Monthly Archives: December 2020

Introducing a long term longitudinal survey of some bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodium individuals

Posted on 29 December 2020 by ecoquant

(Update 2021-01-15.) Future updates will be made in separate blog posts. These will all link back here. On 29th November 2020, I began and committed to a long term longitudinal survey of four botanical sites near my home, a survey … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, bryophytes, climate change, climate disruption, global warming, Lycopodium, macrophotography, microphotography, National Phenology Network, phenology | Leave a comment

A harmful visitor who thrives because of climate change: Adelges tsugae

Posted on 28 December 2020 by ecoquant

Adelges tsugae or Woolly adelgid is a Hemlock-destroying insect which infests New England forests because New England winters are getting warmer. Here’s what it looks like on one of our Hemlock trees. Of note is that Finzi, et al (2020) … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, climate disruption, global warming, Woolly adelgid | Leave a comment

Hints on a second edition of Principles of Planetary Climate

Posted on 27 December 2020 by ecoquant

Professor Ray Pierrehumbert is working on a second edition of his great Principles of Planetary Climate. There is a Web site for the current book, and a preview of changes.

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate science, David Archer, geophysics, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, Principles of Planetary Climate, Ray Pierrehumbert | Leave a comment

Wind turbines don’t kill (many) birds, but people do

Posted on 26 December 2020 by ecoquant
Posted in Ørsted, bird mortality, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Physicists Doing Blues

Posted on 26 December 2020 by ecoquant

Everybody’s Got the Blues ATLAS Boogie From The Canettes Blues Band at The LHC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD0VslrILuQ And let’s not forget climate scientists in Chicago:

Posted in ATLAS, Canettes Blues Band, physics | Leave a comment

The engagement with SARS-CoV-2: Where we stand in the United States, in curated numbers

Posted on 26 December 2020 by ecoquant

From the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic Monthly, a 23rd December 2020 report: California is out of control. As I’ve noted elsewhere and the COVID Tracking Project reminds, sourcing cases, deaths, positive test rate, and hospitalization data is tricky. … Continue reading →

Posted in actuarial statistics, American Statistical Association, coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, Rebekah Jones, risk, SARS-CoV-2 | Leave a comment

Happy Newtonmas, 2020

Posted on 25 December 2020 by ecoquant

Among other projects I support this year, post-retirement is Einstein@Home Why? Because with all the emphasis upon SARS-CoV-2, biopharmaceuticals, and mitigating climate disruption, which are all important, observational astronomy doesn’t get enough love. And this is an astronomy which isn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, astrostatistics, BOINC, Einstein@Home, physics | Leave a comment

Fossil fuels have no future

Posted on 19 December 2020 by ecoquant
Posted in afforestation, alternatives to the Green New Deal, American Solar Energy Society, an ignorant American public, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, climate activism, climate disruption, climate mitigation, climate policy, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, global warming, Mark Jacobson, photovoltaics, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Much ado about explosive methane

Posted on 14 December 2020 by ecoquant

Sunday’s Boston Globe had a lead article about the demise of opposition to the Weymouth natural gas compressor station, defeated by Commonwealth and federal support for its operation. Many people I know protested that scourge of Weymouth and the Commonwealth, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cape Cod, Cape Wind, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, CleanTechnica, climate change, climate disruption, Cult of Carbon, decentralized electric power generation, electricity, electricity markets, explosive methane, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, fracking, gas pipeline leaks, global warming, Governor Charlie Baker, greenhouse gases, investment in wind and solar energy, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, methane, natural gas, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, the green century, Walpole Preservation Alliance, West Roxbury Lateral, Weymouth compressor station, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

a song in praise of data scientist Rebekah Jones

Posted on 12 December 2020 by ecoquant

I linked to Rebekah Jones‘ keynote address at the August 2020 Data Science Conference on COVID-19 sponsored by the National Institute for Statistical Science. Below is a song in tribute to her, wishing her well. (h/t Bill McKibben) We’re doing … Continue reading →

