Are you enjoying your summer here in the northern hemisphere?
I live in the DC metro area, and I've been wearing tee shirts, no jacket, all week, when I'm not sporting my monkey office duds.
This scientific assessment just this past week comes from across the pond:
2007 is likely to be the warmest year on record globally, beating the current record set in 1998, say climate-change experts at the Met Office.
Each January the Met Office, in conjunction with the University of East Anglia, issues a forecast of the global surface temperature for the coming year. The forecast takes into account known contributing factors, such as solar effects, El Niño, greenhouse gases concentrations and other multi-decadal influences. Over the previous seven years, the Met Office forecast of annual global temperature has proved remarkably accurate, with a mean forecast error size of just 0.06 °C.
Ski resorts have been struggling to survive in Europe. There's no snow, though Vermont just got a welcome boost. Still, the trends now are impossible to ignore. It all just feels wrong now, and you don't need a scientist to tell you about it. Someone just told me the cherry blossoms on the DC tidal basin are starting to bud already, this week. I haven't seen it myself but my friend is pretty reliable. What's the weather like where you are?
Fortunately, the criminally insane Republican leadership in Congress is no longer in charge:
Boxer said legislation on climate change will be her No. 1 priority as committee chairwoman. She plans to conduct hearings early next year with scientists, environmentalists and religious leaders who want to address climate change. She also will ask business leaders to testify about their efforts to limit greenhouse gases.
The California Democrat blasted the Bush administration and the GOP Congress for failing to address global warming, citing a new report by Germanwatch, a German environmental group, which found that among 56 industrialized nations, the United States ranked third-worst in dealing with climate change. China and Saudi Arabia were rated worse.
"It's actually worse than dismal, it's disastrous," said Boxer, who said she has been taking calls from officials in other countries asking if the new Democratic Congress will take action to combat greenhouse gases.
"The answer is, we are," she said. "If America is to be a leader in the world, we must act. We cannot expect others to act if we don't."
Pull up a chair, gang. Let's talk about the weather, and thank Mother Nature that the drunk ass loon crazy Republican sociopathic send-your-kid-for-cannon fodder "daddy party" is about to get spanked while the rest of us try to save the planet.
Of course, given the kinky authoritarian sexual deviancy of the right wing, they'll howl and holler under the lash but secretly crave it all the more. They hate government and don't like governing, so, even when they're in charge, They. Just. Don't. If you ask me, a fringe party belongs on the fringe, where it can enjoy the biting sting of the crop in peace.
Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against the BDSM community or leather fetishists, but Republicans just can't seem to conceive of truly egalitarian relationships in any sphere of their lives, from what I can tell. Kind of a prerequisite for democracy, dontcha think? Good, consensual BDSM folks do not abuse people, or for that matter, the friggin' earth that birthed us.
So, on behalf of Mother Nature, what say we give them the unforgettable beating they so desperately deserve?
Related posts:
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Fitz?
Buenos dias, perros de fuego.
she used the wrong word, she needed to replace “disastrous” with “criminal”
I live in DC, also. You’re right, the weather just feels weird.
good thing, I would have had to find a differant site
Mornin’ FDLers. A downpour on Ottawa/Gatineau this AM. All the snow has melted. A balmy plus 10ish Celsius is forecasted for today. My sister’s rhododendron is budding. We live in interesting times.
Howard Dean!
64 degrees in Staten Island in January?
WTF?
OT
Something interesting.
Is nobody awake yet???
Here in upstate NY where we get tons of snow, we have had no accumulated snow yet. NONE. There has been no shoveling or plowing yet this winter. Yesterday the temp was mid 50s. Today will be 60. I would be celebrating this change if it wasn’t so spooky. On the upside, my heat bill is minimal, but, of course, it’s hard to enjoy that when I fear that we have reached the proverbial tipping point.
g’ mornin’ Pach,
Nice to see you in the day time. Wish I could stay up late to spend Sat. nights with you, but my work doesn’t let me. Gotta be bright and peppy on Sun. mornings.
It’s supposed to get to 68 in Boston today. Weird doesn’t begin to describe it! We put up the Christmas decorations on a warm day and took them down on a warmer day. I can’t recall a year when there wasn’t any snow on the ground by now.
I. Don’t. Like. It. I want some sense of winter normalcy back.
I was hoping you would bring up this topic today!
I live in upstate NY, 20 mins. south of the Canadian border. We get temps in the winter of -20 with wind chill and can go for a week at a time in the winter with temps of -10 and below.
Last night we were able to grill dinner outside becasue it was close to 50 degrees. My garlic, which I planted in the fall is sprouting.
We have had some snow, enough to cover the ground, but it has dissapered in the rain.
Our winters have been getting progressively warmer and so have our summers.
Nobody planted their gardens up here till Memorial Weekend and sometimes after that!
Last year I had things in the ground by mid May.
What bothers me is the sheer arrogance of this administration and their “obedience” to the religious right about how science is villified and twisted to conform to the Christian view.
I read last week that in our own National park at the Grand Canyon that they are not allowed to give the Parks age because it conflicts with the Creation theory of the earth being 6,000 years old.
Yet their is a book about Creation Theory sold in the store.
We have got to stop the craziness!!!
We need to support the scientists and make our elected officals accountable.
And, we need to Impeach Bush.
Now, more then ever before he kills us all.
I’ve been in Minnesota for 10 years, and this is easily the mildest winter I’ve seen. I don’t think we’ve had a day where the high was below 20, nor a night where the low was below 0. Forecast today is a high of 34, which is 12 degrees above average, and a low of 29, which is 25 degrees above average.
The “Daddy” Party is really more of the “Royalist” party, in the prerevolution sense. The Nation is theirs to plunder. They hate government only when it gets in the way of their stealing.
RevDeb @ 9
global warming is going to put gore back in the forefront
with any luck, the democrats will distribute and inconvenient truth and the majority of people will see it
we can make it a “thing” to see it like you are nutz of you didn’t see it
if we do that, gore will win the nomination and take the place in office he was elected 6 years ago
Temps in North Carolina well into the 70’s today. We’ve seen snakes and bugs out already, which is very unusual.
It is 25 degrees in Omaha Nebraska. And today we will have a high of 41. Definetly not our usual january weather. I have not worn my big winter coat much this winter. We have had brief plunges of cold but are several degrees above our average high.
One positive is that all the snow that hit western nebraska hit drought stricken parts of the state.
In omaha we have seen very little snow (2-4 inches) but have gotten several inches of rain with the last few snow storms. We are still below normal moisture levels and I am not sure of the droughtfor western nebraska since the last two snow storms.
Yes, the weather is changing.
perris,
I bought my own copy to show at church. We must get behind this.
And I am yearning for Gore to get into the race.
Well, my friends, apparently none of you caught Brian Williams’ NBC Nightly News broadcast yesterday evening. Global warming was poo-pooed and the whole thing “once and for all” was put off on El Nino.
It. Was. Incredible.
Look on the bright side –
by the time these neocon clowns turn America completely into a banana republic –
we’ll be able to grow bananas!
THAT’S right! Blame the children!
Republicans don’t heed a hard beatting, they need a relentless, vicious, heartless and never-ending beating.
It’s 37 outside here in SillyValley. Too cold for me. Too cold to fire up the smoker, I’ll have to wait til mid-morning for it to warm up (I’m doing a brisket today, never done one before). I’m a candy-ass California boy.
Brian Williams is a Bush anus-licker. He is an embarrassment. I NEVER EVER watrch major network evening news any more. If Keith Olbermann isn’t saying it, I ain’t believing it.
Here in northwest Illinois it’s warm. No snow, but a light frosting last month.
Didn’t I read here that John Dingell, chair of the Energy & Commerce committee, thinks the science is still out on global warming? A friend of the auto industry? Now that’s scaring me.
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @ 18
Neither do we. Last night was an aberration. Two words reeled through my head during the program: Corporate masters.
My folks have property on lake superior and last year, for the first time in my life we went swimming off the rocks on my folks property.
We are on the minnesota side. My mom tells of swimming in the harbor as a girl, but never off the rocks of their property where the water would remain awfully cold and because of the rocks not safe to swim. Generally we were told that if a family member fell in we were not to go after them. The cold of the water would make it to difficult to climb the rocks to get out. Also any waves could throw you into the rocks. But even on a clear day it was the temp that made it so dangerous.
My mom says she would only swim the bay in grand marais if the temp was unusually warm for several days in a row. She tells it did not happen every summer.
When I was a girl we used to put our feet in the lake off the rocks in some safe spot and use a timer to see how long we could keep them in the water. Usually couldn’t do it for 5 minutes before the feet would start to ache and get numb. This experiment was repeated almost every summer of my life.
This last summer my entire family went into the water off the rocks. The temp was chilly but we were able to wade and stay in it for 30-45 minutes looking for thomsonite. My son immersed himself completely and swam around. I felt it safe to swim off the rocks, because the cold did not numb my feet. It was very tolerable.
