Diary Of The Last Age

I've posted about sea levels many times .  The increasing sea levels is the first noticeable consequence of global warming.  But coastal real estate , cities like Miami and New Orleans, aren't the only things we'll notice.  We will also notice internet coverage .  The findings estimate that within 15 years, thousands of miles of what should be land-bound cables in the United States will be submerged underwater. These cables bring us the internet, streaming movies, streaming television, streaming music.  It all could be gone with a few years. The immediacy of the threat stems from an unfortunate coinciding of location — much of the infrastructure that supports the internet just so happens to be situated in places most prone to rising waters. Internet traffic from our devices pings through fiber optic cables bound up in tubes that lie in shallow trenches underground. Although these cables are designed to be weather-resistant, they were never meant to b...

Nights Are Warming Faster Than  Days. Here’s Why That’s Dangerous . 1920  1940  1960  1980  2000         1920  1940  1960  1980  2000 Nationwide, summer nights have warmed at nearly twice the rate of days, with overnight low temperatures increasing 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit per century since 1895, when national temperature records began, compared to a daytime high increase of 0.7 degrees per century. (Nights have warmed faster than days during other seasons, too.)  As you can see from the plot, what appears to be small increases in global temperatures, 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, has large consequences to weather. In a typical year, heat waves kill more Americans than any other natural disaster including floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. While warm summer nights may seem less concerning than scorching afternoons, “the combination of high daytime and high nighttime temperatures can be really l...

I've discussed Miami's real estate on a number of occasions .  What is happening there is reaching a new level, climate gentrification. Miami residents welcome historic climate gentrification resolution.   Neighborhoods on higher ground are becoming more desirable. In what is being called the first of its kind, Mayor Francis Suarez quietly signed a resolution last month to address climate gentrification in Miami. Climate gentrification is where lower rent neighborhoods are being invaded by people from the higher rent neighborhoods threatened by rising sea levels.  Climate gentrification has been used to describe the phenomenon of wealthy residents relocating from once desirable locations along the coast, which are now vulnerable to climate impacts like sea-level rise, and moving to more secure locations. This in turn pushes out pre-existing communities, often lower-income people of color, many of whom are immigrants. Miami is trying to do something...

Tackle climate or face financial crash, say world's biggest investors Global investors managing $32tn are urging governments to phase out all coal burning. Photograph: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images  Global investors managing $32tn issued a stark warning to governments at the UN climate summit on Monday, demanding urgent cuts in carbon emissions and the phasing out of all coal burning. Without these, the world faces a financial crash several times worse than the 2008 crisis, they said. The investors include some of the world’s biggest pension funds, insurers and asset managers and marks the largest such intervention to date. They say fossil fuel subsidies must end and substantial taxes on carbon be introduced. I have posted before about the views of the World Bank and the IMF. “The long-term nature of the challenge has, in our view, met a zombie-like response by many,” said Chris Newton, of IFM Investors which manages $80bn and is one of the 415 groups that has sig...

The arctic is warming faster than other parts of the planet.  This is having an effect on weather.  It is well documented that the Arctic is warming at 2 to 4 times the global average rate (read here and here ). This decreases the temperature difference between the Equator and the Arctic, which decreases the driving force for the Jet Stream winds. The weakened driving force allows the jet stream to wallow around, just like a river that slowly meanders back and forth when it hits an area with only a slight elevation change (think flat). The image is similar to how a sailboat flounders about when the keel is pulled up: moving at the mercy of the wind instead of challenging it. In the same way that healthy arctic ice is linked with a strong, healthy jet stream that tracks relatively straight and true around the earth, so too a strong, deep keel is linked to a sailboat that tracks straight and true. It is the melting Arctic ice that is causing the jet stream to lose i...

You have to be planning ahead.  You're going to have to make a choice, are the climate scientists right?  Or is Donald Trump right?  Seriously, you will have to decide whether it's happening or not.  The latest from experts is grim. [The sea rise] would be enough to deluge Pacific and Indian Ocean island states and displace millions from Miami, Guangzhou, Mumbai and other low-lying cities. The total cost to the planet could top £11trillion. Even then the seas will not stop rising, Jevrejeva added. “They will continue to climb for centuries even after greenhouse-gas levels have been stabilised. We could experience the highest-ever global sea-level rise in the history of human civilisation.” So first step away from the ocean.  Next will be to stay away from drought areas, like the American Midwest, or the Australian West.  You can be like the Republicans and just accept what happens as it happens.  Or you can pay attention to what the scient...