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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
As freak weather becomes the norm, we need to adapt
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 9:53 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:IT HAS been yet another week of extraordinary weather. Torrential rainfall caused chaos across the UK. A record-breaking heatwave drifted across the US, broken by freak thunderstorms that left a trail of destruction from Chicago to Washington DC. Meanwhile, in India and Bangladesh more than 100 people were killed and half a million fled when the monsoon arrived with a vengeance. We have become used to reports of extreme weather events playing down any connection with climate change. The refrain is usually along the lines of "you cannot attribute any single event to global warming". But increasingly this is no longer the case. The science of climate attribution - which makes causal connections between climate change and weather events - is advancing rapidly, and with it our understanding of what we can expect in years to come. From killer heatwaves to destructive floods, the effects of global warming are becoming ever more obvious - and we ain't seen nothing yet. Our weather is not only becoming more extreme as a result of global warming, it is becoming even more extreme than climate scientists predicted. Researchers now think they are starting to understand why. Human activity cannot be held solely responsible for all of these extreme events, but by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, we have loaded the climate dice. Only political leaders and corporate masters have the power to do anything about that - but they are doing little to help. Those opposed to cutting emissions sometimes argue that we will simply adapt to a warming world. That is fast becoming a necessity, rather than a choice, but we are doing a lousy job of it. Take the recent devastating forest fires in Colorado. Recent weather conditions have been ideal for them, but they were worsened by forest-management practices that led to a build-up of combustible fuel . Elsewhere in the US, subsidised insurance encourages development in coastal areas that are increasingly at risk from storms and flooding. China, too, is failing. Most of rapidly growing Shanghai is barely above sea level. The land is sinking and the sea is rising. In a century or two, it will be another New Orleans. And what sort of extreme events will we have to endure by 2060, when the planet could already be 4 °C hotter and counting? We need to start planning for a future of much wilder weather now, to prepare for ever more ferocious heatwaves, storms, floods and droughts. For example, building codes should be toughened so that homes and offices can withstand whatever is thrown at them. Vital infrastructure should be situated in areas far from the risk of floods and other natural disasters, as Thailand learned the hard way last year when an economically important industrial site was destroyed by floodwater. We are in this position as a result of decades of foot-dragging over emissions cuts and clean-energy investment. That was perhaps understandable given the distant and abstract nature of the threat. Now the threat has become a real and present danger. Those who offer blithe reassurances of our ability to adapt need to start putting their money where their mouths are.
Quote:ITS NICKNAME is the icebox of the nation. The village of Pellston in Michigan often sees arctic winters, with a thermometer-shattering record low of -47 °C in 1933. Even by late March, it is usually a very chilly place. But not this year. On 22 March the Pellston weather station registered a temperature above 29 °C, vaporising the previous record for that date by more than 17 degrees. This was just one of thousands of weather records smashed by the "summer in March", a 10-day event that affected much of North America. Many people enjoyed the unseasonal warmth, but most of the other extraordinary weather events of the past decade have been far less welcome. In 2003, the summer in Europe was so hot it killed tens of thousands. Russia in 2010 suffered even more staggering heat. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, June was one of the hottest on record in the US since data collection began in 1880.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 10:17 AM
HERO
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: it's just weather, no global warming HERE!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 10:27 AM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 12:12 PM
Quote:A team of 30 scientists across the globe ( http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/researchnews/tippingtowardstheunknown/contactdetails.4.1fe8f33123572b59ab800010646.html) have determined that the nine environmental processes of climate change, biodiversity loss, nitrogen levels, freshwater consumption, ocean acidification, land use, phosphorous levels, chemical pollution and aerosol loading must remain within specific limits, otherwise the "safe operating space" within which humankind can exist on Earth will be threatened. The researchers have determined that the world has already crossed the boundary in three cases: biodiversity loss, the nitrogen cycle and climate change. Freshwater consumption, ocean acidification, land use and phosphorous levels are close to the boundary. Chemical pollution and aerosol loading are still being pinned down. As it stands now: Up to 30% of mammals, birds and amphibians will be threatened with extinction in this century; Biodiversity loss has happened faster in the past 50 years than at any other time in human history; We're losing ice sheets; sea levels are rising; weather patterns are changing; Carbon dioxide is making the oceans more acidic, causing the loss of corals, shellfish and plankton; Widespread fertilizer use is changing the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles even more than the carbon cycle; Excess nitrogen and phosphorous pollute our rivers, lakes, oceans and atmosphere; Global freshwater use doubles every 20 years, at more than twice the rate of population growth; We've already passed the tipping point of climate change, biodiversity loss and nitrogen levels; We're about to pass the tipping point of freshwater consumption, ocean acidification, land use and phosphorous levels.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 3:49 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: You guys would be funny...if you weren't so sad, and so scary because it is people like you who have put us in the situation we're in. It's not just abou "climate change" or "global warming" or whatever you want to snark about that, it's much more complex.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 4:24 PM