I wonder if the average temp of lake superior has changed. Does anyone know? I have never heard this stat referred to, but I would think it would be significant indicator.
I keep thinking that in a few years our property off the lake will either flood due to water level changes or increase in value significantly as it becomes water sport capital. I would think such a change could alter the lake very quickly.
It’s warm here (Paris, France)–really warm. In fact, they’re saying we’re on track for record high temperatures for this winter in France.
Governor Schwarzenegger takes on the Republican Party’s positions on global warming in his inaugural address:
“The governor suggested that some positions among Republicans are indefensible. He made reference to scientific evidence that global warming is an emergency that requires immediate action.
One prominent Republican, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, once described global warming as a hoax.
“Should we do nothing about global warming on the slim chance a few skeptics who deny its existence may be right?” the governor said. “No, we should not.”
If the Democrats don’t drive a stake through their hearts, they will be back, the whole crowd of PNACers, liberals stabbed us in the back over Iraq, flat taxers, crony capitalists, faith-based scientists, and other riff-raff.
The only problem I have with the “first 100 hour” plan of our new congress, is that it does not mention global warming. They are calling for 70o here in the Lower Hudson Valley today. A friend of mine in Philadelphia tells me that the cherry tree outside of his restaurant is in bloom. It’s just plain creepy.
AL GORE FOR PRESIDENT! Al, your country needs you.
Why on earth would religious leaders be called to testify about climate change?
elvisgoat @
13
Most of upstate South Carolina will see afternoon highs in the low seventies today. Average temperature in December 2006 at the Greenville-Spartanburg airport was five degrees above normal, compared to an average temperature there in December 2005 that was 1.9 degrees below normal.
epu’d from previous thread
I don’t know if anyone is collecting sites that are putting the audio clips on the web, but I’ve just uploaded them to my own website (I don’t blog….I just put them up there)
http://www.glcq.com/sprocko.htm
(I haven’t gotten around to explaining what they are, its just a list of the clips and the audio files at this point, but people are free to link to the site)
In southern NJ I have a Flowering Maple plant that is thriving.This is a plant that is winter hardy to Zone 8. I live in Zone 5. I also had roses blooming after Thanksgiving.
Now I know some of the doubters attribute the rise in temps to the heat island effect of airports where they record the temp, but I live 30 miles from an airport. My zone 8 Flowering Maple is responding to soil and air temp, not some heat island.
It’s too strange for me.
Not much snow in Chicago this winter, just cold rain, which is worse, imo.
Eventually Chicago will be Miami, and Miami will be Hell.
Here in Savannah it’s 65 now, and supposed to get up into the 80s. This is unusual even for us. My dwarf azaleas have started blooming, which shouldn’t happen until March.
Rainy and 48 F here in Toronto. Been like that most of the week and expected to stay the same. Most times in Jan we’d be getting – 25 C (been so long I cant remember what that is in F degrees) and hoping for the Jan thaw.
Friends in Mtl report Iris blooming, we had crocus down the street blooming in Nov and yesterday I noticed a neighbors periwinkles blooming.
My little flowering quince is already showing colour and friends in Fenelon Falls (nr Ottawa) are worried that their fruit trees will bud. RThey tell me to expect high fruit prices this yr.
And another friend tells me that the TV people are saying no, it’s not global warming it’s just that the Gulf Stream is higher than usual. Yep, right.
Badwater @
11
Yep.
JoyB @
17
Not just any children: Spanish speaking ones. Put them in concentration camps.
M.K @ 25
Struck me all of a heap, too.
elvisgoat @ 13
Where abouts in NC?
Good to see you, RevDeb!
O/T, anybody heard how Tommyum and Esten are doing?
There’s actually a segment of the religious community, even the evangelical community, that is pro-enviironmental protection. Green issues are actually wedge issues, politically.
AMEN!
HotFlash @ 37
No, and I’d like to know that too. Thought about them during the holiday season.
G’Mornin
I want to ski too.
But I think the ’science’ of casual observation in what I think is an El Nino year is as faulty a method as BushCo’s weather prediction from the Book of Revalations.
The danger is that a real good cold snap or a La Nina year takes this off the radar.
Last summer was unseasonably moderate in Chicago; I don’t want that taken as a counter indicator.
Global warming is a HUGE problem, and that big chunk which broke off the polar ice cap last year was a major indicator
http://www.baltimoresun.com/ne…..-headlines
as is polar bear mortality (nice of BushCo to notice animals for once)
I live 30 miles as the crow flies from Canada in MN. I’ve lived here 30 years and i have never seen such a dry summer and fall, our lakes and rivers are down by several feet. On top of that it rained here Dec. 30 and again Jan. 2 and 3, it has Never rained this time of year, as long as I’ve been here. The roads are going to hell, with the constant freezing and thawing.
Waving good morning before going to water aerobics.
Yesterday was my birthday. I turned the age of “the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything”. Will check back later–I bet *somebody* knows what that’s from.
:)
HotFlash @ 37
Also, anybody heard if Christy managed to get her sinus problems under control before leaving for hols?
sporkovat @ 29
Chicago will be the largest city above sea level and Miami will be underwater.
Looks like we’ll be in the 40’s this week here in Johnson County in eastern Iowa. That is down a few from the upper 40’s and fifties we had last week. One of the worst things about the warm winters is that they don’t kill the bug larve. Termites are moving north into areas they have never been able to claim before. Don’t know what this portends for summer. Really hot? so we can crank up the ac and create more co2?
Renee in Ohio @ 43
Happy 42nd!
Millineryman @ 28
My husband is a horticulturalist and explains this problem as such:
The trees are either in full leaf, as is your maple, or are setting buds too soon in their natural cycle, as dictated by the temperature. Sooner or later this winter, we will probably experience an ice storm
or a steep drop in temperature that will burn the leaves and buds. The trees will be deprived of oxygen and nutrients and the roots will begin to die. Trees can survive this type of cycle disruption only twice.
They may or may not reset their buds in the spring, depending on the extent of root damage. If they sustain another damaging of the buds… say in a drought this coming summer, or another freakishly warm winter, they will die. We could be looking at mass deforestation in the Northeast. Everyone needs to wake up to these TRUTHS, and stop beaming about how great it will be to tailgate at the football games in the Northeast this weekend in tee shirts.
Who cares about the weather? Not Exxon/Mobile (via ABlog):
http://www.boston.com/business…..ad_public/
Pachacutec @ 38
Thought maybe they wanted experts in Signs and Portents of the End.
Renee in Ohio @ 43
Renee, congrats! Meet you for dinner at the restaurant at the end of the universe, my treat.
Mid 50s here halfway down (that’s “up” to most people) the Maine coast. Only had one snow worthy of plowing this winter – none worthy of snowshoes or XC skis in the last 2 winters. 4 years ago at this time we had nearly a week where it never got above 0. My pond hockey friends say they’ve only had 2 skating days this year (normal would be Thanksgiving ’till end of March).
I’ve got logs for firewood stacked up in the woods, but I can’t get them out b/c the ground isn’t frozen – it’s mud. Well, looks like I don’t need much firewood this year.
The only advantage I can see to global warming is the higher sea level will wipe out all those gaudy mansions the asshole have built along the shore. Any natives fortunate enough to be along the shore will just knock the cinder blocks out from under their homes and tow them to higher ground .
It’s not like this government has seen this coming. For Gods sake, I remember the energy crisis of the 70s’, The gas lines, the reduction of highway speeds. What the hell, where was the follow through? Greed won out again, I guess.
sporkovat @
29
miami will be a site for scuba diving “museums”
Morning Firedogs and Pacha !
here ya go -
http://www.christiansandclimate.org/
group’s spokesperson : Joel Hunter, was appointed head of Christian Coalition in July, but stepped down abruptly in November over a rift on expanding agenda to include issues like global warming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Hunter
p.s. did my little pagan, hippie heart good to read CC is $2m in debt
NaNOO @ 53
the follow through was excellent and if carter’s programs were still in place we would be energy independent right now, the oil industry would not have made bush invade Iraq, and we would be the greenest country on the planet
however, Reagan decided he’d remove the solar panels from the white house, rescind the programs that would have made us energy Dependant.
can someone tell us why there is a line for hybrid cars yet hardly a one is available from American industry?
right now our auto industry should be enjoying the most profitable years of their history, everyone should be converting to hybrid vehicles and gas only powered auto’s would be lined up for scrap
the amount of damage visited on America by this corporate influenced party of reublicans cannot be measured
and oh
we are not able to measure then boundaries that contain my contempt for lieberman
GordonM @
52
Chief Seattle’s revenge:
I live in GA,I’m a learn-as-you-go organic gardener,and this weather is NOT normal. Today it will be around 70 degrees and sunny. In January. It should be at least 25 degrees cooler right now.
