Executive Order to “Shore UP the Collapsing Riverbank”

Submitted by a member

What’s wrong with that!???

FACT SHEET: The White House, November 1, 2013

Executive Order on Climate Preparedness

President Obama Establishes a Task Force on Climate

“We’re going to need to get prepared.  And that’s why this plan will also protect critical sectors of our economy and prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change that we cannot avoid.  States and cities across the country are already taking it upon themselves to get ready… And we’ll partner with communities seeking help to prepare for droughts and floods, reduce the risk of wildfires, protect the dunes and wetlands that pull double duty as green space and as natural storm barriers.” – President Barack Obama, June 25, 2013

Really, what’s wrong with that???

Paying Lip Service to Environmental Preservation

On Friday, President Obama established a Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience to advise the Administration on how the Federal Government can respond to the needs of communities nationwide that are dealing with the impacts of climate change. The Task Force members include state, local and tribal leaders from across the country who will use their first-hand experiences in building climate preparedness and resilience in their communities to inform their recommendations to the Administration.

The President signed an Executive Order that directs Federal agencies to take a series of steps to make it easier for American communities to strengthen their resilience to extreme weather and prepare for other impacts of climate change.

Well, nothing is wrong with that, really, except that it’s a little too late, lacks concrete action, and relies on the very systems that have driven life on this planet to the precipice of collapse.

The window of opportunity closed a long while back, and all that anyone can do now is a meaningful prayer for the dead, in Latin.

President Obama has said that we have a moral obligation to our children and future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted or damaged. 

A planet that is not polluted or damaged?

Is there a time-machine involved here? Because for a meaningful grasp of the above you need to travel back, way back, in time.

Building climate preparedness and resilience in our communities amid exponentially deteriorating climatic conditions and imminently collapsing  ecosystems is one thing (!), leaving behind “a planet that is not polluted or damaged” to our grown-up kids, let alone future generations, is an entirely different matter.

A most destructive storm strikes Washington, D.C.

Deadly Storms Strike U.S. East Coast

Click image to enlarge.

Original Caption by NASA E/O:  One of the most destructive storms in years struck Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area on July 25, 2010. Strong winds downed trees and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without power, stopping elevators, and darkening malls and movie theaters. Falling trees killed at least two people. The following morning, crews were working furiously to restore power to homes, traffic lights, and even a water treatment plant.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)—built and launched by NASA, and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—captured a series of images of the storm activity on July 25, 2010. This image is a composite of clouds from GOES merged with background data of the land surface from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The animation shows a series of thunderstorms coalescing as the fast-moving front travels from the Appalachians toward the Mid-Atlantic. By 4:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time, the strongest thunderstorms were directly over Washington, D.C.

The violent storms followed on the heels of relentless heat for the U.S. East Coast. “The East Coast has been baking for weeks,” explains George Huffman, a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s been hot and muggy, with lots of moisture in the air, and that stuff has been trapped under a high-pressure system. Storms had been steering around the edges of that system. In fact, the flight that experienced so much turbulence last week was along the edge of that high pressure.”

Forecasts had raised the possibility of severe weather for the East Coast on July 25, and Huffman watched the storm system as it traveled over Ohio and Pennsylvania, remaining intact as it moved. “You tend not to see well-organized lines of thunderstorms at 9:00 a.m.,” he says. But the storm system coming from the west did not dissipate, even in the mid-morning hours. “The large-scale pattern shifted, allowing the high pressure to our northwest, which is cooler and drier, to push toward the southeast. That push was strong enough to organize the squall lines that fed off of our hot, muggy conditions,” he explains. “As storms come across the mountains toward the coastal plain, they have three options: hang together, get stronger, or get weaker. This storm system got stronger.”

• download large image (3 MB, JPEG) acquired July 25, 2010
• download small animation animation (2 MB, QuickTime)
• download large animation animation (7 MB, QuickTime)

Seven months earlier, following the worst December snowstorm since 1909 that covered NE US under up to 20 inches of snow, Fire Earth said:

A Dry Run for Climate Chaos Heading Our Way

The Heaviest Blanket of Snow in 100 Years Covered Most of the Northeast US. The West Wing of the White House is seen buried under heavy snowfall December 19, 2009. Credit: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas. Image may be subject to copyright.

Related Links:

• Disaster Forecast: The United States
• U.S. Disaster Headlines
• Kansas heat wave kills 2,000 cattle
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [JULY]
• 2010 Disasters

• World Sizzling in Hottest Year to Date
• U.S. Had 8th Warmest June, Wetter
• U.S. Had 8th Warmest June, Wetter
• Earth: Wounded and Feverish
• Collapse Diary

• Winter Officially Starts Today!

