http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/09/20129261931221137.html

Climate change is costing millions of lives and billions of dollars according to a new study, commissioned by 20 countries.
 
Nauru is one nation feeling the effects.
 
And the President of the tiny island country is calling for more help from the United Nations.
   
Al Jazeera's Caroline Malone reports.

 

One of the argument presented by denialists (or glorious "heretics" as some people call them — including themselves as they fight the scientific orthodoxy), is that global temperatures change according to natural cycles. 

I could not agree more with this... 
Nothing is ever fixed, apart from fictional fixed points in time in Doctor Who... 

Change is necessary for "things to exist"... And science knows of the many natural cycles that have an impact on global temperatures: the sun cycles, the earth wobbles and others... Actually, without science we would not know much about these spin cycles apart from seasons and night and day...
One of these natural cycles is being upset by unnatural clowns, us, humans. Well not really, unless we have a fixation on some tutelary, we are part of nature, aren't we? Thus what we do can be claimed to be part of nature, including our mobile phones... Natural cellphones? The call of nature? I like that...

Even if we modify the wild spaces into concrete surfaces, we are still "natural" beasts unless we pray to the impotent omnipotent to get us out of here fast... So, as "humans" what we do is either the work of the devil, or that of god, or that of nature, unless we are unchained crazy beasts running amok and breeding like rabbits. 
We're not crazy beasts, really, but we are silly clowns, having a good time (why not) riding on the cycle of nature, puncturing its tyres, poking sticks in the wheels of evolution and generally fooling around — that's entertainment... Things would not be too bad if there were not so many of us vying for the saddle... But, with so many on the machine, the cycle of nature is running down the road into a cliff... and we have no brakes... And we've added a zillion V8 engines to it to make it go faster... 

The cycle that we are upsetting most on the surface of this planet — apart from the reproduction cycle of cockroaches and other gnats — is the carbon cycle... It has been observed and confirmed via rigourous scientific observation and analysis of data that CO2 levels and temperatures of the atmosphere are somewhat strongly linked...

Some scientists actually have studied this very carefully and have come to the very annoying conclusion that more CO2 in the atmosphere, the higher the temperature will go... Studies of other planets atmosphere have confirmed this ... though this would not matter much on this planet if we were not so temperature sensitive — unlike the zutbots sent to Mercury and Venus, machines that had to withstand temperatures of 400 degrees Celsius plus...

Should the atmosphere not be so thin and should the gaseous mix not so specifically respondent to having a cold or catching the flu, we would be laughing all the way, even on the edges of the oceans where we'd get out flat feet tickled by a rising sea level... So why not have fun, except that being told by some disused dusty book that having fun is sinful?
Fun fun fun is the present way to go and let's fill more party balloons with our own farts...

But still that scientific kill-joy tells us we're stuck with a conundrum... The more fossil fuel we use, the more CO2 goes into the atmosphere and the higher the temperature goes... Should we care?... Ahahaha.. Laught it off... Let's clown about and claim that this does not matter. Let's fool around more and more and enjoy things as they are a-changing...

Apparently, according to an article in the Fin Review — an article I have not read, but have been told about — boards of clown companies have to dismiss the concept of global warming outright.
Otherwise their directors could be sued for the increasing problem since most of the CO2 warming the atmosphere comes from their clown factories, power stations and lollipop shops... I dispute this. They are no more responsible than we all are — the clowns consuming the laughing gas...

I can see it now: a bunch of nifty clown lawyers suing the entire world population of clowns versus the entire world clown people — a court case with no end to it: a belching cash cow for these clowns of the law who would have to sue their own pants off as well!! All in good fun. Pandemonium galore, laughter, laughter, laughter...

And then I woke up...

Gus Leonisky

 

 

Two Cheers for Heresy on Global Warming

Climate change is a cycle—of faddish opinions

...

The tendency to attack dissent as heresy hardly engenders free and open debate. Just a couple of years after I read those Counterpunch columns, the New York Times Magazine ran a cover story on Freeman Dyson, one of the most brilliant physicists of his generation. He was labeled “The Civil Heretic” for his strong public skepticism on global warming theories. Given the recent track record of the Times and its peers, I’m half inclined to automatically favor the heretics.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/two-cheers-for-heresy-on-global-warming/

Gus: This article — crap cleverly disguised as crap — is designed to sow doubt in the head of conservative people and reinforce their climate change is crap attitude. Read article above, about natural cycles... See below the Vostok ice core record:

 

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/09/20129261931221137.html

Climate change is costing millions of lives and billions of dollars according to a new study, commissioned by 20 countries.
 
Nauru is one nation feeling the effects.
 
And the President of the tiny island country is calling for more help from the United Nations.
   
Al Jazeera's Caroline Malone reports.

Gus: some people are less lucky than others...

