Diary Of The Last Age

Sooner or later, the economic solution to global warming will be adopted, a carbon tax or  dividend .  When this happens beef will become very expensive, available only to the most wealthy.  Removing beef from the diet will have a greater impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide than removing all automobiles.  Rice is going to have a different problem.  People around the world consume rice in their daily diets. But in addition to its nutrient and caloric content, rice can contain small amounts of arsenic , which in large doses is a toxin linked to multiple health conditions and dietary-related cancers. Now researchers at the University of Washington have found that warmer temperatures, at levels expected under most climate change projections, can lead to higher concentrations of arsenic in rice grains. The team will present these findings Dec. 10 at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco. “In general, the plant is like a big tub...

For several summers, this deeply incised melt channel transported overflow from a large Greenland melt lake to a moulin, a conduit that drains the water through many hundreds of feet to the ice sheet’s bed. (Ian Joughin) I've posted many times about projected increases in sea level.  I believe that will be what really gets people moving on climate change.  It's starting slowly, like a frog in a pot coming to a boil, it might seem okay at first and then suddenly we're cooked.  It's getting worse.   We may be cooked sooner that we realize. The Greenland ice sheet’s losses have accelerated so fast since the 1990s it is now shedding more than seven times as much ice each year, according to 89 scientists who use satellites to study the area. The sheet’s total losses nearly doubled each decade, from 33 billion tons per year in the 1990s to an average now of 254 billion tons annually. Since 1992, nearly 4 trillion tons of Greenland ice have entered the ocean, ...

The goal of IPCC is to keep the global temperature increase from preindustrial times below 1.5 degrees Celsius, however, it's already more than 3 degrees Celsius in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It is becoming clear that climate change temperatures are going to affect different parts of the world differently.  Another example is Arctic where the temperatures are increasing faster than anywhere else on the planet.  Here is a diagram showing temperatures around the globe. This shows the Arctic warming but notice the small dot at Los Angeles.  Other places besides the Arctic, are Eastern Europe, Eastern Russia, and off the coast of Uruguay . The entire global ocean is warming, but some parts are changing much faster than others — and the hot spot off Uruguay is one of the fastest. It was first identified by scientists in 2012, but it is still poorly understood and has received virtually no public attention. [A] mysterious blob covers 130,000 square miles o...

A Washington Post analysis of multiple temperature data sets found numerous locations around the globe that have warmed by at least 2 degrees Celsius over the past century. That's a number that scientists and policymakers have identified as a red line if the planet is to avoid catastrophic and irreversible consequences. But in regions large and small, that point has already been reached.  The Post analyzed four data sets, and found: Roughly one-tenth of the globe has already warmed by more than 2 degrees Celsius , when the last five years are compared with the mid- to late 1800s. That's more than five times the size of the United States. Temperature change, 2014-2018 compared with 1880-1899 -1 0 1.5 2ºC 6+ Insufficient data Source: Berkeley Earth Temperature change, 2014-2018 compared with 1880-1899 6+ -1 1.5 2ºC 0 6+ Insufficient data Source: Berkeley Earth Temperature change, 2014-2018 ...

New Climate Change Musical Premiers to Rave Review In New York    A new musical about climate change is premiering in New York Off-Broadway.  The show, titled " Hooked on Happiness ," spotlights a high-school drama class that decides to create their own musical about global warming, instead of performing one of the usual shows their drama teacher has suggested  The musical is an inspiring new look at climate justice and what the generation that will have to endure its most dire effects is doing to ignite immediate action. As a student says, "Just remember - a fish can't be happy in hot water, a bird can't be happy in dirty air, a bear can't be happy in a dead forest, and people can't be happy in an environment that's collapsing beyond our control." This is an example of what is beginning to happen, the younger generation is reacting to the climate crisis, and we did for civil rights and anti-Vietman war back in the 70's. 

I've posted before about the impact of climate change on the Pacific Northwest.  My main points were that we will have to find a way to store the rain water because the snow pack will go away.  I also mention the problem created by rising sea levels affecting beach side property and houses high on bluffs.  This post describes the impact over the entire United States.  Image: Grist/Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Their discussion of the Pacific Northwest is not very detailed but basically supports my discussion.  Those interested in other parts of the country should check out what they have to say.

I began writing a novel about what I thought was going to happen as the planet warmed, in particular that young people were going to do something about the failure of government to solve the problem. I devised a plot where some young people develop a bacteria (which actually does exist) that eats oil and destroy oil fields.  Nothing like that has happened yet, but I've noted in the past people who've attacked oil pipelines. But something more is beginning to happen which I've anticipated.  These days seem dark because of  Extinction Rebellion’s ‘blood protest’ outside the Treasury last week. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters  Donald Trump's imminent impeachment, but much darker days are ahead.  I've posted over the years about the growing threat of global warming and it seems hardly necessary to continue to bring the awareness of this to people, though let me keep you up to date, here , here , and here , and that's just a sample of what is happening rig...

