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Living within a living, loving planet
Archive for July, 2013
Uncharted Waters
Jul 30th
UNCHARTED WATERS | A JOURNAL SENTINEL SPECIAL REPORT
Does Lake Michigan’s record low mark beginning of new era for Great Lakes?
Despite above-average precipitation, lake has seen below-average water levels for 14 years running. Less ice cover and more dark open water may explain why.
By Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel staff
“Last year was indeed extremely dry. But the past 14 years, on average, have been wetter than usual for Lakes Michigan and Huron, which are actually one body of water connected at the Straits of Mackinac.
Even so, the lakes remain about a foot and a half below their average for this time of year.
So where did all the water go? This is not a story about climate change. It is a story about climate changed.”
“He eventually determined it’s not just warm summer weather driving the increase in water temperatures — it’s also what’s happening in winter. The air-temperature increase, however slight, has been enough to dramatically reduce Superior’s average ice cover.
And without a bright white cap to bounce solar radiation back into the sky, the lake begins to soak up heat in early spring. That jump-start on the annual warming process has a profound effect on peak surface water temperatures during the summer.”
“Paul Roebber, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee meteorologist and associate dean of its School of Freshwater Sciences, points to a weather buoy in the middle of southern Lake Michigan that shows a 3.4 degree increase in average summer surface water temperatures since 1997.
One day last summer, the thermometer at the mid-lake buoy 43 miles southeast of Milwaukee recorded a Caribbean-like 80 degrees. It was only the beginning of July. ‘There has been a change in air temperatures. It’s not dramatic, but it’s just enough to not produce the ice coverage we used to have,’ explained Roebber. ‘And that makes all the difference in a system like this.’”
Sky: Climate change skeptics are making heavy weather out of a slowing surface temperature change but the global warming is occurring in the lakes and oceans. It is not diminishing. I’m afraid there is just no good news anywhere and no indication of serious efforts to recover from the inevitable effect of increasing greenhouse gases. The Earth has no legal protection, no rights whatsoever.
This is my Darkest Day
Jul 27th
This is my Darkest Day
Defeatism? Pessimism? Or a fair judgement and assessment of reality- the world as it is for those who make the decisions that affect us all. Part of being positive is the policy of knowing your enemy, studying the tactics and procedures that destroy that which you love and then feeling into a way to counter those policies.
Title: The U.S. will become energy independent by 2035 — but at what cost?
http://io9.com/5960205/the-us-will-become-energy-independent-by-2035–but-at-what-cost
Annalee Newitz,Editor io9 blog
Newitz has remained editor-in-chief since its founding, and in 2010, io9 was named one of the top 30 science blogs by The Times.[1]
The International Energy Agency has released a report in which it’s predicting that the U.S. will become the world’s largest producer of oil by 2020 — surpassing even Saudi Arabia. The IEA report also predicts that the U.S. will be a net exporter of oil by 2030 and nearly self-sufficient in energy by 2035. This dramatic and unexpected change in fortune can be primarily attributed to the relatively new practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — an industrial process that’s not without its critics.
According to the report, by 2015, U.S. oil production is expected to rise to 10 million barrels per day and increase to 11.1 million barrels per day by 2020. And as the LA Times notes, this will put the U.S. in some serious company as it overtakes second-place Russia and front-runner Saudi Arabia:
“By around 2020, the United States is projected to become the largest
global oil producer (overtaking Saudi Arabia until the mid-2020s) and starts to see the
impact of new fuel-efficiency measures in transport. The result is a continued fall in US oil
imports, to the extent that North America becomes a net oil exporter around 2030. This
accelerates the switch in direction of international oil trade towards Asia, putting a focus
on the security of the strategic routes that bring Middle East oil to Asian markets. The
United States, which currently imports around 20% of its total energy needs, becomes all
but self-sufficient in net terms – a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy importing
countries.” http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/English.pdf
“Most oil consumers are used to the effects of worldwide fluctuations in price (reducing its oil imports will not insulate the United States from developments in international markets), but consumers can expect to see growing linkages in other areas.
