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Author Topic: Future Earth  (Read 430240 times)

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AGelbert

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Agelbert NOTE: The graphics in this video are spectacular.


Antarctica : What happens if the 'Doomsday' Glacier collapses?
56,330 views•Mar 15, 2020


Just Have a Think
51.6K subscribers

Antarctica is home to some of the world's largest ice sheets and glaciers. They existed in a stable equilibrium of ebb and flow for millions of years until global warming started to melt them faster than the snow falls could replenish their ice. Now a new US / UK research collaboration has discovered that the rate of melt is even worse than scientists feared. What's driving this latest acceleration, and can we slow it down?

Help support and influence the growth of the Just Have a Think initiative here:
www.patreon.com/justhaveathink
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Future Earth
« Reply #346 on: April 03, 2020, 12:08:55 pm »
They were wisely advised to do this:


They did not.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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The World After (w/ Prof. Wolff)
« Reply #347 on: April 17, 2020, 08:57:06 pm »
The World After (w/ Prof. Wolff)
2,720 views•Apr 17, 2020


The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow
31.9K subscribers

#TZHLockdown #COVID19 #Economics

Subscribe to The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow for more: https://www.patreon.com/thezerohour

If you liked this clip of The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, please share it with your friends... and hit that "like" button!

Some of the music bumpers featuring Lettuce, http://lettucefunk.com.
Category News & Politics
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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May 27, 2021

HOLY SEE: Pope unveils green initiative, says 'predatory attitude' toward planet must end (The Hill)

EPA: EPA officially nixes Trump 'secret science' rule (The Hill)

A Day Of Superlatives For 🍃Climate Advocates And 🦖Big Oil

Outlets and analysts used a variety of words and phrases to describe developments in the oil and gas sector yesterday, but the consensus was clear: rebel shareholders won breakthrough victories over Exxon and Chevron while a Dutch court wrecked . (Some outlets were even more succinct.) All told, it was a breakthrough, no good, very bad, watershed day of reckoning for Big Oil and Gas  . The shareholder wins over Exxon and Chevron show the increasing power of investment managers to force businesses and CEOs to pursue environmental and social goals, and the Dutch court's decision could set a new precedent that oil companies must dramatically change in order to meet Paris Agreement pledges. (CNN, Bloomberg $, The Verge, FT $; Commentary: The New Yorker, Bill McKibben column $)

֍ Little Engine No.1 That Could Hands Exxon Stunning Defeat
ExxonMobil shareholders elected at least two new board members with climate and clean energy expertise, nominated by activist hedge fund Engine No. 1 and opposed by the company's management. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, supported three of the four nominees put forward by Engine No. 1, joining other institutional investors including multiple state pension funds to send a clear signal to the company’s notoriously climate-unfriendly management. Even with two of the board's 12 seats still undetermined, as of Thursday morning, this is a stunning rebuke of Exxon leadership, who have rejected calls to take climate change more seriously. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, AP, Earther, E&E $, The Hill, CNBC, Bloomberg $, Reuters, The Guardian, FT $, InsideClimate News, Axios; Vote tallies: Bloomberg $)

֍ Dutch Court Gives Shell A Shellacking
A Dutch court yesterday ruled Shell must slash its carbon pollution by 45% by the end of 2030 compared to 2019 levels to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The landmark decision held that Shell's 2050 net-zero goal was too vague and thus failed to meet its duty of care to reduce emissions, which are on par with Russia’s, the fourth largest emitter in the world. Though questions remain about the enforcement of the ruling, which will be appealed, the court's decision could have wide-ranging impacts for oil majors around the world, and the 1,800 court cases challenging them. One of the lawyers on the Shell case told Dutch news site NU, via Earther, that because the company is headquartered in the Netherlands, “a Dutch judge can impose a judgment that should be enforced in the 80 countries where Shell is active.” (New York Times $, Earther, AP, The Guardian, CNN, Reuters, FT $, Axios, The Hill, CNBC, InsideClimate News, Bloomberg $, Reuters, Climate Home, BBC)

֍ Chevron Shareholders Defeat 🦖 Management, Demand Scope 3 Emissions Cuts
 Chevron investors adopted a proposal yesterday — over the objections of management — calling for the company to "substantially" cut climate pollution from consumers' combustion of its products. The resolution calling for Scope 3 emissions cuts, adopted with 61% approval, does not specify a specific size or timeline of the cuts, but its overwhelming support underlines shareholders' frustration with companies failing to sufficiently address climate change. Two other resolutions, one requiring a report on the business impact of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and another requiring lobbying disclosures, narrowly failed with 48% support for each. Chevron has not set any long-term targets for achieving net-zero emissions. (Reuters, Bloomberg $, S&P Global, The Guardian, Seeking Alpha)

Shape of things to come song video
https://youtu.be/pEqWCH_4srU
There's a new sun Risin' up angry in the sky
And there's a new voice Sayin': "we're not afraid to die!"
Let the old world make believe It's blind and deaf and dumb, but
Nothing can change the shape of things to come

