Justice

I was wondering what Jim Hansen was up to these days.  You may know him as the NASA climate scientist who testified before Congress in 1988 outlining the potential impacts of Climate Change

 

I was reading an article from the Guardian and it said that he was arrested as part of a protest against the Keystone Pipeline.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/19/james-hansen-nasa-scientist-climate-change-warning 

400 protesters were arrested in front of the White House that day.I think that is more than the number of people who were charged for the storming of the Capitol January 6th.

 IMO that reflects what is going on from the top down in the Criminal Justice system.

 

 

 

 

 

Thought on immigration

 Crisis at the Southern border has been all over the news lately.  Susan Collins with Vruz and some other Republicans lurking in the bushes along the Rio Grande, interviews with migrants, etc.

Often with these stories the reporter will say some outrageous sum that was paid to the smuggler-the last one I heard was $6,000 for a woman with baby and child.  A lot of times these people get turned right back out again. 

Why not by pass the smugglers and let them and their $6,000 in?That's enough to get a place to stay and cover rent for a few months-obviously they want to work and can work or have access to funds-they had to pay the smuggler.

And you know, most of these people want to come here, someone says, I know a guy, takes X amount of money, he will get you in.  They may not even know that it is illegal.

The other thing that disturbs me is that they never ealy ask them why they are leaving their homes.  One man was said to have said the hurricane that hit Guatemala devastated them.

 

We were told climate change would cause shifts in populations due to natural disasters, and it is right in front of us on TV but that is not the story we are told.  Sometimes I wish the Native Americans had told the pilgrims that they weren't welcome and that they had to go back where they came from.

Count Every Vote

 

This was nightfall the day after the election.

 

Since late Tuesday I have been channeling anger, irritation, and frustration.  I took a huge nap today-a day that turned out to be unseasonably warm and finally sunny, and I slept through most of it.

 

I find that happens certain times of year, and often it coincides with solar activity.  We were due to get brushed by a CME but I don't believe it was today.

 

Sunrise yesterday, the dawn after the election, was blood red. I can recall the old adage, "red sky at night, sailor's delight, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning."

 

Yes, it's been rough sailing here in the US for the last 48 hours, his highness just spoke of idiotical nonsense -we ARE in the middle of a pandemic, you HAVE warned all your devout followers of the pitfall of mail in ballots and set the stage for questioning the integrity of same, then cry and moan about why , when mail in ballots are finally begun to be counted, the tide turns.

 

The US vs THEM mentality.  *shudders* then dear old Biden comes on pledging to serve ALL Americans-whether they voted for him or not.  Even a devout Liberal is tempted to cry, "no it's US vs THEM remember!!??" 

 

Look at the pic-black and white, good vs Evil.  That this country can be so violently divided almost perfecly 50-50 is staggering,  It feels truly like the end of times when good will face Evil.

 

Climate change is upon us.  Even with the pandemic lockdown the CO2 has risen 2 ppm over this time last year.  It is unsustainable.  On one hand you have those that don't believe Climate Change is real.  On the other hand, there are those who believe it is real but want to dicker with the deniers and meet them 90% of the way.  Not going to work folks. 

Are you for saving the planet, as many species, as many humans, as you can?  Just like Noah on the ark(if you believe in the tale)-every thing is precious.

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if wealth was based on how many cubic inches of biodiversity you could sustain? Or how many cubic inches of CO2 sequestering you possessed?

 

 

 

 

Planting season

I managed to get a small amount of snow peas planted a couple of days ago. I had saved the seed from last year's crop and been meaning to plant earlier than this. 

Years ago in another lifetime a friend of mine used to pride himself on getting peas planted by April 1. You would think with climate change that date would be even earlier, but it seems our cold and wet hangs on later.

I think it has to do with Arctic weather, actually.  As the days lengthen exponentially the further North you go, and with less and less annual ice build up, things warm up faster North of us, dropping lots of what is basically snow fog and moisture into the air.

That might seem unreasonable, because our storms and moisture do come from the South-usually right out of the Gulf of Mexico for the whoppers, but you can't deny heat evaporates water and clouds are cooler than direct sunshine.

I checked the atmospheric CO2 levels as recorded at Mauna Loa observatory, hoping to see that levels had dropped since everyone is supposed to be staying close to home and not burning up the fossil fuels.

I was surprised to see that the levels were 3 ppm higher than the same day last year.  One sad fact about some of the gases-once in the atmosphere they can linger for a long time.

Added the the loss of forests by area AND volume, and how long it takes for a tree to reach 100 feet in height, makes for a grim forecast.

Hopefully humans will change behavior prompted by the impact of this pandemic-travel less and telecommute for starters.

I was rather disheartened to hear about the push to get schools open for the last few weeks of the year.  The rationale appears to be that "children come out of COVID very well" and "If they are in school the parents can get back to work."

The focus seems to be on trying to social distance kids and provide PPE for school staff, but no mention of the impact on the sick or elderly that live in the households of those children being potentially exposed.

One absurd suggestion was to divide school days in half and have kids attend either morning or afternoon, essentially doubling school transportation emissions just to enable parents to get back to work at minimum wage jobs.

And don't forget, once an employer reopens a business and calls back the employees, if they refuse they are no longer eligible to collect unemployment compensation, leaving low income workers with no choice but to trust that their employers can assure the safety of themselves and their loved ones.

Snowiest winter, coldest February

Well we passed the snowiest winter awhile back.  I am not even sure how much snow we have had.  The last week we had three storms that went over two feet together. The running average temp for Febrauary was about 12 F highs and lows....the last record was 14 F.

