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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #100 on: October 12, 2015, 01:54:05 PM »
Article from Charleston, South Carolina addresses local problems.

Area leaders fail to take serious action in face of rising threats from above and below
Quote
Rising seas and temperatures are forcing meteorologists to rethink their assumptions of what’s normal.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151010/PC16/151019935/1006/rain-bombs-and-rising-seas-area-leaders-fail-to-take-serious-action-in-face-of-rising-threats-from-above-and-below
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #101 on: October 18, 2015, 07:04:54 PM »
Not just the Caribbean anymore.

Tourism officials can't hide the threat of Sargassum seaweed as it's taking over beaches from Florida to Texas and damaging the environment
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/sargassum-seaweed-beaches-article-1.2401435
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John_The_Elder

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #102 on: October 18, 2015, 10:53:45 PM »
"Sea level rise will swallow Miami, New Orleans, study finds"
We may have to change some lyrics to "Way down UNDER in New Orleans". :(

http://phys.org/news/2015-10-sea-swallow-miami-orleans.html#nRlv

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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #103 on: October 27, 2015, 12:50:21 PM »
Persian Gulf may soon be too hot for human life, climate simulation shows
Quote
Now a notoriously oil-rich region, the Persian Gulf might become uninhabitable by the next century under the current global warming trends. It is thought that they will create humid heat conditions at a level incompatible with human existence, a new study reveals.

According to research published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions would create conditions in the Gulf where a healthy person would not be unable to maintain a normal body temperature.

“Our results expose a specific regional hot spot where climate change, in the absence of significant [carbon cuts], is likely to severely impact human habitability in the future,” said Jeremy Pal and Elfatih Eltahir of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
...
Researchers believe that the Gulf’s geographical position will result in such unlivable moist-but-hot conditions. Authors said that under these circumstances, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca would become life-threatening and almost impossible to undertake by the year 2100.
https://www.rt.com/news/319806-persian-gulf-uninhabitable-climate/

Edit:  NYT article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/science/intolerable-heat-may-hit-the-middle-east-by-the-end-of-the-century.html
« Last Edit: October 27, 2015, 01:00:51 PM by Sigmetnow »
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #104 on: October 28, 2015, 12:43:00 AM »
Quote
Miami Beach has put into action an aggressive and expensive plan to combat the effects of sea level rise. As some streets keep flooding from recent king tide events, the city continues rolling out its plan of attack and will spend between $400-$500 million over the next five years doing so.
...
The sea started boiling up into the street. A major Miami Beach road was under water. Tourists sloshed to hotels through saltwater up to their shins, pants rolled up, suitcases in one hand, shoes in the other.

But one corner of Miami Beach stayed perfectly dry. In Sunset Harbour, which has historically flooded during seasonal high tides, the water was held at bay last month by a radically re-engineered streetscape that will be put to the test again this week with another king tide.

The design — featuring a street and sidewalk perched on an upper tier, 2 ½ feet above the front doors of roadside businesses, and backed by a hulking nearby pump house — represents what one city engineer called "the street of tomorrow."
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article41141856.html

Part Two:
Beyond the high tides, South Florida water is changing
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article41416653.html
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ritter

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #105 on: October 28, 2015, 05:36:38 PM »
$400 to $500 million spent to postpone the inevitable. Great thinking.  ???

solartim27

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #106 on: October 28, 2015, 08:26:06 PM »
They need some pumps in Georgia and South Carolina as well.  Or, we could go to the moon and remove mass so that the tide wouldn't be so high.  We could use the rock as landfill for more coastal construction.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/-strong-coastal-flooding-cause/53249103
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #107 on: November 11, 2015, 02:13:45 AM »
A Rising Tide:  Miami is sinking beneath the sea—but not without a fight.
Quote
What can Miamians expect in the coming decades? Harlem thinks in terms of a five-stage timeline. In stage one, only the lowest-lying areas, mostly out-of-sight, out-of-mind natural landscapes, flood frequently. In stage two, more private property is affected. He says Miami-Dade County is now passing from stage one to two. In stage three, the majority of people become affected; at that point, sea level becomes a political issue and collective action will replace individual responses. Impacts become increasingly dire in stage four, until the region arrives at stage five, when the only exposed land in Miami-Dade County and neighboring Broward County to the north will be a string of islands inhabited by a relatively small population of easygoing but hardy hurricane veterans—a place Harlem has nicknamed “Margaritaville.”
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123216/miami-sinking-beneath-sea-not-without-fight
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #108 on: November 26, 2015, 02:17:16 PM »
Quote
DHAKA, BANGLADESH, Nov 25 2015 (IPS) - With multiplying impacts of climate change – increasing floods, cyclones, and drought – thousands of climate refugees are migrating to Dhaka. And the city, well beyond its carrying capacity, is bursting at the seams.

