Places becoming less livable

[Gray-Wolf]

I'm struggling to find Daniels point in all his posting?

Like the above post where Min temps are referenced for the Arctic? We all know the winter temp hikes we have been witnessing there are linked to forcings removed from 'day/night' warming around the lower latitudes so what does it prove other than climate is becoming increasingly unstable?
The speed of recent winter changes to the Arctic is surely a warning as to just how quickly we can see whole regions alter the temperature characteristics and with warnings of increased desertification around the globe we potentially stand to see millions lose their homelands?

[Archimid]

I'm struggling to find Daniels point in all his posting?

At this point he is just pretending to be right about something to earn himself some credibility that will subconsciously transfer to his outrageous claims. He is trying to convince himself  that because most of the warming is at night it can safely be ignored and we can continue business as usual. OF course it is all nonsense. Disaster costs, extinction rates and ecosystems collapses are all rising and can be tracked to the warmer temperatures, regardless how the extra heat is distributed. They will all continue climbing as the climate changes due to AGW.

[Daniel B.]

I'm struggling to find Daniels point in all his posting?

Like the above post where Min temps are referenced for the Arctic? We all know the winter temp hikes we have been witnessing there are linked to forcings removed from 'day/night' warming around the lower latitudes so what does it prove other than climate is becoming increasingly unstable?
The speed of recent winter changes to the Arctic is surely a warning as to just how quickly we can see whole regions alter the temperature characteristics and with warnings of increased desertification around the globe we potentially stand to see millions lose their homelands?

It is precisely those unsupported apocalyptic warnings that lead me to post.  Many studies and coupled computer models state the opposite; that deserts are likely to experience increased rainfall with increasing temperatures.

[oren]

I'm struggling to find Daniels point in all his posting?

Going ad hominem for a bit, Daniel B. has a method. He states various claims which are always biased in one direction - everything is fine or almost fine. Then when he is refuted, his earlier statements twist themselves to similarly-sounding statements that mean different things. The statements are always worded such that any evidence against them is immediately presented as supporting them, hoping that the memory of the readers is somewhat befuddled and they will fail to make the distinction.
I know, DNFTT, but sometimes emotional control lets slip. Will try to do better.

[Daniel B.]

Recent research into increasing precipitation.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2941

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00039.1

https://www.earth-syst-dynam.net/8/495/2017/

[Archimid]

Many studies and coupled computer models state the opposite; that deserts are likely to experience increased rainfall with increasing temperatures.

The same trick again. First he wants to makes us believe that because the warming is greater at night there is nothing to worry about. That is nonsense and the disaster and extinction data confirms it. Now he is using the same trick with deserts. It is true that some deserts will experience greening. However, it is not true that desert greening is not threat. Desert greening will cause changes in cooling aerosol particles and changes in water cycles that will affect human settlements. Some of those changes will be good but most will be bad for the mere fact that adaptation must occur to the changes and adaptation has a cost.

We have a natural bias that says deserts = bad, so he takes advantage of that bias to drum the fact that some deserts are greening as good. The same with temperatures. Extreme heat is bad, so if he concentrates on the fact that most warming is at night then he might convince himself that climate change presents no risk. Both assumptions fall under the slightest scrutiny but if you are looking for false hope, both would do.

[Shared Humanity]

Worse still, increasing humidity in hot arid sections of the planet will render these areas uninhabitable.

[Neven]

I'm struggling to find Daniels point in all his posting?

Going ad hominem for a bit, Daniel B. has a method. He states various claims which are always biased in one direction - everything is fine or almost fine. Then when he is refuted, his earlier statements twist themselves to similarly-sounding statements that mean different things. The statements are always worded such that any evidence against them is immediately presented as supporting them, hoping that the memory of the readers is somewhat befuddled and they will fail to make the distinction.

I agree, and I suggest you cut it out, Daniel B. You are fully aware in what kind of echo chamber you are and that being the resident global warming risk denier, people will jump on you when you try to 'put things in perspective'. That means you need to be more clear when making statements.

I appreciate your presence for the sake of diversity, but my patience isn't endless.

