Rising seas force dune and beach movement

by Flinders University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Flinders University's Professor Patrick Hesp and fellow coastal scientists Christa van IJzendoorn, Sierd de Vries and Caroline Hallin from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have measured the vertical translation of the dune toe along the Holland coast, and found it has increased a remarkable 7-to-8 times greater than the measured sea level rise.

Professor Hesp, Strategic Professor of Coastal Studies at Flinders University, believes this proof that rising sea level is affecting coastal dunes should serve as a serious early warning sign about escalating environmental threats due to global warming.

"Sea level is rising due to climate change and is influencing the development and dynamics of coastal dunes," says Professor Hesp.

"As sea level rises, we would expect to see the foredune at the back of the beach to translate landwards and vertically," says lead author Christa van IJzendoorn. "However, this has been difficult to observe until now due to the 'noise' generated in the beach-dune survey data due to normal erosion and accretion from storms and calmer periods."

In the Netherlands, coastal dune profiles have been measured annually since 1965 along the entire Dutch coast—serving as a measured warning system against flooding threats to the low-lying country. This information provides the largest dataset of measured coastal profiles in the world, underlining the importance of the new findings.

The study—"Sea level rise outpaced by vertical dune toe translation on prograding coasts", by Christa van IJzendoorn, Sierd de Vries, Caroline Hallin and Patrick Hesp, published in Nature Portfolio's Scientific Reports—compares the response of Holland's coastal dunes to sea level rise by tracking the horizontal and vertical dune toe position in an extensive dataset using measured coastal profiles.

The dune toe is defined as the boundary between the backshore limit and the seaward edge of the dunes—and the observed vertical dune toe translation coincides with seaward movement of the dune toe.

Professor Hesp says the current dune movements show similarities to prograding coasts in the Holocene Era (post-10,000 years BP), both along the Dutch coast and elsewhere. "Because of this, we suspect that other locations besides the Dutch coast might also show such large ratios between sea level rise and dune toe elevation increase," he says.

The report provides evidence of dune translation characterized by a linear increase of the dune toe elevation by 13–15 mm/year during recent decades along the Dutch coast.

This shows that dune translation is outpacing sea level rise, with the trend in sea level rise along the Dutch coast being linear and consistent at a rate of 1.9 mm per year. It also shows that the dune toe is moving seaward at 1-meter per year due to sand nourishments regularly carried out by the Netherlands authorities.

Professor Hesp suggests this new report may change the evaluation, implementation and planning of future climate change adaptation measures along the coast.

Citing a local example, he says nourishments along the Adelaide coast need to be significantly increased in volume to keep up with sea level rise, if we are to retain our metropolitan beaches.

"We need to continue, expand and increase the regularity of the surveying of our beaches in South Australia, currently conducted by the Department for Environment and Water, so that we can better understand the past impacts of beach-dune changes," says Professor Hesp.

"This will enable us to detect beach and dune movements related to sea level rise in the future."The landscapes we are familiar with are disappearing due to the changing climate

More information: Christa O. van IJzendoorn et al, Sea level rise outpaced by vertical dune toe translation on prograding coasts, Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92150

Provided by Flinders University 

LAKE ONTARIO

Shoreline residents take beach development protest 'to the sand'

Those opposed to a waterfront development in Bruce County are staging an unusual beach build.



Scott Miller

CTV News London Videographer
Monday, August 9, 2021

PORT ELGIN, ONT. -- Building sand sculptures isn’t usually done in protest, but the construction of a sand model of a commercial development proposed for Port Elgin’s waterfront is how some project opponents have decided to get their message across to visitors and locals alike.

“Two years ago, Saugeen Shores council approved a 50-year lease of a large portion of our waterfront. They’ve approved a large commercial development to be built here and they did it before they had approval from the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority,” says the sand sculpture organizer, and Port Elgin Beach Preservers founder, Patricia Frank.

Cedar Crescent Village, a private project to be built on public land, was approved by Saugeen Shores council back in 2019.

Related Stories
Controversial beach development approved in Port Elgin
Controversial Port Elgin beach development almost a reality
Controversial plan for Port Elgin beachfront goes before committee

The project -- featuring restaurants, shops, a conference centre and volleyball courts -- was supposed to be open by now, but COVID-19 delays and concerns over potential flooding have slowed it down.

The fate of the project now sits in the hands of the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority.

