Forecaster extraordinaire Bill Patzert makes the connection, in a story in the Sac Bee: This year, the blame [for the weird weather in California] falls on a complex interaction between La Niña and another phenomenon called a negative Arctic oscillation, Patzert and others said. La Niña is marked by a cooling of equatorial waters inContinue reading “Weird CA weather linked to Arctic Oscillation, global warming”
Category Archives: climate
McKibben/Toles: Ignore the climate/disaster connection!
It's long been my contention that environmental writers, artists, and speakers have to access the full range of human emotion to make the case for the urgency of action needed to preserve our existing climate — even bitterness, if necessary. Science and earnest appeals to reason simply aren't enough. So it's good, in a rhetoricalContinue reading “McKibben/Toles: Ignore the climate/disaster connection!”
Making a city resilient: plant more heat-resistant trees
That's what Chicago is doing, among other forward-thinking ideas: Awareness of climate change has filled Chicago city planners with deep concern for the trees. Not only are they beautiful, said Ms. Malec-McKenna, herself trained as a horticulturalist, but their shade also provides immediate relief to urban heat islands. Trees improve air quality by absorbing carbonContinue reading “Making a city resilient: plant more heat-resistant trees”
USA Today: Climate change deniers just like birthers
When the New York Times writes an opinion piece on climate change and the challenge it poses our political and economic system, as Andrew Revkin and other thinkers at that paper do on a routine basis, the world yawns. When the editorial board at the Washington Post declares that every candidate for political office shouldContinue reading “USA Today: Climate change deniers just like birthers”
The Seven Steps of Global Warming (a primer for deniers, by Toles)
According to Wunderblog's Jeff Masters. this month we've seen $2 billion damage on the Mississippi, a diastrous 300-year flood in Alberta, and flooding in Colombia the likes of which has never been seen. He quotes Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, who after 500+ deaths, said, "the tragedy the country is going through has no precedents in ourContinue reading “The Seven Steps of Global Warming (a primer for deniers, by Toles)”
Monbiot: Environmentalism is stuck
George Monbiot is not the first enviro to argue that the movement, if it is a movement, has argued itself into a corner. That it is, as he says, "stuck." But he has a knack for putting it plainly: Those seeking to protect the landscape are not our enemies; nor are those advocating that renewablesContinue reading “Monbiot: Environmentalism is stuck”
The frog metaphor that will not die (alas)
In which Conservation magazine demolishes the deathless metaphor/myth of the frog that supposedly will not jump out of a pot of water brought slowly to a boil. To wit: Dr. Victor Hutchison, a herpetologist at the University of Oklahoma, has dealt with frogs throughout his professional life. Indeed, one of his current research interests isContinue reading “The frog metaphor that will not die (alas)”
Still destroying the climate, but having less fun
Because Americans are driving less, mostly due to the recession (total greenhouse gas emissions are down a pretty stunning 6%, the Energy Information recently reported) the federal government doesn't have the money it needs to fully fund its highway program. But still, all the politicians agree that raising the gas tax is off the table,Continue reading “Still destroying the climate, but having less fun”
GOP backs “skeptic” scientist who mirrors Hansen’s data
Look familiar? The blue line in the above graph represents the global temperature dataset gathered by James Hansen and his team at GISS/NASA over the last twenty years. Hansen has presented this chard and this data countless times at countless talks on countless occasions around the world. The black line represents a "skeptical" scientist's interpretationContinue reading “GOP backs “skeptic” scientist who mirrors Hansen’s data”
The risks of profit dependence: McKibben and Toles
In the Guardian on Friday, Bill McKibben published an essay: …Because the one thing we've never really imagined is going to the supermarket and finding it empty. What the events reveal is the thinness of the margin on which modernity lives. There's not a country in the world more modern and civilised than Japan; itsContinue reading “The risks of profit dependence: McKibben and Toles”
Kit Stolz 