#effects on climate

[reasonsforhope]

"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterfly.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

#colombia #brazil #urban #urban landscape #urban planning #cities #civil engineering #green architecture #green spaces #urban heat #urban heat island effect #weather #meteorology #global warming #climate change #climate hope #climate optimism #climate emergency #climate action #environment #environmental news #city architecture #bicycling #native plants #biodiversity #good news #hope #solarpunk #ecopunk #hopepunk

[mexicanistnet]

El Niño's back in the Pacific and Mexican scientists are diving deep to understand its impact. Aboard El Puma research vessel, they're studying El Niño's effects on climate, marine life and more. Their findings will help communities adapt and prepare for future El Niño events.

#el niño #pacific ocean #mexico pacific #mexican scientists #El Puma research vessel #El Puma #research vessel #marine life #effects on climate #climate

[without-ado]

A lesson on the greenhouse effect; Dr. Carl Sagan testified before Congress in 1985 on climate change l carlsagandotcom/full vid

#climate change #greenhouse effect #earth #climate crisis #environment #carl sagan #informative #science #planets #greenhouse gases #global warming

[reality-detective]

InfoWars Report: 1982 CBS Climate Change Lies 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think about it #think for yourselves #think for yourself #do your homework #do some research #do your own research #ask yourself questions #question everything #climate change #climate crisis #greenhouse effect #you decide #news #infowars #lies exposed

[robo-dino-puppy]

happy birthday aloy!

#horizon forbidden west #hfw #aloy #here's to the birthday girl! (in 997 years) #i hope we don't actually need an aloy to save the world but i am Distressed at how accurate horizon is wrt climate & rich people & etc. #btw you can get some real cool glow effects with the free cam in cutscenes and the hero lighting/changing time of day :D #hfw pc

[sleepyleftistdemon]

(via xkcd: Greenhouse Effect)

#greenhouse effect #history #comic #global climate change

[turtlesandfrogs]

So I was scrolling and saw this image in an article about the European heat wave,

And was like, uh, are you missing something there, buddy? Like all that red in northern Africa? Because that's a lot of red.

And I was going to give them the benefit of doubt, since I don't know much about the climate in Northern Africa, aside from Morroco and Egypt, which seem like really hot places, so you know, maybe it's normal there?

But nope, that's not the case:

"While the planet broke multiple records for average worldwide temperatures last week, a heat wave gripped northern Africa.

The region has been experiencing some of the most intense heat waves in recent years, but in many cases they’ve been under-reported due to misconceptions about Africans’ ability to withstand them.

“Africa is seen as a sunny and hot continent,” said Amadou Thierno Gaye, a research scientist and professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. “People think we are used to heat, but we are having high temperatures for a longer duration. Nobody is used to this.”

North Africa, the Sahara desert and the Sahel, a semi-arid belt north of the Sudanian savanna, are some of the most vulnerable areas because they have larger land masses relative to the rest of the continent, meaning they tend to heat up faster. Scientists have attributed the unprecedented temperatures to a combination of human-induced climate change and the return of El Niño, a natural phenomenon that alters weather patterns.

The Sahel, for instance, has been heating at a faster pace than the global average despite being hot already. Burkina Faso and Mali, both in West Africa’s Sahel, are among countries that are set to become almost uninhabitable by 2080, if the world continues on its current trajectory, a UK university study found. Its people are especially vulnerable due to shrinking resources, such as water, and poor amenities, and a dearth of trees and parks means there are few options for places to cool off.

“People talk of climate change as if it’s a thing of the future,” said Gaye. “Climate change is already here and we see its implications in people, livelihoods, economies and even in cultures.”

While studies on heat impacts on health are limited in Africa, research published last year found that children younger than 5 years old are particularly vulnerable to the hotter weather as they are less able that adults to self-regulate their bodies’ temperatures. The authors estimated that heat-related child mortality was rising in sub-Saharan Africa due to climate change. Other researchers have named the elderly, pregnant women and people who work outdoors, as groups at risk of heat strokes or heat-related infectious diseases.