The word most often associated with Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is perhaps, “overpopulated.” Supporting more than 14 million people on less than 325 square kilometers (125 square miles) of land, the city’s drainage, waste management and transportation infrastructure is on the brink of collapse.
...
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates 20 million people will be displaced in Bangladesh in the coming five years. That is more than the cumulative populations of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. And this should be very worrying.

Even now, many of the half-a-million-plus people who move their families – along with their hopes – to Dhaka, are driven there by the effects of climate change.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/11/climate-refugees-and-a-collapsing-city/
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #109 on: November 28, 2015, 05:06:34 PM »
Per the linked article, pathogens carried by insects into new areas due to climate changes will increasingly make many places around the would less livable:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/11/27/disease/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #110 on: December 08, 2015, 02:57:27 PM »
Victims of last week's river flooding in the UK have come to the realization their homes are no longer safe.

Quote
Short, medium and long-term effects for residents
Posted at 18:45

One of the problems in Carlisle is that the flood defences were built to withstand a flood of 7.2m - but water levels rose to 7.9m in the early hours of Sunday, says BBC correspondent Danny Savage.

You ask people here, do they think now that flood defences will be built to defend such a height of a river. I don't think they seem very positive about that.

In the short term, affected residents have to think about the security of their homes while they are not in them.

In the medium term, they have to have their houses dried out and getting them back to normal.

And in the long term, residents will have to worry about premiums possibly going up and any impact the floods might have on the ability for them to sell their homes.

They have very little confidence that people will want to live around here, knowing in the back of their mind there's always that risk of flooding taking place. This will have a very long-term effect.
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-35015243
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #111 on: December 15, 2015, 07:32:13 PM »
The Siege of Miami
Quote
The water on the street was so deep that it was, indeed, hard to tell where it was coming from. Hammer explained that it was emerging from the storm drains. Instead of funnelling rainwater into the bay, as they were designed to do, the drains were directing water from the bay onto the streets. “The infrastructure we have is built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” she said.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/21/the-siege-of-miami
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #112 on: January 09, 2016, 08:00:18 PM »
How to stop 450-year-old Abergeldie castle from collapsing into the River Dee
Quote
Fierce storms and floods have made this a very difficult winter for many parts of the UK, not least the owners of a historic castle in Aberdeenshire, close to the Queen’s residence at Balmoral. Some 20 metres of land behind the 450-year-old Abergeldie castle has collapsed into the River Dee, leaving its rear wall just feet from the bank.
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/how-to-stop-a-450-year-old-abergeldie-castle-from-collapsing-into-the-river-dee
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Neven

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #113 on: January 16, 2016, 11:30:03 AM »
Coincidentally I thought about that Scottish castle yesterday. It's too late now, but maybe a Twitter/Facebook viral thing should've have been set up asking for Matt Ridley to trade his estate for this one.  ;)
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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #114 on: January 16, 2016, 07:43:26 PM »
1. Quite possibly an illusion but it sure appears that the castle is leaning.

2.With regards to places becoming less livable.........Neven....very sorry to hear of your flooding. :-\

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #115 on: January 17, 2016, 08:14:38 PM »
Thanks, SH. Everything is under control now and nothing is irreparably damaged. Most of the leaking/flooding was in a part of the house that we hadn't decorated yet, so no floors or walls had to be torn out. It's just a big initial shock, and now a lot of work to fix.
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folke_kelm

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #116 on: January 18, 2016, 08:44:43 AM »
Shared Humanity,

That leaning of the castle is an effect from using a wide angle lens, nothing to worry about.

Neven,
Good luck with cleaning up the mess.

Gray-Wolf

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #117 on: January 18, 2016, 11:18:11 AM »
From here in the Calder Valley I can see , all around me, the costs of these growing flood events. After 2012's catastrophic floods ( 2 weeks apart) I thought the 6ft between me and the then 'record high' river levels was plenty of 'wiggle room' for us in our home. Come dec 26th I saw that '6ft clear' reduced to 3ft clear.......

The extra waters have left issues with infrastructure ( 5 million for the Elland Bridge alone) that raise my concerns even further. Should we end up flooded  ( i.e another 1 metre on top of the 5.76m we saw on Dec 26th) the added volume of water in the basin would clear the valley of all its bridges and impact major highways further ( single file into Hebden Bridge currently due to the A646 peeling off the hill and aiming at the Canal below). This would be an unimaginable catastrophe for my region.