[Alexander555]

Where are the deserts getting green ? The only thing i read is that they are expanding fast.

[bbr2314]

Worse still, increasing humidity in hot arid sections of the planet will render these areas uninhabitable.

It is funny how we say these things and some people think as ^ occurs, "uninhabitable" means mass death instead of mass migration (it means both).

Europe is going to be supremely screwed in short order unless liberal democracy is tossed out the window and extremely secure military buffer states are established in North Africa and the Middle East. However, that seems exceedingly unlikely, and Europe is probably going to be completely overrun due to the combinations of booming populations, geographic proximity, and absolute desperation (consider places like Yemen are still adding millions of new people each year!!!!).

Luckily Russia / China / the US seem to be awakening to somewhat more rational sensibilities and even if the U.S. takes a bit longer, the oceans are the country's greatest asset, and keep anything that isn't directly south of the border almost entirely at ease.

[Alexander555]

It's not that bad in Europe. Sometimes you get your ass kicked because you are drinking alcohol. But hey, you have to respect other peoples opinion.

[Alexander555]

Europe at the pitabar with a few beers.

https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/video-vader-en-zoon-in-ziekenhuis-na-knokpartij-aan-pitabar-in-antwerpen~a4c3ac58/

[Daniel B.]

Where are the deserts getting green ? The only thing i read is that they are expanding fast.

The Sahara for one:

https://phys.org/news/2016-07-warmer-mediterranean-sahel-green.html

"rising sea surface temperatures outside the tropics result in more rainfall in the Sahel."

[jai mitchell]

Recent research into increasing precipitation.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2941

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00039.1

https://www.earth-syst-dynam.net/8/495/2017/

I don't think that those papers say what you think that they say.

actual studies of desert expansion show the trend

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0187.1

Twentieth-Century Climate Change over Africa: Seasonal Hydroclimate Trends and Sahara Desert Expansion

Natalie Thomas and Sumant Nigam

the Sahara Desert has expanded significantly over the twentieth century, by 11%–18% depending on the season, and by 10% when defined using annual rainfall.

article here:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180329141035.htm
The Sahara Desert is expanding
New study finds that the world's largest desert grew by 10 percent since 1920, due in part to climate change

The study results suggest that human-caused climate change, as well as natural climate cycles such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), caused the desert's expansion. The geographical pattern of expansion varied from season to season, with the most notable differences occurring along the Sahara's northern and southern boundaries.

"Deserts generally form in the subtropics because of the Hadley circulation, through which air rises at the equator and descends in the subtropics," Nigam said. "Climate change is likely to widen the Hadley circulation, causing northward advance of the subtropical deserts. The southward creep of the Sahara however suggests that additional mechanisms are at work as well, including climate cycles such as the AMO."

[Daniel B.]

Yes, the desert shrank from 1920s-1950s, then expanded from 1950s-1980s, and has been shrinking since.  Exactly which of those periods correspond to increasing temperatures?

[Shared Humanity]

Made the mistake of opening his latest post and found the typical inaccuracies.

It begins with cherry picking, linking to an article that suggests that warming of the Mediterranean results in stronger West African monsoons (likely) with increased rainfall in the Sahel. He then states that the Sahara is greening. It is not as the Sahel is not the Sahara Desert. Worse still, the only areas of the Sahel, a semi-arid section of sub-Saharan Africa, that is seeing more rainfall is in the West. Meanwhile the eastern section is experiencing a decades long drought as a result of the same warming. This same heating of the Mediterranean is resulting in reduced rainfall across North Africa and southern Europe.

Carry on.

[Archimid]

I appreciate your presence for the sake of diversity, but my patience isn't endless.

This. Without people like Daniel B. we become trapped in our own echo chamber. That's why appreciate the moderation in this forum. People like Daniel B in the denier spectrum and people like me in the alarmist spectrum are both allowed to post allowing information exchange to happen.

It's not pretty, but I think it works. 