Elsewhere on the continent, the crisis is also being felt. In the Horn of Africa, at least 43,000 people died in Somalia alone last year as a result of the worst drought in four decades. A study found that global warming is changing rain patterns and bringing more heat to Somalia and some of its neighbors, for longer stretches of time. Further south, unusually destructive cyclones in 2019 claimed more than a thousand lives in Mozambique and Zimbabwe alone.

“If we continue business-as-usual, the heat is not just going to get worse, it will get much worse,” said Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla, research chair in climate change science at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. “We are going to see more frequent, longer and more intense heat waves.”

Much of the continent, responsible for just 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions generated from burning fossil fuels, is ill-prepared for a hotter world. Meanwhile, Group of 20 nations, with air conditioning and access to functioning healthcare facilities, account for 80% of the world’s emissions.

Hundreds of millions of Africans lack electricity to even power a fan. One in three people in Africa is affected by water scarcity, according to the World Health Organization, so hydration can’t be taken for granted. Even shade is harder to come by due to widespread deforestation and land degradation. And only 40% of people on the continent are covered by early warning systems for extreme weather.

“More funds have to be allocated to climate adaptation and they need to be made more easily accessible to the most vulnerable countries,” Sylla said.

The UN climate talks later this year aspire to come up with a plan for richer nations to pay for loss and damages. But they’ve collectively fallen short of their commitment to spend $100 billion each year on projects in developing nations to cut emissions and to help them adapt.

“That’s where the issue of climate justice comes in,” said Gaye. “It’s not just that people are uncomfortable, climate change is killing them.”

#climate change #is happening now #we're seeing the effects now #reminder that western countries stole people and resources from Africa #environmental racism

[haldanare]

absolutely hate it when there are some news like (insert north european country) is facing a heatwave, 30 degrees C, be careful etc etc, and there is always some idiot commenting like 'haha thats nothing, try living in (hot country) where its 50 degrees every day and we're not even bothered'

like first of all, fuck you, people die when it gets this hot here, have some compassion, and second of all

-these temperatures are not normal, our summers are not supposed to be this hot, these are direct consequences of climate change

-our houses are not built to be cool, but to retain heat, they get very hot very quickly

-we do not have aircons in our homes, and many other buildings dont either, my school did not (and no we cannot simply go buy one)

-its humid as all fuck here, which makes the heat way worse, and makes it difficult for sweat to evaporate, so its even more difficult to cool down

-our days are really long! the sun rises at like 4am and sets at 11 at night in denmark right now, there is no escape from the sun

-our bodies are simply not used to this kind of heat, just like your body is not used to the kind of freezing temperatures we get here in winter

so like, if you cant dregde up a smidge of compassion for other people maybe just stfu

thanks for coming to my ted talk

#ive been seeing some really rancid takes on this recently #heat wave #heatwave #extreme heat #climate change #lau posts #the nolo track tag #denmark is currently in a drought #we havent had rain here since like mid may #this is very abnormal for us #and is having a real bad effect on our agriculture

[thegeminisage]

perpetual chicken and egg question are you not writing fanfiction because you're depressed or are you depressed because you're not writing fanfiction. write fanfiction and find out today

#personal #liz loves writing #i think it's the former i think it's seasonal it's got to be seasonal!!!!!!!! #but i wrote 1k of envesseled yesterday and like #it wasn't even a good 1k if i'm being honest like it was a bad set of words #but i felt SO much better. i didn't even get mad when i got into bed to find my cat had puked on the bedspread #having to remake my entire bed when im ready to sleep normally turns me into number one grouch and i didnt care #slept well got up at a reasonable hour and everything #the effect is starting to wear off which means i need to write another 1000 words but I Dont Wanna. must be seasonal. #man remember when i was banging out 2 an 3 thousand every day easily? i miss that. #anyway maybe it's the weather here...it's been like 70+ for 3 days now thanks climate change

[the-trans-advice-blog]

Taylor swift is such an enigma to me. How can some some incredibly mid be so popular. Like genuinely I need to know.

