Stuff you learn while trying to find out more about climate change.
Month: July 2015
Why Do Climate Deniers Hate Baby Birds?
Next video will be on species extinction.
Consider the albatross.
A bird that mates for life and flies over 6,000 miles for food, the albatross has seen profound population declines over the past several decades. It appears now as though a harbinger for its own demise.
Or take the Fiji petrel, a black, tube-nosed bird that spends almost its entire life skimming the oceans. The petrel, the albatross and other birds suffer when the oceans are polluted and overfished and a new study in PLOS One suggests they are paying a heavy price. Since the 1950s, the study concludes that seabird numbers have dropped by nearly 70 percent.
“Seabirds are particularly good indicators of the health of marine ecosystems,” said University of British Columbia’s Michelle Paleczny, a co-author of the study and a researcher with the Sea Around Us project. “When we see this magnitude of seabird decline, we can see there is something wrong with marine ecosystems. It gives us an idea of the overall impact we’re having.”
For the study, the researchers compiled information on more than 500 seabird populations from around the world, representing 19 percent of the global seabird population. They found overall populations had declined by 69.6 percent or the equivalent to a loss of about 230 million birds in 60 years.
WildFire Overtakes California Cars on Highway
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
– Robert Frost
——————-
Bad enough that climate change is drying up Lost Angeles lawns.
You start messing with Californian’s cars, now that’s serious.
Drivers could be seen standing on the side of the road in the Cajon Pass, their vehicles left stranded in the gridlocked traffic.The wildfire, which broke out on Friday in the drought-parched foothills of San Bernardino County, had charred more than 500 acres (200 hectares) by late afternoon as crews battled to get it under control.
Buckets of Rain. Buckets of Tears.
The Japan Meteorological Agency is forecasting astonishing two-day rainfall totals of up to 31 inches in Shikoku, and 24 inches in Osaka, Nagoya, and surrounding regions on the mainland.
Through 11 p.m. local time Thursday, 20.51 inches of rain had already fallen in Kamikitayama village south of Osaka, according to Weather.com – most of it coming before the storm had even made landfall.
If you think you’re getting an unusually hard soaking more often when you go out in the rain, you’re probably right.
A team of scientists in Germany says record-breaking heavy rainfall has been increasing strikingly in the last 30 years as global temperatures increase.
Before 1980, they say, the explanation was fluctuations in natural variability. But since then they have detected a clear upward trend in downpours that is consistent with a warming world.
The scientists, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), report in the journal Climatic Change that this increase is to be expected with rising global temperatures, caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Tesla Model S: Now with Ludicrous Acceleration
No wonder the oil industry calls it “Dangerous Technology”.
Wired:
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced today that the all-electric Model S sedan now comes with “Ludicrous Mode,” which will send the four-door sedan from 0 to 60 mph in a shockingly quick 2.8 seconds. That’s supercar territory, and it makes “Insane Mode,” introduced last fall and good for a 0 to 60 time of 3.2 seconds, seem utterly lame.
“Ludicrous mode” comes as part of a new version of the Model S, the P90D. The name represents an upgraded battery pack, form 85 to 90 kWh, which Tesla says is good for an extra 15 miles of range—putting the grand total at 300 miles, if you stick to 65 mph.
The boost in acceleration doesn’t actually come from the extra battery power, it’s the upside of what Musk calls “fairly advanced and exotic electronics.” To date, the car’s acceleration has been capped by how much current can be safely drawn from the battery, about 1,300 amps. Go much higher than that, and the fuse can melt. Tesla’s developed a new fuse that uses electronics and its own tiny lithium ion battery to detect when it will melt, and cut power if necessary. That lets you build in less of a margin of error, and push the amps higher.
Along with a switch from steel to superalloy inconel for the main pack contractor, that lets the battery fire out 1,500 amps of power. More power, more speed.
Put on the Glasses
In the movie, “They Live”, there is a classic scene that will probably be remembered for a long time.
The hero puts on a pair of alien-tech sunglasses, and suddenly is able to see, horrendously, the degree to which advertising, media, and commercial messaging is shaping our perceptions, directing our motivations, and subliminally, hypnotically, putting us to sleep.
