Sen Al Franken worries about ‘climate dislocation & refugees’ & a flooded East Coast
… Claim: Oceans are at the ‘edge’ of losing all oxygen – Could lead to mass sea life extinction
Oceans are at the ‘edge’ of losing all oxygen: Event could lead to mass sea life extinction that will last a MILLION years I could spend time pointing out the leaps of logic committed below but I will simply look at a conventional commentary on the Toarcian event.
New Video: Tony Heller debunks ‘superstition’: ‘Is Manhattan Going To Drown Due To Global Warming’
Analysis Debunks Absurd Sea Level Rise Claims About South Florida
Guest post by David Middleton
Sea level rise isn’t something that only future generations will have to deal with. It’s already causing significant challenges. If you doubt that, check out what’s happening in Miami right now.
…
“Sea levels in South Florida could rise up to two feet over the next four decades”… No they can’t and this is not happening right now.
For sea level to rise “two feet over the next four decades,” it would have to accelerate to the pace of the Holocene Transgression:
Projected sea level rise through 2100 AD. Two feet of sea level rise over the next four decades would require a pace even faster than that required for 1 meter (~3 feet) of sea level rise by the end of this century. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/21/oh-say-can-you-see-modern-sea-level-rise-from-a-geological-perspective/
It would take an average rate of sea level rise nearly twice that of the Holocene Transgression for sea level to rise more than 1.5 meters (~5 feet) over the remainder of this century.
Sea level isn’t behaving any differently than it has throughout the Holocene.
Sea level was 1-2 meters higher than it currently is during the Holocene Highstand. All of the sea level rise since 1700 is insignificant relative to the natural variability of Holocene sea levels.
Sea level rise in the Miami area is not accelerating and it is rising at a rate of about 1 foot per century.
The mean sea level trend is 2.39 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.43 mm/yr based on monthly mean sea level data from 1931 to 1981 which is equivalent to a change of 0.78 feet in 100 years. https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=8723170
The mean sea level trend is 2.40 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.15 mm/yr based on monthly mean sea level data from 1913 to 2016 which is equivalent to a change of 0.79 feet in 100 years. https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=8724580
The mean sea level trend is 3.63 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.48 mm/yr based on monthly mean sea level data from 1971 to 2016 which is equivalent to a change of 1.19 feet in 100 years. https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=8723970
The satellite data indicate virtually no statistically significant sea level rise in the Miami area:
CU Sea Level Research Group University of Colorado http://sealevel.colorado.edu/content/interactive-sea-level-time-series-wizard?dlat=26&dlon=280&fit=n&smooth=n&days=60
I intentionally retained the “seasonal terms and mean” and did not smooth the data because the seasonal variability is …
US drought levels fall to lowest point in years – Only 5% of U.S. experiencing drought
BY REID WILSON – 05/12/17 11:35 AM EDT
Just 5 percent of the United States is experiencing drought conditions, the lowest level of drought here since government scientific agencies began updating the U.S. Drought Monitor on a weekly basis in 2000.
Record rain and snowfall over the winter on the West Coast and heavy spring rains in the Midwest have alleviated some of the worst and longest-lasting drought conditions ever recorded.
That parching, years-long drought came after another rainy period, in 2010, when just 8 percent of the U.S. experienced drought conditions. The boom-and-bust cycle is likely caused by climate change that creates more extreme weather patterns, scientists say.
At its driest point, in September 2012, 20 percent of the nation experienced what climatologists deemed “extreme” drought.
Today, small parts of Southern Georgia and Central Florida are still experiencing extreme drought. The drought has amplified several large wildfires in Georgia and Florida, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Parts of southern Arizona are in the midst of a long-term severe drought, while scattered areas of Texas, Colorado, the Dakotas and the greater Washington, D.C., region are dealing with more moderate water shortages.
No state has experienced the highs and lows more than California. As recently as September, the entire state was experiencing at least some drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and 43 percent of the state experienced extreme drought.
Today, after a rainy winter fueled by a so-called Pineapple Express weather system, more than three-quarters of the state is drought-free. Only the Los Angeles area and some inland counties near the U.S.-Mexico border are overly parched.
“California’s drought was alleviated by atmospheric rivers that brought heavy rains earlier this year,” Matthew Rodell, a NASA hydrologist, said in a statement. “Combine that with recent precipitation across much of the northwestern and central parts of the nation, and the result is a much wetter-than-normal map.”
Now, California faces the opposite problem. Heavy rain and snowfall have damaged systems meant to capture water, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The federal government has already said it will send California $274 million to repair the Oroville Dam, where damage to a spillway forced the evacuation of almost 200,000 people in February. Water officials are worried that heavy rains could damage other dams in Northern California, too.…
‘Dying Green’: Green burials are a growing trend in Colorado
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — We all know what it means to live green, but what about dying green?
Less costly goodbyes known as green burials are growing in popularity in Colorado and a new Lafayette business is helping people die as naturally as possible, with minimal impact to the earth.
“It’s a whole new approach to end of life care,” explained Prescott Knock, the executive director of the Natural Funeral.
Those who chose to live green also want to die green, which is how the green burial idea was born.
“Many of the people that are socially conscious, environmentally conscious really appreciate that alternative,” said Knock.
Knock’s new venture in the heart of downtown Lafayette will be one of the first in the state to help people die green. The Natural Funeral plans to open this summer at 102 West Chester Street after renovations are completed on the existing buildings.
What is a green burial?
The burials look more like something straight out of the wild west than your traditional cemetery.
“The grass is going to remain tall, we’re going to pull weeds mechanically by hand,” said Roselawn Cemetery Supervisor Kevin Williams. “We leave the ground more mounded.”
