Real Climate Science

NEW DELHI: An experiment by Indian agriculture scientists points to the enormous effect global warming could have on the fragrant basmati rice. Basmati, Sanskrit for the fragrant one, may lose not just its aroma, the famous long grains may get shorter, say scientists.

H Pathak, principal investigator of Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s Climate Change Challenge Programme, told TOI the Tarawari basmati grown in research fields in Delhi did not grow long enough and wasn’t as fragrant as it should have been when cooked.

He said  global warming may be to blame for the disappointing basmati produced in the 2006-2007 experiment. Temperatures that year crossed 26 degree Celsius in September when the basmati flowers and, 15 to 20 days later, when the grain begins to fill out, because of which a shrivelling of the grain was seen.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

The world’s current economic model is an environmental “global suicide pact” that will result in disaster if it isn’t reformed, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, warned today.

“We need a revolution,” he told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

He called the current economic model a recipe for “national disaster” and said: “We are running out of time. Time to tackle climate change,

http://www.guardian.co.uk

Does Global Warming mean the fall of the US Empire?

The east coast has been pounded by several snow storms as of late.  Some people may believe that these discredit the effects of global warming, but one hypothesis that has been put forward states that the increase in snow storm activities (and other similar events, such as the flooding episodes recently seen in Brazil and elsewhere in the world) is actually attributed (or influenced by) to climate change (caused by human activity); the other two hypotheses are the effects of  La Niña  or a combination of both.

You see, the increase in observed average temperatures (recall that 2010 has the highest recorded yearly average temperature since about 1890) is associated with an augmentation in the level of moisture in the air. As discussed by several experts, such as Dr. Michio Kaku, this increase in moisture content not only leads to the creation of more storms, but also to stronger ones too. In fact, Professor Kaku warned us that we should expect storm activities to increase for the years to come. In his words: “get used to it.”

What do these storms have to do with the fall of the U.S. Empire?

Well, I recently came upon a study published in the top academic journal Science that specifically examined the effects of climate change on the evolution of different civilizations. The Swiss researchers (paleoclimatologists to be exact), who collaborated with archaeologists on this study, examined more than 9,000 pieces of wood dating back 2,500 years. From these pieces of wood, they were able to extract information about temperature and precipitation levels on a year-to-year basis.

http://www.opednews.com/

Turn your oven up high next summer to cool the house down.

http://www.grist.org/

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYMJnO9LBQ]

*MAJOR BLAST OF WINTER HAS ARRIVED*

A strong, arctic front has moved through Southern Colorado. A frigid airmass will continue to pour in behind this front, pushed along by N-NE winds at 15-35mph. Temps will drop into the single digits this evening, with wind chills falling well BELOW zero.

Pockets of light snow will continue this evening. Snow will become lighter and less organized from north to south later tonight. While snow will be generally light, the snow will be lightweight and fluffy due to the arctic air, allowing for it to accumulate more easily.

Along with snow-covered and icy road conditions, strong north winds will lead to blowing and drifting of snow along with poor visibility through Tuesday morning. In addition, wind chills will become dangerously cold tonight through early Tuesday morning, ranging from 20 to 35 below zero. For this reason a Wind Chill Warning is in effect through Wednesday morning for areas along and east of the I-25 Corridor.

http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/114901049.html

I just got a call from the school district that school is canceled tomorrow. This is because a blast of Romm’s “Exceptional Mildness” has arrived from Nunavut.

Back in Soviet Russia, the kids would have to go to school in -28C.

Failure to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions effectively has led to intensifying debate on geoengineering – deliberate large-scale schemes to slow the rate at which Earth is heating up.

The public debate often mixes opinion with fact so scientists have now released the first summary for policymakers on ocean fertilization, one of the earliest geoengineering proposals.

The authors report that the chances of success of using ocean fertilization to deal with climate change is minimal.

Ocean fertilization involves adding iron or other nutrients to the surface of the ocean to trigger growth of microscopic marine plants. These plants use dissolved carbon dioxide to grow, which led to the idea that deliberate fertilization of the ocean on a large scale would remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Lead author of the report Professor Doug Wallace from the Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften (IFM-GEOMAR) says: “The published findings suggest that even very large-scale fertilization would remove only modest amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over 100 years”.

http://www.clickgreen.org.uk

It makes perfect sense, if you have an IQ of about 30.

Many people think with either their wallets or their stomachs. Taking advantage of that can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A tax on meat and milk would likely mean we’d buy less of the foods that contribute to climate change.  And that’s good for the environment, said a study published in the journal Climate Change.

“This tax is not at all a matter of forcing people to become vegetarians but merely moving toward a slightly more climate-smart diet,” said one of the study’s authors, Stefan Wirsenius of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in a press release.

Tacking about $82 onto the cost of beef for every “ton of carbon dioxide equivalent” would reduce Europe’s beef consumption by 15 percent. By taxing all meats and milk, Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by about 7 percent, according to the study.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41355211/ns/technology_and_science-science/

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17252928?nclick_check=1

Accuweather is forecasting a high of 47 and a low of 29 for Sunday in Dallas. If the game was outdoors, it would be the coldest Superbowl ever played.

http://www.profootballhof.com/history/release.aspx?release_id=587