Archive for the ‘Climate’ Category
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Like most people in Michigan and Pennsylvania I watched the NHL playoffs last night, but not all the way through. I flicked through stations and saw that ABC ran a 2-hour special last night titled “Earth 2100.” Even though I only caught the last 45 minutes, the special’s intriguing comic book format drew me in until the end.
I quickly caught on that “Lucy” the narrator was born in this decade. She lived through all of the changes that took place in the world and in the 2080’s was the oldest person on earth. Of course the human race was near its end by that time, so she was a truly remarkable woman.
The story was interjected with spotlights of real scientists speaking about certain events that will eventually take place. For instance one scientist was concerned about the release of massive amounts of methane gas that has been buried and frozen for thousands of years at the ocean’s bottom in the Arctic. As the ice melts…
If you missed the presentation, abcnews.com has a page with step-by-step videos to recreate it. There is so much information there that is easy to watch and understand in a fun way that I suggest anyone with questions about our future, the environment, and/or global warming do so. It’s a good learning tool for the whole family.
Tune in: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100/.
Tags: ABC News
Posted in Climate, Earth, Global Warming, Science, Weather/Climate | No Comments »
Friday, January 16th, 2009
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China may be running out of water. No surprise there. I think it was two years ago that I watched an hour-long presentation by Chinese environmentalists that showed the situation in China’s waterways. Bad stuff, all polluted. I read an article from Asia Times that’s from 2003 about the way the Chinese have devastated their country and explained the history of China’s terrain.
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At one time China was much warmer and wetter. Animals that we normally associate with Africa existed there. But their growing population repeatedly cut down forests, and drained marshy areas to expand. Now China is rapidly headed toward a desert like existence. I reported quite some time ago that the Gobe desert is currently only 100 miles outside of Beijing.
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China has already invested billions of dollars to redirect a river in the south toward Beijing even though that river is polluted. This plan uproots 400,000 people also. The recent movement to improve China’s water supply is massive. I suspect this might be why China has been helping Africans—a lot. China says it’s sincere. I think the Chinese are scoping out a place to go. China’s historical climate and terrain was like Africa’s. But we never hear much about China in Africa and probably won’t, until they are there. If they weren’t communist it wouldn’t be too bad but…
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China is an example to the world on how not to treat the environment, over lumber, over build, over populate, and pollute. It can leave a population high and dry down the road, or should I say river. Â Â
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Read more about China’s efforts a little too late: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2009/2009-01-15-01.asp
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EH26Ad01.html
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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-05/16/content_873767.htm
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Posted in China, Climate, Conservation, Drought, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Weather/Climate | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
If you ever had any questions about a anything relating to earth and its functions, how it all happened, how our climate is changing and why, how we know this stuff, and many other things, watch National Geographic’s presentation “Planet Earth.” This is family stuff, enlightening, interesting, and a little bit scary.
Some of the presentations are explosive. It’s a little mind boggling how they are able to present prehistoric earth with video footage of events and places from the present. I watched the one about ice mass, and last night was about earthquakes, ending with volcanic eruptions. There is as much action as the latest Rambo movie. My husband was perturbed we changed channels from the movie “Mash,” but said it was really a great presentation and he wants to see more of it now. You’ll find yourself saying “Wow” and “I didn’t know that!” more than once.
I know some people don’t get the National Geographic Channel, but the DVD set of “Planet Earth” is available. It’s better than any encyclopedia books I was brought up with. Maybe if they had this type of learning tool back then more of us would have went into science.
“Planet Earth” is on every night this week, beginning at 9:00 pm on the National Geographic Channel. Tune in.
Posted in Climate, Cyclones/Hurricanes, Earth, Earthquakes, Fires, Floods, Global Warming, National Geographic Channel, Polar Ice Melt, Snowfall, Tornadoes, Volcanoes, Weather/Climate | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
For those of us in Michigan or anywhere else that think global warming or any of the climate events happening elsewhere won’t/don’t affect us guess again. Just like yesterday’s blog about Dead Zones that affects our penchant for shrimp, crab, and select fish like grouper, the California fires are in wine country. So that perfect glass of wine to accompany that already vulnerable seafood dinner may not materialize at all.
