More evidence of the naivety of assuming that the 20th century climate record is sufficient to capture the range of variability with which we’ve got to be able to cope. Tian et al in GRL looked at calcite layers in Minnesota lake sediments: [D]roughts of greater severity and duration than during the 20th century occurred …
As if drought, famine, rising sea level inundating coastal cities and the cancellation of international ski competitions were not enough, my colleague Dan McKay in this morning’s paper catalogues a previously unmentioned and potentially devastating consequence of global warming: It could harm Albuquerque’s famed balloon fiesta, “the world’s most photographed annual event.” Worrying about the …
From Saturday’s Washington Post: “We have to deal with greenhouse gases,” John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., said in a recent speech at the National Press Club. “From Shell’s point of view, the debate is over. When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, ‘Let’s debate the science’?” The interesting bit …
Never mind drought, famine, rising sea level inundating coastal cities, etc. This is serious: High temperatures in Europe have disrupted the Alpine skiing World Cup, throwing the calendar of the sport’s premier circuit into disarray and raising questions about the future of a sport so vulnerable to climate change. “It will very quickly be a …
From Somalia: The flood-hit communities in southern Somalia were already vulnerable because they had not recovered from the severe drought of earlier this year when they lost thousands of livestock and had no harvest. “Juba has been in a chronic humanitarian crisis,” said Cindy Holleman, technical manager with Somalia’s Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU), a …
charger Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. The artist L. Heineman made the decorations for our Thanksgiving table today in the manner of the season. We’ve a big feast planned, which is both cultural ritual obligation and genuine fun. This is an interesting time of year in a desert culture both removed from environmental but also steeped …
It’s not that Andy Dessler’s been gone, actually, but in his move over to Grist, there wasn’t any way to get an RSS feed of just his stuff. Being an RSS junkie, I would forget to go directly, and missed some good stuff. Apparently I’m not alone, so Andy’s going to do some sort of …
From the Environment News Service: Expect Warmer Than Average Weather This Winter Meanwhile, in other news, Sun Expected to Rise Tomorrow.
Via NEI Nuclear Notes comes word that John Warner is going to challenge James Inhofe for the top R spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Perhaps Kevin can ‘splain this to us.
The new winter forecast is out. El Niño’s still being a bit shy (“the coupling of the unusually warm SSTs near the date line with the atmosphere in the tropical Pacific has not yet become fully established” is the more technical description) but he’s definitely there.