The fact that I could not imagine, prior to the event where I was forced to witness it, the river getting higher than the 2012 record high (4.85m) leaves me concerned that it is my 'understanding' of the situation that is at fault and the extra 1m of flood waters will only be a matter of time in arriving?

In 2012 the flood stood like lakes either side of the river. This time the 'flood' and river moved as one smashing into properties and pulling buildings down. The weight , and added load, of another 1m depth of flood water would scrape clean huge swathes of (now uninsurable) homes and businesses down the valley.

Our P.M. cut the flood budgets by over half a billion since 2010. This flood cost us 5.8 Billion........ well played conservatives and your Austerity savings!!!!!

What I am aiming at here is highlighting a step change in the ferocity of these events over the past couple of years. We all know that these events will not suddenly stop but appear to lack the will to think the unthinkable and prepare for it?

Being a Denier of change prior to it becoming impactful is one thing, fiddling whilst Rome burns another!!!

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ko.yaa.nis.katsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life disintegrating. 4. life out of balance. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
 
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TerryM

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #118 on: January 18, 2016, 02:46:50 PM »
GW
From what you write I'd advise a quick sale (while still insurable), even at a loss if necessary. The >1m flood could be 10 years from now, 10 months or 10 weeks.
My parents for decades lived with 2 factory sites near river level & survived multiple floodings. When the insurance became unsustainable they finally closed up - but would have been far ahead to have ended it 10 years earlier.
I can't imagine living with that level of insecurity.
Best
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Chuck Yokota

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #119 on: January 20, 2016, 04:51:27 PM »
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-africa-drought-wfp-idUSKCN0UW1AM

Quote
U.N. food agency says 14 million face hunger in southern Africa

About 14 million people face hunger in Southern Africa because of a drought that has been exacerbated by an El Nino weather pattern, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.

The worst-affected country is Malawi, where 2.8 million people, 16 percent of the population, are expected to go hungry, followed by the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar where almost 1.9 million are at risk, WFP said in a statement.

In Zimbabwe, 1.5 million people, more than 10 percent of the population, face hunger, WFP said.

"With little or no rain falling in many areas and the window for the planting of cereals closing fast or already closed in some countries, the outlook is alarming," the U.N. agency said.

"WFP is looking to scale up its lean season food and cash-based assistance programmes in the worst-hit countries but faces critical funding challenges," it added.

The drought has hit much of the region including the maize belt in South Africa, the continent's most advanced economy and the top producer of the staple grain.

South Africa faces its worst drought in decades after 2015 was the driest calendar year since records began in 1904. Expectations of a dire crop this season could force the country to import up to 6 million tonnes of maize, over half of its consumption needs.

Maize prices in South Africa hit record highs on Monday, with the March contract for the white variety scaling a new peak of 5,106 rand ($304) a tonne, according to Thomson Reuters' data.

In countries such as Malawi, much of the maize crop is produced by small-scale farmers, often just to feed their own families. The vast majority are utterly dependent on rainfall as they cannot afford irrigation systems.

The drought has been worsened by an exceptionally strong El Nino weather pattern, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that occurs every few years with ripple effects around the globe, scientists say.

El Nino events typically bring drier conditions to Southern Africa and wetter ones to East Africa. The dry, hot conditions are expected to persist until the start of the southern hemisphere autumn in April or May.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #120 on: January 25, 2016, 03:57:38 PM »
How Is Climate Change Affecting the Philippines?
Quote
Then there’s what these storms mean for the Philippines’ economy. According to a 2013 statement from government officials, a destructive typhoon season costs the nation two percent of its gross domestic product. It costs another two percent to rebuild the infrastructure lost, putting the Philippines at least four percent in the hole each year from tropical storms. And when you’re a nation aspiring to grow and create better lives for your citizens, this regular hit to the economy is the last thing you can afford.
http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/22/climate-change-affecting-the-philippines/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #121 on: January 26, 2016, 09:47:52 PM »
Pacifica, California coast is crumbling under onslaught of big waves, threatening homes and roads.

PACIFICA DECLARES LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY DUE TO FALLING CLIFFS
http://abc7news.com/weather/pacifica-declares-local-state-of-emergency-due-to-falling-cliffs/1170569/

City of Pacifica declares local emergency
http://www.ktvu.com/news/80093458-story
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #122 on: January 31, 2016, 04:21:11 PM »
And then there's man-made "less livable"....

London's Population Density Could Match Rio's, Report Finds
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-29/london-s-population-density-could-match-rio-s-report-finds

London Property Breaks £500,000 Barrier
Homes in the core central postcodes of the U.K.’s capital city now cost an average of more than half a million pounds, according to official data analyzed by Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/uk-property/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #123 on: January 31, 2016, 10:19:15 PM »
A respected local meteorologist explains how sea level rise will make future flooding on the New Jersey coast surpass what was experienced during the recent major storm.

