Just a little more than one year after freakish global warming-spurred wildfires forced a near complete evacuation of the tar sands production town of Fort McMurray, Alberta, record heat and extreme fire hazard are again settling in over this subarctic region.
(Subarctic sections of Alberta are expected to experience temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s [F] tomorrow. Such heat is expected to spike fire dangers throughout the region. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)
The weather forecast for Wednesday, May 31, 2017 tells a story of predicted extreme heat for a typically cool region of Northwest Canada. High temperatures for the day are expected to range from 86 to 90 F (30 to 32 C). That’s a hot day anywhere. But it’s particularly impressive for a region that shares a common climate with places like historically cold Alaska and Hudson Bay.
Average high temperatures for Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada for this time of year typically top out at a rather cool 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 C) — closer to the expected Wednesday morning low of 62 F (17 C). Wednesday’s forecast high, meanwhile, is quite considerably outside the normal range and exceeds 30 year averages by fully 22 to 26 degrees F. If such heat does emerge, it will tie or break the 2007 all-time record for May 31 of 86 F (30 C). Such record heat is now predicted to occur after today’s expected, well above average, high of 80 F (26 C).
(A spike in fire hazard early this week coincides with predicted record temperatures across Alberta. Image source: Alberta Fire.)
Unseasonable warmth — which deepened over the weekend and is expected to peak by Wednesday — is presently resulting in spiking fire dangers for the region. According to the government of Alberta, fire risk for Fort McMurray is now listed as very high through Wednesday due to above average to near record high temperatures and low humidity. Fire hazard for a large swath of Northern Alberta is now also rated very-high-to-extreme.
It is worth noting that the overall fire situation for Canada to-date is presently much-improved from 2016. Last year, outlandish warmth combined with high winds and dry conditions to fuel an unusually large fire outbreak over Central and Northwestern Canada during early May. This year, wetter than normal conditions have suppressed fire activity over much of Canada over the same seasonal period. And we have some regions in British Columbia that are now experiencing evacuations due flooding rivers.
(Wildfires are flaring over British Columbia even as rapidly rising temperatures are causing large snow packs to melt far more swiftly than normal. Such heat and rapid melt is producing a dual threat of flood and fire at the same time. Image source: BC Wildfire Service.)
Rising fire risks coinciding with hot and dry conditions are coming at the same time that this year’s moisture-engorged snow packs are melting at far faster than normal rates. Large fires are thus breaking out in British Columbia and along the Alberta border as heat and dryness spread northward even as creek and lake levels in places like Okanagan, BC are facing the highest flood stages ever recorded.
Overall, despite 2017’s rainy spring weather, the tale is still one of unusual warmth. May temperatures have ranged from 2 to 6 degrees Celsius above average over Northern and Central Canada during 2017. Such departures are in keeping with the ongoing trend of rapid warming in the upper Latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. A trend that has considerably worsened overall fire hazard by lengthening the fire season, by adding new fuels for fires, and by increasing the number of lightning strikes which help to provide ignition sources for wildfires. A warming that is directly caused by ongoing human fossil fuel burning and by related activities such as the tar sands extraction that continues unabated in Alberta.
(UPDATED)
Links:
Weather Underground: Fort McMurray Climate
Thousands Forced to Evacuate Fort McMurray Due to Wildfires
Wildfires, Rising Water Levels Hamper Okanagan
robertscribbler 
Exposing the Big Game
/ May 30, 2017Reblogged this on The Extinction Chronicles.
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climatehawk1
/ May 30, 2017Tweeted.
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robertscribbler
/ May 30, 2017Thx, CH1.
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umbrios27
/ May 30, 2017Out of topic, but when I saw this video I felt that I had to share it here. An Iranian film-maker made an alternative music video for Rocket Man, showing the plight of refugees: https://youtu.be/DtVBCG6ThDk
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robertscribbler
/ May 30, 2017Thanks for this, Umbrios. I hope more people watch this. Those displaced are human beings like the rest of us. And none of them did anything to deserve this. Turning away from this tragedy would be an unimaginable crime.
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climatehawk1
/ May 30, 2017+1
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Suzanne
/ May 31, 2017Powerful. Thanks for sharing.
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DJ
/ May 30, 2017indirectly related – violent storm kills 13 in Moscow –
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/29/moscow-reports-13-deaths-after-freak-winds
Welcome to the new normal.
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Bill Everett
/ May 31, 2017Eleven deaths in Moscow itself and five deaths in the suburbs. Approximately 100 hospitalized with injuries. This video is in Russian, but you can get some idea of the ~1/2-hour storm from the visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0r2aGybeE
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robertscribbler
/ May 31, 2017Thanks for this, DJ.
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DJ
/ June 1, 2017No problem. When I heard the news it was the violence, and the suddenness of the storm that struck me. The fact that in a major metropolitan city a storm came out of nowhere, and killed 11 people. The news didn’t mention climate change (unsurprisingly) but I expect this type of ‘surprisingly violent, record-breaking, dangerous/life-threatening’ weather event is going to become more and more common as things heat up. Maybe someday the media will start to acknowledge that its appropriate to acknowledge routinely occurring deadly storms as climate change (almost by definition – if 1-in-100 year events start occurring regularly, that’s climate change).
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017What I find most interesting and concerning is the fact that climate policy (or total lack thereof) under the Trump Administration is serving to drive a wedge between Europe and the U.S. Of course, if I was Europe, I’d be distancing myself from Trump’s attempts to pull out from Paris as well. But the behavior of Trump is considerably more in line with the policies of bad actor petro-states like Russia than with the west which has decided, en masse, to respond to climate change by cutting carbon emissions.
We here may not be happy with the pace, but Paris was basically an emancipation proclamation from fossil fuel dominance. Sure, it was too heavily weighted toward natural gas, too optimistic about future carbon capture technologies. But Paris would have moved us in the right direction, promoted renewables, and cut carbon emissions more rapidly than ever before. Paris was not a BAU policy. And Trump is trying to turn us back toward that, very harmful pathway.
Europe and a good number of states in the U.S. are now fighting like hell to keep moving us off the BAU emissions pathway. Various government agencies continue to go rogue against the Trump pro-fossil fuel agenda. And China and India continue to move ahead with cuts to coal plants. Trump may be the most powerful man in the world. But that power has limits. And what he is doing right now is serving to weaken the west and to make our allies less and less secure even as his administration is basically backed into a corner.
RE Russia, the best thing the U.S. could do to ensure that Putin does not continue to exert harmful influence is to keep pursuing a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. Russia has used oil and natural gas as an economic weapon against Europe before. But with wind and solar rising in prominence, the ability to hold Europe hostage by cutting gas flows is waning. This is a trend we should support. In fact, though energy independence through renewable advancement is disruptive to the present international order, it creates a more democratic international policy dynamic in which individual nations are more able cast off the chains of old and often harmful economic and political powers.
As people who support liberty and equality, as people concerned about climate change, and as people who support American values, we should all be holding hands to oppose Trump’s backward and pro-petrodictatorship policies.
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Christina MacPherson
/ May 30, 2017Reblogged this on nuclear-news.
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coloradobob
/ May 30, 2017U.S. Daily Record Highs Outnumber Lows 5 to 1 since 2010
Above: Galveston, TX, one of the oldest cities on the Texas coast. In April, meteorologist and blogger Matt Lanza posted an article on Space City Weather about the unusual streak of record warm temperatures observed in Galveston since 2010 and especially over the past year. From 2010 through April 2017, Galveston tied or set 216 daily record highs or record high minimums out of a possible 732. In other words, almost 30% of all the daily record warm temperatures were set in just the past 7 years. With a period of record going back to 1874 (142 years), this is a remarkable statistic. Image credit: PhilFree/Wikimedia Commons.
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/us-daily-record-highs-outnumber-lows-5-1-2010
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umbrios27
/ May 30, 2017Another one of the “drought ou flood” series: 192mm of rain in 48h in Palmares, Pernambuco, during this last weekend. Pernambuco was in the middle of an historic drought until last week (this article, from 2013, is about the drought in the same city of Palmares that flooded http://g1.globo.com/pernambuco/noticia/2013/04/depois-de-combater-enchentes-palmares-pe-tambem-enfrenta-seca.html).
Articles are in Portuguese. I’m going to reply to myself to add the article about the flood of the weekend.
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umbrios27
/ May 31, 2017Hum, I don’t known why the other comment didn’t appear, but I’ve found a better article to add. Still in Portuguese, but with more photos:
http://www.folhape.com.br/noticias/noticias/chuvas/2017/05/30/NWS,29349,70,648,NOTICIAS,2190-SOBE-PARA-NUMERO-MUNICIPIOS-ESTADO-EMERGENCIA-PERNAMBUCO.aspx
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 2, 2017Scheduling tweet on this, thanks.
