Climate Change is very much on my mind, and a part of my core motivation, but I don’t say much about it. My thanks to Bob for saying it so well.
Here is one of many reports as a reminder. For years now, Greenland and the sea to its north have experienced never-before high temperatures.
A research report, dated 10 October, 2018 offers an explanation.
Reduced temperature differential between the Arctic and the tropics has made the Arctic jet stream wander all over the place. In 2011, its convolutions caused a cyclonic storm over the Sahara, lifting huge quantities of dust into the stratosphere. Then the jet stream took that dust and warm air into the Arctic.
This is what that looks like:
Meandering polar jet stream visible in red colours, upper-level trough visible in blue (graph by ECMWF).
The warm air directly caused warmth as it settled down. What the dust is doing is even worse: it reduces the reflectance of the ice.
These kinds of unprecedented, subtle interactions are the reason that every prediction of the rate…
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November 28th, 2018 at 3:34 am
Meanwhile, in the U.S. we can’t convince our president to take climate change seriously.
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November 28th, 2018 at 10:58 am
Candy, I refuse to call that man President. I am convinced that his election was illegal, and he is a proven criminal. Besides, it’s known he doesn’t have the attention span to read more than a page. So, naturally, he cannot read a long, detailed scientific report. It’s easy to dismiss something if you don’t know what’s in it.
One of my principle is, “You can only do the best you can do.” The best we can do is to live personally as well as we can. So, I wish you a good life.
🙂
Bob
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November 28th, 2018 at 10:59 am
Oops, a typo. principles, not principle 🙂
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November 28th, 2018 at 7:58 pm
🙂
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November 28th, 2018 at 7:58 pm
lol – I don’t think you’ll get many people disagreeing re 45. 🙂
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November 28th, 2018 at 7:38 pm
-sigh- yeah, apparently govt institutions aren’t even allowed to /mention/ climate change in reports. What the…?
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November 28th, 2018 at 1:09 am
Great post! I especially appreciate the “war-footing” comment. How do people not get this? THIS. IS. OUR. HOME.
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November 28th, 2018 at 8:58 am
We can do things, individually and collectively.
The most powerful is getting people on board. We can all clone Bill McKibben and Al Gore, and the anti-NRA kids.
Personally, it’s live simply, so we may simply live. My wife and I have deliberately lived below the poverty line since 1978, with contentment and a good life an accidental byproduct. A fellow called Fred Trainer has a community with their environmental footprint one-tenth that of other people in their country (Australia).
And I stay sane (most of the time) through Buddhist equanimity. You can be a Buddhist while at the same time a Christian, Jew, Muslim or atheist because it’s a philosophy, not a religion.
🙂
Bob
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November 28th, 2018 at 7:37 pm
I know. It’s insane. I just don’t understand it. 😦
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November 28th, 2018 at 8:05 pm
My next book, which is now being processed by the publisher, is “From Depression to Contentment.” Here is the relevant paragraph about denial:
A major reason for dread, despair and unhappiness for many people is that they accurately see disaster looming. For an even larger number, this knowledge is there, but suppressed, denied, unacknowledged. That denial takes tremendous effort, which makes people tired, reduces their motivation (“There is no point to anything. Why bother?”), leads them to turn to activities like gambling, addictions, expensive holidays — anything to focus on other than the danger. Such people either ignore the facts, or are missionary in their spirit of denial. Those facts cannot be true; are due to a conspiracy, or based on false science, or whatever. It goes something like this, not in thought-out words, but underneath consciousness: “If that were true, I’d have to make complete changes in how I live. If that were true, my loved ones would be in terrible danger. So, of course it cannot be true.”
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November 28th, 2018 at 8:21 pm
Ouch. Yes, that’s spot on. Oddly enough, it also explains why people feel better when they finally face their fears, if they do.
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November 27th, 2018 at 9:45 am
Thank you for reblogging my post. There is plenty more like that at https://bobrich18.wordpress.com
There are only two kinds of humans on this planet: Greenies and Suicides. As a professional grandfather, I want a future for young people, and a future worth surviving in, so I am definitely greener than Kermit.
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November 27th, 2018 at 7:39 pm
My pleasure, Bob. 🙂
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