Hurricanes- Climate and the Capitalist Offset – by Brett Stevens – NYT

“Harvey will also inflict billions in economic damage, most crushingly on uninsured homeowners. The numbers are likely to be staggering in absolute terms, but what’s more remarkable is how easily the American economy can absorb the blow. The storm will be a “speed bump” to Houston’s $503 billion economy, according to Moody’s Analytics’ Adam Kamins, who told The Wall Street Journal that he expects the storm to derail growth for about two months.

On a global level, the University of Colorado’s Roger Pielke Jr. notes that disaster losses as a percentage of the world’s G.D.P., at just 0.3 percent, have remained constant since 1990. That’s despite the dollar cost of disasters having nearly doubled over the same time — at just about the same rate as the growth in the global economy. (Pielke is yet another victim of the climate lobby’s hyperactive smear machine, but that doesn’t make his data any less valid.)”

Ouch. Here is the the top comment, and my endorsement:

Bruce Rozenblit is a trusted commenter Kansas City, MO 4 hours ago

What a pile of doo doo. Texas caused this flood by paving over the wetlands to the point that they turned their city into a big bathtub. They built in floodplains without regard to the consequences.

As far as brick houses are concerned, those are the ones that collapse during earthquakes. Masonry construction falls apart when the ground shakes, while stick built homes can resist the stress much better. The loss of life is catastrophic. Check out the loss of life in southern central Asia where homes are built out of rocks.

Houston will recover financially in two months? Are you kidding? 30% of the area is under water. That’s like 500 square miles and that’s just Houston.
People don’t have homes to live in. Thousands of businesses have been shuttered and destroyed. If the Houston economy is so powerful, then why do they need any federal aid?

Regulations and building codes save lives. Infrastructure saves lives. Technology saves lives. Public safety programs save lives. If these factors were not in place, then the loss of life form natural disasters would be much higher.

Texas just had three 500 year floods in three years. What does your expert meteorologist have to say about that? What does he have to say about the severe droughts and fires that occurred between those floods? Only a weak and poorly skilled journalist would ignore the obvious and cherry pick statistics to prove a point. This is the New York Times, not the New York Post.

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Thank you for your submission. We’ll notify you at da***@sbcglobal.net when your comment has been approved.
David Lindsay Hamden, CT Pending Approval

I second all said here by Bruce Rosenblit.
I wish to add, that there is something pathetic in cheery picking data, and mixing it with fake news. Contrast the rubbish here with the extraordinary reporting today of Nicholas Kristof. I commented on Kristof’s piece:
David Lindsay Hamden, CT Pending Approval

Thank you Nicholas Kristof (and the New York Times).
You wrote: ”

Jan Egeland, a former senior U.N. official who now leads the Norwegian Refugee Council, urges an immediate cease-fire, a lifting of the embargo on Yemen, and peace talks led by the U.N., the U.S. and the U.K., forcing both sides to compromise.

A glimpse of moral leadership has come from the U.S. Senate. A remarkable 47 senators in June voted to block a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia, largely because of qualms about Saudi conduct in Yemen. Those senators are right, and we should halt all arms transfers to Saudi Arabia until it ends the blockade and bombings.”

It is time for the American Press, television, radio, and print, to bring this horrible story to the American people, and the fact that there are intelligent solutions being offered. I have shared this on social media, and my blog, InconvenientNews.wordpress.com, but we need this story at NPR, Public TV, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and every outlet I’ve left out.”

The Photos the U.S. and Saudi Arabia Don’t Want You to See – by Nicholas Kristof – NYT

“Let’s be blunt: With U.S. and U.K.complicity, the Saudi governmentis committing war crimes in Yemen.“The country is on the brink of famine, with over 60 percent of the population not knowing where their next meal will come from,” the leaders of the U.N. World Food Program, Unicef and the World Health Organization said in an unusual joint statement.Yemen, always an impoverished country, has been upended for two years by fighting between the Saudi-backed military coalition and Houthi rebels and their allies (with limited support from Iran). The Saudis regularly bomb civilians and, worse, they have closed the airspace and imposed a blockade to starve the rebel-held areas into submission.That means that ordinary Yemenis, including children, die in bombings or starve. A child dies in Yemen every 5 minutes”

“Jan Egeland, a former senior U.N. official who now leads the Norwegian Refugee Council, urges an immediate cease-fire, a lifting of the embargo on Yemen, and peace talks led by the U.N., the U.S. and the U.K., forcing both sides to compromise.

