Category Archives: climate

Why I care about and study mosses

For a guy who has spent most of his professional career developing, studying, and improving engineered systems, software, and applying mathematics to them, the idea of devoting a substantial part of the rest of his life to the study of … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, astrophysics, bryology, bryophytes, carbon dioxide, climate, Cosmos, Ecological Society of America, icesheets, longitudinal study of mosses, longitudinal survey of mosses, National Phenology Network, Neill deGrasse Tyson, science | 1 Comment

“Environmentalists’climate change myths”

From Climate Adam. And don’t forget to check out the excellent notes at the YouTube under “More“.

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, atmosphere, being carbon dioxide, Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, climate, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, climate science, ClimateAdam, environment, Global Carbon Project, global warming, greenhouse gases, On being Carbon Dioxide, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Mike Bloomberg 2020: Climate Warrior

Mike will immediately make tackling climate change one of his highest priorities by leading a nationwide push to rebuild American communities and infrastructure with 100% clean energy technology, reducing carbon pollution 50% by 2030. He will propel the U.S. toward … Continue reading

Posted in Bloomberg, climate, climate activism, climate disruption, climate economics, global warming, zero carbon | Leave a comment

“Sustainability failed. The future is just climate.” (Simon Propper)

Simon Propper has an excellent blog post at Context. An excerpt: Societies in most countries rumble on, worried about other things. The French are arguing about wealth distribution and church restoration. The Americans about abortion and trade tariffs. The British … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, Aldo Leopold, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, alternatives to the Green New Deal, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, bag bans, being carbon dioxide, Bill Gates, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Tax, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate justice, climate policy, coastal investment risks, Daniel Kahneman, global warming | 1 Comment

Review of “No … increase of Carbon sequestration from the greening Earth”

(As promised.) Introduction and Abstract This is a review, re-presentation, and report on the August 2019 article, Y. Zhang, C. Song, L. E. Band, G. Sun, (2019), “No proportional increase of terrestrial gross Carbon sequestration from the greening Earth“, Journal … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, afforestation, agriculture, agroecology, algal blooms, American Statistical Association, argoecology, being carbon dioxide, biology, Botany, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide sequestration, chemistry, citizen science, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate data, climate disruption, climate economics, climate mitigation, di-nitrogen oxide, ecocapitalism, ecological disruption, Ecological Society of America, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, environment, evidence, food, forests, fossil fuels, geophysics, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, greenhouse gases, James Hansen, John Holdren, p-value, phytoplankton, pollution, population biology, quantitative biology, resource producitivity, scholarship, science education, significance test, statistics, Steven Chu, sustainability, sustainable landscaping, wishful environmentalism | 1 Comment

“Climate Science for Climate Activists” is a wrap

The class “Climate Science for Climate Activists” I have taught for the last 6 or so weeks is now completed. The slides are available here.

Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, Anthropocene, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, being carbon dioxide, Blackbody radiation, bridge to somewhere, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, carbon dioxide sequestration, cement production, Clausius-Clapeyron equation, clean disruption, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, climate grief, climate models, ClimateAdam, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, ecomodernism, electric vehicles, electricity, Emily Shuckburgh, emissions, energy utilities, environment, evidence, EVs, flooding, floods, fluid dynamics, fluid eddies, food, food scarcity, forecasting, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, Gavin Schmidt, geoengineering, geophysics, glaciers, glaciology, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, global warming, Grant Foster, Green New Deal, Green Tech Media, greenhouse gases, greenwashing, grid defection, Hermann Scheer, Humans have a lot to answer for, hydrology, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, icesheets, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, John Marshall, klaus lackner, lapse rate, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, life cycle sustainability analysis, Mark Jacobson, meteorological models, meteorology, Nathan Phillips, National Center for Atmospheric Research, negative emissions, nonlinear systems, nor'easters, ocean warming, oceanic eddies, oceanography, oceans, permafrost, personal purity, photovoltaics, precipitation, Principles of Planetary Climate, radiative forcing, Ray Pierrehumbert, Robert Young, science, sea level rise, seismology, shorelines, Sir David King, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, Stanford University, Stefan Rahmstorf, Steven Chu, Stewart Brand, sustainability, Svante Arrhenius, Tamino, the energy of the people, the green century, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, utility company death spiral, Wally Broecker, water, water as a resource, WHOI, wild fires, wind power, wishful environmentalism, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, zero carbon | 1 Comment

