Tag: climate change
Attenborough Warns of Collapse of Civilizations and Extinctions
“Right now we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: Climate change. If we don’t take action the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
— David Attenborough, naturalist and broadcaster, sounding a dire warning in a speech Monday to the U.N. climate conference in Poland, NPR reports.
Carbon Dioxide Levels Just Breached Limit Not Experienced in Millions of Years
Scientific American: “The world just passed another round-numbered climate milestone. Scientists predicted it would happen this year and lo and behold, it has.
“On Tuesday, the Mauna Loa Observatory recorded its first-ever carbon dioxide reading in excess of 410 parts per million (it was 410.28 ppm in case you want the full deal). Carbon dioxide hasn’t reached that height in millions of years. It’s a new atmosphere that humanity will have to contend with, one that’s trapping more heat and causing the climate to change at a quickening rate.”
EPA Head Say Global Warming Might Be a Good Thing
“I think there’s assumptions made that because the climate is warming, that that necessarily is a bad thing.”
— EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, in an interview with KSNV-TV, doubting if rising global temperatures are actually harmful to humans. He also suggested that global warming could be seen as a good thing for people, adding that civilizations tend to flourish when it’s warm.
Devastating Report Confirms Earth is Losing the Battle Against Global Warming
2016 was the hottest year in 137 years of record-keeping, and the third in a row to be so noted. That and other omens are confirmed in a new report available from the American Meteorological Society called, “State of the Climate 2016.”
The report, peer-reviewed by international scientists, describes the following “highlights.”
- Greenhouse gases highest on record
- Global surface temperature highest on record
- Sea surface temperatures highest on record
- Global sea level highest on record
- Extremes in the water cycle and precipitation
- Arctic continued to warm, sea ice extent remained low
- Antarctic has record low sea ice extent
- Global ice and snow cover decline
- Tropical cyclones well above average overall
13 Federal Agencies Buck Trump Administration on Climate Change
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A draft report by scientists for 13 federal agencies found the average temperature in the U.S. has risen rapidly since 1980 and that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. It contradicts the Trump administration’s rhetoric on the issue, reports the New York Times.
Majority Disagrees with Trump’s Decision on Paris Accord
59% to 28%
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds most Americans oppose President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, 59% to 28%. “The reactions also break down sharply among partisan lines, though Republicans are not as united in support of the withdrawal as Democrats are in opposition of it. A 67% majority of Republicans support Trump’s action, but that drops to 22% among political independents and 8% of Democrats. Just over 6 in 10 independents and 8 in 10 Democrats oppose Trump’s action.”
Obama Speaks About Trump’s Paris Accord Decision
Barack Obama put out the follow statement on President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement:
A year and a half ago, the world came together in Paris around the first-ever global agreement to set the world on a low-carbon course and protect the world we leave to our children.
It was steady, principled American leadership on the world stage that made that achievement possible. It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well. And what made that leadership and ambition possible was America’s private innovation and public investment in growing industries like wind and solar – industries that created some of the fastest new streams of good-paying jobs in recent years, and contributed to the longest streak of job creation in our history.
It Sounds Like …
You can use the phrase “primate mange,”
Or you can say the words “nameplate flange.”
But if you work for the Trumphirate today
There’s one thing you can never say,
We won’t tell what it it is, but it sounds like “castrate grange.”
Al Gore is Back, Just in Time
I woke up thinking about the disheartening news yesterday that Trump is doing his level best to set back Obama’s efforts to avert climate change. And then I saw this video, and realized that Al Gore is still out there somewhere, plugging away at making it better. As Gore put it in his response to Trump’s announcement:
No matter how discouraging this executive order may be, we must, we can, and we will solve the climate crisis. No one man or group can stop the encouraging and escalating momentum we are experiencing in the fight to protect our planet.
