AGW Is Hurting Us Now

One of the latest tactics of the anti-science crowd is to claim that if manmade climate change were to cause any damage it wouldn't be until some time in the distant future. So, why get upset about something that won't happen for a long time, if at all? Of course, the problem with this claim is that it ignores all of the damage occurring right now due to AGW.

Here is an article that lists seven ways climate change will, and is, threatening the health of US citizens: Temperature-related illnesses and death, air quality, extreme weather, vector borne diseases, water related impacts, food and nutrition, and mental health.

And, recent research has shown climate change is causing summer conditions to arrive 10 days earlier in Europe than it did only 40 years ago. I guess nature didn't get the antiscience memo that there is no climate change.

California Weather Getting More Extreme

A team of researchers led by Stanford University scientist Noah Diffenbaugh examined the weather patterns associated with California droughts. Their results were published in the journal Science Advances. While the issue of droughts got the headline, the part I found most interesting was their statement that extreme weather is becoming more normal in California. A quote from a news release from the National Science Foundation explains this.

Imagine looking at a 10-year period and finding that two of the years are wet, two are dry, and the rest experienced precipitation close to the long-term average. Now imagine another decade with three very dry years, three very wet years, and only four years with near-average precipitation.

"What seems to be happening is that we're having fewer 'average' years, and instead we're seeing more extremes on both sides," Swain said. "This means that California is starting to experience more warm/dry periods, punctuated by wet conditions."

We see, once again, the weather system is a heat engine. Pump more energy into it and the engine will get revved up. We see this pattern at an increasing rate. How long will it be before everyone is subjected to this same pattern of increasing severe weather?

Will Coal Companies Pass Even More Pollution Costs Onto Taxpayers?

The so-called 'ethical' and 'affordable' coal industry achieves those monikers by passing its pollution - and the expense of that pollution - off on others. The litany of the damage done by the coal industry and coal-fired power plants is extensive. Acid rain, mercury, SO2, arsenic, greenhouse gases, particulate pollution, and coal sludge are just a few. The reason coal-fired electricity is cheap is because the plants send that pollution down wind and let someone else worry about the effects and costs. The mining industry is right there with them and coal mines are famous for the pollution and environmental damage they cause.

Now, it looks like they're going to do it again.

Coal mining companies are going broke due to the drop in demand for their product. This is caused by the growing concern of what they're doing to our environment, climate, and our health. Unfortunately, bankruptcy will provide the companies a means to avoid having to pay for the clean-up costs they are legally required to cover. Approximately $2.5 billion in clean-up costs are likely be passed onto the taxpayer as these companies seek bankruptcy protection.

What was that about 'ethical' coal?

The most interesting part is to read about how much of this pollution is going on in the Appalachian region. This is the same area where people are upset about the downturn in the coal industry. They're upset about losing their jobs, which is always something to be concerned about, but they don't seem to care about how these same employers were killing them with pollution and stealing their pensions.

New Minimum on the Maximum Arctic Sea Ice

In case you didn't hear the news over the din of the anti-science crowd saying there is no global warming, the Arctic sea ice experienced yet another record low maximum extent this spring. The maximum occurred on March 24th and was 14.523 million square kilometers (5.607 million square miles) compared to last year's previous record low of 14.536 million square kilometers. That number is 1.12 million square kilometers (431,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average of 15.64 million square kilometers (6.04 million square miles).

I have to confess I was a little bit relieved by this record low. That's because I thought it was going to be much worse. Twice before I thought we had reached the maximum and they looked disastrous. On February 9th it reached 14.214 million square kilometers before declining. But, it turned upwards before repeating this pattern and reaching 14.478 million square kilometers on March 2nd. Both of these measurements would have put the maximum extend well outside of 2-standard deviations from the long-term average.

Source: NSIDC

 

Unfortunately, as you can see, this slight recovery only means we are in a terribly low situation instead of a disastrously low one. The Arctic melt season is now underway and it is starting out with an extent that is less than two sigmas below the long-term average. Of course, if you've been following the history of the Arctic sea ice, you already know these record lows are the norm. That doesn't make them any less unpleasant.