writeaboutwarming

September 4, 2017 - Wildfires are burning throughout the Pacific Northwest. Hurricane Harvey has decimated the greater Houston area and parts of Louisiana. Hurricane Irma glowers out in the Atlantic. In other words, forecasts made decades ago are proving accurate. Four hundred parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was regarded as a tipping point, the point at which climate change would take on a life of its own. If no one ever drove their car another block, if farmers never used another ounce of chemical fertilizer, if not so much as one more acre of land was cleared with fire, climate change would continue on its way, wreaking havoc. We passed four hundred ppm this year. I'm not sure where we stand right now; we were supposed to be at around 410 by spring. I'm not advocating giving up. Of course not. We must still - and at this point, will, whether we want to or not - consciously lower our standard of living, and stop enjoying the conveniences for which we ar...

March 21, 2017 - Statements issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) yesterday are so alarming, they must be shared. What follows is not good news, so if you'd rather not know - and that is a legitimate response, though I hate to admit it - stop reading. No matter what, never forget: never give up, never give up, never give up. The WMO reports unprecedented heat across the globe, exceptionally low ice at both poles, and - perhaps most worrisome - surging sea-level rise. No longer are climate change's effects being felt in various places at various times. It's crazy hot everywhere. This year continues a trend begun in 2016: temperature records are being broken everywhere. Last month was off the charts here in the United States. In Australia, extreme heat has been a fact of life in many states for months. I hope you saw what I wrote about fires in the US yesterday. In fact, scientific research reveals that the last time our planet was this warm occurred about...

February 26, 2017 - Yes, yes, I know - I said my blog was closed.  You know what happened as well as I do: Trump got elected.And that changed everything. For the past fourteen months, I would check every once in a while, to see if anyone was still reading what I'd written. I never had a huge readership, and you won't be surprised to learn it dwindled as time went on. No surprise there. Guess what? I checked the stats today, and over the last month, writeaboutwarming has gotten 463 hits.  Laughable for some, major leagues for me. Again, the result of Trump being elected, I suspect. Readers are scared, readers want information. Here's the problem: the idea of discussing Trump's minions' nefarious activities just leaves me feeling ill. I know for certain I can't do it. I could go back to writing about what's happening to the environment, and I may. There's a problem with that, too. The earth hit 400 ppm carbon dioxide late in 2015, a reading far beyond ...