A current example is how low-priced natural gas is reducing coal use in the
United States, freeing up coal for export to Europe (where, in turn, it has displaced higher priced
gas). At its lowest level in 2012, natural gas in the United States traded at around
one-fifth of import prices in Europe and one-eighth of those in Japan.
Sky: Note that natural gas usage does not diminish or reduce the use of coal overall, just shift its location adding the cost of transportation. So, this is not an either/or but a both/and. Whilst energy spokespersons and government officials are trying to justify energy exploration and production as necessary for our economic survival, actually, this only masks the true raison d’etre which is profits through exports. So we pollute our atmosphere and water, deplete our natural resources, especially precious water which will inevitably cause widespread poverty and deprivation – all to line the pockets of the few – call them the 1% perhaps. Now, be assured that the “we” is not only Americans but the UK as well. It has already started with recent activity – “Tim Yeo, has since revised his personal opinion, however, and now argues shale gas is a “game changer” that could “transform the UK’s energy independence”. Interest in hydraulic fracking comes just as imports of gas to the UK have surpassed domestic production for the first time since the 1960s.* Emily Gosden (29 March 2012). “UK gas imports outstrip production for first time since 1967”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 March 2012. Let there be no doubts, as The US goes, the UK will go, especially under the present administration. We now have precious food, maise, used to feed cars and trucks leaving the sickening CO and carbon particulates and soon we will have our precious fresh water poisoned in the process of forcing natural gas to the surface so we can expand our pollution, poisonous fumes and greenhouse gasses.
I’m reminded of an article I read in the early 1950s. The writer explained how all the gadgets [time savers] would free up time and people would then develop their interests in the arts, literature and improve their minds. Ha Ha. What happened was that the gadgets freed women from the, backbreaking and tedious household jobs. That’s nothing but good. But few used their extra time for literary and artistic pursuits – they simply got a paying job and left the children to the baby sitter. Companies used the labour-saving machines to lay off employees and increase profits. Our western society has a gadget for everything now but we suffer more mental illness, heart disease, stress and work longer hours than we did 50 years ago.
Just today the UK police arrested 18 protesters in the village of Balcombe, West Sussex, where Cuadrilla is poised to start test drilling. Police were reported to say ‘arrests were made to “ensure public safety”’ I’m afraid that it will take far more than 80 anti-fracking campaigners to make a significant impact on policy.
Continuing:
Going forward, price relationships between regional gas markets are set to strengthen as liquefied natural gas trade becomes more flexible and contract terms evolve, meaning that changes in one part
of the world are more quickly felt elsewhere. Within individual countries and regions,
competitive power markets are creating stronger links between gas and coal markets, while
these markets also need to adapt to the increasing role of renewables and, in some cases,
to the reduced role of nuclear power. Policy makers looking for simultaneous progress
towards energy security, economic and environmental objectives are facing increasingly
complex – and sometimes contradictory – choices.”
“As noted, however, the burgeoning oil boom will likely come at a price. It’s thought, for example, that the new influx of oil will de-motivate efforts to develop sustainable forms of energy.
The report warned that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will continue to escalate. Sky: Remember the coal will still be burned but by another country. The new gas will be burned but by another country.
Critics warn that the industrial practice — in which long, horizontal channels are drilled deep underground to draw oil trapped in rocks by applying high pressure — could result in contaminated water supplies, risks to air quality, the release of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, and surface contamination from spills and throwback. There are even concerns that fracking may cause earthquakes.”
Sky: As I said, this is not good news. How will our industrialists be willing to curtail growth and profits when that is the only way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions?
Another John Michael Greer post
Jul 27th
Another John Michael Greer post
Here is another interesting discussion based on research into the past that reveals correlations that speak to the present. Politicians continue to implement half-baked measures that have failed miserably in the past but seem to please the economic backers who rule the roost.
“Across the board, in politics, in economics, in energy policy, in any other field you care to name, the enthusiastic pursuit of repeatedly failed policies has become one of the leitmotifs of contemporary life.”
