The effects of warming: Kilodeaths

[lpetrich]

The hashtag #AustraliaBurning is now trending on Twitter.

*** Miss Glitterous on Twitter: "@nowthisnews Almost 500 million animals have died since the crisis began in September.
This includes almost 8,000 koalas.
Firefighters are suffering PTSD from hearing the animals scream as they burn to death. https://t.co/vMlJoH19s0" / Twitter

Meanwhile in Canada on Twitter: "
- 17 people confirmed dead
- 18 missing
- half a BILLION animals killed
- thousands of homes destroyed
- 5 million hectares burned #ClimateAction isn't costly, the devastation caused by inaction is.
Photo by Martin Von Stoll of Diamond Beach, Aus. #AustraliaBurning #cdnpoli https://t.co/aSYIc7A23z" / Twitter

Bodie Ashton on Twitter: "I want to give some perspective for people not from Australia. More Aussie land is currently burning than exists in the entire country of Belgium. The smoke is causing breathing problems in New Zealand, 2,000km away. Half a billion animals have been killed. Eight people are dead." / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "This is just the beginning of our new climate reality.
We must dramatically draw down CO2 to save our livable planet.
And to those who mock the science saying we have 10 yrs to fix it: try telling the thousands of people displaced by disasters that they’re “just overreacting.” https://t.co/uQYui6Rnzf" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Bodie Ashton's followup tweets:

I want to give some perspective for people not from Australia.
More Aussie land is currently burning than exists in the entire country of Belgium. The smoke is causing breathing problems in New Zealand, 2,000km away. Half a billion animals have been killed. Eight people are dead.

One-seventh of the state of Victoria is on fire. The fire front in the state of New South Wales is so long that, if you made it a straight line, it would stretch from Sydney to Afghanistan. The fires are being fought by volunteers.

The Australian government refuses to discuss the fact that the NSW fires have now been burning for three months, and will still be burning in three months. Climate change is a “political issue” that shouldn’t be discussed at this time, apparently.

Many of the volunteer firefighters are unemployed; their benefits have been suspended because, while they’re saving people and habitats and homes, they can’t apply for the requisite number of jobs per week the government expects them to to continue receiving benefits.

The Australian Prime Minister, at the height of the crisis, went on holiday to Hawaii, which his office first denied and then insisted he was trying to get home, but it’s impossible to get flights from Honolulu to Sydney (???)

The New South Wales emergency services minister has also gone on holidays. And in the midst of this, the prime minister has declared that the country should take heart from its brave and courageous...cricketers, who are playing against New Zealand.

Also, while the entire country faced catastrophic fire warnings (so no barbecues, people!), the cities all had fireworks displays. One, in Adelaide, very unsurprisingly caused a (thankfully limited) brush fire. Millions were spent on these. But not to pay the firefighters.

It is true that Australia has bushfires every year, but the sheer scale of this event is unprecedented, as well as the fact that the fire season is now so long that typical preventative initiatives, such as backburning, are far too dangerous.

The devastation in Australia right now FAR exceeds the Amazon fires or the California fires by MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE, and there is no expectation that it will recede for at least several more months. In parts of Sydney, breathing the air is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes.

Public buildings have been forced to close in Sydney and the capital, Canberra, because the smoke is concentrating in the ventilation systems, and is setting off building fire systems.

The average temperature across the entire country has been above 40C (105F). Australia is roughly the size of the contiguous United States. Imagine it being that temperature on average ANYWHERE in the country, from Denver to Boston, Seattle to New York.

And that firefront? Imagine an unbroken line of fire, stretching from New York to Los Angeles, then back to New York, then heading back to Los Angeles and getting at least as far as Indiana. That’s the firefront in JUST ONE STATE.

So, if you were wondering why I keep yelling that @ScottMorrisonMP is a coward who must resign, this is why. He didn’t start this, no. But he is the prime minister who, in this moment of Armageddon, continues to insist that climate change is not worth talking about.

