WTF Climate Change News

[Beebo Brink]

The Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says

Using satellite data, researchers measured what is known as Earth's energy imbalance - the difference between how much energy the planet absorbs from the sun, and how much it's able to shed, or radiate back out into space. That imbalance...

www.seattletimes.com

When there is a positive imbalance — Earth absorbing more heat than it is losing — it is a first step toward global warming, said Stuart Evans, a climate scientist at the University at Buffalo. “It’s a sign the Earth is gaining energy.”

That imbalance roughly doubled between 2005 and 2019, the study found. “It is a massive amount of energy,” said Gregory Johnson, an oceanographer for NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and co-author of the study.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link because why not

This article on energy in the US culture wars is also based on his journey. Very interesting and explained a lot to me that I hadn't really understood before.

 

[WolfEyes]

Some may not think such things are related to climate change but how they figure it wouldn't affect the weather, I'll never understand.

Earth tipped over on its side 84 million years ago and then righted itself, new study finds (msn.com)

There may not be much hope for the continuation of mankind but there is hope for the planet to just keep chugging merrily along as soon as the tilt gets adjusted back to where it was before a particular earthquake seemed to give it a shove.

Error

earthobservatory.sg

Hold on to your boodieholes. It's gonna be a hell of a ride.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

‘It’s brutal’: Las Vegas cooks amid blazing heatwave – and it’s going to get worse

Tourists line the air-conditioned casino labyrinths amid record temperatures – but many locals are not able to take cover indoors

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link because why not

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

It is currently 110F here. This is after it got to 112 yesterday. What makes it even worse is that our air conditioner died Thursday night.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Some may not think such things are related to climate change but how they figure it wouldn't affect the weather, I'll never understand.

The connection is semantic at best. Yes, if you tipped the earth, the local weather would change drastically because you'd be in a different climate zone than you were before, but the climate itself won't have changed. And the term "climate change", as used in this thread at least, refers specifically to the effects brought about by excess CO2 in the atmosphere, a condition we can (at least theoretically) control, whereas a tipping planet is absolutely beyond our control and has nothing to do with human activity and excess greenhouse gases.

All that being said, it was a fascinating article and if we could click multiple emoticons, I'd add "interesting" and "thank you."

 

[WolfEyes]

The connection is semantic at best. Yes, if you tipped the earth, the local weather would change drastically because you'd be in a different climate zone than you were before, but the climate itself won't have changed. And the term "climate change", as used in this thread at least, refers specifically to the effects brought about by excess CO2 in the atmosphere, a condition we can (at least theoretically) control, whereas a tipping planet is absolutely beyond our control and has nothing to do with human activity and excess greenhouse gases.

All that being said, it was a fascinating article and if we could click multiple emoticons, I'd add "interesting" and "thank you."

The idea I was going for was a combination of the two. The excess CO2 and the tilt combined are going to make for some nasty left hooks until either the tilt reverses (if it does) or we manage to reduce CO2 from lethal levels to, for lack of a better way to put it, survivable levels. Who knows. We may see our first official Cat 6 hurricane in the next decade or less. That extra bit of tipping from the 2011 earthquake certainly isn't helping.

I have this nagging suspicion that humans are "on the downhill side of 60". Like us. You and me and anyone else here over 60. And it's coming at humanity like a runaway freight train and there aren't any heros (or superheros/aliens) to come to our rescue.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Head of Independent Sage to launch international climate change group

Sir David King hopes to emulate success of British Covid advisory body by issuing monthly reports on environmental crisis

www.theguardian.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Head of Independent Sage to launch international climate change group

Sir David King hopes to emulate success of British Covid advisory body by issuing monthly reports on environmental crisis

www.theguardian.com

Hmmm. More talk. Good luck with that.

Given enough time, we could deal with this catastrophe. We could transition from oil & gas to green technologies, shift our habitation zones, educate enough women to slow population growth, adopt more sustainable lives. Millions of people across the world are making such initial efforts and the focus on climate issues grows daily.

If this was a single, steady-state issue, our clever post-ape brains could solve it eventually. Unfortunately, we are dealing with an escalating climate crisis that we are still feeding every single day. It's moving very fast, gaining strength to move even faster, and by all reports is moving way faster than we are. Our sense of urgency is still lagging badly behind the reality of the situation. My biggest source of pessimism is that when we become fully cognizant of what we have done to de-stabilize our planet, the disruptive effects of full-force climate change will forestall any progress toward a solution. We'll become focused on day-to-day survival, all our resources will go to mitigation of what is directly in front of us, because we have no other choice.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Hmmm. More talk. Good luck with that.

Given enough time, we could deal with this catastrophe. We could transition from oil & gas to green technologies, shift our habitation zones, educate enough women to slow population growth, adopt more sustainable lives. Millions of people across the world are making such initial efforts and the focus on climate issues grows daily.

If this was a single, steady-state issue, our clever post-ape brains could solve it eventually. Unfortunately, we are dealing with an escalating climate crisis that we are still feeding every single day. It's moving very fast, gaining strength to move even faster, and by all reports is moving way faster than we are. Our sense of urgency is still lagging badly behind the reality of the situation. My biggest source of pessimism is that when we become fully cognizant of what we have done to de-stabilize our planet, the disruptive effects of full-force climate change will forestall any progress toward a solution. We'll become focused on day-to-day survival, all our resources will go to mitigation of what is directly in front of us, because we have no other choice.

No, it's a high-level, objective scientific body issuing monthly reports, and updated forecasts based on modelling, of what's happening to key climate indicators.

What decision-makers at all levels do with the information is up to them, but at least this will keep it very much in the public eye, as are the various updates on key Covid indicators, forecasts and recommendations to government that SAGE have been issuing throughout the emergency.

 

[Beebo Brink]

No, it's a high-level, objective scientific body issuing monthly reports, and updated forecasts based on modelling, of what's happening to key climate indicators.

What decision-makers at all levels do with the information is up to them, but at least this will keep it very much in the public eye, as are the various updates on key Covid indicators, forecasts and recommendations to government that SAGE have been issuing throughout the emergency.

That is, to my mind, is "more talk". It's useful, even necessary but it's about 40 years too late in starting. The general public reaction to covid and the controversy over the most basic health protocols, is a telling indicator of how well we'll deal with climate change.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

That is, to my mind, is "more talk". It's useful, even necessary but it's about 40 years too late in starting. The general public reaction to covid and the controversy over the most basic health protocols, is a telling indicator of how well we'll deal with climate change.

Yes, but this is a British initiative, and the general public's trust in science and scientists is rather higher than seems to be in the US, as is perhaps suggested by the fact vaccination and basic health protocols aren't particularly controversial here, any more than they are in most other wealthy nations, any more than is the need to take urgent action about the climate crisis.

To my mind, too, it's important to have this kind of information in front of, and very much in the minds not only of politicians and voters, but of the people who actually take the important decisions about whether to invest in projects, lend them money, buy shares in companies, insure them, and so on.

Certainly in the UK, those sort of questions have been very much on the agenda for several years, and particularly since the Bank of England, along with other central banks, started requiring banks and other financial institutions to include the costs and risks of climate change in their calculations and risk assessments, and having sight of the kind of data and simulations the government will be receiving can only be useful to decision-makers at all levels.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link because why not

 

[Beebo Brink]

To my mind, too, it's important to have this kind of information in front of, and very much in the minds not only of politicians and voters, but of the people who actually take the important decisions about whether to invest in projects, lend them money, buy shares in companies, insure them, and so on.

I apologize for my original querulous response to your post. I have made countless vows to stop my "too little, too late" postings as they are tediously repetitive and add nothing to the conversation. Just like many climate scientists, I constantly wrestle with how to make peace with a very bleak future. I manage moments of equilibrium, then lose them, then take a deep breath and try to regain some sense of perspective. No promises for how long before I give way again, but I'll keep trying to hold the line. Thank you for your patience.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I apologize for my original querulous response to your post. I have made countless vows to stop my "too little, too late" postings as they are tediously repetitive and add nothing to the conversation. Just like many climate scientists, I constantly wrestle with how to make peace with a very bleak future. I manage moments of equilibrium, then lose them, then take a deep breath and try to regain some sense of perspective. No promises for how long before I give way again, but I'll keep trying to hold the line. Thank you for your patience.

There's really nothing to apologise for, Beebo -- heaven knows, it's certainly bleak enough, as you say.

More details of the group and what they intend to do:

Head of Independent Sage to launch international climate change group

Sir David King hopes to emulate success of British Covid advisory body by issuing monthly reports on environmental crisis

www.theguardian.com

The Climate Crisis Advisory Group, comprising 14 experts from 10 nations and every continent, aims to have more of an international reach and provide the global public with regular analysis about efforts to tackle the global heating and biodiversity crises.

Headed by the former UK chief scientific adviser Sir David King, the new group will issue monthly updates about the state of the global environment at meetings that will be open to the media and the public. These online gatherings will be chaired by the BBC presenter Ade Adepitan.

“We are hoping that by putting expertise directly into the public domain we are reaching into policymakers’ decision processes, and into the financial sector and how they invest in our future,” King told the Observer. “We are not just going to say ‘this is the state of the global climate’, but also what should the global response be from governments and companies … What we do in the next five years will determine the future of humanity for the next millennium.”

The experts – who include Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency and Johan Rockström, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research – also plan to issue statements and respond to journalists’ inquiries on breaking news, such as declarations by the G7, reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, new targets set by national governments, actions taken by major corporations, and geoengineering proposals, such as refreezing the Arctic.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Climate Change Could Fuel the Spread of a Flesh-Eating Parasite

Scientists caution that as the planet warms, more Americans could be exposed to different varieties of the Leishmania parasite.

undark.org

 

[Beebo Brink]

Core concerns: Climate change presents challenging future for apple industry

Apple growers in northern climates such as Michigan and Vermont are facing more outbreaks of a nemesis long battled by Washington apple growers – a pathogen known as fire blight that when left unchecked can decimate entire orchards.

www.spokesman.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Northernmost Siberian wildfire discovered from space

There is an abnormally high number of wildfires in Siberia to be June, and parts of the northern regions are recording temperatures more than +15°C higher than normal.

thebarentsobserver.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

This is probably the most dire/pessimistic view of climate change that I've read so far. Which, for those who know me, is saying a lot. Unlike other disaster scenarios that are predicted to unroll in the latter half of this century when I'm no longer around to debate their validity, this one lays it out in a timeline that I could easily reach: 2026.

So set your clocks for five years from now. We can discuss... oh wait, if this article gets it right, we probably won't be posting online by then.

Could temperatures keep rising?

Could temperatures keep rising?

arctic-news.blogspot.com

A recent post suggests that the 1.5°C threshold was already crossed in 2012, i.e. well before the Paris Agreement was adopted by the U.N. (in 2015), while there could be a temperature rise of more than 3°C by 2026.

In conclusion, there could be a huge temperature rise by 2026 and with a 3°C rise, humans will likely go extinct, which is a daunting prospect. Even so, the right thing to do is to help avoid the worst things from happening, through comprehensive and effective action as described in the Climate Plan.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link because why not


Evernote link because why not