Category Archives: climate

Dengue fever hits the USA (as seen in “Fevered”)

A few days back I pointed out that Linda Marsa in her new global warming book Fevered dug up a central fact about the Dust Bowl that few others had noticed — that it only took one degree of warming to set that disaster in motion. This concern was echoed in a report on NationalContinue reading “Dengue fever hits the USA (as seen in “Fevered”)”

Dust Bowl II? (Linda Marsa connects the dots)

Writing a good book about global warming is a little bit like trying to catch a whale in a butterfly net. Not only is the beast vast almost beyond human comprehension, but will it stay still? No it won't. Captain Ahab himself at least had a harpoon — a writer has nothing but a fewContinue reading “Dust Bowl II? (Linda Marsa connects the dots)”

Fevered: Global warming facts you probably don’t know

Am reviewing expert science reporter Linda Marsa's Fevered, about a hotter planet and what that means for human health. (Spoiler: It's not great news, although "heat adaptation" is possible in many cases.)  Though I'm not yet finished, must say I'm impressed with this book. Perhaps the best climate change book I've read since Tim Flannery'sContinue reading “Fevered: Global warming facts you probably don’t know”

The Revenge of the Dinosaurs: Fossil Fuels

Columnist Thomas Friedman is a big picture columnist who drives enviros crazy with his broad strokes pronouncements, but every once in a while he stumbles across a genuine insight. In a column recently, he actually admitted to the stumbling, for which he deserves some credit: I stumbled upon another powerful environmental insight here: the parallel betweenContinue reading “The Revenge of the Dinosaurs: Fossil Fuels”

The Republican response to climate change: Luckovich

It's been unbearably hot and dry this week, as is not unusually the case in this part of Southern California in early September…but could the extreme dryness of the state be contributing to our heat wave? An attribution study — looking at the possible contribution from climate change to extreme weather events –from the AmericanContinue reading “The Republican response to climate change: Luckovich”

Climate change behind the civil war in Syria: Polk

A half-mile from us, a good friend's well has gone almost dry, and we've heard of others on our street experiencing the same dryness. Our well water is increasingly turbid and sandy at times, even though we live near a creek bottom. The drought outlook for California is not good: In contrast, [writes B. Pugh,Continue reading “Climate change behind the civil war in Syria: Polk”

And now here’s Cassandra with the weather report

A passage from Christopher Durang's funny funny play,  Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the best play of last year, according to the Tony Awards. In this scene, the character from Greek mythology, Cassandra, who is cursed with the gift of prophesy, but also to be never believed, gives a weather report on localContinue reading “And now here’s Cassandra with the weather report”

The Rim fire near Yosmite: Disaster, restoration, or — ?

Haven't posted on the Rim Fire, which has been burning for nearly two weeks on the western slope of the Sierras, not far from Yosemite National Park. Big destructive fires trouble me, and the conventional wisdom on wildfire is that climate change will make matters worse, and, frankly, that's part of the reason I didn'tContinue reading “The Rim fire near Yosmite: Disaster, restoration, or — ?”