Tag: Climate Change

Scientists try to replicate climate denier findings and fail | Grist

If a blogger writes anything about climate change.global warming then there is a plethora of people that fly into a rage and start posting those damn links that would take a insane person from sanity to sitting in a corner baffled………Everyone has an opinion but especially those the are what we are calling “deniers”

But all there links and their knowledge….the equation is can any of their opposition be scientifically tested?  It can….but can it be verified?

That is a different question with a different answer……

Read on my friends read on!

 

Source: Scientists try to replicate climate denier findings and fail | Grist

Cows With Gas

Yipee!  The weekend has finally come over the horizon and I can post some weird and unusual stuff…….

I am sure that you have heard some of the debate on global warming or climate change…..whichever suits your sensibilities…….some of the deniers put the blame not on the human factor but squarely on the backs of…..COWS.

Say what?  yep, some are saying that the reason we are suffering through climate change is that cows fart too much…..you read it right……fart too much.

In today’s world there has got to be a way to help cows with their gas problem…….short of a gallon of Bean-o…….

Cows are notorious methane gas producers, belching somewhere between 132 and 264 gallons of gas produced by food fermenting in the rumen (one of the four parts of their stomachs) every day. As the Washington Post reports, that’s so significant that ruminant animals—including sheep and goats—actually contribute a quarter of the country’s total methane emissions, which is a top greenhouse gas. So the Dutch life sciences and materials company DSM has partnered with Penn State to develop a powder to add to cow feed that it reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences produces a 30% reduction in methane emissions.

DSM says it’s achieved this without harming the animal, its performance (i.e., milk production), or how much food it eats. Here’s how it works. By feeding 3-nitrooxypropanol (a small molecule referred to as 3NOP) to dairy cows, it inhibits an enzyme called methyl-coenzyme M reductase that’s used by cow gut bacteria to digest grass but produces methane in the process, reports Scientific American. It’s not the first to help reduce this methane production, but it’s the first that appears safe for the animal and the environment. It also helps the cows gain weight, since 7% of the energy in their food goes toward methane alone. Whether this weight gain improves milk production needs further study.

There you have it..,..problem solved!

Now will someone please work on a cure for killer farts from my dogs………they could wake the dead!

The Children Are Our Future

How many times have you heard this from both parties…….our children make a great political prop and campaign slogan……but so far I have seen NO indication that anyone in Washington actually gives a crap about futre generations……how about you?

I recently came across a piece that leads me to believe that our children are on the right track even if the government is not……

I know that there are many that feel that climate change is just sosme made up crisis to gain some sort of political advantage and then there are those that feel the climate change is going to devastate our planet in the near future…….and of these people the children are showing the country the way….

A group of 8- to 19-year-olds says climate change will doom the future unless changes are made now—and they’re trying to force the government to do just that. Nearly a dozen young people filed a federal lawsuit in Oregon yesterday, arguing that the current consumption of fossil fuels is unconstitutional and a health threat. “We brought this case because the government needs to immediately and aggressively reduce carbon emissions and stop promoting fossil fuels, which force our nation’s climate system toward irreversible impacts,” plaintiff Kelsey Juliana, 18, says in the suit, according to Al Jazeera America. “If the government continues to delay urgent annual emissions reductions, my generation’s well-being will be inexcusably put at risk.”

Former NASA chief climate scientist James Hansen is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, which follows a climate change plan unveiled by President Obama earlier this month. The Clean Power Plan seeks to “reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030,” according to WhiteHouse.gov, but the lawsuit demands more aggressive action. A similar lawsuit filed by environmental advocacy group Our Children’s Trust and some of the plaintiffs in the Oregon case was dismissed last year by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

The children are truly our future and they are concerned that with the status quo they will have….NO FUTURE!

My hat goes off to these brave kids…..in their hands this world just may survive the stupidity around climate change.

Clean Power Plan Hailed as Ambitious, Insufficient | Al Jazeera America

A few days ago the Prez made his big climate change speech…….it was hailed as an impressive speech and it was belittled by the deniers as a “chicken Little” moment…….but was the speech all that or was there holes in it?

We all know that something must be done…..well anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size…….but is this going to be the cure all that we all search for?

Personally, I think not……anytime you look for reform then the opponents have won…….you either do it or go home!

 

Clean Power Plan Hailed as Ambitious, Insufficient | Al Jazeera America.

Ice, Ice, Baby

It is Summertime in the South…….in my neighborhood it has been over 100 for 10 days……last week it hit 112 and just yesterday it was 107…….so to say that it is hot is a bit of an understatement……all this heat makes one yearn for some coolness……..cool? My ass I want it cold!

And speaking of cold…..I read an article the other day that made me think I could get my wish……and soon……..

In the words of the Starks, winter is coming—and it’s going to be bad. Using a new model to forecast the sun’s activity, scientists predict solar activity will fall by 60% in the 2030s to conditions not seen since a “mini ice age” in 1645. For almost two centuries, scientists have known that the sun’s activity changes on a 10- to 12-year cycle. Each cycle is slightly different, and predicting the sun’s activity has proven difficult thanks to a dynamo caused by fluid deep within the sun. However, after reviewing magnetic field activity over three solar cycles, researchers say they’ve found a second dynamo close to the sun’s surface. “They both have a frequency of approximately 11 years, although this frequency is slightly different,” researcher Valentina Zharkova explains. The new model based on the pair has allowed for “unprecedentedly accurate predictions,” per Science Daily. As if to crush all hope of warmth, Zharkova notes they’re 97% accurate.

