ApocaDocuments (11) for the "Climate Chaos" scenario from this week [see full week] ~ [see full Climate Chaos scenario and stories]
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Sun, May 3, 2009 from Canada.com:
Arctic research centre scrambles to survive
The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory in Nunavut gives Canadian researchers a unique window on the polar atmosphere.
But the facility known as PEARL, which at 1,500 kilometres above the Arctic Circle is about as far north as you can get and still be on dry land, faces a precarious future despite the stated commitment to Arctic science by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government.
Two key sources of federal money that keep the lab and its science going are drying up, says Drummond, who leads the work at PEARL.... The Harper government also restated it's committed in the budget to building a "world-class, High Arctic research station." The station, expected to take about a decade to construct, is to serve as a "hub" for Arctic science activity.
But observers say there is a danger that the know-how and expertise needed to optimize use of the new station will be lost if existing Arctic research programs such as PEARL are neglected or phased out. ...
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After all, why should we know about what we fear?
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Sat, May 2, 2009 from New York Times:
Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus
The problem with global warming, some environmentalists believe, is "global warming." The term turns people off, fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes, according to extensive polling and focus group sessions conducted by ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing and messaging firm in Washington.
Instead of grim warnings about global warming, the firm advises, talk about "our deteriorating atmosphere." Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up "moving away from the dirty fuels of the past." Don't confuse people with cap and trade; use terms like "cap and cash back" or "pollution reduction refund." ...
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And what's so wrong about calling it The Apocalypse?
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Thu, Apr 30, 2009 from Canadian Press:
Soot may be major cause of rapid Arctic warming
Greenhouse gases may not be the only reason the Arctic is thawing so rapidly.
A report released Wednesday at an international meeting in Norway says scientists have discovered a new factor behind the surprisingly rapid meltdown -- so-called "black carbon," otherwise known as soot... Scientists have been puzzled for years about why Arctic sea ice is melting faster than climate models predict.... Research in the report shows that tiny particles of soot can reach the Arctic through air currents in just a few days. Some of those particles hang around in the atmosphere, absorbing sunlight and warming the air. The rest fall to the ground, where their darker colour speeds the melting of snow and ice. ...
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Soot? Seriously? What are we, trapped in a Dickens novel??
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Thu, Apr 30, 2009 from London Daily Telegraph:
Global warming blamed for unstable ice shelf in Antarctica
The images from the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed that an estimated 700 square kilometres of the Wilkins Ice Shelf have been lost, with satellite data last week showing the first icebergs had started to calve off its northern front.
The indications that the ice shelf has become unstable follow the collapse three weeks ago of the ice bridge between the Antarctic mainland and Charcot Island, with the loss of around 330 square kilometres of ice. The collapse of the bridge, which had held back the northern front of the shelf, resulted in existing rifts in the shelf's ice widening and new cracks forming, according to scientists.
It is expected the ice will continue to be lost from the "fragile and vulnerable" shelf over the coming weeks. ...
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Pity this slow motion train wreck of a planet...
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Thu, Apr 30, 2009 from BBC (UK):
'Safe' climate means 'no to coal'
About three-quarters of the world's fossil fuel reserves must be left unused if society is to avoid dangerous climate change, scientists warn.... [T]his group of scientists says that the cumulative total provides a better measure of the likely temperature rise, and may present an easier target for policymakers.
"To avoid dangerous climate change, we will have to limit the total amount of carbon we inject into the atmosphere, not just the emission rate in any given year," said Myles Allen from the physics department at Oxford University.
"Climate policy needs an exit strategy; as well as reducing carbon emissions now, we need a plan for phasing out net emissions entirely." ...
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But what about "clean coal"? What about carbon-sequestering unicorns?
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Wed, Apr 29, 2009 from CBC (Canada):
Deep emission cuts needed to limit global warming: scientists
The bottom line is that avoiding dangerous change to climate will be difficult, said NASA space scientist Gavin Schmidt and University of Chicago researcher David Archer in a related commentary in Nature.
"Unless emissions begin to decline very soon, severe disruption to the climate system will entail expensive adaptation measures and may eventually require cleaning up the mess by actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere," they wrote.