There are changes Lyin' ahead in every road
And there are new thoughts Ready and waiting to 💥 explode
When tomorrow is today The bells may toll for some, but
Nothing can change the shape of things to come

The future's comin' in, now Sweet and strong Ain't no-one gonna hold it back for long
There are new dreams Crowdin' out old realities
There's revolution Sweepin' in like a fresh new breeze
Let the 🐘🦕💰🎩🦖👿🐍🦍 old world make believe It's blind and deaf and dumb, but
Nothing can change the shape of things
Nothing can change the shape of things
Nothing can change the shape of things
Nothing can change the shape of things to come

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Future Earth
« Reply #349 on: July 27, 2021, 12:44:32 pm »

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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November 19, 2021

Agelbert NOTE: After the Glasgow COP26 COP-OUT, the news immediately thereafter of BIG BUCKS spent by Big Oil for NEW Oil Leases in the Gulf of Mexico AND MORE BIG BUCKS in CONTINUED Federal Government SUBSIDIES for the Hydrocarbon "Industry", there can be no doubt whatsoever as to WHO is In Charge of Policies by the governments of industrialized nations to address Catastrophic Climate Change.


So, this is an appropriate, to put it mildly, time to repost this article.

How to Survive When, NOT IF, Catastrophic Climate Change Makes Earth's Climate Unsuitable For Humans

By Anthony G. Gelbert

During many periods in human history, some were doing just fine and others lived on the edge of starvation in a constant state of collapse. Abrupt changes in climate, such as that caused in France by a massive Laki volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783, have resulted in famine induced starvation. In that case, starvation was followed by social upheaval and revolution, instead of collapse. Civilization in Iceland was nearly wiped out with that eruption (over one third of the population was killed), but did not collapse.

For a collapse to occur, the society destroying pressure must last longer than a decade or so. For example, natural climate alterations that produced lengthy droughts caused some ancient starving civilizations to eventually collapse. 

SNIPPET From the March 21, 2016 article, "Ten Civilizations or Nations That Collapsed From Drought", by Jeff Masters:

Drought is the great enemy of human civilization. Drought deprives us of the two things necessary to sustain life--food and water. When the rains stop and the soil dries up, cities die and civilizations collapse, as people abandon lands no longer able to supply them with the food and water they need to live. While the fall of a great empire is usually due to a complex set of causes, drought has often been identified as the primary culprit or a significant contributing factor in a surprising number of such collapses. Drought experts Justin Sheffield and Eric Wood of Princeton, in their 2011 book, Drought, identify more than ten civilizations, cultures and nations that probably collapsed, in part, because of drought. As we mark World Water Day on March 22, we should not grow overconfident that our current global civilization is immune from our old nemesis--particularly in light of the fact that a hotter climate due to global warming will make droughts more intense and impacts more severe. So, presented here is a "top ten" list of drought's great power over some of the mightiest civilizations in world history--presented chronologically.

֍ Collapse #1. The Akkadian Empire in Syria, 2334 BC - 2193 BC.
 
֍ Collapse #2. The Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, 4200 years ago.

֍ Collapse #3. The Late Bronze Age (LBA) civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean. About 3200 years ago, the Eastern Mediterranean hosted some of the world’s most advanced civilizations.

֍ Collapse #4. The Maya civilization of 250 - 900 AD in Mexico. Severe drought killed millions of Maya people due to famine and lack of water, and initiated a cascade of internal collapses that destroyed their civilization at the peak of their cultural development, between 750 - 900 AD.

֍ Collapse #5. The Tang Dynasty in China, 700 - 907 AD. At the same time as the Mayan collapse, China was also experiencing the collapse of its ruling empire, the Tang Dynasty. Dynastic changes in China often occurred because of popular uprisings during crop failure and famine associated with drought.

֍ Collapse #6. The Tiwanaku Empire of Bolivia's Lake Titicaca region, 300 - 1000 AD. The Tiwanaku Empire was one of the most important South American civilizations prior to the Inca Empire. After dominating the region for 500 years, the Tiwanaku Empire ended abruptly between 1000 - 1100 AD, following a drying of the region, as measured by ice accumulation in the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru.

֍ Collapse #7. The Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) culture in the Southwest U.S. in the 11th - 12th centuries AD. Beginning in 1150 AD, North America experienced a 300-year drought called the Great Drought.

֍ Collapse #8. The Khmer Empire based in Angkor, Cambodia, 802 - 1431 AD. The Khmer Empire ruled Southeast Asia for  intense decades-long droughts interspersed with intense monsoons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that, in combination with other factors, contributed to the empire's demise.

֍ Collapse #9. The Ming Dynasty in China, 1368 - 1644 AD. China's Ming Dynasty--one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history--collapsed at a time when the most severe drought in the region in over 4000 years was occurring, according to sediments from Lake Huguang Maar analyzed in a 2007 article in Nature by Yancheva et al.

In this image, we see Kurdish Syrian girls among destroyed buildings in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane on March 22, 2015. Image credit: Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images.