Coastal Flooding: Think it Was Bad This Time?
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Glenns-Blog-Coastal-Flooding-Think-it-Was-Bad-This-Time-366905011.html
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Anne

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #124 on: February 06, 2016, 11:59:10 AM »
Climate change causes big problems for big dams.
Quote
Mosul Dam’s predicament is partly a result of the ongoing war; many maintenance workers have not returned there since August of 2014, when ISIS fighters briefly took control. (Iraqi and Kurdish forces soon regained it.) But the main issue is that, like many such dams, the project shouldn’t exist in the first place. Opened in 1986, it was built on unstable gypsum bedrock, requiring grout to be constantly injected into the foundation to prevent the dam’s collapse. That work has ceased. In 2006, long before ISIS began making headlines, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called Mosul Dam “the most dangerous dam in the world.”
Its collapse could drown as many as five hundred thousand people downstream and leave a million homeless.

Kariba Dam, which straddles the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe
Quote
has been nearly incapacitated by ongoing drought, which has lowered the reservoir’s volume to twelve per cent of its usual capacity. But if the reservoir is refilled, the dam faces the possibility of collapse. It was built in the late nineteen-fifties, and in the years since water flowing through the dam’s six floodgates has carved a three-hundred-foot-deep pit, or plunge pool, at its base. The plunge pool extends to within a hundred and thirty feet of the dam’s foundation; if it reaches the foundation, the dam will collapse. That seems hard to imagine now, with the reservoir at a record-low level. But the Zambezi River Basin, on which the dam sits, is the most susceptible of Africa’s thirteen basins to exceptional droughts and floods, and climate change is intensifying both.

Kariba’s collapse, like Mosul’s, would constitute an epochal event in the history of energy development—the dam industry’s Chernobyl. The ensuing torrent would be four times bigger than the Zambezi’s biggest recorded flood, in 1958, and would release enough water to knock over another major dam three hundred miles downstream, in Mozambique. At least three million people live in the flood’s path; most would die or lose their crops or possessions. About forty per cent of the electricity-generating capacity of twelve southern African nations would be eliminated.
Quote
Even in affluent countries such as the United States—whose dam infrastructure is in sufficient disrepair to have earned a “D” rating from the American Society of Civil Engineers, in 2013—maintenance is often neglected; it’s not likely to fare better in impoverished, corruption-ridden countries such as Zimbabwe or Iraq. Dams can’t be drained, and dismantling them can be as costly as building them. It’s the trap of Industrial Age technology: once mechanized systems supplant natural ones, they must be managed in perpetuity, or else they break down.

More at the link:
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/one-of-africas-biggest-dams-is-falling-apart

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #125 on: February 13, 2016, 03:25:07 PM »
More Rain, Less Snow for U.S. Winters
Quote
To see how winter precipitation is changing, we looked at states that all see notable amounts of snow (sorry, Florida). Our analysis included 2,121 weather stations and looked at days with precipitation from the months that typically see at least 1 inch of snow so we could get a full sense of not just winter, but the snowy shoulder seasons as well. In some places, this snowy season spanned October through April, while in others it only ranged December to February.  ...

Overall, 55 percent of the stations showed a decrease in winter precipitation falling as snow, with the biggest dropoff happening in those shoulder seasons. Rising temperatures mean hotter falls and spring arriving earlier. The result is that precipitation falling in those shoulder months is increasingly likely to fall as rain rather than snow.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/winters-becoming-more-rainy-across-us-20017
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Anne

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #126 on: February 23, 2016, 05:30:33 PM »
Landfill: the toxic timebomb

This article highlights the danger from landfill sites which are at risk from coastal erosion and flooding from SLR. The details relate specifically to the UK but the problem must be widespread.
Quote
Thousands of landfill dumps around the UK are at risk of being compromised by flooding and coastal erosion, sparking fears that dangerous substances could spill into rivers, streets and beaches, academics warn.

The UK faces a “toxic timebomb” after an analysis of its ageing dumps revealed that 2,946 are located in flood plains, experts say.

Furthermore, 1,655 of these “historical” landfill sites contain dangerous materials such as hazardous chemicals and asbestos, according to calculations for The Independent by Dr Daren Gooddy of the British Geological Society (BGS).

Dr Gooddy is especially concerned about these sites because they are in areas with a high flood risk, and they are very unlikely to have a protective lining because they predate tough EU waste regulations introduced in the 1990s. These significantly strengthened requirements to insulate landfill waste from the surroundings and protect it from severe weather.
Quote
“The work we’ve done in the South-east suggests that there has already been widespread pollution from historic landfills,” said Dr Kate Spencer, of Queen Mary University of London. “And at one site we actually found a blue poison bottle from a pharmacist that had a skull and crossbones on it, with a stopper and liquid inside.”

She added: “These sites date back to a time when there were no protective linings, no regulation about what went in and little in the way of records about the contents. Many are on coastlines highly vulnerable to coastal erosion, storm surges and flooding and the big concern is that they will become even more vulnerable as climate change makes storms more frequent and intense.”

Dr Spencer and her PhD student James Brand are working with the Environment Agency to create a “vulnerability” index ranking to identify those sites posing the greatest danger – based on the risk of flooding and the contents of the dump.

Francis O’Shea of University College London, who researched the state of Britain’s historical landfill sites for his PhD at Queen Mary, said: “I was surprised how many historic landfill sites are lying in areas at risk from flooding or coastal erosion. With little information about their current state and what could be released if they flooded this is an area of considerable concern that needs to be investigated.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We are supporting a research project by Queen Mary University of London to assess the potential impacts of flooding and coastal erosion on historic landfill sites close to the coast. We hope the research findings may provide a useful contribution to future shoreline management plans.”
More, including a map, at the link:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/landfill-dumps-across-uk-at-risk-of-leaking-hazardous-chemicals-a6887956.html

johnm33

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #127 on: February 23, 2016, 07:33:02 PM »
"Landfill: the toxic timebomb"
Your post reminded me of this.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/12/26/your-radiation-this-week-no-36/
"What is going on at the St. Louis City/Federal Nuclear garbage dump is the two have more or less run together 100 to 200 feet below the ground, thanks to the water in the floodplain. This is out by the Airport in a poor section of town in a floodplain. As garbage dumps frequently do, it caught on fire.

Now that is not very unusual, however hundreds of tons, if not thousands of tons of highly radioactive elements with unpronounceable names like Amercium, the problem of flammable rocks mixed with or next to the garbage dump is not solvable in this lifetime; or ever. There is no fix.  "
« Last Edit: February 26, 2016, 11:16:31 AM by johnm33 »

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #128 on: February 26, 2016, 01:03:47 AM »
Miami:  Packing up because of climate change
Quote
But Kipnis is taking the science of global warming to heart in a way that relatively few of us do, even in a "ground zero" location for climate change such as Miami Beach.

When I met him last week, he was packing up the white, two-story house, near the center of the island, about a 10-minute walk to shore, and planning to put it on the market.

He, the wife and the sea creatures are moving to higher ground.

"The house is quite valuable right now on Miami Beach and I want to protect my investment," Kipnis told me, adding that he expects flood insurance, already high, to become astronomical.

"It will flood here," he added. "The house will go away."

He wants to get his money out decades before that happens.
Quote
"I know so much science that I'm actually depressed by what I'm seeing," he told me. "I'm shell-shocked by our inability to address even the simplest parts of this."

But here's the second thing I find impressive: Kipnis is doing something with this knowledge.

That's more than most of us can say.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/opinions/sutter-miami-climate-change/index.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #129 on: February 26, 2016, 01:13:26 AM »
Another garbage crisis:

Lebanon: 'River of trash' chokes Beirut suburb as city's garbage crisis continues
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/middleeast/lebanon-garbage-crisis-river/index.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #130 on: March 02, 2016, 06:26:10 PM »
More on the Mosul Dam in Iraq:

Mosul dam engineers warn it could fail at any time, killing one million people
Quote
Nasrat Adamo, the dam’s former chief engineer who spent most of his professional career shoring it up in the face of fundamental flaws in its construction, said that the structure would only survive with round-the-clock work with teams filling in holes in the porous bedrock under the structure, a process known as grouting. But that level of maintenance, dating back to just after the dam’s construction in 1984, evaporated after the Isis occupation.

“We used to have 300 people working 24 hours in three shifts but very few of these workers have come back. There are perhaps 30 people there now,” Adamo said in a telephone interview from Sweden, where he works as a consultant.

“The machines for grouting have been looted. There is no cement supply. They can do nothing. It is going from bad to worse, and it is urgent. All we can do is hold our hearts.”

At the same time as the bedrock is getting weaker and more porous, the water pressure on the dam is building as spring meltwater flows into the reservoir behind it. Giant gates that would normally be used to ease the pressure by allowing water to run through are stuck.

“The fact that the bottom outlets are jammed is the thing that really worries us,” said Ansari, now an engineering professor at the Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. “In April and May, there will be a lot more snow melting and it will bring plenty of water into the reservoir. The water level is now 308 metres but it will go up to over 330 metres. And the dam is not as before. The caverns underneath have increased. I don’t think the dam will withstand that pressure.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/02/mosul-dam-engineers-warn-it-could-fail-at-any-time-killing-1m-people
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #131 on: March 03, 2016, 09:55:47 PM »
They put up "No Wake" signs in the streets to keep cars from flooding people's front doors.