And it is HIS people who, learning that two people had been killed, quipped that it was okay because they “probably voted Green.”

This man is a gormless quisling who fiddles (at resorts in Hawaii) while Australia burns, and he comes back to sing the praises of coal. Fuck him.

I’d like to clarify a point here: having originally said that volunteer firefighters “want to be there” and none will be paid, the federal government has now approved that firefighters who have taken days off work will now be paid $300/day for a maximum 20 days.

Also this, concerning distances. I said that New Zealand is still a way away from Australia, yet is affected by the smoke. For non-Aussies or non-Kiwis, this might help you visualise it a little better:

The distance from Sydney to Wanaka is 1,950km (or 1,212 miles in the old money). For reference for Europeans and Americans, that's only a small distance shorter than London to St. Petersburg, or Miami to Boston.

@ScottMorrisonMP is Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Australia is burning, California is burning, the Amazon rainforest is burning, the Siberian taiga forest is burning...

 

[angelo]

Russia is having a hot summer, India a record breaking winter (for more than a century). Climate, sure, is uncertain.

.. with the maximum reaching a scorching 24C at 2pm ..

Your scorching 24C makes me laugh. Here 42C is norm in summer.

I meant that sarcastically. Actually yesterday's maximum was 23 while the minimum was 13C. Today's maximum reached another scorcher.....19C. And we're in middle of Summer. But the Eastern states have had real scorchers of 40+ and strong winds. Ideal weather or the perfect formula for uncontrollable bushffires.

It only takes one idiot or an arsonist to cause what is occurring there right now. GW/CC/CD hasn't got anything to do with it. Australia has suffered droughts throughout it's history.

 

[angelo]

Bodie Ashton's followup tweets:

I want to give some perspective for people not from Australia.
More Aussie land is currently burning than exists in the entire country of Belgium. The smoke is causing breathing problems in New Zealand, 2,000km away. Half a billion animals have been killed. Eight people are dead.

One-seventh of the state of Victoria is on fire. The fire front in the state of New South Wales is so long that, if you made it a straight line, it would stretch from Sydney to Afghanistan. The fires are being fought by volunteers.

The Australian government refuses to discuss the fact that the NSW fires have now been burning for three months, and will still be burning in three months. Climate change is a “political issue” that shouldn’t be discussed at this time, apparently.

Many of the volunteer firefighters are unemployed; their benefits have been suspended because, while they’re saving people and habitats and homes, they can’t apply for the requisite number of jobs per week the government expects them to to continue receiving benefits.

The Australian Prime Minister, at the height of the crisis, went on holiday to Hawaii, which his office first denied and then insisted he was trying to get home, but it’s impossible to get flights from Honolulu to Sydney (???)

The New South Wales emergency services minister has also gone on holidays. And in the midst of this, the prime minister has declared that the country should take heart from its brave and courageous...cricketers, who are playing against New Zealand.

Also, while the entire country faced catastrophic fire warnings (so no barbecues, people!), the cities all had fireworks displays. One, in Adelaide, very unsurprisingly caused a (thankfully limited) brush fire. Millions were spent on these. But not to pay the firefighters.

It is true that Australia has bushfires every year, but the sheer scale of this event is unprecedented, as well as the fact that the fire season is now so long that typical preventative initiatives, such as backburning, are far too dangerous.

The devastation in Australia right now FAR exceeds the Amazon fires or the California fires by MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE, and there is no expectation that it will recede for at least several more months. In parts of Sydney, breathing the air is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes.

Public buildings have been forced to close in Sydney and the capital, Canberra, because the smoke is concentrating in the ventilation systems, and is setting off building fire systems.

The average temperature across the entire country has been above 40C (105F). Australia is roughly the size of the contiguous United States. Imagine it being that temperature on average ANYWHERE in the country, from Denver to Boston, Seattle to New York.

And that firefront? Imagine an unbroken line of fire, stretching from New York to Los Angeles, then back to New York, then heading back to Los Angeles and getting at least as far as Indiana. That’s the firefront in JUST ONE STATE.

