writeaboutwarming

February 7, 2019 Today is a "first-timer." For the first time, I saw a full page of newspaper articles (in the Vancouver, Wa. Columbian  ) about climate change. They're in a section of the paper called "In the Know." Here's some of what they have to say: - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tells us that between the years 1980 and 2013 - 33 years, for all you math whizzes - our country averaged six disasters a year that cost us at least $1 billion in repairs. In the last five years, since 2019 has just begun, we've averaged more than a dozen such disasters a year. Last year, we endured 14 billion-dollar disasters (remember, $1 billion is the minimum) at a total cost of $91 billion. There were 3 "main events": Hurricane Michael, Hurricane Florence, and the wildfires out here in the West. Sadly, 2017 was far worse. Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma, as well as massive wildfires in the West, cost a total of $306 billi...

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...

March 25, 2013 – Conserving water is one of the most important things you can do, especially if you’re an American.   Many Americans use as much water as 900 Kenyans!   While it isn’t possible – for me, anyway – to increase Kenyan access to water, I can (and do) conserve water.   Especially since the United States is approaching its third summer of drought, which affected eighty percent of the country’s farmland last year.   That’s not all: 36 states are expecting local, regional or statewide water shortages this year.   Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Nevada and Texas will face greater shortages than most in the coming years, because their populations are projected to increase the most. Did you know that 53.6 million Americans drink contaminated tap water?   The Natural Resources Defense Council says water scarcity will impact the South, West and Midwest more than other areas of the country.   In fact, 14 states in these three regions are already at hig...

June 15, 2011 – At the beginning of 2011, the UN issued a statement concerning global food production, saying that if the world’s “bread basket” nations did not all have bumper crops this year, there would be critical food shortages. Let’s take a look at how that’s playing out: Here in the United States, the Mississippi River flooded yet again, leading the Army Corps of Engineers to destroy levees which kept the floodwaters contained. While Americans questioned the decision to flood many thousands of acres of some of the country’s richest farm land, it prevented the flooding of towns up and down the river (although, in fact, Memphis wound up being largely overrun by water). Needless to say, this has led to diminished food production. In combination with the fires and drought in Texas, and the severe drought in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas, which has devastated wheat crops in all those states, it is probably fair to say that bumper crops are not expected this year. These are not the o...