marklynas.orgMy news from a warming world 05 December 06
In recent weeks I’ve been feeling like one of my characters from High Tide. Whereas in 2000 it was Alaskan natives who were telling stories about the changes they’ve seen in the world around them, now I catch myself doing it. For example – I’ve just had to pick several cabbage white caterpillars off my broccoli plants – in December! These pests should have shut up shop and disappeared in October at the latest, and yet here they are still busily munching away. This is clearly a scandal of international proportions.
Likewise the apple trees in my local orchard, one of which has burst into bloom – either three months too early, or eight months too late, depending on your perspective. This is bad news for next year’s apple crop: when the frost finally does come, these flowers will be killed, and that will mean no apple crop at all next year.
An ornithologist friend of mine reports that he saw a mature swallow swooping over Oxford’s Port Meadow just last week – again, these insect-eating birds should have packed their bags and headed south months ago. All of this of course comes down to the fact that we have just experienced the warmest autumn in England for 347 years – in other words, since records began. England has the longest instrumental record anywhere in the world, so the Met Office can state with confidence that at no time since 1659 has there been an autumn this warm. We’re not alone, either: just about everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere – from Russia to Austria – has been reporting unusually warm weather.
Not surprisingly, this will help make 2006 one of the warmest-ever years – though not the warmest, a distinction currently enjoyed jointly by 2005 and 1998 (thanks partly to a strong El Nino in the latter). The figures aren’t all in yet, obviously, but 2006 will certainly be in the top five. News from a warming world indeed.
5 comments add a comment
I'm scared ... !
I'm scared ... !
I’ve not had to turn my heating on yet this “winter”. And there is some extreme weather happening today. A tornado reported in north-west London … !!
Douglas Coker from balmy Enfield
Tornado incidences
Tornado incidences
A funnel cloud also formed in August 1999 over Finchley, NW London though not a true tornado as it didn’t make ground contact. I saw this from my window and confirmed it with the met. office after it was reported on the radio.
Recorded tornadoes in US have increased progressively since a comprehensive recording system began in 1953, see here. Those stats don’t appear to match annual temperatures closely, but this year will still be one of the six with the greatest number recorded, see here.
Bush & co have won!
Bush & co have won!
And it looked a bit iffy back in 1990-91, when TV was beginning to talk about global warming. Well, Bush Sr fixed their wagon by planning the 1st Gulf war invasion the night IS IT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? was to be aired—bumping that program and any other enviro show clear off the planet. He only made one mistake…not continuing the war in Iraq. Then enviros started creeping back, but Bush Jr really fixed their wagon, by making the war ongoing, so that’s all we hear about on TV. None of that eviro crap.
And it’s such a win-win situation, with all the revenues flowing in from oil and armaments sales. It’s worked out much better than their wildest dreams. Bush Jr even ensured his 2nd term, determined not to repeat Sr’s mistake. Mission accomplished!
Too cynical....the motives are not materialistic, afterall
Too cynical....the motives are not materialistic, afterall
Bush & extended company are only doing God’s will….helping to bring about the world’s end, and, of course, they need money for that…to do God’s will, like jumpstart runaway warming.
If you don’t believe me (just learned this from RealClimate, & I’d been writing about it as fcition, for heaven’s sake!), go to the following sites & meet THE FAMILY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_%28Christian_political_organization%29
http://www.harpers.org/JesusPlusNothing.html
Of course, they don’t actually mention helping God to end the world as part of their mission….but then again they are secretive, & it’s no secret many Christians believe the end is immiment.
Biology is a cause not just a victim of climate change
Biology is a cause not just a victim of climate change
Same thing in here in Australia, Mark. We have bushfires one or two months earlier than ever before. In my own backyard, my water tank is already down to the level it was at the end of our last summer.
Here’s a fresh look at climate change. It’s a paper called “The biology of global warming and its profitable mitigation”
http://www.natsoc.org.au/html/publications/GW_06_12_09.pdf
It draws on the work of Lovelock, Hansen and many others and in doing so, it actually reconciles some of the sceptics’ claims with those of the scientific mainstream.
The author’s conclusion is that things are worse than many think or admit but that, believe it or not, something can be done – and not just locally, but regionally.
Keith Thomas Canberra