All of the Many, Wide Ranging and Honestly Huge Benefits of Going to Green, Sustainable Energy

Yes, it needs to be known that going to green, sustainable energy is not just that we all pollute less though that's huge.  It's not just that we'll address climate change and global warming, though it certainly will.  It's more than that, more than even just those two huge benefits. 

From this article:

With 10-Point Declaration, Global Coalition of Top Energy Experts Says: '100% Renewables Is Possible'

Check out all these benefits.

"The solutions will not only save consumers money, but also

• create jobs and
• provide energy and
• more international security, while
• substantially reducing air pollution and
• climate damage from energy."

Incredible. And true.

Let's do this.

At What Point Do We Address Climate Change?

Look at just three things, only three, from the last one year. 

--15 million acres of Australia burned last year, in 2019
--It got over 100 degrees in the Arctic this year
--More than 4 million acres of California burned and that's just so far this year

Are we going to do anything yet? At what point are we going to do things? At what point are we going to collectively change?

Links:

Nearly 15 million acres burned in Australian wildfires

100.4 degree Arctic temperature record confirmed

California milestone: 4 million acres burned in wildfires

More People Need to Know What's Happening Presently, Weather-wise, Across the Planet

I don't think most people are aware just now of what, exactly, is going on, worldwide, with weather and the catastrophes that are taking place just now.

Here's one, the first here today--
“Greenland is home to the world's second-largest ice sheet. And when it melts significantly -- as it is expected to do this year -- there are knock-on effects for sea levels and weather across the globe.

Greenland's ice sheet usually melts during the summer. This year, it started melting earlier, in May, and this week's heatwave is expected to accelerate the melt.

… 2019 could come close to the record-setting year of 2012, said Jason Box, professor and ice climatologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. During that ‘…year’…, Greenland's ice sheet lost 450 million metric tons -- the equivalent of more than 14,000 tons of ice lost per second.”

“…it's already poised to rival the proportions of 2012 -- and we haven't even reached the end of summer. In July alone, Greenland's ice sheet lost 160 billion tons of ice, according to Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the UN World Meteorological Organization.

‘Normally when you get a temperature record broken, it's by a fraction of a degree,’ said Nullis. ‘What we saw yesterday was records being broken by two, three, four degrees -- it was absolutely incredible.’"

Greenland is in the Grips of a Heatwave; 

Here's What It Means for All of Us 

That alone is huge but then, this is taking place in Siberia, Russia.

Vast Wildfires in Siberia a Potential "Disaster" for Arctic, and the World's Climate

This, too, is happening now in Japan.

11 dead, 5,600 sent to hospitals last week due to heatwave

There is also this from Japan:

Olympics: Dangerous heat, wild weather a major challenge for Tokyo Games

Japan gripped by heat wave, mercury tops 39 C in Hokkaido town

Longer, wetter than usual rainy season ends in Tokyo area

Again, now, this week.

United Kingdom sets all-time high temperature record

Finally, there is this:

A Major River in Europe Hit by Drought Could Create Economic Havoc

“A heatwave in Europe is causing low water levels on the…Rhine…”

At what point do climate deniers give it up? At what point do the get on board, so to speak, and accept our current reality, let alone what is projected to happen across the world, if we don't cut carbon dioxide emissions and pollution?

What's It Going to Take to Get Us to Recognize Manmade Climate Change?

I wonder if very many of us in the nation and world are paying attention to all the weather-related events, disasters and catastrophes included, that have been taking place this year. Herewith are just a few of the latest.

This took place the week before the Memorial Day weekend.

Multiple highways across Missouri shut down due to flooding

Check out how many roads were closed across the entire state of Missouri.

This was just last weekend:

Memorial Day weather: Heat wave scorches southern US

Then this happened.

Vehicles stuck in foot-deep hail in Omaha, Council Bluffs area

This one was four days ago.

Snowplows push piles of hail out of southwest Omaha

Then we all know this took place this last week locally.

Large and Dangerous Tornado Touches Down in Kansas City Outskirts

This is going on now, to the South of us, of course, and is still going on.

Record flooding causes levee breach in western Arkansas

These next two are current also.

Rising Missouri River closes I-680, causes renewed problems with water in Council Bluffs basements

Only Four of 10 Missouri River Crossings Remain Open

This is the past month.

Floods, tornadoes, snow in May: Extreme weather driven by climate change across US

This is just how large an issue this is.

