Category: Climate
El Nino – Am I A Prophet?
I’m putting this on the blog rather than on Facebook (though it will get mirrored) because Facebook is too ephemeral. I want to be able to come back and find it if I’m right. And if I’m wrong, I want to be accountable in that others can come back and find it. We’re hearing a…
Up Here’s For Thinkin’
Here’s a graph I made and posted here a while ago: The post in question is here: http://www.bravus.com.au/blog/?p=1911 Sorry about the lack of labels – x-axis is years, y-axis is million square km of Antarctic sea ice. These data are for Antarctica, but the Arctic picture is similar. Why do I bring it out? Because…
And if the money won’t, maybe the ice (or lack thereof) will
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/climatesnapshot/arctic-death-spiral-leaves-climate-scientists-shocked-and-worried
If the science won’t convince ’em, maybe the economics will
Small-minded, isolationist policies just won’t work. If Australia doesn’t move (or moves backward, as T. Abbott plans but likely can’t deliver), there is sufficient political will internationally to introduce tariff mechanisms to force the issue. Better to be masters of our own destiny. http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/sceptics-lose-focus-on-climate-change-big-picture/story-e6frerc6-1226579070344
George Lakoff on Sandy, Climate Change and Systemic Causation
George Lakoff was one of the authors of the book ‘Metaphors We Live By’ that has been hugely influential on me. He is, in many ways, a public intellectual. Something of which our society could definitely use more. Here’s his excellent, thoughtful article on the relationship of Hurricane Sandy to climate change. http://www.salon.com/2012/10/31/hurricane_sandy_global_warming_pure_and_simple/
I don’t believe in Gaia theory
… the notion that the biosphere, or even the earth, as a whole can be considered as a single great organism. Some versions of it even credit Gaia with a sort of consciousness. But one could be forgiven for seeing Hurricane Sandy, aka Sandy-Athena, aka Frankenstorm, as a note: Um, no-one mentioned climate change in…
An Emissions Trading Scheme is the *Cheapest* Way
…to cut emissions, and a carbon price is the second cheapest. Due to political pressures (and, to be honest, a failure of nerve on the part of Labor), Australia is now committed to 5 years on the second-best solution before moving to the best one. Or, if people decide to elect Tony Abbott as Prime…
Ross Gittins reminds us of the bleedin’ obvious (we need the reminder)
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/climate-inertia-shows-ugly-side-of-the-australian-character-20110524-1f2dj.html
Follow the Evidence
http://www.salon.com/news/global_warming/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2011/04/01/climate_skeptics_betrayal It’ll be very interesting to see Muller’s results when they’re published, but the strong concurrence between a whole new data set and the three already showing warming (NASA, NOAA and HadCRUT) is pretty telling.
Truth and the Postmodernist
I’ve talked about myself as a postmodernist here, claiming that all grand narratives (meaning frameworks) can be deconstructed in terms of their internal logic, and therefore truths are contingent, situated in time and place and culture, rather than absolute. (Or, slightly more carefully, that if absolute truths exist we have no direct access to them.)…
Dammit
Conservative Christians tend not to believe in climate change. But they do believe extreme climate events are Signs of the End. Cannot freakin’ win with these people. THE WORLD can’t win. REALITY can’t win.
Where’s the climate change?
Well, it’s where it always was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDTUuckNHgc (YouTube video, about 9 min) I’ve posted one of these ‘Climate Change Crocks of the Week’ before, and this one – from January 2010 – is just as informative. By way of update, 2010 is on track to be the warmest year ever, globally. Yes, even if today…
Bad News and Good News
First, one of the candidates for Australian Prime Minister – election coming up this Saturday – believes warming has stopped: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/abbotts-climate-doubts-20100816-126xm.html I’m not a one-issue voter, and there are plenty of other reasons to oppose him anyway, but this level of plain disconnect from reality in itself disqualifies him for the job in my opinion.…
Latest review of the scientific consensus on climate change
There was a good review done a few years ago by Naomi Oreskes about climate scientists’ views in relation to climate change. Here’s the newest one, published this month: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/27/12107. Conclusion? “Here, we use an extensive dataset of 1,372 climate researchers and their publication and citation data to show that (i) 97-98% of the climate…
Energy Futures
(repurposed forum post) Finally got around to the promised post on energy solutions and futures. First up, even if we leave aside the issue of climate change entirely, fossil fuels are finite resources. (Barring a few fantasies about endless renewal from currently on-going natural processes (someone posted a link on that here a while ago…
School is in
(sorry – 4th climate post in a row – all loosely linked) So, this guy says: Global Warming? New Data Shows Ice Is Back Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:55 AM By: Phil Brennan Are the world’s ice caps melting because of climate change, or are the reports just a lot of scare mongering by the…
Serious Stuff (and a little silliness from me)
A story from the Courier Mail newspaper: Dire climate change warning to Australia. Co-chair of the three-day conference, and director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Jean Palutikof, said science tells us climate change is happening faster than we thought. Professor Palutikof warned the window to adapt and prepare is smaller than anticipated…
Publicola sums it up
‘Publicola’, a commentator on the Salon web site, talking about some of the defiant climate skeptic responses to the story I posted below, sums up the evidence nicely: Reality: The Earth has warmed significantly over recent decades, to what may be the highest level in 2,000 years or more. Anthropogenic greenhouse gases including CO2 —…
Bravus readies himself for the flood of retractions and apologies from climate skeptics
Newspaper retracts “climategate” story, months too late From Salon: The Times of London published utterly untrue stories about the “climategate” emails; now they regret the error So, I’ll be waiting…
Why I reckon Rudd will still win the election
The polls for Australian PM Kevin Rudd (prior to yesterday’s Federal Budget) seemed to be in free fall: Since the previous poll a month ago, Mr Rudd’s approval rating has nosedived 14 percentage points to 45 per cent, while his disapproval rating has skyrocketed 13 points to 49 per cent. (from the Sydney Morning Herald/Nielsen…