Issues Pages:
Climate Change: I don't want to talk about it
Sat, 2012-10-27 15:55
#1
Climate Change: I don't want to talk about it
Sat, 2012-10-27 16:01
#2
Sat, 2012-10-27 16:13
#3
Boom Boom
CNN had a segment this week on how climate change is making these hurricanes such as Sandy more frequent but also more dangerous - climate change is pushing weather systems together, causing havoc, and we can expect more of this stuff as climate change gets progressively worse.
ETA: last night CNN had a panel talking about which party will benefit most from Sandy - the President benefits if he does a superb job managing the disaster; Romney wins if the East Coast Elite all stay home repairing the damage instead of voting. 
Tue, 2012-10-30 08:37
#4
Wed, 2012-10-31 20:59
#5
Sandy: Storms in the Emergency Room (ecoshock.info)
Wed, 2012-10-31 21:52
#6
Boom Boom
Piers Morgan and guests on CNN talking about Sandy and global warming right now. Michael Moore: "This storm should put an end to climate debate". Andrew Cuomo and Michael Bloomberg: "We will see more storms like this in the future". Piers Morgan: People say this storm is unprecedented - Sandy is now the precedent". Michael Moore: "This is a dangerous road we are on".
Sun, 2012-11-04 13:27
#7
Meet The Climate Change Denier Who Became The Voice Of Hurricane Sandy On Wikipedia (popsci.com)
Hurricane Sandy (wikipedia.org)
Tue, 2012-11-06 00:24
#8
RT: Global Warming Debate (and vid)
"Franken-Climate' - Two skeptics vs one alarmist - Climatologist: Dr Patrick Michaels and Physicist Dr Denis Rancourt debate climate alarmist Richard Milne"...
Sun, 2012-11-11 11:37
#9
Wed, 2012-11-21 21:50
#10
CO2 hit record high in 2011 – UN report (guardian.co.uk)
Climate change evident across Europe, says report (bbc.co.uk)
Climate Change Report Warns of Dramatically Warmer World This Century (climatechange.worldbank.org)
If you’re 27 or younger, you’ve never experienced a colder-than-average month (grist.org)
Fri, 2012-11-30 02:00
#11
Don’t Panic, But The Shoreline Is Moving Inland (disinfo.com)
Fri, 2012-11-30 02:18
#12
Sven
Meanwhile, in we have the "bizarre ritual" in Doha (the location of the latest global warming "summit).
What was seen as a question of man's survival not too long ago is little more than a side note today. Even forest dieback, the great bugaboo of the 1980s, did not suffer a comparable plunge into irrelevance.
This only amplifies the bizarrely ritualistic nature of the Climate Change Conference starting this week in Doha, Qatar. Thousands of negotiators, environmentalists and industry lobbyists are meeting in the Arab emirate to set the course for an international treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
But the world has already turned its back on the issue. And if that weren't unnerving enough, the attendees from 195 countries will be debating a project that everyone suspects is no longer achievable: the 2-degree target.
It remains a mantra for saving the climate that the earth's temperature curve cannot be allowed to climb any further than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Climatologists have calculated how much carbon dioxide emissions from cars, chimneys and fields can increase without jeopardizing the 2-degree target. If we fail in this mission, at least according to their computer models, life on the planet will become intolerable.
But a look at their calculations reveals that limiting the earth's warming to 2 degrees Celsius is no longer realistic. Our thirst for energy is too enormous and our efforts to wean ourselves off fossil fuels have been too insignificant.
Instead of declining, emissions continue to rise year after year. If nothing changes, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) predicted last week, global carbon emissions will increase to about 58 gigatons by 2020 -- much more than the 44 gigatons necessary to adhere to the 2-degree target.
Sun, 2012-12-09 23:23
#13
Sat, 2012-12-15 13:42
#14
It's Official, Harper Government Withdraws from Kyoto Climate Agreement
http://o.canada.com/2012/12/14/its-official-harper-government-withdraws-...
"Canada will officially become the first country to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement Saturday..."
