To: neolib who wrote (211888 ) 12/16/2012 6:11:52 PM From: T L Comiskey Respond to gw...like cancer is a relatively ...complex issueIBI Watch 9/30/12 30092012 Real Climate Gates // Climategate ,’ that pseudo-scandal whipped up around climate scientists’ emails. This is about real gateways that our changing climate is zipping through, thanks to our pumping 90 million tons of carbon dioxide daily into the atmosphere. These are one-way gates. The global climate will not go back to anything like it was in human lifetimes – many human generations in fact.record summer Arctic ice melt (obliterating the 2007 record) got me thinking again about an important concept I learned from Tim Flannery ’s excellent book, The Weather Makers . There is no doubt that the melting Arctic ice cap is one of those gates. It will have wide implications that will become clearer in the very near future. Here is one view . And it turns out that the summer ice is not all that is melting in the Far North. To no great surprise, springtime snow is melting faster – as reported by NPR this week. All this melting builds feedbacks. Why? It’s the albedo, or reflectivity of surfaces. Darker surfaces – land and ocean (i.e. surfaces covered until recently by snow and ice) absorb more heat, causing more melting, producing more dark surfaces, and on and on. What is the most reflective, (atmosphere-cooling) surface? Snow covering a glacier. Uh-oh.Western Pacific ocean temperatures – from 1945-55, those temps were often below 66.5 degrees F. Since 1976, they are rarely below 77.Also since 1976, the balance between El Niño and La Niña has been off, in favor of El Niño (warmer Pacific waters, surprise!)Since 1998, the western Pacific temps have jumped again, so they are now often above 86 degrees F.Also since 1998, the jet stream has moved toward the North Pole , and recently has become more wobbly .And to top it off, here is another feedback angle – what happens when peat burns on a massive scale in Siberia? Hint, the effects drift way beyond Siberia.new report on climate vulnerability, i.e., those most at risk in this new era of manmade climate chaos. Next, a projection of the incredible level of human suffering that has already begun. Third, a summary of effects posted by the Environmental Defense Fund – a deserving organization. And finally – I have long thought that when the insurance industry starts taking notice, policy may finally start shifting toward the sustainable. Well, at least the first part of that change is happening, as reported in Mother Jones.check this article covering the recent certification training presented by the Climate Reality Project – attended by this blogger. And here is a short video presented by chief spokesperson for that group – former Vice President Al Gore . Of course, not everything being done or contemplated can be called ‘good,’ From the insanity desk, for instance, we have the prospect of deliberately messing with the climate system in a hubristic, flailing attempt to right the wrongs we have done to the earth that has nurtured us. Did I mention that I think geoengineering is collective suicide? But returning to positive responses, here is a well-thought article from Grist (excellent source, that site is) covering three categories of actions to take. And finally, from elsewhere in the same site, an entertaining and informative quiz to test your preparedness to take on the thankless task of changing Fox ‘News’-addled minds on the reality of the climate crisis.ibiwatch.wordpress.com
