It's hard not to be impressed that, in the world of climate activism, the doomsday clock always remains suspended at five minutes to midnight...no matter how dire the evidence, there's always a chance we can pull back from the brink if we ONLY go vegan/stop KXL/put up a solar panel/etc. The video embedded below - Last Hours - comes closer than most sources at saying it's already TOO late. The scientists are finally getting scared enough to speak publicly about tipping points beyond which there is no salvation.
The bad-girl tipping point that has the Miley Cyrus starring role in the film is methane release (what wait, you missed her SNL Michele Bachmann twerk?). I have always thought that it (NOT the twerk, runaway greenhouse warming!) became inevitable decades ago, but it will be interesting to see which tipping point of several ultimately becomes viewed (in retrospect) first.
This is from the IPCC AR5 Working Group 1 Technical Summary (final draft)
"Abrupt climate change is defined in AR5 as a large-scale change in the climate system that takes place over a few decades or less, persists (or is anticipated to persist) for at least a few decades, and causes substantial disruptions in human and natural systems."
They add examples but notice what they also point to:
"Examples of components susceptible to such abrupt change are the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), clathrate methane release, tropical and boreal forest dieback, disappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, long-term drought and monsoonal circulation. {5.7, 6.4.7, 12.5.5; Table 12.4}"
That's right - tropical and boreal forests dieback, which is ALREADY in dieback, from pollution.
I will attempt to do some more autumn posts about the incredibly early loss of leaves, far worse this year than ever before - leaves are shriveling up rather than turning bright colors at an astonishing rate. If I have enough to pay the freight, I'll take another hot air balloon ride - which I filmed on October 23, 2011. In the meantime, here are links to some earlier ones from seasons past if anyone wants to compare the condition of trees over time:
The Final Puff, October 1, 2012
Spill the Scarlet Rain, October 7, 2012
Torches of Freedom, October 14, 2012
Arrested at Their Prime, October 16, 2012
Hysteresis and the Vile Conspiracy to Blame the Bugs, October 25, 2012
Took my 91 year old mother out today. She has one eye and it's not that good. At this point in her life she is mostly regarding the rearview. But she is not self-censoring, does not worry if the things she says are upsetting to the delicate or to conventional wisdom. Everywhere we went "What's wrong with these trees?" "The only autumn color is brown." "These trees aren't shedding leaves, they're dying." Her vision is weak, her vision is direct.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, I heard a two-year-old shriek - What's Wrong With That Tree!?
DeleteHer grandmother answered, "It's dying. All it's leaves are falling off".
So few people extrapolate the meanig of this.
http://www.richarddawkins.net/news_articles/2013/9/25/-ancient-forest-thaws-from-melting-glacial-tomb-livescience#
ReplyDeleteNice..-- Get More :- http://j.gs/2uGI
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