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coloradobob
/ May 31, 2017Wang Chung – Everybody Have Fun Tonight
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Raul M.
/ May 31, 2017The Dead And the Countess by Gertrude Atherton is listed as a ghost tale. The included exposition of the dead citizenrys feelings and thoughts though, could be a mystery of the change in the long established society. It is a fine relation of a systemic change in society.
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coloradobob
/ May 31, 2017On the edge of oblivion , and all the world is Babylon , all the love, and everyone a ship of fools sailing on.
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coloradobob
/ May 31, 2017Wang Chung – To Live And Die In L.A.
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coloradobob
/ May 31, 2017Children Of The Sun
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Daddy-o
/ May 31, 2017saw an important film this past weekend at the telluride mountain film fest- chasing coral….it was well-done and a call to action on the plight of this incredible life form. The film makers want to get it out asap and to as many people as possible so it is going to be released on netflix this july and they are going to make it available for free for folks to screen in their hometowns…definitely watch for this!
http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/chasing-coral-review-sundance-1201979770/
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wili
/ May 31, 2017Those images from last year’s fires up there are still scorched in my mind. Is there really anything left up there to burn?
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wili
/ May 31, 2017LikeLike
coloradobob
/ May 31, 2017coloradobob1 • 3 minutes ago
Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by Weather Underground.
I’m not as stupid, Brain dead or lost . As I appear .
If AB opens his veins , I tried to stop him , If he does that , [….] him
[….].
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Witchee
/ May 31, 2017Your frustration makes you harsh. You don’t act like you don’t care or that his life means nothing. Actually, what your frustration says to me is that you care a great deal, and feel helpless to make a difference. You do make a difference though, Bob. What sounds whiny and needy can be desperation and of course you want to help and are frustrated and angry when it seems fruitless. You will never know who you helped and how much. Just the way things are.
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robertscribbler
/ May 31, 2017A little context would help us to understand the matter more, Bob.
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coloradobob
/ May 31, 2017RS the crybabies are coming
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robertscribbler
/ May 31, 2017It is helpful to try to keep a level head. Depression is a very real problem when it comes to dealing with climate change. And I honestly think it would be helpful if a psychologist or a cognitive behavior therapist began a site that actually attempted to help people to positively deal with emotional difficulties and PTSD related to climate change. These people are also victims and they deserve every ounce of our compassion.
Here, we don’t have a professional capacity to deal with deep emotional wounds. But we absolutely try to help people who are willing and able to accept our help and compassion.
That said, if a person is drowning in self destructive thoughts and drawing others into a black emotional tide, then I/we simply do not have the resources or the ability to help in a way that would result in a positive outcome. Such cases would require a considerable amount of time from a mental health professional.
You cannot save the drowning person who’s lashing out in a kind of panic and drowning you in the process, in other words. I moderate out such nihilistic and self-destructive and other-destructive comments and discussions (but I wish I had a mental health provider on call for referrals). Not just because it’s harmful to the positive functioning of the forum, but also due to the fact that it appears that this particular emotional response is being exploited in a very irresponsible attempt by some to spread and profit from despair.
If WU is unable to moderate it all out, a modicum of restraint is probably needed. If one can’t engage positively and honest attempts to help are turned against the person trying to help, then it’s generally best not to engage at all.
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Mblanc
/ June 1, 2017Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder? I think we all have it to some extent. On top of all the other pressures of life
Mindfulness is all the rage these days, and can be very effective in teaching extra tools for dealing with the ups and downs of normal life. My gf is a psychiatric nurse who spent a few years as a CBT therapist, and it is very effective for many people.
I have always been influenced by the idea that proper and reasonable sadness is frequently medicalised these days. A person suffering bereavement, illness or any other of the many possible stress factors of life (which most of us are, at one time or another) have every reason to feel blue, some, most or nearly all of the time. When it comes to CC, we certainly should be upset, angry and sad.
It’s such tough subject matter, I often have to walk away for a month or two, or it starts to get on top of me. It’s not that much of a solution, but it kind of helps, along with traditional remedies, of course…
Dunno if this post is appropriate, or very relevant, but the subject strikes a nerve. Knowing what we know is painful.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017Absolutely appropriate, Mblanc. Thank you for your thoughts.
And you’re right to say that sadness and anguish are appropriate emotions in the face of climate change — especially in the face of the ongoing global political tragedy that we are now confronting. But there is a difference between sadness itself and succumbing to despair and apathy. If we are to respond, we must maintain a degree of morale, as it were. And so you need to come up with methods for combating paralytic despair.
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Ray
/ June 1, 2017Robert,
Carolyn Baker is such a psychologist, helping people to respond to climate disruption, energy descent and other environmental issues.
http://carolynbaker.net/2017/04/24/resilience-bridge-a-new-course-with-carolyn-baker-and-dean-walker/
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John Allen/ Ol' Hippy
/ June 2, 2017I suffered a major depressive episode late last summer that ended with me in a mental hospital for 10 days. I let the immediate seriousness of the climate disaster get to me and I couldn’t escape the dread. The US political scene didn’t help because of the utter lack of addressing the pending global poisoning/warming crisis at hand. I now know it’s up to the people to affect change themselves and to pressure the representatives with all they’ve got, their future is at stake. I notice Ray mentions Carolyn baker. I found her website to be of help along with her books. We must all take the task ourselves and move forward toward a worldwide change in the way people do things. Thanx Robert for all the hard work you do.
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Gordon
/ May 31, 2017Robert
Thank you for your work and stories.
Some comments on your blog have become abusive; it would be better
For people to come together during these difficult times.
Editorial supervision could delete posts that may be made in haste and hurt people.
Cheers and good luck
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robertscribbler
/ May 31, 2017Thanks, Gordon. Will keep doing my best. Am currently involved in a writing project. So my available time for moderation is a bit less than in the past.
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robertscribbler
/ May 31, 2017In any case, regarding the sentiment about coming together — I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve worked hard to spread such sentimentality here. And I really appreciate those like you who do the same.
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Keith Antonysen
/ May 31, 2017Thanks Robert.
Getup, a couple of days ago stated that Federal Labor and Queensland Labor made decisions against Adani suggestive that the mine could not go ahead, now they have reversed that decision which allows for the largest coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere to be developed. Labor now huddles at the bottom of the barrel with their LNP mates.
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Mark in OZ
/ May 31, 2017Thanks Keith!
Worth pointing out the incandescent ‘conflict of interest(s)’ that is/are at the centre of this decision to ‘green light’ the Adani coal mine.
The word ‘independent’ has a ‘special’ meaning when it comes to the ‘independent’ directors who’ll make the decision to grant Adani a $900 mil taxpayer funded loan to enable the operation to begin.
Beyond shocking how things get ‘done’ in Straya!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/31/adani-director-on-board-that-will-consider-900m-loan-says-project-is-vital
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Shawn Redmond
/ May 31, 2017I don’t follow US politics very closely but this seems to be a bit of an about face:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/30/john-mccain-urges-action-on-great-barrier-reef-and-paris-climate-deal
Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday night, the veteran politician and former Republican party presidential candidate said climate change was undeniably real and that it was incumbent upon world leaders to act now to halt and reverse global warming.
“I think that climate change is real. I think that one of the great tragedies of our lives is the Great Barrier Reef dying [and] the environmental consequences of that,” he said.
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Abel Adamski
/ May 31, 2017Apart from everything the ultra right are absolute hypocrites and scoundrels of the most heinous order.
Whilst OT it exposes the religious radicals and their political adherents and supporters for what they are.
Johnson, the former 11-year-old unwitting bride who is now fighting for Florida to set a minimum marriage age (there is none now), says that her family attended a conservative Pentecostal church and that other girls of a similar age periodically also married. Often, she says, this was to hide rapes by church elders.
She says she was raped by both a minister and a parishioner and gave birth to a daughter when she was just 10 (the birth certificate confirms that). A judge approved the marriage to end the rape investigation, she says, telling her, “What we want is for you to get married.”
Statutory Rape Within Marriage?
“It was a terrible life,” Johnson recalls, recounting her years as a child raising children. She missed school and remembers spending her days changing diapers, arguing with her husband and struggling to pay expenses. She ended up with pregnancy after pregnancy — nine children in all — while her husband periodically abandoned her.
“They took the handcuffs from handcuffing him,” she says, referring to the risk he faced of arrest for rape, “to handcuffing me, by marrying me without me knowing what I was doing.”
“You can’t get a job, you can’t get a car, you can’t get a license, you can’t sign a lease,” she adds, “so why allow someone to marry when they’re still so young?”