So, if you were wondering why I keep yelling that @ScottMorrisonMP is a coward who must resign, this is why. He didn’t start this, no. But he is the prime minister who, in this moment of Armageddon, continues to insist that climate change is not worth talking about.

And it is HIS people who, learning that two people had been killed, quipped that it was okay because they “probably voted Green.”

This man is a gormless quisling who fiddles (at resorts in Hawaii) while Australia burns, and he comes back to sing the praises of coal. Fuck him.

I’d like to clarify a point here: having originally said that volunteer firefighters “want to be there” and none will be paid, the federal government has now approved that firefighters who have taken days off work will now be paid $300/day for a maximum 20 days.

Also this, concerning distances. I said that New Zealand is still a way away from Australia, yet is affected by the smoke. For non-Aussies or non-Kiwis, this might help you visualise it a little better:

The distance from Sydney to Wanaka is 1,950km (or 1,212 miles in the old money). For reference for Europeans and Americans, that's only a small distance shorter than London to St. Petersburg, or Miami to Boston.

@ScottMorrisonMP is Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Australia is burning, California is burning, the Amazon rainforest is burning, the Siberian taiga forest is burning...

Yea, and Scott Morrison is to blame for it all! Even the fact that China alone is responsible for more than 40% of the CO2 produced by humanity, and Australia is responsible for a whopping 1.3% of all this human caused CO2 , it's still all Scot Morrison's fault and he should do the right thing and resign!

 

[lpetrich]

Climate change and deforestation: These 3 supertrees can protect us from climate collapse

Dozens of countries have extraordinary tropical forests, but three stand out: Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These countries not only have the largest areas of tropical forest within their borders, they also have the highest rates of deforestation.

We traveled to protected areas deep inside these countries to learn the superpowers of three tree species that play an unusually important part in staving off environmental disaster, not just locally, but globally. These trees play many ecological roles, but most impressive is how they produce rainfall, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and support hundreds of other species.

The trees:

The Brazil-nut tree. Can grow 14 stories (50 m, 150 ft) tall, and pump up 260 gallons (1 kiloliter) a day.
 Brazil nut - Bertholletia excelsa

The stilt mangrove of Indonesia,  Rhizophora - very good at carbon capture by making lots of leaves and then dropping those leaves.

The Afrormosia or African teak tree of the Congo,  Pericopsis elata - a keystone species.

 

[steve_bank]

I'll put this here instead of a new thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life. It describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere, as well as long-term processes of carbon sequestration to and release from carbon sinks.
The carbon cycle was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, and popularized by Humphry Davy.[2]

 

[angelo]

I'll put this here instead of a new thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life. It describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere, as well as long-term processes of carbon sequestration to and release from carbon sinks.
The carbon cycle was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, and popularized by Humphry Davy.[2]

That's not to mention that all life on Earth is carbon based!

 

[bigfield]

I'll put this here instead of a new thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life. It describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere, as well as long-term processes of carbon sequestration to and release from carbon sinks.
The carbon cycle was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, and popularized by Humphry Davy.[2]

That's not to mention that all life on Earth is carbon based!

Steve's post makes that pretty clear: "carbon is the main component of biological compounds".

This whole "CO₂ is plant food" argument is some of the dumbest, most desperate stuff I've seen from right wing culture warriors.

How ignorant does one have to be to think "CO₂ is plant food" is revelatory?

 

[steve_bank]

I'll put this here instead of a new thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life. It describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere, as well as long-term processes of carbon sequestration to and release from carbon sinks.
The carbon cycle was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, and popularized by Humphry Davy.[2]

That's not to mention that all life on Earth is carbon based!

Life is carbon based, no kidding. Part of the cycle is sequestration. The Alaska tundra now melting has been a carbon sink.

 

[angelo]

Here's the best argument yet of why GW/CC/CD is nothing more than a latter day cult, or the biggest hoax since xtianity's or even worse, Islam's founding all those years years ago.