Floods in the Midwest have caused a huge loss in corn crops also. So much for ethanol as an alternative. The loss of corn is going to cause an even greater problem with food shortages worldwide, which really can’t take another hit. As a result we’ll soon see food prices climb even higher here.
It simply amazes me that we’re experiencing such drastic degrees of bad weather at the same time. Look at the flood risk this year: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/nho/. Hundreds of people have lost homes and irreplaceable keepsakes due to flood damage.
Does anyone remember some of the prophecies about the future from the likes of Nostradamus, Cayce, and Dixon? One of the prophecies was that the U.S. would be divided by water eventually. The water rose through the middle of the country separating the east from the west. This doesn’t bode well considering the middle of our country is flooding.
As for fires, it looks like a fifth of California is burning: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sto/cafw/. Eighty homes and other structures have been destroyed by fires, while more homes are still threatened. If fires sweep through wine country there will be zilch for the year 2008.
And for those of us that have always grown things we know weather problems affect our little gardens, fruit trees, and whatever we grow just like the big guys. The wind that ripped the shingles off my house on Monday would have caused a big loss in my vegetable garden had it been later in the season when the plants were bigger. I’m saying this because I see many more gardens planted this year than ever before, and I just wonder if the novices realize that the survival technique of growing our own food can backfire on us easily if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate. The idea of living like our forefathers or Grizzly Adams if we have to won’t cut it without the support of a decent environment, so relying on ourselves for survival may not be viable if the weather continues to be extreme. Like the old commercial for butter used to say: “It’s not nice [or wise] to fool with Mother Nature.”
Posted in Climate, Drought, Extreme Weather in U.S., Farms/Farming, Fires, Floods, Global Warming, NOAA, Soaring Temperatures, Tornadoes, U.S. Weather Patterns, Weather/Climate | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
I ran across an interesting article on Environmental News Service about our changing forests and desert areas. One of my first blogs was about the influx of people to the Southwest where four states depend entirely on the Colorado River, which is supplied with water in the summer months from glacier melt. But the glaciers are slowly disappearing.
The article says that the changes will continue. In that case there will be a big exodus from those states in the future back to places like Michigan. We must keep our Great Lakes clean. Some day those lakes may mean survival for many.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-28-091.asp
Tags: Environmental News Service
Posted in Climate, Drought, Extreme Weather in U.S., Fires, Floods, Global Warming, Soaring Temperatures, U.S. Weather Patterns | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
I was looking over Science Daily’s website and found so many articles about man’s involvement with global warming. It seems humans have affected the environment for thousands of years. The Little Ice Age and Medieval Warming period all the nay sayers like to brandish as proof that global warming happened before and is a natural occurrence just ain’t so.
Man has been affecting the environment for thousands of years. The sad thing is this article is almost 3 years old. Have these findings been censored from the general public because I’ve been arguing with people who have brought up the ice ages and warming periods of the past, while the whole time science has had proof that: “Humans have been tinkering with greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere for at least 2,000 years and probably longer, according to a surprising new study of methane trapped in Antarctic ice cores conducted by an international research team.”
Read more about it and browse around because there is a plethora of articles and findings that substantiate we are indeed causing what we call global warming.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050909075709.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/10/981002082033.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0902-our_changing_climate.htm
Tags: Methane Gas
Posted in CO2 Emissions, Climate, Conservation, Environmental Spin, Environmentalism, Fires, Global Warming, Global Warming Reports, Industry, Politics, Pollution, Science, The Denial Machine, Weather/Climate | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Since the Myanmar (Burma) hurricane, with already 100,000 people reported dead and 200,000 more missing, China was hit by a massive 7.9 earthquake with nearly 9,000 people dead and thousands missing or injured along with devastating tornadoes that ran through the middle of the U.S. all the way to Georgia leaving 23 dead, and there were very few reports about a tidal wave that hit S. Korea May 4th, but it killed at least seven people when it hit a pier and seaside rocks sweeping away tourists and anglers. Who knows how many were in the area.
