Yes that's right, and I think our children are heading to a new ice age after we've left a scorched world : when the glaziers in Iceland melts, volcanoes will erupt, like the Eyjafjallajökull - Wikipedia Then, the clouds will bar the suns rays, like it happened a few thousand years ago. Look for it and you'll find the refrence. When temperatures rise at an unexpected speed, it doesn't mean it will last long. dick Jeffson said it too ;-D Our 1 or 2 percent of Neanderthal man better fit for a new ice age taking over again ?... ;0) Just rememembered that very stupid song, but I danced with Neanderthal girls on that. Very stupid, OK, but it was a lot of fun, yes, it was... ;°)
Hopefully the young people who are becoming the adults of tomorrow will be more accepting of the science behind global warming, and therefore more likely to force the politicians to do something about it. I think living through extreme climate events may give them a better perspective than some members of the older generations, plus they have far more access to information than I ever did at their age. What is encouraging are the law suits now being brought against the oil firms in the US by cities and states who have been negatively affected by climate change. The crux of the arguement is that the oil companies knew half a century ago about the likely climate effects of burning fossil fuels from their own internal research and then suppressed the information and wilfully promoted climate disinformation instead. Big Oil appears to be heading for the same fate as Big Tobacco. Too little, too late for the environment but at least it is a start. Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price As for the aviation industry, they have the unfair advantage of not paying tax on jet fuel, effectively creating government subsidies to pollute the upper atmosphere rather than the lower atmosphere.
Tobacco companies too, kreuh kreuh (in French "cough, cough" or whatever spelling)... 1947 (date the song was made), country humour for a good cause : Mens sana in corpore sano, un esprit sain dans un corps sain... ;0)
Never before there has been so much wasting Earths resourses because of someones fun. I think, that Musk (and Branson and Bezos, etc) has burned at least billion times more oil than me. For what? For developing extra polluting ways of transportation, just for fun. I see, that many blame Asia for the situation. But in China they burn 5 times (in India 10 times) less oil per person than even in Estonia (that is relatively poor country and here we burn several times less oil per person than in US or other richer countries). Promoting PV-s, that have negative EROEI, has also put additional burden on Earth. So does promoting of EV-s, that aren't cleaner than regular cars.
Such passionate writing from everyone, this topic is going on and on and on..... I would like to add a little from listening to my scientist children and their friends who are also scientists. They all agree about the warming, but there are some differing opinions on the causes. Now tbh I do get confused at the discussions, but the thing that comes to light that I see, is the cycle effect that caused the Mammoth to become extinct, temperatures rose by 6°C and this was not caused by humans. What really happened to mammoths and other ice age giants Now before I get my head bitten off. I do believe the planet is warming and probably faster than it has ever done before, but the causes are far more complex than we probably realise. It can also be used as a way of increasing taxes by governments who want to appear green. Low emissions zones always makes me wonder about this form of tax. Basically if you have the money, you can drive the most polluting vehicle around a city all day long. So is this just a tax on the poor !!!? The next argument I hear is about the 8 billion people on this planet 'and counting'. ( George Orwell 1984) comes to mind btw. 5 billion is the most David Attenborough said that the planet can sustain. But we are in a catch 22 scenario here as well. We need more young people to pay for the older pensions and so as we all live longer, the more and more humans we need to pay for them. Then all those extra young people want more and more things and so the planet with it's now limited resources, has to feed, clothe and house all the extra people, hence more land is needed for crops and to build homes. It is a vicious cycle, that IMHO I don't think any government in the world has any idea of how to solve. Now as for space travel as has been talked about by @Sulev, I think governments and the mega rich know that this planet is doomed and they are in a hurry to get our species or their families onto Mars etc ASAP. Probably to drain the resources there and then move onto the next planet to do the same again...... So to sum up what I have been babbling on about. We gardeners will have to learn to adapt by planting appropriate plants in and around where we live. Members should encourage all new members to the forum who write in and ask how they can keep a totally inappropriate plant for their area alive and so we should point them in the direction of correct planting for where they live. We also should encourage all new members the need to collect rain water for the plants in their gardens and not use precious resources. Obviously appropriate plants will need less water as well. To finish, it is going to be 28°C today here in Southern England ,then storms expected tomorrow night and then back to 21° C all next week. D
@Acerholic, Mars is more doomed than Earth. Struggle for reaching to Mars causes just faster doom of Earth. Space tourism is just burning Earth's resources at full speed. I am not allowed to use incadescent bulbs forlighting, despite those are more environmentally friendly and 9 months a year we have to use heating in our houses anyways, so heat from bulbs is not wasted at all.