John Michael Greer The Archdruid Report, 17 July, 2013 http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.uk/
Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial society
Skeptical Science flattens Deniers
Jul 23rd
Skeptical Science flattens deniers: 97% of peer-reviewed papers say humans causing climate change
This article is fully supported with links to the supporting data. Hopefully, John Cook has helped us all to utterly dismiss the misconstrued and sometimes utterly false claims of those anthropogenic climate change deniers. I for one am sick of hearing the drivel. I felt it necessary to read it in association with genetically modified food only to find that there were a few “scientists” who were paid to falsify and construe what they could find as detractions. I am aware that some of those same people are now employed to do the same shameless job with climate change. Much of the blame for the false impressions on this subject has to be placed with some of the “media” who give equal time to detractors as if there was an equal chance that they may be right. Most of us have learned that “the media” by and large are only interested in sales and care less about fairness, truth and the art of conveying news.
Unfortunately, so many people make up their minds based on false information and then proceed forever with a close mind on the issue. That’s why character assignation is accomplished with a lie that gets published and then an apology printed on page 16 in small print. People tend to remember the lie and either never see the retraction or apology or will not read further. They “know” because they read it in the newspaper or some magazine. A good friend of mine taught me that whenever reading something controversial, stop and look into just who is doing the assertions. Find out who finances them – who do they serve. Find out who tends to gain from their point of view. People with set opinions look for someone to agree with them and then crystalize on their false knowledge like a nut that must never be cracked to see if the kernel is edible.
Their lives are crammed with precious nuts that cannot feed them when the kernels are needed. By then it is too late and they have invested their vital energy in that which does not serve them. Surely it is normal that we change as we age, as we experience the new and different, as we suffer and recover from tragedy and disappointments. We learn to regularly examine our truth nuts, crack open a few to see if they are still serviceable. The most difficult student is one who already knows.
When you give people the impression that you are not completely sure about something then you get their take which, surprisingly, often reveals something you overlooked or misunderstood. Actually, most people feel positively stroked when they get an opportunity to explain their opinions. It is a win-win because they feel good about informing you and you might just learn something.
Hopefully, anthropogenic climate change deniers now lack an audience.
Daily KOS
THU MAY 16, 2013
Skeptical Science flattens deniers: 97% of peer-reviewed papers say humans causing climate change
By Meteor Blades
Nowadays, television news shows and newspaper and magazine articles that mention global warming rarely resort to outright lies like this grotesque piece of propaganda from Forbes.
“In fact, not all scientists do agree that humans are causing global warming. As researchers under the guidance of John Cook at Skeptical Science discovered in a “citizen science” survey of 11,944 peer-reviewed articles, 1.6 percent of the authors expressing an opinion on the subject rejected or were uncertain about the consensus that the earth is undergoing anthropogenic (human-generated) global warming (AGW). And 97.1 percent of the nearly 4,000 articles in which the author(s) took a position endorsed the AGW consensus. (The survey was published May 15 in Environmental Research Letters as an open access article)”
A video
Don’t buy your oil from Iran, buy it from us.
Jul 22nd
Don’t buy your oil from Iran, buy it from us.
“A recent report by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government predicted that by 2020 all of America’s oil could be produced either domestically or within the western hemisphere, ending the US dependency on the Middle East. In November the International Energy Agency predicted America would be energy independent by 2035.
Already the impacts of the power shift are being felt, say Donilon and Yergin, particularly in efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
‘The United States engaged in tireless diplomacy to persuade consuming nations to end or significantly reduce their consumption of Iranian oil while emphasising to suppliers the importance of keeping the world oil market stable and well supplied,’ Donilon said in his speech at Columbia.
‘The substantial increase in oil production in the United States and elsewhere meant that international sanctions and US and allied efforts could remove over 1 million barrels per day of Iranian oil while minimising the burdens on the rest of the world. And the same dynamic was at work in Libya in 2011 and in Syria today.’”
The Archdruid Report, 17 July, 2013
Jul 18th
The Archdruid Report, 17 July, 2013
Here is another interesting discussion based on research into the past that reveals correlations that speak to the present. Politicians continue to implement half-baked measures that have failed miserably in the past but seem to please the economic backers who rule the roost.