I have an old apple tree that probably won’t set much fruit this year. Apples need a good cold snap for several weeks,the tree needs to lie dormant in the cold for awhile to produce fruit well. I don’t know if peaches,cherry,or nut trees need that dormant period of cold,but this effects apples for sure.
Something else is odd too. I live in an area being overtaken by urban sprawl. Huge tracts of land have been cleared of everything,right down to the bare dirt. This has stirred up some sort of fungus that is burning the leaves of many of my flowers,herbs,veggies,and trees. I lost all my veggies last year except tomatoes and some banana peppers.
I swear the idiots around here will not be happy til every tree is gone and every square inch is covered in concrete or crappy golf course type grass. And McMansions,chain stores and professional office space.
I think I need to consider moving.
OK Hotflash, but I’m not eating any cow that can tell me how tender it is. :)
Renee in Ohio @ 43
42
RevDeb @ 9
I second RevDeb…
I heard the Sox have packed their bags and
are heading to Winter Haven this week.
Dice-K, the East’s gift to the AL East.
Jack
It’s already 66F here in New York this morning. Supposed to get up to 70.
Ethanol is not going to save us, I’ve already read the reports, studies done by the U of MN and Cornell U. Our new transportation chairperson, Oberstar, mister bozo wants a fucking freeway to Cook, Mn, I guess so the millionares can get to there summer homes on Lake Vermillion, Faster. And you know, created some temporary jobs. I’ve already been writing him.
g’ morning from extra BREEZY California… winds were howling about 70mph last night, but all is calm this morning…
Via BoingBoing;
Excerpt from “Here, Bullet,” a book of poetry written by Sgt. Brian Turner, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, while he was serving in Iraq:
Here, Bullet
If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta’s opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you’ve started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel’s cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue’s explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.
~~~
SFGate article;
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/arti…..NCE5T1.DTL
currently 46 deg. in god’s country – actually has been unseasonably cold so far this winter
http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc8347.php
I found the December 20th interview on Grist I posted about earlier.
Barbara Boxer [incoming chair of the Senate Environment Committee] has said repeatedly that she sees global warming as the single biggest environmental threat on the horizon. Do you agree with her?
I don’t agree and I don’t disagree. I don’t know what the biggest one is. Certainly if there is environmental warming, it is a very major environmental problem and it should be addressed.
So you don’t believe the scientific consensus on global warming is established at this point?
This country, this world, the [human] race of which you and I are a part, is great at having consensuses that are in great error. And so I want to get the scientific facts, and find out what the situation is, and find out what is the cure, and find out what is the cure that is acceptable to the country that I represent and serve.
Let’s contact Dingell and help him see that the science has been done on global warming.
I’m with you, angry old broad, too much fucking development and not enough trees. People are going to have to change the way we live, big time. No more of this every fucking thing from China, too. What a waste. Mother Earth, I love you. My niece is going to college and decided on evironmental studies. She says, she wants to make a difference. I told her, go into political studies because that’s the only way to make changes happen better for our world, besides we already have enough scientists, it’s just that our officials are not listening.
NaNOO @ 57
Good point. In matter of fact Reagan turned back the clock by eliminating the Tax incentives put in place by Carter for passive(solar) energy and also cut back the CAFE standards for auto companies. We had a chance in the 1970’s and I fear we have passed the tipping point.
I have retired my cross-country skiis in NE Iowa and am ready to head for Canada. Spent too many years in Phoenix which is now hotter than Hades.
Sorry, the interview was with John Dingell, the new chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
I live in west michigan, lower penninsula. I grew up on the east side of the state, where even then we got decent amounts of snow. I remember needing to bundle up constantly during winters even as i was in high school in the early to mid 1990s.
I moved over to the west side of the state about 5 years ago now. My first two winters here? Were absolutely insane, with blizzards almost garunteed because Lake Michigan plays nasty like that. This year and last year were unseasonably warm. So warm that the lake has not frozen over. Which is usually a factor in the snow making, and teh arctic fronts coming down from canada. We get some cold, but even then? We’ve been seeing average temps of around 50F, and a few days of below zero if the wind is chilled enough.
The thing that gets me is? The lakes. I’ve never heard of that! Someone above thread mentioned Lake Superior being warm enough to swim in long term. I think they know what i mean by this. You grow up in the climate, you feel the oddity almost immediately. Even on the east side of the state, Lake Huron hasn’t frozen over. There were tankers moving along easily in the lake during christmas. Usually the only thing you see at that time of year is the ice. Or the coast guard boat moving now and then. But the usual tankers making their way across? NO!
Inconvienent Truth, indeed.
Renee in Ohio @
63
But, isn’t it better to eat an animal that wants to be eaten?
Jim Clausen,good luck in going to Canada. Last I heard they want a hell of a lot of money to come into their country. My sister left the US, went to the islands, some like it Hot. But the hassle, goosh, 5 years bank records, a sponser, legal fees, ect.
How much extra air pollution does it add with all the bombs and fires, igniting in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East?
We live thirty miles east of Seattle. While the rest of the country has been unseasonably warm, we’re getting back-to-back windstorms. I’m a native, and I don’t ever remember this many in a row.
We had a storm last month that would have been called a hurricane in any other part of the country, and ended up being without power for a week as a result (with over a million other utility customers.)
When the wind’s not gusting, we’re enduring torrential rain. Of course, the ski operators are delirious, because this has dumped untold feet of snow on our passes.
Next week, we’ll be sporting temps in the 20’s and 30’s — unseasonably cold for the area.
Something’s wrong. This has ceased to be funny.
-S
moeman @ 69
It’s on Amazon (see FDL’s link at right) and rated highly there. I’m going to order a copy after my next paycheck.
Hi Strategerie!
Here in Central Ohio, my little 4 year old keeps asking me, “Is this winter?” It is gray, drippy wet, and I saw a bit of snow falling out of the sky a couple of weeks ago, which melted on landing. Otherwise, I’ve been putting my little one in rain jackets and windbreakers.
I took a full moon walk with a group and a naturalist at the metro park across the road from my home this past Wednesday. She said a few times, “We DESPERATELY need a cold snap or things are going to be bad around here…”
I’m used to boring, sucky, gray Central Ohio winters, but this is weird. I can’t recall not having at least ONE little snow before January.
It’s eighty degrees in North Central Florida. Eighty! We drove up to Chicago over Christmas, and there was no snow anywhere between Florida and the Wisconsin border. I mean, I wasn’t exactly expecting any in Florida or Georgia, but Wisconsin? Chicago? What the hell is going on?
Mornin’ all!
“A tale of two criminals”
The best and most scientific estimate we have of the number of Iraqi deaths since George Bush lit the Middle East on fire suggests that we are now already near to doubling Saddam’s carnage, courtesy (as Toby Keith might put it) of the red, white and blue.
To Americans there can be no possible comparison between the deeds of Saddam Hussein and George Bush. The former was a murderer, they’d insist, a warmonger, a flaunter of international law, and a deceiver of epic proportions. And, while most Americans have come to now see George Bush as at least a foolish mistake and an immature bungler, very few would ascribe any of Saddam’s brutal transgressions to an American president, even this particular failure.
Instead, Americans know that our leader is vastly different and morally far superior, because Saddam used chemical weapons and Bush did not.
Except that under Bush as commander-in-chief, we have ourselves used both white phosphorus and napalm since we invaded Iraq.
But Americans are assured that Bush is no Saddam because Saddam murdered his own people, and Bush would never do that.
http://www.regressiveantidote……inals.html
I’m with you, Strategerie, this is not Funny. Those assholes responsible for this gobal crisis, that should be investigated. Start with getting Exxon to pay.
NaNOO @ 85
…because getting Exxon to pay always works out so well
AP – Iraq’s prime minister said Saturday that Iraqi forces will lead a new effort — with U.S. help — to wrest control of Baghdad’s neighborhoods from militias and other sectarian killers.
Is this what’s called “manifest destiny”?
I’m in eastern PA within 20 miles of 2 ski resorts that are both currently closed because they are unable to blow snow because it has been so warm. It’s supposed to be 65 here today with no ‘cool down’ in the forecast.
Way back in college many of us were screaming about pollution. Very few listened. Democrats (my party) share in the blame for this oversight.
I am sitting in a coffee house in Greenwich Village. The overhead fans are going, the dor to the street is wide open and it is so unconfortably warm that I am wishing they would turn on the AC (in NYC in January? WTF?)
I live very close to the water on the North shore of LI and while the rest of the island is usually warmer than the City and New Jersy b/c of the morderating influence of being surrounded by water (which is why we have a wine region) if you live VERY close to the Sound there is a sort of mini-lake effect and we usually ave snow most of the winter.
Our front door usually has snow shoes stacked by it from Thanksgiving till Easter and it is common to see X0country skiers on the bearby county road early in the AM after a freash snowfall.
