Extreme weather

[degrub]

\Convince my wife.   

Easy. Your job is to fan her 

[Alan Klein]

Then maybe elect a better functioning government? I know this thread is not about politics, but what you are referring to is local/national energy policy. Change it, before it ruins your current and future life.

Try reducing your nightly power requirements ...

It's always more efficient to reduce the need for energy, than to reduce the effects of overconsumption. Prevention is better than cure.

First, the government should drop all rebate plans.  If Biden becomes President, we'll have more not less and the cost of energy is sure to go up.

Second, the only point of getting an emergency generator is when you lose grid power.  If you don't have enough emergency generator power to run an AC in hot and humid New Jersey should the power fail in the summer, then there's no point getting one.  Might as well save money on the generator and drive to a motel that has power and air conditioning and check in until the grid power is restored.

[Ray]

Oh! My gosh! Italy has experienced its coldest September in 50 years. It must be due to global warming. 

"Italy's incessant rain and sudden drop in temperature in recent days have resulted in the country's coldest September for 50 years, reports Italian media."

https://www.wantedinmilan.com/news/italys-coldest-september-in-50-years.html

[Robert Roaldi]

First, the government should drop all rebate plans.

Including gifts to Big Corn and Big Oil and relocation incentives to Amazon et al.  GREAT idea! Sign me up. Nothing worse than corporate socialism, especially when they hand out taxpayer money to people who are ALREADY rich and successful. We see eye to eye on this on.

[faberryman]

Including gifts to Big Corn and Big Oil and relocation incentives to Amazon et al.  GREAT idea! Sign me up. Nothing worse than corporate socialism, especially when they hand out taxpayer money to people who are ALREADY rich and successful. We see eye to eye on this on.

Some House member was grilling a Big Pharma CEO at a hearing on drug prices the other day. She asked him what exactly he did that was worth his 125 million dollar a year salary. He said it wasn't out of line with the salaries of other Big Pharma CEOs. I forget her zinger back at him but it was pretty good. He is just fortunate she did not ask him if he expensed his haircuts.

[Alan Klein]

Including gifts to Big Corn and Big Oil and relocation incentives to Amazon et al.  GREAT idea! Sign me up. Nothing worse than corporate socialism, especially when they hand out taxpayer money to people who are ALREADY rich and successful. We see eye to eye on this on.

Special Federal government favors and tax incentives to big oil and corn should be dropped too. We agree there. Playing favorites is bad as it distorts the free market.  You have good money chasing bad ideas.

 However, incentives for Amazon were offered by various states, not the Federal government.   Generally I'm opposed to making such deals.  However, each has to decide what makes sense for their state and residents.  And there's competition among the states to get the companies to move to their state.  Amazon brings huge advantages to the states they work in.   How can you argue when a state makes a deal that comes out positive for them on the bottom line with taxes and more jobs after the cost of incentives are deducted?  Don't people invest in companies to see gains from dividends later on?  Well, it's similar with states.

 

[LesPalenik]

Journal "Nature Geoscience" published a description of the largest mass extinctions in the history of the earth 252 million years ago.

"Extinction Rebellion", in German "Rebellion against extinction", is the name of a climate activist group that calls for radical climate protection in Europe with civil disobedience. The more CO₂ gets into the atmosphere and heats up climate change, it is assumed, the more likely a massive extinction of species on earth is.
An enormous increase in CO₂ in the atmosphere once triggered a mass extinction of animals and plants. Researchers have reconstructed the disaster - and are drawing worrying conclusions about the current climate crisis.

According to the researchers' findings, the causes of the mass extinction were gigantic volcanic activities in what is now Siberia. The volcanic eruptions that lasted for several thousand years threw huge amounts of carbon into the air. In total, almost 360,000 billion tons of CO₂ were released into the atmosphere, according to the study authors. "That is more than 40 times the amount of carbon that has been burned since the industrial revolution, and also of the fossil fuels that are still in the ground," says lead author Hana Jurikova from the Geomar Center in Kiel.

