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Feeling the Heat
Author: BobR    Date: 07/06/2012 13:13:39

As we suffer through yet another scorcher of a day, there's a small voice in the back of our heads saying "global warming". A majority of climate scientists who study and understand data have predicted that our earth is warming up and will continue to do so unless we reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That evaluation and prediction has come under fire by petroleum-financed groups (ie: Republicans and FOX News) as nonsense. At some point, the terminology was changed from "global warming" to "global climate change". The oil people have mostly acquiesced that there is warming, but have successfully instilled doubt as to whether the change is natural or man-made. It really doesn't matter which it is if we aren't willing to try to make changes.

It's tempting to look at more than 2000 temperature records being matched or broken across the country and consider that prime evidence. There are a couple problems with that. First, there's the reality that if a record was broken, it has reached nearly that temperature at some point in the past, indicating that temporary temp spikes occur all the time. There's also the reality that weather happens. Every winter, some right-wing yahoo will guffaw that he just shoveled 3 feet of global warming off his steps. Normal seasonal weather and short temporary spikes should not be used as evidence of global warming.

But what would "normal" be? Is it normal to have weeks of weather in the 100s? The midwest has been cooking for over a week, resulting in roads buckling, deaths, and power outages. I remember growing up in upstate NY where you'd have a couple nights that were overly hot. We didn't have A/C (it was not common to have it) because it was rarely needed. I am certain that is true for other areas of the country currently trying to survive in this heat. But now? It seems that A/C is becoming mandatory where it never was before.

One of the signs of global warming climate change is severe weather. That has certainly been the case. How often does upstate NY get hit by a hurricane? The derecho that barreled through Ohio, WV, and VA is not something one normally sees here. A record 56% of the US is in drought conditions, ranging from abnormal dryness to extreme/exceptional dryness (8.4% of the country fits that last description). That dryness has contributed to the massive wildfires in the west. This hot temperature pattern is likely to stay with us and get worse, according to climate scientists.

This all carries a cost. There is a cost in emergency response, in lost productivity, in crops failing, in lives...

Those that deny climate change do so at their own - and OUR - peril. For those that don't have a direct financial stake in maintaining the status quo for using fossil fuels, one has to wonder what their motivation is. Is it selfishness? What do they think the "liberal agenda" is for trying to change our energy sources? There's no money in it for us, unless we own a windmill factory or other manufacturer of renewable energy technology. Is it simple political gamesmanship? Both North Carolina and Virginia have rejected the language and warnings of sea levels rising, with VA delegate Chris Stolle (R-VA Beach) calling "sea level rise" a "left-wing term". This guy represents a district that will be directly and negatively impacted by rising sea levels and he wants to play games with the scientific data?

As I wrote about a month ago, we as a planet are approaching the tipping point, that precipice of the abyss where the downward spiral accelerates slowly, but picking up speed, until we are steaming in our juices year round. Infrastructure improvements to the power grid and replacing coal power plants with renewable energy sources will create jobs and slow down that slide. That's not partisan - that's survival.
 

28 comments (Latest Comment: 07/07/2012 04:29:48 by Will in Chicago)
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Comment by wickedpam on 07/06/2012 13:16:27
Morning

Comment by Raine on 07/06/2012 13:21:18
I will never understand why people willfully deny Climate change. Perhaps it was a terrible blunder to call it Global warming at all.

That said the very serious nature of the was storms have changed in different geographic areas, one would finally come to accept that even if they didn;twant to believe the science,the storms are far more violent than in the past.

Growing up in NYS, as a child tornado warnings were few and far between-- they have become common place now. I think people have become immune tothe warnings from nature do to a lot of propaganda -- it's akin to a frog slowly cooking in the water.

Literally, in some cases.

Comment by TriSec on 07/06/2012 13:57:08
Morning, folks.

Hitting a bit close to home about the comment that A/C is almost becoming a requirement for the summer....I grew up here on the Northshore, on the North Atlantic ocean mind you. Our little town of Saugus almost always had a seabreeze, we did not have air conditioners when we were kids.

My mother's house in town (actually my grandparent's, not the house I grew up in) was set up with two cool rooms about 5 summers back. It's barely possible to make it through the summer like that now.