[Sigmetnow]

It’s often hard to understand the reasoning of those who choose to live in harm’s way when they have the option to live elsewhere.  (I.e., on the coast, despite storms and sea level rise.). Here are folks who live in the shadow of an active volcanoe on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Once the lava stops, rebuilding and futures uncertain in Hawaii

Lava engulfed the community of Kalapana, which is southwest of Leilani Estates and near Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, in 1990. The lava flow buried 100 homes, as well as some other structures, beneath 50 to 80 feet of lava, according to the USGS.

But by 2012, people had returned and new homes had been built in Kalapana Gardens. Honolulu magazine spoke with residents therethat year, including Kent Napper and Nancy Lowe, who built a small two-story house there. "Where else in Hawaii can you buy land with an ocean view like this for $10,000?" they told the publication.

In 2014, NBC News spoke to Chris Adkins, a tax return examiner in Hilo, who was building a home on a lava field in Kalapana. He bought a 0.6-acre lot for $6,500. "I'll have no mortgage, no homeowner's association. It's all a matter of perspective," he said then.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/once-lava-stops-rebuilding-futures-uncertain-hawaii-n873581

[bbr2314]

Uh oh... long-range, but...

[Sigmetnow]

Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.

Norfolk Wants to Remake Itself as Sea Level Rises, but Who Will Be Left Behind?

...While many of those communities may end up protected by walls or other infrastructure, there's growing recognition that some places will just get wetter and wetter and be lost to the sea.

Map: Water Keeps Returning to Norfolk's Historic Shorelines

For Norfolk, these neighborhoods are represented in the "yellow zone" of Vision 2100, the places where innovation, adaptation or retreat will take the place of hardened protections like floodwalls or levees. This concession raises a host of ethical and even existential questions for cities, about who and what to protect and what to do as a place like Norfolk, bound by water on three sides, begins to shrink. ...

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15052018/norfolk-virginia-navy-sea-level-rise-flooding-urban-planning-poverty-coastal-resilience

[sidd]

Who will be left behind? the poor, of course. From that article:

"After Norfolk knocks down St. Paul's public housing, which it hopes to do in phases beginning early 2020, it will not replace all 1,700 subsidized units. Instead, privately owned buildings would include a mix of market rate and rent-controlled units. "

"The city has a history of demolishing housing for poor, black residents and not following through on promises to help them find somewhere better. This time, officials say, things will be different."

Yeah, right.

sidd

[Sigmetnow]

Heatwave kills at least 65 in Pakistan

Hotter than average temperatures have killed at least 65 people in just three days in Karachi, Pakistan.

Temperatures reached a high of 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) on Monday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, way above the average daily high for May of 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).

The situation was exacerbated by power outages citywide and ongoing fasting for the holy month of Ramadan, during which many Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. ...

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/22/asia/pakistan-heat-wave-wxc-intl/index.html

[Tunnelforce9]

Worse still, increasing humidity in hot arid sections of the planet will render these areas uninhabitable.

It is funny how we say these things and some people think as ^ occurs, "uninhabitable" means mass death instead of mass migration (it means both).

Europe is going to be supremely screwed in short order unless liberal democracy is tossed out the window and extremely secure military buffer states are established in North Africa and the Middle East. However, that seems exceedingly unlikely, and Europe is probably going to be completely overrun due to the combinations of booming populations, geographic proximity, and absolute desperation (consider places like Yemen are still adding millions of new people each year!!!!).

Luckily Russia / China / the US seem to be awakening to somewhat more rational sensibilities and even if the U.S. takes a bit longer, the oceans are the country's greatest asset, and keep anything that isn't directly south of the border almost entirely at ease.

I'm sorry to spoil your party but the one reason why so many immigrants poor into Europe is because of Americas foreign policies. (war)

Another thing:
It's 100x safer to walk through Amsterdam then Chicago.
America is not really a free country in my opinion, you are only free if you can go to school without the need to carry a gun.

[Archimid]

The situation was exacerbated by power outages citywide

This. I bet many components of the grid are not tested at these temperatures for long. There is no reason to do that. Old and poorly maintained equipment will fail if overheated and under strenuous loads. Once the power goes out then water pumps stop working, cold water is not available, no fans, no air conditioner, only misery. 