Not on freakin’ flake yet this winter. My roses have not stopped blooming, my Hyacinths are 3 inches above the soil in FLOWERPOTS, my scottish broom looks about to ready to bloom.
Hell my Mulberry tree is starting to bud a little (it usually shows nothing at all until after other tress are already in flower.
Through is all we have this hot, clammy fog–it’s liake a miasma–over the City and the Island. it makes you want to wash you face 5 or 6 times a day b/c you just feel greasy and icky.
There is a slightly “bad dream” quality to the sunlight(or lack thereof).
Oklahoma kiddo @ 89
Yes, which is why we’re taking the party over, as best we can. Let’s keep up the pressure!
Here in my native state, we have not had ‘native’ weather’ in about 30 years. Scaaary.
I’m in the middle of our gift of “big snow” but I wouldn’t really attribute much of this to global warming. The jet stream is sucking up a lot of moisture from the south so perhaps warming is increasing the amount of snow from that.
One of the longer term problems here for the Rocky Mountains is the pine beetle. The warmer winter/spring is allowing the beetle to survive and kill more trees. More dead trees increases fire danger. In my pessimism, I imagine most of our forests gone in the next 50 years.
As a pessimist, I’d also move inland from any coastal area. Sell your property before it’s underwater.
Global warming claims tropical island
24 December 2006
twolf1, well I don’t know, did Exxon ever pay for the damages in Alaska? Last i read, it’s been in appeal for years and just recently another judge cut the punitive damages in half. My daughter lost her home due to an oil spill, drivers fault, he somehow missed the tank and dumped 230 gallons that went under her home. I got to tell you, it don’t come easy. After the lies and cover-up and the MN Pollution Control Agency give the company a one half discount for NON-Cooperation, and so far the companies insurance blows her off. It’s enough to get a person more than steamed up.
A report from Minnesota: no snow and temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees on average above normal. The “real” Minnesota cold usually hits the Twin Cities in early December and lasts with intemittent warm-ups into mid or late February. It has not yet begun this year, nor is it expected next week.
msnbc -
NYC had no snow Nov or Dec – first time since 1877
cbl @ 55
It did my little Episcopalian heart good too!
NaNOO @
67
Consumer Reports also weighed in saying there was no benefit to Ethanol.
We may then, one of these days, begin to empathize with live boiled lobsters.
El Nino
Here in fabulous Southern Illinois, the Land of Egypt, it is cloudy and damp. No good freezes yet this winter.
Been here for over fifty years and can testify that it’s warmer now than it was when I was a youngster. I remember skating on the local ponds every winter, I haven’t seen enough ice to support such a sport in ages.
Several years ago we began to be bothered with a hatch or two of black flies in the spring. Nasty, biting, fuckers. Swarms that would leave a windshield plastered.
Along with changes in vegetation, the creeping northwards of insect populations will be a problem.
BTW
When I was in college I represented my school at the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference. I did my thesis for the conference on energy independant through ethenol and bio deisel production, composting to produce methane, use of geothermal and solar, etc.
I delivered the report of international energy strategy for my roundtable at the final conference whic was heavily attended by OPEC people (met my first Saudi prince there) and memeber of Congress and serous muckety mucks from the oil indutry.
A guy from Mobil Oil offered me a job on the spot (even though I still had another year of college to go) because he said my approach would either be their salvation or their demise.
My parents thought it was Mobile’s plan to shut me up by hiring my, and I wanted to be a lawyer, so I thanked him and said no.
I know I am biased, but I still think (as did my entire roundtable–and more importanlty my grandpa who had a generator that ran on chicken poop during wwII) that we could be completely energy independent using technology not much motre advanced than that used by ration imposed householders during wwII.
The technology exist. It was used by our parents and grand parents. What does not exist is the infrastructure and distribution chain.
NaNOO @ 95
Even for me, this morning has really been a wonderland of typos.
Sorry. Need more coffee. Or air conditioning. Sheez!
Late to the party, sorry.
39 deg F here in mid-Michigan, wet, with expected high of 47. This is between 20 to 40 degrees out of kilter with expected temperatures here in January. 13 years ago, temps were -10 to -5 deg daily. In 2000, Michigan experienced its coldest December ever on record.
The warm temps aren’t entirely out of whack; I remember driving around in a convertible with the top down on Christmas Day, believe it was 1978. However we had a couple of BIG blizzards within the next 2 months; I don’t see that happening this year.
There are folks who will attribute this year’s winter warmth solely to El Nino conditions — they’d be partially right. There are folks who will attribute this period to weather cycles — and they’d be right, too, as we are ramping up to a peak that comes every 400* years or so, the kind of cycle that may have contributed substantially to the disappearance of the Anasazi, the rapid decline of the Mayan, the failure of the Greenland Vikings (see Jared Diamond’s Collapse on this).
But they are not the only factors in play; these are only components of a complex matrix, into which humans’ ability to impact the weather has never been added before.
Read William Calvin’s ‘A Brain for All Seasons’ a couple of years ago, in which he theorizes that human brain size evolved in response to dramatic shifts in weather. We’ve been here before, in other words, and benefitted over the long run for it. But Calvin’s research encouraged him to dig more deeply into weather cycles and work done by Woods Hole Oceanograpic Institute; looking at the cyclical data Woods Hole and other institutions have gathered drew him to the conclusion that we could be accelerating a rapid onset ice age, spawned by the desalination of the ocean from polar ice melt. The data he saw reflected an onset in past ice ages of less than 10 years. The breaking off of Ellesmere ice shelf this month is one more sign of the rapid desalination at work.
We don’t have a decade. We’ve tripped a natural cycle to which we could have evolved and responded into hyperdrive. This winter and the winter of 2000 indicate an increasing volatility that presages the tipping point. In short, we are f*cked if we don’t ALL of us do something NOW.
[*don’t quote me on the 400, I’m within percentages without check ‘Collapse’.]
Renee in Ohio @ 47
happy 42nd?
twolf1 @ 101
The “pineapple connections”. And banana republics.
Warm weather hits businesses in Ontario
“We’re trying to make the best of things so that guests who still come to Blue will have a good time,” spokesperson Kelly O’Neil told the Toronto Star. “But it’s pretty tense.”
The resort said they have not been able to build a good snow base for skiers. It is a first in the resort’s 65-year history.
The coral reefs are dying.
NaNOO @ 57
Remember, elections have consequences. After the gas lines, we elected Ronnie Reagan, who believed that trees caused pollution (remember Killer Trees?)
in the past month i’ve been in eastern germany (dresden), western germany (frankfurt am main) and southern germany (augsburg, munich and the ammersee). no snow in any of those places and only occaisional dips below 0 degrees (celsius). on my walk this morning i heard birds doing their springtime calls. definitely not normal for january. it snowed once in dresden since september. i think it lasted two days, maximum.
a recent study in this part of the world has announced that this is the warmest winter in the alps for about 900 years.
we need some EPU juju. soon.
The maple trees are not producing sap. Too warm.
The technology exist. It was used by our parents and grand parents.
It requires approx. 7 gallons of oil to produce 10 gallons of lower energy yeilding ethanol. Ethanol is a wash as far as the carbon balance of its production is concerned. Bio deisel is cheap now because of the lack of demand, but the same carbon exchange will be true of it should it ever go into industrial production.
Boxer heading up the environment committee will be continuously pelted by spitballs from Inhofe, (R-OK) the minority leader of the committee.
He is a vicious infighter and denies global warming as a “massive hoax” upon the people by the liberal media.
He also declared from the senate floor that he was extremely proud that no one in his family is homosexual or been divorced.
He is up for re-election in ‘08, which makes the Democratic nominee for President so very critical in downticket races such as his.
I want this asshat gone.
Thanks Twisted Martini, didn’t know about the consumer report. What else is more than dumb, my great grandfather was a conductor on a trolleycar in the Twin City area, I’m in my mid fifties. They pulled out all the rails so long ago. Face it, it was planned this way, the State makes so much money with licenses fees, vehicle taxes, highway departments, insurance companies make there share, it’s Big Business.
HotFlash @ 35
And the Gulf Stream is higher because …??
Hi Fahrender! Greetings from an also unusually warm Munich. It’s about 50 degrees out on my balcony right now.
A quick OT note: Waccamaw, if you’re still around, your recipe from last week’s Pull Up a Chair…OMG! Those candied orange peels are dangerously addictive! They’re drying as I write, but my husband and I have already been nibbling away on them. Thank you so much!
If you live in the Mid-Atlantic region you can choose you power source here
http://www.cleanyourair.org/
Become carbon neutral this year. It’s an admirable resolution.
http://www.conservation.org/xp…..FQodWW5z-A
Support innovative companies such as
http://www.nativeenergy.com/
Lay the groundwork for a market so innovative technology companies can survive. At the same pressure the goverment so these companies can thrive.
What the hell did anyone think. Electing fossil fuel pushers Bush and Cheney was going to be ‘environmentally friendly’? It’s all too disgusting.
