Hurricane!

A look at the psychology of climate change.

Are Live Earth’s ambitious really so low? Where is the fire, and the anger, and the leadership? The theory is that these bite sized simple first steps encourage and empower further actions. All the evidence – and there is plenty of it- is that this will not work. No mass movement or widespread social change has ever been inspired by napkins. It is mendacious to suggest that the low carbon economy can be created by these tiny measures. And dangerous too, because it encourages people to undervalue the seriousness of the issue or to adopt minimal tokenistic behaviours.

Waiting for hurricanes in the 2007 season reminds this blogger of 2004 and Hurricane Charley.

Don’t be writing the season off just yet… just think back to 2004 when we were waiting for the “C” named storm to develop in early August. Shortly after the start of August Major Hurricane Charley made landfall in Punta Gorda, Florida as a category 4 hurricane. Look at what named storm were waiting on now? Chantal is the next in line to be named, and we might see her drifting around some where in the Atlantic basin very soon.

Some changes in Congressman Dingell's approach on climate change?

Dingell’s proposals are a good first step, but I, and many others in the 15th district, would be happier if they more closely approximated Henry Waxman’s proposed Safe Climate Act, which has been praised by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the League of Conservation Voters, and several other groups that seem to comprehend the serious threat of global warming. The truth of the matter is that we don’t have time for a lot of steps. We need this first one to be significant…

Waiting for the outdoor wedding, and looking at the coast.

I miss the days when summer just meant afternoon rain, 98% humidity, and temperatures hovering near 100F. Ever since the 2004 hurricane season, when four high-level hurricanes slammed into Florida, the state’s inhabitants are expectedly nervous; news channels mention hurricane preparedness at every chance and many retailers will no doubt find their shelves cleared of water, batteries, and other items that are part of the sales tax holiday.

Consider ice for your cooling needs.

The article points out the fact that not only is this a great way to save money, but it also helps to decrease the power demand and the possibility of blackouts. Another benefit of the ice cooling system is its ecological impact. According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, using the system means less pollution: it’s “equal to taking 223 cars off the streets or planting 1.9 million acres of trees to absorb carbon dioxide from electrical use for a year.”

Hurricane Katrina evacuees have a new problem.

FEMA strikes again, causing the Katrina victims even more distress. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans FEMA contracted for over $3 billion to purchase nearly 150,000 trailers as temporary homes for evacuees who had lost their homes. There is one problem with these trailers though. Formaldehyde.

A look at global warming, data collection, and NOAA data sets.

This too is wrong. Since scientists started thinking about climate trends, concerns have been raised about the continuity of records - whether they are met. stations, satellites or ocean probes. The danger of mistakenly interpreting jumps due to measurement discontinuities as climate trends is well known. Some of the discontinuities (which can be of either sign) in weather records can be detected using jump point analyses (for instance in the new version of the NOAA product), others can be adjusted using known information (such as biases introduced because changes in the time of observations or moving a station).

Al Gore seems more interested in climate change than a run for President.

This is mighty powerful stuff, but to me, this does not sound like a man who is considering a run for the presidency. If Gore were running, he would have avoided advocating a 90 percent reduction in the US's CO2 emissions, he would not have attempted to shoulder the burden of CO2 reduction on developed countries, and he would have avoided anything the Right could label (predictably) as "alarmist."