AMEG Strategic Plan
http://arctic-news.blogspot.ca/2012/12/ameg-strategic-plan.html
"This strategic plan was prepared by the independent policy group AMEG (the Arctic Methane Emergency Group) comprising a multi-disciplinary team of leading scientific experts, system engineers, communicators and concerned citizens. The purpose of this document is firstly to warn the world of the extreme and imminent danger of global famine and ensuing strife created by rapid Arctic warming and precipitous sea ice retreat, and secondly to provide a strategic plan for handling the situation..."
'I'd Rather Fight Like Hell': Naomi Klein's Fierce New Resolve To Fight for Climate Justice
http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/148879-id-rather-fight-like-hell-naomi...
Fri, 2012-12-21 22:28
#15
2012 Another Record-Setter For Weather, Fits Climate Forecasts (news.slashdot.org)
Hey, if FOX is reporting on Climate change, then you *know* we're in trouble.
Extreme forecast dead-on in 2012: Hot and either too dry or too wet, just as experts warned (foxnews.com)
November 2012 Global Analysis | Supplemental Material | ENSO and Global Temperatures (ncdc.noaa.gov)
2012 Drought Will Probably Last Through Winter In The Midwest, Says U.S. Monitor (huffingtonpost.com)
Sun, 2012-12-23 23:33
#16
Scientists Report Faster Warming in Antarctica (nytimes.com)
Thu, 2012-12-27 16:41
#17
Boom Boom
I don't know what to make of this. Anyone know Tom Harris?
Ottawa must get real on climate change
It seems to go intuitively against what I know about climate change.
Thu, 2012-12-27 18:36
#18
Boom Boom
Thanks, Brian.
Thu, 2012-12-27 21:12
#19
Harris can be found on wikipedia, he is a mechanical engineer sponsered by the heartlands institute. It looks like he has been busy building a group of doubters around the world. Dangerous people with lots of money behind them. I guess the Sun is working hard to extend an air of Credibility to them. There is an election coming up in BC and a hell of a lot of money gets transfered to the media in "Bc is the best place in the world" free governement money and this is probably the payback.
Edited to add. I looked into some of the network of these people and there is another wing in New Zealand (on Heartlands payroll too).
"The Heartland Institute, the US organisation that plays a key role in organised climate denial, has directly funded New Zealand’s most prominent sceptics, a search of US Internal Revenue Service documents has revealed. In 2007, Heartland granted US$25,000 (NZ$32,000) to the NZ Climate “Science” Coalition, sending the money to NZ CSC member Owen McShane. They also gifted the International Climate Science Coalition US$45,000 (NZ$59,000), forwarding the cash to NZ CSC webmaster and ICSC founding chairman Terry Dunleavy. [14]"
These guys do seem to have some of wikipedia corrupted because http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Climate_Science_Coalition but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Harris_%28mechanical_engineer%29 gives the game away a bit. His buddy Vincent Gray in New Zealand asked to see the draft report of the IPCC and has decided that this allows him to call himself an 'Expert"
Vincent Gray "Dispute over credentials
He has been an "Expert Reviewer for the IPCC" since 1990,[1][6] although this consideration has been challenged and considered misleading since it does not require any expertise at all, but only that "he asked to see the draft report" and signed an agreement not to publicly comment on the draft report.[9]
Gray has never been published in a peer-reviewed journal on the subject of climate change".
I don't know what to make of this. Anyone know Tom Harris?
Ottawa must get real on climate change
It seems to go intuitively against what I know about climate change.
Thu, 2012-12-27 21:21
#20
I don't know what to make of this. Anyone know Tom Harris?
I don't know Tom Harris.
from the bottom of the article ...
Tom Harris is executive director of the International Climate Science Coalition and an adviser to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-harris
and, from sourcewatch.org ...
Tom Harris (Canadian engineer/PR specialist), a global warming skeptic
and,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/29/climate-change-sceptics-ch...
Thu, 2012-12-27 21:53
#21
Boom Boom
Thanks for the info. Harris sounds like a really bad guy.
Fri, 2012-12-28 01:36
#22
Thanks Boom Boom for getting me to look. The deniers are now so blatent that they do not even try to cover their tracks. BUT the stench of heartland has gotten too much for Pfizer and they have stopped "donating" to dirty old heartland. http://www.christianpost.com/news/major-pharmaceutical-company-cuts-ties... Here is a quote from the link. It (Heartland_ "boasts of having 5,000 financial supporters, six NEWSPAPERS, and over 200 academics and economists who serve as policy advisers". I guess one of the "newspapers" is whoever currently owns the vancoubver sun (and who clearly has decided to print propaganda). Perhaps we need an online campaign to expose the Vancouver sun for printing that rubbish? Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/major-pharmaceutical-company-cuts-ties-with-global-warming-denialist-think-tank-87024/#C3MFCwbBFrYdiEM1.99
Fri, 2012-12-28 09:32
#23
Boom Boom
The fact that there are connections between Harris and the Koch Brothers should tell us all we need to know.
Is the Vancouver Sun part of the evil Sun Empire?
Fri, 2012-12-28 20:06
#24
The fact that there are connections between Harris and the Koch Brothers should tell us all we need to know.
Is the Vancouver Sun part of the evil Sun Empire?
Actually no, it's part of Postmedia.
Fri, 2012-12-28 22:31
#25
Boom Boom
Thanks!
Tue, 2013-01-01 17:08
#26
Sun, 2013-01-27 12:43
#27
Boom Boom
Does Snow and Cold Weather Disprove Climate Change?
This is a really good link.
Excerpt:
NASA and NOAA plus research centers around the world track the global average temperature, and all conclude that Earth is warming. In fact, the past decade has been found to be the hottest since scientists started recording reliable data in the 1880s. These rising temperatures are caused primarily by an increase of heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere created when we burn coal, oil, and gas to generate electricity, drive our cars, and fuel our businesses. Hotter air around the globe causes more water evaporation, which fuels heavier precipitation in the form of more intense rain and snow storms.
At the same time, because less of a region’s precipitation is falling in light storms and more of it in heavy storms, the risks of drought and wildfire are also greater. Ironically, higher air temperatures tend to produce intense drought periods punctuated by heavy floods, often in the same region.
These kinds of disasters may become a normal pattern in our everyday weather as levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere continue to rise.
excerpt:
Overall, it’s warming, but we still have cold winter weather. (explanation follows)
Sun, 2013-01-27 18:49
#28
Sun, 2013-01-27 19:00
#29
Boom Boom
...then there's the Atlantic 'Conveyor Belt' (older link)
The Atlantic overturning circulation is a system of currents, including the Gulf Stream, that bring warm surface waters from the tropics northward into the North Atlantic. There, in the seas surrounding Greenland, the water cools, sinks to great depths and changes direction. What was once warm surface water heading north turns into cold deep water going south. This overturning is one part of the vast conveyor belt of ocean currents that move heat around the globe.
Without the heat carried by this circulation system, the climate around the North Atlantic -- in Europe, North America and North Africa -- would likely be much colder. Scientists hypothesize that rapid cooling 12,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age was triggered when freshwater from melting glaciers altered the ocean's salinity and slowed the overturning rate. That reduced the amount of heat carried northward as a result.
Mon, 2013-01-28 13:21
#30
This assumes that other forcings are properly taken into account. Sensitivity to a doubling of carbon dioxide can be calculated using various methods, not just the one used in this study. I'll be interested in seeing if this study gets discussed on Real Climate. One study usually isn't conclusive even if there are no problems with methodology. I doubt this will have much impact on the political inertia. Governments are already acting as though global warming isn't a major concern.
Mon, 2013-01-28 13:23
#31
Boom.. I hope this research is correct. It will give us some breathing space
Mon, 2013-01-28 14:22
#32
Boom.. I hope this research is correct. It will give us some breathing space
If we use it wisely. There is still ocean acidification to worry about.
Mon, 2013-01-28 14:42
#33
Boom Boom
Yeah, we're a hundred years away from really getting things done for the better all around the world. If humanity doesn't kill itself off, first - always a possibility.