Fry-o-Diesel
Here’s the linky:
http://www.consumerreports.org….._ov1_1.htm
We had cooler than average weather yesterday. It’s probably a mistake to deduce global warming from today’s weather.
I dislike Inhofe intensely.
Anyone remember the ‘rock dust’ fellow’ who long ago predicted the returning ice age. All is normal in Oregon country. We’re on wind power also.
Here in Minnesota – high of 35 today. Doesn’t sound too warm? January? in Minnesota? People are wearing their spring jackets. The snow storm we got on New Years Day is melting fast and it rained — RAINED!!! — in Minnesota — several nights ago.
Yah, global warming.
Here in Denver, it’s anything but warm. Three big snows in three consecutive weeks. Big day today. The garbage guys are coming by to pick up 3 weeks of trash and recycling. What a hellish day they’ll have as the challenge will be getting to the big containers through all the snow on the streets and mountains of snow on the curbs.
I’ve lived here over 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s global warming in reverse.
As the planet heats up, it will produce a warming of geopolitical stress. There will be even less ‘goodies’ to go around.
Welcome to the Anthropocene Era. Beyond (but related to) global warming;
We are currently running a ~25% sustenance deficit, which is expected to increase to 100% within 40 years. Simply put we are consuming more than the planet’s carrying capacity every year, and increasingly so.
We Americans comprise ~5% of the world’s population, but consume 25% of the resources.
We are a pampered cohort on a path toward unprecedented savagery once our comfy little apple cart is finally pushed to the ditch.
_
Ann in Az, never heard of Reagans’ killer trees, who in the fuck would fall for that? Thanks Twisted martini for the link.
the radio here reports that cherry blossoms are budding in Brooklyn.
Wow. I can’t believe this made it past the editors at the NYT. (Emphasis mine.)
The story’s about how the circumstances of Saddam’s death have turned him into a hero in the Sunni Arab world. Heck of a job, Georgie.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01…..r=homepage
Kimster @ 127
global warming is extremes, it doesn’t manifest in warm weather it manifests in extreme weather
Grandma:
I don’t believe it. Is the Ice Festival still on?
I spent two years in the Twin Cities, attending the U. I’m from Maine, so I thought I would be fine through the winter. Little did I know…..
cbl @ 97
Hmmm, kinda blows the El Nino scapegoat out of the water.
Speaking of, I’m less than 2 ft above sea level here in Montauk. Maybe I’ll be waterfront soon?
BTW, the Insurance companies are on to this. I recently was dropped from a carrier that no longer underwrites Long Island.
I subsequently found that many wont write hom epolicies, many exclude Hurricane/Wind, and the prices are 4 times higher than in 2001.
(Luckily I found a good policy with State-Farm, who were so helpful I feel the need to plug.)
So, while the faith-based scientists and Inhoff types are pooh-poohing reality, the bean counters are taking it seriously.
From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..aks-havoc/
I used to live in Oregon. Northern Iowa has had an Oregon winter. We’re Zone 4b and it feels like Zone 8. The little snow we’ve had doesn’t last and it has mostly been rainy and chilly, but not the bone-freezing cold I first experienced when I moved here. Our river is really high, which usually doesn’t happen until the ice breaks up in April. Oh wait, there is no ice.
Yeah, mrsmarks, I noticed that too. I think the media narrative is changing. The election, State of Denial and this insane talk of escalation may have finally penetrated the brains of the editors that be.
Hey Urban Pirate, wave to Block Island for me!
I didn’t know you were out there in Montauk. And yes, the insurance carriers are very much on to this, and that’s (as they say in poker) a serious “tell.”
looseheadprop @ 99
Amen. And alternative energy is being passively discouraged — I mean, it’s not illegal, but if you *can* buy, say, a solar panel at a BigBox store, it’ll be so you can run the refrigerator on your boat, not the one in your house. And WallyM*rt and the rest deluge us with energy-eating trinkets. Do we really need electric toothbrushes? cocoa-stirrers? pencil sharpeners?
Here in Canada we have windmills, but the emphasis is on wind farms and the usual big ownership business model. Energy independance on an individual or household level is gently but effectively discouraged by lack of materials or financing. I am urged on a monthly basis to install a new gas furnace or central air by my utility co’s and “pay nothing until 2008″ . For solar panels on my roof? Not so easy. Even getting info about available products, building codes, etc. is difficult.
Sometimes issues like global warming provide opportunities for corporatists to hide trees in the forest.
For example, if the debate were taking place inside a closed garage with a cars motor running, the debate about whether it is warming up in the garage or not would be ridiculous.
Unless someone turns off the car, no one gets out alive.
And it won’t be the temperature that kills them.
Global warming is a huge and very complex issue, with plenty of places to hide and distort facts. We must also be sure to point out emissions are deadly and implement alternative energy sources.
Oklahoma kiddo (128) — lovely understatement, that, geopolitical stress.
We are not in Iraq just for the oil.
We are now in a global energy war, asymmetrical in nature, and the average American is blithely unaware of it.
– Russia has been extorting price increases of 4x previous price on natural gas, across the entirety of Eurasia and Caspian Sea region. Look in old news in regards to Ukraine (one poisoned president), Georgia, Turkey (PKK terrorist activity), Belarus, and impact as well on UK (one poisoned intel person researching energy contacts; UK natural gas comes from Eurasia).
– Largest supplies of natural gas are in Russia, Iran, and Turkmenistan (one suddenly dead president and a now a new contract with Russia for natural gas). *Ahem.*
Not to mention all the other ya-ya going on in relation to oil. A contact with one of the best known oil services companies told me they cannot drill hard enough or fast enough to supply demand. What’s that tell you?
We passed peak oil. THEY know it. The public hasn’t quite caught up yet, and it better do so in a hurry.
Twisted Martini @ 139
Hah. In this fog I can barely see the neighbor’s house. Seems surreal. I was out in a tshirt and no shoes yesterday doing “spring” maintenance.
I often wonder to what degree the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are contributing to the warming as well. I keep thinking about all of those bombs and fires and oil field “disruptions.”
This has to be having its toll on the environment, yes tragically locally, but I would think globally as well.
Pachacutec @ 140
Yep. Open invitation to visit, stay, hang out, and watch the Mets lose. :)
Here in Houston, the winter’s pretty much normal as far as I can tell. But it sounds like the rest of you are having Houston winters too, and that’s definitely NOT normal.
Lou Costello @
64
a better answer (or at least my favorite),from “the wizard of id” some years back.
prisoner (head sticking through the bars in the
window of the door): “guard! guard! bring me books on philosophy!”
guard (looking very bored): “what do you want to know?”
prisoner: “i want to know the true meaning of life!”
guard: “oh. that’s easy: no time off for good behavior.”
40 deg overcast and wet at my place in Portland this morning. A foot of fresh powder on Mt. Hood from last night’s storm to add to the 10 foot base. Looking out at Hood right now, there’s a storm enveloping the mountain that oddly resembles an atomic mushroom cloud or a giant funnel. I’m pretty certain they’re getting pummeled with more snow 59 mi due east from here.
I’d be headed into it right now if my other’s family weren’t staying with us on a visit. Would I trade heavenly cold deep powder for mild amounts of crappy wet Cascade snow to have a stable global climate? faster than you can say Willamette.
RevDeb (145) — actually, anything that creates conditions like cloud cover is a good thing.
We could be saved by a volcanic eruption — I think — if it generated enough precipitants to block UV. It’s possible that the last several major volcanic eruptions might have deferred the tipping point for us, bought us some time.
There has also been some discussion about injecting sulfur dioxide in the uppermost reaches of the earth’s atmosphere, in order to create cloud cover. It wouldn’t take long to do this; the problem is any unintended consequences, like control of cover.
Our friend, Mary, has a diary up at the Orangerie. There are some great names among the recommenders.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 110
Nate @ Get In Their Face had a good post up last year:
http://getintheirface.blogspot…..-dead.html
Off to get busy on the honeydo list…have a FireDoglicious day all!
For every action there is an reaction, greater than or equal to the action.
134jayackroyd says
The Winter Carnival always goes on, but the dog sled races and the hockey and broomball contests will either be cancelled (they are held on local lakes – now open water), held on land or on indoor rinks.
NaNOO — I missed the “greater than” part in physics…?
We’re talking Newtonian and not quantum scale, yes?
new thread.
Tom Tomorrow.
Go sign petition.
Within 10-20 years, it will become obvious that we are on the downward side of oil production–at that point- the situation gets more serious…
Energy companies will want to dig into the vast supply of coal that they control- with very serious consequences. The real issue here is planning for 2020. Every day that goes by with no hard planning for 2020 means that we’re more likely to get caught with our pants down. The kind of infrastructure required to build sustainable energy can’t be constructed overnight- and that’s what the coal companies are counting on.