“We’re hopefully getting close to a point where we can get under construction. Anybody whose built anything will know these things go longer than you want them to, but hopefully we’re getting close,” says Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charbonneau.

Charbonneau says council approved the $7-10 million project and a 50-year lease because residents and visitors have told them they want more shops and businesses down at the beach.

“We’ve heard people tell us they want more amenities down at the waterfront. Whether that’s a restaurant, more retail opportunities for boaters at the harbour, so we want to see that move forward. It’s something the people of Saugeen Shores have been interested in seeing for a long time,” he says.

Not so, says Frank, who says she hears from project opponents every single day.

“It’s fighting with parking for beachgoers. They’re planning a 300-person event hall. Our opinion and the opinion of most of Saugeen Shores is that this beach does not need a 300-person event hall,” she says.

Whether the project moves forward, or stays a sand-based model, lies in the hands of the local conservation authority. There is no timeline for a decision.

“It was supposed to be open last July 1. Nothing is going to start at least until the fall. All the approvals have to be in place,” says Frank.

“Hopefully, we’re very close,” says Charbonneau.


Those opposed to a new beach development are protesting in the sand in Port Elgin, Ont., Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. (Scott Miller / CTV News)


YEARS AGO THE COTTAGE COUNTRY FOLKS AT PORT ELGIN DID A NIMBY ON A WIND TURBINE THE CANADIAN AUTOWORKIERS UNION WANTED TO BUILD AT THEIR SCHOOL GROUNDS. IT WAS ALL ABOUT PROPERTY VALUES

 

New spills into wetlands, river crossings reported along Line 3 pipeline construction route

Social Sharing

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Email

• Reddit

• LinkedIn

Releases are under investigation as potential violations of Enbridge's permit

The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 10, 2021 3:33 PM MT | Last Updated: August 10

Protesters raise their fists as they stand in the Mississippi River near an Enbridge Line 3 pipeline construction site, on June 7, 2021. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/The Associated Press)

Minnesota regulators say there have been more releases of drilling fluid along the Line 3 oil pipeline construction route than previously reported.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, there were 28 releases at 12 river crossing locations from June 8 to Aug. 5. In one instance, on July 6, about 80 gallons of fluid entered the Willow River in Aitkin County.

The MPCA also says there were 13 spills into wetlands and 14 accidental releases in upland areas, although one of those flowed into a wetland.

The agency disclosed details about the releases on Monday in a letter to Democratic state lawmakers who had requested the information, Minnesota Public Radio reported Tuesday.

Drilling fluid is used as a lubricant. It's made mostly of bentonite clay and water, and is not considered toxic, but can impact aquatic life.

The agency said Enbridge's permit does not authorize the release of drilling fluid to wetlands or rivers. It says the releases are under investigation as potential violations.

The Calgary-based company said in a statement that the drilling mud was quickly contained and cleaned up in the vast majority of instances under the supervision of trained environmental inspectors and independent monitors, and that the spills were reported to state regulators.

• Line 3 pipeline to be in service by end of year, despite legal challenges: Enbridge

• 2 workers on Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline arrested in sex trafficking sting

Line 3 construction across northern Minnesota is more than 80% complete and remains on pace to finish in the fourth quarter, the company said.

Enbridge said its practice of horizontal directional drilling is the preferred construction method for pipelines crossing under bodies of water, and that it actually protects waterbodies from disturbance. Drilling operations are immediately shut down when spills occur and state regulators are notified, it said.

Wave Power Charges Ahead with Static Electricity Generators

An ocean-powered buoy brings technology closer to the dream of obtaining energy from the sea

By Maddie Bender on August 10, 2021
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Ocean at Figueira da Foz, Portugal, where researchers plan to test a wave-powered navigational buoy. Credit: Valery Zonov Getty Images


One key to harvesting the ocean’s clean energy—at least a little of it—may lie in static electricity. A team of researchers in Portugal has now successfully used it to run small generators inside a navigational buoy, powering the sensors and lights that the buoy uses to collect data and aid sailors. Though the project’s scale is small so far, the researchers say it is an important proof of concept for a technique that could supplement existing attempts to harness the power of waves, as well as other kinds of naturally occurring motion.