֍ Collapse #10. Modern Syria. Syria's devastating civil war that began in March 2011 has killed over 300,000 people, displaced at least 7.6 million, and created an additional 4.2 million refugees. While the causes of the war are complex, a key contributing factor was the nation's devastating drought that began in 1998. The drought brought Syria's most severe set of crop failures in recorded history, which forced millions of people to migrate from rural areas into cities, where conflict erupted. This drought was almost certainly Syria's worst in the past 500 years (98% chance), and likely the worst for at least the past 900 years (89% chance), according to a 2016 tree ring study by Cook et al., "Spatiotemporal drought variability in the Mediterranean over the last 900 years." Human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases were "a key attributable factor" in the drying up of wintertime precipitation in the Mediterranean region, including Syria, in recent decades, as discussed in a NOAA press release that accompanied a 2011 paper by Hoerling et al., On the Increased Frequency of Mediterranean Drought.

A 2016 paper by drought expert Colin Kelley showed that the influence of human greenhouse gas emissions had made recent drought in the region 2 - 3 times more likely.

Ten Civilizations or Nations That Collapsed From Drought - lots of great pictures

As Dr. Jeff Masters evidenced above, extended drought, sometimes alternating with other harsh climate conditions like intense rains, can lead to starvation. Long wars exacerbate the situation, leading directly to collapse.

In addition to the above, there is another climate change based collapse level attack on human civilization, one that is 100% unavoidable now, that has wreaked havoc in the past.

SNIPPET from the March 23, 2018 article, "Humanity has contended with rising seas before — and it didn’t go well for us", by Alxandru Micu:

The Neolithic revolution was the first major transformation humanity had passed — the transition foraging to farming. Spreading out from the Middle East, this wave of change took peoples used to hunt and forage wherever they pleased and tied them down, hoe in hand, to sedentary — but oh so lucrative — farms and fields.

Around 7,600 years ago, however, the revolution paused — no new agricultural settlements seemed to pop up in Southeastern Europe around the time, existing communities declined, and the progress of civilization as a whole came to a standstill. Up until now, we didn’t have any inkling as to why this happened, but new research from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, the Goethe University in Frankfurt, and the University of Toronto sheds some light on this mysterious period.

According to their findings, this lull in progress was due to an abrupt rise in sea levels in the northern Aegean Sea. Evidence of this event was calcified in the fossils of tiny marine algae preserved in seafloor sediments.

The impact this event had on societal dynamics and overall development during the time highlights the potential economic and social threats posed by sea level rise in the future, the team says. Given that climate-change-associated changes in sea level are virtually unavoidable, the team hopes their findings will help us better prepare for the flooding ahead.

“Approximately 7,600 years ago, the sea level must have risen abruptly in the Mediterranean regions bordering Southeastern Europe. The northern Aegean, the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea recorded an increase of more than one meter. This led to the flooding of low-lying coastal areas that would have been ideal areas for settlement,” says lead author Professor Dr. Jens Herrle.

The evidence supports a link between the two timeouts in the Neolithic revolution and the flooding events. The event 8,400 years ago coincides with archaeological findings suggesting that settlements in low-lying areas were under significant hardship from encroaching seas and other associated climatic changes. The renewed rise just 800 years later likely amplified these communities’ woes, keeping them from making the transition to agriculture.

“The source of this may have been Lake Agassiz in North America. This glacial meltwater lake was enclosed in ice and experienced a massive breach during this period, which emptied an enormous volume of water into the ocean.”

Past fluctuations in sea levels have already had a significant effect on human history during the early days of agriculture, the authors note, warning that it would be unwise to dismiss the challenges it will place in our path in the future.

"Humanity has contended with rising seas before — and it didn’t go well for us"

The article goes on to repeat the overly conservative estimate from the IPCC of a rise by up to "one meter over the next 100 years". That is the same IPCC that predicted the amount of ice depletion we have at present at the poles would not occur until 2070. That is the same IPCC that has NOT figured in the contribution of ice loss from Greenland to global sea level rise in any of the models.

So, if you are a logical person, I recommend you count on 3 to 6 meters, at least, of sea level rise several decades before the end of the century. As Peter Ward says (The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps by Peter D. Ward]), over 25% of the world's arable land is near sea level and will be flooded. Most major airports along coastlines will be flooded. Every harbor facility in the world will require a staggering amount of land fill to raise them as the sea level goes up. Most coastal real estate, currently highly assessed in value, will be flooded and become worthless.     

By the way, the latest science indicates that rapid sea level rise will be accompanied by a large increase in volcanic eruptions (which might slow down the heating due to a temporary increase in aerosols), and and increase in earthquaqe activity. The volcanic aerosols, at most, will be a minor speed bump on the way to intolerable climate caos. So, please don't count on volcanic eruptions to 'save us' from global warming hell. That is wishful thinking.