----------------------

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-27/study-finds-baby-boomers-fat-and-chronically-ill/4283794

Obesity among baby boomers is more than double the rate of their parents at the same age, a study has concluded.

Researchers from Adelaide's three universities have completed the first stage of a report on the generation born between the end of the Second World War and the mid-1960s.

The study said the proportion of baby boomers with three or more chronic conditions was 700 per cent greater than the previous generation.

They have twice the rate of asthma and hearing loss, three times the rate of diabetes and almost double the cholesterol levels of their parents.

Professor Graeme Hugo from the University of Adelaide said the findings were alarming and evidence that new public policies were needed.

Gus: not only we populate the planet at the rabbit rate —  four times the population of clowns now than when I was born — we're getting bigger, fatter, sloppier and sicker... living longer with diseased loopy brains...

----------------------------

http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/climate-change/emissions/

 

Gus: the Yanks should lead on this issue, but they have a stronger allegiance to loopy eidolons than to this planet...

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http://grist.org/climate-energy/how-certain-can-we-be-about-climate-change/

This is all … kind of dumb. “Certainty vs. uncertainty” is a red herring. Of course the science isn’t “settled.” Of course substantial uncertainty remains about what will happen and the way to avoid or adapt to it. Of course that doesn’t mean what climate deniers say it means.

For the sake of clarity (and to set up my next post), let’s take a closer look at the uncertainty around climate change — how much there is, what kind there is, what it means for us. We turn, as one does in these situations, to a new white paper from the World Bank. It’s about, among other things, climate and “deep uncertainty.”

First, what we know: We know that CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere, that it’s causing global temperatures to rise, and that rising temperatures will have substantial (and largely harmful) effects on ecosystems. We’re pretty sure we can already see that signal through the noise of natural weather variations, but the signal is sure to get stronger later this century.

The problem studied here is that of uncertainty in predicting the travails of global warming, not the certainty of its existence. By now, any smart person would know that humans are using fossil fuels that have been sequestered for million of years — that is to say, this carbon was out of the surface equation since million years ago. Adding this carbon into the atmosphere in the form of CO2, methane and other products influences the atmosphere to mirror the climate of these time long ago... High sea level (75 metres above present level), warm climes (no ice on the Antarctic, etc...) and strong desertification of many places... 

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19739732

Thousands of people across the UK face another day of flooding misery, but BBC forecasters say the worst rain is over.

There are more than 50 flood warnings - indicating flooding is expected - and 80 flood alerts - meaning flooding is possible - in England and Wales, and three flood alerts in Scotland.

Towns and villages along the river Ouse in North Yorkshire are particularly at risk, with some homes already flooded.

It follows the most intense September storm in 30 years.

More than 300 properties have flooded since the storm began on Sunday, including in Morpeth, Durham, Chester-le-Street and Stockton, the Environment Agency said.

----

The heaviest rain in decades have pounded Nigeria causing more than a dozen deaths and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

Many of the displaced are now sheltering in camps set up by rescue organisations as floods continue to sweep across the country.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege reports from Yola in Adamawa State, one of the worst affected areas.

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/09/201292773149602987.html

 

Gus: just a small sample of "floods of the century" recurring more often, while in other places, "drought of the century" becomes common every ten years or less...

------------------------------------

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-27/arctic-sea-ice-maps-before-after-1984-2012/4283418

NASA has released maps showing sea ice coverage of the Arctic in 1984 and 2012, after researchers revealed that sea ice melted to its lowest level on record this year. Use the interactive graphic below to see the comparison.

Gus: this map shows that, in 28 years, the surface of Arctic summer ice has basically halved. In a linear equation it would take another 30 years for the ice to be completely vanished, but with the compounding effect of global warming, this event could happen within 5 years.

We are now riding on the LONG CYCLE that takes us back to 120 million years ago or so, to the early Cretaceous with variants on continental plate positioning... Trouble? You bet...

Happy clowning...

 

Was climate change responsible for the Mongol hordes?

First scientists told us that a “distinct drying” during the third century might have encouraged the fall of the Roman Empire, prompting critics to decry the idea as the“latest global warming scare tactic.” Now the journal Science is highlighting similar speculations that wet and warm conditions in the central Asian steppe in the 13th century help explain the exceptionally rapid expansion of the imfamously cruel Mongols under Genghis Khan.

Mongol horsemen relied on domesticated animals; Amy Hessl, one of the scientists involved in the research, explained to LiveScience in July that a single Mongol fighter required 10 horses, plus livestock that could keep up with the horde and provide food. Wetter conditions in the steppe would have encouraged grass and other plants to grow, 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/was-climate-change-responsible-for-the-mongol-hordes/2012/09/28/33405d1c-0994-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_blog.html?hpid=z3

See "natural" climate cycles in articles from top...

