When I got back from Greenland in August, I recognized that, while I had a lot of pictures of all the other folks involved in Dark Snow 2014, I had precious few of myself.
I got ahold of Gabriel Warren, our sculptor in residence fot he trip, and a pretty keen arctic guy in his own right, to see if he had any pics of moi. He did.
For those of you that contributed to the project, just wanted to make sure you know what you were paying for, and I wasn’t spending the time chilling in the kitchen tent.
If you wonder how we got those moulin shots without a chopper mounted gyro-stabilized camera, here’s how. Scrap aluminum from nearby weather station, Go-Pro, and duct tape. Drones also helped.Juggling lenses while looking down a moulin.
It’s ironic that in the course of spending most of my time trying to raise awareness about how serious the climate issue is, recently I’ve had to be on the side of seeking to tamp down unnecessary alarm and fatalism that I’m seeing, particularly online.
I’ve been planning to do a piece on the whole “undersea methane bomb” idea, and have been interviewing key scientists in this area for quite a while. I was not planning to release a finished piece for some time- as this is an area where I feel the need to step very carefully.
I’ve posted before that I believe the cottage industry that has developed around catastrophic scenarios of methane bombs, burps, and belches is probably not accurate, and definitely not helpful at this time.
Now in the last two weeks there’s been a bit of a kerfuffle following Dr. Gavin Schmidt’s presentation at a conference in the UK, where he trained some pretty intense fire on the whole issue, and in the process made some pretty good points – most compellingly, that when we look back at previous interglacial periods, even when where it has been warmer than today for long periods, when we are pretty sure significant amounts of land ice melted, and sea levels were considerably higher, – we don’t see a methane belch.
Gavin has since been attacked in some rather conspiracy-flavored blog posts, basically with the idea that alternative views were somehow not allowed at the conference, although Dr. Peter Wadhams, who is associated with the so called Arctic Methane Emergency Group, and very much on the side of alarm for this issue, did present.
There is a rather vigorous back channel discussion going on around this, most serious people coming down on the side of some concern, no burning hair or clothing, but wanting more info.
I’m by no means ready to go with a carefully digested piece on this, but given the fooferaw going on now, I thought I would start sharing some of the interviews I have with credible scientists on this issue. Above, one of the most credible, Dr. Carolyn Ruppel, who chairs the US Geological Survey gas hydrates research group. Dr. Ruppel was an author of the recent, widely publicized finding of methane seepage along the US East Coast:
Natural methane leakage from the seafloor is far more widespread on the U.S. Atlantic margin than previously thought, according to a study by researchers from Mississippi State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other institutions.
Methane plumes identified in the water column between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Georges Bank, Massachusetts, are emanating from at least 570 seafloor cold seeps on the outer continental shelf and the continental slope. Taken together, these areas, which lie between the coastline and the deep ocean, constitute the continental margin. Prior to this study, only three seep areas had been identified beyond the edge of the continental shelf, which occurs at approximately 180 meters (590 feet) water depth between Florida and Maine on the U.S. Atlantic seafloor.
Polar scientists who were part of early Antarctic exploration expeditions reconvene to discuss the significance of the South Pole. Bill Baker, former president of New York’s public television station, WNET, reports.
There are so many facets to climate change that make it difficult to address – but when an issue is important – and when it has life or death consequences – you don’t give up just because it’s difficult. You work harder. You press further. – Micheal Bloomberg, former Mayor New York City, really rich guy.
LANSING, MI — Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving another assist to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican running for re-election against Democrat Mark Schauer.
Bloomberg’s Independence USA political action committee is starting to air pro-Snyder “issue advertisements” in the run-up to the November 4 general election.
The full size and scope of the ad buy is unclear — the treasurer has not yet responded to a request for comment — but it is believed to be significant. Public records show the Super PAC is running spots on broadcast television stations beginning this week in the Detroit market.
Bloomberg, a former Democrat who won elected office as a Republican and independent, held a fundraiser for Snyder in New York earlier this year and personally gave a maximum $6,800 to the governor’s re-election campaign.
The Super PAC’s new Snyder ad highlights some of the same accomplishments his campaign touts — including private sector job growth and a falling unemployment rate — and casts him as “the governor that put partisanship aside” and delivered results.
We’re all familiar with climate deniers — the politicians who proudly declare that 97 percent of climate scientists are wrong, and human carbon emissions aren’t driving up global temperatures to a potentially catastrophic degree. Opposing them are what Grist’s David Roberts termed “climate hawks” — people who think climate change is real, it’s extremely dangerous, and civilization’s use of fossil fuels is behind most of it.
But in between, a strange twilight figure has risen for whom there is no term, but with whom climate activists will have to grapple if America is to do its part in keeping the world under 2°C of warming.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) probably represented this odd creature best back in August: “[Climate change is] a concern in terms of both its impact and the volatility it’s having on our weather patterns,” he said. But when reporters dug into whether humans are causing it, Snyder dodged: “I don’t get into how we got there because that tends to go off into a discussion that I don’t think has real value.”