I am not a voice "crying in the wilderness" on this issue. I will provide you some screenshots from the video of a scientist who recently wrote the book, "Waking the Climate Giant". He predicts a continued increase in volcanic activity, now observed in the data, due to terrain bounce from melting land ice and increased pressure on the surrounding seabed, as the the global average temperature increases. It's not the volcanoes that are increasing the heat, it's the greenhouse gases that are causing massive ice melt that, in turn, triggers earthquages and volcanic eruptions. Read his book if you disagree. I just watched the video but I think he is spot on.

On Earth, destructive climate change was not catastrophic before. The difference now it that the entire globe will be impacted. Humans have never lived on a planet with an average temperature of 3° C above pre-industrial. We will pass that mark up a half century before 2100 and continue towards PLUS 4° C and beyond, with no available technological or natural negative feedback mechanism to stop the continued acceleration, not slowing, of the rate of increase in temperature.

Already our atmosphere is being distorted by global warming to the point of pushing the dry subtropical bands on either side of the tropics towards their respective pole, thereby increasind drought conditions in highly populated areas and a large percentage of hitherto arable terrain.

SNIPPET from the February 2, 2016 article, "The mystery of the expanding tropics", by Olive Heffernan

As Earth's dry zones shift rapidly polewards, researchers are scrambling to figure out the cause — and consequences.

One spring day in 2004, Qiang Fu was poring over atmospheric data collected from satellites when he noticed an unusual and seemingly inexplicable pattern. In two belts on either side of the equator, the lower atmosphere was warming more than anywhere else on Earth. Fu, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, was puzzled.

It wasn't until a year later that he realized what he had discovered: evidence of a rapid expansion of the tropics, the region that encircles Earth's waist like a green belt. The heart of the tropics is lush, but the northern and southern edges are dry. And these parched borders are growing — expanding into the subtropics and pushing them towards the poles.

Tropical forest losses outpace UN estimates

Cities that currently sit just outside the tropics could soon be smack in the middle of the dry tropical edge. That's bad news for places like San Diego, California. “A shift of just one degree of latitude in southern California — that's enough to have a huge impact on those communities in terms of how much rain they will get,” explains climate modeller Thomas Reichler of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.


Elsewhere, there is evidence that tropical expansion is affecting the ocean. Where the Hadley cell descends, bringing cool air downward, it energizes the ocean and whips up currents to high speeds. This energy powers the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters towards the surface, which feeds some of the world's most productive fisheries. But there are hints that some of these regions are suffering because of shifts in the Hadley cell.

These upwelling zones could move south over time, or get weaker or stronger, depending on what happens to the Hadley cell, says Cook. In any case, it means that fishing communities that rely on these resources will not be able to count on traditional patterns.

On land, biodiversity is also potentially at risk. This is especially true for the climate zones just below the subtropics in South Africa and Australia, on the southern rim of both continents. In southwestern Australia, renowned as one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, flowers bloom during September, when tourists come to marvel at some of the region's 4,000 endemic plant species. But since the late 1970s, rainfall there has dropped by one-quarter. The same is true at South Africa's Cape Floristic Province, another frontier known for its floral beauty. “This is the most concrete evidence we have of tropical expansion,” says Steve Turton, an environmental geographer at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.

Turton worries that the rate of change will be too rapid for these ecosystems to adapt. “We're talking about rapid expansion that's within half or a third of a human lifetime,” he says. In the worst-case scenario, the subtropics will overtake these ecologically rich outposts and the hotter, drier conditions will take a major toll.

The Mystery of the Expanding Tropics

Vermont is already experiencing the economy harming effects of climate change. A Vermonter, concerned about this, wrote about it. He has a right to be.

Watching Nature Collapse March 24th, 2018 by George Harvey

Sometimes it seems the best of everything is passing away.

SNIPPET:

A few years ago, someone threw a peach pit into shrubbery on the front yard of the house where I live. The tree that sprouted from the peach pit is now bearing fruit. Neighbors have paw-paw trees growing in their yards. But Vermont’s maple sugar industry, and the apple orchards, and the blueberry fields are all suffering. Vermont is fast becoming a place unlike what it has ever been, and it is not an improvement.

Watching Nature Collapse

Don't look at what he wrote as the "new normal" and just think we can 'adapt' to climate change by growing different crops and so on. This is the leading edge of climate that will soon, much sooner than many think, become intolerable for crop growing. We are not just on a treadmill moving in the wrong direction; our velocity on that deadly treadmill is increasing. Please keep that in mind so you are not lulled into thinking it would be 'nice' to grow palm trees in Burlington. Yes, the fossil fuel industry 🦖 does continue to try to pitch the 'warmer weather good' out of context propaganda happy talk. They'll do anything to keep their profit over people and planet suicide machine going. Stupid is as stupid does.

All these deleterious effects of Catastrophic Climate Change will continually get worse, not for a decade or so, but for over a century.

Temperatures unsuitable for human life are baked in for at least a couple of centuries, even if we stopped the insanity of constantly making things even worse by going on a crash program to stop burning fossil fuels. Yeah, we have to do that. Yeah, if we don't, we are all dead. But, regardless of what we do, it will take a while to catch up to all of us. I write this for those who, though sadly unable to stop the insane suicidal "business model" of the biosphere killing fossil fuel fascists, wish to survive as long as possible.