Oceans are an appealing target for renewable energy generation. Waves alone produce 32,000 terawatt-hours of natural energy per year—for reference, the entire world uses around 23,000 terawatt-hours annually. And there is also the power of currents, tides and thermal energy. But despite decades of research, the motion of the ocean has proved difficult to harness. Wave patterns are unpredictable, seawater corrodes metal generating machinery, and waves’ energy is simultaneously dispersed across three dimensions (up-down, forward-backward and left-right).

In part because of such challenges, the electrical output from several nascent, large-scale wave power projects has lagged behind predictions. The Portuguese researchers instead focused on something smaller and more manageable: powering navigational buoys, which often incorporate lights to guide boats and sensors to monitor ocean conditions. The team turned to so-called triboelectric nanogenerators, or TENGs, which convert motion into an electrical current using static electricity—the same principle as rubbing a balloon on a fuzzy sweater to generate charge. At each TENG’s core are two surfaces, just a few square centimeters in area, that can easily become positively or negatively charged. Atop these two stacked surfaces, the researchers placed 10 stainless steel balls, about 12 millimeters in diameter, that are free to move around. When their container tilts, the balls roll around and rub the two surfaces together. This builds up a static charge, which can be converted into electricity to power a battery.

“We developed these novel devices that convert rhythm and mechanical energy into electrical power,” says Cátia Rodrigues, a nanotechnology Ph.D. student at the University of Porto in Portugal. She delivered a presentation about her team’s wave-powered buoy last week at an American Institute of Physics conference that was held online. “The devices are low-cost. They reach high power densities [with] high efficiencies,” Rodrigues says, adding that TENGs continue to perform well even when waves are small and infrequent.

TENGs can generate power from any form of motion, but Rodrigues and her collaborators have focused on testing various TENG prototypes to optimize them for the specific conditions of wave motion. In their most recent tests, she and her colleagues wanted to see which setup would produce the most electricity the most consistently: placing all the balls together in a round basin shaped like a shallow bowl or creating individual “tracks” for each ball like swimmers in the lanes of a pool.

Working in a hydraulics lab at the University of Porto, the team tested designs for TENGs embedded in a one-eighth-scale replica of an oceanic buoy. They placed the model in a wave pool and simulated the five most frequent wave patterns that occur in the seaport in nearby Figueira da Foz, Portugal.

TENGs were invented by a researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012. The new study marked the first time they have been tested under such realistic wave conditions, Rodrigues says. And it was a success: the swimming-lane-esque TENG design produced a maximum output of 230 microwatts—enough to power small devices such as medical implants. It also converted energy more consistently under different wave conditions than the bowl design did. Rodrigues says the output could be boosted by incorporating multiple TENGs or adding nanoparticles to the surfaces underneath the metal balls, increasing the materials’ capacity to gather charge.

TENGs may offer a solution to a key problem that has stymied other ocean energy technologies, says Andrew Hamilton, engineering division chair at California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, who was not involved in the new work. The ocean, he says, is a high-force, low-speed system: it contains a vast amount of energy, but that power is widely distributed. As a result, traditional spinning generators often require more energy to electricity than a small patch of ocean can provide, and other attempts to develop wave-powered buoys have been flawed. Monterey Bay’s own buoy project generates power by using the difference in motion between the water’s surface and a platform suspended dozens to hundreds of meters below. But to work at great depths, this requires a long cable that takes damage from breaking waves and underwater currents. In 2017 a navigational buoy in India powered itself with an oscillating water column system: waves alternately filled and emptied a partially submerged chamber, accelerating air into and out of the column. The fast-moving air then turned a turbine to generate electricity. But this method produces potentially problematic loud noises, and it only takes advantage of the vertical motion of a wave.

A TENG’s small size helps it avoid both of these pitfalls. Rodrigues says its compactness is one of its perks, allowing researchers to easily combine TENGs with other electricity-generating methods such as solar panels or different kinds of wave-energy harvesters. Based on the success of their wave pool trials, the researchers plan to modify their TENG prototype and install it in a full-scale buoy in Figueira da Foz. Hamilton notes that an open-ocean test may present challenges that cannot be simulated in a wave pool. “Anything you design for year-round use in the ocean, you have to design it for the storm that’s statistically likely to happen every 100 years,” he says. He explains that this type of extreme weatherproofing often makes a device bulkier, less maneuverable and less durable over time because the added surface area provides more opportunities for wear and tear.

