“Russia helped Trump get elected…right after they did a half TRILLION dollar oil deal with Rex Tillerson..and then Rex Tillerson became the person in charge of US Foreign Policy…under Donald Trump, who Russia had just helped install in power – that itself is frickin’ weird…”
Yeah, weird.
Did you see the National Geo Sept. issue on the melting in the Arctic? The military presence there is chilling.
ann
Actually, ahem… it’s warming. Soot from the heavy fuel oil used by ships makes the ice darker, speeding melting, so it’s yet another positive feedback loop that’s screwing the biosphere ever faster; melting opens passages and access to resources, using them increases shipping in the area which melts more ice, opening more areas for shipping and extraction…
The shipping effect on Arctic Ocean sea ice is negligible but more soot on the ice/snow in spring/summer would add a tad of warming, probably also trivial though unless the ships are in the thousands and have very inefficient engines.
Dozens of studies show there is an effect and it’s already increasing, because the ships are and they do. I didn’t specify soot etc, falling on ice rather than water because I assumed anyone not an idiot would grok the diff instantly and I’ve mostly stopped caring or trying to change what idiots think.
“Brown Carbon from Increased Shipping Could Harm Arctic Ice”
Emission from a ship’s engine gives clues to how much light-absorbing molecules may build up on and above snow and sea ice. Such emissions are likely to increase as more ships venture into the Arctic.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/brown-carbon-from-increased-shipping-could-harm-arctic-ice
“Light absorbing carbon emissions from commercial shipping”
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2008GL033906
Is that why the Russians are using nuclear icebreakers?
It is still so frustrating that, while climate change is getting more coverage, the media can still write stories about the oil industry and fuel prices from a political or economic perspective (Saudi refinery damage, Ecuador leaving OPEC so it is no longer constrained in how much oil it can sell), without linking them to atmospheric CO2 levels. Even Rachel Maddow’s description on Colbert of how nasty and corrupt the international oil industry is didn’t mention global warming.
Yes. There’s a dichotomy because the product is ubiquitous. Frustrating but inevitable.
She mentioned the corruption in Equatorial Guinea. The Swiss are auctioning off the President’s son’s super high end car collection as part of a corruption prosecution, the proceeds from which will go to EG charities to address their deep poverty.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49871671
Sudan is the perfect example. The South agitated for years because the government in the north monopolised the benefits of the extraction from the south. ie, corruption screwing the people who sat on the resource. There were harsh words and South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, following 98.83% support for independence in a January 2011 referendum.[22][23]
It has suffered ethnic violence and endured a civil war since 2013.
Life may not be a bed of roses in the north, but it doesn’t make the news for mass slaughter either.