“We’re asking the Legislature to repeal a law that’s been on the books for over a century, that’s been working without difficulty, on the basis of a request from a minor doing a Girl Scout project,” scoffed one state representative, David Bates. In March the Republican-led House voted to kill the bill, leaving the minimum age at 13. (Legislators seem willing to marry off girls like Cassandra, but not to listen to them!)
And yet they rant and rave about Muslims and child brides
In that context their attitude to Pollution , AGW, Public Health, Public education etc all fits the pattern
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 2, 2017Nice, but McCain has so many faces it is hard to keep track of them all.
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kay
/ May 31, 2017Sometimes I wonder if all this right wing extremism and moral decay has everything to do with climate change. A wall to keep out migrations, plunder as much money as you can before the crash, etc. Could it be the panic of the richest scoundrels knowing damn well what is coming?
Thank you, Robert, for keeping this site going. It is one of my links to reality (and sanity!) in this very surreal and dangerous time. Let’s have a HUGE party for humanity when they are gone.
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robertscribbler
/ May 31, 2017🙂
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Sheri
/ May 31, 2017I think the one percent or elites or whatever you label them ARE panicked and freaked out about what is coming financially and with climate change. I think they or some of them think some assets and their money will somehow save themselves.
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Jimbot
/ June 1, 2017Apparently at least one prominent billionaire has moved to Tasmania.
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miles h
/ June 4, 2017ha ha! he’ll be disappointed! tasmanians are clear-felling the primal forest as fast as their chainsaws will let them, and the hard-right aus. gvt is as close to trump as can be. I was in Tasmania a decade back, and asked friends near Hobart what that pyramid shaped thing was on the horizon…. its a pile of woodchip that they make from the trees for export to japan and china. im told this is ongoing.
(having said that, it is a beautiful country, and there are many unspoiled areas left.)
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Suzanne
/ May 31, 2017Axios is reporting this morning…that Trump is pulling us out of the Paris Agreement…as we feared. We will now be among only Syria and Nicaragua not part of the agreement.
https://www.axios.com
President Trump has made his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the decision. Details on how the withdrawal will be executed are being worked out by a small team including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. They’re deciding on whether to initiate a full, formal withdrawal — which could take 3 years — or exit the underlying United Nations climate change treaty, which would be faster but more extreme.
___________________________
Every..single..day…more…disgusting…news…from…this…Regime.
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Jean Mcmahon
/ May 31, 2017All news outlets reporting about the likely pull out..Xtremely depressing..
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Suzanne
/ May 31, 2017I have called all 3 of my MoC today…to express my extreme displeasure. I could just cry. This “evil” man and his Regime will be responsible for the deaths of many species, and quite possibly our own. I can’t even wrap my brain around the blatant harm raining down on all of us since January 20th.
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Ryan in New England
/ May 31, 2017It’s absolutely sickening what is happening. We’re out of time and needed to start a rapid switch to renewables years ago, and now we are absolutely racing in the opposite direction, shunning our allies and becoming a rogue nation in the process. In just a few months the Trump regime has shattered 70+ years of being dependable to our allies and took a sledge hammer to the NATO alliance created to keep Russian aggression in check. Putin couldn’t have asked for more.
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Leland Palmer
/ June 1, 2017Yes, it is terrible. It’s such a shame that many of Trump’s silly policies are based on his ignorance and misunderstandings. Trying to legislate physics is just plain silly.
I take some small comfort in the decline in price of solar and wind energy. In the long run, this price decline may matter more than any pronouncements of politicians, or the random babble of our tangerine tinted toddler.
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 2, 2017Thanks for taking action, Suzanne.
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Leland Palmer
/ June 1, 2017Syria hasn’t signed the Paris Treaty due to a civil war, and Nicaragua is protesting that the Paris Treaty isn’t strong enough and does not exact sufficient climate reparations from the rich countries.
We shouldn’t disrespect Nicaragua and Syria like that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/31/dont-compare-trumps-paris-decision-to-nicaraguas-theyve-embraced-renewable-energy/?utm_term=.c9d37fedccac
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wili
/ May 31, 2017love and unity…the only way
too much war in the city
stand down…
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wili
/ May 31, 2017I see no joy
I see only sorrow
I see no chance
of your bright new tomorrow
so stand down…
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wili
/ May 31, 2017replace ‘margaret’ with ‘donald’!
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wharf rat
/ May 31, 2017Antarctic ice crack takes major turn
There has been an important development in the big crack cutting across the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
The fissure, which threatens to spawn one of the biggest bergs ever seen, has dramatically changed direction.
“The rift has propagated a further 16km, with a significant apparent right turn towards the end, moving the tip 13km from the ice edge,” said Swansea University’s Prof Adrian Luckman.
The calving of the berg could now be very close, he told BBC News.
Although he also quickly added that nothing was certain.
The fissure currently extends for about 200km in length, tracing the outline of a putative berg that covers some 5,000 sq km – an area about a quarter of the size of Wales.
The crack put on its latest spurt between 25 May and 31 May.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40113393
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Jean Mcmahon
/ June 3, 2017On Yahoo News: The group states that although this specific crack was not likely caused by climate change, the disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves contributes to rising sea levels that threaten coastal cities
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Greg
/ June 1, 2017The kind of small stuff going on that adds up. despite the craziness at the national level. (Robert, this is a follow-up to our earlier correspondence.) A conservative business school, wrapping itself around climate change.
https://news.darden.virginia.edu/2017/05/25/business-innovation-and-climate-change-initiative/
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entropicman
/ June 1, 2017rogue nation
A state that does not respect other states in its international actions.
For many years the US has criticised other countries as “rogue nations”.
The US has now achieved rogue nation status.
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entropicman
/ June 1, 2017And the world is reacting. The EU and China are committing to continue the Paris process without the US.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment
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Bill Everett
/ June 1, 2017Joe Romm: “Trump’s reported exit from Paris climate deal signals end of the American Century: America’s time as leader of the free world is over. Now we’re the villain, thwarting the global effort to save humanity.” https://thinkprogress.org/trump-paris-end-of-the-american-century-ec5ee0742f8a
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lesliegraham1
/ June 1, 2017[snip]
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DJ
/ June 1, 2017America is bifurcating more and more – on the one extreme, the 19th century industrialist mentality of the current ruling regime is pushing to relegate the country to technical and industrial obsolescence (while attempting to ensure the destruction of the ecosystem) while simultaneously the US tech sector continues to drive some of the most revolutionary and disruptive technological advances.
Our collective best hope (IMO) is that the S curve on the technology is so disruptive that it completely washes out the political/economic ambitions of the current regime. Lots of historical precedent for this, hopefully we don’t run out of time before it plays out.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017Thanks for this, Bill. Excellent post by Joe Romm there. The resistance to Trump becomes ever-more meaningful.
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Dave Person
/ June 1, 2017Hi Robert,
You are correct that resistance to “Trump” is important but it is way more important that there be even more resistance to republicans, their voters, and backers at all levels. We focus so much on the pug in chief but those republicans and those voters put him in place. He is just the culmination of their ignorance and ugly world view. If it wasn’t him, it would be Cruz, Pence, or some other smarter and more ideologically willful fanatic.
dave
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017I agree with you wholeheartedly on this sentiment. The direction of the republican party for at least the past two decades and probably since Reagan is one that leads to a very dark future for America and the world. Trump is the present leader and most powerful current enabler of these bad actor policies. And in addition to the usual republican terribleness, he’s basically put a lit powder keg under the office of the presidency itself (emollients etc).
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 2, 2017Agree. With that in mind, there are two special elections for Congress that will be held June 20. The Democratic candidates are Jon Ossoff (Georgia 6th) and Archie Parnell (South Carolina 5th). I haven’t researched, but would guess Ossoff’s is most winnable. I’ll be contributing to both and our local Indivisible chapter will be making GOTV (get out the vote) calls. If you care about the climate, these will be the most effective pressure points in the near future.
