Historic Drought In California Affects More Than California. Local Impacts Of Climate Change Have Broader

According to environmental historian Philip Wright, declining oil transport by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline is one impetus for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Less oil in the pipeline means the oil moves slows and cools down faster, resulting in technical problems like ice and wax buildup. Drilling proponents argue that drilling in ANWR is necessary to increase the oil supply in the pipeline.

Pollution-related mortality in Europe

Glacier area on Mount Kilimanjaro on the Kenya/Tanzania border in East Africa decreased 85% 1912-2007; from 12.06km2 to 1.85km2. While the loss of glaciers in temperate regions (such as those in the U.S.) has been attributed to warming temperatures from climate change, glacier loss on Kilimanjaro is more likely a result of a local climate change in East Africa that occurred in the late 1800s, resulting in a drier climate. However, causes of the dramatic glacier loss remain largely unknown.

Source: Thompson, L. G., Hardy, D. R., Mark, B. G., Brecher, H. H., & Mosley-Thompson, E. (2009). Glacier loss on Kilimanjaro continues unabated. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(47), 19770-19775.

While the coal industry is fighting Clean Water Act protections for rivers and streams from mountaintop removal mining (MTR), this 2011 poll of residents in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee found strong support.

Other interesting results:

57% of voters oppose MTR; 20% support

64% of Democrats, 60% of independents and 51% of Republicans oppose MTR

Glass recycling rates in Europe

The advance of cane toads in Australia

Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula in 1984, 1995, 2006, and 2016.

Over the last three decades, with the logging industry on the decline, once-logged areas on the peninsula are seeing forest regrowth. Note the return of forests along the western and southern boundaries of the Olympic Mountains.

But as Douglas Scott notes, “While environmentalists will look at these images and beam with pride that the logging seems to have slowed, there is still work to be done. The collapse of the logging industry has caused economic issues around the Peninsula that have been ignored for decades. Logging was what you did if you lived out in Grays Harbor or on the Peninsula and today, there are few jobs outside of the service industry. While the trees have grown back, the badmouthing and down talking to logging communities has created a deep divide that needs to be healed.”

Carbon emissions from energy production decreased by 89 million metric tons (MMmt), from 2015 to 2016, an annual percent change of 1.7%. 

The 1.7% drop in emissions occurred despite an increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) of 1.5% over that period. Other factors, most significantly greater use of energy sources (like renewables and natural gas) that emit less carbon dioxide than coal, more than offset the growth in GDP.

Emissions have declined in 6 out of the past 10 years, and energy‐related CO2 emissions in 2016 14% below 2005 levels.

When thinking of ways to make renewable energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels, an important consideration are the market distortions caused by substantial government subsidies to fossil fuels versus subsidies to renewable energy. De-carbonizing the global energy sector will require removing subsidies for fossil fuels.

Numbers from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-13/sustainability-indicator-130-billion-pints-of-beer.html

While coal companies claim prohibition of or restrictions on mountaintop removal mining (MTR) will hurt rural Appalachian economies, this figure suggests MTR is failing to lift rural communities out of poverty. Considering MTR destroys the land, degrading property values and tourism, and imposes health costs on nearby residents, it is more likely MTR is hurting rural Appalachian economies far more than any attempts to stop it.