Climate Change 101 With Bill Nye The Science Guy

[Mizar]

Thanks 13820. I remember when I first saw the tap on fire thing and it made me question fracking. I remember when I discovered that this sort of thing had been happening well before fracking ever started and realized how the anti-frackers were just liars and gullible people believing them. And I was gullible as well. but fortunately saw the light. Too bad there are so many lies.

Nice try though Mitch.

[Mizar]

Now remember something. The science is settled on the subject that the climate has pretty much continuously changed over the millenia. There is no dispute about that.

So, just imagine what would happen if it were to be getting colder instead of warmer. It would be a lot worse. Short, wet and cool summers leading to crop failure and mass starvation. Enjoy our slight bit of warmth that has happened in the last few years. I am quite happy with it and it should be considered as welcome.

The Great Famine of 1315–1317 (occasionally dated 1315–1322) was the first of a series of large scale crises that struck Europe early in the fourteenth century. Places affected include continental Europe (extending east to Russia and south to Italy) as well as Great Britain.^[1] It caused millions of deaths over an extended number of years and marks a clear end to an earlier period of growth and prosperity between the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.

The Great Famine started with bad weather in spring 1315, universal crop failures lasted through 1316 until summer harvest in 1317; Europe did not fully recover until 1322. It was a period marked by extreme levels of crime, disease, mass death and even cannibalism and infanticide. It had consequences for the Church, state, European society and future calamities to follow in the fourteenth century.

The onset of the Great Famine coincided with the end of the Medieval Warm Period. Between 1310 and 1330 northern Europe saw some of the worst and most sustained periods of bad weather in the entire Middle Ages, characterized by severe winters and rainy and cold summers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315%E2%80%9317

[W5]

Wavier jet stream 'may drive weather shift'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26023166

New research suggests that the main system that helps determine the weather over Northern Europe and North America may be changing.

The study shows that the so-called jet stream has increasingly taken a longer, meandering path.

This has resulted in weather remaining the same for more prolonged periods.

The work was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago.

The observation could be as a result of the recent warming of the Arctic. Temperatures there have been rising two to three times faster than the rest of the globe.

According to Prof Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University in New Jersey: "This does seem to suggest that weather patterns are changing and people are noticing that the weather in their area is not what it used to be."

The meandering jet stream has accounted for the recent stormy weather over the UK and the bitter winter weather in the US Mid-West remaining longer than it otherwise would have.

"We can expect more of the same and we can expect it to happen more frequently," says Prof Francis. The jet stream, as its name suggests, is a high-speed air current in the atmosphere that brings with it the weather.

It is fuelled partly by the temperature differential between the Arctic and the mid-latitudes.

If the differential is large then the jet stream speeds up, and like a river flowing down a steep hill, it ploughs through any obstacles - such as areas of high pressure that might be in its way.

If the temperature differential reduces because of a warming Arctic then the jet stream weakens and, again, like a river on a flat bed, it will meander every time it comes across an obstacle.

This results in weather patterns tending to becoming stuck over areas for weeks on end. It also drives cold weather further south and warm weather further north. Examples of the latter are Alaska and parts of Scandinavia, which have had exceptionally warm conditions this winter.

With the UK, the US and Australia experiencing prolonged, extreme weather, the question has been raised as to whether recent patterns are due to simple natural variations or the result of manmade climate change? According to Prof Francis, it is too soon to tell.

"The Arctic has been warming rapidly only for the past 15 years," she says.

"Our data to look at this effect is very short and so it is hard to get a very clear signal.

"But as we have more data I do think we will start to see the influence of climate change."

Prof Francis was taking part in a session on Arctic change involving Mark Serreze, the director of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.

He said the idea that changes in the polar north could influence the weather in middle latitudes - so-called "Santa's revenge" - was a new and lively area of research and somewhat controversial, with arguments for and against.

"Fundamentally, the strong warming that might drive this is tied in with the loss of sea-ice cover that we're seeing, because the sea-ice cover acts as this lid that separates the ocean from a colder atmosphere," Dr Serreze explained.

"If we remove that lid, we pump all this heat up into the atmosphere. That is a good part of the signal of warming that we're now seeing, and that could be driving some of these changes."

[Mitch Cronin]

Two interesting articles on how some Joe Publics' views are formed:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/why-were-shutting-our-comments

http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/#.Uv09P9ojDG8.facebook

Personally, I never read the "comments" below articles, for what I thought were obvious reasons, but evidently many others do...

