produce a bloom three times larger than
previously observed. The researchers noted that if land management
practices and climate change trends continue, the lake is likely to
see more blooms like the 2011 event.
Harmful
algal blooms can lead to fish kills. They also can affect the safety
of water for recreation and for consumption (as was the case in
Toledo, Ohio, and southeast Michigan during a 2014
bloom).
As of July 30, 2015, drinking water was reported to
be safe in these areas.
In
April 2015, NASA and several partners announced
a new multi-agency effort to
develop an early warning indicator for harmful algal blooms in fresh
water. The system is expected to make ocean color satellite imagery
more easily available to environmental and water quality managers.
The
disappearing Arctic ice cap will boost trade between north-west
Europe and countries such as China, Japan and South Korea by making
the sea routes far shorter, according to economic analysts.
The
new sea route will alter world trade, making northern countries
richer, but causing serious problems for Egypt, which will lose a
large chunk of revenue currently gained from ships coming through the
Suez Canal.....
The
northern sea route is already open in the summer months, but the
paper predicts that it will be available all year round by 2030, or
possibly sooner. It says that Arctic ice is melting faster than
predicted by scientists.
Coastal
erosion, drought and sea temperature changes are impacting on the
Cook Islands like never before.
The
nation relies heavily on its marine life and agriculture to survive
and a climate change specialist is now calling for education to be
available to those who live in isolated villages.
Fishing
off the coastal shores on Rarotonga has been the livelihood for
locals for generations.
Eve
and Patuku fish have always been an easy catch for the family dining
table, but the changing sea temperature has meant the fish are now
moving to other areas and an entire ecosystem is in jeopardy.
Typhoon Soudelor to make landfall Saturday local time (Friday in US and Europe)
Taiwan canceled flights and school classes on Friday as the strongest typhoon to threaten in two years churned straight for the island and was expected to make landfall on Saturday.
Typhoon Soudelor has already claimed its first victims, with two people dead and one missing in choppy waters off the coast of Taiwan’s northeastern Yilan county, the coast guard said.
The high-speed rail and Taipei’s metro system were operating as normal on Friday, though train services were expected to be hit on Saturday.
A
small wildfire that started last Wednesday in the Catalina Mountains
has flared up again and grown to about 150 acres, officials said.
The
Finger Rock Fire is in an inaccessible location near Pontatoc Canyon,
said Heidi Schewel, a Coronado National Forest spokeswoman.
The
fire was started July 29 by lightning but was dampened by storms. The
fire smoldered but erupted as the vegetation dried out.
Smoke
is expected to go into the low-lying areas Wednesday night into
Thursday, and Schewel warned that "people should stay indoors."
The jellyfish are taking over
Tim
Flannery
A
small wildfire that started last Wednesday in the Catalina Mountains
has flared up again and grown to about 150 acres, officials said.
The
Finger Rock Fire is in an inaccessible location near Pontatoc Canyon,
said Heidi Schewel, a Coronado National Forest spokeswoman.
The
fire was started July 29 by lightning but was dampened by storms. The
fire smoldered but erupted as the vegetation dried out.
Smoke
is expected to go into the low-lying areas Wednesday night into
Thursday, and Schewel warned that "people should stay indoors."
Mann
tells me Hansen's disturbing study suggests that "climate change
is proceeding faster, and it's larger in magnitude than what the IPCC
[UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reported. And that's
been true at every juncture. We have tended to underestimate the rate
and magnitude of the changes...What Hansen has shown is that indeed
there is reason to at least suspect the possibility of a worst case
scenario that is a lot worse than anything the IPCC talks about."
Two very different places with similar rainfall this summer
With climate change set to force millions of people from their homes due to more frequent extreme weather events and rising sea levels, one academic has been travelling the world to see how the people facing relocation feel. ‘There’s just no place like home,’ says University of New South Wales lecturer Johannes Luetz. ‘People want to stay where they are,’ he explains, citing work in the Maldives to artificially raise islands. For others, forward planning and community education are just as important as addressing the ‘protection gaps’ prevalent at the international level
T.S.
Hilda's path similar to #Guillermo
Heavy
rains brought strong floods to the northern, northeastern and
southern parts of Thailand during the last 3 days. More than 3
000 homes and 4 800 hectares (30 000 rai) of rice paddy fields have
been affected by the flooding waters across the Sri Songkram
district, as of August 6.
NNT,
the Thai state news agency has reported the water levels have risen
to the point of overflowing in parts of the provinces of Chiang
Rai, and Nakhon Phnom.
At the same time,severe
droughts didn't
ease in Sisaket province, where the water levels of the Rasi Salai
Dam remain extremely low.
A
flash flood has struck a scenic area outside the city of Xi’an in
central China, sweeping away nine Chinese tourists, state media
reported Tuesday. Eight bodies have been recovered. The flood struck
Xiaoyuhecun Valley on Monday afternoon amid the heaviest rains
recorded in the area in 30 years, the reports said. A team of about
200 police officers, firefighters and paramilitary troops searched
the area overnight, recovering eight bodies by Tuesday morning, the
Xinhua News Agency said.
While
China clamps down on logging within its borders, illegal Chinese
loggers are felling the world’s forests with abandon for the sake
of teak floors and fancy chairs.
In
late July, 153 Chinese nationals were sentenced to life in prison for
illegal logging in Myanmar’s northernmost Kachin state, a region
rife with coveted teak, padauk, beechwood, ebony and rosewood
species. Last week Burmese authorities granted their release in a
gesture of goodwill toward China, which is Myanmar’s largest
trading partner. But the gesture, while benevolent toward the
loggers, will do nothing to stop the ongoing of ravishment of the
region by Chinese companies who’ve been plundering Myanmar for over
a decade, mostly illegally.
Thousands
of precious teak trees, protected by Myanmar's Forest Law, as well as
other species protected by a timber export ban passed in 2014, are
shipped every year to eastern China to be transformed into teak
floors for luxury buildings or “hongmu” (“redwood”) chairs,
tables and chests. Once limited to Chinese elites, “hongmu” is
now lusted after by China’s nouveau riche, with individual pieces
fetching $1 million or more.
Myanmar
isn’t China’s only victim either. Indonesia, which has the
world’s third highest carbon emissions rate (owing to
deforestation), placed a moratorium on logging four years ago. Since
then, forests have continued to be chopped and in 2013 half the
world’s illegal timber came from Indonesia and ended up in China.
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