Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World
Week ending Friday, May 26, 2023
Carbon Illness
A new report by Boston University and University of North Carolina researchers says air pollution from oil and natural gas production is responsible for thousands of early deaths and cases of childhood asthma each year across the U.S.
It adds that respiratory and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations, adverse pregnancy outcomes and other health challenges the pollution brings are responsible for about $77 billion in annual health care costs.
The report calls for comprehensive nationwide regulations to protect Americans from such pollution.
Earthquakes
Tsunami waves rushed across the South Pacific after a magnitude 7.7 temblor south of Vanuatu sent many islanders fleeing to higher ground.
• A quake in the Philippines’ province of Romblon caused scattered damage.
• Tremors were also felt in Japan’s Izu Islands, South Asia’s Hindu Kush region, Trinidad, greater New York City, northwestern Ohio and northwestern California.
Orca See, Orca Do
Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off Spain in a behavior marine mammal experts suggest is being copied by others of the species.
Three orcas recently launched a coordinated attack on a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, prompting assistance by a Spanish coastal rescue vessel.
“The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side,” skipper Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht.
He added that the smaller orcas appeared to be imitating the larger one.
There have been up to 500 attacks off the Iberian Peninsula, many not causing damage, since May 2020.
Early Warning
The U.N. weather agency says that while weather-related disasters have surged over the past 50 years due to climate change and a growing population, the new ability to predict and prepare for them has led to far fewer deaths.
But a new report by the World Meteorological Organization says there is still a large disparity between wealthy and developing countries in the number of lives being saved.
Early warnings potentially saved hundreds of thousands of lives from Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar this month and will become more crucial as global heating brings more intense storms in the future.
Typhoon
Super Typhoon Mawar hammered
Guam with winds of up to 150 mph, knocking out power and causing widespread destruction. Skirting the northern tip of the island, it was the strongest to hit the U.S. territory in 60 years.
• Former Category-3 Cyclone Fabi- en lost force over the open waters of the central Indian Ocean. It was a threat only to shipping lanes in the region.
By Steve Newman Military Emissions
A new report finds that
if all the world’s combined militaries were a country, they would have the fourthhighest carbon footprint, right behind China, the United States and India.
The ongoing war on Ukraine by Russia, and the increasing number of military exercises being conducted around the world, are only adding to the war industry’s contribution to the mounting climate crisis.
Scientists for Global Re
sponsibility and the Conflict
and Environment Observatory say that while it is very
difficult to precisely determine the total greenhouse gases being emitted by the
military, their study finds
that its total carbon footprint is approximately 5.5% of all global emissions.
Eruptions
Blasts from Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano became more violent, threatening 22 million people with heavy ash and forcing schools to shutter.
• Falling ash from another eruption of Sicily’s Mount Etna forced a suspension of flights at the nearby Catania–fontanarossa Airport.