It will be if humans get there !!!! But the mega rich will have somewhere to go to escape, we and our families will be left behind. The old saying of, 'do as we say, not as we do' springs to mind. D
Yesterday we had lots of wind here, enough to move the smoke off the lake, but causing more havoc for the firefighters. Lots of things got blown over here in the wind yesterday, pots knocked off their tables, stacked wood knocked flying, branches off trees and so on. It is an unbelievably cool 16.9º here this morning only going to 25º today. The wind has died, but the smoke is back again. It is still not fully daylight here yet, but the dull lights across the lake let us know the smoke is here again. It's interesting that the people who rail against EV's will always say that the actual manufacturing of such cars is environmentally unfriendly, which is likely true. So what is the difference between an EV and ICE vehicle (internal combustion engine) under those conditions? Probably little or none. Then the next complaint concerns the manner in which electricity is produced to give power to these big batteries. Surely, it is possible to provide such electricity with greener methods than the combustion of fossil fuels. I lived for 17 years on a small unserviced island on solar power and that was an enlightening experience. In the not too distant future we will have nuclear fusion to supply electricity. From what I read, it seems that this power source is essentially zero emissions and will last forever. Of that I'm obviously not sure, but then our species has come up with all sorts of interesting things over the years and hopefully this is one idea which will come to fruition sooner rather than later. As for our beloved plants, it didn't take long to realize that green maples don't like it here, but the red ones seem to tolerate this terrible heat far better. Then again, the weather has been anything but co-operative this summer.
It will be interesting to see what they plan on using for food on Mars. That environment is not conducive to growing your average veggies. With all the difficulty we have even getting to our moon, I don't see any practical purpose for trying to head to Mars, unless they have Mars Bars up there!
Good morning Keith. Your point is perfect for showing people what to maples to plant and what not to plant in your area. We members need to show more of this on the forums. Well done you. D
I should have had enough common sense to understand that red maples are the way to go here. I don't think that I have actually seen a single green Japanese maple here now that I think about it. I'm getting to know where all the mature trees are here now, and we always make a point of looking at them when we drive by. My coral bark maple finally bit the dust despite that flush of new growth. The main stem went totally black above the graft without any warning at all. One day the growth looked great, next morning it was all limp, and that's when the black part showed up.
I don't believe in terraforming of Mars. That is impossible. I consider scenarios, that give super rich people opportunity to escape Earth just before it dooms, highly unlikely. There is no place to run. Of course, if the scenario is impact with an asteroid, then it is theoretically possible to escape from Earth for the moment of collision, but AFAIK nobody has survived even a year away from Earth, and that would be sad end pretty lonely in a claustrophobic capsule without any support from Earth.
@Acerholic posted above « We gardeners will have to learn to adapt by planting appropriate plants in and around where we live. Members should encourage all newmembers to the forum who write in and ask how they can keep a totally inappropriate plant for their area alive and so we should point them in the direction of correctplanting for where they live. « I absolutely agree with a respectful approach And not just hopefully illuminating the wasteful efforts to grow in temperatures / climates not well suited ... it’s also the far to easy to use pest / herb controls too ... and cut trees to make »better » views So how much energy and round-up and water do Okanagan wine grapes consume? I don’t know. We - on purpose - don’t have any on our place What about the now legal edible/smokeable leaf in Canada - how much resource does it take to grow? I have recently seen perfectly viable acreage pastures given bulldozer rash (sold the topsoil) then paved over for huge grow houses. ——— Meanwhile - how is everything for you @Keith Elliott & Mrs E and your little piece of paradise in Anglemont BC? I hope you’re all safe and the local flora and fauna survive. Evacuation order issued for part of Seymour Arm near Hunakwa wildfire - Salmon Arm News
Val has gone down to the coast for surgery tomorrow at the Eagle Ridge hospital. A place that she is all too familiar with unfortunately. She hopes to return home in about ten days, assuming the surgery goes well. So at least she is away from all the smoke and heat up this way, although as I write it is only 28.5º here, relatively cool. As for the various and sundry plants here, those that could not survive the extreme heat, have - for the most part - been pulled out. I lost one Coral Bark maple, the rest are still hanging on in reasonably good shape now. The peppers seem to love the warmth and the tomatoes are finally ripening up some fruit. The lilacs seem to love it, the hop plants are really going to town over the arbor and small "ladder" I made for one of them. Those little hops grow so fast it's hard to believe. The main thing is that I have to keep on top of the watering. Next year there will be a drip system in place, much better use of water. Keeping our fingers crossed in the hope that we will eventually get some yield from the veggies. So far the closest fire to us was over at Celista more than a week ago now. Just a small one which they got out quickly. We have been watching, quite literally, the Crazy Creek Gorge fire which is about 20 kms away from the St. Ives Provincial Park. Depending on whether or not there is any wind to get rid of some of the smoke, either you can see where much of it is still burning, or otherwise the whole area is just grey with smoke. Yesterday there was enough wind here that things were literally getting blown around and branches were getting broken off some of the trees. If that wind got up to Seymour Arm, which it likely did, it would have been terrible for the fire at the lake up there.