 

[bigfield]

Angelo's just slinging shit. His arguments contradict each other so much that there's no possible way he can agree with all of them.

 

[angelo]

Like i said. A cult like following like no other! Makes Scientology and Mormonism look like harmless fun.

 

[bigfield]

You can't get your story straight on any detail. Each fake expert you vomit up tells a different story than the one before. Clearly you don't care if they're right, so long as they're on your side of the culture war.

You've truly lost your way when you're calling the scientific establishment a cult.

 

[bilby]

I propose a new law of online debate, Bilby's Law, which states:

The use of a video or cartoon in support of a scientific point is a clear indication that the person providing that medium has insufficient understanding of the topic to usefully participate in the debate.

Seriously, I am increasingly convinced that the most direct measure of a person's intelligence online is to be found by study of the ratio of written arguments to video, meme, and cartoon postings. A video is an excellent way to make an argument (that could be expressed in a handful of sentences) take several minutes - perhaps even an hour or more - to convey. The information density of such media is incredibly low; While the depth of knowledge conveyed is almost always practically zero.

Presenting video evidence in a debate is a strong indication that the person doing so has only the most superficial understanding, as any person with a deep grasp of a topic will invariably choose to convey their knowledge through text (with perhaps an occasional well designed graph) - if only because this is the only way to disseminate large volumes of information in a reasonable amount of time.

Using a thirty minute YouTube clip to present a single concept to your audience is a massive waste of their time - and therefore a clear indication that your own knowledge extends almost nowhere beyond that single concept.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I propose a new law of online debate, Bilby's Law, which states:

The use of a video or cartoon in support of a scientific point is a clear indication that the person providing that medium has insufficient understanding of the topic to usefully participate in the debate.

I already came up with Higgins Postulate indicating that the value of a position is inversely proportional as to whether a YouTube Video was used to defend it.

 

[steve_bank]

There is an old saying about communicating. If you are speaking to people knowing nothing about what you are saying speak like they are 3rd graders.

To reach the people that need to be reached on climate change animations cooed be effective. Visual can bypasses thought processes It is the basis of advertising.

Logic debate will always fail. What is needed is a regular advertising campaign.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Here's the best argument yet of why GW/CC/CD is nothing more than a latter day cult, or the biggest hoax since xtianity's or even worse, Islam's founding all those years years ago.

Epic fail on your part--this is explaining why the greenhouse effect is real!

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I propose a new law of online debate, Bilby's Law, which states:

The use of a video or cartoon in support of a scientific point is a clear indication that the person providing that medium has insufficient understanding of the topic to usefully participate in the debate.

Seriously, I am increasingly convinced that the most direct measure of a person's intelligence online is to be found by study of the ratio of written arguments to video, meme, and cartoon postings. A video is an excellent way to make an argument (that could be expressed in a handful of sentences) take several minutes - perhaps even an hour or more - to convey. The information density of such media is incredibly low; While the depth of knowledge conveyed is almost always practically zero.

Presenting video evidence in a debate is a strong indication that the person doing so has only the most superficial understanding, as any person with a deep grasp of a topic will invariably choose to convey their knowledge through text (with perhaps an occasional well designed graph) - if only because this is the only way to disseminate large volumes of information in a reasonable amount of time.

Using a thirty minute YouTube clip to present a single concept to your audience is a massive waste of their time - and therefore a clear indication that your own knowledge extends almost nowhere beyond that single concept.

A video of a person speaking I will agree with you on. Sometimes videos are useful to convey graphical information, though.

 

[fromderinside]

A video of a person speaking I will agree with you on. Sometimes videos are useful to convey graphical information, though.

NOPE

 

[angelo]

You can't get your story straight on any detail. Each fake expert you vomit up tells a different story than the one before. Clearly you don't care if they're right, so long as they're on your side of the culture war.

You've truly lost your way when you're calling the scientific establishment a cult.

What's that do to the claimed 97% consensus ?

This video uncovers the in-depth story behind the climate fraud.