climate change

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 90 Table of Contents Chapter 92 Chapter 91 Second Tour, August 30, 2060 The second tour was supposed to be primarily photographic. No stopping for samples meant it would be shorter as well, only four or five weeks. I met my pilot in Churchill again. This time it was a taciturn fellow named Louis Lasseur. He flew the plane and kept his mouth shut. After listening to JJ go on and on about nothing for hours, I didn't mind in the least. I can live with no nonsense. We encountered the anomaly on the 13th day. It stood out like a sore thumb as we flew…
Snapshots from the New National Climate Assessment After three years of intensive effort, research, writing, and review by hundreds of climate scientists, the latest update of the U.S. National Climate Assessment was released today. It includes many long, carefully prepared sectoral and regional studies, and covers the massive range of effects of climate change on the nation, including both changes already observed and expected in the future. There are hundreds of pages of information, observations, projections, and conclusions to absorb – almost all of it bad news. Here, in short form and in…
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup skip to bottom Another Week of Climate Disruption News Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom May 4, 2014 Chuckles, COP20+, Post WGx, EGU, Landslide, Energiewende Bottom Line, Subsidies, Economics, EcoCrime, Cook Fukushima: Note, News Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production Hurricanes, Monsoon, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather, New Weather GHGs…
In the video below Gavin Schmidt gives a "TED Talk" on climate models, taking us from an overview of their construction to the resulting emergent processes and their skill at reproducing much more than a global average temperature trend. Gavin is an excellent communicator and a true hero in humanity's fight against itself over the impending and tragic disruption of our global ecosystem services.  Well worth the 12 or so minutes to watch!
The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 89 Table of Contents Chapter 91 Chapter 90 Ecology 330 -- Extinction, July 7, 2060 I only had time for a few weeks of classes while I was back. The students were eager to hear of my exploits in the North and what I had learned about EF1. I related several tales and then brought them back to course content. "The subject of this lecture can be disturbing. When I first started to study the patterns of life on Earth, I several times found myself unnerved at contemplating extinction --- the deaths of so many life forms. "It is important to realize that…
(featured image taken from here) This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup skip to bottom Information Overload is Pattern Recognition April 27, 2014 Chuckles, COP20+, Post WG3, Earth Day, Earth Year, Energiewende Bottom Line, Pricing Nature, Crap Detector, Cook Fukushima: Note, News, Policies Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Food Riots, Agro Corps, GMO Labelling, Production Hurricanes, Monsoon, Notable Weather, Forecasts, GHGs,…
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup skip to bottom Sipping from the Internet Firehose... April 20, 2014 Chuckles, Invective, Pix, COP20+, Post WG3, Wang et al., Murder, Energiewende Bottom Line, Subsidies, World Bank, EcoCrime, Cook Fukushima: Note, News, Policies Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, OSSI, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production Hurricanes, Notable Weather, GHGs, C Cycle, N Cycle, Aerosols,…
The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 87 Table of Contents Chapter 89 Chapter 88 Going North, June 15, 2060 I was worried about going North and leaving Edie alone while she was pregnant. She had another opinion. "Don't be silly. I'm a big girl, Luc." She took my hand and held it to her barely showing stomach. "I can take care of myself, besides I have Anna and my friends to protect me. You go and do what you have to do." She had that look about her. I knew it would be no use arguing. We compromised by arranging for Mark, the share-crop gardener, to check in when he did the garden. "…
So, the bad news is that it is looking increasingly likely that the world will experience a very strong El Nino event this 2014-2015 winter (winter in the N. hemisphere, summer down under).  There is even talk of a super-El Nino, one to rival 1998's phenomenal event.  Lots of good information on that here at P3.  Some forecasters are now putting the odds at 70%. Model ensemble predictions showing a coming El Nino The repercussions for global and regional weather are very large, there will be winners and losers, though as with climate change impacts in general, the wins are no match for the…
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundupskip to bottom Confronting a New Age of ConsequencesApril 13, 2014 Chuckles, COP20+, COP15, WG3 Report, WG3 Comments, WG3 Leaks, WG2 Carbon Limit, Statistics, Energiewende Bottom Line, Subsidies, World Bank, CookFukushima: Note, News, Policies Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics, AntarcticaFood: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production Hurricanes, Notable Weather, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Aerosols,…
