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Power demand has surged in heatwave-plagued China due to the necessity of air conditioning and the plummeting depth of reservoirs and rivers due to drought.
Economic strains have already impacted the country due to climate change; drought has withered crops, and the iconic Yangtze River has dried in some portions due to evaporation.
The AP writes on signs of collapse in China but does not once mention that climate breakdown is the elephant in the room. Climate impacts and way too many people increase the odds of Covid 19 like pandemics as deforestation forces species to mingle that have never interacted before must do so now due to habitat loss. Flooding was so intense that chip industries had gone offline, triggering an economic hit on the world's economies.
Some areas reported the summer crop season failed due to blistering temperatures and drought. Drinking water is in short supply, and surface water and underground water are poison.
This is what collapse looks like, but only the beginning stage. Changes in rainfall patterns appear to be what will do us in.
Clean energy is excellent, and do we ever need it, but we best start funding adaption as well and quickly. Because Joe Manchin cut all the climate plans and provisions from the climate plan months ago, all of it. We get tax credits, and that’s great, but where will solar farms or tidal energy plants go, for example? We don’t know because there is no plan or money for study and land acquisition.
If we had not diddle-daddled, we would not be in the position of running around putting out fires across the planet.
The answer now is to vote and retain and increase our Democratic margins in the Senate and House in the mid-terms. Perhaps we could better focus on what we can and cannot due to keeping the planet survivable, at least for some of what is left.
As Meteor Blades recently pointed out, every single Republican voted against the Climate plan. We must vote in numbers so great that not only will Republicans be defeated but destroyed. The GOP obstruction is yet another delay of action that the biosphere must contend with.
BEIJING (AP)— Factories in China’s southwest have shut down and a city imposed rolling blackouts after reservoirs to generate hydropower ran low in a worsening drought, adding to economic strains at a time when President Xi Jinping is trying to extend his hold on power.
Companies in Sichuan province including makers of solar panels, cement and urea closed or reduced production after they were ordered to ration power for up to five days, according to news reports Wednesday. That came after reservoir levels fell and power demand for air conditioning surged in scorching temperatures.
The shutdowns add to challenges for the ruling Communist Party as Xi, the country's most powerful leader in decades, prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader at a meeting in October or November.
snip
Hundreds of thousands of hectares (acres) of crops across central and northern China wilted due to lack of water and high temperatures, according to the government. Some areas reported the summer growing season a failure.
The weather agency has warned temperatures in some areas could spike to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
snip
“Some small- and medium-size rivers are so dry that they have stopped flowing,” the report said.
Meanwhile, authorities warned some parts of the country face possible flooding from heavy rains forecast in areas from the northwest across Inner Mongolia to the northeast.
The province relies on hydroelectric energy from dams for around 80 per cent of its electricity needs, but the drought means that water flows into hydropower reservoirs have dropped by between 30 and 50 per cent, year on year, local authorities said at a meeting on Saturday.Furthermore, hydropower stations in Sichuan also transfer around one-third of the power they generate to other seven provincial-level jurisdictions, including the coastal regions of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang – the economic powerhouse of China – according to the official Sichuan Daily.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said its members in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, received a notice on Tuesday night instructing them to reduce their power consumption to 30 per cent of their average daily, starting the following day.
These companies were also instructed by local governments not to use air conditioning in the early hours on Wednesday, according to the chamber.
"Normal operations of those affected have been completely disrupted, and they are now negotiating with authorities to allow them to keep the air-conditioning running, at least in their server rooms and some other special areas," the chamber statement said. "Based on feedback so far, even companies with lower energy demands, which might not be yet directly affected, are gravely concerned by the unpredictability of this situation and the possibility of additional disruptive measures being imposed."
The SCMP does not mention the elephant in the room either.
Ignorance is bliss, I suppose, for a media that cannot or will not connect the dots.
Scientists have warned for decades that catastrophes such as these will continue to unfold across the planet if we do not stop burning fossil fuels. We haven't, and the disasters have arrived at only a 1.2-celsius rise which we had been assured was within the safe limit, below 1.5.
For further reading:
China is almost out of safe water on its surface and in groundwater.
Like this would ever happen.
O/T This tweet is too awesome not to share.