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?

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?

Floods, Fires and Scorching Heat the World Over Presently

• Record Heat in Southern California, and an Ominous Start to Wildfire Season

• More temperature records set 

• as heat wave grips Southern California




• Southern California sets all-time 

• heat records amid broiling conditions




• Homes destroyed by fires and temperature 

• records shattered as heat wave slams Southern California




• Western wildfires: 1 dead in blaze 

• near California-Oregon border

Wildfires roar across parched, hot West

Wildfires 2018 Map: More Than 60 Fires, 

Including the Spring Creek 

Torrential rains kill at least 81 

in western Japan

Heatwave warning extended up to two 

weeks in Ireland as water shortage critical

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

Turns Out It Is the Heat After All

Have you seen what's going on this week, just now, in the Southwest? The weather? The temperatures and forecasts?

American Just Cancelled 43 Flights to Phoenix Because This Place Is a Literal Hellscape

While the headline is more than a bit of hyperbole, the fact is, some jet planes can't handle temperatures over 118 degrees. it's been forecast for Phoenix today to be over that. It's supposed to be 120 degrees there today and 119 tomorrow, Wednesday.

And keep in mind, it's not even July yet, of course, let alone the hottest month of the year down there, August.

Then check this out.  While this has become more common, not that long ago it wasn't like this. The following took place in June, 2013.

Death Valley hit hottest U.S. June temperature ever

The temperature hit 129 for the first time that year.  Now? It's not uncommon.

Then this happened, just last year.

Two Middle East locations hit 129 degrees, hottest ever in Eastern Hemisphere, maybe the world

If a person didn't know any better, you'd think the planet was heating up or something.

Links:

Too hot to fly: Dozens of US flight cancellations due to excessive heat

Canceled flights, burning door handles: Heat hits Southwest

Too Hot to Fly? Climate Change May Take a Toll on Air Travel

Planes, Road Burns And Snakes: 5 Things That Extreme Heat Brings

Quote of the Day -- On a Cleaner, Healthier Planet

From a friend's page on Facebook.

As long expected, Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement, a worldwide pact to curb the devastation we are inflicting upon our planet through greenhouse gas emissions. In doing so, his administration once again put the needs of lobbyists, crony capitalists, and feeble short term gains over the health, well-being, and safety of us, our children, and future generations. We now join the illustrious ranks of Syria & Nicaragua as the only countries not a part of the Paris Agreement. Rather than being on the cutting edge of technology & discovery that would energize our economy and make us truly a world leader, we are shrinking back to the shadows, making conspiracy theories our policy bedrock, paranoia and disfunction our driving force, a dying fossil fuel industry our bedfellows. We are nowhere close to being great again...we are being openly mocked by our allies, openly challenged by our enemies...a shallow mockery of a great nation who once landed on the freakin' moon!

Over 70% of our population, including many oil and coal executives, fully support our inclusion in this agreement. The audacity of this President to put the needs of a few corrupt politicians (22 GOP senators who received over $10m from big oil urged Trump to back out) over the will of the people shows his utter tone-deafness, his infinite pliability, his unbridled ignorance.

--Daniel Thompson

Links:

Everyone But Donald Trump Is Standing By the Paris Climate Agreement

Gergen: Why Trump committed one of US's most shameful acts

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.