Month: December 2010

The New York Times profiles the impact that small scale solar technology can have on rural areas in the third world.

For decades, Big Energy advocates have cast themselves as compassionately wishing to end suffering of rural poor in the third world. But gigantic energy projects, thermal power plants, dams and the like, don’t solve the problem of rural poor in places where there is no electrical grid.  Just as third world nations have “leapfrogged” the need for expensive and unwieldy telephone land line connections, by going directly to widespread satellite phone technology – small scale solar photoelectric has the promise to bring appropriate scale technology to those who need it most.

Continue reading “Small Solar Changes lives in Rural Third World”

Quick primer on Terra Preta, or Biochar, which is a method of sequestering carbon in soils, that enhances soil quality, and may be part of the solution for stabilizing atmospheric Co2.

Now, check out one application of the Biochar idea, in a fascinating glimpse of media in a third world country, covering an important appropriate technology initiative, bringing high efficiency stoves to rural populations, to address issues of climate, deforestation, air pollution, nutrition and health.  Who knew there was a “Good Morning, Sierra Leone”?

Continue reading “Good Morning Sierra Leone. This is Biochar.”

Hanneke Brooymans, writing in the Edmonton Journal, documents how Canadians are feeling the same seismic shift that human beings the world over have sensed in recent years. We are living on a rapidly changing planet.

EDMONTON – In April this year, farmers in large swaths of Alberta were staring morosely at dusty, parched fields. A few months later, some of the same farmers were coping with floods.

Welcome to the “new normal.” It’s a world where nature takes on a Jekyll and Hyde personality, twisting from one extreme to another in a mind-bogglingly short time.

“When people describe the new norm, it is almost as if what we haven’t seen in recent years is weather that seems to be normal,” says David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada. “It seems to be that it’s out of sync. We’re seeing more extremes.”

Continue reading “Welcome to the New Normal, courtesy of Climate Change.”

Science journalist Fred Pearce has a piece in the Daily Mail explaining part of the UK deep freeze puzzle.

Continue reading “Why is the UK cold? The NAO is stuck.”

Latest Northern Hem image from NOAA Earth Systems Research Lab.

AP reports:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A winter storm that brought a rare white Christmas to parts of the South barreled up the East Coast on Saturday night, with forecasters predicting 6 to 10 inches of snow Sunday for Washington and blizzard conditions for New York City and the New Jersey shore.

As the graph above shows, the pattern that has been in effect over the last month continues, with cold arctic air flowing out of polar regions, and warmer air being sucked northward.

The pattern has been consistent across the northern hemisphere, as the Met Office image above confirms.

From the Daily Mail:

A Met Office spokesman: ‘The problem is we are not getting the warmer Atlantic air that normally keeps our winters mild.’
‘We can see that it is unseasonably warm over Canada and Greenland, this is where warm air has been diverted.’
He said that any change in the pressure over the Atlantic would need to last for several days before we would notice any change in the weather in Europe.
Freezing-cold winters and milder winters tend to cluster in groups, as the jet stream changes its path.
Experts are still unsure why this is but suspect it may be related to the EL Nino weather system as well as changes in sea temperatures and solar activity.

Media Forecast: Frequent blustering about ‘Where’s that Global Warming”, with occasional Al Gore jokes.

Google Permian extinction.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Continue reading “Life After a Global Warming Extinction: The Story in Fossils”

Climate Central has the list:

1. Mid-Atlantic Cities Break All-Time Snowfall Records

The year got off to a snowy start in the eastern U.S., with record-breaking storms along the Mid-Atlantic coast. The Nor’easter that struck in the first week of February — which quickly became known as “Snowmageddon” – dumped so much snow that it helped Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Washington break all-time records for winter snow totals. For example, Washington’s Reagan National Airport received 56.1 inches of snow during the 2009-10 winter, compared to the average total of just 15.2 inches!

2. Flooding in Nashville, Tennessee

Spring typically brings rain showers to much of the U.S., but in 2010 excessive rainfall caused a number of serious floods in the Southeast, the worst of which occurred in Tennessee. On May 1, rain began falling heavily in the middle and western regions of the state. Within 48 hours, between 13 and 19 inches of rainhad fallen, and many rivers overflowed. When the deluge finally let up two days later, large areas had been engulfed by floodwaters. At least 33 people died in the Tennessee floods, and the Nashville Planning Department says the state’s capital suffered $1.9 billion in damages — including damage to the iconicGrande Ole Opry Theatre.

Continue reading “Top Ten Climate Events from 2010”

People are always asking me, “I want to do something – give me something concrete to do!”

Well, always number one, tell somebody – a friend, a co-worker, the local newspaper editor, someone at church, club, or school – but best of all, your elected representative. (number 1A, don’t be a jerk about it.)

Next, you can make your economic choices more conscious. Bill Chaimedes of Duke University takes us on a green shopping trip.