Rodrigues is not daunted. She says she is studying TENGs’ performance not just when they are in the ocean but also under other “harsh conditions,” including when they are placed inside groundwater extraction wells—and sewn into the insoles of shoes. These wide-ranging applications are why, in the future, she expects to see TENGs “everywhere.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Maddie Bender is a 2021 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at Scientific American. She recently received an MPH in microbial disease epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health

#WATERISLIFE

Resource-starved Singapore turns sewage into ultra-clean water

by Martin Abbugao

Singapore has little in the way of natural water sources and has long had to rely principally on supplies from neighbouring Malaysia.

Giant pumps whir deep underground at a plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution.

The tiny island nation has little in the way of natural water sources and has long had to rely principally on supplies from neighbouring Malaysia.

To boost self-sufficiency, the government has developed an advanced system for treating sewage involving a network of tunnels and high-tech plants.

Recycled wastewater can now meet 40 percent of Singapore's water demand—a figure that is expected to rise to 55 percent by 2060, according to the country's water agency.

While most is used for industrial purposes, some of it is added to drinking water supplies in reservoirs in the city-state of 5.7 million people.

And the system helps reduce maritime pollution, as only a small amount of the treated water is discharged into the sea.

This is a contrast to most other countries—80 percent of the world's wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to UN estimates.

"Singapore lacks natural resources and it is limited in space, which is why we are always looking for ways to explore water sources and stretch our water supply," Low Pei Chin, chief engineer of the Public Utilities Board's water reclamation department, told AFP.

Recycled wastewater can now meet 40 percent of Singapore's water demand.

One key strategy is to "collect every drop" and "reuse endlessly", she added.

This is in addition to the city-state's other main approaches to securing water supplies—importing it, using reservoirs and desalinating seawater.

At the heart of the recycling system is the high-tech Changi Water Reclamation Plant on the city's eastern coast.

Parts of the facility in land-scarce Singapore are underground—some as deep as 25 stories—and it is fed by wastewater that flows through a massive, 48-kilometre (30-mile) tunnel, linked to sewers.

The site houses a maze of steel pipes, tubes, tanks, filtration systems and other machinery, and can treat up to 900 million litres (237 million US gallons) of wastewater a day—enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 24 hours for a year.

In one building, a network of ventilators have been installed to keep the air smelling fresh, although a putrid whiff still hangs in the air.

At the heart of Singapore's recycling system is the high-tech Changi Water Reclamation Plant on the city's eastern coast.

'Limited amount of water'

Sewage that arrives at the plant undergoes an initial filtering process before powerful pumps send it flowing to facilities above ground for further treatment.

There, the treated water is further cleansed, with impurities like bacteria and viruses removed through advanced filtration processes, and disinfected with ultraviolet rays.

The end product, dubbed "NEWater", is mainly used in microchip manufacturing plants—which are ubiquitous in the city-state and require high-quality water—and for cooling systems in buildings.

But it also helps boost drinking water supplies. During the dry season, it is sent to top up several man-made reservoirs and, following further treatment, flows to people's taps.

Singapore is expanding its recycling system.

It will add an extra underground tunnel and a major water reclamation plant to serve the western half of the island, which should be completed by 2025.

Singapore is expanding its recycling system and will an extra underground tunnel and a major water reclamation plant to serve the western half of the island.

Singapore will have spent Sg$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) on upgrading its water treatment infrastructure by the time the expansion is finished.

One impetus to seek greater self-sufficiency are the city-state's historically fractious relations with key water source, Malaysia.

The neighbours have had stormy ties since Malaysia ejected Singapore from a short-lived union in 1965, and they have in the past had rows over water supplies.

Stefan Wuertz, a professor of environmental engineering at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, stressed the importance for other countries to treat wastewater more effectively, warning of serious long-term impacts otherwise.

"There is a limited amount of water on the planet," he told AFP.

"If we were to keep polluting the freshwater, at some stage we would reach the point where... treatment becomes extremely expensive."From the toilet to the sink: water recycling battles scarcity

© 2021 AFP

 

How does a flood become a disaster?

by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

What are the causes, patterns and effects of disastrous river flood? An international group of researchers led by GFZ hydrologist Bruno Merz has investigated this question in a review article published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. The short answer: It's complicated. What is certain, however, is that there is an opposing trend of property damage and personal injury. Since the 1990s, the number of fatalities from river floods has declined worldwide, but the amount of damage has risen sharply. The researchers attribute the decline in casualties to improved flood warning, technical protection measures and heightened hazard awareness.