The U.S. Has Had 500 Tornadoes in 30 Days

This Is Not “Normal”: There Have Been More Than 500 Tornadoes In The U.S. During The Last 30 Days

You can go here and see just some of the damage.

Tornado Damage: 13 Days of Devastation in Photos

As if all that isn't enough, this story broke two days ago.

Record-Breaking Heat in Alaska Wreaks Havoc on Communities and Ecosystem

"Abnormally high temperatures have led to unsafe travel conditions, uncertain ecological futures and even multiple deaths"

So how long, America? How long until we first accept global warming is happening and it's taking place because we humans are pumping so much CO2, carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere? And then, second, how long until we do something about it?

Quote of the Day: Overpopulation and Climate Change

“Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we possess, What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education of the billions who are its victims.”

--Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

How Much Do We Have to Lose Across the Planet Until We Accept Climate Change?

Did you see this?

Did you see how many head of cattle, alone, were lost recently in Australia, with their flooding?

Queensland floods: 500,000 Cattle Survived Years-Long Drought Only to Die in the Rain

500,000 head of cattle--or more, if you read the article--died last week in the flooding in Australia.

And this doesn't include all the other animal life that died in their scorching heat waves in the last month. I posted on this earlier.

Australia's Heat Wave Has Been Devastating For Animals

Australia's Heat Wave Is Taking A Toll On People, Animals

'Boiled' Bats Fall from Sky in Australian Heat Wave

Stifling Heat Wave Descends on Australia, Killing Dozens of Horses

And that's just Australia, of late. Check out what it's done in California last year.

California: Wildfires losses at $3.3 billion

Then there is around the world.

2018 Global Disasters Cost $160 Billion

At what point do the climate change deniers actually look, recognize the losses and damage and agree with us we need to do things to change?

What more does it have to take?

For Those Who Don't Believe in Global Warming and/or Climate Change

For any out there who may still not believe in or accept that the planet is warming and that human activity is having a large role in all of it, please read on. For starters, this winter, this was the middle of last month, January, while much of our nation was in a deep freeze.

Australia heatwave reaches it peak with record temperatures

Australia suffers through searing temperatures

Australia's Heat Wave Is Taking A Toll On People, Animals

Dozens of wild horses die of thirst in Australia's heatwave

Australia: Heat Wave Causes Overheated Bat Die-Off

Hundreds of flying foxes die in searing Australian heat

Naturally, it wasn't simply Australia that was blistering hot, either.

Heat wave scorches Southern Hemisphere with record-shattering temps

Still Australia, this article posted 6 days ago, as if the heat and their losses from it weren't enough.

20,000 homes feared lost in Australia floods

Remember last Summer and the record California wildfires?

California Wildfire Insurance Claims Total $11.4 Billion

We're very familiar with the Polar Vortex that effected so much of our nation in the last few weeks.

Making Sense of the Polar Vortex and Record Cold on a Feverish Planet

This is taking place presently.

Winter storm dumps record snow on Seattle, Pacific Northwest with more to come

Seattle normally gets 0.7 inches of snow per year. A few weeks ago, they got nearly 2 inches. Now, today, they got another 10 inches and as the headline shows, they are apparently going to get still more. Seattle wasn't alone, of course.

Yakima gets 10 inches of snow in winter blast

Then there's the overall picture.

2018 was 4th hottest year on record for the globe

This year is no better and we're not even 1/4 of the way into it..

2019 may be the warmest year on record

Then that's having predictable effects, of course.

Arctic permafrost is melting faster than predicted

Arctic sea ice is vanishing far faster than anyone thought

Finally, if that all isn't enough on our planet, there is this. When all else is deniable or ignored, there is the CO2, the carbon dioxide levels in our planet's atmosphere that comes from what we humans are pumping into it.

Let's do something before it's too late. 

Some things.

How about it?

The Nation's--and World's--Crazy Weather

Across the planet presently...

I. Heat in Western US

Heat to sizzle western US this week

II. Wildfires in California and the Western US

Millions face extreme heat in Western U.S. 

as wildfires continue to blaze

III. Flooding in the Eastern US

East Coast rain forecast: 

Dangerous, life-threatening floods possible

Return of downpours threatens to renew, 

expand flood risk in eastern US

IV. Wildfires across Greece, followed by floods

Greece fires LATEST: Now FLOODS 

destroy businesses and home 

- Thousands flee disaster zone

I'll just leave this here:

Extreme global weather is 

'the face of climate change' says leading scientist

The Hard Reality of Transportation

The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, there are far, far too many people on this planet for us all, humankind, to keep driving our own, individual cars to and from our destinations.