In case you wondered if Carbon Dioxide increases caused climate change, here’s the latest news

In case you wondered if Carbon Dioxide (also called, carbonic acid, CO2) increases caused climate change, here’s the latest news … from 1856-1896:

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, atmosphere, being carbon dioxide, Blackbody radiation, Boltzmann, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate grief, climate models, ClimateAdam, Cult of Carbon, Eaarth, earth, Earth Day, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, evidence, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, global warming, Green New Deal, Greta Thunberg, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, investments, Karl Ragabo, klaus lackner, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local self reliance, moral leadership, new forms of scientific peer review, philosophy of science, physical materialism, physics, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, radiative forcing, rhetorical science, science, scientific publishing, stranded assets, supply chains, support of black boxes, Talk Solar, Tony Seba | 1 Comment

“… [A] new scientific paper overstates forests’ potential” (Reynolds)

(On 2019-07-06, repaired a typo, and on 2019-07-16 linked in a post by Professor Stefan Rahmstorf at RealClimate.) Jesse Reynolds at Legal Planet is on this. But, as I noted at LinkedIn, even if I accept the entirety of the … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, atmosphere, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to nowhere, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, carbon dioxide sequestration, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, consumption, corporate supply chains, Cult of Carbon, development as anti-ecology, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, environment, environmental law, fossil fuels, Global Carbon Project, global warming, greenwashing, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, liberal climate deniers, life cycle sustainability analysis, lifestyle changes, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, negative emissions, ocean warming, pollution, science, Spaceship Earth, Steven Chu, Stewart Brand, sustainability, the Final Frontier, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, UU Ministry for Earth, wishful environmentalism, zero carbon | 1 Comment

Carbon Dioxide emissions since 1751

Hat tip to Dr John Englander

Posted in being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, civilization, climate | Leave a comment

It’s hot (in Spain, France, Germany, Italy)

Update, 2019-06-30 Wonderful graphics and discussion in this blog post by Ian Livingston and Jason Samenow of The Washington Post. For Thursday, 27th June 2019. France (Marseille): 97F Germany (Fushstal): 88F Italy (Caserta): 94F Spain: (Sabadell): 87F From AFP, “Mercury … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, climate, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, ClimateAdam, global warming, heat waves, Hyper Anthropocene, meteorology, Principles of Planetary Climate, science, science denier, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets | Leave a comment

“Build way more wind and solar ‘than needed'”

Many people familiar with traditional energy networks, including the electrical grids of utilities, come with strong preconceptions to considering zero Carbon energy sources. This is particularly true of and for experts in traditional energy, including engineers. They focus upon the … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, climate, climate change, environment, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, rationality, reasonableness, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

#AllEyesOnJuliana👀

Juliana v. US June 4 Hearing at Ninth Circuit The constitutional youth climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, will be heard before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Oregon. Let’s make history and have this be the most … Continue reading

Posted in #youthvgov, Anthropocene, carbon dioxide, children as political casualties, climate, climate activism, climate change, climate education, climate justice, First Parish in Needham, Global Carbon Project, global warming, James Hansen, Juliana v United States, Kelsey Juliana, Levi Draheim, Mary C Wood, Our Children's Trust, UNFCCC, Unitarian Universalism, UU Ministry for Earth, Xiuhtezcatl, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we'' | Leave a comment

“Climate Science for Climate Activists”

I am planning to teach a course by this title online using the Zoom platform. I have a half dozen or so expressions of interest, but I wanted to put the outline up and in a place that can be … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, climate, climate activism, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, David Archer, Ecology Action, global warming, Ray Pierrehumbert | 4 Comments

Sir David King on `Climate Repair`

Interview with Sir David King at Ecologist on the climate restoration agenda.