I began a novel about what I felt the impact of global warming would be.  In the first section I deliberately compared the social conflict over global warming to the Abolitionist movement in the 18th Century.  Five years ago I posted here about that: The most important deniers are the oil and coal companies and their enablers, members of the U.S. Senate. One of the most important oil company activists are the Koch brothers who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars directly or through groups they support financially. This group are the 21st Century analogues of the 19th Century Southern slave owners whose wealth and ways of life were threatened by the anti-slavery Abolitionists . They are prevailing at this point by their ability to create confusion and doubt about global warming.  I believe that twenty years from people will be looking back on where they were on the issue of climate change in the same way that people in the 18th Century looked back on where th...

The majority of Americans believe there's a climate crisis.   Here are poll results.

I've warned about climate migration before .  The second chapter of my novel, not yet completed, was going to be about the United States stationing machine guns at the border to fight off the immigrants.  I wish I had completed that chapter when I was working on the novel four years ago because it now looks prophetic. The United Nations is warning about food supply . The world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates,” a new United Nations report warns, which combined with climate change is putting dire pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself. A particular danger is that food crises could develop on several continents at once, said Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the lead authors of the report . “The potential risk of multi-breadbasket failure is increasing,” she said. “All of these things are happening at the same time.”  The result, they sugg...

Five years ago I posted about a comparison of global warming activists to 19th Century Abolitionists.  I wrote a chapter of a novel making that point more clear.  Todays "Warmists" will someday be compared to the 19th Century Abolitionists, fighting an opposition to oil and gas companies like Abolitionists fought against slaveholders. I found out about that time that Chris Hayes, of MSNBC, also made the same comparison.  Now that comparison has been made by David Attenborough . The attitude of young people towards tackling the environmental crisis is “a source of great hope”, David Attenborough has told MPs, as he predicted that polluting the planet would soon provoke as much abhorrence as slavery Asked by the Labour MP Vernon Coaker to expand on how public attitudes were shifting, Attenborough replied: “There was a time in the 19th century when it was perfectly acceptable for civilised human beings to think that it was morally acceptable to actually own another...

We are on track for 1000ppm by 2100 if we do nothing.  At 1,000ppm,  human cognitive ability drops by 21% .   Outdoor CO2 already reaches 500ppm regularly in industrial cities; indoors, in poorly ventilated homes or school workplaces, it can regularly exceed 1,000ppm. A  study of bedrooms in Denmark  found that overnight concentrations of CO2 exceeded 2,000ppm, with measurable effects on student’s performance the following day. The global warming deniers argue that CO2 is not a pollutant and therefore it's presence in the biosphere doesn't matter.  However, that just is not true.   Air pollution over London. Rising levels of outdoor pollution will mean levels rising indoors too. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA  Indoor levels of carbon dioxide could be clouding our thinking and may even pose a wider danger to human health, researchers say. [.....] However, the authors of the latest study – which reviews current evidence on the...

The world is increasingly at risk of “climate apartheid”, where the rich pay to escape heat and hunger caused by the escalating climate crisis while the rest of the world suffers, a report from a UN human rights expert has said.   International climate treaties have been ineffective, the report said. Photograph: Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images  Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the impacts of global heating are likely to undermine not only basic rights to life, water, food, and housing for hundreds of millions of people, but also democracy and the rule of law. Alston is critical of the “patently inadequate” steps taken by the UN itself, countries, NGOs and businesses, saying they are “entirely disproportionate to the urgency and magnitude of the threat”. His report to the UN human rights council (HRC) concludes: “Human rights might not survive the coming upheaval.” Another example , rich people with coastal property endangere...

Extinction Rebellion , a movement of young people demanding action on climate change, has been demonstrating in Europe, in particular, London.  I've posted about them recently.  A Banksy has appeared at the Marble Arch in London, a declaration that the time for action is now, From This Moment On Despair Ends And Tactics Begin.    It speaks for itself.  Now is the time for action. 

I've posted many times before that what will really get everyone's attention about global warming will be rising seas.  It's happening now but the impact is very slow to show itself allowing people to fail to notice.  The problem is that when it finally comes to everyone's attention it will be too late to prevent some serious consequences.  Elizabeth Rush:  Thwaites Glacier A glacier the size of Florida is on track to change the course of human civilization Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica is enormous and is often referred to as the most dangerous glacier on Earth. It has also been dubbed the doomsday glacier. The glacier holds two feet of sea level but more importantly, it is the “backstop” for four other glaciers which holds an additional 10-13 feet of sea level rise. When Thwaites collapses it will take most of West Antarctica with it. This is not new information for those of us that follow the science, for example, Eric Rignot in 2014 , state...