A green burial or natural funeral means your body is placed directly into the ground in a pine casket or shroud.
“When a pine casket goes into the ground it’s just going to biodegrade,” explained Luc Nadeau, the owner of Nature’s Casket, who makes pine caskets out of his backyard workshop in Longmont.…
CJR Finds Scientific Opposition to Linking Hurricanes and Global Warming
By Aly Nielsen |
A surprising report from the George Soros-funded Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) revealed several scientists oppose the way the media have tried to blame hurricanes on man-made climate change.
CJR used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to acquire emails “sent from or received by six hurricane researchers or forecasters” which included the terms “global warming” or “climate change.” The May 2, article written by Rob Verger indicate CJR was looking to see how scientists talked to the media about Hurricane Alex and “whether climate change should be blamed.” Verger said the emails showed a “heated online discussion among scientists.”
Because it was far earlier than a typical hurricane, Alex drew attention to itself and media climate alarm. The Washington Post described it Alex as “rare,” and turned to Weather Underground’s Jason Masters who tried to make the global warming point.
“It is unlikely that Alex would have formed if these waters had been close to normal temperatures for this time of year,” Masters wrote (and the Post quoted).
Christian Science Monitor was even more blunt, asking in its headline “Is climate change to blame for rare January hurricanes?”
“With the unusual occurrence of Hurricane Alex as an out-of-season hurricane, there have been a couple of meteorologists stating to the media that manmade global warming helped to cause the hurricane. Such statements are not, in my opinion, factual.” National Hurricane Center science and operations officer Chris Landsea said in a Jan. 18, 2016, email acquired by CJR.
Landsea told CJR he was similarly disturbed by how strongly former vice president Al Gore linked Hurricane Matthew to climate change in October 2016. Gore’s claims made Landsea “cringe, because there’s some links but it’s much much more subtle than he is insinuating.”
Hurricane Matthew wasn’t the only thing Gore has gotten wrong. After his climate alarmist film An Inconvenient Truth was released in 2007, a British court identified at least eleven material falsehoods, including attributing Hurricane Katrina to climate change.
In promotional footage of Gore’s follow up film, An Inconvenient Sequel, slated for July 2017, release Gore twisted and rewrote his earlier claims about what would cause massive global flooding including flooding of New York City in order to try to claim Hurricane Sandy proved him right.
While CJR’s report cited stories written by The Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor erroneously linking specific hurricanes to …
Obama in Milan: Climate Change ‘Created by Man’ and ‘Can Be Solved by Man’
“When it comes to climate change, the hour is almost upon us,” he warned, urging the world to “set aside our parochial differences” to create a better planet for the world’s children.
The former president spoke at the “Seeds and Chips” global innovation summit on food, but Obama used the occasion to focus on his climate change agenda and his signature Obamacare legislation.
“If we seize the future, there is nothing that we cannot do … I do not believe that this planet is condemned to ever-rising temperatures,” Obama said. “I believe these are problems that were caused by man and can be solved by man.”
The former president warned that climate refugees would be fleeing to Europe, causing population disruptions and global challenges.
“Some of the refugee flow into Europe originate not only from conflict, but also from places where there are food shortages that will get far worse as climate change continues,” he said.
Obama boasted about his record as president, cutting global emissions and making investments in clean energy. But he admitted that the Trump administration was ratcheting back his fuel standards and climate change progress.
He also complained that Americans were wasting too much food, while becoming more obese, during a discussion about food with his former chef Sam Kass.
Worldwide: Over 1,200 laws aim to change weather — need more to limit downpours, seas, storms
Welcome to paleolithic politics: in this version, the witchdoctors are syndicated and with lap tops. OSLO (Reuters) – Nations around the world have adopted more than 1,200 laws to curb climate change… Patricia Espinosa, the U.N.’s climate change chief, … said the findings were “cause for optimism”… Because more laws are always good.
Source: Worldwide: Over 1,200 laws aim to change weather — need more to limit downpours, seas, storms…
Legislate the climate you want! Study: Laws to tackle climate change exceed 1,200 worldwide
OSLO (Reuters) – Nations around the world have adopted more than 1,200 laws to curb climate change, up from about 60 two decades ago, which is a sign of widening efforts to limit rising temperatures, a study showed on Tuesday.
“Most countries have a legal basis on which future action can be built,” Patricia Espinosa, the U.N.’s climate change chief, told a webcast news conference of the findings issued at an international meeting on climate change in Bonn, Germany.
She said the findings were “cause for optimism”, adding that laws were one yardstick for tracking action on global warming alongside others such as investment in renewable energy or backing for a 2015 climate agreement, ratified by 144 nations.
The study, by the London School of Economics (LSE), reviewed laws and executive policies in 164 nations, ranging from national cuts in greenhouse gases to curbs in emissions in sectors such as transport, power generation or industry.
Forty-seven laws had been added since world leaders adopted a Paris Agreement to combat climate change in late 2015, a slowdown from a previous peak of about 100 a year around 2009-13 when many developed nations passed laws.
U.S. President Donald Trump doubts that climate change has a human cause and is considering pulling out of the Paris Agreement but legislation is often complicated to undo.
“If you have that big body of 1,200 laws it is hard to reverse,” Samuel Fankhauser, co-director of the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, told the news conference.
The study said that developing nations were legislating more but there were many gaps. Nations including Comoros, Sudan and Somalia had no climate laws.
“We don’t want weaklings in the chain,” said Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He urged all countries to adopt laws that help limit downpours, heatwaves and rising sea levels.
(Reporting by Alister Doyle; editing by Ken Ferris)…