 

America, this is how you’re using your energy

By Philip Bump

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy, is tasked with determining how much energy the United States uses and what it is used for. Wondering how much energy people use in their houses to stay warm? The EIA has that answer. Curious about fuel efficiency trends over time? Ask the EIA. Wondering how much oil America uses compared to how much it imports? Et cetera, et cetera.

Each year the agency puts together a massive report answering that question. Yesterday, it released the report for 2011. Here are some of the most interesting findings.

http://grist.org/news/america-this-is-how-youre-using-your-energy/

 

 

The longest dry spell recorded at the Alice Springs airport has been broken.

It had not rained there since April, but three millimetres of rain fell overnight.

Senior forecaster Ashley Patterson says it is due to a cloud band moving over the area.

"The previous record was 147 days in 1972 and we've actually recorded 157 days without rain at Alice Springs airport," she said.

"The long long dry spell has been broken."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-29/light-rain-breaks-record-alice-springs-dry-spell/4287502

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Note: in southern Spain, it fell 245 millimetres in about the same length of time on Friday morning...

 

 

A tornado has swept through a fairground in a Spanish town, knocking down a ferris wheel and injuring 35 people, while the death toll from flooding in the same southern region of the country has risen to 10.
Friday's tornado damaged several rides and cut electricity in the temporary fair set up in the main square of Gandia, according to its town hall website. It said 15 of the injured were seriously hurt, all of whom were treated on site.
Local media reported the fair in Valencia province was closed to the public at the time of a thunderstorm and that all the injured were fair workers.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/tornado-tears-through-spanish-funfair-20120930-26t2w.html#ixzz27uHNsyJ0

Read article from top to bottom and slam the denialists with a smack on their bottoms which they use for brains...

 

 

"So far we can say it is the mammoth of the century," Mr Tikhonov said.

"An employee of the International Mammoth Committee and me went to the site.

"Judging by its legs, it turned out to be quite a large mammoth, it was lying on its right side at the height of five metres above sea level.

"We had to start the excavation as soon as possible and there were just the two of us."

Joined by employees of the nearby Sopkarga polar station, the scientists spent five days digging out the monster.

The precious find weighing nearly one tonne was transported to the northern city of Dudinka and will later be brought to Saint Petersburg and Moscow where scientists can study it.

Mr Tikhonov said that geneticists might be interested in trying to clone the animal, dubbed Zhenya after the nickname of the boy who discovered it, but he suggested that this would be difficult.

Global warming has thawed ground in northern Russia that is usually almost permanently frozen, leading to the discoveries of a number of mammoth remains.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-06/russian-boy-finds-mammoth-of-the-century/4298948

 

 

AUSTRALIA'S $46 million Antarctic airstrip is melting, leaving the government scrambling to find a new air link to the frozen continent.

The Wilkins runway - carved into ice near Casey station, about 3400 kilometres south-west of Hobart - was commissioned under the Howard government and hailed at its 2008 opening by the then Environment Minister, Peter Garrett.

But unexpected surface melt has sharply curtailed use of the summer airstrip.

Instead of up to 20 chartered flights by an Airbus A-319, as predicted by the Australian Antarctic Division before the runway opened, only four flights landed last season. In 2010-11 there were two. The division has confirmed it is examining creating a new airfield at the ice-free Vestfold Hills, with the likely - and costly - option of building a rock runway.

The division's chief scientist, Nick Gales, recently told a parliamentary committee that trends in Antarctic ice cap melt were faster than almost any records, but the pace was uneven. A University of Tasmania-led study published in Nature yesterday showed a net loss of ice across Antarctica.

The division also revealed there had been problems for two ski-equipped workhorse aircraft used to shuttle expeditioners between polar stations and field camps.

''We are exploring a range of other possible options over the longer term,'' the spokeswoman said. ''No decision has been made to stop using Wilkins runway into the future.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/antarctic-airstrip-melting-away-20121023-283kx.html#ixzz2AA17qZet

Anyone with a brain would suspect that the silly weather we're having in Sydney could be related to Antarctica big melt... So far in October, Sydney has had four winters and three summers and about to have another summer and two winters... Mind you what one calls a winter in Sydney is an average summer for UK beaches as the temperature comes from a night time minimum of say 13 to a maximum day time of 22 degree Celsius...
It's all due to the pattern of high and low pressure over the continent... and while it's 40 in Alice Springs, Sydney shivers with 22... But within two days that central heat is displaced by air mass movements and Sydney gets a 34 or more (I recorded a pocket of 40 on the way up the coast on Saturday)...  Meanwhile the average maximum temperature for Sydney is 22.1 degree Celsius for October.... Thus one can say with a certain amount of confidence that October will be above average... Though it's a bitch to know what to wear...