"Like an oil spill or groundwater contamination, it will probably be cheaper in the long run to avoid making the mess in the first place." ...
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The "long run"? What's that? I want my profit now.
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Tue, Apr 28, 2009 from Scientific American:
New York City-sized ice collapses off Antarctica
TROMSOE, Norway (Reuters) - An area of an Antarctic ice shelf almost the size of New York City has broken into icebergs this month after the collapse of an ice bridge widely blamed on global warming, a scientist said Tuesday.
"The northern ice front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has become unstable and the first icebergs have been released," Angelika Humbert, glaciologist at the University of Muenster in Germany, said of European Space Agency satellite images of the shelf.
Humbert told Reuters about 700 sq km (270.3 sq mile) of ice -- bigger than Singapore or Bahrain and almost the size of New York City -- has broken off the Wilkins this month and shattered into a mass of icebergs. ...
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Cue the theme from Jaws...
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Tue, Apr 28, 2009 from London Guardian:
Arctic CO2 levels growing at an 'unprecedented rate', say scientists
Figures from a measuring station in northern Norway show that CO2 levels are increasing by 2-3 parts per million every year... The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures released by an internationally regarded measuring station in the Arctic.
The measurements suggest that the main greenhouse gas is continuing to increase in the atmosphere at an alarming rate despite the downturn in dip in the rate of increase of the global economy. Levels of the gas at the Zeppelin research station on Svalbard, northern Norway, last week peaked at over 397 parts per million (ppm), an increase of more than 2.5ppm on 2008. ...
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This is CO2 MUCH of an increase!!!
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Tue, Apr 28, 2009 from American Society of Agronomy, via EurekAlert:
Landfill cover soil methane oxidation underestimated
Landfills are classified as the second-largest human-made source of CH4 in the U.S. Additionally, landfill gas contains numerous non-methane hydrocarbons that are either volatilized directly from waste materials or produced through biochemical reactions during waste degradation.... A value of 0 to 10 percent oxidation has been recommended.... The overall mean fraction oxidized across all studies was 36 percent with a standard error of 6 percent. For a subset of fifteen studies conducted over an annual cycle the fraction of methane oxidized ranged from 11 to 89 percent with a mean value of 35 [plus or minus] 6 percent, a value that was nearly identical to the overall mean. ...
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The mean of the means means that landfills are producing three times the recommended maximum. I mean it.
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Mon, Apr 27, 2009 from New York Times:
Study Says Warming Poses Peril to Asia
With diminished rice harvests, seawater seeping into aquifers and islands vanishing into rising oceans, Southeast Asia will be among the regions worst affected by global warming, according to a report scheduled for release on Monday by the Asian Development Bank.
The rise in sea levels may force the sprawling archipelago of Indonesia to redraw its sea boundaries, the report said... Southeast Asia is particularly vulnerable to global warming because of the number of people who live near coastlines and the high rate of poverty. About 19 percent of those in Southeast Asian, some 93 million people, live on less than $1.25 a day and are more vulnerable to the projected increase in typhoons, drought and floods. ...
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Well, they sure ain't gonna be able to buy their way out of this problem!
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Mon, Apr 27, 2009 from London Independent:
The missing sunspots: Is this the big chill?
Could the Sun play a greater role in recent climate change than has been believed? Climatologists had dismissed the idea and some solar scientists have been reticent about it because of its connections with those who those who deny climate change. But now the speculation has grown louder because of what is happening to our Sun. No living scientist has seen it behave this way. There are no sunspots.
The disappearance of sunspots happens every few years, but this time it's gone on far longer than anyone expected -- and there is no sign of the Sun waking up. "This is the lowest we've ever seen. We thought we'd be out of it by now, but we're not," says Marc Hairston of the University of Texas. And it's not just the sunspots that are causing concern. There is also the so-called solar wind -- streams of particles the Sun pours out -- that is at its weakest since records began. In addition, the Sun's magnetic axis is tilted to an unusual degree. ...
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Out damn'd sunspot! out, I say!
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