San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Warming planet hits a pre-industrial high
DIARY OF A CHANGING WORLD Week ending Friday, November 24, 2023
Too Little, Too Late
The planet warmed on Nov. 17 to more than 2 de- grees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time in human history.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said the provisional estimate of global data on that day doesn’t mean the 2 degree warming limit goal has yet been breached permanently.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) says that even with the current greenhouse gas-cutting pledges already made, Earth is on track for a catastrophic 2.9 degrees Celsius warming by the end of this century.
The agency also projects that there will still be a 3% increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, blowing past the pollution reduction goals needed to avert the most dire consequences of global heating.
Bengal Cyclone
Bangladesh, northwestern Myanmar and far eastern India were drenched by minimal Tropical Storm Midhili, which rushed ashore from the Bay of Bengal.
Despite the occasionally heavy rain, there were no reports of significant flooding.
Cocaine Hippos
Descendants of the hippopotamuses that drug kingpin Pablo Escobar imported into Colombia as pets during the 1980s are being sterilized to keep their numbers from growing to more than 1,000 by 2035.
The government estimates that about 169 of the hippos have now spread across the landscape from Escobar’s private zoo since his death in 1993. They live freely in rivers while breeding with wild abandon.
The hippos have no natural predators in Colombia and have been declared an invasive species that could disrupt the ecosystem.
The delicate and difficult process of sterilization means that only about 40 of the so-called “cocaine hippos” will undergo the procedure each year.
Fortress Islands
The Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives announced plans to fight back rising sea levels by ringing key vulnerable islands with large seawalls.
Around 80%e of the country is less than 3 feet above sea level and is under increased threat of flooding by steadily higher tides.
Saltwater intrusion into the Maldives’ ground water has already left nearly all the island chain dependent on desalination plants for drinking water.
It is unclear how the upscale smaller island resorts, with their sandy beaches and turquoise lagoons, can be saved.
South Seas Eruption
The first significant eruption in years of
Papua New Guinea’s Ulawun volcano had some residents evacuating their homes on
New Britain Island and its airport canceling flights.
-70°
One blast shot vapor and ash almost 10 miles above the Bismarck Archipelago. Vostok,
Falling ash later coated roofs, roads Antarctitca
and nearby palm plantations, where farmers say the weight of the ash caused palm fronds to droop.
While Ulawun is regularly active, its eruptions have never resulted in loss of life.
Brazilian Heat
An intense Brazilian heat wave, which caused the death of one person at a Taylor Swift concert in Rio de Janeiro, brought the country its highest temperature ever recorded.
The mercury rose to 112.6 degrees at Araçuaí, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.
Meteorologists blame the scorching Brazilian temperatures on a combination of a strong El Niño in the Pacific and the intensifying global heating.
The heat led to a record surge in power consumption as people tried to stay cool at home and work.
Earthquakes
A powerful undersea quake just off the far southern Philippine island of Mindanao caused some ceilings to fall, along with other scattered damage. No injuries were reported.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand’s South Island, northeastern Japan, east-central Myanmar, South Asia’s Hindu Kush region and far southwestern England.