Asia is the worst hit by floods worldwide: "More than ninety percent of the people affected by flood disasters live in Asia," says Bruno Merz. The head of GFZ's Hydrology Section cites a few reasons: "There are huge floodplains of large rivers there, and that's exactly where many people live together."

On a long-term average, 125 million people are affected by a disastrous river flood every year. They have to leave their homes, suffer financial losses, are injured, or are even killed. The most dramatic events are those where dams or dikes suddenly break, and flash floods such as the recent ones in Germany and Belgium. The global economic losses from flooding of about 100 billion USD result from both major flood disasters and many smaller, less dramatic events, i.e., as a cumulative effect.

As far as the causes are concerned, the researchers have identified a whole network of factors. These include socioeconomic reasons (poverty, population growth, higher values in flood-prone regions) as well as natural ones, above all climate change. However, for an extreme weather event to become a disastrous flood, other conditions must be added, such as a lack of awareness of hazards or non-existent or failing protection and warning systems. "The primary focus must therefore be on reducing the vulnerability of communities," says Bruno Merz. The decline in the number of victims worldwide in recent decades shows that progress is being made here, he adds.

So how can vulnerability be further reduced? The researchers focus here on the less obvious measures. For example, they say, the element of surprise must be considered in the first place. Classifying areas according to "susceptibility to surprise" could help. It is also a matter of developing extreme scenarios in advance: What could happen if several factors overlap unfavorably and situations occur that typical risk assessments do not depict? A policy of "building back better" also contributes to minimizing risk, he said. A key to better understanding flood disasters lies in the past—Merz says: "Historical disasters hold many valuable lessons and therefore need to be incorporated into current datasets even more than before.Role of dams in reducing global flood exposure under climate change

More information: Bruno Merz et al, Causes, impacts and patterns of disastrous river floods, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s43017-021-00195-3

Provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres 

 

Over 160,000 miles of rivers are at risk of losing their free-flowing status due to dams

by WWF

The Roman dam at Cornalvo in Spain has been in use for almost two millennia. Credit: Wikipedia/ CC BY-SA 2.0

A new study published in the journal Global Sustainability finds for the first time that over 160,000 miles of rivers are at risk of losing their free-flowing status due to the proposed construction of new hydropower dams. The total stretch of free-flowing rivers at risk is longer than six times the distance around the Earth. Iconic rivers such as the Amazon, Congo, and Salween are among those that would be severed by hydropower development.

Dams and reservoirs are the leading contributors to connectivity loss in rivers around the world. As global leaders convene for a critical round of UN climate and biodiversity summits this fall, policymakers must consider the tradeoffs between hydropower development and maintaining healthy freshwater ecosystems.

"When it comes to river health, climate change and biodiversity loss, we can no longer afford to think of these as separate issues," says Michele Thieme, lead freshwater scientist at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and lead author of the study. "Rivers are powerful agents for keeping wildlife and communities healthy, especially in a warming climate, yet their ability to support life is threatened by hydropower dams in many parts of the world. The best policy solutions will be those that balance renewable energy needs with the many benefits of thriving freshwater ecosystems."

The study finds that all the proposed dams on free-flowing rivers would collectively generate less than 2% of the renewable energy needed by 2050 to keep global temperature increase below 1.5° C—a small contribution with potentially devastating consequences to remaining free-flowing rivers, and the people and wildlife that depend on them. Connected and healthy rivers deliver diverse benefits that are often overlooked: freshwater fish stocks that improve food security for hundreds of millions of people, delivery of sediments that nourish agriculture and keep deltas above rising seas, and floodplains that help mitigate the impact of floods and support a wealth of biodiversity.

"The future is renewable, so it's important that we lay out realistic solutions that account for the vast benefits of free-flowing rivers, but also people's need for clean energy in a warming climate," says Thieme.