ANTHONYT
Freedom is Important because People are Important
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 4:42 PM
DEVERSE
Hey, Ive been in a firefight before! Well, I was in a fire. Actually, I was fired from a fry-cook opportunity.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 5:47 PM
1KIKI
Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 6:24 PM
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 6:31 PM
WISHIMAY
Thursday, July 26, 2012 12:34 AM
MAGONSDAUGHTER
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: Another side of climate change/global warming (for those who believe in it): that we need to start adapting because nothing will be done to change it.Quote:IT HAS been yet another week of extraordinary weather. Torrential rainfall caused chaos across the UK. A record-breaking heatwave drifted across the US, broken by freak thunderstorms that left a trail of destruction from Chicago to Washington DC. Meanwhile, in India and Bangladesh more than 100 people were killed and half a million fled when the monsoon arrived with a vengeance. We have become used to reports of extreme weather events playing down any connection with climate change. The refrain is usually along the lines of "you cannot attribute any single event to global warming". But increasingly this is no longer the case. The science of climate attribution - which makes causal connections between climate change and weather events - is advancing rapidly, and with it our understanding of what we can expect in years to come. From killer heatwaves to destructive floods, the effects of global warming are becoming ever more obvious - and we ain't seen nothing yet. Our weather is not only becoming more extreme as a result of global warming, it is becoming even more extreme than climate scientists predicted. Researchers now think they are starting to understand why. Human activity cannot be held solely responsible for all of these extreme events, but by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, we have loaded the climate dice. Only political leaders and corporate masters have the power to do anything about that - but they are doing little to help. Those opposed to cutting emissions sometimes argue that we will simply adapt to a warming world. That is fast becoming a necessity, rather than a choice, but we are doing a lousy job of it. Take the recent devastating forest fires in Colorado. Recent weather conditions have been ideal for them, but they were worsened by forest-management practices that led to a build-up of combustible fuel . Elsewhere in the US, subsidised insurance encourages development in coastal areas that are increasingly at risk from storms and flooding. China, too, is failing. Most of rapidly growing Shanghai is barely above sea level. The land is sinking and the sea is rising. In a century or two, it will be another New Orleans. And what sort of extreme events will we have to endure by 2060, when the planet could already be 4 °C hotter and counting? We need to start planning for a future of much wilder weather now, to prepare for ever more ferocious heatwaves, storms, floods and droughts. For example, building codes should be toughened so that homes and offices can withstand whatever is thrown at them. Vital infrastructure should be situated in areas far from the risk of floods and other natural disasters, as Thailand learned the hard way last year when an economically important industrial site was destroyed by floodwater. We are in this position as a result of decades of foot-dragging over emissions cuts and clean-energy investment. That was perhaps understandable given the distant and abstract nature of the threat. Now the threat has become a real and present danger. Those who offer blithe reassurances of our ability to adapt need to start putting their money where their mouths are.I don't actually see any of this "adapting" happening any time soon, either. It would require accepting that global warming is happening for anyone to start changing things; we're too comfortable as a species with our shoreline villas, too unwilling to retrofit places against weather like we've been doing here and elsewhere against 'quakes. Given I believe we've passed tipping point, it's doubly sad to see that not only are people comfortable ignoring global warming, they're equally comfortable not lifting a finger to adapt to what's coming--even tho' they're seeing it with their own eyes. Couple of examples (I can't get the whole article without subscribing, but here's a taste):Quote:ITS NICKNAME is the icebox of the nation. The village of Pellston in Michigan often sees arctic winters, with a thermometer-shattering record low of -47 °C in 1933. Even by late March, it is usually a very chilly place. But not this year. On 22 March the Pellston weather station registered a temperature above 29 °C, vaporising the previous record for that date by more than 17 degrees. This was just one of thousands of weather records smashed by the "summer in March", a 10-day event that affected much of North America. Many people enjoyed the unseasonal warmth, but most of the other extraordinary weather events of the past decade have been far less welcome. In 2003, the summer in Europe was so hot it killed tens of thousands. Russia in 2010 suffered even more staggering heat. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, June was one of the hottest on record in the US since data collection began in 1880.But nah, it's just weather, no global warming HERE!