I wish to stress that, though many confused voices out there do not wish to face this, the one unifying aspect of the present threat 🌡️ to human civilization is Catastrophic Climate Change 🚩, NOT lack of fossil fuel based energy.

Have I got your attention? Good.

Then, look at this graphic from the Video, "Waking the Climate Giant", and ask yourself if it reflects our current situation:


The above graphic is already correct in its prediciton. In 2017 (the emissions data was for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016) the greenhouse gas emissions INCREASED. Consequently, there is a very, very high probability that the collapse of our civilization will occur much sooner than we think.

Some humans in different parts of the globe are already well acquainted with living on the edge of collapse. I am absolutely certain that many jungle tribes in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, RIGHT NOW, live on the edge of starvation in a constant state of collapse, while most of the city dwellers nearby live not much better, but still avoid starvation.

My point in this quixotic exercise in hard truth logic is that the lack of food in the past has eventually triggered revolutions, not collapse of the civilization. It is after the social upheaval, when no solution to the lack of food problem is found, such as is in LONG WARS of aggression or extended harsh climate conditions, that collapse ensues.

People tend to fear other people more than deleterious climate. People can certainly be a threat to your life and stuff, but Catastrophic Climate Change is a much greater threat to everything you hold dear, past, present and future.

Catastrophic Climate Change is worse than a long war of aggression because it will last much longer than a human lifetime.

The climate change problem is intractable, but I believe some WILL beat it for maybe a century or so. For example, there are places near the equator with very high mountains. A world heated plus 4° C by around 2060, despite happy talk by certain wishful thinkers, will kill off most humans. BUT, in high mountains, the tree line will move way up while the temperature becomes temperate, even at the Equator. I stress the equator, though RE (Reverse Engineer internet handle - Joe Smith -) will did vigorously disagree, because human civilization in a low food environment with over acidified seas (no easy fish or whales or seals to catch = NO ESKIMOS) with poor available sunlight is not a recipe for long term survival, even if the temperature is mild enough to grow crops.

There is a mountain in Ecuador (Chimborazo) about 20,000 feet high that will, because of the horrendously altered atmosphere, get plenty of rain even at high altitudes. There are several other candidates in the HIGH tropics around the world. This will enable the folks living there to grow enough food, thanks to an ABUNDANCE of sunlight all year round, with low tech methods. They just might be able to ride out the fossil fuel burning stupidity that dooms most of human civilization.

The tree line, the highest point on a mountain that trees will grow, varies between 5,000 feet and up to 13,000 feet above sea level. It varies so much mainly because of wind chill, though the length of the summer growing season is important as well. A tree in relatively mild wind conditions can grow all the way up to the maximum recorded tree line altitude at temperature well below freezing (down to minus 40° F =- 40° C  ;D), provided its roots can get enough water.

Trees can have liquid water in their tracheal elements at such low temperatures because of a wonderful combination of two factors. The first is that the 'pumping' mechanism of a tree is more a sucking mechanism than a pumping mechanism. The transpiration of water vapor into the atmosphere at the branch leaf pores creates negative pressure on the water molecules inside the tree (as long as the tracheal elements vacuum is not breached by air intrusion).

Water molecules, as they travel up the inside of tree, aided by capillary action as well as transpiration, can be stretched by as much as negative 25 atmospheres! That is how those Giant Sequoias can move up to a 130 gallons of water a day over a 100 feet vertically.

The second factor is that the water in the tracheal elements, in addition to being thoroughly stretched, is extremely pure. This prevents the crystalization of water around non-water substances that would normally trigger freezing at 0° C. But, when the wind is howling during below freezing temperatures, the wind chill can cause the water in the tree to freeze and eventually kill the tree.

The closer to the equator a high mountain tree is located, the longer it's growing season will be. If the growing season is too short, like in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the tree line is only about 4,500 feet.

SNIPPET from an article about the Tree line:

The elevational limit of such suitable summer conditions varies by latitude. In Mexico, for example, treeline occurs somewhere around 13,000 feet, whereas farther north, in the Tetons, for instance, it occurs lower, at approximately 10,000 feet. Again, it’s a ragged line that may vary by hundreds of feet on any mountain, depending largely on shelter and exposure.

Because the elevational treeline is so closely tied to temperature, many suggest that it could be a particularly sensitive indicator of global climate change. Presumably, rising temperatures would increase the elevation of treeline in any locale, altering forest distribution and potentially ousting rare plant communities – and their inhabitants – that now exist above treeline. Although the specific physiological mechanism of treeline formation is not fully understood, there is growing photographic and other evidence of upward shifts in treelines worldwide.

Why Is the Treeline at a Higher Elevation in the Tetons than in the White Mountains?