Comment by TriSec on 07/06/2012 13:58:45
Oh, and I've wondered about the wingers too...it's always funny when we get blizzards in the winter (I shoveled global warming, har! har! har!) but where are they when it's over 100 for days in the summer?



Comment by Raine on 07/06/2012 14:54:25
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, and I've wondered about the wingers too...it's always funny when we get blizzards in the winter (I shoveled global warming, har! har! har!) but where are they when it's over 100 for days in the summer?
I wonder that myself.

Comment by wickedpam on 07/06/2012 14:54:50
jeez - days off in the middle of the week make the week longer - wanted to sleep in this morning

Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 15:05:40
Heatwaves are no big deal they happen, but the big climate change driven part of them now is the extreme heat. That is the subltle thing wingers can't seem to grasp is the extremes in weather. More snow in winter, hotter, dryer summers.

Comment by Scoopster on 07/06/2012 15:05:53
Mornin' all & Happy Fridee!

Comment by BobR on 07/06/2012 15:20:34
This ties in with the blog: violent storms hit Smoky Mountains

Comment by Raine on 07/06/2012 15:46:42
Quote by Mondobubba:
Heatwaves are no big deal they happen, but the big climate change driven part of them now is the extreme heat. That is the subltle thing wingers can't seem to grasp is the extremes in weather. More snow in winter, hotter, dryer summers.
Silly as it may sound, Kudzu is an indicator to me. It's spreading North.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/06/2012 16:06:22
Hello, bloggers!

Summers are generally hotter than when I was a kid. Air conditioners are far more common in Chicagoland than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Winters are also a lot different. This past winter was almost non-existent. We also seem to be having more extreme weather events.

We lost the central air conditioning last Saturday and it has been a challenge. Even staying in the basement only helps a little.

As for myself, I had some errands to run early. Now, I am busy with the job search. Tonight, my temple gets to meet the new rabbi. It is so hot that I ironed a linen-cotton blend shirt -- something that I got for my move to Arizona a few years back.

Comment by TriSec on 07/06/2012 16:10:28
For Immediate Release

Waltham, MA

TriSec of Waltham has announced his intention to resurrect the virtual airline "Palm Air" and begin operations from dormant Worcester Regional Airport.

In a complex funding scheme involving many offshore accounts of dubious legality, the original holding company "Nightmare Airlines", now based at Ragged Island in the Bahamas, will wet-lease several aircraft of moderate vintage to begin operating both passenger and cargo flights from Central Massachusetts.

"Most of the wreckage from our previous attempts has been cleared away, and the craters in the field have been filled in, so it's time to try again", said the CEO.

Initial destinations are unclear, but the company believes there is a secondary demand for the busy NY-Boston route flying through the secondary airports at Worcester and Teterboro, NJ. There may also be lesser demand for summer vacation sites along the East Coast as well.

"Palm Air" previously flew between Hanscom Field in Bedford, MA and Palm Beach International Airport in Florida before a series of fatal crashes grounded the airline permanently.

http://www.wittygraphy.com/picture/view/1014459.jpg


Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 16:57:10
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Heatwaves are no big deal they happen, but the big climate change driven part of them now is the extreme heat. That is the subltle thing wingers can't seem to grasp is the extremes in weather. More snow in winter, hotter, dryer summers.
Silly as it may sound, Kudzu is an indicator to me. It's spreading North.



I hadn't thought about that, but yeah.

Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 16:58:31
Quote by Will in Chicago:
Hello, bloggers!

Summers are generally hotter than when I was a kid. Air conditioners are far more common in Chicagoland than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Winters are also a lot different. This past winter was almost non-existent. We also seem to be having more extreme weather events.

We lost the central air conditioning last Saturday and it has been a challenge. Even staying in the basement only helps a little.

As for myself, I had some errands to run early. Now, I am busy with the job search. Tonight, my temple gets to meet the new rabbi. It is so hot that I ironed a linen-cotton blend shirt -- something that I got for my move to Arizona a few years back.



A linen-cotton blend? To temple?

Comment by livingonli on 07/06/2012 17:20:57
Good day, all. We have a heat advisory tomorrow although not the last few days and I've also noticed that it has been staying warm at nights more so it's even been muggy going home and all I've noticed is that even with the air on, I just feel like sleeping most of the day.

