None dare call it climate change. OK, that’s not true. A lot of us are calling it climate change.
The scale of Sandy was … almost impossible to imagine: WaPo’s Capital Weather Gang is calling this a “500-to-1,000 year precipation event for some parts of the Mid-Atlantic”. Is this an unusual event? Ya think?
The exacerbating effect of climate is obvious in a lot of ways, as Chris Mooney outlines here:
1. More moisture in the air means more rain:
Explains meteorologist Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research: “I have no equivocation in saying that all heavy rainfall events, including this one, have an element of climate change in them, and the level of that contribution will increase in the future.”
2. Sea levels are higher, at least partly because the arctic ice cap is melting. That means that a surge is higher, as NYC is suffering today.
And on and on. Check out Mooney’s article, which quotes MIT Professor Kerry Emmanuel.
This is not some boutique issue. This ain’t hugging trees and spotted owls. This is about whether you can get your work done; whether you can grow food or afford to buy it; whether it’s safe to live anywhere near the water, including in our biggest cities; whether large groups of people are going to have their land, food and water taken away from them, slowly or catastrophically.
People should talk about it. All the time. That means you, Mr./Ms. Reporter, getting your political fix reading this. That means you in the State House. That means you, Ms. Warren and Sen. Brown. If you’re not thinking and talking about this issue — wondering how to prepare for the immediate effects while mitigating the long-term consequences — you are betraying our interests, and that of our children and grandchildren. It’s that simple.
We’ve spent $4+ trillion fighting terror. And yet we refuse to defend ourselves against the clear and present danger of climate change.
We’ve got to be better ancestors than this.
Discuss
13 Comments . Leave a comment below.One of the things that I personally find really annoying is when people talk about floods in terms of the 100-year flood, 500-year flood, etc. without explaining what those terms mean*, or, more importantly, explaining that all our measurements of the likelihood of flood levels come from historical and geological data, which has been rendered completely meaningless by changes in drainage basins. The creation of impermeable surfaces, (parking lots, roads, buildings, etc.) and the re-engineering of rivers to be straighter and narrower lead to large floods happening with much greater frequency and ferocity.
*They refer to probability; an 100-year flood has 1% chance of that flood level or greater in any given year, regardless of when the last “100-year flood” was.
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which means, interestingly, that there is a 63.4% chance of one or more 100-year floods occurring within a 100 year period. This, of course, assumes that 100-year flood events are iid (statistical parlance for not-related-to-each-other).
As devastating as it is that climate change is progressing, try to think back to all the success we have had creating a cleaner earth. I remember living along a river that would turn yellow or green depending upon which dye the manufacturer was dumping that particular day. That can’t happen anymore. We now have fines for people who litter along roadways. (Thank goodness, because for all the trash I still pick up, I can’t imagine what it would look like if there weren’t fines and awareness) People are aware of smog in cities and don’t like it. Even the most unlikely people around me are aware that they need to be more careful. People ARE mindful that the earth and the air and the climate are our most valuable assets and should be cared for. The “Carbon Footprint” was a very successful way to convey to people their role in caring for (or not) our earth? That was something people could easily understand and learn how their individual behavior was contributing to dirtying our world. We need to get back to the carbon footprint message so each person can assess their own need to change behavior, and work on it in a way is suitable for their own lifestyle. Here is a Free Carbon Footprint Calculator from Nature.org Let’s have a fundraiser and advertise! Perhaps you can contact Nature.org and work together with them to help get the message out.
How can we get signs along the roadway that say “Know Your Carbon Footprint” . How do we do that? Can we ask Governor Patrick to approve it somehow, and then maybe have a fundraiser to pay for it? I think it should be official road signs, like the Do Not Litter signs.
not a very good video, but an example of the message. What we really need are official road signs.
I feel fairly certain that if a carbon footprint sign were created, it would have some selling potential. There is an option to create a customized sign. Or maybe you could contact them and see if they might be interested in creating a standard “Carbon Footprint” sign.
“Do Not Litter” signs
Custom Signs
Sea levels are not rising because of Arctic ice. They are however rising due to melting of pretty much every glacier on the planet, plus Antarctica. It’s the difference between ice cubes already in a glass of water, melting, versus taking a full glass of water and adding ice cubes.
But, yeah, pretty much this whole post.
… so knowledgable and precise.
THIS ought to be freaking KILLING it in regards for the “debate” about climate change and whether or not it exists.
Hi, hello, the whole freaking CORN BELT is moving northward. Yeah, this has zero economic impact. /snark
The USDA recently updates their hardiness map, (what kinds of plants can be grown where), fairly uniformly moving zones Northward. Rather amusingly, they put out a statement saying that their new map should not be read as a comment on climate change. “Oh plants are just thriving further North than did when we last updated the map 22 years ago. No reason whatsoever.”
…leaving this out beforehand when the focus is on what will be happening, especially on newscasts when the meteorologists have five minutes to spit out the forcast. I do wish the post-event analysis would include more about climate change. All news outlets that I know have comment capabilities on their website versions, so maybe the thing to do is to post comments on these stories about climate change.
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