Sitting here in stunned disbelief as I watch the weather network reports from around the world. Rivers in Belgium burst their banks causing major flooding, huge rain in Utah, wildfires in California spreading into Nevada, more flooding in Japan and China and the list just goes on and on. I suppose in one way we are fortunate here in that it's only going to be warm and smoky. Highs today and tomorrow 31ºC, and of course we will be higher right here, then 35ºC to 37ºC for the rest of the week. Zero rain in the forecast. 1,218 fires year to date, 259 still burning and we are down to just 91 in our Kamloops district now. I see trouble ahead this week with the highs getting above 35º from Wednesday onward, but if the firefighters can hold that number, it will be miraculous. The fire at Sicamous, started when a truck hit a power pole, and the transformer thereon hit the ground, and sparks started the big fire, is moving away from Sicamous now. Our man Jeff lives there and he was more than a bit worried when the evacuation alert was issued. It's nerve wracking for everyone in this entire portion of the province. Looking across the lake yesterday evening, no change this morning. Trying to distinguish between some low cloud and smoke yesterday evening shortly before sunset.
Good morning @GeorgiaStrait. Val is doing as well as can be expected. They have her on some sort of totally illegal drugs which is intended to keep the pain at bay. It seems to have the ability to knock her right out, so I guess that's one way of doing it! She sees the surgeon again this Thursday just to make sure the hand is doing well and then I understand she can come home for a couple of weeks before returning to the coast to get the stitches removed. Hopefully by then, some of the worst of the smoke will be gone and she won't need to breathe too much of it. But at least she is in good spirits. I think the kids are spoiling her rotten while she is down there.
What we can see on TV about the rest of the world is really very sad, and scary too. Between Germany and Belgium, nearly 200 people died because of the floods. There are situations too in India and China, and that's terrible, but here, it's never been to that extent. It seems the heat dome is staying in NW America but we're still in a "cold drop" here: the temps here are about 22-25° in the "heat" of the day, and while I was typing, there was a short, but heavy shower of rain, it's been like this for at least a week and it looks like it's going to last. Man-made or not, it's obvious the problem of climate change must be tackled, and time is running out... But as I wrote once in one of my bitter, sarcastic moments, there's hope: when the ice melts in Iceland, there's a good chance of volcanoes will erupt, and it will be even more dramatic than when the Eyjafjallajökull erupted. And all the dinosaurs will disappear. Oh, they're all gone? OK, all the chickens will be wiped out too. No more KFC, sorry. But the cockroaches will survive! Wonder how they taste... ;0) (That's what we call "humour noir"...)
We have only got as high as 21˚ once this July though the next couple days may match or inch above that...
That's good news, I'm glad that you are not in the same situation as those in BC or some parts of Cal. Fingers crossed.
I live about 7 hours south of Mr. Elliot but it is much the same here. Expecting 41° on Friday, no rain for 1.5 months and lots of fires and smoke. I may have picked the wrong time to get into maples. They are struggling in the heat.
It may be that the happiest people are religious fundamentalists and/or those who don't believe in climate change. "The world is unfolding as it should" etc." (Desiderata Original Text)
I am thrilled to report that they are now calling for light rain on Sunday and Monday! That will be fantastic. I hope they aren't kidding..... Even with the rain, the temperature will still be in the mid 30's though. Same amount of smoke here as usual, which is making it difficult to do any strenuous outdoor activity. I have enough trouble mowing the grass when it isn't smoky, never mind when it is.