I made a prediction a couple of years ago that climate change would cause more moisture to be put in the atmosphere, by melting ice in the arctic in the summer, causing a cooling and more precipitation in the upper mid latitudes.

Gawd sometimes I hate to be right.

The projected prediction then left the upper mid lats in a dry tundra and the moisture cooling to travel southwards..

Once that point is passed we are really screwed. Basically the water locked in the poles will be re-distributed, gradually meeting at the equatorial zone.

Beyond that point I am not so clear, perhaps warm moisture will cause intense storms in the mid lats, drought in northern lats...earthquakes from weight distribution, perhaps my life does not span that time, and the reason I cannot foresee what will happen at the time.

March winds

The winter that wasn't. My prediction for tons of snow couldn't have been more off. We had 80F degree temps several days last week. Our road turned into a swamp. My driveway ate a truck. Willow saw a butterfly. I was bitten by mosquitoes. We saw a bunch of ladybugs.

My lilacs are budding. Crocus and snowdrops are blooming. Ticks are everywhere.

Then the North winds came down yesterday. The ground refroze last night. The chicken water froze all day long. The winds are gusting enough to shake the house.

No one knows what to make of the weather. MY goats keep coming into strong heat, including my senior doe that didn't even show much heat last fall. The migratory birds have returned.

I was a little late in getting the maple taps in. I put in 10 taps and got about 16 gallons of sap in two runs. That made about a quart of delicious maple syrup. That's an estimate since I put it up in fancy jelly jars and cool jars I saved, like the charming little squat better than bullion jars. I just boiled the jars for ten minutes to sterilize, and then poured the hot syrup in and inverted them until cool.

The heat last week put an end to the sap run. Maine Maple sunday was this past sunday, and I bet no one was running fresh sap through the evaporators! I left some poor trees with the taps in, cince it was supposed to come off cold again. I think I will pull them, though, since it takes many smoky hours boiling the sap down(if there is another run) for syrup and I am feeling lazy. :)

We are all actually hoping that we don't slip back into a typical Maine spring, because everything is so far ahead of season that a cold snap could be devastating.

02-21-2012

The third week in February already!

Our winter has been very unusual. The snowstorm before Hallowee'en was nearly the biggest snow we have had all winter. Three times we snow-scooped the driveways, and the intervening storms have been rain.

The ice has been awful this year. Or awful good depending on whether or not you are a fan of ice. The second snow-scooping storm fell on a good layer of ice, so it was nearly imnpossible to get any traction to push the scoop of snow.

I fell pretty good during that time. Or bad depending on if you are a fan of falling. My feet flew out and my head and elbow landed simultaneously to a very loud "Crack!"

I was sure it was my head that made the awful noise, but it didn't hurt as badly as my elbow. Owie, ow, ow, ow. I figured the pain would ease right off in a minute like what usually happens when you give a joint a hard rap, but it continued to hurt.

The point of the elbow is still tender to the touch three weeks later, so I guess I know where the explosive crack sound came from.

There are still patches of ice about. I scorn the pair of ice cleats a concerned friend gave me after my fall, and creep duck and flat footed over the remaining icy bits.

The winter that wasn't, that will be this year. And it follows the summer that wasn't. Looks like we are going to balance out eventually at mud season 12 months of the year.

STORM

Once again I accidentally posted a post here that was meant for the other blog. Funny, I was sure I was in the right blog. Brain cramp.

We are in the midst of a psycho storm! 1-4 inches of rain, wind gusts up to 60 mph. We lost the power earlier. It flicked twice hard before that, so I had a couple candles and a box of matches at the ready. Then I just had to plug in the landline instead of the cordless phone to call the electric company to report it.

I learned a long time ago that the sooner you report it, the sooner it comes back. Don't just assume your neighbors reported it!

I was sure that given the strength of the storm we were looking at two days without power. Imagine our delight when the power came back on in an hour!!!

Shortly afterward the phone rang, and it was the power company inquiring if we had power back. I was so glad! I thanked her and thanked her, and said to thank the crews! Even when I have been out five days I have thanked them profusely for getting it back on! Those poor folks out there working at the mercy of the weather. I would not have liked to have been out in this storm fixing downed lines!

Oops it just flickered so I might lose it again!

Well, I know strong storms are not uncommon, but we have had a few real kickers. Scares the crap out of me that it could get worse in months to come if this is one the effects of climate change.

Say Goodbye to the Earth as We know It

Nothing like a word of optimism, eh?

I am so hopping mad!!! I just read AP's version of pres-elect Obama's video message to the Los Angeles meeting on climate change today.

He plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

Let me just toss in here that today at the library I grabbed "Censoring Science" by Mark Bowen, released in January 2008. I started plodding through it, and primarily it centers around data that led Jim Hansen, regarded as the preeminent climate scientist of our time to state, in 1988 after testifying to a Senate Committee, "It's time to stop waffling...and say that the greenhouse effect is here and is affecting our climate now."

Folks, that statement was made in 1988. If we continue to allow greenhouse gas emissions to exceed 1990 levels for 12 years-where will the global climate be?

And cap and trade by auctioning carbon credits? I still argue that the rising price of oil crashed the global economy-so how is raising the price of energy via cap and trade going to help the economy?

I leafed through to the end of the book, and found Jim's web site that I was going to check out, when I came across the AP article on Obama'a climate change policies. So I haven't checked the website out yet and have other things going on at the moment, but here is the web page if anyone wants to check it out before me.

http://www.columbia.edu/~jehl