Tag: Climate Change

Damn! It’s Hot!

In my area it is always hot this time of the year….but we have been getting a break while the rest of the country is taking it in the butt…..

If you’re still reeling from this weekend’s heat wave, this is going to sound especially credible: The US just completed its hottest 12-month stretch ever recorded, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today. That’s in part thanks to a warmer-than-average June, which saw 170 all-time high temperatures recorded in various cities across the country, CNN reports. The numbers date back to 1895, when the government first began keeping records.

NOAA believes South Carolina and Georgia may have hit all-time highs last month, hitting temps of 113 degrees and 112 degrees, respectively. It was also the 10th driest June on record, with widespread droughts reported. All this may be the “new normal,” one climate scientist tells Reuters. “It’s hard to pinpoint climate change as the driving factor, but it appears that it is playing a role,” he said. “What’s going on for 2012 is exactly what we would expect from climate change.”

Do you have any thoughts on the crap that is going on with the weather?  And they are predicting this weather to continue through the Fall.

One Problem Solved–A Million To Go!

Politics be damn!  I need a break!

It is the weekend and as usual I have found something that will make you smile or make you angry….depends on how much caffeine you have consumed…..

For years now we have had dueling theories of climate change/global warming….this pollutant is destroying the planet……that weather was fine…wish you are here……the theory that we are experiencing a normal cycle on the earth….and then there were those that blame cow farts for all the problems….that’s right a farting cow is destroying our atmosphere!

But now…there is a solution for gaseous bovines!

Reuters is reporting on the solution…..

New diets for cows and sheep could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, research funded by the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) shows.Feeding the animals maize silage, naked oats and higher sugar grasses could reduce the amount of methane they produce, the study by Reading University and the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences showed.

A trial showed that high-sugar grasses could reduce an animal’s methane emissions by 20 per cent for every kg of weight gain and naked oats could reduce methane emissions from sheep by 33 percent.

A good day for the climate change people that blame cows for ALL the damage that is being done to our environment……now that we have solved the major problem of farting cows and the pesky methane…..maybe now we can do something about the fossil fuel thing….or how about a genetically engineered goat that eats plastic and other litter?……just saying!

2010 Anal-Ocity #29

Just when I thought it was safe to start narrowing down thew Anal statements to prepare a list of finalists for the “Assie” award…there had to be yet another mindless politician that just had to make it harder……

With the House of representatives to be in the hands of the GOP major committee assignments are already being prepared…the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee could be lead by Illinois Repub. John Shimkus, which is all well and good but for one minor point……he says that the Bible will protect the Earth from climate change……

“The earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood. … I do believe God’s word is infallible, unchanging, perfect.”

“Really, the focus is not going to be climate,” as Shimkus told Politico. “The climate debate has, at least for two years, has ended with this election. The real focus is on energy security.”

Need we say more?

Oops! Our Bad!

You have heard all the noise about global warming/climate chane….the good the bad and the ugly……..all the scuttlebutt coming from the Right and the Left……the deniers have been pretty vocal in the last year or so…..and sadly, some of it has been promoted as truth….for instance those darn pesky emails from the climate scientist at East Anglia……

In case you were in ICU for the year……the media got hold of some emails from scientists at East Anglia that questioned the validity of the global warming debate…the emails were between scientists that showed that they were cooking the facts to make climate change more of a dire problem than it really was……the media jumped on this with both feet….it was the loudest on the Right wing, of course, they are the loudest deniers….but the so-called mainstream media was on the story just as hard as the conservs….I heard argument after argument that since the facts were being cooked how can the people be concerned with a cleaner environment…….it was an ugly debate at times and every pro climate change person was tried to dis qualify using the emails….

Why would I bring all this “ancient” history up now?   Good question!

An independent inquiry into the conduct of scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Britain has found “absolutely no evidence of any impropriety whatsoever.”

The inquiry, led by Lord Oxburgh, former chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee, was investigating allegations of scientific misconduct.

Public opinion was hugely manipulated in what is now inevitably termed “climate-gate”. Quotes were taken out of context from the emails that suggested that papers were being suppressed that were critical of the overwhelming scientific consensus that human-based emissions are responsible for increased global warming. An email that referred to a “trick” in how the data was presented was particularly singled out. Claims were made that data was being manipulated by ideologically motivated scientists.

That is why I bring up this issue now…….I have heard NOTHING in the media, Right or Left, telling the people that it was all a scam and those emails were not what they were reported to be……My question is, why did they spend so much time trying to discredit the scientists in the media and then refuse to report that they have been cleared of any wrong doing or lying to the public?