So it’s been one heck of a week for big disasters. The tornadoes that keep hitting the center of our nation worse and worse every year are taking more and more lives. It wasn’t long ago that we could honestly make the statement that while tornadoes wreak a lot of damage across our country; very few usually die from them. Not so anymore.
Hits like this from Mother Nature are getting noticeably worse and more and more frequent. According to Wikipedia, as of May 8th, 819 tornadoes have been reported in the United States (of which at least 465 have been confirmed), with 98 confirmed fatalities. This already makes 2008 the deadliest year for them since 1998, and it’s not Memorial Day yet!
People can pooh pooh extreme weather all they want. I reported a long time ago in one of my blogs that I was curious about reports of global warming relative to increased disastrous weather/climate activity and researched the recorded events myself. This was back in 2000. I went to the NOAA website and printed extreme weather events worldwide from 1990 to 2000. 1990 events took up 1/3 of a page. By 2000, 3 ½ pages printed out for that year.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how fast weather events are advancing. We don’t hear enough about them in the media. We need to see it, and hear it, over and over until we have some notion of what some people are going through because of Mother Nature, not just look out our windows and say “Well, it’s not me.”
Great explanation and map of active fault lines and what causes earthquakes @:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7807001/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes_of_2008
Posted in Climate, Cyclones/Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Extreme Weather in U.S., Global Warming, Global Warming Reports, Tornadoes, U.S. Weather Patterns, Weather/Climate | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Yesterday I reported that NASA satellites are studying all types of changes on the earth. One of NASA’s studies whose results were on their website stated that:
Scientists from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., set out to see what effect reduced sea ice cover would have on the organisms that comprise the base of the Arctic marine food web, the single-celled floating algae called phytoplankton. Because these photosynthetic organisms rely on the sun to meet their energy demands, reduced Arctic sea ice cover means an increase in the amount of open water habitat suitable for algal growth. Thus, their abundance is expected to increase.
Not surprisingly, the scientists found that the growth of phytoplankton has indeed increased markedly in concert with the rapid reduction in sea ice cover over the last five years. However, they were surprised to find that this growth did not take place in the areas of the Arctic where we expected it. The researchers anticipated that areas experiencing the most dramatic loss of sea ice would show the largest increase in algal growth. However this was not the case. Algal growth did indeed rise in newly ice-free areas, but only accounted for about one third of the total Arctic increase. The majority of the increase in algal growth (70 percent) was observed in the shallow waters that ring the Arctic Ocean. In these areas, algal growth rates increased because the sea ice in these areas, algal growth rates increased because the sea ice cover was melting sooner and freezing later in the year giving the algae increasingly more time to grow.
This was nine year study using all types of satellite imagery including and MRI Spectroradiometer to compare ocean color and temperature relative to sea ice melt that was also assessed.
I read a lot of things and certain words like phytoplankton buildup tweaked my curiosity as to the difference between phytoplankton and plankton. Phytoplankton is the autotrophic component of plankton. According to Wikipedia an “autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions. Another article I found at:
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002481.html didn’t differentiate between phytoplankton and plankton.
This does not bode well at all in my mind because of the blog I just wrote about explosions of methane gas into the atmosphere that are growing in size to that of meters in the ocean waters off of Namibia. If all of this phytoplankton is rapidly spreading in the shallow waters that ring the Arctic Ocean, and there are not enough fish or marine mammals in that region to eat the excess plankton (phytoplankton), doesn’t it stand to reason that this Arctic phytoplankton will go the way of plankton near Namibia? In other words, it will die and rot, creating hydrogen sulfide pockets. All that is needed is high pressure from a storm on the ocean’s surface to affect the pressure on the ocean bottom in these particularly shallow waters around the Arctic and an eruption might occur. These are the same eruptions happening off of Namibia. I realize that scientists claim these explosions are not likely to take place because of the constant churning of the ocean floor. But then there is Namibia. Explain that?
http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/04/24/mankind-contributes-to-global-warming-through-fish/
Scary stuff since the first global warming event 40 million years ago was from methane gas eruptions. The earth was eventually scorched. This just shows how delicately balanced our world really is. We fish too much, or disrupt certain species by changing habitat drastically, and something else is thrown out of kilter like phytoplankton, something so small we don’t really see it except for greenish colored water. It’s something so small, yet it can eventually kill us.