Comment by Scoopster on 07/06/2012 17:25:51
Comment by Raine on 07/06/2012 17:55:23

And this is more proof of how a meme is born.

Glad to see some pushback for this behavior.

Comment by Raine on 07/06/2012 18:49:03
Hello from the office!

Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 18:54:31
Quote by Raine:
Hello from the office!



you love saying that, don't you?

Comment by Raine on 07/06/2012 18:59:27
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
Hello from the office!



you love saying that, don't you?

It's wierd saying it.

Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 19:38:24
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Raine:
Hello from the office!



you love saying that, don't you?

It's wierd saying it.



It kinda is.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/06/2012 19:57:49
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Will in Chicago:
Hello, bloggers!

Summers are generally hotter than when I was a kid. Air conditioners are far more common in Chicagoland than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Winters are also a lot different. This past winter was almost non-existent. We also seem to be having more extreme weather events.

We lost the central air conditioning last Saturday and it has been a challenge. Even staying in the basement only helps a little.

As for myself, I had some errands to run early. Now, I am busy with the job search. Tonight, my temple gets to meet the new rabbi. It is so hot that I ironed a linen-cotton blend shirt -- something that I got for my move to Arizona a few years back.



A linen-cotton blend? To temple?



I am a Reform Jew. Secondly, the wool-linen blend ban applied to priests. There was never a ban on linen and cotton, the latter being unknown at the time. The last priests of the Second Temple probably died some 1900 years ago or so.

Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 21:12:13
Quote by Will in Chicago:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by Will in Chicago:
Hello, bloggers!

Summers are generally hotter than when I was a kid. Air conditioners are far more common in Chicagoland than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. Winters are also a lot different. This past winter was almost non-existent. We also seem to be having more extreme weather events.

We lost the central air conditioning last Saturday and it has been a challenge. Even staying in the basement only helps a little.

As for myself, I had some errands to run early. Now, I am busy with the job search. Tonight, my temple gets to meet the new rabbi. It is so hot that I ironed a linen-cotton blend shirt -- something that I got for my move to Arizona a few years back.



A linen-cotton blend? To temple?



I am a Reform Jew. Secondly, the wool-linen blend ban applied to priests. There was never a ban on linen and cotton, the latter being unknown at the time. The last priests of the Second Temple probably died some 1900 years ago or so.


A couple of things, I kid, because I care. Now, I didn't know that verse in Letivticus about mixing fabrics applied only to priests. Thanks for that clarification.

Comment by Mondobubba on 07/06/2012 21:58:14
Will follow up question. I am assuming that the no blends thing is part of the unblemshed only in the Temple?

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/06/2012 22:43:45
Quote by Mondobubba:
Will follow up question. I am assuming that the no blends thing is part of the unblemshed only in the Temple?


A lot of what is in Leviticus relates to what was done in ancient times. So, the blends applied to the garments of the priests. A key concept in Leviticus was separating the holy from the common place, lest common objects become holy by contact. (I particularly recommend Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut's Commentary on the Torah, which is used by many Reform congregations.)

In a sense, this is little different from many aspects of our own lives. We are impacted by those things or persons that we associate with ourselves. Indeed, one thing I urge people to look at in candidates is not just what they say and do, but who are their allies. (This is one thing in particular that disturbs me about Mitt Romney -- he actually is getting foreign policy advice from John Bolton. This is not a good association.)

Comment by livingonli on 07/06/2012 23:06:24
It does seem like the Dominionist movement in this country would like us to be ruled by the book of Leviticus until they realize that it might not allow them to eat their bacon or pork products .

Comment by Raine on 07/07/2012 00:40:45
Woohoo! we dropped down to 95 degrees!
http://media.turnofspeed.com/media/JJason/melting61752.gif


Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/07/2012 04:29:48
Quote by livingonli:
It does seem like the Dominionist movement in this country would like us to be ruled by the book of Leviticus until they realize that it might not allow them to eat their bacon or pork products .


Well, I would argue that the Dominionists do not take the time to understand the cultural context of the various mitzvot. I find them to be poor scholars, poorer thinkers, and the poorest of patriots.