Switching America to Solar -- How Possible?

This video shows how very possible it could be, that it is, to switch America to solar energy.



Not only is this true, factual, but actually, if we would use our glass skyscrapers, in our cities, to have and use transparent solar cells on them, as well as the roofs of our homes, the land needed to power the nation shrinks yet more and very likely, dramatically.

Face it. We Like Money More

Click on the picture.  Read it.

At What Point Do We Agree On Man-Made Global Warming and Climate Change?

With all that's going on this year meteorologically, at what point do people give in and admit that there is global warming, first and that, second, it is, in fact at least heavily human-influenced if not out-and-out humankind created and that we have to do things about it? And soon as possible.

There have been many, many weather events this year, certainly, like all the hundreds of fires across Canada, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and California, at minimum.

Jul 27, 2015 Scorched earth: U.S. wildfires 

near record level 

What Washington state's wildfires tell us about climate change

Wildfires have now burned a massive 

8 million acres

Then, more recently, like yesterday, there was the unprecedented, unseasonable and deadly sandstorm in the Middle East.

Huge dust storm roars through 

Middle East

For the second week in a row, an expansive dust storm slashed visibility and put hundreds in the hospital with respiratory ailments across the Middle East. The countries most affected include Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

This storm comes soon after another dust storm, which was shaped like a pinwheeling cyclone that absorbed light, drastically lowered visibility across Iraq on Sept. 1.

'Unprecedented' sandstorm blasts across 

Middle East

'Unprecedented' sandstorm envelops Lebanon and Syria

Massive sandstorm blankets Middle East for a second day

Not only was there this 2 day sandstorm across several nations in the Middle East but there have actually been many duststorms, internationally, across the globe of late:

Mystery of the dust storms 

sweeping the world

Today we get word of another unprecedented rain and flooding in Japan and not just heavy but, again, unprecedented.

Terrified residents wait for evacuation by helicopter as the overflowing Kinugawa River rages through Joso, Ibaraki prefecture; 90,000 people were forced to flee their homes

Japan floods: City of Joso hit by 

'unprecedented' rain

Record rainfall in Japan has burst riverbanks, ripped houses from their foundations and forced over 100,000 people to flee their homes. The aftermath of Typhoon Etau has also washed tons of radioactive water from the ruined Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific.

In dramatic scenes reminiscent of the tsunami disaster that struck the country’s coast in 2011, residents of Joso City, 34 miles north-east of Tokyo, were rescued from rooftops by Self-Defence Force helicopters. Houses were swamped by a muddy deluge from the Kinugawa River as people were winched to safety, some clutching family pets.

Check out this facts of this rain and flood (emphasis added here):

Weeks of near-daily rain had already left much of Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, north/north-east of Tokyo, deluged before the typhoon struck, dumping over 500mm (about 20 inches) of precipitation in just 24 hours in some places – twice the average for the entire month of September.  At one point early today over 900,000 people were advised to evacuate. So far, more than 90,000 had been forced to flee the “wall of water”.

It seems the recurring adjective in all this is that each of these events, vastly different as they are and from far flung corners of the planet, is "unprecedented." It's either unprecedented or historic or record-breaking, all true and applicable here.

Other "unprecedented" factors this year? Here's one:

2015 May Just Be Hottest Year on Record

Here's another:

World's Glaciers Melting Faster Than 

Ever Before Recorded

And this last one:

Sea level rise accelerating faster 

than thought

Mind you, these aren't projections, either. This isn't warnings now of what could or might happen in the future. These things are already occurring and they are occurring now, not 20 or 50 or 100 years in the future. And all these events are killing thousands upon thousands of people and displacing and making homeless millions.

Put those few things together---warmer temperatures, more glacier and ice cap melt and rising oceans and to what simple but obvious conclusion do you surely have to come?

On Climate Change

A Facebook friend of mine, Steven McCain made this observation:

Climate change is either true or false. We have a 50% chance of being right. That leaves us with only 4 options.

1. It's true and we take action. We leave a better world for our descendants.

2. It's true and we take no action. The world as we know it disappears.

3 It's false and we take action. We leave a better world for our descendants.

4. It's false and we take no action. We leave a more polluted world for our descendants.

It's basically the same as this cartoon:

Think happy thoughts, kids. 

Positive thoughts.

What 2014 Was -- And Why It Matters

According to Scientific American:

2014 to Be Hottest Year Ever Measured

Yes, 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded in the history of humankind (though admittedly, in the "big picture" of things, that's a short time frame--around 150 years or so).

This year will likely be the hottest on record for the planet, with global temperatures 1.03 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 1961-to-1990 average, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization.

But here's why this is important and why we should do something about it. It's part of a far bigger trend:

This would make 2014 the 38th consecutive year with an anomalously high annual global temperature.

Each year for the past 38 years--nearly 4 straight decades, the new year tops the other in temperature increase.

Clearly, that's a trend.