As someone who lives in the tropics heat waves terrify me.

[Shared Humanity]

The situation was exacerbated by power outages citywide

This. I bet many components of the grid are not tested at these temperatures for long. There is no reason to do that. Old and poorly maintained equipment will fail if overheated and under strenuous loads. Once the power goes out then water pumps stop working, cold water is not available, no fans, no air conditioner, only misery. 

As someone who lives in the tropics heat waves terrify me.

We are only one historically unprecedented, extreme weather event away from one hundred thousand people dying in an urban area. This will occur in the developing world due to a heat wave and the deaths will occur in a rapid cascade that will overwhelm the response to contain it. It is not a question of if. It is a question of when.

They will be buried in mass graves.

U.S. Congress critters in D.C. will respond by pointing out how unseasonably cool and rainy the summer has been on the east coast which has really disrupted their golfing.

Oh! And Al Gore is fat.

[Archimid]

They will be buried in mass graves

More likely incinerated like they did where I live.

[Sigmetnow]

U.S. ski resorts becoming less skiable.

What the Worst Winter in 60 Years Did to Ski Resorts
2018 was one of the driest seasons on record. How many resorts can survive another like it?
https://www.outsideonline.com/2310791/winter-really-was-bad-everyone-thought

“We are the people who can bring attention to this problem and help solve it,” Schendler says. “The outdoor industry is huge, bigger than Big Pharma, and we have wielded absolutely no power. What are you if you have the ability to solve a problem and choose not to? The outdoor industry and the ski industry can be the NRA on climate. We have to be.”

[Daniel B.]

U.S. ski resorts becoming less skiable.

What the Worst Winter in 60 Years Did to Ski Resorts
2018 was one of the driest seasons on record. How many resorts can survive another like it?
https://www.outsideonline.com/2310791/winter-really-was-bad-everyone-thought

“We are the people who can bring attention to this problem and help solve it,” Schendler says. “The outdoor industry is huge, bigger than Big Pharma, and we have wielded absolutely no power. What are you if you have the ability to solve a problem and choose not to? The outdoor industry and the ski industry can be the NRA on climate. We have to be.”

Not sure who these people are, but they are definitely feeding misinformation.  They are comparing this winter to last year's record high snowfall totals.  Better to compare to average snowfall: Squaw Valley averages 450", and has received (so far) 367", 18% below average.  Crested Buttes averages 217", and has received 145", 33% below average.  Telluride averages 309", and has received 159", almost half of the average.  Vail averages 184", and has received 171", 7% below average.  That is just 27% below average for the four ski resorts (could not find a Taos average).  Not too bad, especially compared to the drought years.  In the winter or 2014-15, Squaw Valley received 235", and only 180" in 2012-13. 

The article conveniently left out those resort that experienced abundant snowfall.  Resorts further north had banner years.  Wyoming's Jackson Hole, Idaho's Schweitzer, Montana's Whitefish, and Whistler all had high snowfall totals, and had record seasons.  Ski resorts out east also had a banner year, thanks to multiple heavy snows. 

It is no surprise that the listed resorts experienced a drop in skiers this past winter, the skiers will travel to where the snow is best, and this year, it was not the resorts listed.  Last season was different, as they all experienced abundant snowfall.  As the article states, a single down season is not rare.  However, that does not mean that this is a sign of things to come.  Very poor and misleading article.

[Archimid]

This has been a sign for things to come for a while. Winter is simply not what it used to be and the changes are just starting.

[miki]

U.S. ski resorts becoming less skiable.

What the Worst Winter in 60 Years Did to Ski Resorts
2018 was one of the driest seasons on record. How many resorts can survive another like it?
https://www.outsideonline.com/2310791/winter-really-was-bad-everyone-thought

“We are the people who can bring attention to this problem and help solve it,” Schendler says. “The outdoor industry is huge, bigger than Big Pharma, and we have wielded absolutely no power. What are you if you have the ability to solve a problem and choose not to? The outdoor industry and the ski industry can be the NRA on climate. We have to be.”