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Bill Everett
/ June 2, 2017Climate Mayors commit to adopt, honor and uphold Paris Climate Agreement goals – https://medium.com/@ClimateMayors/climate-mayors-commit-to-adopt-honor-and-uphold-paris-climate-agreement-goals-ba566e260097
Cities that have signed as of 8pm PT on 1 June 2017 (76 cities in alphabetical order): Albany, NY; Ann Arbor, MI; Apalachicola, FL; Arcata, CA; Asheville, NC; Aspen, CO; Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Berkeley, CA; Bloomington, IN; Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; Burlington, VT; Chapel Hill, NC; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Chula Vista, CA; Columbia, SC; Culver City, CA; Denver, CO; Downingtown, PA; Dubuque, IA; Durham, NC; Elgin, IL; Eugene, OR; Fayetteville, AR; Gary, IN; Houston, TX; Jersey City, NJ; Kansas City, MO; Knoxville, TN; Lakewood, CO; Little Rock, AR; Long Beach, CA; Longmont, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Miami Beach, FL; Milwaukee, WI; Milwaukie, OR; Minneapolis, MN; New Bedford, MA; New Orleans, LA; New York City, NY; Oakland, CA; Orlando, FL; Palo Alto, CA; Park City, UT; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; Providence, RI; Reno, NV; Sacramento, CA; Saint Paul, MN; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; San Leandro, CA; Santa Barbara, CA; Santa Fe, NM; Santa Monica, CA; Seattle, WA; Somerville, MA; Smithville, TX; St Petersburg, FL; Syracuse, NY; Takoma Park, MD; Tallahassee, FL; Traverse City, MI; Tucson, AZ; Washington, D.C.; Watsonville, CA; West Palm Beach, FL; West Sacramento, CA; Winston Salem, NC.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017Took the post by Lesliegraham1 down. He usually provides positive, balanced comment. But vitriolic and inaccurate blanket anti-American sentiment has no place here.
There’s a lot to be angry about with regards to Trump, but he is not the face of America as a whole, more like the darkest manifestation of all our demons.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017From Joe’s must-read article:
“Unless Trump is replaced in 2020 by a president committed to domestic and global climate action, he will have free reign to fully thwart the world’s last plausible realistic chance to avoid disaster. America, the richest country and biggest cumulative carbon polluter, will inevitably be blamed for the ever worsening weather extremes, sea level rise, ocean acidification, and climate conflicts here and abroad.”
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Keith Antonysen
/ June 4, 2017Trump and his motley gang of climate change deniers are probably best divorced from any further Paris deliberations. Trump and his gang could be expected to be quite disruptive in any post Paris talks.
Happily many US cities, states, and businesses are against Trump in regard to his reckless decision. The market is against Trump in relation to pushing fossil fuels, renewable energy prices are falling below the cost of fossil fuels.
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12volt dan
/ June 1, 2017A little bit of good news….Andrew weaver,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_J._Weaver a Canadian climatologist got into politics in BC for the green party and in a perfect twist of fate ended up in the last election with the balance of power between the main two parties (with 3 seats). now with a coalition with the NDP has become a force for good, environmentally speaking. here’s a list of some of the bills planned for BC
http://globalnews.ca/news/3490544/highlights-of-the-ndp-and-green-party-deal-in-b-c/
the 3 big ones IMO
— Implement an increase to the current $30-dollar per tonne carbon tax by $5 a tonne per year, beginning April 1, 2018, while giving rebate cheques to ensure a majority of taxpayers are better off financially than under the current carbon tax formula.
— Immediately refer the Site C hydroelectic dam construction project to the B.C. Utilities Commission to determine its economic viability.
— Employ every tool available to the new government to stop the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, which has already received federal approval.
Some times the little party can make a difference
. don’t give up hope
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017Thanks for this, Dan. Good news is always welcome here.
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generativity
/ June 2, 2017Finally the tide turns in BC. I hope they break thru the political protection of salmon farm feedlots and evict them from the wild salmon migration routes. There was a court case opening today…
http://alexandramorton.typepad.com
More background here:
http://www.alexandramorton.ca
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 2, 2017The little party can make a difference in a parliamentary system. In the U.S., it’s just a wasted vote–the place to fight for what you want is in the primaries.
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Shawn Redmond
/ June 1, 2017It’s heating up in the northern hemisphere for sure and with the fires come the floods!
Todays headlines from http://floodlist.com
Sri Lanka’s Flood Survivors Threatened by Dengue, Disease – Aid Workers
1 JUNE, 2017 0 COMMENT
Brazil – Floods Displace 2,600 in Rio Grande do Sul
1 JUNE, 2017 0 COMMENT
Brazil – 7 Dead, Thousands Displaced After Floods and Landslides in North East
30 MAY, 2017 0 COMMENT
Russia – Over 40 Houses Destroyed by Ishim River Floods in Tyumen
28 MAY, 2017 0 COMMENT
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entropicman
/ June 1, 2017So it has has happened. President Trump has opted to leave,or at best renegotiate, the Paris Agreement.
The BBC reported this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40127326
Interestingly, they include figures from Climate Initiative on the probable impact on temperatures in 2100.
BAU would be expected to produce 4.2C warming.
Implementing g the Paris pledges would lead to 3.3C warming.
Without the US the remaining pledges lead to 3.6C warming.
The US pledges only reduce warming by 0.3C.
Perhaps the rest of the world can get along without Trump’s help for a while.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017Every 0.1 C matters. Trump bailing is bad. But what is worse will be the attempts at sabotage that will surely follow.
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Titania Baildon
/ June 1, 2017This kind of technology might help, if it works as well as the company says it does.
This Machine Just Started Sucking CO2 Out Of The Air To Save Us From Climate Change
https://www.fastcompany.com/40421871/this-machine-just-started-sucking-co2-out-of-the-air-to-save-us-from-climate-change
“One CO2 collector has the same footprint as a tree,” says Wurzbacher. “It takes 50 tons of CO2 out of the air every year. A corresponding tree would take 50 kilograms of the air every year. It’s a factor of a thousand. So in order to achieve the same, you would need 1,000 times less area than you would require for plants growing.” The CO2 collectors can also be used in areas that wouldn’t be suitable for agriculture, helping preserve land needed for farming, and they don’t require a water source, unlike some afforestation efforts. They can also run on renewable energy.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017The heaviest lift comes from rapid transition away from fossil fuels and leaving present fuels in the ground. Atmospheric carbon capture can help to provide some hope of bringing high atmospheric greenhouse gas levels down once fossil fuel burning stops. The volume of present human fossil fuel burning, however, is so large that atmospheric carbon capture cannot rationally scale to deal with it alone.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017RE your previous comment —
2-6 C above normal temperatures for the month of May in NW Canada is not at all typical. Especially when you consider the fact that wetter than normal conditions (as this region has experienced so far during 2017) typically brings cooler than normal temperatures.
The SW ridge was particularly strong during 2016, as was the atmospheric heat transfer into the polar region. This did result in outlandishly warm temperatures during early May in Ft McMurray, which helped to produce the fires there. Temps at the time were around 30-35 F above average.
New records during late May, however, are notable, especially when looking at the larger and longer term warming trend as well as the overall context which includes lengthening fire seasons and larger, more intense fires.
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Vernon Hamilton
/ June 2, 2017It is technically relatively easy to collect CO2, the difficulty comes in disposing of it once you have collected it – Hydrogenating CO2 to make plastic feedstock is a chuffing good idea!
https://www.fastcompany.com/3063659/the-sole-of-this-sneaker-is-made-from-recycled-co2
Transforming a waste product into a resource is a very useful contribution.
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robertscribbler
/ June 2, 2017To get an idea of the scale required, you’d have to equal the tonnage of the entire world steel industry’s production to equal just 1/10 the human emission. Energy transition replaces much larger volumes more rapidly and on much greater scales than is possible under any presently imagined atmospheric carbon capture technique. So while this is a good idea, it’s not a good idea to brand it as a primary solution.
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Titania Baildon
/ June 2, 2017I agree, and I was not thinking of it being a primary solution. We have to cut all fossil fuel burning, drastically lower or stop cattle farming, and do many other things to curb all emissions. However, we have also gone past the place where we need to not only stop current and future emissions, but we also need to roll back the CO2 as much as possible.
Also, while we fight to curb those emissions, this will help mitigate a little. There is not a lot I can do as an individual to change the direction of the powers that be, although I try my best. But if ‘we the people’ can get create and fund this kind of technology to where it starts making financial sense to those powers, just as solar and wind are starting to outprice coal, that may help turn the tide towards greener tech.
Also, I have been wondering how we would replace fossil fuels in plastics and other similar places. It is good to see alternatives.
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Vernon Hamilton
/ June 3, 2017I take your point, of course this is not a solution to global climate change,
but my business is arbitrage in the wholesale power market, large scale renewables are creating difficult-to-manage surplusses at inconvenient times in the business day, and storage is not yet available to absorb them.This causes disadvantageous modulations in the combustion fleet to achieve balance. generating hydrogen is a not-that-desirable way of disposing of excess renewable power, unless one has a ready outlet in chemical processes. storing hydrogen is a non starter.
so i am imagining a CO2 capture plant on a GTCC, coupled to a hydrogen plant that buys surplus renewable power, producing a stable hydrocarbon feed stock, that can be switched on and off as market conditions dictate
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robertscribbler
/ June 5, 2017Energy storage and trading are becoming easier and more attainable by the month. Dealing with renewable excess is still a challenge, but less so than it was. And with millions of second market EV batteries on the way, the issue will continue to dwindle.