A PLUS 4° C (and still going up) atmosphere by around 2060 will enable trees to grow at much higher altitudes. For every degree increase in average global temperature, a corresponding increase in humidity of at least 7% to 13% will take place. We will have an atmosphere expanding vertically, but also with increased humidity. This will accelerate warming because water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, but the good news is that high mountain areas will, in some areas, experience more rain higher up.

As noted at the beginning of this article, humans need water and other adequate growing conditions in order to have a viable civilization.

The Catastrophic Climate Changed world of 2060 will be a stormy place. The over acidified, mostly dead oceans, will be full of giant waves. The winds during storms will be off the charts in comparison to what we experience now. High up in the mountains, some type of barrier will need to be erected to keep the fierce winds from destroying the crops.

Finally, those hardy folks who carve out a life in year-round sunny high mountains will have to deal with UV radiation. It is a fact that, at present, the UV levels at around 10,000 ft. and above are particularly hazardous to humans.

However, with the expanded atmosphere in an overheated planet, this is the one area I see as hopeful for humans and animals living on very high mountains. You see, in said expanded atmosphere of plus 4° C and above, the massive increase in humidity will inhibit UV radiaiton.

Nevertheless. Since the equator alpine areas are infamous for high UV radiation, it would be prudent to plan to plant crops that have high UV tolerant foliage, like tubers. Hopefully, the greatly increased humidity will help protect the High Mountain Human Heroes.

SNIPPET:

Everyone is exposed to UV radiation from the sun and an increasing number of people are exposed to artificial sources used in industry, commerce and recreation. Emissions from the sun include visible light, heat and UV radiation.

The UV region covers the wavelength range 100-400 nm and is divided into three bands:

UVA (315-400 nm)
UVB (280-315 nm)
UVC (100-280 nm).

As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, all UVC and approximately 90% of UVB radiation is absorbed by ozone, water vapour, oxygen and carbon dioxide. UVA radiation is less affected by the atmosphere. Therefore, the UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is largely composed of UVA with a small UVB component.

Environmental factors that influence the UV level

Sun height—the higher the sun in the sky, the higher the UV radiation level. Thus UV radiation varies with time of day and time of year, with maximum levels occurring when the sun is at its maximum elevation, at around midday (solar noon) during the summer months.

Latitude—the closer the equator, the higher the UV radiation levels.  :(

Cloud cover— UV radiation levels are highest under cloudless skies. Even with cloud cover, UV radiation levels can be high due to the scattering of UV radiation by water molecules and fine particles in the atmosphere. :(

Altitude—at higher altitudes, a thinner atmosphere filters less UV radiation. With every 1000 metres increase in altitude, UV levels increase by 10% to 12%.

http://www.who.int/uv/uv_and_health/en/

What do you think are the chances of human civilization achieving what the following graph says we HAVE TO DO?



There is NO WAY in God's (formerly good) Earth that we can avoid a climate that is almost entirely unsuitable for human life. The above graphic illustrates that. Anyone who thinks that we can do what needs to be done to avoid a PLUS 4° C (and above!) climate that will kill most humans and cause the extinction of thousands of other vertebrate species is engaging in magical thinking.  >:( 

ALL the people near the surface in the tropics will die as crispy critters, period. Those in temperate zones will perish too. Those near the poles who live near the surface will last as long as the food they have lasts. Unless they can maintain some geothermally heated and powered high tech greenhouse CITY that includes PLENTY of crop growing quality light and plenty of water, they will die too.

I might add that those greenhouse giant domes, both near the poles ond on high equatorial mountains, had better be MASSIVELY strong. The storms that will visit them and the wind speeds they will face in a PLUS 4 ° C planet  will make any recent hurricane look like a gentle breeze.

In Antarctica, some vegetables have now been (sort of) successfully grown.

SNIPPET:

These Antarctic vegetables were grown without pesticides, daylight, or even soil — but they look absolutely delicious.

Various vegetables which were harvested from the EDEN-ISS greenhouse at the Neumayer-Station III on Antarctica. Image credits: DLR

Germany’s southernmost workplace, the Neumayer-Station III, has harvested the first crop of Antarctic vegetables. Biologists report that they’ve successfully grown 3.6 kilograms (8 pounds) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes grown inside a high-tech greenhouse, as temperatures around the research station were plummeting to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit).

The plants were grown without soil, in a closed-water circle. No outside lighting was used — instead, researchers optimized and used an LED system. The carbon dioxide cycle was also closely monitored.

While this is a solid crop already, researchers are expecting much more in the future. The German Aerospace Center DLR, which coordinates the project, said that in the coming months, they expect to harvest 4-5 kilograms of fruit and vegetables a week.

Image shows engineer Paul Zabel with fresh salad he harvested in the EDEN-ISS greenhouse at the Neumayer-Station III on Antarctica. The project with — instead of soil — a closed water cycle, optimized lightning and carbon dioxide levels is a test of what may become part of the nutrition program for astronauts in future moon or Mars missions. Image credits: DLR.

