“Their feud is exposing a rift among Democrats that could haunt Clinton beyond the party’s convention in July.” From: www.politico.com
This Is Why the Great Barrier Reef Is Dying
“The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most celebrated ecosystems on Earth—and it’s dying. Months of extreme heat have turned thousands of miles of pristine habitat into an endless watery graveyard. This year’s coral bleaching event comes as a warning.” From: gizmodo.com
With citizen science, people take research into their own hands
“From CNET Magazine: Around the world, regular people with no formal training are contributing to some of today’s most exciting scientific research. You can join them.” From: www.cnet.com
GR: We sometimes refer to volunters as citizen naturalists as well as citizen scientists. There are many ways to join. Check with the Citizen Science Association (https://garryrogers.com/2015/01/17/new-journal-citizen-science) for more information.
Climate change has dropped off the political radar (and this is a big problem)
“The aversion to talking about climate change during the election campaign reflects a wider problem: our concern for this issue has fallen even while it has become larger and more urgent.” From: www.abc.net.au
GR: During Friday’s Democratic Presidential debate, Sanders said we needed climate action “yesterday.” He received huge applause. I’d say that keeps the topic on the radar. Unfortunately, more familiar concerns–economy, war, and human problems–receive more media presentation. We need more organizations like The Guardian to help keep critical issues out front.
Conditions Promoting Arctic Sea Ice Collapse Are Exceptionally Strong This Spring
We knew that El Nino would release some of the ocean’s stored heat, but the consequences are stronger than expected. There are justifiable fears that we’ve lurched up to a new normal that’s warmer, stormier, wetter, dryer, and more acidic. Our continuing war on wildlife and Earth ecosystems just took a giant step forward.
It didn’t take long for Arctic sea ice to start to respond to a fossil-fuel based accumulation of hothouse gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere. For since the 1920s, that region of ocean ice along the northern polar zone has been in a steady, and increasingly rapid, retreat. Rachel Carson wrote about the start of the Northern Hemisphere ocean ice decline in her ground-breaking 1955 book — The Edge of the Sea.
But it wasn’t until the late 1970s that consistent satellite observations began to provide an unbroken record telling the tale of Arctic sea ice decline. The National Snow and Ice Data Center, The Polar Science Center (PIOMAS), Japan’s JAXA, The Danish Meteorological Institute, and others have since that time provided a loyal recording of the stark impact human-forced warming has had on this sensitive and critical region.
(Severe sea ice volume losses since 1979…
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Climate Change and Violence in the Philippines
“From Syria to Kidapawan: time to look at climate change as a peace issue
“On April 1, the Philippines was shocked by violence in Kidapawan City, the capital of Cotabato Province, where police opened fire on farmers protesting and asking for rice, killing three and injuring 116.
“Eighty-seven were listed as missing in the incident, which erupted over frustrated farmers experiencing an intense drought brought on by the El Nino climate phenomenon who felt the government was doing nothing for them. The Philippines is an island nation frequently battered y weather, often typhoons. Now it is drought.
From: www.asiasentinel.com
GR: According to the MIT computer model commissioned by the Club of Rome (Limits to Growth, 1974), the collapse of human civilization begins around 2020 (https://garryrogers.com/2014/09/03/limits-to-growth/). The collapse results from our growing population’s use of the planet’s limited resources, and the environmental pollution accompanying use of those resources. The severity of climate-change impacts may have moved up the beginning of the collapse. To this year.
However, the collapse will be gradual. Many people will not feel the shocks of our failing civilization for another 10-20 years.
However, the collapse will be gradual. Many people will not feel the shocks of our failing civilization for another 10-20 years.
Heatwave Mass Casualties Strike India in April Amidst Severe Drought, Water Shortages
Probably another dangerously hot summer ahead.
Loss of water from snow melt in the Himalayas, increasing temperatures and instances of drought over the food-producing plains, and a potential endemic weakening of the annual monsoonal rains. These are all climate change related impacts that appear to be settling in over India as global temperatures consistently begin to hit levels higher than 1 C above 1880s values. Impacts that are setting up conditions for sustained and increasingly severe droughts and heatwaves.
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Yesterday, temperatures rocketed to 114.44 degrees Fahrenheit (or 45.8 degrees Celsius) in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Odisha, on the Indian east coast. It was the hottest April reading ever recorded for a region that typically sees daily highs in the upper 90s this time of year. A level of heat that’s excessive even for this typically warm region.
(Most of India baked under a severe heatwave yesterday [April 11] as the number of lives lost…
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Better land use one of the keys to slowing global warming
GR: Carbon storage in soils equates to fertility. Over most of the Earth’s land surfaces, grazing and farming lead to loss of topsoil, the upper soil layer that holds the carbon. It will be very difficult to improve the current wasteful practices since the growing human population is urgently demanding more meat and potatoes. Unlike disaster movies with a positive conclusion, our waste of the soil will lead to a bad ending. Unlike the alien invaders in the movie Independence Day, we humans cannot move on when our resources are exhausted.
Study quantifies climate benefits of sustainable land use
Staff Report
Switching to more sustainable forms of land use management could significantly boost the carbon-storing capacity of the planet’s soils — by up to 8 billion tons of greenhouse gases, scientists reported in a new study. Previous research shows that soils currently lock away around 2.4 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gases, which are stored underground as stable organic matter.
The measures identified by the researchers include growing crops with deeper root systems and using charcoal-based composts. Widespread adoption sustainable land use practices and and application of best available technologies could help soils store up to 80 percent of greenhouse gases released by fossil fuel combustion, the researchers calculated.
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Warm, Southerly Winds Gust at Hurricane Force Over Greenland in Staggering Early Season Heatwave — Temperatures Now Hitting up to 41 Degrees (F) Above Average at Summit
And now . . . more juice for the N. Atlantic cool pool. Thanks Robert for the information. And thanks to all the commenting climatologists for your insights and additions. Required reading.
The wavy, crazy Jet Stream.
Over the past few years, it’s become more and more clear that a human-forced heating of the Arctic has basically driven the Jet Stream mad. Big loops, omega blocks, and huge ridges and troughs have all become a feature of the new climate we’re experiencing. And related to these features have been a number of superstorms, severe droughts, ocean hot and cold pools, and extreme rainfall events.
(The Jet Stream once again mangled. A strong trough shoved cool air over the US East Coast this weekend as a facing ridge prepared to hurl a bulge of extreme warmth up and over Greenland on Monday. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)
As we have seen with Sandy, the Pacific Hot Blob, the UK floods, The California Drought, The Record Alaska and Canadian Wildfire Seasons of 2015, the Russian Heatwave and Fires of 2011, the Pakistan Floods of…
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GarryRogers Nature Conservation 