Climate Synopsis: repetitive loss property but rising seas be damned.

The weekly news summary of climate change science, policy and solutions.

Globally, scientific concern about climate change continues to grow. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission predicts that future heat waves will exceed 55°C (131°F), especially in the U.S. east coast, coastal China, and large parts of India and South America. Meanwhile, Edinburgh University researchers have discovered 91 more volcanoes below Antarctic ice sheet. Nighttime satellite imagery from NASA, available through National Geographic, already shows massive ice cracks forming, and a volcanic eruption would transform an already altered region.

The changing climate means rising waters. Flood patterns in Europe are fundamentally changing, says Science. Egypt has villages at risk of sliding into the rising seas, reports NPR. The climate refugees are coming, and governments are not ready, warns CNBC.

Like their global counterparts, U.S. scientists are also reaching worrying conclusions. Smithsonian Magazine acknowledges that it's a challenge to attribute any one storm or heat wave to climate change. Still, the long term data and projections warrant a thoughtful response. In Louisiana, the Times Picayune observes that New Orleans has seen a 62 percent increase in the number of heavy rainfall events since the 1950s. As NOLA.com notes, floods are both reoccurring and deadly. Shifting the focus to Florida, the Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics suggests that a buyout of "repetitive loss properties" in South Florida's hurricane and flood prone regions could be needed. Areas of Galveston, Texas will experience chronic inundation as soon as 2035, says the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Water is just part of the problem. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that larch beetles populations are multiplying and damaging local forests, and when weakened trees endure droughts, fires expand and intensify. Big burns are already raging in the Pacific Northwest and in Greenland, says DW, and hotter times are yet to come, warns Salon. Indeed, as a new NASA chart of seasonal temperatures over time makes clear, hotter times have been coming, steadily and relentlessly, for a century.

Climate policy in the United States remains tragically perplexing. A Popular Mechanics article shows how the nation once helped beat back climate change in the 1980s, leading the effort to regulate freon and to protect the ozone layer. Today, instead of leading, the nation is retreating. "Why isn’t local media covering the Clean Power Plan?" asks the Columbia Journalism Review. Answering its own question, the article explains that former President Obama's signature plan to regulate energy, full of complex policy and litigation uncertainty, is not an easy story to tell.

For a simpler story, look to the President of the United States, as he undoes the legacy of his predecessor. A White House press release promotes a Wall Street Journal Editorial about coal making a comeback, allegedly because of regulatory reform. The Washington Examiner reports that the administration may repeal the Obama rules enhancing fuel efficiency for large trucks. As The Hill concluded, President Trump has made make headway on his campaign promise to cut regulations. But as a Natural Resources Defense Council representative said, “You save a million by not having a requirement, but if you have a billion dollars worth of health impacts you are hurting more than you are impacting."

The assault on climate regulation is not limited to rulemaking. A new Executive Order, discussed in the Washington Post, reverses another Obama Administration order requiring planning for climate change. The New Republic says that the Trump infrastructure plan is to ignore climate change, and "build whatever you want, rising seas be damned." As Curbed explained, President Trump's roll back of the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard will increase the number of future disasters and actually make things worse for local governments. A second New Republic article took the President to task for his hypocrisy, because he tried to build a sea wall to guard his golf course in Ireland against rising seas, yet he leaves coastal communities in his own country vulnerable and unprotected. "Flood protection for me, and none for thee."

Indeed, again and again, the Trump Administration is ignoring the science. The future of the draft report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, published every four years, is in the hands of President Trump. An article in Fast Company says the President could put Americans in harm's way:

If the Trump administration chooses to reject the pending [report], it would be more damaging than pulling the U.S. out of the  Paris Climate Agreement. Full stop.

Meanwhile, a Fox News Op-Ed insists that this climate policy stuff is all just hype. Providing a helpful insight into why people choose not to believe the scientists, the International Business Times and sociological researchers reveal that climate deniers in the Deep South aren't ignorant. Instead, fearing that their energy industry jobs are at stake, they reject the truth to save themselves.

Leaders, however, consider the evidence, even when hard to accept. Military thinkers see the problem as a destabilizing threat multiplier, so they are working on solutions. Harvard Business Review explains how the U.S. Navy is "raising its bases, using early storm warning systems, and increasingly powering its missions with the sun, instead of fossil fuels." Radical Millennials are also emerging as a powerful force for addressing climate change, says the Guardian, because they realize what the evidence means for their own future. Large investors are making the environment a priority, too, with Vanguard Group urging companies to disclose how climate change could affect their business and asset valuations. As CNN put it, from racism to climate change, "CEOs are turning on Trump."

Still, for now, every act of climate leadership creates controversy. A Daily Caller headline characterized Vanguard's initiative as haranguing Exxon. Morgan Stanley analysts are critical of Tesla, says Marketplace, because the company's manufacturing process is not as green as its product. And when California recently renewed its cap and trade program creating limits on carbon emissions and exchangeable pollution rights, CALmatters revealed that the bill included an industry assistance program that gave permits away, for free, to oil refineries.

“It was part of the deal to make sure we could get a (two-thirds) vote to extend the cap and trade program,” said Democratic Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia of Coachella. “Without a doubt, it’s a compromise in order to reach the greater goal, and at the same time, to put forward what would be the nation’s strongest air quality policies that you could ever see.”

Local governments grappling with climate policies have their own controversies. Miami Beach has been installing pumps and elevating roads, but the Real Deal, a South Florida real estate newspaper, notes that local residents worry about displaced waters causing flooded homes instead. San Diego has adopted a Climate Action Plan, but a former weatherman and Weather Channel founder tells MyNewsLA it's all a scam.

Slowly, the United States Congress may finally be coming around to the idea of leadership. The Climate Solutions Caucus keeps growing, although Politico notes that some GOP members are perceived as showy "climate peacocks" from vulnerable districts who are bucking their party. Still, the bipartisan approach to creating national climate policy has begun. The real question is when will it finish?

Expect the solutions to take a while. Vermont, a state where political leaders have been pursuing climate change goals, offers an important lesson. VTdigger revealed that the state was nowhere near achieving its desired greenhouse gas reductions, and community leaders have realized that they need to do much more.

“I think we’re at a transformative moment in world history, a critical moment,” said Paul Costello, Co-Chair of the Governor’s Climate Action Commission. “The historical imperative we face is the most important one we face as a species. We’ve got some hard work to do.”

Climate Monitor is grateful to the many journalists and publications focused on the challenges of climate change and sea level rise. But in the world of climate change, images are powerful, too. Watch the video version of this program, or sample other programs on Roku, on AmazonFire, or online at climatemonitor.tv