Full article: Scientists harvest first batch of Antarctic vegetables

I am skeptical of the nutritive value of crops grown this way. Though it is good to know they used no pesticdes, the article says nothing about any nutritive mineral analysis of these vegetables, so there is no evidence yet that this is a sustainable crop growing method in a harsh climate changed plus 4 degrees C world.

The article ends with optimistic talk about using the above technique (and similar techniques like they use in the International Space Station) to eventually grow food in spaceships and on other planets.

Within a decade or less, successfully growing food near the poles will be far more important for the survival of humanity here on earth than in space or on some other planet. 

Speaking of activity near the poles to deal with Climate Change, Iceland is one of the few places on Earth that are seeing benefits from Climate Change. They may be destined to be one of the outposts of humanity in an increasingly overheated world.

Now they are planting evergreens. But, if we do not reverse the overheating trend, they will eventually have to plant these:🌴 :P



Vikings cleared the forests, now Iceland is bringing them back

Even with laudable efforts like the forest planting project in Iceland, humanity needs to do far, far more to survive.


We will need gigantic, and I mean "miles in diameter" GIGANTIC, greenhouses to get a reasonable amount of food grown near the poles and/or on the equatorial mountains.

The giant greenhouse domes situated in the high equatorial mountains would have to be something like the U.K. Eden Project Domes, but way up high on a mountain. In England they have an enclosed rainforest in these domes. They need to be ten or twenty times bigger for an equatorial alpine community. If the post collapse alpine community could control the atmospheric pressure in the giant domes, more UV protection is guaranteed and more comfortable living for humans too.



For those still worried about fellow humans trying to kill you for your stuff, remember that high mountains are a natural defense against warlike humans during the initial phases of the Climate Change Caused Collapse. The heat lower down will eliminate any human threat after a couple of decades. 


STOP thinking you are going to live on planet that has the remotest resemblance to the one you have lived in all your life. THAT is WISHFUL THINKING! The LEAST of your problems is going to be worrying about the "zombie" humans getting your stuff.


« Last Edit: October 16, 2022, 02:49:35 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

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The truth that almost no-one wants to hear: ...
« Reply #351 on: November 21, 2021, 09:06:16 pm »

Nov 2, 2020

The truth that almost no-one wants to hear: facing up to climate breakdown


Rupert Read ✨ 3.5K subscribers

This clip is taken from Rupert Read’s appearance at the 2020 Norfolk Climate Change Conference. You can find out more about Rupert Read’s work at his website: www.rupertread.net
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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🚨📢👉 Future ⏰ Earth
« Reply #352 on: January 19, 2022, 01:36:33 pm »


A climate bomb 💣 is ticking ⏰ under Texas and New Mexico

January 19, 2022 Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International
 
Back in 2019, we started looking into oil and gas drilling in the Permian Basin, an area the size of Kansas covering west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, which has become the world’s most prolific oil and gas basin. What we found was a ticking climate bomb.

Since then, we’ve been researching the issue, connecting with partners, and talking with people living with the impacts from New Mexico to the Gulf Coast. This culminated in the launch of one of our most ambitious research projects ever: The PermianClimateBomb.org report series.

The project is a year long collaboration with artists, local community members, partner organizations, and creative content designers, and it has a clear message: the Permian fracking boom will bust the climate and intensify environmental injustice.

Click on any of the images or links below to learn more about the Permian Basin's devastating impact on communities and our climate through videos, illustrations, data, and stories:



Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Climate
Chapter 3: Exports
Chapter 4: Petrochemicals
Chapter 5: Communities
Chapter 6: Regulatory Failure

The report reveals that Permian oil and gas production has soared 500% since 2010, and is projected to continue growing through this decade. But the Permian has an additional dirty secret gas liquids. At 617 million barrels per year, the Permian produced more gas liquids in 2020 than any other country in the world, making it the leading source of petrochemical feedstock and plastics. This is intensifying environmental injustice in Gulf Coast communities where petrochemical facilities and export terminals are proliferating.

Additionally, we reveal there is only one inspector for every 1,600 oil and gas facilities in Texas, allowing deadly problems to be left unaddressed for months on end. We also share how families and community members are fighting back and resisting the fossil fuel extraction happening throughout the region.

Check out the report series and then share it on social media or directly with friends and family via email.

We hope you find this report series interesting and would love to hear what you think about this new approach for our research. Thanks for all of your support.

- Lorne on behalf of the Permian Climate Bomb team.

Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming barriers to that transition.

Want to support our work further? Click here to donate.
We are a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are fully tax deductible.

« Last Edit: January 19, 2022, 05:59:04 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

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Duckweed is better choice than algea
« Reply #353 on: March 03, 2022, 04:40:03 pm »
Algae - natures answer to fossil fuels and plastics!!   


Just Have a Think 382K subscribers

Algae has been used by humans for thousands of years, but the idea of using algae as a secret weapon to combat climate change is definitely a modern day concept. The more scientists delve into the biology of algae, the more species they find and the more they discover just how incredibly versatile this primordial organism really is.

