Scientists use tree rings, ice cores, and coral reefs to reconstruct Earth’s climate history because they act as time capsules. A tree-ring study published in Nature, a scientific journal, on May 14, 2024, concluded 2023 was the warmest year in “at least” 2,000 years (read CNN stor[...]
Posts Tagged ‘climate change’
May 5th, 2024 - 11:34 am § in Business, Environment
The wind didn’t knock out your power
When it’s windy and the lights go out, you may assume a tree limb fell on a powerline somewhere in your neighborhood. Not necessarily. The electric utility may have deliberately cut power. It’s a tactic to prevent fires in the dry windy conditions that are becoming increasingly prevalent[...]
May 3rd, 2024 - 2:04 am § in Environment
Climate change is a hoax dep’t
“Climate change is steadily raising sea levels around the world, but the Gulf of Mexico is rising faster than almost anywhere else in the world,” an article in the UK-based tabloid Daily Mail said on Friday, May 3, 2024 (read it here; see map below). “Ocean levels are at least si[...]
If you pass a law against climate change, it’ll happen anyway
State Sen. Jerry Cirino (photo, left; profile here), an Ohio Republican, is sponsoring a bill that “designates climate policy as a ‘controversial belief or policy.’” On a purely abstract plane, a climate “belief or policy” could be controversial if, say, it posits tha[...]
April 15th, 2023 - 1:52 am § in Environment
Still in denial about climate change?
March 2023 was the 529th consecutive month of above-normal planetary temperatures, using the 2oth century average as a baseline (see story here). You can see that global warming is happening; ice is melting all over the world: Mountain glaciers, Arctic Ocean ice cover, the Greenland ice cap, Antarct[...]
February 15th, 2023 - 6:36 pm § in Environment, Politics
Florida won’t be a state in a few years
It’ll be a reef. Disney World will be gone, but it’s on the way out anyway, Gov. DeSantis having declared it “woke.” On the bright side, Congress will be rid of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and there’ll be two fewer Republican senators. “Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday [...]
Book review: “To Rule the Waves”
If you read only one book on global politics and strategy this year, make it this one. The author, Bruce D. Jones (bio here), has an academic background and has worked for the U.N., World Bank, and is currently at the Brookings Institution. He’s been a fellow at Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and [...]
January 10th, 2023 - 4:56 am § in Science
Still think climate change is a hoax?
“Don’t Look Up” is a satire film about humanity in denial about an impending comet collision with earth (details here). It’s a not-too-subtle play on attitudes about climate change. Denialism is quite possibly the most striking cultural phenomenon of our time. Election, clima[...]
December 2nd, 2022 - 9:21 pm § in Environment
Busting a polar bear myth
Background: Polar bears are a symbol of the deleterious effects of global warming. Climate deniers claim: The polar bear population has “never been higher.” The facts: Polar bears came back from near-extinction caused by overhunting, thanks to conservation efforts and hunting restrictions, but t[...]
October 22nd, 2022 - 1:00 pm § in Environment
Anti-oil protests, meh
Back in the 1970s, when people fretted over “peak oil” and freaked out about long gas lines caused by Arab oil embargoes, Ralph Nader said “the world is awash in oil.” He was right, of course; much more oil has been found, and technological advances (e.g., fracking) have unlo[...]