To me, it sounds like ALL media outlets wants to help KILL any clean environment initiative…….what happened to the old phrase, “Fair and balanced”……..The whole journalistic industry owes those scientists an apology for their lame attempt at discrediting them……I know….a pipe dream!

There Is An A/Hole Born Every Minute!

WAIT!  Wait! wait!  There is more on the climate change front….just when we thought that it was safe to read the news……

No matter which end of the environmental spectrum you care to dwell there will always be one a/hole that has a more outlandish theory…….my fav was cow farts…..but now we have a new reason for people, especially the idiotic, to hate animals……

Man’s best friend could be one of the environment’s worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.

The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year.

Combine the land required to generate its food and a “medium” sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) — around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.

Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.

pets’ environmental impact is not limited to their carbon footprint, as cats and dogs devastate wildlife, spread disease and pollute waterways, the Vales say.

With a total 7.7 million cats in Britain, more than 188 million wild animals are hunted, killed and eaten by feline predators per year, or an average 25 birds, mammals and frogs per cat, according to figures in the New Scientist.

Likewise, dogs decrease biodiversity in areas they are walked, while their faeces cause high bacterial levels in rivers and streams, making the water unsafe to drink, starving waterways of oxygen and killing aquatic life.

And cat poo can be even more toxic than doggy doo — owners who flush their litter down the toilet ultimately infect sea otters and other animals with toxoplasma gondii, which causes a killer brain disease.

But despite the apocalyptic visions of domesticated animals’ environmental impact, solutions exist, including reducing pets’ protein-rich meat intake.

Okay, I have officially had enough!  What is next with these “people”….will we show how devastating babies are to the environment….with pampers and diapers and poop and………?  If one sets one’s mind to it….we could make a case for everything is killing the planet…..just depends where you want to stand in the debate….I put these “people” in the same category as PETA……see what happens when you do not eat enough red meat……..YOU BECOME A MORON!

Artificial Trees?

I know it is the Christmas season but these are not the artificial trees that we buy and hang energy consuming lights from….these trees can be used to clean the CO2 from the air we breath……NO!  Really!

I recently had a discussion with a good friend, Quin of Quintessential Havoc (go to blogroll and visit…a very thoughtful blog) about these trees that could be made that would help eliminate the CO2 from the air……at first I thought he was pulling my leg…..but on further examination I found the rest of the story…….

I found this on the company that is pioneering the technology:

A new kind of tree could cool the planet by removing a major greenhouse gas from the planet’s atmosphere.

What researchers are calling artificial trees, actually towers filled with various materials that adsorb carbon dioxide from the air, could play a major role in reducing climate change — if they prove profitable.

GRT’s artificial tree is based on an environmentally friendly resin, originally developed by Klaus Lackner, a professor at Columbia University in New York. The alkaline resin reacts with acidic carbon dioxide, holding it in place. After one hour exposed to the air, the resin is completely saturated with CO2.

Dry resin soaks up the CO2. Adding water releases the CO2, which is then captured and stored. Drying the resin again restores its abilities, a cycle that can be repeated indefinitely.

GRT plans to sell the purified CO2 to a range of buyers. Oil and natural gas companies are probably the biggest customers for the artificial trees. Petroleum companies pump CO2 underground to raise the pressure and force oil to the surface. Greenhouses could pump in extra C02 to help plants grow. Fizzy soda drinks and sanding auto parts also require concentrated CO2.

Another use for the artificial trees would be in the cap-and-trade carbon credit system. The idea is that companies that produce CO2 would pay another company, like GRT, to get rid of it. The most likely place to put the C02 is in the salt-lined caverns that once held oil, a process known as carbon sequestration.

This is my apology to Quin for thinking he was blowing smoke up my butt…..

Quin I appreciate the heads up on this fascinating subject….

Climate Change–Impotent

Everybody for the last week has been watching Denmark and the issues coming out on climate change conference…….many leaders and lots of protesters have descended onto the capital…….even Obam has returned to the scene of one of his biggest screw ups…..the Olympics…….and what did he get this time?

Not much……it has been called a limp penis of a deal……

The agreement between the US, China, Brazil, India and South Africa is limited to lip service to the goal of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. It reportedly drops any reference to a 2010 deadline for a legally binding climate accord, which had been the centerpiece of earlier drafts, in favor of a pledge to continue discussions when the conference reconvenes in Mexico City next year, and to make progress by 2016.