Bangladesh Town Threatened by Flooded River

Image of the Day: Bangladesh Town Threatened by Flooding

Sirajganj town is under threat of flooding after parts of its flood protection embankment on the Jamuna River at Sashanghat collapsed. Heavy rain and swollen river raised the threat against The Jamuna bridge, and a vast stretch of Sirajganj town’s flood barrier. Photo: The Daily Star. Image may be subject to copyright.

“Hundreds of people including soldiers and police were struggling to stop a town being washed away by the choppy Jamuna river in Bangladesh over the last two days, officials said Saturday.

“Boulders, concrete blocks, brick slabs and sand bags were being dropped by volunteers, government staff and troops along a partially eroded river bank at Sirajganj district town 160 km (100 miles) northwest of the capital Dhaka.” Reuters reported.

Related Links:

• Drought and Deluge

US Impacts of Global Climate Change

Global Climate Change: Impacts in the United States

According to a new report titled Global Climate Change: Impacts in the United States, impacts of climate change are “visible”  in the United States. The report says, “the choices we make now will determine the severity of its impacts in the future…” The  new federal report assesses the  current domestic impacts of climate change and forecasts some of the future trends.

“This new report integrates the most up-to-date scientific findings into a comprehensive picture of the ongoing as well as expected future impacts of heat-trapping pollution on the climate experienced by Americans, region by region and sector by sector,” said John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “It tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later, as well as showing why that action must include both global emissions reductions to reduce the extent of climate change and local adaptation measures to reduce the damage from the changes that are no longer avoidable.”

“Human induced climate change is a reality, not only in remote polar regions (and) in small tropical islands, but every place around the country — in our own backyards.” Said Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, as she released the report.

The report is available online

View the powerpoint presentation [The White House Blog]

Key Findings

1. Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced.
Global temperature has increased over the past 50 years. This observed increase is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. (p. 13)

2. Climate changes are underway in the United States and are projected to grow.
Climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and its coastal waters. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows. These changes are projected to grow. (p. 27)

3. Widespread climate-related impacts are occurring now and are expected to increase.
Climate changes are already affecting water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems, and health. These impacts are different from region to region and will grow under projected climate change. (p. 41-106, 107-152)

4. Climate change will stress water resources.
Water is an issue in every region, but the nature of the potential impacts varies. Drought, related to reduced precipitation, increased evaporation, and increased water loss from plants, is an important issue in many regions, especially in the West. Floods and water quality problems are likely to be amplified by climate change in most regions. Declines in mountain snowpack are important in the West and Alaska where snowpack provides vital natural water storage. (p. 41, 129, 135, 139)

5. Crop and livestock production will be increasingly challenged.
Agriculture is considered one of the sectors most adaptable to changes in climate. However, increased heat, pests, water stress, diseases, and weather extremes will pose adaptation challenges for crop and livestock production. (p. 71)

6. Coastal areas are at increasing risk from sea-level rise and storm surge.
Sea-level rise and storm surge place many U.S. coastal areas at increasing risk of erosion and flooding, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Pacific Islands, and parts of Alaska. Energy and transportation infrastructure and other property in coastal areas are very likely to be adversely affected. (p. 111, 139, 145, 149)

7. Threats to human health will increase.
Health impacts of climate change are related to heat stress, waterborne diseases, poor air quality, extreme weather events, and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Robust public health infrastructure can reduce the potential for negative impacts. (p. 89)

8. Climate change will interact with many social and environmental stresses.
Climate change will combine with pollution, population growth, overuse of resources, urbanization, and other social, economic, and environmental stresses to create larger impacts than from any of these factors alone. (p. 99)

9. Thresholds will be crossed, leading to large changes in climate and ecosystems.
There are a variety of thresholds in the climate system and ecosystems. These thresholds determine, for example, the presence of sea ice and permafrost, and the survival of species, from fish to insect pests, with implications for society. With further climate change, the crossing of additional thresholds is expected. (p. 76, 82, 115, 137, 142)

10. Future climate change and its impacts depend on choices made today.
The amount and rate of future climate change depend primarily on current and future human-caused emissions of heat-trapping gases and airborne particles. Responses involve reducing emissions to limit future warming, and adapting to the changes that are unavoidable. (p. 25, 29)

Related Links:

• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• Marsification of Earth
• Earth’s Collapsing Life Support Systems

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Nuking Earth for Lifestyle
• Giga Trends
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• 286W

• The Root Cause Matrix
• The Economy
• Collapsing Ecosystems