A glimpse of moral leadership has come from the U.S. Senate. A remarkable 47 senators in June voted to block a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia, largely because of qualms about Saudi conduct in Yemen. Those senators are right, and we should halt all arms transfers to Saudi Arabia until it ends the blockade and bombings.

We Americans have sometimes wondered how Russia can possibly be so Machiavellian as to support its Syrian government allies as they bomb and starve civilians. Yet we’re doing the same thing with Saudi Arabia, and it’s just as unconscionable when we’re the ones complicit in war crimes.”

On Voting Reforms- Follow Illinois- Not Texas – The New York Times

“In the face of America’s abysmal voter participation rates, lawmakers have two choices: They can make voting easier, or they can make it harder.

Illinois made the right choice this week, becoming the 10th state, along with the District of Columbia, to enact automatic voter registration. The bill, which could add as many as one million voters to the state’s rolls, was signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican who had vetoed similar legislation last year.

Under the new law, all eligible voters will be registered to vote when they visit the Department of Motor Vehicles or other state agencies. If they do not want to be registered, they may opt out.”

Strong editorial, excellent comments, such as:
Bruce Rozenblit is a trusted commenter Kansas City, MO 4 hours ago

The right to vote and the requirements thereof should be nationalized. There should be no difference from state to state. Instead of exercising states rights to improve access, deep red states are using the states rights issue increase political power. This is not only un American, it is essentially stripping away the basis of our republican democracy, which is the right to vote. Nothing is more fundamental.

Texas has just experienced a disaster of biblical proportions. The costs to recover will most likely exceed $100 billion dollars. Tens of million have been hurt.

The floodwaters did not discriminate. Rich or poor, black, brown or white, the waters came. They are all in it together, bound up by their suffering and loss.

That’s how voting is supposed to work in a democracy. All are bound up together, regardless or race, creed or income.

If Texas can’t learn that lesson from Harvey, then it’s time to play hardball. I would make federal aid contingent upon Texas accepting the federal motor vehicle registration system. The cost is nil. The pain to do so is nil.

If Texas wants federal dollars to flow to help in the recovery, then the state should accept the voter requirements that allow voting in all elections.

We are all truly in this disaster together. The nation should rally to help Texas. It’s high time Texas started acting like it is part of this nation.

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Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Efforts in Vietnam Le Minh NHAT PhD – pdf

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Efforts in Vietnam Le Minh NHAT PhD Director of Climate Change Adaptation Division – DMHCC – MONRE E mail : nhatkyoto@gmail.com MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY, HYDROLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE 2 Outline 1. Climate change in Viet Nam 2. Adaptation Policies and Adaptation Measures

Source: Slide 1 – viet_nam_summary_cca.pdf

‘Climate-smart soils’ may help balance the carbon budget | by Blaine Friedlander – Cornell Chronicle

“Here’s the scientific dirt: Soil can help reduce global warming.

While farm soil grows the world’s food and fiber, scientists are examining ways to use it to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.“We can substantially reduce atmospheric carbon by using soil. We have the technology now to begin employing good soil practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Johannes Lehmann, Cornell professor of soil and crop sciences, co-author of the Perspectives piece, “Climate-smart Soils,” published in Nature, April 6.Decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, sequestering carbon and using prudent agricultural management practices that tighten the soil-nitrogen cycle can yield enhanced soil fertility, bolster crop productivity, improve soil biodiversity, and reduce erosion, runoff and water pollution. These practices also buffer crop and pasture systems against the impacts of climate change.

Currently, Earth’s atmosphere holds about 830 petagrams (1 trillion kilograms) of carbon and humans add about 10 petagrams of carbon to the atmosphere every year, because of industrial and agricultural waste, and fossil-fuel burning vehicles, according to Lehmann. Soils, however, hold about 4,800 petagrams of carbon to a depth of 2 meters, which is six times the amount of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere. The good news is that soils have the potential to hold even more, said the scientists.”

Source: ‘Climate-smart soils’ may help balance the carbon budget | Cornell Chronicle

Rising seas puts Vietnam in climate change ‘bull’s-eye’ | Blaine Friedlander – Cornell Chronicle

“In a tale of two life experiences, Mike Hoffmann went to Vietnam for the first time in 47 years: On his first tour of duty, he was a 19-year-old U.S. Marine, and for the March 2016 trip, Hoffmann returned as an environmental scientist.