That doesn’t mean we’re all going to freeze solid. Zharkova explains that, according to the “double dynamo” theory, two sets of magnetic waves, “originating in two different layers in the sun’s interior,” sway between the sun’s Northern and Southern hemispheres. When they are “in phase … we have strong solar activity.” But when the “two waves exactly mirror each other, peaking at the same time but in opposite hemispheres of the sun,” as is predicted for 2030 to 2040, “their interaction will be disruptive, or they will nearly cancel each other. We predict that this will lead to the properties of a ‘Maunder minimum.'” The Maunder minimum, also known as the Little Ice Age, brought significant temperature drops to the Northern Hemisphere from 1645 to 1715, causing England’s River Thames to freeze during the winter of 1683-84, reports the Telegraph. Haaretz, which puts the dates at 1300 to 1870, reports some countries suffered crop failure and famine. (The sun is already partly to blame for our shortening spring.)

I am sure that there will be a few d/bags that will deny any of this…….there is always a denier hide in the weeds waiting to pop out and spout their crap…….

Personally I look forward to some cold weather…..even if it last for longer than a couple of months….I can not take off enough clothes to be cool ……but I can put enough on to be warm…..

Enjoy the rest of your weekend……..,

But There Is No Water!

Do you like Pistachios?  How about almonds?  Maybe some avocados?  And then there is all that citrus that goes to market.

The point is that a lot of our ‘home grown’ produce comes out of California……and in case you have missed it….there is a massive drought going on in the state……even with the drought they seem to be plugging along fairly well……at least for now.  you see sports fans California imports a lot of the water they use for agriculture…..and with this drought how long will that last……native Californian water supply?

Water isn’t just running low in California, a top NASA scientist warns—it’s going to plum run out in about a year. “As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water—and the problem started before our current drought,” writes Jay Famiglietti in the LA Times. He notes ominously that since 2011, California has lost roughly 12 million acre-feet of stored water per year, and water sources in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins are way below normal levels. He says the state needs to ration water, manage groundwater better, and form a task force to create better water strategies. “We’re not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we’re losing the creek too,” he writes. In other bleak water news:

  • Desperate for groundwater, California is drilling deep enough to extract ancient water that dates back 15,000 to 20,000 years, Mother Jones reports. That groundwater may never be replenished, water quality will suffer, and pumping will grow ever pricier, experts say.
  • An article in the journal Groundwater warns that a water supply amounting to two Lake Eries was depleted across the US in recent years. “That’s enough to contribute to rising sea levels, along with melting glaciers and polar ice,” says Mother Jones.
  • Meanwhile, a blistering heatwave has struck California with record-high temperatures yesterday in several locations, including Los Angeles (90) and San Diego (89), the LA Times reports.
  • And Cali isn’t alone: Officials in Brazil predict that Sao Paolo—the biggest and most economically vital city in South America—will run out of water by June, PRI reports. Some 20 million residents are taking precautions amid the region’s worst drought in decades.

But let us not worry about this situation.  Or the fact that produce grown in the US may become prohibitively expensive.  Nothing to worry about according to those pseudo-science twats that are in Congress…..all this is just normal and we will just have to wait it out…..

Climate Change: Speak No Evil

How many times do we hear about the consequences of our actions concerning the planet…….and how many arguments against any changes that would possibly effect the globe?

Hell, there is a whole network, media type, that has made its living off all deniers……but we are all free to say and believe what we want about the ups and downs of climate change….all of us……….. with the exception of state workers in Florida……

At Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, employees whose jobs include preparing for the effects of climate change and sea-level rise say life got a little tougher after Rick Scott took office in 2011 and the use of terms like “climate change,” “global warming,” and “sea-level rise” was banned. Past and present DEP employees say the “unwritten” policy has been bad for educational efforts and public policy, according to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. One former employee tells the FCIR that she was told orders had come down from the governor’s office that they were “not allowed to discuss anything that was not a true fact” and the terms should be avoided. She says a suggested replacement for “sea-level rise” was “nuisance flooding.”

A former attorney with the DEP’s Office of General Counsel tells FCIR that “sustainability” was also on the list of terms he was told not to use in meetings or on state documents; he thinks the issue is about more than just a dispute of phrasing, it is “an indication that the political leadership in the state of Florida is not willing to address these issues and face the music when it comes to the challenges that climate change presents.” Gov. Scott, a Republican who was re-elected last year, refuses to say whether he thinks there is a link between human activity and climate change, and has said, “I’m not a scientist” when asked about it, the Guardian reports.

With all the rumblings and mutterings about our rights to say what we think……is this not somehow a violation of that right?

The problem will go away if the name is not spoken?

God I love Florida!  (Sarcasm in the n-th degree)

It Is All About The Theatrics

But first…Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock, of Star Trek Fame,  has died at 83…….R.I.P.