[Mizar]

Personally, I never click on what appear to be links to obscure websites(as opposed to mainstream media or credible organizations) and I doubt that many others do either. Especially if my malware protection is not up to date.

[Mitch Cronin]

Yes, I understand science and expertise can be frightening, but Popular Science Magazine is really not so obscure as GWB might have thought.

Btw... If keeping your malware protection up to date is a problem for you Apple has a good solution.

[Seeker]

Btw... If keeping your malware protection up to date is a problem for you Apple has a good solution.

Ohhh, way to go Mitch, now we have that discussion again!

[Mizar]

Best for people just not to click on potentially dangerous links. I personally just copy and paste for them so they don't have to.

[Don Hudson]

Recent Earthquake Near Oklahoma, United States, http://www.okgeosurvey1.gov/pages/earthquakes/recent-earthquakes.php

Oklahoma, United States has had: (M1.5 or greater)

• 6 earthquakes today
• 21 earthquakes in the past 7 days
• 53 earthquakes in the past month
• 287 earthquakes in the past year

The largest earthquake in Oklahoma, United States:

• today: 3.8 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, United States
• this week: 3.8 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, United States
• this month: 4.1 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, United States
• this year: 4.5 in Edmond, Oklahoma, United States

==========================================================================================

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2561473/Scientists-mystified-20-earthquakes-hit-Oklahoma-one-day.html

Daily Mail, UK

Scientists mystified as 20 earthquakes hit Oklahoma in one day

An area of Logan County around Oklahoma City felt the brunt of the quakes, which were as large as magnitude 3.5
Residents feared for their personal safety and for their property but scientists remain unsure what's causing them, much less how to predict or stop them
Scientists say it could be the result of fracking, changes in lake water levels or even a natural occurrence

By Daily Mail Reporter and Ap

PUBLISHED: 18:44 GMT, 17 February 2014 | UPDATED: 16:50 GMT, 18 February 2014

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2561473/Scientists-mystified-20-earthquakes-hit-Oklahoma-one-day.html#ixzz2thuxCyZP

[Moon The Loon]

I watched something kinda funny yesterday during the CBC Olympic coverage. Someone was being interviewed on a beautiful sunny day, the Stadium and the Olympic flame in the distant background. The sun condition was such that just downwind of the giant flame was a wafting cloud of black smoke.

I wonder how much they would have to pay by way of carbon taxation for such a blatant disregard for our planet...

[Don Hudson]

Maybe that's why Vancouver didn't fall in with the crowd by refusing to light their own torch? ;-)

[Don Hudson]

Neither does vodka.

Kerosene?

[mrlupin]

Some morning humor:

[Guest longtimer]

As a very strong environmentalist, I am all for paying my tax dollars to reduce pollution. Smog, sewage, toxic waste. What I am not for is this idea of carbon pollution and the billions spent on it. Imagine if all those billions had been spent on reducing real pollution. How many lives would have been saved?

More reports of smog but this time in France.

14 March 2014 Last updated at 07:35 ET Share Paris offers free public transport to reduce severe smogParis covered in smog (11 March 2014) The Eiffel Tower and other landmark buildings in Paris have disappeared in a milky fog Milan bans cars to stop pollution

Authorities in Paris have taken the rare step of making public transport free for three days to reduce severe smog caused by unusually warm weather.

The French capital region and 30 other departments have been on maximum pollution alert for several days.

Landmark buildings like the Eiffel Tower were barely visible after a white fog settled over Paris.

The capital's air quality has been one of the worst on record, French environmental agencies say.

A lack of wind, combined with cold nights followed by unseasonably warm days, has contributed to the worsening conditions.

The smog has also affected neighbouring Belgium, where officials have reduced the maximum speed limit allowed on main roads. The southern Wallonia region said it had also decided to make buses, trains and underground trains free until the pollution emergency was over.

'Significant risks'

Experts say levels of smog recorded in Paris this week have been similar to those of Beijing in China, one of the world's most polluted cities.

As part of the emergency measures, commuters in Paris and neighbouring areas will not have to pay for public transport between Friday and Sunday.

Bike sharing services are also free, as are one-hour sessions for electric car shares, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Paris covered in smog (13 March 2014) Visitors to the capital are likely to be disappointed with the view

Paris covered in smog (11 March 2014) The elderly, children and people with asthma or heart problems have been advised to stay indoors

French authorities appealed to drivers to leave their cars at home.

"I am asking all residents in Paris and neighbouring areas to favour the use of public transport," said Jean-Paul Huchon, the head of the the capital's transport authority.