And it's not a trend sitting there, all by itself. Here's another, rather obvious result:

World's Major Ice Caps Melting at Unprecedented Rate

And satellite images show it, in case there are any disbelievers out there:

Other possible effects this could and will likely have in the future for us:

Major U.S. Cities Face More Blackouts under Climate Change

Final continental drought here: Australia

So we've seen there's widespread drought in China, Iran, here in North America here, as I've posted. There is also a very widespread, devastating, years long drought in Australia, as well, ladies and gentlemen:



The polar ice caps are melting, the glaciers are likewise shrinking, melting, the seas are rising and there are widespread droughts on several of the continents, all at the same time.

If that isn't from an overall rise in the planet's temperatures, then what IS it from?

And if it is, shouldn't we--rather wisely--do something about it?

Especially since it's for our own survival, anyway?

Big drought in America presently

Okay, we were all cold here a week ago in America, what with the "polar vortex" that came out of the North.

And for a few days or a week or more, the climate change deniers---you know, the ones ignoring the glacial and ice cap melts and the rising oceans, those people?  Well, they all said, for a few days, "This proves global warming doesn't exist."

Yeah, whatever.

Well, along with the glacier ice melts and the polar ice caps doing the same and the oceans rising from all that melt (how you ignore all that, I don't know), we have these:

Record Driest Year in California, Parts of Oregon

Extreme Fire Danger, Record Highs in California as Drought Worsens

And this is winter, obviously, when the West Coast usually gets most of its rainfall.

North California drought threatens farmers, ag workers, cities – and you

So whaddya' think?  

Shall we keep on doing nothing whatever about climate change?

What's it going to take? How long do we wait?

Until people are starving?

The warming, even hot, drying Earth

It's not just the ice caps and glaciers shrinking that are the problem, as we keep learning.

51 uncontained wildfires in the US right now.

And if you remember last Summer, you know we had wildfires from our Southern, Mexican border, in every US State in the West, all the way to the Northern, Canadian border.

But there's no global warming.

Oh, hell no.

Links:

_________________________________________________________

Current Wildfire Map & Satellite Images - Wildfire Disaster Interactive Map - View a continuously updated map of US wildfire locations, perimeters, fire potential areas, burn areas, precipitation, and social media: 

Wildfire Map & Satellite Images | Wildfire Disaster Interactive Map

You can back that map off, too, and look at Alaska. They have wildfires raging, too.

And then there's this:

The Next Chapter in Colorado's Water Supply Crisis

Try and have a nice weekend.

Near 90 Sunday?

You got that right. 87 degrees--nearly 90--forecast by NBC 41 Action News this evening, for Sunday's weather. I'm still dying to hear Mike Thompson climb down off his earlier "There's no such thing as 'global warming' or 'climate change'" stance. As Mr. Thompson himself pointed out this evening, this is the normal forecast temperature for--get this--July 3. Yowza. Enjoy your weekend, y'all.

This is mid-March?

While working Saturday, an ice cream truck came by. Today, the 13th of March--still winter--it is forecast to be 82 degrees. Tomorrow? 86 degrees. (Keep in mind that's nearly 90). Now? The lady next door is running her lawn mower. So I ask you---THIS IS MID-MARCH??

Climate change deniers out there?

For any and all climate change deniers out there, please see the above photo. From the internet last evening: "Ghorama is an island located in West Bengal, India, that is eroding into the ocean due to a dramatic increase in the sea level. The photographer posed locals on disappearing segments of the island. According to the artist, locals who still live on the larger segment of the island expect to be relocated within the next 25 years." (Photo: Daesung Lee/Sipa Press) There's the glaciers and ice caps melting and then there's this. Ignore any- and everything else if you wish, but you can't deny these things. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-1320966603-slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fsnapshots-1320966603-slideshow%252Fsnapshots111312-photo-1326482674.html

Good and timely question

Is Earth Day Dead?

Here's another good question, to my mind:  don't we need Earth Day now, more than ever, to raise awareness of what we're doing to this planet in so many ways?

Links:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378816/Texas-wildfires-Million-acres-scorched-towns-red-alert.html 

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_6d48fc16-8edd-591e-acd3-91beac10804f.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/21/rick-perry-pray-for-rain/ 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/04/19/135510923/washing-away-the-arctic-coastline?print=1

Russia's disbelief in global warming? What about ours?

There is an article out right now at Time Magazine asking "Will Russia's Heat Wave End Its Global-Warming Doubts? It seems the people over there, too, apparently didn't believe there was any change coming about, in spite of the polar ice caps and the glaciers the world over, melting. So yeah, I have to ask, what with Russia's literally, historically unprecedented and ongoing heat wave over a good deal of the country, their drought (admittedly a possibly if not likely shorter-term indication, however problematic right now), the fires raging out of control, the ice sheet that just broke off Iceland this week that is larger than the island of Manhattan, the glaciers that have been shrinking for the past few decades at least and the ice caps that are doing the same, are people in the US, here at home, going to "wake up and smell the forest fires"? Are we going to collectively face facts and accept that how we all--worldwide--are living is unsustainable and that we have to do things about it? I doubt it. But I hope it. I hope we'll learn and all accept that we have to change. And soon. Link to additional posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_sc/eu_ice_island http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/11-1 http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/09-4

Quote of the day--warm enough for you?