Thanks for the reference! Here in Santa Fe, NM, basically no snow season this year. It was a down not just for the ski basin resorts, but for a lot of other town businesses that count on it for the season. I bet it will effect next year as well. A lot of the folk that came here and found no snow this year, are likely to choose other less disappointing destinations next year.

[Sigmetnow]

Snow needs to fall at 200% of normal through April for Colorado’s snowpack to catch up
Snowpack is only 72 percent of normal statewide, which means water managers are keeping a close eye on reservoirs
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/07/colorado-snowpack-low/

Colorado SNOTEL Snowpack Update Report
https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/reports/UpdateReport.html?report=Colorado&format=SNOTEL+Snowpack+Update+Report

Upper Colorado Basin Snowpack
Snowpack is 38.1% of the May 25th average.
http://www.snowpack.water-data.com/uppercolorado/index.php
Image below.

[Hefaistos]

Mussels test positive for opioids in Seattle's Puget Sound

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44256765

[gerontocrat]

Places becoming unlivable:-

The Mekong delta and....?
sea level rise, inundation.
&
build dams in the headwaters - reducing flow in the mekong delta and flooding fertile floodplains up stream.


https://robertscribbler.com/
Climate Change Indicated in Forced Migration of 1.7 Million from Mekong Delta

Global sea level rise caused by fossil fuel burning is an issue that is creating worsening impacts to cities, nations, and civilization itself. And according to recent reports out of Vietnam, 1.7 million people have migrated from the low-lying Mekong Delta region over the past decade. Primary causes included climate change and poverty.

Rising oceans have forced Vietnam to erect a system of dykes of up to 4 meters in height in an increasingly complex system of coastal defense barriers. These barriers have saved lands from inundation as the ocean off the low-lying Mekong Delta continues to rise year-after-year. However, the dykes have not prevented salt water from moving further and further up the Mekong River. And during recent years, this salt water has inundated soils used for rice production.

Such salt water inundation has wiped out crops for many farmers. For example, in the Soc Trang region, the farmers of Thang Dong saw their crops completely wiped out during 2013 as salt water seeped into the soil and killed off food-producing plants. In low-lying near coastal regions, the story has been much the same for Mekong farmers. And with less reliable crops come increasing poverty.

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-mekong-river-disrupt-environment.html

Study says Mekong River dams could disrupt lives, environment

Olson and Morton report that construction on the Xayaburi Dam, the first dam south of the China border to be constructed across the main stem of the Mekong River, has been quietly underway for years and is scheduled for completion in 2018. The dam has incited worldwide opposition, as well as local protests and violence.

"Many are concerned that the Xayaburi Hydropower Dam in Laos, could cause irreversible and long-term ecological damage to a river that feeds millions of people, force the resettlement of 2,100, directly affect 202,000 people who use the Mekong bottomlands to produce food, and may push endangered fish, such as Mekong giant catfish, to extinction," Olson says.

Morton, professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Iowa State, adds, "The Mekong River and adjacent lands are where the poorest people in Southeast Asia live. Average annual income is less than $200. They make their living from floodplain and riverbank agriculture and fishing. Laos is a mountainous country and the fertile soils are in the floodplains, many of which will be permanently flooded with the construction of these large dams.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-03-mekong-river-disrupt-environment.html#

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2015/05/mekong-river-dams/

Harnessing the Mekong or Killing It?

Dams are rising all along the Mekong. The people of Southeast Asia need the clean electricity—but also the fish and rice that an undammed river provides.

[DrTskoul]

Harnessing the Mekong or Killing It?

Dams are rising all along the Mekong. The people of Southeast Asia need the clean electricity—but also the fish and rice that an undammed river provides.

And there lies the rub. How to satisfy both energy and food security with the clean energy options available to them?...

[P-maker]

How about wind turbines and pumped hydro in the mountains. This would avoid large seasonal storage and provide occasional (controllable) floods and water in the river all year round, as well as cheap renewable energy most of the time. Add a few PV fields on the coast, and you would be up and running.