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PlazaRed
/ June 1, 2017Possible F3 tornado today in Spain is blamed for the felling of about 18,000 pine trees. This was reported on the national news tonight, June 1st.
I can’t find any links on it as of yet.
This comes after last weeks record temps here with some areas having temps at about 8 to 10/C above normal, up to +38/C recorded in some areas.
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robertscribbler
/ June 1, 2017Thanks for this, PR.
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labmonkey2
/ June 1, 2017More bad methane news:
—
“The crater area was covered by a thick ice sheet during the last ice age, much as West Antarctica is today. As climate warmed, and the ice sheet collapsed, enormous amounts of methane were abruptly released. This created massive craters that are still actively seeping methane ” says Karin Andreassen, first author of the study and professor at CAGE Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-massive-craters-methane-blow-outs-arctic.html#jCp
Confirms what most here have postulated as the above ground blow-outs made the media scratch heads for a bit not long ago. Was it a Pongo or something else? Well……now we have even more data to build a case.
But donald is only in it for the money and the attention – noting that he held the world hostage for this announcement of the Paris deal.
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, HELL WILL COME to breakfast for sure.
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coloradobob
/ June 1, 2017labmonkey2
“Even though the craters were formed some 12,000 years ago,”
Thus new paper dovetails nicely with your post , and is what appears to be a brand new set of proxy records.
UNLV Scientists Add Key Piece To Global Warming Puzzle
Jun 01, 2017byJoe Schoenmann
Global warming has been going on for thousands of years.
That’s from a new academic article by a team that includes UNLV geoscientists, one of whom spent months in Russia gathering rare stalagmite samples that were later tested in a lab.
Along with scientists from Russia and other parts of the United States, Matthew Lachniet, professor of geoscience, and doctoral student Jonathan Baker say they have evidence that global warming has been an ongoing process for the last 11,000 years……………….. The two told State of Nevada that while some might use this to discount global warming as a natural phenomenon, the rate of warming in the last century or so is so much faster, they have no doubt manmade hydrocarbons are speeding up the process.
Baker was in Russia in the Ural Mountains in 2012 and 2013 with other scientists gathering ancient stalagmite samples from a cave so remote it took him 33 hours to get to it.
Stalagmites are formed by the dripping of water. The ice-cold caves preserve the water layer by layer in conical formations that arise from the cave floor. Each layer can then tell a story about the weather, based on its chemical composition.
https://knpr.org/knpr/2017-06/unlv-scientists-add-key-piece-global-warming-puzzle
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miles h
/ June 4, 2017given that the last ice age ended around 11,000 years ago, and global temps are now at their highest since then, isnt it something of a tautology to say that global warming has been going on for 11,000 years? 🙂
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PlazaRed
/ June 1, 2017The statement by Trump this afternoon copied below is very “disturbing!”
“As of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the nonbinding Paris accord,” Trump said during a White House Rose Garden announcement. Suggesting renegotiating re-entry was not a major priority, he said, “If we can, great. If we can’t, that’s fine.”
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Robert in New Orleans
/ June 1, 2017This about sums it up:
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coloradobob
/ June 2, 2017So let’s review .
A man who owns a very expensive beach front property , on the first day hurricane season , when the forecast for the season has just been increased, chooses to withdraw from the one thing that might shrink the gas tank for these most powerful storms.
Looks like a movie script to me.
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coloradobob
/ June 2, 2017Fastest Growing Occupations
Fastest growing occupations: 20 occupations with the highest percent change of employment between 2014-24.
Wind Turbine Technicians
$52,260 per year
$25.13 per hour
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/wind-turbine-technicians.htm
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Hatrack
/ June 5, 2017Oh, and there’s no one in charge of NOAA, and no one in charge of the National Hurricane Center, either, appropriately enough.
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Suzanne
/ June 2, 2017Well, today and several of my fellow #Resisters protested Trump’s decision to withdraw our nation from the Paris Climate Agreement at a local busy intersection. We had a lot of friendly beeps and thumbs up from passing motorists. It was either sit home and cry or organize a protest. I chose the latter. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=182485718946025&set=pcb.760340967460772&type=3
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robertscribbler
/ June 2, 2017Thank you for this Suzanne. Lots of outcry against Trump’s withdrawal. Even some coming from the right which is a little heartening.
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Suzanne
/ June 2, 2017Let’s hope that we “have hit bottom” with all the insanity…and that rationality and decency bound back to save our Democracy..and ultimately the world from the precipice.. In the meantime, we must all continue to do what we can to bring forth light into the darkness. 🙂
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coloradobob
/ June 2, 2017A must read article in light of today , Wyoming taxes wind power.
Wind Project in Wyoming Envisions Coal Miners as Trainees
By DIANE CARDWELLMAY 21, 2017
Goldwind Americas, an arm of a leading wind-turbine manufacturer based in China, has been expanding its business in the United States. It has been careful to seek out local, American workers for permanent jobs on the wind farms it supplies.
Now it is trying to extend that policy to an unlikely place: Wyoming, which produces more coal than any other state and has hardly welcomed the march of turbines across the country, even imposing a tax on wind-energy generation.
On Thursday at an energy conference in Wyoming, the company announced plans for a free training program for one of the nation’s fastest-growing jobs: wind farm technician. And it is aiming the program at coal miners having trouble finding work, as well as those from other industries.
Called Goldwind Works, the program would begin next month with a series of informational meetings in Wyoming and include a safety training and tower climb at a wind farm in Montana.
The program could offer a needed boost. Hundreds of coal miners were laid off in Wyoming last year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that national employment for mining and geological engineers will grow by 6 percent between 2014 and 2024, while employment for wind turbine technicians is expected to grow by 108 percent.
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robertscribbler
/ June 2, 2017Bob —
Unrelated… But you need to take down your abusive comment to Katherine Hayhoe on Facebook and submit a formal and sincere apology to her immediately. Failure to do so will result in you being placed under permanent moderation, removal of all references to you in my blogs, and the ultimate deletion of all your comments. Attacks on climate scientists will not be tolerated. You have until tomorrow morning to respond positively to this comment.
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coloradobob
/ June 2, 2017RS –
I losing my mind, I had know idea.
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robertscribbler
/ June 2, 2017Katherine Hayhoe is a Christian who is also a scientist. She reached out to Evangelicals starting in 2012 and tried to explain to them why responding to climate change was consistent with Christian values. She spent over a hundred hours working on a climate change chapter for Newt Gingrich’s book — making a plea to conservatives to confront climate change — which a climate change denier subsequently put pressure on Gingrich to remove. She received major hate mail from Fox News viewers when she brought up the issue of climate change on the Bill O’Reilly Show. She is exactly the kind of person we want to support. You need to sincerely apologize. You also need to respond to T. Mark Kowel formerly of UNDP who brought this issue to my attention.
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coloradobob
/ June 2, 2017Thanks for this , it’s time to go dark I was wondering when , but clearly the time is now. I looked but I can’t find my sin. Finding my shoes is a big deal. now. So sorry to let everyone down. I will be having Hell for Breakfast.
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robertscribbler
/ June 5, 2017You took it down, as asked, which I appreciate. You pretend it never existed, which I do not appreciate. I am waiting for your apology to Katherine.
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Erik Frederiksen
/ June 2, 2017Record heat melts ice faster.
“Widespread movement of meltwater onto and across Antarctic ice shelves
Jonathan Kingslake, Jeremy C. Ely, Indrani Das & Robin E. Bell
Nature 544, 349–352 (20 April 2017) doi:10.1038/nature22049
Received 02 December 2016 Accepted 08 March 2017 Published online 19 April 2017
Surface meltwater drains across ice sheets, forming melt ponds that can trigger ice-shelf collapse1, 2, acceleration of grounded ice flow and increased sea-level rise3, 4, 5. Numerical models of the Antarctic Ice Sheet that incorporate meltwater’s impact on ice shelves, but ignore the movement of water across the ice surface, predict a metre of global sea-level rise this century”
https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v544/n7650/full/nature22049.html
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Vaughn Anderson
/ June 2, 2017I was on a flight from Seattle WA to London on May 31 that went over southern Greenland. I was very surprised to see several lakes on the ice sheet this early. I suppose with the heat recently been shown to be occurring over Greenland lakes should be more or less expected though.
Incidentally, l was the only person I saw on the plane looking out the window at some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. I even had to have a conversation with a flight attendant about how having the shade up on my window was letting in too much light keeping somebody awake. Wow,
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Tigertown
/ June 2, 2017Nothing like an eyewitness account. Thanks.
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PlazaRed
/ June 2, 2017I saw more or less the same thing on a flight from Vancouver to Europe in early May. Same problem with the flight attendants and the window blinds “having” to be down. My comments were, “was that so as we could not see what was going on on the ground below?”
I posted on this blog at the time about the massive amounts of sea slush and that pilots who over fly Greenland would be very interesting to talk too about what they see and have seen on the flights regarding ground ice and snow cover.
We need to try and locate some of them for information? They will not yet be told to fly with the blinds down on the windows!
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 2, 2017Damn, some people have all the luck. Looked regularly for Greenland during trip to Scotland last year, never saw it. I agree about the windows, btw–my favorite (not) is when attendant asks you to close your shade so people can watch the f’ing movie. Snowflakes. 🙂
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Vaughn Anderson
/ June 2, 2017There were many clouds but I could see northern Hudson’s Bay which was ice free to scattered floes and near the west coast of Greenland was ice free except small bays were ice covered. The view was amazing. There were no clouds for about the first 50 to 60 km over the ice where there were the few scattered ice free lakes, then it was clouds out into the Atlantic well away from Greenland. I have photos but I do not have a proper interface to be able to upload any until I get home mid June.
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entropicman
/ June 2, 2017Nobody outside the US is laughing at President Trump.
The usual response to a selfish man acting in his own interest while damaging his community is contempt.
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Abel Adamski
/ June 2, 2017Trump is but the gullible puppet whose strimgs are being pulled by Bannon, Pruitt and the GOP psychopaths.
they are the ones to be held to account more than the orange fool
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Jean Mcmahon
/ June 2, 2017Seems like the fossil fuel giant corporations and their bankers are pulling all the strings
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Titania Baildon
/ June 2, 2017And Russia.
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Abel Adamski
/ June 3, 2017“You can smell it in the air,” said John Fenton, a former Devon contract worker turned environmentalist who monitors oil and gas facilities scattered across Fremont County using an infrared camera.
At Devon, Mr. Fenton repaired heating equipment and did general maintenance jobs. He later worked elsewhere in the gas fields welding pipes for as much as $50 an hour. But he stopped when wells started cropping up close to residential areas, including about 200 feet from his Fremont County ranch. His neighbors’ water turned black. His wife, Catherine, complained of losing her senses of smell and taste.
“These companies are emboldened by this remoteness to not do anything,” he said.
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12volt dan
/ June 2, 2017And other countries reaffirm their position
EU-CHINA LEADERS’JOINT STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLEAN ENERGY Brussels, 2 June 2017
https://www.scribd.com/document/350072665/Final-Version-EU-China-Leaders-Joint-Statement-on-Climate-Change#from_embed
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12volt dan
/ June 2, 2017What Did Trump Just Do? The Paris Climate Withdrawal Explained
From Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-01/what-did-trump-just-do-the-paris-climate-withdrawal-explained
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PlazaRed
/ June 2, 2017This is an interesting extract from an article today about the Trump Grave Error!
“Legally, any country can initiate the process of withdrawal only after three years have passed since the date it ratified the agreement, Figures says. For the US, that puts the date at November 5, 2019. It then takes an additional year to finalize the withdrawal. November 5, 2020, is the earliest possible time the US can technically leave the Paris agreement.”
The link to the article is below:-
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/if-trump-actually-wanted-to-renegotiate-the-paris-agreement-he-just-shot-himself-in-the-foot/ar-BBBNXyK?li=BBoPWjQ
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Suzanne
/ June 2, 2017And the Presidential Election that year…November 3, 2020. Let’s hope we have learned our lesson by then and people actually, you know, come out to vote..and stop with the purity tests. Maybe then we can right this ship “Trump-tanic” before we hit an iceberg that has broken off Antarctica.
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Abel Adamski
/ June 3, 2017Another good article pointing out the flim flam and lies and deception
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/6/2/15727984/deceptions-trump-paris-speech
The 5 biggest deceptions in Trump’s Paris climate speech
It wasn’t easy narrowing these down.
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Suzanne
/ June 2, 2017At Inside Climate News..”Second Biggest Jump in Annual CO2 Levels…..”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01062017/donald-trump-noaa-CO2-paris-climate-change-agreement
As President Donald Trump prepared to pull the United States out of the global Paris climate agreement this week, scientists at NOAA reported that 2016 had recorded the second-biggest jump in atmospheric carbon dioxide on record.
Last year’s increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration was nearly double the average pace since detailed measurements started in 1979.
Concentrations of other greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide, also increased last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest update to its greenhouse gas index. The heating effect of all combined greenhouses gases in the atmosphere increased by 2.5 percent in 2016, according to the index.
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wharf rat
/ June 2, 2017To all of you living in the US… move to the Republic of Awesome
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wharf rat
/ June 3, 2017Is Jerry Brown taking Trump’s place on world climate stage?
Three months before Donald Trump launched his improbable presidential campaign, one in which he dismissed climate change as a “hoax” and a “very, very expensive form of tax,” Gov. Jerry Brown was touting California’s collaborations with China on air pollution, clean energy and low-carbon development.
“It is a little bold to talk about the China-California partnership as though we were a separate nation, but we are a separate nation,” Brown said of the state, with nearly 40 million residents and the world’s sixth-largest economy. “We’re a state of mind. I include Silicon Valley, I include the environmental activism, the biotech industry, agriculture. This is a place of great investment in innovation.”
Now, with Trump’s expected withdrawal from the Paris accord to curb climate-warming emissions – an agreement owed largely to the cooperation of the Obama administration and China – the latter is left with no formal governmental structure with which to work.
Enter Brown, and his nation of California
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article153693329.html
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mlparrish
/ June 2, 2017“The very same day President Trump announced he is pulling the United States out of the landmark 2015 climate accord, oil began flowing through the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Trump greenlighted the Dakota Access pipeline, along with the Keystone XL pipeline, as one of his first environmental actions in office.”
As Oil Starts to Flow Through Dakota Access Pipeline, Resistance Faces Paramilitary Security Force. June 02, 2017. https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/2/as_oil_starts_to_flow_through
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mlparrish
/ June 2, 2017Oil began flowing yesterday, June 1. A few details:
Dakota Access pipeline now in service. By Timothy Cama – 06/01/17 10:02 AM EDT
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/335898-dakota-access-pipeline-now-in-service
The controversial Dakota Access pipeline has started carrying oil between North Dakota and Illinois, its owner said Thursday.
The successful completion of construction and testing opens up a new route for up to 570,000 barrels of oil daily to be carried from major drilling areas in the Bakken oil formation to a major pipeline hub, where it can be carried to refiners or exporters on the Gulf Coast.
At 1,172 miles long and 30 inches in diameter, Dakota Access cost $3.8 billion to build, Energy Transfer Partners said. Together with the Illinois-to-Texas Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline, it has 520,000 barrels per day of commitments from shippers, leaving room for another 50,000 barrels.
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Oldhippie
/ June 2, 2017@RS
Your remarks to Colorado Bob smack of kicking a man while he is down. You have ample reason to speak firmly. No justification at all for a public dressing down. No reason for airing dirty laundry in public. If this is how you treat your friends you are doing the work of your enemies.
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Brian
/ June 2, 2017You’re supposed to rage rage against the dying of the light, not rage rage against the ones holding the candles. It was a LONG time coming, and I for one can’t find fault with RS on his decisions. Let’s move on.
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robertscribbler
/ June 5, 2017Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, nor do they let them attack climate scientists.
I know Bob is in a tough spot. But it’s no excuse. None at all.
And hell, yes, someone has to take responsibility. We all do.
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Barbara Burnett
/ June 3, 2017Robert, from his erratic comments (especially in the past year or so) I feel that Colorado Bob appears to be alcoholic as well as severely depressed. From some of his most recent comments I suspect that he may have other serious medical problems as well. He needs help (from who or where I don’t know); but I don’t believe that public flogging is the best approach. (P.S. I went to Katharine’s facebook page to see what Colorado Bob wrote, but I couldn’t find anything, so I don’t know what he said.) Still, it seems a bit over the top to threaten to remove all of his previous comments on this site. Close moderation of any future posts (if allowed) would clearly be warranted. You can’t hold yourself responsible for comments that any of us make on other websites; you’ve got plenty to do moderating our comments on this one. Perhaps a better option would be to write a blanket disclaimer on this site that any comment that he (or anyone else for that matter) makes on other sites does not necessarily reflect the views of yourself or of this website. I do understand your concern–and of course, this is your website, and you have the final say in the matter. But, in light of Colorado Bob’s immense help in the past, and in light of his apparent ill health, I would urge you to reconsider. (P.S. I hope this comment passes moderation.)