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Mathematical Society, American Statistical Association, Boston Ethical Society, children as political casualties, Data for Good, data science, geographic, geographic information systems, International Society for Bayesian Statistics, journalism, mathematics, New England Statistical Society, pandemic, Rebekah Jones, Risky Talk, science, Significance, statistical ecology, statistics, the problem of evil, whistleblowing, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we'' | Leave a comment

… [T]oo detached from my natural origins to see the problem …

Posted on 11 December 2020 by ecoquant

The proprietor of the false progress blog which I mentioned in an earlier blog post made a comment about another one of my posts. Actually, that’s not quite right in three respects. I don’t really know if it’s really the … Continue reading →

Posted in afforestation, Amory Lovins, being carbon dioxide, bridge to nowhere, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, clean disruption, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate policy, Cult of Carbon, decentralized electric power generation, degrowth, development as anti-ecology, ecocapitalism, ecological disruption, ecological services, ecology, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, extended producer responsibility, extended supply chains, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, Green New Deal, greenhouse gases, Hermann Scheer, investment in wind and solar energy, Joseph Schumpeter, lichens, luckwarmers, luckwarmism, Mark Jacobson, Mary C Wood, mosses, Nature's Trust, nuclear power, NuScale, ocean warming, On being Carbon Dioxide, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, supply chains, technology, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | 1 Comment

From False Progress

Posted on 9 December 2020 by ecoquant

(This is a recap of a comment made at a commenter’s blog, one who, claiming to defend the natural world and a human relation to it, argues in favor of nuclear power over what they consider to be the obscene … Continue reading →

Posted in zero carbon | 2 Comments

On living with wind turbines

Posted on 9 December 2020 by ecoquant
Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, Ørsted, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, Cape Wind, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, distributed generation, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, electricity markets, energy utilities, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, Green Tech Media, Hermann Scheer, investment in wind and solar energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LBNL, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local generation, local self reliance, Mark Jacobson, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Osborne, microgrids, mitigating climate disruption, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, the energy of the people, the green century, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

What’s wrong with Massachusetts? Land wind turbines!

Posted on 7 December 2020 by ecoquant

For groups of people who seriously embrace land wind turbines, there is no downside.

Posted in American Conservation Coalition, American Solar Energy Society, Ørsted, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Cape Wind, capitalism, CleanTechnica, climate activism, climate disruption, climate policy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, distributed generation, ecocapitalism, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, education, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, global weirding, Green Tea Coalition, Hermann Scheer, Karl Ragabo, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local generation, local self reliance, microgrids, mitigating climate disruption, On being Carbon Dioxide, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, Sonnen community, statistical ecology, Talk Solar, the energy of the people, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, unreason, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Congratulations China!

Posted on 3 December 2020 by ecoquant

No practice runs. Designed. Built. Worked first time out. That’s impressive.

Posted in astronomy, astrophysics, basic research, China, engineering, Moon | Leave a comment

Net Zero Emissions

Posted on 2 December 2020 by ecoquant

Note Massachusetts has a “net zero” plan in mind. 2050. So do lots of companies, municipalities, and countries. Let’s hope they act like it means something. That’s Climate Adam in the above, by the way. Support him.

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, being carbon dioxide, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, climate activism, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, climate policy, climate science, ClimateAdam, ecocapitalism, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, global warming, zero carbon | Leave a comment

On the Nuclear option

Posted on 1 December 2020 by ecoquant

Where does a state government turn when they have a strong mandate to remove fossil fuels from electricity generation, heating, cooling, and transportation? Suppose they proposed a cross-border hydropower purchase from Quebec? Suppose they planned to roll out land-based wind, … Continue reading →

Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Solar Energy Society, an uncaring American public, atmosphere, Ørsted, Benji Backer, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Cape Wind, carbon dioxide, CleanTechnica, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate mitigation, climate nightmares, climate policy, climate science, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, electricity, electricity markets, energy utilities, environment, Ernest Moniz, Falmouth, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, greenhouse gases, investment in wind and solar energy, New England, nuclear power, NuScale, ocean warming, On being Carbon Dioxide, photovoltaics, solar energy, stranded assets, technology, the green century, Tokarska and Zickfield, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment