Climate Breakdown

Hear the episode here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/14101666/episode-10 Much of the content for this episodes headlines was adopted from or quoted in full from other sources.  Where this was done is shown clearly below. Broken Planet Headlines 10 1.   Beginning with recent science, a new study finds that, over 1981-2010, urban regions in eastern North America experienced “aggravated heat-stress conditions due to relatively higher temperatures,” but saw a decrease in humidity. The authors ran two regional climate simulations over eastern North America between 1981 and 2010 – one with and one without urban regions. They find that average temperatures rose and average rainfall levels dropped, due to lower albedo (or reflectiveness) and soil moisture in urban regions. The authors add that the number of extreme heat spells lasting six days or more doubled over coastal urban areas in the region. The study “demonstrates the need for better representation of urban regions in climate models t

Hear the episode here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/14101666/episode-09 Broken Planet Headlines 9 1.   Text adapted from Carbon Brief's June 11th Daily Briefing : Beginning with recent science, "A major new report warns that the dual challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss cannot be solved unless they are tackled together.  The peer-reviewed report is the first collaboration between the two UN scientific bodies the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.  Together, the groups “warn that the world is currently not doing enough to recognise that the climate and nature crises are inextricably linked,” with the two often “treated as separate issues in the political arena”. The report identifies actions to tackle the two issues simultaneously including “expanding nature reserves and restoring – or halting the loss of – ecosystems rich in species and carbon, such as forests, natu

Hear the episode here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/14101666/episode-08-barbara-wright-from-the-refug Broken Planet Headlines 8 1.   Beginning with recent science, a new report from the UN's World Meteorological Association finds that the world faces a 40% chance of one year in the next five being 1.5 degrees Celsius above late 19th century levels.  This refers to the average temperature increase globally during the year and is not necessarily likely to mean the threshold has been crossed permanently, as countries pledged to avoid under the Paris Agreement.  The report also found that there is a 90% chance one of the next five years will be the hottest on record. Meanwhile another new report, published in the journal Earth System Dynamics , suggests that climate tipping points could have a domino effect on one another as they interact, leading to severe consequences.  A tipping point is the threshold at which an ecosystem - such as the Amazon Rainforest or Greenland ice sheet -

Hear the episode here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/14101666/episode-07-ms-barton-from-beyond-extreme Broken Planet Headlines 7 1.   Beginning with recent science, a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters finds that the share of premature deaths in the U.S. caused by soot and other local pollution is now coming predominantly from gas-fired power plants, wood stoves and industrial wood-pellet burners rather than from coal.  The study covered the decade from 2008 through 2017 and found that by 2017 early deaths from gas-fired emissions alone were higher than those from coal in at least 19 states.  Industrial boilers and commercial buildings saw decreases in coal and oil impacts but these were essentially replaced by increases in biomass pollution.  Soot, also known as fine particulate matter, is tied to higher risk of strokes, lung cancer and other health conditions.  Gas-power plants and infrastructure is most likely to be located in low-income communities and