writeaboutwarming

July 26, 2010 – Isn’t it extremely odd, now that BP has drilled to within inches of the Gulf well, that it is revisiting the idea of killing the well with mud? What about the relief well has suddenly gone awry? Has this all been a charade, a performance intended to mute the endless barrage of questions? What – as usual – are we not being told? This whole thing, start to finish, stinks to high heaven. CNN reported last week that 38 million Chine se people have been evacuated, either temporarily or permanently, becau se of flooding this year. Their website reports that 30,000 Pakistani’s are currently dealing with a similar fate. Back here in the Midwest, Milwaukee ’s airport was clo se d becau se of two feet of standing water, which, incidentally, cau se d a sinkhole to open up and swallow an SUV. The driver was not hurt. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The good people at the Rodale Institute have be...

July 19, 2010 – The oil well in the Gulf has been capped; there is no oil coming out at the well head. Pressure readings have been a source of concern, with some informed ob se rvers saying they wish they were higher. Low pressure readings signify leakage of the oil at locations other than the well (probably directly from the se a floor). High readings indicate that all the leaking oil is being held back by the cap. Though capping is not considered by anyone to be the ultimate solution, the cessation of oil pouring into the Gulf is an enormous relief to Gulf coast residents. The emotional toll on them has been huge, and a situation that, even marginally, more clo se ly re se mbles normal allows residents some breathing room. Meanwhile, the well remains under clo se ob se rvation. The digging of relief wells continues. Grist.org informs readers that BP is scurrying up and down the Gulf coast, offering jobs to marine scientists who, they hope, will be co-opted into...

July 12, 2010 – Stephen Leahy, of Inter Press Service, does a great job of reporting little known, yet highly significant, stories. While just a short time ago his job consisted of warning people that climate change would soon be causing irreversible, self-perpetuating changes to earth’s climate, his job has now become telling us what those irreversible changes are. Yes, feedback loops have been established, and no, none of the news is good. His most recent foray into climatic whistleblowing takes place as a result of the International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference in Norway. Attended by 2,300 polar science researchers roughly a month ago, the message delivered by this organization’s unanimous members was: the changes in the Arctic are now irreversible. Leahy is not blowing the whistle on these researchers, but rather on their – and our - do-nothing governments. Remember the very cold, snowy winter we just experienced? We need to make up our minds to like that type of weather, bec...

July 2, 2010 – The Oil Drum is a chat room run by professionals in the oil well drilling industry. It should come as no surpri se that the se folks have a lot to say about the oil well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico . A great deal of what appears in the articles and comments has to do with the truthfulness of what BP and our government are telling us. There is, of cour se , a certain degree of contention among the various individuals logging in here. It can be interesting for the uninitiated as long as you don’t get too hung up on understanding the technicalities (from my point of view, who would want to? …). One lengthy article in particular, contributed by dougr on June 13, has cau se d me to think about an aspect of the problem I hadn’t even realized existed. The author points out that, just as the portion of the well that we can – or could - se e was destroyed, so too has the structural integrity of the well beneath the se a bed been se verely compromi se d. Isn...