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, APCC, being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, climate, climate change, climate education, David Spiegelhalter, differential equations, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, investments, risk, Sir David King | Leave a comment

`Investors’ Guide to the End of the World`

David Snowball, at Mutual Fund Observer: Part 1. Part 2. Thoughts from BlackRock. “I amar prestar aen, the world is changed Han mathon ne nen, I feel it in the water Han mathon ne chae, I feel it in the … Continue reading

Posted in capitalism, climate, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, fossil fuel divestment, global warming | Leave a comment

`Our Own Worst Enemy`

(Repost of message from APCC’s Andrew Gottlieb of 16 April 2019) Our Own Worst Enemy “Fight climate change, save the planet.” We hear that all the time and it sounds about right, so what’s the problem? The trouble is that … Continue reading

Posted in APCC, Cape Cod, climate, climate change, climate education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, global warming | 1 Comment

A proposal: Challenge for the Green New Deal

There is a climate emergency. There are many ways of looking at this, from the big investments perspective (see also a Fed view), to human harms perspective (see also), to what it might cost to reverse these changes if they … Continue reading

Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, American Solar Energy Society, American Statistical Association, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, basic research, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, cement production, Clausius-Clapeyron equation, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate business, climate change, climate data, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, Climate Lab Book, ClimateAdam, consumption, David Archer, decentralized energy, demand-side solutions, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, electric vehicles, electrical energy storage, electricity, energy storage, environment, flooding, floods, food, food scarcity, geoengineering, geophysics, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, global warming, insurance, investing, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local self reliance, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Our Children's Trust, planning, policy metrics, politics, population biology, population dynamics, radiative forcing, rationality, real estate values, rhetorical statistics, science, stream flow, sustainability, SVD, the right to know, UU Ministry for Earth, UU Needham, zero carbon, ZigZag | Leave a comment

Hypothetical toxins from plastics? Perhaps actual sources of toxins should be concerns …

… Like ocean heat-induced red tide and blue green algae (cyanobacteria). The problem of things like cyanotoxins is particularly bad in Florida, but Massachusetts Buzzards Bay has seen its share of problems. Quoting: Blue-green algae are laden with microcystins that … Continue reading

Posted in algal blooms, Anthropocene, blue-green algae, BMAA, climate, climate change, climate disruption, coastal communities, coastal investment risks, coasts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, cyanobacteria, global warming, harmful algae, Hyper Anthropocene, living shorelines, marine biology, marine debris, ocean warming, oceans, pollution, red tide | Leave a comment

Greta: `All political movements in their present form have failed’

Posted in Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, bridge to nowhere, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate grief, Cult of Carbon, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, global warming, Greta Thunberg, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, investments, panic | Leave a comment

I just chose to support Climate Adam!

I just chose to support ClimateAdam. You can, too! One of my many favorite videos by Climate Adam: Here’s another: Why is supporting Climate Adam and talking about climate so important? Here’s one reason why: Backing this up:

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, climate, climate change, climate education, ClimateAdam, geophysics, global warming, public education, sustainability, the right to know | Leave a comment

Weekend break: Theme for Earth Day

By John Williams:

Posted in agroecology, Aldo Leopold, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Statistical Association, an uncaring American public, argoecology, biology, Botany, Buckminster Fuller, climate, David Suzuki, dynamical systems, E. O. Wilson, earth, Earth Day, ecological disruption, ecological services, Ecological Society of America, ecology, Ecology Action, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, ecopragmatist, Eli Rabett, environment, Equiterre, evolution, fragmentation of ecosystems, global warming, green tech, greenhouse gases, greenwashing, invasive species, investing, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lotka-Volterra systems, marine biology, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, microbiomes, NOAA, oceans, Peter del Tredici, Peter Diggle, Pharyngula, physical materialism, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, rate of return regulation, scientific publishing, Spaceship Earth, statistical dependence, Stefan Rahmstorf, Tamino | Leave a comment

Result of our own fiddling: Bob Watson and climate risk

https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/746045 Professor Bob Watson, University of East Anglia, presents the summary risk, climate change: The question is not whether the Earth’s climate will change in response to human activities, but when, where and by how much. Human activities are changing … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, attribution, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, catastrophe modeling, climate, climate change, climate data, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate grief, climate justice, ecological disruption, ecology, Ecology Action, environment, global blinding, global warming, greenhouse gases, greenwashing, meteorology, National Center for Atmospheric Research, non-parametric model, Principles of Planetary Climate, radiative forcing, reasonableness, science, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, Solar Freakin' Roadways, solar power, SolarPV.tv, Solpad, Sonnen community, Spaceship Earth, stranded assets, sustainability, the energy of the people, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, utility company death spiral, water, wind energy, wind power | Leave a comment

One possible way to do small, modular nuclear power

Featured in Science Magazine today, NuScale Power, a spinout from Oregon State University, is planning simpler, smaller, safer gang-lashable nuclear reactors, with a trial in the early 2020s. A schematic is shown below. As I’ve noted here elsewhere, the reason … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, climate, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, electricity, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, modular nuclear power, nuclear power, zero carbon | 4 Comments

Professor Kevin Anderson: “Climate’s holy trinity”

24th January 2019, Oxford, England, UK Appalling failure: Who is responsible: Yeah, it’s us.