That would have led to the reproduction of certain plants and in turn boosted photosynthesis. As a result, the oxygen content in the sea has dropped significantly - similar to strong algae growth in a lake after a hot summer. But there is no life without oxygen - many animals and plants died. The acidification did the rest and destroyed coral reefs and decimated shellfish populations.

According to the study, the massive CO₂ emissions from volcanoes have led to a strong greenhouse effect, which has led to extreme warming and acidification of the oceans. These effects are also occurring in the current climate crisis - albeit in a much weaker manner. Today's CO₂ increase happens much faster. The chain of disasters is quite detailed, but devastating: Due to the high CO₂ content in the atmosphere and acid rain, rocks and stones, for example, are weathered more quickly. Their remains were washed into the oceans and rivers faster and would have brought in more nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates.

https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/die-bisher-letzte-klimaapokalypse-und-was-wir-daraus-lernen-koennen-a-e41e887a-b050-4533-9307-c4415f37e15b

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-00646-4

[faberryman]

Journal "Nature Geoscience" published a description of the largest mass extinctions in the history of the earth 252 million years ago.

https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/die-bisher-letzte-klimaapokalypse-und-was-wir-daraus-lernen-koennen-a-e41e887a-b050-4533-9307-c4415f37e15b

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-00646-4

I am relieved that all of that happened before the polar bears came on the scene.

[Alan Klein]

I am relieved that all of that happened before the polar bears came on the scene.

Maybe humans were all here back then and God gave us a second chance?

[faberryman]

Maybe humans were all here back then and God gave us a second chance?

You have been reading too much New Testament. It warps your views. Stick with the original.

[LesPalenik]

For the first time since records began, the Laptev Sea in northern Siberia has not begun to freeze by late October.

In the last 40 years, multi-year ice has shrunk by about half. At some time in the next few decades, scientists expect the world will see an ice-free Arctic Ocean throughout the summer, with worrying consequences for the rest of the climate system. That prospect got much closer in 2020, due in part to the exceptional summer heatwave that roiled the Russian Arctic.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/28/more-bad-news-for-the-arctic-the-laptev-sea-hasnt-frozen
https://theconversation.com/arctic-ocean-why-winter-sea-ice-has-stalled-and-what-it-means-for-the-rest-of-the-world-148753

[Alan Klein]

For the first time since records began, the Laptev Sea in northern Siberia has not begun to freeze by late October.



https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/28/more-bad-news-for-the-arctic-the-laptev-sea-hasnt-frozen
https://theconversation.com/arctic-ocean-why-winter-sea-ice-has-stalled-and-what-it-means-for-the-rest-of-the-world-148753

In the last 40 years, multi-year ice has shrunk by about half. At some time in the next few decades, scientists expect the world will see an ice-free Arctic Ocean throughout the summer, with worrying consequences for the rest of the climate system. That prospect got much closer in 2020, due in part to the exceptional summer heatwave that roiled the Russian Arctic.

Wouldn't it be fair to include the positive effects of an ice free Arctic as well so the public can fairly assess both the good as well as the bad consequences?   These include the huge fish populations now available to feed the world, mineral exploration, and the ability of ships to sail the northern route eliminating thousands of miles of transit, reducing sailing time by weeks and months, and wasteful oil use and pollution and CO2 to power those ships. 

This has been the whole problem with the climate change movement.  They have their finger on the scale and many people have grown wary of their arguments.  It also sets us up to make incorrect decisions on a public and governmental basis.  It would be like knowing what aperture to use but not the shutter speed. 

[LesPalenik]

I don't think it would be fair. It is a major disruption to the world climate, and we are now only in the early warming stage.
Trying to find something positive about the warming would be akin to justification of bringing the rabbits to Australia and pointing out the benefits to hunters and gun sellers in that country. Or bringing the rats to Hawaii and gloating about the enrichment of the fauna there.