Rayne @ 143: You bet THEY KNOW IT. Norway’s getting into gear to help Europe slip from the yoke of Russian energy control.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16…../newsweek/
I live about 25 miles from Jeffersonville, VT. (which got a “welcome boost” of snow, from the Boston Herald article linked to in the post.)That was on Dec. 27. Today, Jan.6 the temp. here is 56 degrees with rain falling and a new mud season is upon us. Ski towns are hurting.
rwcole — it would be nice to think we actually had that long to dink around with coal.
edit: thanks for that bit, MrsMarks.
Beware of the “Hydrogen” plan—
Hydrogen is not a source of energy- only a means of storing it. The plan is to use coal to produce hydrogen- and the effect on the environment is not being discussed.
rwcole @ 119
A couple of observations:
It isn’t just global warming, it’s global climate change. Hotter, colder, drier, wetter than normal for an area.
Risk is assessed by factoring the probability of the event, the degree (cost) of badness, and the effort (cost) required to forestall it.
So, if an event is 98% likely to occur but only slightly bad, eg it is raining but not very hard, I may opt to go without an umbrella since I won’t get very wet.
In the case of global climate change, even if it is not very likely (which I do not for one moment think is the case), the result would be catastrophic. We the people, by means of our government, need to be looking into this seriously. Not least because it’s not a simple matter of carrying an umbrella — we have only the faintest idea of how to fix this and none of the ideas have been tested.
Rayne- well we have a couple of hundred years supply of coal if that’s what you mean- the trouble is that no one has figured out how to use it without intense environmental adversity.
Oilfieldguy @ 115
Wow. How can he stand to be in the same room with other Republicans?
EvilDrPuma @ 165
Har!!! Good one.
RevDeb @ 141
Not just there, since the industries that make weapons are pretty big polluters, too. Many of the compounds are toxic at some stage, plastics pollute, mining is hugely destructive, as are ore refining and smelting.
new thread
HotFlash @ 163
Yes, ignoring the possibility of global warming because of “uncertainty” is like not buying fire insurance until you know that your house is burning down.
The most infuriating thing about the global warming deniers is their extreme short-term thinking. Even in the narrow area they care about, they’re worried about the costs to business over the next few years if it’s wrong, and ignoring the massive costs to all businesses over the coming decades if it’s right. It’s not just that it’s bad from a tree-hugging environmentalist point of view, it’s bad for everyone, and they’re too stupid to see it.
Pfifferling @ 118
hi pfiff! (i’m a slow reader) i was in your fair city last saturday. i took two of my nieces to the nymphenburg palace.
Sadly for those of us in the Green Mountains, the article cited in Pach’s post is dated 27 December. The snow was only a few inches and the temperatures went into the forties within 72 hours. As of this morning (I live one county from the town mentioned in the article) warm weather and constant rain have washed away virtually all traces of white where I live.
Last winter was warm and we had less snow than I remember in my many decades and today we have no snow and it is forcast to reach 60F.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/foreca…..p;site=BTV
Having cultivated a dead fish Irish pallor my entire life, I do not live just shy of the Canadian border to maintain a winter tan. I love the snow and am considering moving to the Rockies in northern Alberta.
http://www.canmorealberta.com/….._main.html
slainte,
cl
“…a dead fish Irish pallor…” Ah, my mom had that. She was born a Sullivan. An afternoon weeding in the garden turned her bright red!
There was no ice in the Baltic Sea by New Year’s.
Dear Pach and everyone.
So glad to see this subject finally coming to the fore around here. I know it’s been batted about in the past, but imo it’s never gotten its just due. This one’s the REAL killer, beyond all others, in the minds of many learned scientists.
Jr. can muzzle &/or fire his gummint scientists all he wants, dang his sorry idiotic hide. But having a preznit with his head under a pillow won’t solve a thing.
A lot of our friends and colleagues are biologists, & this is the greatest and most obscene terror in their world. They try to do what they can but, dang it, we used to be terribly worried about this back in the 60’s!
Jr. is an absolute obscenity in the face of dire need for appropriate action(S) !NOW! actually DECADES ago!
I’d be four-square in favor of impeachment of jr & that faceshooterfella NOW on the grounds of wanton disregard for the public good and total dereliction of duty.
Those numbskulls might as well have sworn their oath of office on a tub of cheez-whip, for all it meant.
If only they’d been AWOL from day 1, we could quite possibly be in better shape than we are now.
Apologies. Haven’t read nearly half the entries yet, but didn’t want to be blubbering in tears before ranting a bit myself. I’ve commented on the subject on previous threads, and that’s always the result. And I’d thankee for trusting that I’m no wimp.
!GORE FOR PRESIDENT!
At least then we’d know someone with dedication and a functioning adult brain would try to undo some of the damage this horrible administration has wrought.
now – please resume your regular programming & I’ll go read s’more. *sniffle*
It is very temperate here in SC, I am guessing almost 60 degrees right now, and this is the upper part of the state where it’s cooler. This is nothing unusual, however, for SC. Although it does seem we’ve had more warm weather than usual for this part of the state.
However, knowing that the glaciers are melting, I don’t need to be convinced of the truth of global warming!
Used to have a fantasy of moving down to the coast to spend my final years – no more – don’t want to risk getting blown away at 70 (if I make it that long).
Titanyum @
117
Azackly. But it passed for an explanation.
NaNOO @ 130
NaNOO @
57
Yes indeed, greed did win out. But it was not so much for those who were already greedy. It was the liberals (progressive as they might have been at that time) that sold out to the dollar. And now we the plain citizenry have a bunch of those kind, capitalistic environmentalist, who are pushing for things that they believe in, that may actually be true, but of which may not be all that true… As in, some to allots false… As in, lies. Most of the citizenry are not capable of understanding the arguments for or against what might be or might not be “global warming”. And those that are currently popularizing “global warming” know that. They are using the same tactics the the republicans/neocons have been using for at least a century. And for what reason… Well, of course, to make money, and lots of it.
I wish I could tell Junior that he should stop worrying so much about “winning” Iraq for his legacy, because unless he’s really lucky, his legacy is going to be “the man who doomed the planet.”
Hey guys, I’m back.
cupholder @ 114
Not if you use goe thermal heat to cook the ethanol still
perris @
133
Thanks for putting it that way, perris.
I wish “global climate change” had become the media catch phrase.
What I never expect to hear on MSM is a succinct framing of global climate change.
1) Our blue planet receives energy from the sun.
2) At any moment, the sun’s warmth is greatest near the equator, and least at the poles.*
3) Nature gives warmth away – Nature wants to mix any amount of warmth with the colder space around it.
4) The warm energy from the sun moves water and air masses around our blue planet, and does so in fairly stable patterns we call “climate”.
5) Local patterns of water and air flow create what we call “weather”. All plants and animals require special weather conditions to survive.
6) Our blue planet carries the heat from all the industry and chemicals made by all of us – now and in the past. So many people have lived here for so long that our stuff has piled up – we’ve stunk up the place with our gasses.
Anyone with sons or brothers who gather indoors can imagine what the room would smell like with six billion guys in there.
Yeesh.
7) All that gas from all those boys is trapped on our planet. The atmosphere doesn’t have vents. All that gas traps heat from sunlight.
8) The “climate” we’ve known is changing as we trap more heat. More heat gives more energy to move greater amounts of air and water around the planet.
9) These changes in how heat pushes air and water around change the patterns we have called “climate” – they change the temperature of air and sea, and the huge currents flowing through both.
10) Almost forgot.
Remember those special local weather conditions – certain patterns of heat and light and water – required for plants and animals to survive?
You do? Good.
Because as the big flows of air currents and water movement are shoved about on our heating world, those local weather patterns and ocean currents are changed and disrupted.
Memories and old records are all that will remain of those patterns – along with whatever species can survive or (on land) move poleward.
________________________________________________________________
[*What about night time? The sun isn’t out - that’s why it’s night. Now pay attention and quit goofing off in the footnotes….they’re for nerds, anyway.
Seriously - at local nighttime, your side of the plaet is cooler than the daytime side. Nature still wants to share the heat.]
rwcole — only partially correct about hydrogen as a non-source of energy, sorry; it’s breaking and making bonds with hydrogen that releases energy.
The bigger problem with coal is that coal is a hydro-carbon; the carbon is the problem as it is with all other hydrocarbon fuels like petroleum and natural gas. When hydrocarbon molecules are broken to free the hydrogen, the carbon bonds with oxygen creating carbon monoxide (incomplete burning) and dioxide (complete burning). We have no current low-tech way to reduce carbon dioxide save for plants, which consume carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere as carbon is used. (Plants are the natural primary converter of carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons; coal is merely plant matter of antiquity, as are oil and natural gas.)
We need more and larger plants immediately, instead of deforestation. One of the problems with ethanol production isn’t only the oil needed for production processes, but that it could increase deforestation for plants that are harvested regularly, leaving gaps in carbon dioxide reduction, encouraging growth of plants that may not be as effective at carbon dioxide consumption.