NASA website: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/ecosystem_research_briefs.html..
Tags: Methane
Posted in Africa, Climate, Earth, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Global Warming Reports, Marine Life, NASA, Nature, PBS, Plants, Polar Ice Melt, Science, Soaring Temperatures, Weather/Climate | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 17th, 2008
St. Patrick’s Day is a good, green holiday that didn’t turn out well for many when festivities began on Friday for this holiday. Savannah, Georgia had terrible thunderstorms that knocked out power to at least 150,000 customers and blackened the streets in Savannah, home to the second largest St. Patty’s Day celebration in the country. At least it was that large back in the 80’s. I was there.
Apparently that storm was the result of conditions that also produced a tornado that hit downtown Atlanta in a 200 yd. wide swath, 6 miles long at 130 mph!!! It never happened before. All I could think of: What if something like this hit downtown New York or Chicago? I think of a domino effect on the buildings. And I’m back to the analogy between terrorism and Mother Nature. Both are extremely destructive, but one always trumps the other, trumps everything, and it’s the weather. Extreme weather kills randomly and is getting worse, and more erratic. It’s caused enough destruction in Florida that insurance premiums are outrageous. Even though the debate continues about our responsibility in global warming, it’s not illogical to think we’re polluting way beyond bounds. Our demands for oil and food increase yearly as our populations grow. It is plausible that it is affecting climate conditions that many scientists admit have happened before to our world, BUT NEVER AT THE RATE IT IS PROGRESSING NOW.
This is the point I tried to make to someone I got into an argument with at a bar (Clamdiggers) during Friday night happy hour. The Irish were already getting tuned up and will appreciate this. It was a beautiful afternoon on Friday. I stopped with friends to a really crowded and loud bar. Good thing it was loud in there, because before I finished one drink, my friend announced to 2 guys next to us that we were environmentalists. All I could think was: “Oh no!” I don’t want to argue with anyone about that.
I ended up in a face-to-face argument with a guy who was proud to be a polluter, who had already got into it with another friend of mine who owns a Prius. He didn’t know what he was talking about relative to electric cars, and then announced to me that the oil industry contributes the most money to alternative energy research. I know BP has invested, and Conoco Philips, but do all of them invest—not Exxon Mobil? I caught parts of his argument while he was in my face asking if I was naive. It ended when his buddy started laughing as he realized the steady degradation of events that took place in a matter of 20 minutes from smiling to yelling, and said he was dragging his workmate out. Well the argumentative one put on a Lion’s jacket, which just invited my sport’s minded friends to jeer: “That explains it all,” where they proceeded to do the loser “L” at him. I had one more cocktail and left. The best made intentions can just go awry, can’t they? My friends and I started with lively conversation about classic poets and novelists. I was heading toward limericks in honor of St. Patrick’s day and all just ran amuck and got rude.
That’s why there was no blog Friday night, but I did decide to investigate the polluter’s argument. How much do our oil companies invest in alternative energy? It’s a good question. I caught the BP commercial about investing in alternative energy. I’m finishing a post for tomorrow that shows how much American oil companies contribute to alternative energies, and also each company’s current net earnings. I know BP stands for British Petroleum, but they bought our Amoco in 98, I think.
It’s one thing to hear statements that the oil industry is investing millions in alternative energy, and like polluter guy, assume it’s a lot, probably more than anyone else. But since I did accounting, I want to know what percentage is invested as compared to net earnings in the billions and climbing? I’ve already seen some of the numbers. It’s a pretty paltry picture compared to the wealth streaming in from oil. So, Stay tuned.