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Bill Everett
/ June 3, 2017I also looked on the KH FB page, but found nothing related (although I did not perform an exhaustive search). I sent CB a private FB message reaffirming my continued support and friendship.
I strongly disagree with RF on several matters, but I nevertheless continue to support him and this blog to the extent of my limited ability. This particular matter is not one on which I disagree, because lacking sufficient evidence I will not judge based on my speculations.
I will offer a couple maxims that I have found generally useful:
Praise in public and criticize in private.
Decisions made in anger are rarely wise.
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robertscribbler
/ June 5, 2017Bob is a special case. He’s helped provide research for this blog and I’ve linked him in a number of blog posts. His actions reflect negatively on this site. I understand that he’s having difficulty, and we are more than willing to pitch in to help him. But there is no excuse for this kind of self and other-destructive lashing out.
I’ve gently asked Bob to consider his comment style on a number of occasions. But the quality and tone of a number of his posts continue to become more and more negative and abusive. After numerous complaints coming in, I think my present response is more than appropriate.
I appreciate your concern for Bob, which I share. And I encourage you to reach out to him as well.
Best,
–R
P.S. Regarding comment moderation…
I have been clear from jump that comments on this blog are submissions that must meet a certain standard of quality, mutual respect, and value to be posted. Failure to meet these standards will result in comments not being posted. Trolling, over-use of self-promotional comments, abusive comments, spreading climate change denial and political misinformation, and comments that inaccurately cast aspersions on the moderator can all result in a permanent ban.
In other words, no-one is entitled to have access to this forum. Commenting here is a privilege and should be treated as such.
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Tigertown
/ June 3, 2017If something is started in public, there is nothing wrong with it being finished in public.
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david
/ June 3, 2017Too much of a good thing can kill, even drinking too much water. CO2 is essential to life,but civilisation is poisoning itself by making too much. If Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement means a political will for suicide, then he is sick. While he holds such power, the disease is targeting others. Having a conscience to discuss this injustice can make us sick while we empathise with the affected,[ Earth, dying species, affected populations]. Moral outrage with Trump mentality will be accompanied by a certain helplessness necessarily, because we do not rule the world. Outrage and helplessness can collide while having a dialogue with sickness, especially when it involves deceit, oppression and uses power with impunity. We , quite expectedly, can become sick with the grief. Nevertheless,we cannot do without a voice, Robert. Your voice.
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Tigertown
/ June 3, 2017I really appreciate my good friends. If I do something wrong, they tell me. If I do it in public, they tell me about it publicly. I don’t quit being friends with them, nor would I ever consider it a favor for someone to chastise them for correcting me. It is an act of love according to the Bible, and it has many examples of people who changed after being told that what they did was wrong. I know that doesn’t fit today’s society. It will be replaced by a better one. 1John 2:17, Revelations 21: 1-4. The new Earth that replaces the old will be made up of sheep like people who are willing to be corrected, compared to what the Jesus referred to as goat like individuals who refuse to change their course. ” So my word that goes out of my mouth will be. It will not return to me without results. But it will certainly accomplish whatever is my delight. And it will have sure success in what I send it to do.” Isiah 55:11
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Jean Mcmahon
/ June 4, 2017A lot of people on “religious right” like my sister,when you can use a Bible verse to contradict their statements..They can really be baffled,so it must mean they are trying to figure something out
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Tigertown
/ June 5, 2017It is a good thing that people can read the Bible in their own modern language now. Imagine trying to understand it in Latin, as the “clergy” class tried to keep it for centuries. They didn’t want people to read it and understand it for themselves. Rather, they wanted to tell people what it said and thus what to believe. It is difficult finding time to read it all the way through, but it pretty much explains itself when you get the whole picture.
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Shawn Redmond
/ June 3, 2017TWO FEET In twelve hours!!! Yes two feet wow, Holy s%*t!!
http://floodlist.com/asia/taiwan-floods-june-2017
Huge amounts of rainfall in parts of Taiwan on 02 June resulted in major flooding and mudslides in northern areas of the country. Some areas of New Taipei City recorded more than 600 mm of rain in under 12 hours.
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 3, 2017Scheduling tweet on this, thanks.
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Tigertown
/ June 3, 2017PIOMAS numbers are in. May ended at 18.11 cubic km. That was 1200 cubic km below the same day of the year for last year. June is expected to be a very active month.
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Tigertown
/ June 3, 2017x 1000 that is.
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Leland Palmer
/ June 3, 2017I’ve seen references to 30 additional feet of sea level rise created by Trump’s careless, heedless act, that could eventually displace roughly 10 percent of the world’s population.
That’s assuming of course that he does not massively destabilize the methane hydrates and permafrost by crossing tipping points in the climate system. If Trump does push us past such tipping points, he could displace most of the world’s population, and kill a lot of it off.
Some scientists comment on Trump’s failure to continue the Paris agreement:
http://www.nature.com/news/how-scientists-reacted-to-the-us-leaving-the-paris-climate-agreement-1.22098
Benjamin Santer, climate scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California:
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus said these famous lines: “There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.”
Today, the United States pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and missed the rising tide. Far from “Making America Great Again”, this decision condemns the United States to becoming one of the ‘has-beens’ of history. We will become increasingly irrelevant to the rest of the world. They are going forward; we are going backward.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Potsdam, Germany:
It will not substantially hamper global climate progress if the US really quits the Paris agreement, but it will hurt the American economy and society alike. China and Europe have become world leaders on the path towards green development already and will strengthen their position if the US slips back at the national level. Innovative states such as California, the world’s sixth-largest economy, will keep going for climate action, however. The Washington people around Trump hide in the trenches of the past instead of building the future. They fail to recognize that the climate wars are over, while the race for sustainable prosperity is on.
David Victor, climate-policy expert at the University of California, San Diego:
The odds of other countries renegotiating Paris are low to zero. The whole structure of the Paris agreement is to allow countries to set their own commitments. So there is nobody to negotiate with if a country needs to adjust. This claim that the problem with Paris is that the deal wasn’t struck properly is a disingenuous argument that is not informed by how Paris actually works, nor by any reality about how the world actually crafts big complex deals.
Glen Peters, climate-policy expert at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo:
It seems that Trump and his advisers have completely misconceived what the Paris agreement is. All his reasons for pulling out were basically the concessions that forged the path to the creation of the Paris agreement. Paris is the agreement that Trump desires!
The genius of Paris is to allow countries to put forward emission pledges that they feel they can meet (Nationally Determined Contributions). The US pledge was put forward by the US, alone. Countries are already enacting their emissions pledges, and — as could be expected by the design of the Paris agreement — most countries show signs of exceeding their conservative emissions pledges. China looks like it may peak its emissions a decade earlier than pledged. India has slowed down on coal consumption and sped up on solar deployment. Even the US has made great strides in the past decade, and was poised to make more.
The irony is that Paris is working, because it is designed to be flexible to the national circumstances that Trump himself champions!
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Leland Palmer
/ June 3, 2017Some ideas for technological developments that might be able to negate the effects of Trump on climate change:
A short wavelength absorbing cover plate for solar collectors, that would act as a second solar cell stacked on top of a silicon solar cell panel. The glass cover plate is there anyway for most solar panels, so making use of either the inner or outer surface of the cover plate for a physically stacked multi-wavelength solar panel might make sense. Silicon carbide or silicon quantum dots might be appropriate materials. Stacked solar cells are not new, and they in fact hold the all time solar cell efficiency records, of as much as 40 percent of incoming light, but they are still quite expensive. This idea would be an intermediate efficiency panel, with an efficiency goal of maybe a 5 percent increase over existing silicon solar panels.
A very low cost solar tracker for existing solar panels and future solar installations. It might be possible to use tensile forces more advantageously than is done now, taking advantage of the higher efficiency of tensile versus compressive forces.
A mostly tensile low cost heliostat for concentrating solar energy. A low enough cost heliostat could be a real game changer for concentrating solar.
Fully developed oxy-fuel combustion for biomass, so that existing coal fired power plants could be easily converted to BECCS (Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage) power plants. It is possible to take old coal fired power plants, convert them to oxy-fuel combustion to produce a pure stream of CO2 for storage, and even convert them to combined cycle plants using high temperature ceramic heat exchangers, producing enough extra efficiency to pay for the conversion, i think. The United States could do this, if we put our resources behind it. California could do this. China or India or Australia could do this.
If people around the world are outraged by this thoughtless, pointless, and ignorant act by our Buffoon in Chief, we can rebel technologically, and make the planet safe for humanity for millions of years to come.