I am terrified at proposed technologies for carbon dioxide reduction, like CO2 sequestration; the concept of a catastrophic release of C02 could suffocate entire cities in a matter of minutes. Gah. That’s the biggest risk I see ahead in the short run as coal is promoted for energy use; the same people who promote coal will also try to sell sequestration.
Plants. Lots and lots of plants. That’s we need.
Redshift @ 179
Do you really think jr gives a #*&& about any legacy? I don’t. Same for bigtime. They’ve said as much many times over, in various ways. They’re gettin’ theirs, & buggin’ out. Not even a care at’all for the relatives. Their behavior has been consistent in recorded history. jr started out torturin’ frawgs, & he’s still at it…. albeit at a higher magnitude. these people would be considered sick, if they weren’t so mean…
egregious! Hi!
hope yer doin’ o.k.
i’m gonna have to dip in & outta this today.
this subject tears me to pieces…. *sniff*
maybe I’ll go stand in our lil’ shaft of sun & hope it helps…
see ya later….
Adie @ 185
Strangely, I think he does, from everything I’ve heard, he’s just delusional in how he pursues it. I think he honestly believes that he will be judged only on what happens during his administration, not on its consequences. His entire career, and Rove’s have been following the principle of “act as if the future after I leave does not exist.” So as long as he doesn’t pull out of Iraq, he can continue to delude himself that it will be “won” in the long term.
Redshift @
179
as an instrument of god’s will, fuckwad couldn’t ask for better.
has anyone in the comments dealt with the gawdawful mess the oil companies will make trying to squish their way across the tundra as it’s (already) defrosting – as opposed to their glib comments about doing all the serious heavy work of drillin’ & stuff while it’s all neat-&-tidy frozen?
has anyone talked about the greatly increased danger to shipping in the north from all these huge hunks of unexpected ice floe breaking off for the 1st time in eons, & “cluttering” the nice neat little channels those floating oiltubs are to navigate?
At the very least, can we all agree to STOMP on anyone trying to expand drilling on the northern AK slope???
Hello, egregious. Wanted to thank you for the link to your depression site. However, I tried to post a comment and it didn’t seem to go through.
looseheadprop (182) — or solar energy as well as geothermal. Means production doesn’t have to be limited to a particular climate.
Interesting to read that you worked on this topic in school. You may yet get an opportunity to put it to use in the short run, even as a lawyer, yes?
fair trade = better standards of living both at home and abroad plus better environmental standards at home and abroad plus more economic equality resulting in less internicene warfare and corporate sponsored warfare on the US side of things.
anyone with me on this one? or is it just me. i got this notion from the book: “When Corporations Rule the World” which changed my life in the sense that it gave me a better understanding of how all these consequences of global corporate dominance are interconnected and hurting both people and the environment.
somehow, i feel it has to begin with changing our trade policies while the US still has some clout to do so.
Redshift @ 187
I’m happy for your peace of mind that you can accept the idea of him having such thoughts. I just can’t. I’ve read and seen too much about how he acts when he forgets/doesn’t care people are watching…
He grew up never having to account for his actions or face consequences. He shows every sign of not having a clue in that line of reasoning. I could understand excusing his shortcomings in a child, but NOT in a 50yo adult. NO. Absolutely NO. He gets no leeway for excuses in my book. I don’t hate him. I simply cannot excuse his behavior and all-too-apparent motives. He is self-absorbed to a criminal degree, imho.
Maybe he doesn’t belong in jail. And I don’t believe in pergatory. But I firmly believe he.does.NOT.belong.in.that.office! He stole his way into the oval office, he never belonged there, and he still doesn’t. Further, he’s done nothing to earn the right to stay there.
!impeach!
mandrake @ 190
Ooh, sorry about that. I thot I had it set to accept comments from everybody, with no registration needed. Back to the drawing board.
egregious @ 194
thanks for this egreg. I may look in. Sounds like a good idea. Whereabout’s the site mentioned? *sniffle*
Adie, Redshift (193) — you’re both right.
Bush may actually think about the future, but only in the most abstract terms since he has been enabled his entire life, discouraged from looking at the past except in the most cursory fashion (starting with the glossing over of his sister’s death in childhood) and rescued from the outcomes of his actions through adulthood (Arbusto, the Rangers, you name it, saved by Baker and peeps).
It isn’t just Bush to blame, although he should bear the brunt of it. His entire social network has propped him up instead of letting him fall flat on his face to learn from the error of his ways and theirs.
Mandrake, Adie–
For comments there is a choice of how to enter:
(1) Google/Blogger
(2) “Other”
(3) Anonymous
If you have a google account you can sign in that way, but everyone can enter a comment by #2 or #3.
Obviously I hope you will use the “Other” choice and enter your FDL nom de plume, so I can see that it’s you.
Hope you’ll try again.
egregiousBlog Always open for people who are mentally ill like me. And open for people who are mentally ill in a different way :)
Last winter in northern New Mexico was like Mongolia: dry, dusty, and cold. It didn’t snow at all. This winter has been even colder, 13 below zero shortly before Xmas, and three major snowfalls since, over a foot of powder just last week, and 50 inches up over 9,000 feet.
It snowed again last night here in Taos, several inches worth. The previous snows have turned to ice underneath the new white cover, and tonight the mercury will drop to zero again. All this snow means one of the greenest summers ever coming up this year. It’s really quite a gift from the Creator.
Maybe you folks up in the tropical East are getting a last taste of warmth before the Gulf Stream quits and turns the Atlantic coast into perpetual Labrador. That God is such a joker. Personally, I think this thing is WAY beyond Bush or politics in general.
Interesting times, as long as they last!
well, as JOhn Farr says “Interesting times, as long as they last”. Let me tell you it is pretty creepy down here in Miami. Talk about your endless summer. Is it the boring before the storm? Anyone want to buy a condo?
Roses in bloom here in SoCal and balmy weather. Usually I would be cutting back roses about now. We’ve been dry so far, but with El Nino year we may get swamped soon. Who knows – mostly the weather patterns right now are simply unpredictable. Colorado is snowed under and there’s nothing in the Northeast – go fig.
egreg thanks ;->Rayne @ 196
yes. that I can buy. i don’t like it. but then who does. it just IS, and we have to deal with it as well as we can. thanks for phrasing the thots so well.
Another reason I like seeing Madame Pelosi working her craft ;->
hello my friends..
ok it’s been the wierdest weather this winter..
I spent Xmas in Montreal..no snow..pretty mild.
I saw all the comments from accross the US and I think it’s safe to say that there is some form of global warming afoot..But what to do?
Well..I have many friends in Europe and as a shout out to my Dutch brothers and Sisters..we really need to look at how they approach energy consumption. Very smart and practical.
All the pubs say that fighting global warming is to expensive and just not practical.
Well now..If you are driving a SUV in amsterdam you will be paying 350 euro’s every 60 days as a road tax and petrol is expensive…There is the money to start funding far reaching research and technology projects. I love all the cool small effecient cars of europe and i admire them. And if you can’t live without your gas guzzling muscle car
then guess what? You will be paying for it and helping our environment wether you want to or not..boo-hoo! :) We have to start somewhere so let’s get cracking and start becoming more environmentally friendly. ( I can almost hear someone say..but the chinese…but…blah blah..are we leaders or followers?)
anyhoo…thanks for letting me post here..Write nancy P. with any better ideas you may have also.
Adie — yes, Grandma Pelosi I am SO digging. I think this grammy is going to spank Bush in such a way that there’ll be no marks and he’ll beg for more.
She had such a deft touch with that speech — and the gavel with all the children? Awesome.
Anybody who has not seen “The Corporation” – I highly recommend it. It also looks at how corporate global dominance adversely affects the environment worldwide (amongst, of course, many other negative effects). I realize this is no shock to anyone here, but it’s a great video and also a wonderful introduction of these issues to the “less-informed.”
The Rethuglican’s Major Meme is this:
Government doesn’t work and if you elect us, we’ll show you that it doesn’t work.
The American public bought into this self-ful-filling claptrap in a big way.
On the environment front, the pass 6 years has been far worst than just Do Nothing.
It has been retrograde at a time in history when every minute will count as Crunch Time comes in Global Warming.
All the Johnny-come-latelys who are just now waking up will rue the day they voted for Bushite.
We will Never Ever get the pass six years back.
The predict these six wasted years will be looked upon as the most criminally insane decision the US ever made as a group of so called “adults” in modern human history.
In the not to distant future, as the climate starts swirling down the drain into it’s Death Spiral, the difference between making it or breaking it could very well be these lost six years.
The damage by Rethuglicans and their Big Oil buddies has actually Undone years of progress in environmental issues.
It will take 5-10 years of hard work to just arrive back at the year 2000.
We are really running out of time, and the numbers are progressing geometrically downward in an orgy of ‘positive feedback’ loops.
