The Climate Change Problem:
An Antartic ice shelf has disappeared: scientist
Reuters
April 4, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday.
They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986. …
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5332BU20090404
Artic ice getting thinner, fading fast
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
April 7, 2009
Ice in the ocean surrounding the Arctic is thinner than it’s been in 30 years, and there’s much less of it, say scientists who are monitoring the effects of climate change.
At the same time, another team of climate scientists is predicting from earlier data that the Arctic’s ice cover has been melting so rapidly over the past few years that much of it could be gone within another three decades.
“Ice extent is an important measure of the health of the Arctic,” said Walter Meier of the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. “It is critical for animals that live on the ice and for the humans who use its resources for subsistence.”
The 31st annual end-of-winter survey of Arctic sea ice conditions was reported Monday during a teleconference by researchers from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who monitor the ice continuously by satellite. Their assessment was not reassuring. …
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/06/MNF416TNTP.DTL
Large ice shelf expected to break from Antarctica
CNN.com /technology
April 3, 2009
(CNN) — A large ice shelf is “imminently” close to breaking away from part of the Antarctic Peninsula, scientists said Friday.
Satellite images released by the European Space Agency on Friday show new cracks in the Wilkins Ice Shelf where it connects to Charcot Island, a piece of land considered part of the peninsula.
The cracks are quickly expanding, the ESA said.
Scientists are investigating the causes for the breakups and whether it is linked to global climate change. …
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/03/antarctica.ice.shelf/index.html
Smog May Cause Lifelong Lung Deficits
University of Southern California
USC News
09/08/04
A long-term USC study following the pulmonary health of children in polluted L.A. areas signals likely health problems in adulthood.
By Alicia Di Rado
By age 18, the lungs of many children who grow up in smoggy areas are underdeveloped and will likely never recover, according to a study in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The research is part of the Children’s Health Study, the longest investigation ever into air pollution and kids’ health.
Between 1993 and 2001, study scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of USC tracked levels of major pollutants in 12 Southern California communities while following the pulmonary health of 1,759 children as they progressed from 4th grade to 12th grade.The 12 communities included some of the most polluted areas in the greater Los Angeles basin, as well as several low-pollution sites outside the area.
Keck School researchers previously found that children who were exposed to more air pollution scored more poorly on respiratory tests. In this latest study, researchers analyzed the same children’s respiratory health at age 18, when lungs are almost completely mature.
“Teenagers in smoggy communities were nearly five times as likely to have clinically low lung function, compared to teens living in low-pollution communities,” said W. James Gauderman, associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School and lead author of the study. …
The Democrat’s Solution:
Rhetoric/Performance Combination:
Obama drives up miles-per-gallon requirements
USA TODAY
May 20, 2009
By James R. Healey
The Obama administration announced Tuesday what amounts to a sweeping revision to auto-emission and fuel-economy standards, putting them in the same package for the first time.
The plan would require cars and trucks to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, President Obama said at a ceremony with legislators, regulators, executives of 10 car companies and the United Auto Workers union. The plan would increase the standard and accelerate the requirement from 35 mpg in 2020 set by the 2007 Energy Act.
OPEN ROAD: Obama plan could spell doom for these gas guzzlers
“The status quo is no longer acceptable,” Obama said. “We have done little to increase fuel efficiency of America’s cars and trucks for decades.”…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-18-auto-emissions_N.htm
The Republican’s Solution:
Rhetoric:
The GOP Says Democrats’ Climate Proposal Does Little
The above link points to an article by Republicans who are now busy “contributing” to world climate safety via rhetoric.
The Republicans are pointing out that China and India do not have to follow America’s lead in the fight against climate change. Rhetorically speaking, attempting to respond to climate change would take jobs away from America. They don’t seem to have sensed that VOODOO economics already beat climate change to the punch.
The Republicans are now in rhetoric mode. Republicans have been in performance mode for some twenty-four of America’s last twenty-eight years of political life and yet, you rarely hear of Republicans touting their performance. Why is that?
And neocon performance is something that you can’t hardly MAKE the neocons talk about.
Their performance on climate change was NOT a total disaster – likely because they made no positive attempts against what scientists saw as a possible approaching climate problem.
Performance:
The Republicans(neocons) have been responding to the scientists’ warnings about climate change for quite some time. Early on, a Bush administration employee, working at NASA, attempted to interact with a NASA weather scientist. That strategy, at least for neocons, might have been the equivalent of attacking a problem at its source.
And attacking the weather change problem at its source may have contributed to this:
via NYTimes:
A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: February 8, 2006George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters’ access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word “theory” at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.
Mr. Deutsch’s resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.
Officials at NASA headquarters declined to discuss the reason for the resignation.
“Under NASA policy, it is inappropriate to discuss personnel matters,” said Dean Acosta, the deputy assistant administrator for public affairs and Mr. Deutsch’s boss. …
http://firstpulseprojects.net/Strange-Weather-mt/2006/02/bush_appointee_resigns_post_at_1.html
The neocons are not selling their performance, although they have had twenty-four years at America’s leadership helm.
Neocons are ignoring their past performance while focusing on the efforts of the Obama administration to fill the gigantic hole dug by the neocons. And the neocons’ attempt to plant the thought that America will be able to fill that enormous hole “free of charge” is ludicrous.
“Credit” the Republicans for having some remarkably simplistic approaches to solving extremely difficult problems. A basic theme that seems to run through some of their problem solutions seems to be: “what the public doesn’t know can’t hurt it”. And toward that end, came a move to persuade the revealers to stop revealing.
Muzzling weather scientists could remove fears of oncoming catastrophic climate conditions until well after the neocons get another chance at “managing” America’s government.
Right-wing money buying up influential bricks and mortar news sources might, sooner or later, influence media content. But bloggers and the Internet are problems with no simplistic solution. As an initial “shot across the bow” of bloggers, the “copyright tool” seems to be the tool of choice.
Silencing or otherwise decreasing the influence of the “liberal press” has also been mentioned by neocons – for a long time. Even Sesame Street was targeted.
June 2, 2009 at 11:28 am |
Thank you for this post