The researchers compiled science-based policy solutions to meet climate targets and energy goals, while also safeguarding free-flowing rivers and their benefits to people and nature. The study outlines specific examples where governments have successfully implemented these strategies, including:

• Avoiding fragmenting rivers by instating formal protections of rivers or by exploring alternative development options, such as non-hydropower renewable energy, like solar and wind. Early, system-wide planning is the best solution to meet development needs and keeps rivers and the benefits that they provide connected and flowing.
• Minimizing the impacts of dams on rivers by siting dams in locations with fewer impacts on people and nature. Technologies such as environmental flows can also help minimize dam impacts by allowing water to move through dams in a manner that mimics natural flows.
• Restoring rivers through dam removal, an increasingly popular option in the U.S. due to the high costs of dam maintenance and the negative impacts on surrounding ecosystems.
• Offsetting the negative impacts of dams. If one river is severed by a dam, there may be options to protect another river to ensure that similar values are maintained in the region.Two-thirds of world's longest rivers throttled by mankind: study
• More information: Thieme, M. et al, Navigating trade-offs between dams and river conservation, Global Sustainability (2021). DOI: 10.1017/sus.2021.15
• Provided by WWF 

 

Politicians in areas with most climate risk tweet about it least

by Krisy Gashler, Cornell University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Politicians are more likely to tweet about climate change if they are Democrats, represent wealthier districts and if their constituents are concerned about the climate, according to a new Cornell study. Meanwhile, communities most at risk from climate change are less likely to see their political leaders tweet about it, the multidisciplinary team of researchers said.

"Certainly on a partisan level, Democrats tweet about climate change much more than Republicans, but with both Democrats and Republicans, their quantity of tweeting is based on how much their citizens are concerned, and not at all by how much risk they face," said Drew Margolin, associate professor in the Department of Communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and co-author of the new study. "Even in districts that face severe risks from climate change, politicians are not willing to push this topic beyond public opinion."

The paper, "Tweeting About Climate: Which Politicians Speak Up and What Do They Speak Up About?" published July 19 in Social Media + Society. The work is the result of a radical collaboration between CALS professors in the departments of Communication, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Natural Resources and the Environment. The lead author is Chao Yu, Ph.D. '21, a former graduate student advised by Margolin.

The researchers examined more than 1 million tweets from 2017-2019 from 638 U.S. politicians – every senator, representative, governor and mayor of the biggest 100 cities in the U.S. Then they compared the tweets with community-level climate risk, as well as with community-level opinion about climate change. They found that the more concern constituents expressed about climate change, the more their politicians tweeted about it; meanwhile, communities most at risk from climate change were less likely to see their leaders tweeting about it.

The fact that politicians representing high-climate-risk districts tweeted less about climate change may seem counterintuitive, but it's a result of community wealth disparities, said Shorna Allred, one of the paper's co-authors and professor with joint appointments in the departments of Natural Resources and the Environment and Global Development in CALS. Many of the communities most at risk from climate change are also the poorest.

"The least resourced governments may be focused on urgent economic issues and likely not in the best financial position to respond to climate change," Allred said. "This highlights the importance of prioritizing resources for climate change mitigation and adaptation in communities where high climate risks coincide with low per-capita income. It also highlights the vital nature of income equality and the role of community income levels in driving political action."

The researchers wanted to understand more about leadership, asking to what extent politicians lead based on what the facts dictate, regardless of public opinion – a concept called "trusteeship" – and to what extent they simply follow public opinion, or "play to the crowd." In particular, they wanted to see how politicians manage these roles when faced with complicated scientific information – a principle they saw play out with COVID-19, just as they were studying it with climate change.

Margolin cited the response of several governors to COVID-19 as examples of trusteeship. Before most citizens understood how serious the pandemic would be, some governors shut down schools, imposed mask mandates and took other public safety measures based on scientific data, not public opinion.

That has not happened with climate change.

"The science of climate change really hasn't changed since the 1990s, but there has been very little action by leaders based on that evidence," Margolin said. "What has changed is public opinion. We've basically waited for the weather to get so bad that public opinion changed."How public opinion about climate change affects climate policy

More information: Chao Yu et al, Tweeting About Climate: Which Politicians Speak Up and What Do They Speak Up About?, Social Media + Society (2021). DOI: 10.1177/20563051211033815

Provided by Cornell University 

 

Disaster-struck Turkey faces toll of climate change

by Raziye Akkoc

Wildfires have killed eight people since late July across southern Turkish coastal regions, ravaging forests and turning villages to ash.

From flash floods to forest fires, drought to "sea snot", Turkey is bearing the brunt of increasingly frequent disasters blamed on climate change, putting pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to act.