My analysis in the past decade is that there is NO substantial politics anymore…..all we have now is theatrics……whoever runs in front of the camera first gets to present its mini-drama for the public.

This is true for Congress and especially for the latest edition of CPAC….or as I like to call it…..Theater of the Absurd.  Chest thumping and macho BS and NO mention of any solutions or issues….just Dems bad….GOP good!

The theatrics go on day after day……and the news lets the morons talk about whatever they choose and never make the interviewed person answer a direct question………

We know that most Tea Party dudes and dudettes do not believe the climate change is a real problem and much theatrics have been shown around this issue……and yesterday was NO different…..Sen. Inhofe is the head cheerleader for the anti-climate people……showed his drama training…..

The chair of the Senate Environment Committee offered the chamber some compelling evidence yesterday against man-made climate change: a snowball. “Because we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record, I ask the chair, do you know what this is?” Sen. Jim Inhofe said to fellow Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy as he produced the snowball, the Hill reports. “It’s a snowball. And it’s just from outside here. So it’s very, very cold out. Very unseasonable,” Inhofe said before chucking the snowball in Cassidy’s direction. The Oklahoman, one of the most vocal climate-change deniers in the Senate, went on to denounce “alarmism” on the subject and accuse President Obama of being “detached from reality” for claiming that climate change is a bigger threat than terrorism.

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse rebutted Inhofe’s claims, starting by saying he wanted “to respond to the presentation by one of the Republican senators suggesting that the continued existence of snow disproves climate change,” CNN reports. At the Washington Post, Philip Bump writes that those not completely convinced by Inhofe’s evidence might argue that he’s using “one bit of weather-related data to try to disprove a well-established, very long-term trend. Bump also notes that “temperatures in February are supposed to be cold in the Northern Hemisphere since it is a season called ‘winter'” and points out that one snowball doesn’t change the fact that 2014 was indeed the warmest year on record, according to NASA and the NOAA.

Basically, he is saying….it is winter and it snowed……so there can be no problem.  I am NO climate scientist but it seems that,  if I remember correctly, in Winter it snows and Summer it is hot….I could be wrong and I am sure that someone will point it out.

I wonder what the ‘snowball’ prop cost the fossil fuel industry.

Some things seldom change…….and Inhofe is an idiot……period!

I mentioned CPAC…..that collection of clowns that come to time once a year….a couple day news fest of conservs where they stand around thumping their chests to impression the moneyed few in case they choose to run for office…….during the speeches much is said…..not a word of it has anything to do with a plan to keep this country strong…..most of the rhetoric is aim against the prez….now there are many things that I can say against Obama and his policies…….but then I am not trying to impress morons with money……

So far this CPAC is the usual BS….but then there is the fair haired boy that some want to run for prez…..Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and his capability to act like a prez……

Scott Walker hasn’t officially declared he’s running for president, but the Wisconsin governor knows if he were president, he’d be able to handle ISIS. Why? Because he’s taken on public unions. In a speech yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (aka the “conservative Woodstock”) in National Harbor, Md., Walker reminded everyone of his anti-unions stance and extrapolated that to how he’d do taking on the militants wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria, the Guardian reports. “I want a commander in chief who will do everything in their power to make sure the threat from Islamic terrorists will not show up on our soil,” he said. “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.” Walker was referring to 2011 protests in his state that demonstrated against his Act 10 legislation, which effectively nixed collective bargaining for public unions, per NPR.

One person who didn’t appreciate Walker’s comments, per the Wisconsin State Journal: Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt. “To compare the hundreds of thousands of teachers, students, grandmothers, veterans, correctional officers, nurses, and all the workers who came out to peacefully protest and stand together for their rights as Americans to ISIS terrorists is disgusting and unacceptable,” Neuenfeldt said in a statement. Walker’s counterpoint: “Let me be perfectly clear: I’m just pointing out the closest thing I have to handling this difficult situation is the 100,000 protesters I had to deal with,” he told reporters, as per the Journal. “You all will misconstrue things the way you see fit. That’s the closest thing I have in terms of handling a difficult situation, not that there’s any parallel between the two.” When asked by a reporter if he regretted yesterday’s statements, he simply said, “No.”

Chest thumping like a sex crazed primate is not a answer…..well maybe from some inebriated frat boy….but kinda moronic from a political wannabe…..

I have been there…I would prefer 100,000 protesters than 100 dudes with rifles that want to kill me….

It was stupid…but then I have come to expect stupid outta all political wannabes.

Shall we move to that old broad Madonna falling off a stage….she could have broken a hip.

The Snow! The Horror!

You will NOT believe the news!  It is Winter and it is snowing in the Northeast US……told you!  The news made me stagger!  Personally, I wish that these turns of events would have left some reporters speechless…….I guess that is a bit much to ask……

Anyway we will hear all about the financial costs of the unusual snow event…..and maybe some will point to climate change or whatever the politically correct term is these days…..

Did you know that a hard winter may not be as bad as a steamy summer……I know….I know….HUH?

Read!

 

Hot days are worse than cold ones, and this economics research proves it – Vox.