“Across the board, in politics, in economics, in energy policy, in any other field you care to name, the enthusiastic pursuit of repeatedly failed policies has become one of the leitmotifs of contemporary life.”
John Michael Greer The Archdruid Report, 17 July, 2013 http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.uk/
Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial society
What’s your problem?
Jul 16th
The next time you become irritated by an event such as a tireless, relentless barking of a neighbour’s dog or a human behaviourism, consider remembering that there are 350 billion large galaxies in the observable Universe. What’s your problem? The Quantum Universe: Everything that can Happen does Happen, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw
“The best estimate of the age of the universe as of 2013 is 13.798 ± 0.037 billion years but due to the expansion of space humans are observing objects that were originally much closer but are now considerably farther away (as defined in terms of cosmological proper distance, which is equal to the comoving distance at the present time) than a static 13.8 billion light-years distance.The diameter of the observable universe is estimated at about 28 billion parsecs (93 billion light-years), putting the edge of the observable universe at about 46–47 billion light-years away.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe
The Eco-Psychology of Ecocide
Jul 15th
In a couple of weeks, I am attending a conference sponsored in part by a UK Eco-psychology organisation.
I hope to find out more about the factors leading up to the Ecocide caused by what appears to be a human death wish.
http://www.earthenspirituality.com/2013/07/15/marine-life-in-peril/
Marine life in Peril
Jul 15th
Acidic oceans of the future show extinction
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2013/07/future-acidic-oceans
“Today the ocean’s pH is lower than anything seen in the historical record in the past 800,000 years, scientists say. As the acidity increases, organisms such as corals, oysters, snails and urchins have trouble pulling minerals from the seawater to create protective shells. The study released Monday buttresses ecologists’ fears that such changes could ripple through entire ecosystems – and that ocean acidification could prove as consequential and catastrophic for the globe as any changes in air temperature associated with climate change.”
Are we not out of control?
Jul 14th
27 October 2011 Last updated at 00:18
The world at seven billion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515
United Kingdom
POPULATION7128754808
Every hour, there are:
15,347Births6,418Deaths
Average yearly growth
+1.162%
In a few days there will be 7 billion humans on the Earth. Please take a look at the growth graph and note the rate of increase. Surely it is facetious to blame lack of resources as our problem. This graph shows us glaringly what the problem is and we appear to be completely helpless to solve it.
We seem to be caught in the grip of a concept that we have a sacred right to have as many children as we wish and then expect the government and the world economy to provide them with jobs and “the good life.”
And now, of course, our efforts to feed ourselves has and is still ripping out the life support structures that our dear planet has taken millions of years to build. Although our awareness and experience of global warming portend extreme misery and sadness; what is even more saddening if not maddening is that multinationals are paying businesses and bogus think tanks to claim that humans are NOT responsible for the global warming results of the destruction of the soil, destruction of the rain forests and pollution of our air, soil and water. And our media gives this ranting equal air and print time as if these opinions reflected anything other than madness and represented equal weight as the thousands of scientists who have accumulated valid statistics to the contrary.
Perhaps we need to cease blaming the actions of “business” for doing what business does best- making money- and blame ourselves for supporting the disaster so obviously surrounding us.
We must remember that companies sell only what people will buy. Governments can only survive when they provide what people will tolerate. I’ll only mention one example and let the reader consider the implications.
There were years of publications by the Russian intelligentsia pointing out the corruption and exploitation by the Monarchy. However, the exploited did very little until the wives of the dockworkers in St. Petersburg [Petrograd at that time] took to the streets when they could no longer buy bread. Men with rifles followed and:
“An estimated 90,000 women marched through the streets, shouting “Bread” and “Down With the Autocracy!” and “Stop the War!” These women were tired, hungry, and angry. They worked long hours in miserable conditions in order to feed their families because their husbands and fathers were at the front, fighting in World War I. They wanted change. They weren’t the only ones.
The following day, more than 150,000 men and women took to the streets to protest. Soon more people joined them and by Saturday, February 25, the city of Petrograd was basically shut down — no one was working.”