[gerontocrat]

How about wind turbines and pumped hydro in the mountains. This would avoid large seasonal storage and provide occasional (controllable) floods and water in the river all year round, as well as cheap renewable energy most of the time. Add a few PV fields on the coast, and you would be up and running.

They have built, are building, and will continue to build the bloody dams.

As the saying goes " it is what it is" (not what we would prefer it to be)

[bbr2314]

Worse still, increasing humidity in hot arid sections of the planet will render these areas uninhabitable.

It is funny how we say these things and some people think as ^ occurs, "uninhabitable" means mass death instead of mass migration (it means both).

Europe is going to be supremely screwed in short order unless liberal democracy is tossed out the window and extremely secure military buffer states are established in North Africa and the Middle East. However, that seems exceedingly unlikely, and Europe is probably going to be completely overrun due to the combinations of booming populations, geographic proximity, and absolute desperation (consider places like Yemen are still adding millions of new people each year!!!!).

Luckily Russia / China / the US seem to be awakening to somewhat more rational sensibilities and even if the U.S. takes a bit longer, the oceans are the country's greatest asset, and keep anything that isn't directly south of the border almost entirely at ease.

I'm sorry to spoil your party but the one reason why so many immigrants poor into Europe is because of Americas foreign policies. (war)

Another thing:
It's 100x safer to walk through Amsterdam then Chicago.
America is not really a free country in my opinion, you are only free if you can go to school without the need to carry a gun.

Blah blah blah. An elitest European talking about how awful America is.

You export all your industry to the developing world. The coincidence of heavy industry with Europe's former colonies is no accident.

Of course the Euros make arguments "oh but we have emissions standards" bla bla bla but then you find out Mercedes and Volswagen (the same companies complicit in the genocide of the Jews) have been evading emissions standards this whole time. Quel surprise?

Europe is full of moral hypocrites who are content with slavery. You will be destroyed precisely because your abundance of slaves will no longer be content with the status quo of capitalism. This is driven by Europeans, NOT Americans, which is why your governments keep crying about tariffs etc (because actually reducing CONSUMERISM is the key issue and the UN/Europe can't have that).

You are going to be overwhelmed by hundreds of millions of starving people over the next decade or two and it is all your fault. Thank goodness for our oceans!

Best,

An American

[bbr2314]

How about wind turbines and pumped hydro in the mountains. This would avoid large seasonal storage and provide occasional (controllable) floods and water in the river all year round, as well as cheap renewable energy most of the time. Add a few PV fields on the coast, and you would be up and running.

Wind turbines look great on paper but Sweden et al point to "clean energy" while IKEA et. al are exploiting untolds millions of desperate people in the third world, clear-cutting forests and giving any f*cks about the environment in the process. Sweden collaborated with the Nazis, it is a nation of six million white idiots who are completely protected by a social network that relies on the slave labor of Africans and Asians, and they will pay the piper sooner or later.

[gerontocrat]

Europe and the USA are becoming increasingly irrelevant. While Europe and the USA sling insults at each other it is China and India and Indonesia and Vietnam and Brazil and Russia........who will determine the future of this planet.

[bbr2314]

Europe and the USA are becoming increasingly irrelevant. While Europe and the USA sling insults at each other it is China and India and Indonesia and Vietnam and Brazil and Russia........who will determine the future of this planet.

That is a joke. China is the only contender. India will be swallowed by billions of starving people and the other "candidates" above will face similar destinies.

The 21st Century will see a re-aligning of Russia/China/the US against an onslaught of destitute third world victims of capitalism. Capitalism will hold strong. Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India will not.

[oren]

Please relax the mud-slinging a bit. Sometimes it feels that the ASIF is one of those places becoming less livable. 

[TerryM]

Perhaps not the appropriate thread, but in Ontario, the Liberal party has been ousted in a crushing defeat and the Conservatives will be in (majority) power for the next 4 years.
Many will remember Toronto's obese, crack smoking Mayor from a few years back. His brother is my new Premier. Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.
Comparisons to Trump are appropriate. Doug could be Donald's younger brother, the one without social skills, intellect or charm. Donald dyes his hair orange, Doug dyes his blond. Donald inherited his daddy's company and grew the business. Doug inherited his daddies business and is being sued by his sister in law for running it into the ground.