“Is that relevant or not?” Snyder continued. “No. We have an issue. We need to address it.”
Similar sentiments have been expressed by other politicians. “I’m not qualified to answer that question,” Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (R) told Real Clear Politics in June when asked if humans are the main drivers of global warming. “Let me tell you what we’ve done, without getting to whether it’s human-caused or whatever that may be.”
OK, fair enough. Bloomberg is a former Democrat, turned Republican, wants to support the delicate green shoots of sentient thought within the hostile environment of his formerly rational party.
Efforts to battle global warming and climate change by limiting carbon dioxide emissions are likely to produce a massive building boom at Michigan power plants in years to come, potentially creating thousands of jobs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refining its proposed clean air regulations that would require states to dramatically lower output of greenhouse gases over the next 15 years. For Michigan, the targeted reduction is 31% over 2012 levels.
Gerard Anderson, CEO of DTE Energy, estimated the emissions regulation will lead to the retirement of half or more of the coal-fired generation in Michigan. That capacity will be replaced with natural gas and wind power, both requiring big new investment in facilities. For the state as a whole across several power companies, including DTE, Anderson estimated $15 billion would be spent on new facilities.
“I would say that the electric sector is headed for the biggest transformation it’s seen in 40 years, starting soon,” Anderson told the Free Press. “This is the most important and most sweeping environmental regulation ever issued in our sector by a pretty wide margin, and perhaps the most important environmental regulation ever issued.”
The rebuilding of Michigan’s power generating capacity could become the most visible part of the state’s energy economy in the next 10 to 20 years. Industry experts agree that growing the cluster of industries that comprise the energy sector depends on a mix of public policy, entrepreneurial energy and general economic direction.
The article includes this graphic – which goes a long way toward explaining where the real jobs and benefits are for the middle class.
“If we continue a consistent departure from average for the rest of 2014, we will edge out 2010 as the warmest year on record,” said Jake Crouch, a climatologist with NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, during a press briefing Thursday.
Specifically, if each of the remaining months of the year ranks among the top five warmest, 2014 will take the top spot, he said.
The news may come as a surprise to those living in the eastern portion of the U.S., which has seen a relatively cool year so far, with a frigid winter followed by a near-average summer (which seemed extremely mild compared to recent steamy summers). But the global picture shows that the East was “pretty much the only land area in the globe that had cooler-than-average temperatures,” Crouch said. (The western U.S., on the other hand, has been baking.)
The graph below shows where 2014 is in relation to other years at this stage. I’m told by folks that know, 2014 is “in the running” for hottest year, although it will take a pretty scorching run to be #1. Very likely to crack the top 5.
Click the image below for a larger, more readable version.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk unveiled the “D” on Thursday night, which stands for the ultra-powerful “dual-motor” in the new and improved Model S sedan.
The car looks the same from the outside, but it is radically improved. The acceleration is faster, the top speed is higher, and for the first time ever, the efficiency of the car actually increases, despite the increased mass of the motor.
But Musk said “there’s something else” about this new car: Autopilot. It’s not quite a driverless car, but rather cruise control on steroids. The car can read speed-limit signs automatically and can even turn without hands on the wheel.
And you really need to see Autopilot to believe it. Watch this 90-second video, courtesy of SlashGear, and you’ll be convinced you’re looking at the future of automobiles. (Things really get crazy at the 0:38 mark, when the driver engages Autopilot.)
Electric car giant Tesla on unveiled a new two-engine vehicle designed to perform in bad weather, featuring four-wheel drive and anti-collision technology.
Performance in inclement conditions was considered one of the weak spots of Tesla’s existing models and with the new car, the company is trying to win over drivers in regions where the weather is not the nearly year-round sunshine that its California base enjoys.
Founder Elon Musk said the new version of the Model S will feature the additional letter D — D for dual motor, one in the front and one in the back.
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Musk had created a frenzy of speculation with a tweet earlier in the day. It said: “about time to unveil the D and something else.” He did not elaborate.
At Thursday’s evening event he said, “since I?ve tweeted about the D I?ve learnt a lot including things I didn?t think were physically possible.”
He was joking about all the speculation as to what the D could mean.
The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM) is organized by The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Over the last 15 TAMs, this event has become the leading conference in the world focused on scientific skepticism. Well over 1,000 people from around the world come to TAM each year to share learning, laughs, and the skeptical perspective with their friends and a host of distinguished guest speakers, panelists, workshop presenters, and entertainers.
“More of a brain show than a trade show.” — Los Angeles Times
“At this gathering of the nerdiest of the nerdy, it’s hard not to run into the likes of Michael Shermer, the charismatic publisher of Skeptic magazine, or such scientific celebrities as Michael E. Mann, the embattled climatologist famous for his hockey-stick graph of Earth’s rising temperature. ‘You read their books, and then there they are in person!’ one astonished attendee tells his partner.” — Pacific Standard