Posted in climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate grief, global blinding, global warming, Kevin Anderson | Leave a comment

What if Juliana v United States fails?

This is a replica of a comment I made at another site. As of 23:55 EST on 21st January, it hasn’t been release from moderation. Perhaps the moderator is busy. I do not know. I am proceeding as if it … Continue reading

Posted in an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, Boston Ethical Society, carbon dioxide capture, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, corporate litigation on damage from fossil fuel emissions, corporate supply chains, corporations, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, economics, ecopragmatism, environment, environmental law, extended producer responsibility, extended supply chains, First Parish Needham, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, global warming, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, Juliana v United States, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, Mary C Wood, optimization, Our Children's Trust, pollution, population biology, population dynamics, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, radiative forcing, rationality, reasonableness, sea level rise, sustainability, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, United States Constitution, United States Government, UU, UU Needham, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Gov Jerry Brown on Meet the Press, a parting comment on 2018 at Bill Gates’ Notes, and the best climate blog post of 2018

Segment One Outgoing Governor Jerry Brown of California on NBC’s Meet the Press this morning: I’ll miss him there, but I don’t think Gov Jerry is going anywhere soon. Segment Two Bill Gates Notes offered an end of year summary … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, an ignorant American public, Anthropocene, anti-science, astronomy, atmosphere, attribution, being carbon dioxide, Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, Bill Gates, Blackbody radiation, bridge to somewhere, California, carbon dioxide, cement production, climate, climate change, climate zombies, development as anti-ecology, ecological services, economics, Eli Rabett, energy flux, environment, evidence, friends and colleagues, global warming, Grant Foster, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, Jerry Brown, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, meteorology, nuclear power, oceanography, oceans, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantum mechanics, science, sea level rise, solar democracy, solar energy, solar power, sustainability, the energy of the people, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, University of California, University of California Berkeley, water as a resource, wind energy, wind power, wishful environmentalism, zero carbon | Leave a comment

The Climate Crunch

(with the possibility of rapid 15-20 foot SLR out there) David Suzuki aptly calls the corner we’ve painted ourselves into “the climate crunch”. See his article. Why a “crunch”? Had we heeded early warnings and had political representatives done more … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Petroleum Institute, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, carbon dioxide sequestration, Carbon Worshipers, cement production, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, Cult of Carbon, David Suzuki, emissions, geoengineering, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, James Hansen, klaus lackner, Wally Broecker | Leave a comment

Comment on “How Much Does Climate Science Matter In A World Run By Politics?” (from FiveThirtyEight.com)

It’s odd that 538 only accepts comments from people with Facebook accounts, despite being associated with ABCNews, which has its own user accounting system. I’m commenting here instead #fivethirtyeight. Anyway, per this post, a recent article and podcast at 538 … Continue reading

Posted in Accuweather, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, anti-science, climate, climate change, climate disruption, denial, FiveThirtyEight, global warming | Leave a comment

Not just having bad ideas, but because of deliberate ignorance despite overwhelming evidence, necessarily bad people

I’m afraid I need to agree with Krugman’s conclusion: While Donald Trump is a prime example of the depravity of climate denial, this is an issue on which his whole party went over to the dark side years ago. Republicans … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, anti-science, Carl Sagan, climate, climate change, climate disruption, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene | 3 Comments

Prof Nic Lewis, Reason, and a claimed criticism of Resplandy, et al

Updated 2018-11-14: See at bottom Professor Nic Lewis has criticised the Resplandy, Keeling, et al report in Nature which I previously mentioned. A summary of his criticism appears in the somewhat libertarian ezine Reason. I have responded there, but their … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, climate, climate change, global warming, luckwarmers | 3 Comments