Thu, 2013-01-31 20:32
#34
Boom Boom
We're having what's known as a "weather bomb" right now.
Rainfall warning in effect
Wind warning in effect
Storm surge warning in effect
Snow squall warning in effect.
- Tonight
- Rain changing to a few flurries this evening. Local blowing snow overnight. Wind southwest 60 km/h gusting to 110. Low minus 10.
- Friday
- Snow squalls. Local amount 10 cm. Wind southwest 50 km/h gusting to 80. Temperature steady near minus 10.
ETA: could we have a "wild weather" thread? 
Tue, 2013-02-05 12:19
#35
Boom Boom
Megan Leslie commenting on the Commissioner's report now..
"Canadians are not potected in terms of liability"
"we are not prepared for massive oil spills like Deepwater Horizion"
"Government 'ideologically blind"
"risks will discourage investment"
Tue, 2013-02-05 12:23
#36
Boom Boom
On CBC Newsworld a few minutes ago (live reporting):
Ofice of Environment and Sustainable Development Commisioner Scott Vaughn - last day on the job - :
"With the resource boom on both coasts, there has been a failure to protect Canadians from environmental risks."
"Canadian taxpayers are not potected in terms of liability from nuclear power accidents, oil spills and mining accidents"
"Weak plans in case of oil spill."
"Tanker traffic on west coast to triple"
"Canadians at risk without rules"
"The magnitude of environment protection gaps is substantial".
"Deepwater Horizion in Gulf of Mexico damage so far $40billion" - Canada clearly can not address a probelm of that magnitude". - that's from a reporter commenting on the Commissioner's report
"If we don't stop to consider what we are doing, we will never be able to meet our greenhouse gas targets". - same reporter
Tue, 2013-02-05 13:12
#37
Boom Boom
Environmental watchdog worried about rise of fracking
Chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process — commonly called fracking — were of particular concern to Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan in his last report as auditor of Canadian environmental regulations that was tabled today in the House of Commons.
The federal government told Vaughan that fracking is an emerging issue, and it is only now looking into it. Provinces, for the most part, are responsible for regulating the oil and gas sector, but Ottawa is in the driver’s seat when it comes to toxic substances.
“According to the government, until it has a better understanding of hydraulic fracturing, it cannot determine whether risk assessments and control measures are warranted,” wrote Vaughan.
Fracking is the process of injecting water and chemicals into underground rock formations. The idea is to break the rock apart, thus freeing trapped shale gas and oil.
The government doesn’t have a good handle on the type of chemicals the industry uses in the process. It has developed a partial list of 800, of which 33 are toxic.
(the rest of the link pertains to his newly-released report)
Mon, 2013-02-18 06:27
#38
Mon, 2013-02-18 10:56
#39
Boom Boom
I watched a documentary on installing solar panels - they are expensive, but pay for themselves in less than five years. Also not difficult to install once you've been trained. What really annoys me is that alternative energies - solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal power - account for less than 0.01 of all power produced in Canada. The record of the USA is far superior to Canada. One more reason to get rid of the !@#$%!!! Conservatives.
Mon, 2013-02-18 15:00
#40
‘Secret’ Environment Canada study warns of oil sands’ impact on habitat
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/12/22/secret-environment-canada-s...
Sat, 2013-04-13 21:46
#41
Millions face starvation as world warms, say scientists (guardian.co.uk)
- United States Global Change Research Program (globalchange.gov)
- Climate Change Impact and Adaptation Study (2012) (mekongarcc.net)
- First Food Security Futures Conference Dublin, April 11-12, 2013 (pim.cgiar.org)
- Conference: Hunger: nutrition: climate justice Dublin, April 15-16, 2013 (fcrn.org.uk)
Sun, 2013-04-14 12:50
#42
Melting in Antarctica is worst in 1,000 years (aljazeera.com)
Tue, 2013-04-16 15:50
#43
this recent paper seems to indicate that the surface mass balance of antarctica is not currently anomolous i.e. not changingmuch if at all
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/303/2013/tc-7-303-2013.pdf
Tue, 2013-04-16 19:23
#44
We may be waving goodbye to Pacific island nations sooner than we thought
http://qz.com/74705/we-may-be-waving-goodbye-to-pacific-island-nations-s...