Wildfires that have killed eight people since late July across southern coastal regions, ravaging forests and turning villages to ash, followed the growth of a slimy mucus in the Sea of Marmara that destroyed marine life.

Deadly floods in the northeast followed an arid spell that dried up dams, endangering water supplies. Sinkholes caused by water mismanagement are encroaching on farmers' homes.

Experts warn the vast, geographically diverse country risks fighting rolling disasters if it does not forcefully confront climate change, which is warming sea temperatures in regions such as the Mediterranean.

A landmark UN report this week warned that global warming is occurring far faster than forecast.

The issue is turning increasingly political, with polls showing it registering highly with up to seven million members of Generation Z who will be able to vote in the next election, slated for 2023.

Experts and environmentally-conscious politicians put ratifying the 2015 Paris Agreement adopted by 196 countries on top of Turkey's to-do list.

"Sea snot" in the Sea of Marmara has destroyed marine life.

Turkey is one of only six nations, including Iraq and Libya, yet to formally approve the accord.

"This is the first step. We must become a part of the global fight against climate change," said Greens of Turkey Party spokeswoman Emine Ozkan.

"There is no time to lose."

'No comprehensive policy'

Climate Action Tracker, a think tank that evaluates national emissions reduction plans, said Turkey's effort towards the accord's goals was "critically insufficient".

Ankara argues the agreement unfairly classes Turkey as "developed" rather than "developing", which would give it access to funding.

But experts say Turkey is making the mistake of failing to see critical issues such as food security and intensifying drought as linked.

"I don't see Turkey having any comprehensive and holistic climate change policy that addresses everything in an interconnected way," said water and climate policy researcher Gokce Sencan.

Sinkholes caused by water mismanagement are encroaching on farmers' homes in Turkey.

"You cannot separate food security issues from energy security issues, and food prices from the issue of drought."

Fossil fuels made up 83 percent of Turkey's energy supply in 2019.

The International Energy Agency this year praised Ankara's efforts to diversify its energy mix, with "impressive" renewable energy growth.

But environmentalists raise concern over Turkey's reliance on polluting coal, since Ankara has plans to expand domestic coal power capacity despite targeting a greenhouse gas emissions cut of up to 21 percent by 2030.

Drought the 'biggest risk'

Turkey last month registered its highest temperature since 1961 at 49.1 degrees Celsius (120.4 Fahrenheit) in the southeastern town of Cizre.

Experts say drought will remain a critical problem with far-reaching effects not only on food production but also Turkey's relations with its neighbours, which are fighting for water rights.

Experts warn the vast, geographically diverse country risks fighting rolling disasters if it does not forcefully confront climate change.

Dam levels and farmers' production have suffered from below average precipitation since 2019.

"Drought is the biggest risk that we're facing right now," Sencan said.

Levent Kurnaz, director of Bogazici University's centre for climate change and policy studies, said the issue was directly related to food and agriculture.

"If you cannot feed yourselves then you're in big trouble," Kurnaz said.

Erdogan heeded the calls and organised a water council meeting in March, but specialists say the government is not taking the issue seriously enough.

"The government supposedly acknowledges climate change but it does not take the initiative to look at the real problems that cause it," said Ozkan, whose party has not been formally registered despite applying last year.

Kurnaz pointed to water's wider impact in the region since Turkey sits on top of two legendary rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, which flow to Syria and Iraq.

• 

  The devastation left behind from a wildfire that scorched its way through the south of Turkey.

• 

  Experts say drought will remain a critical problem with far-reaching effects not only on food production but also Turkey's relations with its neighbours.

• 

  The devastation left behind from a wildfire that scorched its way through the south of Turkey.

• 

  Experts say drought will remain a critical problem with far-reaching effects not only on food production but also Turkey's relations with its neighbours.

"If we don't have enough water, they will not have enough water and that's a problem in international relations," Kurnaz told AFP.

Sencan said the key is to build water resilience because climate change will see the amount of precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean region fall.

Public concern for the environment is growing, with a November 2020 study showing 70 percent of Turks worried about the issue.

For Kurnaz, no single country is prepared for the climate crisis, with both central and local authorities "underestimating" the issue.

"If you don't learn and something larger happens then you will once again be unprepared," Kurnaz said.

---

Explore further

Turkey wildfires death toll rises to eight

---

© 2021 AFP