“The Matrix”, of course, made “Take the Red Pill” a cultural touchstone.
This week, a viral video popped up with an inspiring, positive twist on that theme, and the added benefit of being real. A color blind young man puts on a pair of glasses that allow him to see a full range of colors for the first time.
I saw it myself this morning, and I have to say, by the end, my cheeks were a little moist.
In the video, above, fyi – he steps outside at around 3:30.
It’s a little reminder – any of us can take a breath and “put on the glasses” from time to time, and take a look at what’s all around us. It’s a good way to wake up, little by little, and remind ourselves what we’re trying to save.
“They Live” scene below.
Katharine Hayhoe Interviewed on Christian Broadcasting Network. Ruckus Ensues.
Evangelical Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe was interviewed, along with her Pastor husband on a popular Christian broadcasting news program. The comment storm is ongoing…
WASHINGTON — Climate change is one of the most contentious issues of our time. Many conservative Christians don’t agree that humans help cause it or that people can affect the Earth’s warming or cooling.
They might be surprised to find, however, that two of the more respected believers in climate change are evangelical Christians with conservative leanings.
Pastor Andrew Farley leads Ecclesia: Church Without Religion in Lubbock, Texas, and heads up Network 220, a national association of counseling, discipleship, and training ministries.
His wife, associate professor Katharine Hayhoe, is a climate scientist that in 2014 TIME magazine named one of the most influential people in the world.
26,500 Points of Proof
And that influence is growing with audiences both religious and secular because Hayhoe’s job adds weight to her contention there’s overwhelming evidence of climate change.
“There are 26,500 indicators of a warming planet all around us, many in our own backyards,” Hayhoe, the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock told CBN News.
Continue reading “Katharine Hayhoe Interviewed on Christian Broadcasting Network. Ruckus Ensues.”
The Age of Megafires
Montreal Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada WildFire. Published July 13, 2015.
Hat tip to reader Alexander Ac.
Geophysicist Henry Pollack has a ready answer when someone says to him, “There was global warming before any people were around, therefore, global warming can’t be caused by humans.”
He asks, ” There were forest fires long before man was here. Would you then say it’s not possible that humans cause any forest fires?”
More Below:
Cap and Trade Proven Successful in Northeastern States
If you listened to right wing media, you might assume that “Cap and Trade” was a game that ISIL fighters played with severed heads of their enemies.
Actually, it’s a Republican idea for fighting pollution, and it’s been shown to work pretty well in tamping down Acid Rain – which is why it was proposed early on as a means of dealing with climate change.
President Obama reminded Republicans Tuesday that cap-and-trade has GOP roots in a rare public reference to the embattled environmental policy.
“Cap-and-trade was originally proposed by conservatives and Republicans as a market-based solution to solving environmental problems,” Obama said during a fiery speech at a luncheon hosted by The Associated Press.
“The first president to talk about cap-and-trade was George H.W. Bush. Now you’ve got the other party essentially saying we shouldn’t even be thinking about environmental protection. ‘Let’s gut the EPA.’ ”
Obama’s remarks were part of a broader argument that the Republican Party has moved to the right in recent years.
“I think it’s important to remember that the positions I’m taking now on the budget and a host of other issues, if we had been having this discussion 20 years ago, or even 15 years ago, would have been considered squarely centrist positions,” Obama said. “What’s changed is the center of the Republican Party.”
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan used a cap and trade system to phase out leaded gasoline, noted MIT economics professor Richard Schmalensee and Harvard Kennedy School government professor Robert Stavins.
In 1989, President George H. W. Bush proposed the use of a cap and trade system to cut by half sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and consequent acid rain, they wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed in 2010.
“An initially resistant Democratic Congress overwhelmingly endorsed the proposal,” the professors wrote. “The landmark Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 passed the Senate 89 to 10 and the House 401 to 25.”
Bush not only accepted the cap, but he sided with environmentalists who wanted a larger cut than his own advisers, according to Smithsonian Magazine, in a report that detailed how the Environmental Defense Fund worked with Bush’s White House to make cap and trade a reality.
“George H. W. Bush does indeed deserve enormous credit for being the champion of the cap and trade program for sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain,” Pooley said. “That has led many over the years to refer to it as a Republican idea.”