We need public transportation.

And we need it all over our cities and states and nations. We need it across the world.

We have to stop pretending it's--what?--the 1940's? and there aren't that many of us and we can continue this expensive, very polluting insanity.

As just one example, look at traffic in Los Angeles.






Keep in mind, too, this is daily. Sure, it's Los Angeles but it's not just them, not just that one city and again, it's not just a one day occurrence. It's repeated all through the year and in far too many cities across the globe.

It's getting worse, too.

It's Not Your Imagination, 

Los Angeles County is Getting More Crowded

Not only is it Los Angeles, but it's only growing worldwide. With more and more people in our cities, states and nations, across the globe, this only becomes more apparent and real and necessary.

Number of People in the World to Rise 

to 8 Billion by 2023, U.N. Says

This is crazy. This is no way to live.

Think about it. Los Angeles. San Diego. San Francisco. Houston, Dallas, Austin. Heck, traffic is so bad on the other side of the country, we just give up and call it the "Northeast corridor."

As usual, Germany and Europe are far ahead of us here in the US on this, too.

German cities to trial free public transport 

to cut pollution 

Not only is this a good idea, we need to take it steps further.

We will need to actually further tax cars so we can accomplish three big goals:

--Cut down on all that traffic

--Reduce the pollution and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

--And, yes, increase those of us on public transportation

Public transportation can no longer be only for the less affluent or even thought to be only for them.

We have to realize all the benefits we'd reap from this, too. We can't only think of it as what we would lose. Herewith, just some of those benefits.

--Again, less pollution

--Repeating, less traffic

--Cleaner air

--Less irritated asthma and respiratory ailments for hundreds of millions across the planet

--Less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere so...

--Less increased global warming and

--Slower human-caused climate change

--Less time wasted sitting in traffic

--Maintaining public transportation is far less expensive than having to maintain all the more singular roads required to keep all this traffic going

We have to learn to live together, we have to learn to work together and yes, we all, all of us, need to learn to travel together. Lots of people across the world have done this.

Now, we all need to.

Links:

Public Transportation Benefits

Why Public Transit Is Important

Why We All Need Public Transportation

Why We Need Public Transportation, 

Not More Self-Driving Cars

10 reasons why you should use public transport 

What Burning So Much Carbon Is Getting Us

This is, one more time, what burning all the carbon we do and putting all the carbon dioxide we also do, into the atmosphere, gets us.

Wildfires burn homes in California, forcing residents to evacuate

And let's be clear, these are not "one off" events. It's part of a far larger trend and not just nationally or even on this continent but world wide.

How climate change is increasing 

forest fires around the world

Science suggests that over the past few decades, the number of wildfires has indeed increased, especially in the western United States. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS),every state in the western US has experienced an increase in the average annual number of large wildfires over past decades.

Extensive studies have found that large forest fires in the western US have been occurring nearly five times more often since the 1970s and 80s. Such fires are burning more than six times the land area as before, and lasting almost five times longer.

Meanwhile, foolishly, our nation's leader is taking us backward and in the completely wrong direction.

EPA chief says White House to roll back 

Obama-era clean power plan

#Resist

Link:

Wildfires Rage In California Wine Country, Forcing Evacuations

The Weather Events Our Media Don't Seem to be Reporting

Sure, we're getting coverage, some, anyway, of first Hurricane Harvey that hit Southeast Texas and Western Louisiana. And then we got coverage of Hurricane Irma that hit Florida---and, far more devastatingly, the Caribbean but hey, let's focus just on our 50 states, right?

We and our media have already seemed to have moved on from the Houston area.

Unless you've actively sought out information on that area and storm, Texas and Louisiana and Harvey, it doesn't seem like we're seeing or reading or hearing much about their plight now. We have, again, moved on, as a country, as a people. We're no longer paying them any "never mind."

Meanwhile, as a matter of fact, yet another hurricane is out there and building strength and heading for the same areas. It is Hurricane Marie, thank you very much. And tropical storm Lee is right behind.

So yeah, we're moving on. We're too busy to keep up with all that rebuilding down there in the ravaged South.

And speaking of moving on, how about the areas of the world that have also, in even recent weeks, let alone the last month or so, been ravaged by weather events? Do you have any idea what's been happening lately, around the world?