Posted in Alternative Energy, BP, Climate, Conoco Phillips, Conservation, Environmental Spin, Environmentalism, Extreme Weather in U.S., Exxon-Mobil, Global Warming, Industry, Oil Industry, Tornadoes, U.S. Weather Patterns | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
“We were in fully open ocean, dozens of miles from the ice pack, in a sort of half-fog at what passes for dusk around here, when a 10 foot wide chunk of ice flowed past. It was visible for maybe 15 seconds – the only ice we’d seen for days. On it: a polar bear, just drifting wherever the ocean wanted to take him” http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-11-01.asp.
I quoted that to say this. As the polar bear waits to get on the Endangered Species List, a decision that comes from the Department of the Interior, the polar bear’s habitat continues to disintegrate. It is practically wide-open seas according to the same article, and “the polar ice cap has reached its lowest extent in recorded history.” The summer Arctic may be ice-free as soon as 2040 and polar bear populations will decrease by two thirds. Out of an estimated 22,000 bears, that means over 14,500 polar bears will die. The one that floated by the Coast Guard Cutter is just one example that they won’t be afforded a quick death.
Many animals are at the mercy of the Department of the Interior lately, the wolves, and now the polar bears. The polar bear’s biggest and most volatile habitat is in the Chukchi Sea. Despite an outcry from native Eskimos, environmental groups, animal welfare organizations, a lawsuit, and citizens from around the world, the Chukchi Oil leases are going through as per the Dept. of the Interior. Royal Dutch Shell, and Conoco Phillips, you know the oil company that is supposedly investing in a green future like BP, plan to bid on the leases.
According to a Wall Street Journal Article Conoco Phillips said that “listing the polar bear as threatened ‘is not warranted’ based on the bears’ current population numbers. Listing them as threatened ‘will have an adverse impact on the oil and gas industry and people that live in the Arctic.’ Well I feel real sorry for the oil and gas industry, don’t you? Exxon Mobil netted $75000 per minute in 2006 and we should feel for the oil and gas industry and the heck with the polar bears? We’ll be on that soon-to-be extinct list too if ignoring ethics in favor of money, money, money keeps up.
The idea here is prevention. There are 22,000 bears, the Arctic is already open water so bear numbers will soon be declining rapidly without frozen land to walk and hunt. The Dept. of the Interior should put the bear on the list immediately to stop a catastrophic loss of most of that population, but waits instead using the bear’s current numbers to validate the delay. Meanwhile, the Dept. of Interior rushes to OK the auction of some 30 million acres in one the most pristine parts of the sea, a major polar bear habitat, for oil drilling?
I’m sorry but in a business situation the Department of the Interior’s single authority in both the protection of a clearly endangered species of animal like the polar bear and the very lucrative sale of the polar bear’s habitat for the purpose of drilling for oil presents a conflict of interest. And the delay in adding the polar bear to the Endangered List is an obvious morally unethical decision by a dubious Secy. of Interior, Dirk Kempthorne.
For Kempthorne, Conoco Phillips, and anyone else like President Bush that doesn’t appear to understand the English language, the word endangered means: exposed to danger, in peril. ENDANGERED DOES NOT MEAN ALREADY DEAD! The polar bear is in danger, and definitely in peril with a ruthless administration like this one.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120208255421639257.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.
http://world-wire.com/news/0802060002.html
Posted in Alaska, Alternative Energy, Animals and Extinction, Animals in Peril, Arctic Oil Drilling, BP, Bush Administration, Climate, Conoco Phillips, Conservation, Dept. of the Interior, Earth, Endangered Species, Energy, Environmental Legislation, Environmental News Service, Environmental Spin, Environmentalism, Exxon-Mobil, Federal Government, Fossil Fuel, Global Warming, Global Warming Policy, Industry, Legislators, Morality, Nature, Oil Drilling, Oil Industry, Oil Lobby, Oil Spills, Polar Bears, Polar Ice Melt, Politics, Pollution, Protesting Pollution, Secy. Kempthorne, Shell, The Denial Machine, WWF, Weather/Climate, Wildlife | 2 Comments »
