writeaboutwarming

March 31, 2014 - My husband and I used to waste more food than we do now.  I frequently overbought, partly because I liked to make believe that we were big vegetable and fruit eaters.  All in the valiant effort to turn us into what we've never been and probably never will be (big vegetable and fruit eaters).  Ok, so we've closed that chapter after having made only modest gains.  And I do like to experiment, both with recipes I've previously made successfully, and with recipes being tried for the first time.  Somehow sticking with the same old same old week after week just isn't satisfying.  Neither, however, is an inedible meal, of which I've made a few (ahem).  So we've thrown out food which was at its peak when it came through the door, not so much on its way out. But 40 percent??  You read that right: that's how much perfectly good food gets thrown out in the United States, week after month after year.  Can you guess how much money is be...

December 16, 2013 – The end of the year is a time for taking stock, so that’s what we’ll do today.   To a large degree, I will simply be lifting information from an article that first appeared online in Climate Progress. There’s a lot to talk about, and really very little analysis warranted; the facts speak for themselves, and very loudly, too.   None of the news is good - we appear to have much in common with the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. CO2 levels hit 400 ppm – the highest level in recorded history.   This fact notwithstanding, Americans rejoice in being told that our country is once again energy independent, thanks to the fracking of oil and gas.   At the current pace of increase, there will be 450 ppm within three decades, which will drive catastrophic climate change. Hotter, faster – In its fifth assessment report, released this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) determines that the world as a whole ...

August 19, 2013 – Back in the halcyon days of warnings about a far off event called climate change   (as opposed to   the actual occurrence of climate change, which is what we’re stuck with now), Americans were warned that if certain tendencies in the climate asserted themselves, they would encourage the climate’s unpredictability, thereby leading to more change.   When an action leads to results that reinforce the original action, a feedback loop has been established.   Say, for instance, that a student who dislikes school because he gets poor grades, decides that because of his disliking school he’d rather play soccer with friends than study for a test.   The consequences are quite predictable: because he doesn’t study for the test, he performs poorly on the test, leading to an even greater dislike of school.   That’s a feedback loop. In the early days, right after World War II, all that scientists knew was that the earth was warming.   Becaus...

April 23, 2012 - Forty percent of something.  Is that a lot, or a little?  Let's see - a third of something is 33%, half of something is 50%.  A small amount, in my opinion, is less than 20 percent.  Any sale that offers less than 20 percent off just doesn't interest me.  A third off, on the other hand, interests me quite a bit.  Forty percent off is what I consider serious savings (half off makes me think there must be something wrong with the merchandise). So 40% is a substantial amount of something, a lot.  If someone is discussing 40 percent of something, I take that seriously. Which means that the fact the U.S., along with Canada, Mexico, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Sweden, has launched an initiative to reduce emissions of soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons, is a serious effort to clean the air and mitigate global warming.  Research indicates that these gases may have contributed as much as 40 percent to global warming.  Were these gases...

May 10, 2010 – The Gulf Oil Spill continues unabated. The attempt to lower a containment device down over the well failed because of hydrates crystallizing on the inside of the dome, around the opening. The dome has been moved off to one side, to make room for the next attempt at closing off the leak. Thus far, it is conservatively estimated that three and a half million gallons have leaked into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. (The Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million.) On May 5, British Petroleum “officials” told a Congressional committee that the oil spill could grow by as much as ten times current estimates. No wonder they had that “deer in the headlights” look. No wonder they keep telling Americans they’ll pay all related costs. No wonder we won’t know the day has arrived when they refuse to do so; it will be months from now, and our attention will have been diverted elsewhere. When the Valdez’s hull split, it happened very far away, in Alaska. This oil spill is taking place ...

March 8 – So often I turn to Alex Smith’s Radio Ecoshock Show for inspiration. Alex frequently interviews scientists, authors, and activists in order to stay abreast of the latest thinking with regard to global warming-related matters. To call one particular recent program “inspiring” would simply be a lie, however. As scientists continue to raise their voices louder and louder in a chorus of concern, that alarm makes itself more and more a part of each of Smith’s programs. Smith himself seems to have entered a new stage in his own thinking, as a result. For those of use who have, for so long, known that this was a problem in need of immediate attention, the lack thereof, in the face of the now sober, sad reality, becomes ever more surreal. We dutifully report the latest thinking, and it is like shouting into the wind. Our world no longer teeters on the precipice. It would seem it has gone over the side. I base this disturbing conclusion on Smith’s February 25 program, “On the R...