The Climate Catastrophe We're All Ignoring

Flooding in Bangladesh has submerged a third of the country. (Photo: British Red Cross)

"...multiply the damage from Harvey and Irma a hundredfold and you’ll get a feeling for the climate-related suffering taking place right now in the rest of the world. In India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, an estimated 40 million people have been affected by massive flooding, with over 1,200 deaths. More than one third of Bangladesh’s land mass has been submerged. As if that’s not enough, Africa has been suffering its own under-reported climate disasters, with hundreds of thousands affected by flooding in Nigeria, Niger, Congo, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

So yeah, maybe we need to know and recognize what, exactly, is already taking place in the world so we can put things, everything, in perspective. The climate scientists have said our planet is warming. They said devastating climate events would increase, from droughts to floods, at least.

Maybe we need to pay attention?

Listen?

Act?

Hasn't the Time Finally, Finally Come When Humankind Realizes We Must Work Together?

Look at all that's happened, weather-wise, in the last few weeks, around the world.  Consider all that has taken place recently and that is still, just now, occurring. This was at the end of August.

Sierra Leone mudslides 

'kill more than 1,000'

We all know what happened in Southeast Texas and Western Louisiana at about that same time.

Harvey crashes into Texas and Louisiana

This took place last night.

Mexico Earthquake, Strongest in a Century, 

Kills Dozens

Mexico rocked by one of the 

most powerful earthquakes recorded

This, in fact, is what's going on now as most of us know.

Hurricane Irma destroys St. Maarten

Hurricane Irma hit Barbuda like a 'bomb,' 

prime minister says

Hurricane Irma: 

A Practically Impossible Storm 

Major Hurricane Irma to deliver 

destructive blow to Florida this weekend

But this is also going on now, as too many, I think, aren't aware.

South Asia floods: Estimated 40 million across India, Bangladesh, Nepal affected

Then check this out. This is what's coming up, for pity's sake, in the next week or so.

Hurricane Jose looms for Barbuda 

and other Irma-damaged islands

Not to be done there, with all the hurricanes and flooding and all that water, the world over, we can't forget the parts of our own nation, whole sections, over states, that are so dry and hot and what that's doing to them.

Pacific Northwest Fires 

Smother Region in Smoke and Ash

Rare heat wave bakes San Francisco; fires rage through West

San Francisco sets all-time heat record downtown at 106 degrees

Pacific Northwest Wildfires Severe 

in Intensity | NASA

Smoke from British Columbia fires 

shrouds Northwest with poor air

Ash covers Oregon cities, 

wildfire smoke chokes West

It's not just the US, either.

Seattle chokes as wildfire smoke 

from Canada blankets the Northwest

Keep in mind, too, this is only the last few weeks, up to now. It's only a partial list. It's not everything, like this, that has taken place this year. It's my contention we can't, right now, keep up with all the really large, jarring, killing and home destroying weather and Earth events on the planet presently.

So this is my question.

Isn't it time we all, here on this rock, here on planet Earth, all we humans, started realizing we really are all "in this together"? That we need one another? Rich, poor, old, young, everyone?

Isn't it long, long overdue?

Up to now, it seems this has, too much, almost singularly, guided us.

Link:

Disaster Recovery Should Heal, Not Divide, Our Communities

Could This Be the Year We All Finally Admit Global Warming?

After the flooding and mudslides, killing approximately 1,000 people in Sierra Leone last week and the widespread, devastating flooding in Bangladesh, along with Hurricane Harvey decimating so much of Houston and Southeast Texas and West Louisiana, then the record-breaking high temperatures in the Western US, there is this.

San Francisco smashes all-time record high temperature, hits 106 degrees

Anyone who knows anything of San Francisco knows that's insane.

And it doesn't stop there. With all of California's record-breaking high temperatures, wildfires have, again this year, been breaking out.

Scorched Bay Area now choking on smoke from raging wildfires in Northern California

All the way South to Los Angeles.

Wildfires spur evacuations 

around Burbank

This is not alarmist, either. These are facts. These are real, actual events, not concerns about what may happen in the future.

Then there's Irma, building this moment.

Hurricane Irma remains potential threat 

to the East Coast, 

possibly matching Harvey’s wind strength

And finally, this.

Two new tropical threats are taking shape in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean

Could we all get on this same bus now?

Please?

Links:

A third of Bangladesh under water as flood devastation widens

Floods kill over 1,200 in India, Nepal and Bangladesh