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Tigertown
/ June 3, 2017June PIOMAS update now up on the ASIB.
http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2017/06/piomas-june-2017.html
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Shawn Redmond
/ June 4, 2017This must be approaching the danger zone of 35c wet bulb. Especially considering that Vietnam isn’t known for it’s dry air!
http://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/families-scramble-for-relief-as-summer-heat-scorches-hanoi-3594425.html
Temperatures in Hanoi hit a scorching 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, on Friday, making it one of the hottest days in the city’s history.
The RealFeel temperature on AccuWeather, which indicates how hot it may feel outdoors, was nearly 48 degrees.
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climatehawk1 (@climatehawk1)
/ June 5, 2017Scheduling tweet on this, thanks.
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miles h
/ June 4, 2017Larsen C continues its break up…just 8 miles of ice left hanging on.
id imagine the berg wont break free in midwinter there, but it look slike there could be some big moves toward the end of the year… http://www.geologyin.com/2017/06/massive-crack-in-antarctica-ice-shelf.html
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John McCormick
/ June 4, 2017It benefits our cause to have the idiot in the Oval Ofice. VP Pence would give Ryan and McConnell more credibility because Pence’s approach will be centrist and take away media attention on his agenda that will include health care, deregulation, massive tax cuts for the rich. It all comes down to the 2018 election. Rethugs have to be benched and that will neuter the idiot.
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Dave Person
/ June 5, 2017Hi John,
They won’t. Because of their brilliant political strategy in the south, midwest, and rocky mountain states gerrymandering the vote, they will be in power of the senate and house possibly until 2030 without any legal means to change the calculus. Prepare for the worst with respect to global climate change
dave
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John McCormick
/ June 5, 2017Dave, you may be right.
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Shawn Redmond
/ June 4, 2017Me thinks the new narrative is going to be focusing on the extremes.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/06/04/524162/Iran-Sistan-Baluchestan-Rouhani-Chitchian-Kenarak
On the orders of President Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian has visited Sistan-and-Baluchestan to address a somewhat insufferable situation in the wake of a record heatwave, which has hit the southeastern province.
The province has witnessed temperatures of 56 °C (132 °F), which have caused power outages, and complicated water supply amid high consumption.
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wili
/ June 5, 2017that’s a crazy high temp. 57C is the highest ever recorded temp on the planet.
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Tigertown
/ June 5, 2017May 1st thru June 4th Arctic sea ice concentration. There might be a random day or two missing.
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Suzanne
/ June 5, 2017I hate to sound dumb…but how does that compare to other years? When I look at the PIOMAS charts it sure looks bad..just harder to tell, at least for me, when I look at a video like that over a short period of time.
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Tigertown
/ June 5, 2017I don’t know that it tells a whole lot by itself, but is useful along with all the other info of what is going on. Like you said, PIOMAS is the lowest it has ever been, per time of year. The Nares Strait opened up incredibly early this year, and sea ice from among the thickest is escaping through there. Multi-Year thick ice is at an all time low, and stands a chance of all melting or being exported this season. None of the ice is bonding like it should, and is shattering under stress of any sort. Probably the lack of a hard cold winter. The ice has really held up better than most thought it would, but if we get a lot of open water in the Arctic early in the summer this year, then this winter will no doubt be worse than last winter. I fear that next summer will be the bad one. That’s my take anyway.
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Suzanne
/ June 5, 2017Thanks..that was a very helpful explanation. I know there has been talk on some forums that if the Arctic gets some big storms..the fragility of the ice could result in a terrible summer for the ice.
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Genomik
/ June 5, 2017Interesting article about the landslides near Big Sur in California. Enormous and costly. The Mountain literally moved as did the coast. This is a major hiway and to lose it is a big deal. Areas may be mostly cut off for 2 years easily. This is likely climate related as we had 5 years extreme drought followed by enormous record rains.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/06/02/into-the-big-surreal-36-hours-in-californias-isolated-lonely-island/
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Shawn Redmond
/ June 5, 2017We’ve had our bed made for us and now we get to lay down on it!
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds dozens of toxic chemicals, pollutants and metals in pregnant women, many of which are also found in cord blood of newborns. These include pesticides sprayed in inner-city buildings and on crops, flame retardants used in furniture, combustion-related air pollutants from fossil-fuel-burning power plants and vehicles, lead, mercury and plasticizers. All have been shown in epidemiologic studies in the United States and elsewhere to be capable of damaging developing brains, especially while babies are exposed in utero or in their early life.”
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Shawn Redmond
/ June 5, 2017For those that think we live in democracy anywhere, you may want to re-evaluate what that really means to you and yours. Living in a perpetual fog of propaganda that is always skewed in favour of the ruling class…… well… need I go on?
https://theintercept.com/2017/06/03/standing-rock-documents-expose-inner-workings-of-surveillance-industrial-complex/
Less than an hour later, Van Horn emailed to the thread the text of a Facebook post from the page Netizens for Progress and Justice. “This wasn’t caused by law enforcement, it was caused by dumbass ‘direct action’ protesters that think they are doing the right thing without any consideration for the safety and welfare of honest protesters nearby that are caught up in things,” the post read, going on to describe a theory of the injury that conflicted even with law enforcement’s propane tank theory.
“How can we get this story out?” replied Maj. Amber Balken, a public information officer for the National Guard, which was also involved in policing the protests. “This is a must report,” Balken added, suggesting the name of a local conservative blogger. Cecily Fong, a public information officer with the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, replied by promising to “get with” the blogger to circulate the article.
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todaysguestis
/ June 5, 2017MASSIVE CRATERS FROM METHANE EXPLOSIONS DISCOVERED IN ARCTIC OCEAN WHERE ICE MELTED
http://www.newsweek.com/hundreds-craters-methane-explosions-seafloor-arctic-norway-russia-619068
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todaysguestis
/ June 5, 2017Massive blow-out craters formed by hydrate-controlled methane expulsion from the Arctic seafloor
Widespread methane release from thawing Arctic gas hydrates is a major concern, yet the processes, sources, and fluxes involved remain unconstrained. We present geophysical data documenting a cluster of kilometer-wide craters and mounds from the Barents Sea floor associated with large-scale methane expulsion. Combined with ice sheet/gas hydrate modeling, our results indicate that during glaciation, natural gas migrated from underlying hydrocarbon reservoirs and was sequestered extensively as subglacial gas hydrates. Upon ice sheet retreat, methane from this hydrate reservoir concentrated in massive mounds before being abruptly released to form craters. We propose that these processes were likely widespread across past glaciated petroleum provinces and that they also provide an analog for the potential future destabilization of subglacial gas hydrate reservoirs beneath contemporary ice sheets.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6341/948
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Hilary
/ June 5, 2017Tillerson is coming to town = Wellington NZ, today. Protests are underway & more expected at Parliament grounds this afternoon.:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/93363446/parliament-protest-ahead-of-rex-tillerson-visit
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Tigertown
/ June 5, 2017Funny thing is that Tillerson tried to convince Trump to stay in the agreement. So did some companies that no one would have thought to do so.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-31/exxon-conoco-back-paris-climate-deal-as-trump-weighs-pact-exit
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Barbara Burnett
/ June 6, 2017Robert, having read CO Bob’s brief rambling, garbled comment, I still stand by what I posted above. The man is obviously ill (and, in my opinion, was probably drunk at the time he wrote it.) Of course you should not allow him to post similar posts on this site. But again I would urge you to reconsider removing all of his past posts which are coherent, to the point, etc. because of the immense contribution he has made here. Also please put a statement right above the comment section of each of your posts declaring that you are not personally responsible for any posting made on any other site made by anyone who posts on this site. Because that is the truth. Your reputation rests only on what you write here (or elsewhere) and on the posts which you allow to be published here on your own site. Nothing more.
May all of us respond in the most compassionate way possible to each other as the pressures mount on each of us–politically, environmentally, and financially. Each of us has his/her breaking point, and our own way of expressing it. As someone currently battling severe depression and panic attacks (even with medication), I am all too familiar with some of the demons that CO Bob faces. I sincerely wish him peace.
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mlparrish
/ June 6, 2017I would like to support Barbara’s comments. These things are extraordinarily difficult. CB is obviously very sick and tends to spark off at times. From following his comments over quite a while now, I would guess that climate change and the natural world are very dear to him. I would also suggest that this wonderful site is a great support and comfort to him. Let us hope it is not his only one, because removing such a support from a sick individual can have very, very negative consequences. (Robert, this is a strong statement, post, of course, as you see fit).
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Vaughn Anderson
/ June 19, 2017+1
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Robert in New Orleans
/ June 6, 2017Unless the Trump agenda is derailed in some fashion, our future looks very problematic.
I know this scene is not going to be easy on the eyes of some viewers, but at this point in time a little shock therapy may be what is needed.
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