While a draft communique reportedly proposes several numerical goals, such as an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050, compared to a baseline of 1990, these are merely aspirational, with no actual targets for specific countries or groups of countries, and no concrete mechanisms for either verification or enforcement. The target of limiting the rise in world temperatures to 2 degrees Centigrade has been widely condemned by environmental activists and scientists, because it means the effective desertification of much of Africa. Even this “limit” is expressed only as a wish, an acknowledgment of the scientific consensus, and not translated into specific policies to achieve that goal.

Okay, I watched……what did these people accomplish?  Yet another waste of time chasing some Quixotic tilting of windmills………and they will do it all again and again….and the result will be the same…..wasted days and wasted nights……and the song remains the same……

Sista Sarah Tackles The Climate

No matter how one tries to ignore the obvious….you just cannot….not when it attacks you mentally every waking moment of every day…..our Sista Sarah is just such a venue…..just when you thought there was a lull in the amazing story of Sista Sarah….she drags you back in….yelling and screaming……No matter how hard one tries to let that story or chapter die….it is not physically possible for it to die……

The saga begins in the early hours of 8 Dec 09 when our heroine said:

that President Obama “boycott” an international conference on climate change underway in Copenhagen, because some hacked e-mails questioning the ethics of some scientists at a university in Great Britain have given the obstinate opposition to the concept of global warming.

We all know that she thinks that climate change is a made up story and went so far as to call Gore on it in an op-ed in the WaPo when she said the climate change was like “gravity.  It exists”.

Gore to Palin:

“The north polar ice cap has been there for 3 million years, the size of the continental United States, and it is disappearing before our very eyes. What do the skeptics think is causing that? Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that we are putting 90 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere here every 24 hours and that these consequences have been predicted for decades by the scientists?”

To which Palin tweeted:

“amazing 2 see Al Gore’s denial of the controversy–it’s like denying gravity”

Okay the media game of tag….the gotcha of politics……and then Laura Ingraham of FOX News brought up the prospect of a debate between Palin and Gore…..to which the reply was:

Oh my goodness. You know, it depends on what the venue would be, what the forum. Because Laura, as you know, if it would be some kind of conventional, traditional debate with his friends setting it up or being the commentators I’ll get clobbered because, you know, they don’t want to listen to the facts. They don’t want to listen to some reasonable voices in this. And that was proven with the publication of this op-ed, where they kind of got all we-weed up about it and wanted to call me and others deniers of changing weather patterns and climate conditions. Trying to make the issue into something that it is not.

So far that is the story…..it is she said…he said…..and the prospect of a debate on the issue of climate change is not an option…..well, we could have the debate but it would have to be by Sista Sarah’s rules….meaning that she can go off topic whenever she wanted but her opponent could not.

Personally, I would enjoy the debate and I think it would either make or break Sista Sarah in the process…..but of course….no matter what she does the people that love her will continue to do so and vice versa…..you betcha!

Damn! It Is Working!

I guess you would like to know what is working, huh?  All the clap trap about the idea that climate change/global warming is nothing more than a made up phenomena of the Left, the Liberals, the …..basically, all the propaganda out there disputing the existence of global warming…..

After a couple of years of attacks by conservative, pro-business lobbyist against any reforms that would lead to the reduction of green house gases and all their hard word, even though most of it is misleading and in some cases out right lies, has had a positive effect for the lobbies that get paid huge dollars for their efforts.

The UK’s Guardian newspaper has a story about the successes of the anti-warming groups:

The number of Americans who believe in global warming has plummeted, falling 20% in two years, a survey said today.Only 57% of Americans believe there is solid scientific evidence that the Earth’s atmosphere is warming, said the poll of 1,500 people by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press.

That is a fall of 77% from 2007. The number of people who believe that human activity is causing global warming also fell to just 36%.

The public uncertainty about the evidence behind global warming comes as the Senate prepares to begin debate next week on climate change legislation. Yesterday, 18 scientific organisations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming.

The decline was sharpest among independent voters and Republicans. Republicans in Congress have almost uniformly lined up against climate change legislation. There were also regional differences, with people in the mid-west and Rocky mountain states less inclined to see climate change as a serious problem.

But the perceived lack of concrete evidence for global warming did not necessarily hurt the prospects of voting on climate change legislation, Dimock said. Half of Americans polled remain in favour of putting limits and carbon emissions and making companies pay for their emissions — the basics of the cap and trade bill now before the Senate.

A majority, 56%, also want America to join other countries in a global agreement on climate change.

If you consider the results of the survey then the money spent by companies was well spent…..all the misleading BS like “clean coal” is working, or that drilling off shore will give the US independence from foreign oil, are among the most popular twists being used by the lobbyists….and Damn!  It is working!