Rabbits were introduced to Australia with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.[2] A population of 24 rabbits released near Geelong in 1859 to be hunted for sport. Within 50 years rabbits had spread throughout the most of the continent with devastating impact on indigenous flora and fauna.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_plagues_in_Australia

[faberryman]

Wouldn't it be fair to include the positive effects of an ice free Arctic as well so the public can fairly assess both the good as well as the bad consequences?

Sure, when you do the charts you can put whatever you want in them. Perhaps you could save yourself some trouble and go out on the internet and find some charts you like better. In fact, post them, and we can do the Hegel Dialectic dance and figure out a synthesis we can both live with. A lot of people don't like Hegel all that much any more, but he had some pretty good ideas. I mean you don't have to agree with all of his ideas. It sure beats having to figure out the phenomenologists. We'd never figure out the charts with those guys.

[Alan Klein]

I don't think it would be fair. It is a major disruption to the world climate, and we are now only in the early warming stage.
Trying to find something positive about the warming would be akin to justification of bringing the rabbits to Australia and pointing out the benefits to hunters and gun sellers in that country. Or bringing the rats to Hawaii and gloating about the enrichment of the fauna there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_plagues_in_Australia

Where you live, in Canada, you need some more heat.  How many Canadians are going to complain if its a little warmer? You'll save on winter coats and be able to canoe more.  At your age, you shouldn't  be shoveling snow anyway. 

[Alan Klein]

Sure, when you do the charts you can put whatever you want in them. Perhaps you could save yourself some trouble and go out on the internet and find some charts you like better.

I don't need charts. I gave the reasons why less ice in the Arctic Sea is good.  Apparently you missed it.  Let me repeat it again here.

These include the huge fish populations now available to feed the world, mineral exploration, and the ability of ships to sail the northern route eliminating thousands of miles of transit, reducing sailing time by weeks and months, and wasteful oil use and pollution and CO2 to power those ships.

[LesPalenik]

Where you live, in Canada, you need some more heat.  How many Canadians are going to complain if its a little warmer? You'll save on winter coats and be able to canoe more.  At your age, you shouldn't  be shoveling snow anyway.

Sadly, the warm weather would ruin the market for seal fur coats.

[faberryman]

I don't need charts. I gave the reasons why less ice in the Arctic Sea is good.  Apparently you missed it.  Let me repeat it again here.

These include the huge fish populations now available to feed the world, mineral exploration, and the ability of ships to sail the northern route eliminating thousands of miles of transit, reducing sailing time by weeks and months, and wasteful oil use and pollution and CO2 to power those ships.

Well, do up some charts to prove it. Do you think anybody will believe you just because you say it?

[Alan Klein]

Well, do up some charts to prove it. Do you think anybody will believe you just because you say it?

Yes.  Reasonable people who don't have an ax to grind will see my point as rather logical.  Charts won't change the minds of others who are obsessive over climate change.  They'd follow their beliefs blindly to the gates of hell, where it's rather warm as well. 

[TechTalk]

USA TODAY - February 28, 2019

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news//2019/02/28/climate-change-shrinking-fish-population-worldwide

Farewell, fish-and-chips? Atlantic cod, many other fish dwindling as globe warms

Fish in the Northeast Atlantic – including cod, the prime ingredient in fish-and-chips – saw a dramatic drop of 34 percent in the past several decades as the Earth warmed.

And it's not only cod: many other species of fish are in hot water – literally.

Warming oceans from human-caused climate change has shrunk the populations of many fish species around the world, according to the study released Thursday.

Looking ahead, "future fisheries production may be at even greater risk considering that, owing to (human-caused) climate change, the oceans are continuing to warm even faster than originally predicted," said Australian scientist Éva Plagányi in a commentary that accompanied the study.

Additionally, the study only looked at how warming oceans affect fish and did not take into account other climate-driven impacts, such as ocean acidification, which can also lead to marine populations declines. The world's seas are becoming increasingly acidic because of the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science.