Ontario, under 15 years of Liberal rule has been a National and North American leader in environmental issues, now Doug wants to roll back these programs. Ending cap and trade will save us a dime per liter at the pump he claims.
He ran on a platform of slashing taxes and regulations while promising to fire no government employees as he balances the budget. No coherent plan for how this could be done was ever disclosed.
His only political experience is as a city council member. He failed in his run for Mayor. Now he's Premier of Ontario without ever having been a parliamentarian.


Wish us luck as we're going to need an awful lot of it.
Terry

[gerontocrat]

 China is the only contender. India will be swallowed by billions of starving people and the other "candidates" above will face similar destinies.

The 21st Century will see a re-aligning of Russia/China/the US against an onslaught of destitute third world victims of capitalism. Capitalism will hold strong. Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India will not.

For why do you think China is not immune from climate change and over-exploitation of the natural environment ?

China has very little good agricultural land. They are buying concessions for vast estates all over the place whose function is simply to grow food for back home.When food supply becomes critical say, in Africa, do you think the local won't take matters into their own hands.

Their President - now with the power of a Mao Tse Tung, has the dream of making China the No. 1 economic superpower and now has the power to force through the policies to make it happen. Do you think the natural environment will not suffer as a result?

[Sigmetnow]

Antarctica is losing ice at a staggering rate: 6,500 tons *per second*
https://twitter.com/ericholthaus/status/1007032759653715968

Forty percent of sea level rise since 1992 has happened in just the past five years — a three-fold increase in the pace at which icebergs are breaking away from land, according to a comprehensive new study based on satellite data, ground measurements, and models.
...
Antarctica’s glaciers are massive enough to flood every coastal city on Earth. So it’s no exaggeration to say that what happens in Antarctica over the next few decades will determine the fate of not just Miami and Mumbai, but also the course of human history. If we’re lucky and quickly start cutting emissions, Antarctica’s glaciers might mostly remain in place. The alternative is unthinkable.
...

https://grist.org/article/antarctic-melt-holds-coastal-cities-hostage-heres-the-way-out/

Cross-post from Sea Level Rise thread.

[Daniel B.]

40% in the last five years?  How did they come up with that figure?

[Sleepy]

Read the paper? It's free in the link.

[Avalonian]

The Beeb has picked up on the worsening water crisis in India:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44492994

600 million people facing acute water shortage, and 21 cities likely to run out of groundwater by 2020. One wonders how long a country with a massive and rapidly increasing population can deal with a situation like this. 

[gerontocrat]

The Beeb has picked up on the worsening water crisis in India:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44492994

600 million people facing acute water shortage, and 21 cities likely to run out of groundwater by 2020. One wonders how long a country with a massive and rapidly increasing population can deal with a situation like this.

And to make things worse:-

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/15/delhi-blanketed-by-smog-so-toxic-it-cant-be-measured

Delhi's air pollution is now so bad it is literally off the chart
Dust storms come months before the start of city’s traditional ‘pollution season’

Smog more toxic than can be measured by monitoring devices has blanketed the Indian capital this week, months before the start of Delhi’s traditional “pollution season”.

A thick haze was visible across the city from Tuesday and some government pollution monitors have recorded concentrations of 999 – the highest they can measure – as dust storms kicked up in nearby Rajasthan state blanketed the region.

Though the billowing clouds of dust and sand were blamed for the immediate spike in pollution levels, the sight of dense smog engulfing Delhi months before winter has underscored a growing awareness that harmful air is a year-round problem for the city.

[Sigmetnow]

U.S.:  View graphs of historical average temperature for any of the 48 contiguous United States with this tool from @NOAANCEIclimate:

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/time-series/

[Shared Humanity]

The Beeb has picked up on the worsening water crisis in India:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44492994

600 million people facing acute water shortage, and 21 cities likely to run out of groundwater by 2020. One wonders how long a country with a massive and rapidly increasing population can deal with a situation like this.

A human being can last about 5 days without water so that increasing population thing can be dealt with rather quickly.