Cap and Trade has actually been applied regionally in the US, by several states in the Northeast – and a new evaluation tells us (again) that it’s working pretty well, thank you.
A rational Republican Party would be taking credit for the success of their idea – but that is not the world we live in.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a GOP presidential contender, made waves about climate change in a May 11 interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on This Week.
“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” Rubio said. “And I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it. Except it will destroy our economy.”
A nine-state agreement to reduce emissions that cause global warming has netted $243 million for the Massachusetts economy and more than $1 billion for other northeastern states, according to a new report.
Massachusetts collected $166 million from the carbon permitting program from 2012 through last year, according to the report, and it has plowed $152 million back into energy-efficiency programs. After adding and subtracting other impacts, including higher electricity prices, the report said Massachusetts netted $243 million in economic value and 2,718 jobs.
Continue reading “Cap and Trade Proven Successful in Northeastern States”
Climate Deniers Want More Pluto, Less Earth
Above, skip directly to 2:16 for a classic story of good ol’ boy congressional goober-ism.
It’s been a triumphant week for NASA, as we reap the rewards of a long term technical triumph in the New Horizons flyby of Pluto. Might be good to consider whether NASA scientists are worth listening to when they inform us about what is happening on the world beneath our feet – the only one most human beings will ever live on.
There is a powerful anti-science movement in the US Congress that would like NASA scientists to stop finding out all that inconvenient stuff about what we are doing to the earth, like, why is it so dang hot down here? Better, they say, to keep the focus on what’s going on in far distant corners of the universe.
Speaking of goobers, Senator Ted Cruz pushes the ‘more space, less Earth” meme in a congressional hearing, and runs into a polite but devastating response from NASA administrator Charles Bolden:
Bolden defended spending more money on Earth science activities, saying he is “proud” of it since it’s led to a greater understanding of the planet.
“We can’t go anywhere if the Kennedy Space Center goes underwater and we don’t know it — and that’s understanding our environment,” Bolden said, in a clear reference to global warming-related sea level rise.
“It is absolutely critical that we understand Earth’s environment because this is the only place that we have to live.”
As recent reports have shown, NASA satellites and earth observations have made critical discoveries about things as vital to Earthlings as – where is all our water going? Below, Rachel Maddow hears from NASA researcher Jay Famiglietti on the status of global water resources.
..as we’ve noted before, what Ted Cruz thinks NASA needs to be doing is concentrating on stuff that is far away from Earth — the real space science, not all the stupid wasteful research that NASA has been doing on our own planet, which isn’t in space at all, and also isn’t even good science, as Ted Cruz understands science. Which is badly.
Ted Cruz is simply not a fan of these dumb NASA scientists who refuse to look to the skies — or at least, not high enough in the skies, because what’s actually in our own planet’s atmosphere belongs to the fossil fuel industry, and NASA shouldn’t politicize science by getting in the way of scientific progress with a lot of wild predictions about climate change. As he lectured NASA administrator Charles Bolden at a hearing in March, NASA is about being inspiring and space-oriented and doing cool stuff like going to the Moon, not about being depressing and Earth-looking-at:
But I would suggest that almost any American would agree that the core function of NASA is to explore space. That’s what inspires little boys and little girls across this country.
After all, no children in the history of the world ever got excited about how carbon dioxide is making the planet unlivable, and there’s nothing at all inspiring in the quest to stop global warming, there just isn’t. Go look at some planets that don’t have lobbyists, will you, NASA? Cruz has actually won at least part of his battle against NASA’s stupid satellites that look at Earth, convincing his pals in the House to slash NASA’s Earth-science budget.
Funny thing about planetary science, though: as Mother Jones columnist Tim McDonnell points out, there aren’t any other agencies in the U.S scientific establishment, or private industry, to take over NASA’s climate research. And of course, it’s NASA satellites that collect the very data Cruz misinterprets to call climate change a crock.
Worse, says McDonnell, “it’s pretty hard for scientists to make sense of what they see on other planets if they don’t understand the one we’re on.”
Continue reading “Climate Deniers Want More Pluto, Less Earth”