If Russia's current heatwave being the worst in 1000 years and doubling the daily death rate in Moscow wasn't enough, check out this sweaty stat: According to Wunder Blog (via Mongabay), already this summer 17 nations have set or matched their all-time heat records. Not to mention an all-time hottest temperature for Pakistan, and possibly all of Asia. --From the Treehugger blog. At what point do we collectively believe in man-made climate change? Then, at what point do we all start doing something about it? Just asking. Link to original post: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/17-nations-beat-all-time-heat-records-this-year.php

Just focus on the glaciers and ice caps

Forget everything else you hear, read or see on high and low temperatures locally or anywhere on the planet, when it comes to global warming or climate change or however you want to refer to it. Let's focus instead on one thing--or one group, anyway. Let's focus on the ice caps and glaciers of the world, shall we? They're both--all, really--melting. And they're melting at unprecedented rates. Sure, a big swath of Russia is on fire and their food crop is severely affected and they're having to move around their missiles and planes and other weapons and, finally, they're experiencing their highest temperatures in the history of record-keeping but let's ignore all that. We're not Russians, after all, right? and we're not there. But pay attention to the glaciers and ice caps and keep in mind that, again, they're both melting to our peril, and they are melting at unprecedented rates. Check this out, today, from The Huffington Post: A giant ice island has broken off the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland. A University of Delaware researcher says the floating ice sheet covers 100 square miles – more than four times the size of New York's Manhattan Island. (See link below) 100 square miles of ice, folks. Can you even imagine that? I know I can't. And it just broke off the rest of the continent. And it's floating away. And melting. We're getting warmer and it's decidedly not a good thing. The way we live is not sustainable. Look around. We need to change. We need to use less. Keep cool this weekend, folks. (Just not too cool.) Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/07/petermann-glacier-giant-i_n_674326.html

This is why scientists think there is global climate change--and why we need to be concerned

Photos show dramatic shrinking of Mount Everest glaciers Glaciers on Mount Everest are shrinking, according to startling new photographs. The two pictures show an "alarming" retreat in ice over more than 80 years. The first was taken in 1921 by British mountaineer George Mallory, who later died trying to conquer Everest. The Asia Society commissioned the same picture to be taken of the main Rongbuk glacier on the northern slope of Mount Everest in Tibet in 2007. The new picture by mountaineer David Breashears show that the glacier is shrunk and withered. A spokesman for the Asia Society said the picture was proof the ice is melting because of climate change, threatening water sources in highly populated areas of India and China. "The photographs reveal a startling truth: the ice of the Himalaya is disappearing," he said. "They reveal an alarming loss in ice mass." It's not because Al Gore wants to benefit commercially from global warming or whatever we call it (though he may, I'm not disputing that---nor do I care). It's because the 2 ice caps and, to my knowledge, all the glaciers on the planet are melting and shrinking at alarming, heretofore unseen rates, folks. And that's hard scientific data--not opinion. Link to original post: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7895611/Photos-show-dramatic-shrinking-of-Mount-Everest-glaciers.html

No climate change, eh, Mike?

According to rocket scientist and local meteorologist Mike Thompson, there isn't any such thing as climate change or global warming.

This news comes to us today from a fellow blogger at Bottom Line Communications and Tony at TKC (see links below).

According to Bottom Line: "Veteran WDAF-FOX4 meteorologist Mike Thompson went on the "KCMO Morning Show With Chris Stigall" on KCMO-710 AM (12/2) taking the controversial stance that global warming is not man-made."

Who knows what that's supposed to mean.

Does he mean it's fictitious and made up or does he mean there is such a thing as global warming but it's "man-made"?

Who can say?

All I know, Mike, is that the ice caps and glaciers are melting and, if you'd read the article link below, from CNN, you'd see that people in Alaska are losing ground--literally, they're losing permafrost, earth, and homes, etc.--right out from under them.

"Coastal erosion has been an issue for decades here, but rising global temperatures have started to thaw the permafrost that once helped anchor this village in place. Sea ice that protects Shishmaref's coast from erosion melts earlier in the spring and forms later in the fall. As a result, the increasingly mushy and exposed soil along Shishmaref's shore is falling into the water in snowmobile-sized chunks."

How do you 'splain that, Mike?


Links: http://www.bottomlinecom.com/kcnews/thompsonglobalwarming.html

http://www.tonyskansascity.com/2008/04/mike-thompson-compares-global-warming.html

http://www.tonyskansascity.com/2009/12/kansas-city-weather-newsie-mike.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/12/03/shishmaref.alaska.climate.change/