The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 86 Table of Contents Chapter 88 Chapter 87 The Chinese Girlfriend, April 15, 2060 At the end of an Ecology 110 lecture the other day, Carman unobtrusively entered the back of the room and sat down. I was going through the history of DNA reading devices from Sanger and the discovery of Polymerase Chain Reaction [PCR] through the first microarrays to the terahertz readers and cascades of today. I finished up by mentioning I would be away for most of the summer trimester on my trip North to document EF1. After the class, Carman walked up to me. "As…
California, and much of the southwestern US, is in a severe drought. Again. And as appropriate, there is growing debate about what we, as citizens, communities, corporations, and governments should do to tackle water shortages and the bigger question of sustainable water policy. Suggestions range from the large-scale and comprehensive (build more dams, transfer more water from farther and farther away, rethink the entire agricultural sector, use high-quality treated wastewater to meet certain needs) to the small-scale and local (replace your lawns and inefficient water-using fixtures, stop…
Ugo Bardi is a scientist who until a few moments ago served as Chief Specialty Editor at the journal Frontiers. As you know, Frontiers has recently retracted a perfectly good paper, initially indicating that the retraction was due to pressure from the climate science denialist community, who did not like the paper because it was about them. Later, Frontiers changed its tune and claimed that the paper was retracted because of ethical violations of the authors, even though the journal had earlier clearly stated that there were no issues, ethical or otherwise, with the paper. I talk about…
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup skip to bottom Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years April 6, 2014 Chuckles, COP20+, GCF, WG2 Report, WG2 Implications, WG2 Reactions WG3, Energiewende, Bottom Line, World Bank, Cook, Shrinkology Fukushima: Note, News, Policies Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, GMO Labelling, Production Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather, New Weather GHGs, Aerosols, Volcanoes. Weather…
The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 85 Table of Contents Chapter 87 Chapter 86 And Baby Makes Four, March 18, 2060 At the next UNGETF meeting, Rhamaposa reported that Group 12 was sponsoring an Arctic sunbug project. He didn't have a lot of details, just that Group 12 had contracted with Graves and Lorenz LLC to do the work. "What you will hear in the media is a dispute with local Inuit over the location of the ground receiving station. Like all colonized peoples, they have a long history of fighting the powers that be." I had sent Peter a report on my investigation of the Skookum…
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup skip to bottom Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom March 30, 2014 Chuckles, COP20+, WG2, Earth Hour, WMO, Ponder CSLDF, Change?, Energiewende, Bottom Line, Cook Fukushima: Note, News, Policies Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, GMOs, Production Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Extreme Weather, New Weather GHGs, Aerosols, Weather Machine, Climate Sensitivity…
The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 84 Table of Contents Chapter 86 Chapter 85 Tephra, February 3, 2060 I got a late night call from Rhamaposa that shocked me awake. "I just wanted to check how you were coming with that Cambridge Bay inquiry," he said. With a sinking feeling, I realized that between my funk and the holidays, it had completely slipped my mind. For a second, I considered a Matt-style gambit, but I opted to come clean. "I'm sorry, Peter. I have been a little overloaded and haven't got around to it yet." He took this admission in stride and signed off saying, "Okay, let…
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundupskip to bottom Information Overload is Pattern RecognitionEquinox EditionMarch 23, 2014 Chuckles, COP20+, WWD, WWK, WG2 Leak, Triage, Warnings, CSLDF, Energiewende, CookFukushima: Note, News Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, AntarcticaFood: Crisis, Fisheries, Svalbard, Land Grabs, GMOs, Production Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Forecasts, New Weather GHGs, Aerosols, Feedbacks, ENSO, Temperatures Paleoclimate, Attribution, Oceans…
Credit: Image courtesy of Stanford University Medical Center, from ScienceDaily According to a press release from Stanford University, California sea lions develop epilepsy from exposure to a toxin produced by algae called domoic acid. The animals develop seizures which can result in memory loss, tremors, convulsions and even death. The hippocampal region in the brain of the affected sea lions shows similar damage as humans with epilepsy, with losses of about 50 percent of neurons. Dr. Paul Buckmaster, professor of comparative medicine at Stanford was quoted as saying, "We found there was…
The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 83 Table of Contents Chapter 85 Chapter 84 The Sorceror's Apprentice, January 27, 2060 A couple of days after the December UNGETF meeting, I got a call from Drew Matheson in Yellowknife. He was a field worker slash forester reporting to Group10. Behind him as we talked I could see great swathes of lichen, covering a stand of pine trees. I assumed it was EF1 --- it was blue-grey. He wanted to know if I had investigated the interactions of EF1 and northern pine before I released it. When I admitted that I hadn't, he looked more annoyed than surprised…