Fri, 2013-05-03 22:09
#45
Well now that Sandy is all but forgotten, the hype about it being the wake-up call that changes everything is, as it should be, dead too.
Global warming is NOT about one storm. In the light of "I still don't want to talk about it" despite the advancing catastrophe of global warming, the "wake-up call" might some day be "runaway global warming" - or maybe the methane releases that will trigger it, or perhaps the "icefree Arctic" that will occur in the next few summers, possibly this one - watch for it in September.
----lets get weird now:
Besides the obvious explanation for cold weather locally, here and there, another perfectly reasonable explanation is that the world powers have HAARP, in combination with chemtrail applications, doing all they can to keep things cool generally, to keep the global average temperature from increasing as fast as it otherwise would.
HAARP + Chemtrails can also adjust the weather in well defined areas - by keeping springtime temperatures low and bringing on some late-season snow in the American breadbasket, it gives the deniers a change to point and say "see? its colder not warmer"... and Americans believe it.
Fri, 2013-05-03 22:09
#46
Well now that Sandy is all but forgotten, the hype about it being the wake-up call that changes everything is, as it should be, dead too.
Global warming is NOT about one storm. In the light of "I still don't want to talk about it" despite the advancing catastrophe of global warming, the "wake-up call" might some day be "runaway global warming" - or maybe the methane releases that will trigger it, or perhaps the "icefree Arctic" that will occur in the next few summers, possibly this one - watch for it in September.
----lets get weird now:
Besides the obvious explanation for cold weather locally, here and there, another perfectly reasonable explanation is that the world powers have HAARP, in combination with chemtrail applications, doing all they can to keep things cool generally, to keep the global average temperature from increasing as fast as it otherwise would.
HAARP + Chemtrails can also adjust the weather in well defined areas - by keeping springtime temperatures low and bringing on some late-season snow in the American breadbasket, it gives the deniers a change to point and say "see? its colder not warmer"... and Americans believe it.
Fri, 2013-05-10 17:52
#47
Carbon dioxide levels hit historic high (aljazeera.com)
The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has broken above a symbolic threshold, 400 parts per million (ppm), for the first time, US monitors have said, indicating a record level for greenhouse gases.
Sat, 2013-05-11 15:32
#48
Well now that Sandy is all but forgotten, the hype about it being the wake-up call that changes everything is, as it should be, dead too.
Global warming is NOT about one storm. In the light of "I still don't want to talk about it" despite the advancing catastrophe of global warming, the "wake-up call" might some day be "runaway global warming" - or maybe the methane releases that will trigger it, or perhaps the "icefree Arctic" that will occur in the next few summers, possibly this one - watch for it in September.
----lets get weird now:
Besides the obvious explanation for cold weather locally, here and there, another perfectly reasonable explanation is that the world powers have HAARP, in combination with chemtrail applications, doing all they can to keep things cool generally, to keep the global average temperature from increasing as fast as it otherwise would.
HAARP + Chemtrails can also adjust the weather in well defined areas - by keeping springtime temperatures low and bringing on some late-season snow in the American breadbasket, it gives the deniers a change to point and say "see? its colder not warmer"... and Americans believe it.
I don't know about HAARP and Chemtrails, but Contrails, based on studies conducted after 911, do have an impact on diurnal temperature ranges. Whether they have a net warming or cooling effect is more difficult to ascertain.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/08/07/contrails.climate/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail
Wed, 2013-09-18 06:35
#49
Mon, 2013-10-07 22:04
#50
IPCC summary report at a glance, in their own words (climatecodered.org)
Climate science settled – Earth is warming, climate stability is a thing of the past, and humans are responsible (elizabethmaymp.ca)
Tue, 2013-10-08 00:23
#51
Climate Name Change (youtube.com)