Manifest Destiny is a Fairy Tale, and God is on No One’s side.
R.E.M. – Pop Song 89
Gentleman Jim 205
&
Rayne 196.
Thank you for your thoughtful and wise comments. As you perhaps tell (# 174 & later), at this point I have only 2 settings operational on my dial regarding this issue: shout & mute.
I see reading through more of the comments, that I have company. We’re just worried sick about this in our household and among our fellow-scientist colleagues.
I’m glad FDL is giving it more attention, for whatever good it will do…
We won’t quit. We just can’t… mustn’t…
A couple days of 90 degree weather in January in the northeast and all of sudden people start talking about global warming. We should all just go to the beach and enjoy it.
Adie — it’s okay to have only 2 settings. That’s where the standard distribution curve comes in handy; most of us will fit under the bell curve somewhere. On a different topic I know I’d be the one screaming or sighing.
I am very much a Gore supporter. Still amazes me that he wrote about an energy Marshall Plan in 1992 while a seated Senator. Amazes me more that we didn’t listen as we should have. I think that he has probably refined that tentative Marshall Plan by now and would be able to help save our backsides if we get him the venue he needs in order to do it. He’s doing great with the movie and books, but having read Diamond’s Collapse, I am certain that we will need a leader who will ensure this is not a bottom-up only mission, but top-down as well.
PoliticalCritic (208) — or in other words, “Sex under duress? Lie back and enjoy it.”
Knock yourself out. Hope you don’t mind if I take a pass at it.
This’ll be epu’d, but if there are any Central Ohioans interested in seeing Brian Turner, the Iraq veteran-poet, he is speaking at Columbus Academy on Jan. 24th at 7:30 PM! Free and open to the public.
I’m going! That’s my weekly night off from motherhood.
Currently 70 in Arlington, Mass., at 2:30 EST …
There is a congresswoman wasserman that would enjoy hearing your thoughtful comments about the environment. You can view Debbie’s bio at:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/s…..ex=W000797
( yes, she is a demo)
Thanks and kind regards
Billy
Your closing witticism about the BDSM community is totally spot-on.
I have some close friends in that realm – all flavors of the ism – and these folks alone among my personal network vote conservative, love Bush and are totally tittilated by the number of cops, judges and district attorneys that attend their meetings and participate in ’sessions’. And, yes these participants love the snap of that whip on their backs before they go back to their day jobs of sentencing folks to prison eternally or funding corporate graft.
And Gore will, although I think he’s gunshy, do a lot more than he thinks he can as President. For one thing, he could appoint and hire people to actually make at least the Federal Government green. He could allocate money to environmentally sound projects. He could help environmentally sound Congresspeople get elected. He could write laws that get people credits for installing environmentally sound equipment.
No measurable snow all year here in SW Ohio. Just a dusting and a lot of rain. It’s nothing to joke about when you realize that the temperatures that used to be highs are now lows.
Since time is lacking for me to read all 200 comments here I hope this post is not providing redundant info:
Thanks to oil companies millions of dollars to purchase “some scientists” (which has now been exposed to be a fact and even ENRON is squirming in shame from being busted) . . . the bought and paid for group of scientists provided the GOP corporate beneficiaries to “question” global warming…
YET the US NAVY sure as hell doesn’t have any question about it. . This and much more data is provided in this recently declassified report:
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/icefree/
Since the oil companies can’t bribe the Navy but certainly have an audience for the BS tv ads and propaganda that the oil companies funded ….. Why are the tree-huggers in the navy all worked up over this?
It means the navy will need a whole new fleet to defend/patrol these waters costing billions of dollars!
Here in the northwest U.S., it’s been a pretty normal winter, which means that the rain is cold now. It’s been raining a lot. In November, which is usually the start of our winters, we had record rainfall, and December was pretty wet, too. I thought this was supposed to be a dry winter thanks to El Nino. Oh well.
My guess, although I haven’t checked, is that the ski resorts out here have plenty of snow. That’s a far cry from the last couple of ski seasons, when they barely kept the places open.
Rayne 209
Glad you’ve read Diamond’s “Collapse”.
Believe it or not, I haven’t actually read it yet, but heard plenty thru hubby who has, and at seminars and discussions (& plan to get to it soon).
We both would also recommend “Guns, Germs & Steel” by Diamond – very thought-provoking about factors affecting development & survival or demise of civilizations.
I only know what I read 3rd & 4th hand about just how much fight Gore still has in him. But I do know he certainly has improved his campaigning style tremendously. No longer the wooden professional-dull-guy he was. I honestly think he just might find it worth a shot. He looks really energized and enthusiastic these days.
I sure like prospects of Gore as prez better than a varying crowd of wannabees who might not act so dedicated and honest, once in office. Some (e.g., Biden) are so “slick” they’re just a chore even to see anywhere near a camera, even tho they’re brilliantly articulate compared to the currentpRezidentialoccupant.
We all have our favorites, but I swear the Dems have such depth on their team, any one of a number of them would blow jr. & all the rest-a the r’pugs right outta the water. Even McCain is acting defeated before he’s begun, what with his Iraq stance splattered all over his face.
I also have considerable faith at this point, in spite of my current spate of generalized doldrums, that the miraculous wonderment of blog growth like FDL’s will make a HEEEUUUGE difference in how any even marginally good candidates act in office, much less their chances for getting that far in the 1st place.
Say bye bye to chances of jr.- & bigtime-types being able to crawl into office under everyone’s radar quite so easily. *says she, crossing fingers*
Thanks for holding ma’hand for awhile. The dialogue helps a lot. We get sooo frustrated!
Sigh. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 6 January 2007. The kids in shorts were out a couple daze ago. Oh, it’s gotten “colder” the last couple of daze. All the way (?!) down (?!) to 33F tonight. This is really a drag and scary. I miss winter.
I live in Chandler, AZ which is in S.E. AZ in the Phoenix metropolitan valley. It just keeps getting hotter and hotter here, and the population just keeps growing and growing. We basically have a 6 month spring and a 6 month summer, no cold weather really, to speak of. I dread what it will be like even 5 or 10 years from now, let alone 20 or 30 years. I plan on moving out of here when my job stabilizes. Albuquerque will have Phoenix’s climate in another 20 years or less. Flagstaff, here I come!
Yesterday, Brian Williams on Nightly News (NBC) spoke with an expert from NOAA, who claimed none of the unseasonal warmth is due to global warming. It’s due to El Nino alone, said the expert. Said Williams, “we’ll take your word for it.” And that was that. Only trouble is, the Bushies ousted those who believe in global warming. 99.99 respected scientists say global warming is a real problem. Not the Bush administration and its agencies.
The grass is turning green in Madison, WI and, yesterday, I saw two birds “doin’ it” on the ground!! ;-) They think it’s spring too.
Winters here have been getting progressivly warmer over the last few years. When I was a kid we’d have snow drifts on street corners that were so high you couldn’t see if a car was there or not. People had to put little orange balls on the tops of their radio antenna just to be seen at intersections.
For the last ten years it’s just gotten warmer and warmer.
Wish I had time to get into this, but ya think it’s just a coincidence that the weather started getting wacky since Shrub got into office?
Google 2025 Report and weather
Here’s the report
Mmmm, questions, questions, questions
Not that global warming doesn’t have something to do with it, but, ya think Shrub would not ask the AF to nudge the jet stream north a little bit while he’s in office?
I think he might
go to http://www.realclimate.org
climate news and research from actual, real climate scientists …
it’s January 6 in central Maine and we have not had a winter. it was again in the mid 50s today. this is climate change, folks. just as predicted for the last 20 years.
stock up on air conditioners … let’s make sure we pumping as much CO2 into the atmosphere as possible … and drive around a lot too …
I haven’t read all of the comments so if someone else has reported conditions in Michigan, my apologies.
I’m in a suburb of Lansing. Have lived in this area all my life. I have to say this is incredible.
There have been a few warm spells around the change of the year in the past. Three that I can remember. Once in the fifties and twice in the eighties. However, those events lasted, at most, maybe five to seven days. It’s been in the 40s and even in the 50s a few times all through December and so far in January. We have no snow on the ground and haven’t had any snow on the ground.
Typically, the last week of December and the first three weeks of January are characterized by bitter cold and snow. Last week of January is often a thaw followed by bitter cold in February.
But, horror of horrors, most of the upper peninsula has NO SNOW. As a lifelong Michiganian I have to say that a snowless UP in January is incredible. Completely beyond my memory (I’m 64).
This is becoming a bit scary.
I just read Katie Jensen’s comments (24) about Michigan’s UP.
She’s right and the el Nino stuff is crap. These experiences span a couple of years.
Our last few summer trips to the UP (my wife’s a UPer) were in very hot weather. Some people in the UP are even installing central air in their homes. These are people who have lived in that area for many years and never even thought about central air in the past.