Rising Seas Pull Fort Lauderdale, Florida's Building Boomtown, Toward a Bust
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/01032016/ft-lauderdale-climate-change-global-warming-rising-sea-level
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #132 on: March 21, 2016, 07:20:14 PM »
“As long as there is demand to live along the ocean, and as long as banks continue giving out loans that will be fully paid before the sea level gets too high, developers will keep building high-rises in areas that will be underwater in just a few decades.”

Taking the High Ground—and Developing It
As sea levels rise, investors in Miami are buying up land with higher elevation, sometimes displacing low-income residents.
Quote
MIAMI—Sea levels are rising here at the rate of an inch a year, and if trends continue, they will rise six feet well before the end of this century. By then, the ocean will have subsumed the city’s low-lying, densely-populated areas—the wealthy coastal enclave of Coral Gables, much of Little Havana, downtown Miami, and of course Miami Beach.

There is nothing Miami can do to stop this. Even if global emissions dropped dramatically today, the city would still be locked in for 15 feet of sea-level rise over the next 200 years, says Jeff Onsted, an associate professor at Florida International University’s Sea Level Solutions Center. The rising water won’t be produced by a single weather event, but will gradually become a part of residents’ lives. And while major cities such as New York can build seawalls, Miami is defenseless because it’s built on porous limestone that would allow ocean water to come up from under the city. Already, yards and streets remain flooded even days after rainstorms have rolled through the city.

But this looming threat isn’t detectable in the massive ongoing construction along the waterfront in Miami. There’s $10 billion of development underway in the city’s downtown, featuring new luxury condos and stores, while the beachfront across Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach is still the hottest property in the area. In the Coconut Grove neighborhood along the water in Miami, a new high-rise is going up right across the street from the Miami City Hall. There, I asked Mayor Tomás Regalado if developers are going to stop building on the waterfront, considering the predicted rise in sea level. “The developers?” he recoiled. “Of course not.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/taking-the-high-ground-and-developing-it/472326/
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sidd

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #133 on: March 22, 2016, 04:56:11 AM »
That article from the atlantic lays it out.

Howard Kuker just earned himself an entry to the 'Que se ficieron' thread

sidd

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #134 on: April 10, 2016, 06:39:51 PM »
57 tube stations at high risk of flooding, says London Underground report
Busy stations including Waterloo, King’s Cross and London Bridge among the most threatened, unpublished review states
Quote
“If the underground goes underwater we might finally see some real action on climate change from Westminster politicians,” said Guy Shrubsole, of Friends of the Earth. “Increasingly torrential rainfall of the sort experienced by people in the north of England this past winter poses a major danger to the tube. It’s clear that the government’s national flood resilience review must prepare the UK’s infrastructure for ever wetter weather, and take radical action to cut the pollution that’s changing our climate.”
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/10/57-tube-stations-high-risk-flooding-london-underground-report
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #135 on: April 30, 2016, 12:03:40 AM »
This massive seagrass die-off is the latest sign we’re failing to protect the Everglades
Quote
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Florida — The shallow coastal waters of Florida Bay are famed for their crystal clear views of thick green seagrass – part of the largest stretch of these grasses in the world.

But since mid-2015, a massive 40,000-acre die off here has clouded waters and at times coated shores with floating dead grasses. The event, which has coincided with occasional fish kills, recalls a prior die-off from 1987 through the early 1990s, which spurred major momentum for the still incomplete task of Everglades restoration.
...
Fourqurean and government Everglades experts fear they’re witnessing a serious environmental breakdown, one that gravely threatens one of North America’s most fragile and unusual wild places. When most people think of the Everglades, they envision swamps — but seagrass is just as important, if less romanticized.
...
And although there is at least some scientific dissent, Fourqurean and fellow scientists think they know the cause of the die-off. It’s just the latest manifestation, they say, of the core problem that has bedeviled this system for many decades: Construction of homes, roads, and cities has choked off the flow of fresh water. Without fast moves to make the park far more resilient to climate change and rising, salty seas, the problem will steadily worsen.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/27/this-unprecedented-event-has-now-happened-twice-massive-seagrass-die-off-hits-florida-bay/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #136 on: May 03, 2016, 03:35:15 PM »
Florida's governor gets a schooling on climate change from California's governor during a recent visit.