Help support this channels independence at
http://www.patreon.com/justhaveathink


Anthony Gelbert 25 minutes ago
Algae has two problems that make it unsuitable, both as a bio-fuel and as a CO2 reduction type of autotroph.

1. All algea species are extremely hydrophilic, so sun drying prior to further processing must be enhanced with electrical energy powered heat, which lowers the Energy Return on Energy Invested to a point where it is economically unattractive to use algea to make bio-fuels unless governments throughout the world, instead of giving subsidies to the hydrocarbon fuels "industry", governments give them to a massive worldwide algea bio-fuels and CO2 reduction project. I don't see the 🦖 fossil fuelers letting go of the subsidy swag from all the governments 😈 they have corrupted any time soon.

2. All algea species are extremely temperature sensitive. While it is true that their growth rate far exceeds that of any other type of plant life, the increase in global range needed to make algae reduce CO2 in our atmosphere is not feasable.

I have researched this thoroughly. There is no plant life that can beat algea at rapid photosynthesis, which is the sine qua non requirement for reaching the 350 PPM goal, but algae is so hydrophylic (water loving) that too much energy is required to dry it for storage. 👎 No, passive solar energy will not work to dry algae. That has been tried unsuccessfully. Also, algea can grow rapidly only in a very narrow range of the biosphere.👎 Algea is not the answer.

🤔👨‍🔬

But, there is a floating plant, the tiniest angiosperm (flowering plant) known to science, that can do the job of rapid photosynthesis that we need on a planetary scale. 🌍🌎🌏🌞

► It is extremely hardy.

► It grows in nearly all areas of the planet, with a longer growing season that any other plant life form except phytoplankton.

 ► It doubles it's mass every 48 hours or so, depending on the availability of Sunlight, Carbon Dioxide and cheap fertilizer like pig feces.

► It is tiny, but not microscopic. It can easily be harvested without heavy machinery.

► Unlike microscopic algae, Drying these tiny plants with passive sunlight is also easily done.

► It is easily stored.

► It can even be used as animal feed AND supplemental nutrition for humans too.

► It has been used to clean ponds and lakes of toxic heavy metals. When used for this pupose, it becomes poisonous and must be treated as hazardous waste.

The common name is Duckweed, of which there are a number of species of floating plants. My favorite is Lemna minor ✨🌞

The science based case for a planet scale Lemna minor project has actually been made by evidence of a floating plant when the Arctic had shallow freshwater seas (millions of years ago). Scientists now believe a rapid cooling that took place at that time, even though the CO2 level was even higher then than it is today, was directly caused by the proliferation of Azolla floating plants in that sea. They rapidly lowered the CO2 levels, sinking when they died and being replaced by others, until ice formed over them. They cooled ALL of Earth's atmosphere ⛄ from a CO2 PPM concentration that was higher than the one we are saddled with now.

"This freshwater surface layer allowed Azolla to repeatedly spread across the ocean surface forming mats of vegetation during a succession of episodes called the ‘the Arctic Azolla Event‘. The event lasted for almost a million years from about 50 to 49 million years ago."

It happened before. We can make it happen again, and we don't need a million years to do it. We CAN DO IT in a few decades. 💫

Learn more:
👉 Duckweed, the plant that may save mankind by enabling our species to live symbiotically, instead of parasitically, with the biosphere

william armstrong 11 days ago
It is great to hear about a Carbon Capture system that for once does not create more CO2 than they can recover from the atmosphere, or result in more oil extration.

Anthony Gelbert > william armstrong 27 minutes ago
Agreed.
I've thought about the Carbon Dioxide issue for several years. I have always questioned the motives behind the hydrocarbon industry cheerleading CO2 capture and sequestration.

IMHO, after looking at this from several reality based angles (unlike the unreality based happy talk pushing MO of the 🦕😈🦖 fossil fuelers), the fact that the best present day technology to keep the CO2 concentration down (which is used in Nuclear Submarines, which are forced to surface every six months because they cannot keep CO2 below 8,000 PPM after that time period) cannot get CO2 levels anywhere near 5,000 PPM, never mind the 350 PPM we desperately need to get back to in order to avoid the worse effects of the Sixth Mass Extinction now in progress from excessive GHG emissions, evidences that the proposed CO2 reduction technology, euphemistically called "capture and sequestration" technology, is a fraud. 👎

IOW, all the technofixes out there refuse to admit that the GOAL here is NOT to keep the Hydrocarbon Industry profitable. The GOAL is 350 PPM, period. Anything else is simply wishful thinking.

The only reality based way to solve this problem lies with Biological solutions involving rapid photosynthesis. I think Duckweed is better choice than algea.
🧐 Duckweed, the plant that may save mankind by enabling our species to live symbiotically, instead of parasitically, with the biosphere
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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March 27, 2022 By Kim Stanley Robinson (Bloomberg)

SNIPPET:

Even the low-end estimates, almost sure to be reached because of the anthropocentric warming that’s already occurred, would be enough to submerge almost every beach in the world. Kiss them goodbye. 🤦‍♂️

Read more: 👀





He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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