#not to mention her effect on the climate smh #marshal talks

[olowan-waphiya]

This Ultrawhite Paint is Cooling the Homes Inside the Poorest of India's Slums https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/this-ultrawhite-paint-is-cooling-the-homes-inside-the-poorest-of-indias-slums/

#albedo #albedo effect #climate change #climate change adaptation #india

[rudjedet]

dragging my brain kicking and screaming to the editing block and pinning it down like

we're doing this regardless of your insecurities you dumb fuck

#yes hello i am having an extremely bad time trying to get myself to edit the climate anthology short #who knew that writing something totally out of my comfort zone would garner this effect (i did and didn't)

[prolibytherium]

The thing about 'alien invasion because the home planet is doomed' media is I always just feel like a civilization who has attained interstellar travel and associated technologies would probably have more pragmatic options than an invasion of the nearest inhabited planet. Like it just feels unlikely that the Earth is the only reasonable option worth all the additional effort of a hostile takeover at that point. And that's just based within the presumption that spacefaring civilizations would be colonialists who think nothing of genocide, which really isn't a given.

#Oh they also got proton supercomputers communicating instantaneously via quantum entanglement why do they need the earth so #goddamn bad and they're using them to be all petty and 'YOU ARE BUGS' and etc FIGURE SOMETHING ELSE OUT #Yeah I'm watching that 3 Body Problem netflix show. It started out really interesting to me but it's getting less interesting #as we learn more... #I do want to read the original book now though #I do like that the actual 'invasion' is coming 400+ years ahead of when it takes place #The distance being outside the scale of multiple human lifetimes but quickly impending on a societal scale is interesting #Wow It Is Almost Like An Analogue For The Full Effects Of Unmitigated Climate Change Woww

[alluringplanet]

#climate change effects #climate change #global warming #climate crisis #deforestation #Youtube

[cryptids]

making a new post for this bc it felt a bit tmi to add to the tags of the last one lmao, but back when I used to shave my armpits they would constantly be irritated and itchy and far more sweaty (like I'd have visible pit stains every day on top of just always feeling damp and gross under my arms) and deodorant would fade much faster bc it would literally just slide off?? but when I stopped doing that, which was like 10 years ago now or more, ALL of those problems just completely went away. they never itch or get rashes or anything ever since, and deodorant started lasting all day easily. so I know first hand that its complete bs whenever people try to say shaving is necessary for hygeine or skincare or to reduce sweat or smell. like if it wasn't already clear from the fact that men aren't pressured to do the same (when they tend to sweat more overall as well?)

#honestly the way stopping shaving my armpits was life changing for me jsjfshgsdfs #if anybody else is thinking about it and looking for a sign please let it be this post #like try it for a few months and see how you feel #(i recommend over winter if you live in a climate that gets cold bc then you don't have to worry about anyone seeing and being judgmental) #ALSO another armpit tip from yours truly 💁‍♀️ is to use men's deodorant #regardless of your gender tbh it is just far more effective #and often cheaper too

[turtlesandfrogs]

"These trees are the Pacific Northwest’s iconic western redcedars (Thuja plicata). 

To many Indigenous peoples, who used the trees for houses, clothes, weapons, tools, medicines, art and canoes, they’re known as the Tree of Life."

"The government report cites previous research showing that by the end of this century the western redcedar’s range is likely to disappear at lower elevations west of the Cascades and will disappear almost entirely from eastern Washington, shifting north and eastward into the Rockies in Montana and Canada."

"Western redcedars, which aren’t as good as many other trees at slowing water loss during warm and dry conditions, seem to be especially vulnerable to droughts, and the researchers’ findings point in that direction. 

The major climate event impacting the trees, say the researchers, has been the drought. 

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is cited in the report, both Oregon and Washington have been in some form of drought since the start of this century.

To be sure, the two-decade period included both wet and dry periods.

But lack of precipitation alone doesn’t define a drought. Which is why the monitor, and scientists generally, use more complicated metrics that track factors such as soil moisture as well as heat and drought stress on plants, all of which are affected by warm temperatures.

Temperatures over the two-decade period were warm, trending higher than previous decades—leading to dry soils and stressed plants. Buhl says this longer trend helps explain what’s happening to western redcedars."

Source:

#not good #climate change effects