I want to sue the republican party for willful denial of scientific evidence about climate change.

[Riggo-toni]

[Cooked Crack]

 

Can't wait for the Surgeon General to attend an AntiVaxx conference 

[China]

3 hours ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

Can't wait for the Surgeon General to attend an AntiVaxx conference 

 

Or remove the warning labels from cigarettes.  They want to go back to how things were, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[China]

Climate change: Greenland lost 2 billion tons of ice yesterday, which is very unusual

 

Over 40% of Greenland experienced melting yesterday, with total ice loss estimated to be more than 2 gigatons (a gigaton is equal to 1 billion tons).

 

While Greenland is a big island filled with lots of ice, it is highly unusual for that much ice to be lost in the middle of June. The average "melt season" for Greenland runs from June to August, with the bulk of the melting occurring in July.

 

To visualize how much ice that is, imagine filling the National Mall in Washington DC with enough ice to reach a point in the sky eight times higher than the Washington Monument (to borrow an analogy Meredith Nettles from Columbia University gave to the Washington Post.)

 

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Scientists shocked by Arctic permafrost thawing 70 years sooner than predicted

 

Permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, an expedition has discovered, in the latest sign that the global climate crisis is accelerating even faster than scientists had feared.

 

A team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks said they were astounded by how quickly a succession of unusually hot summers had destabilised the upper layers of giant subterranean ice blocks that had been frozen solid for millennia.

 

“What we saw was amazing,” Vladimir Romanovsky, a professor of geophysics at the university, told Reuters. “It’s an indication that the climate is now warmer than at any time in the last 5,000 or more years.“

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

Take that, mother nature!

[PeterMP]

I will point out that while what is happening in Greenland is news worthy.  In general, the the things in the Arctic actually appear to be pretty normal for recent history.  For example, sea ice extents are actually currently higher than they were in 2016 (Just to be clear, they aren't normal as they are well below the historical mean, but for recent history they don't stand out).  (Also, the Greenland ice sheets aren't sea ice so isn't captured by that number), and the melt even in Greenland is coming back down at least towards "normal".

 

So I'm not sure in the larger picture how significant what is happening in Greenland is.

 

But here's what has happened there pictorially.

 

 

(What might be more significant is Antarctica sea ice doesn't really seem to be recovering from the 2017 extremely low number and large decline.  This year's minimum is not as low as 2017 or 2018, but currently the Antarctica sea ice extent is lower than the 2017 or '18 number.  Decades of small increases Antarctica sea ice appears to be over.  It is to early to know if we are in a decline phase.)

 

Permafrost melting has repeatedly been reported to be happening faster than expected.

 

(The story this year is from Canada.  Last winter it was from Russia:

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/08/news-arctic-permafrost-may-thaw-faster-than-expected/

 

)

 

And after methane levels being flat for about a decade  in the early 2000s, levels have been going up over the last decade (despite the fact that the NGO industry tells us that they are doing a better job of capturing methane) indicating increased permafrost melting.

 

I think were going to find that there is a cooperative nature to melting permafrost.  If nothing else, I suspect that increased biological activity in melted permafrost is going to contribute to the melting of nearby permafrost.

Edited June 20, 2019 by PeterMP

[TheGreatBuzz]

Anyone following this mess in Oregon?  The walkout is over a climate change bill but this could potentially have bigger ramifications.  Not sure if it is worth it's own thread.

 

https://q13fox.com/2019/06/20/oregon-gop-senators-walk-out-over-climate-legislation/

[Cooked Crack]

"Fake science."

[PeterMP]

Since the Oregon law was brought up here.  Thought I'd point out it is dead.  To pass, the law needed 

 

https://theslot.jezebel.com/the-oregon-climate-change-bill-is-dead-its-not-even-1835860688

 

16 out of 18 Democrats would have to vote for it, but they don't have the votes.

[visionary]

 

[PeterMP]

16 minutes ago, visionary said:

 

 

I think this being badly reported.  It seems like they are saying the hottest June in Europe.

 

https://climate.copernicus.eu/record-breaking-temperatures-june

 

"Data released today show that the European-average temperature for June 2019 was higher than for any other June on record. Average temperatures were more than 2°C above normal and it has become the hottest June ever recorded."

 

To break a global record in a non-El Nino year would be exceedingly unlikely.

[visionary]

 

[twa]

Quote

His organisation, where the research goal is to highlight clean-energy alternatives

 

From the AJ article 

 

As PT Barnum used to say ....

The plan of "counting the chickens before they are hatched" is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.

 

[Larry]

My inner skeptic is making me wonder.  This "25% of global warming impacts"?  Are they talking about the impact of burning natural gas?  Or the impact of things that release unburnt methane into the atmosphere?  

[Cooked Crack]

 

[visionary]

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[JCB]

Every day, this administration proves they have contempt for the very idea of a free society. They are nihilists.

[FanboyOf91]

 

[LD0506]

[FanboyOf91]

Not good.

[AsburySkinsFan]

@twa be all like 🤯

WTF, I thought Texas was Uhmerican!!

 

[PeterMP]

27 minutes ago, AsburySkinsFan said:

@twa be all like 🤯

WTF, I thought Texas was Uhmerican!!

 

 

TX is actually doing well with alternative energy.  They are (geographically) well situated to capture wind and solar (large open land with lots of sunshine).

 

And are doing so well reasonably well.  TX has also worked through the years to diversify their economy (not get stuck in a situation where they are overly dependent on oil again after the oil crash in the 1980s that tanked the TX economy) and have broadly invested in lots of technology, including alternative energy.

 

If there is a shift in energy production, TX wants to make sure they are well situated to take advantage of it (and not be left behind), and the best way to do that is to actually have those industries be active in your state.  Your state can't be involved in advances in an industry if the industry doesn't do much in your state.

 

(Given where they are geographically, it would be nice if they were even doing better.  What would be even better though is if they'd control consumption more/better.  I think that's the American component.)

Edited July 25, 2019 by PeterMP

[The Evil Genius]

When it comes to 'murica's air quality, California still rightly drives policy. Automakers were right to deal with progressive states. Especially with the 5th largest economy in the world. 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2019 by The Evil Genius