“Vietnam is in the bull’s eye when it comes to climate change,” said Hoffmann, professor of entomology and executive director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture, who explained that a rising sea level – for a country with 2,000 miles of coastline – presents a major environmental and food security challenge, especially in the Mekong River Delta region where 22 percent of the population lives and about half of the country’s food is produced.Farmers are seeing the changes and to paraphrase a scientist there, Hoffmann said, “There are no climate change deniers in Vietnam.”

Source: Rising seas puts Vietnam in climate change ‘bull’s-eye’ | Cornell Chronicle

Mumbai flooding causes transport chaos – BBC News

“Heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai have thrown the Indian city’s transport systems into chaos.Some roads have been hit by waist-deep flooding.Officials are calling on people to stay at home.

More than 16 million people have been affected by seasonal floods across a swathe of South Asia, according to aid workers. Bangladesh and Nepal have been badly hit, and about 500 people have died.In Mumbai on Tuesday, trains and flights were cancelled. Schools have closed.One hospital also flooded, forcing staff to evacuate the paediatric ward.Residents took to social media to offer shelter to the stranded, or to ask for help.Many recalled the 2005 floods in and around the city, which killed more than 500 people.”

Source: Mumbai flooding causes transport chaos – BBC News

What’s yours is mine in China but is sharing at a peak? – BBC News

Ok, so car sharing makes perfect sense. And we get bike sharing, too. But ball sharing?At a sports complex in Beijing, Wang Hui En scans a code on a locker with his smartphone.The door clicks open and out pops a basketball, yours to use there and then for a rental fee of $0.30 (23p) or so per hour.Mr Wang is chief executive of One Tiyu, which translates as One Sports, and he has plans to quite literally roll out 20 million soccer and basketballs across China.”The sharing economy is indeed very hot right now,” he tells me.

via What’s yours is mine in China but is sharing at a peak? – BBC News

In hurricane season- Texas Medical Center- hospitals prepare for the worst – Houston Business Journal

“The New York Times noted in 2010 that, “More than 100 deaths occurred in New Orleans-area hospitals and nursing homes after Hurricane Katrina when emergency backup power systems failed and patients languished for days awaiting transport.”And in Houston in 2001, Tropical Storm Allison caused $5.5 billion in damage to the Houston area. It deposited up to 30 feet of water into parts of the then lightly protected Texas Medical Center.

However, emergency experts in charge of the complex and its flagship facilities say that that can’t happen again.

Subtle protective precautions aren’t obvious to the casual visitor or patient. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s buildings are now guarded by little-noticed earthen berms. Its first-floor windows are hardened aquarium glass. The lower structural walls are built with a dam-like, “hydrostatic” composite. Below, hidden pumps lie under steel grates just outside each structure waiting to rapidly transport rainwater into the a nearby gully.

Should that watercourse bayou itself prove inadequate to accommodate flood waters, a huge pipe, buried beneath a major arterial street, will accept and divert the excess. And almost two dozen watertight, submarine-style hatches are hidden in plain sight. Each, sized to accommodate a hulking superhero, is designed to hold back tons of rising water.”

Source: In hurricane season, Texas Medical Center, hospitals prepare for the worst – Houston Business Journal

Houston- Warned – by David Leonhardt – NYT

” “Houston’s perfect storm is coming — and it’s not a matter of if but when,” journalists wrote, a year and a half ago. “Why isn’t Texas ready?”The story was a joint project of The Texas Tribune, an excellent local publication, and ProPublica, the deservedly well-regarded national group. Headlined “Hell and High Water,” it exposed the lack of preparedness, and downright denial, in Houston about flood damage. The project mixes maps and text, and you can dip into it briefly or dig into the details.

“We’re sitting ducks. We’ve done nothing,” Phil Bedient, a Rice University professor and storm-surge expert, says in the story. “We’ve done nothing to shore up the coastline, to add resiliency … to do anything.”

The article isn’t perfectly clairvoyant — no story is. It falls into the common trap of exaggerating the economic effects of a news development that’s bad for other reasons. But the story offered an important — and, sadly, unheeded — message: Even though it’s possible to mitigate the effects of extreme weather, we’re instead making choices that aggravate them.”