JERRY BROWN TO RICK SCOTT: “START DOING SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE”
http://floridapolitics.com/archives/208428-jerry-brown-rick-scott-start-something-climate-change
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #137 on: May 17, 2016, 09:15:14 PM »
The American West Is Rapidly Disappearing
Quote
A new study released Tuesday by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Conservation Science Partners (CSP) found that every 2.5 minutes, the American West loses a football field worth of natural area to human development.  ...

Advocates for seizing and selling off public lands often argue that private landowners will be better stewards of the land. Yet the data from the analysis shows that development on private lands accounted for nearly three-fourths of all natural areas in the West that disappeared between 2001 and 2011, while public lands like national parks and wilderness areas had some of the lowest rates of development.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/17/3778905/disappearing-west/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #138 on: May 19, 2016, 03:15:04 AM »
In Houston, Texas, some of the biggest political donations come from engineers.

Climate change, runaway development worsen Houston floods
Quote
Extreme downpours have doubled in frequency over the past three decades, climatologists say, in part because of global warming. The other main culprit is unrestrained development in the only major U.S. city without zoning rules. That combination means more pavement and deeper floodwaters. Critics blame cozy relations between developers and local leaders for inadequate flood-protection measures.

An Associated Press analysis of government data found that if Harris County, which includes Houston, were a state it would rank in the top five or six in every category of repeat federal flood losses — defined as any property with two or more losses in a 10-year period amounting to at least $1,000 each.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5b28b342061344d7ad6e7395a56e7cce/climate-change-runaway-development-worsen-houston-floods
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #139 on: May 28, 2016, 10:43:30 AM »
Flooded homeowners sue Houston, alleging negligence
Quote
Activists blame worsening flooding in metropolitan Houston on unrestrained development that has swallowed up well over 15,000 acres of water-absorbing wetlands since 1992. They accuse developers, engineers and builders of leveraging cozy relations with politicians to skimp on flood-prevention measures.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fbb50ca4b94c4aca82e402f228ee2aed/flooded-homeowners-sue-houston-alleging-negligence
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #140 on: May 31, 2016, 12:33:44 AM »
Homeowners kept in dark about climate change risk to houses, says report
Quote
The risk that houses in some areas of Australia are likely to become uninsurable, dilapidated and uninhabitable due to climate change is kept hidden from those building and buying property along Australia’s coasts and in bushfire zones, a Climate Institute report says.

The report says there is untapped and unshared data held by regulators, state and local governments, insurers and banks on the level of risk, but that most homebuyers and developers are not told about the data and do not have access to it.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/30/homeowners-kept-in-dark-about-climate-change-risk-to-houses-says-report
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timallard

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #141 on: May 31, 2016, 08:22:51 AM »
Just to mention the Altithermal period coined by archeologists for a 1C warming over ~1200-years from 8k-4k ybp and seems related to the same astronomical forcing that dried out the Sahara.

In the USA it moved tribes to water refuges for most of the midwest & west to such an extent empty to get attention.

Over this period the Mohaves of 3-corners along the Lower Colorado River changed from hunter-gather to flood agriculture by 4k-ybp which they carried forward due to the loss of local forests and the change to what is yet semi-arid to arid lands.

There was a strip of desert from West Texas almost to the Canadian border ... we'll outdo this event by far when things catch up.
-tom

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #142 on: June 01, 2016, 04:01:52 PM »
We need to find alternatives to HFC's as we make hot places more livable in the short term.

World's Air Conditioning Boom Would Worsen Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Study
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/world-s-air-conditioning-boom-would-worsen-greenhouse-gas-emissions-n583816
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Anne

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #143 on: June 01, 2016, 05:39:44 PM »
Extreme warnings issued that Lake Baikal could 'drain dry like the Aral Sea'
Basically a row over energy supply

Quote
Newspaper Izvestia this week was blunt in assessing the eco-damage threat to Baikal, a natural reservoir which contains around 20% of the world's unfrozen freshwater.
'Baikal might share the destiny of the Aral Sea,' it stated. 'Construction of three hydro power stations on the Selenga River and its tributaries can cause the unique lake to dry out.'
The 25 million year old lake - a UNESCO world heritage site - is 'on the edge of environmental catastrophe and if certain measures are not taken, it might disappear just like the Aral sea.'
The impact of proposed Mongolian hydro projects could also be to threaten the Buryatian capital city, Ulan-Ude, in the event of an accident to one of three planned dams.
Environmental activist Sergey Shapkhayev warned: 'Potential damage from the third hydro power station which will be located on the Eg River (a Selenga tributary) could cause a huge catastrophe. Hydrological experts believe that this power station is the most dangerous of all. 'This power station will be located in the seismically active part of Mongolia. And any seismic activity can cause  all the stored water to wash away part of Mongolia and in half a day it would reach Ulan-Ude' - a city with a population of 415,000. At the same time, speed of water will be compatible to tsunami.'
The warnings come amid new hopes in Russia that ways can be found to persuade Mongolia not to go ahead with the the hydro schemes - see our earlier story here.
Izvestia said that the claims about an Aral-like denuding of Baikal were aired at a closed doors meeting at the Energy Ministry. Crucial to the dams not being built are an offer acceptable to Mongolia of guaranteed cheap energy - from Russia.
The Siberian Times adds drily that "The comparison with the Aral Sea [...] appears far-fetched even allowing for a grave threat now facing Baikal."

