a blog about the day after tomorrow (which seems to be happening now)
THE GREENHOUSE GAS BULLETIN from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) provided figures for globally averaged concentrations of three key climate-heating gases in 2018: nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4). The presence of these three gases in our atmosphere have increased by 123%, 147%, and 259% of pre-industrial levels (levels prior to 1750). READ MORE
THE TERM “PERMAFROST” refers to ground that remains frozen for at least two straight years. Permafrost is most common in regions with high mountains and in higher latitudes; it covers large regions of the Earth. Although the ground is frozen, permafrost regions are not always covered in snow. Permafrost is made of a combination of soil, rocks, and sand that are held together by ice. READ MORE
HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO READ that climate change is happening “faster” than expected before we change our expectations—or, at least, our definition of fast? “Stretches of the Arctic’s oldest ice, and its thickest—the last refuge ice that should survive even when the Arctic Ocean technically becomes ice-free in summers later this century—are now disappearing twice as fast as the rest of the Arctic icecap. READ MORE
THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE is “Is Greta Thunberg a Time Traveler Here to Save Us From Climate Emergency? 120-Year-Old Photo Sparks Flood of Conspiracy Theories” by the Common Dreams staff (NWell, there seems to be a conspiracy theory for just about everything, so why not Miss Thunberg as a visitor from the future! Here are the first paragraphs from the article:
“Is 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg a time traveler here to save us from the global climate emergency? READ MORE
I HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE titled Bleeding Heart Liberal Petitions. Most days, I receive a slew of emails with petitions for various causes such as saving an endangered species, urging my representatives in state and federal government to vote for or against a particular bill, protest an injustice, etc. I read them all, sign most of them, and add a few to the Facebook page. READ MORE
AS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL lobbying groups in the country, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long been a central player in the network of organizations seeding denial about climate change. Its work includes spending millions of dollars influencing elections and lobbying in support of new oil and gas development, rollbacks of U.S. methane regulations, and the repeal of the Clean Power Plan. READ MORE
WINTER HAS EXTENDED ITS GRIP on the Arctic, dropping a curtain of darkness on the top of the world. But at least one part of the Arctic is resisting its grasp. In what’s becoming an unfortunately common story, sea ice growth is stalling out in one of the gateway seas leading to the heart of the Arctic Ocean. READ MORE
THE TWIN PHENOMENON of denial and inaction are related to one another, at least in the context of climate change. They are also complex, both in the general sense of “complicated and intricate,” and in the technical psychological sense of “a group of repressed feelings and anxieties which together result in abnormal behaviour.”
In his book States of Denial, the late psychoanalytic sociologist Stanley Cohen described three forms of denial. READ MORE
EARLY OMENS OF OUR UNSTABLE FUTURE can be difficult to wrap our heads around. So Teen Vogue partnered with the team at the nonprofit news service Nexus Media, who developed a timeline predicting how climate change could affect three major U.S. cities over the course of the 21st century. This led to the article “What Climate Change Will Do to Three Major American Cities by 2100.” READ MORE