He also warned that current pollution levels represented "significant risks" to people's health.

The elderly, children, asthmatics and people with heart problems have been advised to stay indoors to avoid potential breathing problems.

Cars waiting in traffic in Paris (13 March 2014) Drivers have been urged to leave their cars at home and choose environmentally friendly transport modes

Paris covered in smog (13 March 2014) Bike shares in Paris will also be free until Sunday

Environment minister Philippe Martin said air quality had now become "an emergency and priority for the government".

The country's northern and eastern regions have been particularly hit by toxic pollutants.

Several other French cities, including Reims, Rouen and Caen, announced they would follow Paris's example and make their public transport free over the weekend

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26574623#

[Guest longtimer]

aris pollution hits life-threatening level

Air pollution in Paris has hit health-threatening levels over 80 per cent higher than in London and Berlin as a sunny spell reaches western Europe, prompting the city to curb road speeds and offer free public transport.

Charges were also waived for the city's pioneering cycle and electric car-sharing schemes this week as a visible haze hung over the streets of the French capital.European Environment Agency (EEA) figures for Thursday showed there was 147 microgrammes of particulate matter (PM) per cubic metre of air in Paris compared with 114 in Brussels, 104 in Amsterdam, 81 in Berlin and 79.7 in London.

Background pollution — the outdoor air quality experienced by the average citizen — topped the 100 maximum measurable index level in Paris on Thursday, data from pollution watchdog airqualitynow.eu showed, making the French capital the only European capital in the "very high" level zone. The index stood at 81 in London, 76 in Berlin and 61 in Madrid.

France Pollution

Bike-sharing services, buses, underground trains and other forms of transport will remain free over the weekend. (Jacques Brinon/Associated Press)

Paris is traditionally more susceptible to poor air quality than other main western European capitals, with only Athens scoring worse according to World Health Organization (WHO) annual averages collected in 2008.

Fiscal support for diesel over gasoline in motor vehicles and heavy private vehicle traffic have been cited as causes.

The near-absence of wind and temperatures about 10 degrees Celsius above seasonal averages were also a factor this time, according to Meteo France data.

EU environment officials noted that pollution hot spots elsewhere in the world are far worse.

"While the current levels in Europe do pose a significant risk to health, peak levels can be up to 4-5 times higher in Asian cities like Beijing," an EEA spokesman told Reuters.

"Nevertheless, the levels of PM pollution encountered in the currently affected European regions would also be classified as pollution episodes in Asian cities," he said.

■China pollution so bad Panasonic pays extra for work there

Three environmental groups worried over the recurring spikes in French air pollution this week filed a lawsuit "against x" - where the person or body deemed responsible is difficult to ascertain - for "endangering the lives of others."

"We know pollution causes deaths. Emergency departments are full of people with breathing problems, that's why we decided to file a complaint," said Nadir Saifi, a member of Ecology Without Borders, one of the groups filing the suit.

Rush to bikes, car-sharing

City of Paris officials argue the situation would be much worse had the government not introduced the popular bike- and car-sharing schemes now being replicated in cities such as London.

'My lungs are already polluted by cigarettes, so I don't really care.'

- Sophie Boisseau, Paris resident

The use of Autolib cars had jumped by 46 per cent on Thursday compared to the week before, Paris transport councillor Julien Bargeton said, while Velib cycle use had risen by 72 per cent.

Charges for these services and buses, underground trains and other forms of transport will remain free over the weekend.

Speed limits were also reduced by 20 kilometres an hour and authorities in the Ile-de-France region around Paris took all but the most essential public vehicles off the roads.

Warnings from authorities to avoid physical exertions did not deter Parisians from enjoying the warm weather, however.

"My lungs are already polluted by cigarettes, so I don't really care," Sophie Boisseau, 29, told Reuters at the terrace of the Biscornu cafe near the stock exchange in central Paris

[Guest longtimer]

New paper on ice melt.

Climate change not fully to blame for melting sea ice: Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Published Wednesday, May 7, 2014 4:57PM EDT

A newly published paper says climate change caused by humans could be responsible for as little as half the wholesale melting of sea ice in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland that has amazed and alarmed scientists.

The finding, published in Nature magazine, should caution those attempting to turn global theories into regional predictions, said co-author Mike Wallace of the University of Washington.

"Whenever you start to look at local climate trends, you have to look at the internal variability as well as the human-induced variability," said Wallace. "The natural variability is huge."

Sea ice has been a hot topic in recent years -- with average declines of 2.6 per cent per decade since the late 1970s across the circumpolar world. Ice extent last March was the fifth lowest for that month in the satellite record.