More here in The Siberian Times.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #144 on: June 01, 2016, 09:40:06 PM »
Bowing to pressure, FEMA revises their flood maps for New Orleans.

New Orleans’s New Flood Maps: An Outline for Disaster
Quote
TODAY, June 1, is the first day of hurricane season — an understandably anxious time for New Orleans. That’s why I was briefly elated — and then, horrified — when, earlier this year, the federal government declared most of New Orleans safe from flooding.

According to new maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, even vast areas of the city that are below sea level — including parts of the Lower Ninth Ward, Lakeview and New Orleans East that sat under 10 feet of water after Hurricane Katrina — need not worry about the next storm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/opinion/new-orleans-new-flood-maps-an-outline-for-disaster.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #145 on: June 08, 2016, 01:29:05 AM »
Homeowners seek solutions to the flooding in Houston, Texas.

Lots of anger, few solutions at flooding town hall
Quote
Tempers boiled over at a town hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep John Culberson Monday in Braeswood Place to talk about flooding on Brays Bayou.

In an auditorium at Pershing Middle School, about 200 residents gathered from the neighborhoods hardest hit by floods in May 2015 and April 2016, when some homes soaked under feet of water. It’s a multi-billion dollar-problem for which Houston currently has no quick solution. And no answers surfaced Monday.

Culberson’s town hall was a place to vent. Many attendees shared similar stories of sinking thousands of dollars in repairs to ruined homes that can never be rented or sold. They feared they would be ruined next time the water came in.

 “It’s a hardship to keep our property,” Tim Ryan from Meyerland told Culberson from the audience.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/houston/article/Much-anger-few-solutions-at-flooding-town-hall-7967540.php
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timallard

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #146 on: June 13, 2016, 03:18:47 PM »
Throughout the Andes, there is becoming no water ... today. Snow-capped peaks no longer, all their snowfields are gone. Seasonal variations are off and crops can't be grown anymore not even potatoes, fields for animals dry with no water for them to drink.

It's global warming altering jetstreams when an entire mountain range stops getting water from the Atlantic.

This is also happening in the Himalaya, it's just taking longer to melt away, farmers there are freezing water for use from the lack of spring meltwater no longer flowing because the glaciers have retreated to higher altitudes and don't melt as early in artificial "glaciers" and "stupas" both allowing cold fall air to freeze water for spring.

California will follow this pattern it seems with a permanent drought from The Blob which likely will never go away now.

Americans will be the last to do something wise, most were dreaming a single El Niño would fix it ... nope, next dream or will reality force them to redo their water-rights?

Not likely, they are drilling for the bottom of aquifer water to grow high water-use crops for profit as we watch them ignore what they need to do for money & politics creating a far larger disaster when it hits the fan, already the state is depopulating, keep an eye on that form of "becoming less livable".

"A climate journey - The Andes: The farmers' struggle "; 2:53;

"Artificial Glaciers in the Himalayas | Global 3000 "; 3:39;

-tom

Sigmetnow

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Re: Places becoming less livable
« Reply #147 on: June 21, 2016, 01:00:49 PM »
Phoenix, Arizona.   From last fall:

Sustainability in Extreme Desert Heat: Is Our Time Here Running Out?
Quote
So the question is, how can a place like this survive as one of the largest cities in the nation as climate change takes over?

Let’s just assume, for arguments sake, we figure out the energy piece of the puzzle. We all just stay inside our nice, air-conditioned homes and offices for much of the year, not worrying too much about the sweltering heat.

Then, what about water? What about drought? What do we do if the Colorado River supply chain is significantly reduced, or worse, dries up?
http://wxshift.com/news/blog/sustainability-in-extreme-desert-heat-is-our-time-here-running-out


Edit --  and this from last week.  Includes an interactive map to see what 1,001 cities' summers will be like by 2100.*
*If current emissions trends continue
Southwest, Plains to Roast in ‘Potentially Historic’ Heat Wave
http://wxshift.com/news/southwest-plains-to-roast-in-potentially-historic-heat-wave
« Last Edit: June 21, 2016, 01:10:15 PM by Sigmetnow »
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"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

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