Thursday, July 26, 2012 12:49 AM
Thursday, July 26, 2012 1:00 AM
Thursday, July 26, 2012 1:46 AM
JONGSSTRAW
Thursday, July 26, 2012 2:15 AM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Thursday, July 26, 2012 5:28 AM
Thursday, July 26, 2012 5:40 AM
Thursday, July 26, 2012 7:51 AM
Thursday, July 26, 2012 9:55 AM
Friday, July 27, 2012 3:26 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6ixStringJack: I dunno... sounds to me like climate change and the excessive gun violence would make sense to the science-minded people here. I've seen more than several people post that we're all "just animals". In a way, that is true, and I won't even argue many little differences that may seem inconsequential at face value but when added up mean something much different than that. The point is that I believe that we're MUCH worse than animals in many different ways, although we have, and have shown the capacity to be much better than we as a whole come off. All of this is irrelevant to the point though. The point is... before "Man" came into the picture Nature always found a way to balance things out. Most of this balancing was done in a non-violent fashion, but there are records of insane volcanic eruptions and ice ages' on the charts that served as a virtual "Noah's Flood" back before the first human was ever born. I think these man-made changes are happening now. Just because they're man-made doesn't make them any worse than other cataclysmic "happenings" in the history of the world... at least... in the scheme of things. Personally, I don't even think the climate change is really a bad thing. When things get worse, people will adapt or die. If it's too late for all of us, even the most adept at adapting will likely die off too. If the race as a whole is lucky, there might be a few of us who survive and live on to tell their grandchildren stories of how complex the world was before mankind fell and how we should not repeat their mistakes. If none of us survive?????? Not such a bad scenario for any new life-forms who eventually exist here. Personally, I feel it's pretty arrogant of us to say that we even possess the power to "kill" the Earth. Look at Her fighting back now. I think this is child's play compared to what She can do. She's just firing warning shots past our heads with her six-shooter now. She hasn't even brought out the rocket launcher yet, let alone Her own nuclear arsenal. My guess.... we're lucky if, as a species, we survive another 100 years. At that time, our presence here is a mere blink of an eye for Earth. It may take 10 times as long for Her to truly recover when She sheds Herself of us, but even ten times as long is really nothing in the timeline....... "A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
Sunday, July 29, 2012 3:10 AM
Sunday, July 29, 2012 6:53 AM
Sunday, July 29, 2012 1:03 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Jongsstraw: I'll wager it was pretty hot in Melbourne in September 1942, when battle-weary and victorious US Marines were given R&R there after stopping the Japanese invasion force at Guadalcanal. Young ladies whose boyfriends were off fighting elsewhere greeted the arriving Yanks with their own version of freaky heat. Thanks mate!
Sunday, July 29, 2012 1:29 PM
Quote:Originally posted by DEVERSE: I am concerned about a lot of things, but not global warming so much cause there isn't a darn thing anyone can do about it and even if it were man made CO2 causing the problem (which I strongly doubt as man made CO2 is only 3% of what nature produces), if all CO2 production were stopped today, including all CO2 that comes from nature, it would take 100 years before any positive effect could be observed. So unless there is some strategy to stop nature from producing CO2, we are doomed anyway, may as well just let her rip.
Quote:As a last, I don't normally have a suspicious mind but a research company founded in 2007 by an agency with a specific interest in generating revenue from environmental "studies" tends to limit my belief in their conclusions without a good second source of information.
Sunday, July 29, 2012 1:35 PM
NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
Quote:Originally posted by 1kiki: The List: 500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares (An alphabetical listing is provided separately) Dennis T. Avery Center for Global Food Issues September 14, 2007 W. Dansgaard et al., “North Atlantic Climatic Oscillations Revealed by Deep Greenland Ice Cores,” in Climate Processes and Climate Sensitivity (1984) REALLY OLD W Dansgaard et al., “Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record,” Nature 364 (1992) REALLY OLD Claude Lorius et al., “A 150,000-Year Climatic Record from Antarctic Ice, “Nature, Vol. 316, pp. 591-96, 1985 REALLY OLD T. Cronin, “Climatic Variability in the Eastern U.S. over the past Millennium from Chesapeake Bay Sediments, Geology, Vol. 28, p 3-6, 2000 PRETTY OLD Gerald H. Haug, “Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization,” Science 299 (2003) PRETTY OLD David Hodell et al., “Solar Forcing of Drought Frequency in the Maya Lowlands,” Science 292 (2001) PRETTY OLD
Sunday, July 29, 2012 1:41 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: Yes, Anthony, that has happened in the past, and would be nice to believe in some ways. But I don't see it. How long will it take the Earth (if it can) to recover? How does mankind--or any other species--survive until it does? I don't see it as a "crisis", but more as "crisEs", and the combination of all of them seem too much for humanity to overcome, for the length of time it will take until life is sustainable once again. What would they eat? Given most mammalian species will become extinct, not meat. Given the oceans will be acidified, not fish. Given fresh water and land will be contaminated and there will be droughts and floods, growing things is...well, problematic. I'm glad you have an optimistic viewpoint; I would like to share it, but I do not. We have never faced a situation where so much will be against our survival, ALL over the world, and I don't see losing so much upon which we are interdependent as giving us much chance. Which is not to say I won't do everything I can in the meantime...the longer we can stave it off, the better, and selfishly, I don't want to be around to see it happen. One can fight on without hope, that's all I know how to do, and weep for all that will be lost and those who will have to endure it.
Sunday, July 29, 2012 5:15 PM
Monday, July 30, 2012 12:58 AM
Monday, July 30, 2012 3:01 AM
Monday, July 30, 2012 8:41 AM
Tuesday, July 31, 2012 3:43 AM
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