The area of north Greenland and the Canadian archipelago, with temperature increases nearly twice as large as the Arctic average, has been warming particularly quickly.

Wallace says up to half of that increase is more likely to be due to complex atmospheric links that originate with rain and wind patterns in the South Pacific -- not warming from greenhouse gases. Unusually heavy rain in a region of the South Pacific sets up turbulence in the atmosphere that affects the whole globe, he said.

"It induces what we call a planetary scale wave train. We can see exactly those kind of waves -- like ship wakes -- if we have the air flowing over an island and if we look down we can see in the cloud patterns exactly those kinds of wakes."

The "wakes" generate huge waves in the atmosphere. A single wavelength is roughly comparable to the distance from the central Pacific to Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. It's those waves, which warm the air by compressing it slightly, that are contributing to sea ice melt in the Canadian Arctic and northern Greenland, the paper suggests.

"Think of Canada as downstream in that wake," said Wallace. "If it happens to be in a ridge of that wave train, that translates into it being warmer than normal. That warmth comes from the prevalence of sinking motion in the atmosphere -- it warms it by compressing it."

Wallace said climate models have only been able to explain about half the warming that has been seen in the region. The energy created by atmospheric waves originating in the South Pacific nicely accounts for the rest.

The paper doesn't attack the basic conclusion that climate change is largely caused by greenhouse gases. And Wallace acknowledges that the heavy ocean rains that create the warming atmospheric waves may have their origin in greenhouse-gas-induced climate change.

His paper doesn't address sea-ice loss or degradation in other parts of the Arctic.

"The ice melt is dramatic," he said. "I would not claim to make any statement about the ice melt."

It should, however, remind those who try to use climate change to explain unusual weather in specific areas of how complex climate is and how wide natural variability can be in individual regions.

"Unless global warming starts to accelerate at a rate far beyond what we've seen, it's going to be a long time before weather statistics change so much from the human signal that it would become clearly detectable in the presence of natural variability."

.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/climate-change-not-fully-to-blame-for-melting-sea-ice-study-1.1810977#ixzz314I8pPzy

[mrlupin]

Climate change debate with Bill Nye hossted by John Oliver...

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/12/5710538/john-oliver-shows-how-to-debate-climate-deniers

[Mitch Cronin]

Perfect! ... I can think of a few folks around here who should see that.

[inchman]

A major problem with the debate about global climate change over the years is a poorly thought out and disjointed campaign by environmental and scientific groups.

The anti-nuke campaigns of the 70's were probably the most short-sighted of all. Had nuclear energy not been actively prevented from growing with the proper safeguards in place, the amount of CO² produced over the last 40 years would be reduced by immeasurable amounts. Then there's the amount that will be produced over the next 40 years while we try to catch up.

While we continue to burn coal and natural gas to produce electricity and CO², "anti"s use the same 1:1 ratio as the Bill Nye debate when nuclear is the only possible medium term solution. And one of the most promising nuclear solutions is Thorium based reactors.

Obviously, the cheapest and fastest solution is reduction in usage, but humans have proven that we are not willing to give up our use of electron guzzling accessories or gas guzzling automobiles (I'm as guilty as the rest) and, more importantly, the energy used by factories that produce them. Unfortunately, even converting to CFLs or LEDs entails an initial increase in energy consumption to manufacture and ship them before the savings can begin.

And there are those that think that by hiding the energy source for "clean" electric trains, streetcars and cars at some distant coal or natural gas plant, that the production of greenhouse gases is somehow not an issue for these "saviour" systems. At least electric cars are using energy recovery braking systems, but we could save 10 percent of fuel usage in gas powered cars simply by building smarter traffic systems that actually react to approaching traffic before it has to come to a stop.

There are both simple and complex solutions, but we, and our governments, are not willing to even deal with the simple ones.

[Moon The Loon]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-does-the-u-s-look-like-after-3-meters-of-sea-level-rise/?&WT.mc_id=SA_SP_20140519

SCIAM weighs in:

What Does the U.S. Look Like after 3 Meters of Sea Level Rise?

New research indicates that climate change has triggered an unstoppable decay of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, eventually leading to at least three meters of global sea level rise

May 14, 2014 |By Ben Strauss and Climate Central

Not sure about the 3 metres, but maybe this is a wakeup that whatever has been happening to raise sea levels, the only thing that can be done in the short term (i.e. 50 to 100 years) is to address this phenomenon which has been occurring for decades. Just look at Venice!