Green Options

VP-FBB on the Antarctic Plateau

As I take off from the ice runway at the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley base, situated on the Brunt Ice Shelf (75o34’S 26o34’W), I finally realise I am living and working at the extreme of human endurance.  I am in one of the Survey’s De Havilland Twin Otters, known as Victor Papa Foxtrot Bravo Bravo (or VP-FBB), heading to the remote automatic weather station known affectionately as Baldrick, located at 83oSouth.

The weather station is hundreds of miles from the nearest living thing (human or otherwise) in the middle of the most inhospitable environment on the planet.  My life is entirely in the hands of the pilot Mark; fortunately they are very skilled hands.

Predicting the Weather with Clouds

(This is a simple and quick explanation; I am not going into too much detail. Here is a great site about using clouds to predict the weather, or better yet, pick up a book from the library!)

1. Look at the sky! If you don’t see any clouds the weather is fine. If you see clouds, try and identify them.

2. Determine in which category the clouds fit. (These categories are high clouds, middle clouds, low clouds and clouds with vertical growth.)

3. Grab your book or go to this website to determine the shape and type of the cloud.

A new report says that global warming could cost the Californian economy billions of dollars each year, through a combination of rising sea levels, and the increased frequency of wild fires and extreme weather events.

Researchers in Germany are trying to understand the connection between weather conditions and human emotion.

Stress is part of day-to-day life and we can attribute it to lots of things, including the weather. If you feel irritable or stressed for missing your daily walk on a rainy afternoon when it’s just supposed to be cool, you are probably very right in blaming the weather. However, a new study suggests that as a rule of thumb the weather really might give us more to grumble about than to be happy about.

A research team at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany claim in a study published in the October issue of the Emotions journal that temperature, wind, and sunlight all have an effect on negative moods, with sunlight seemingly playing a significant role on how tired people said they were.

On the other hand, temperature, wind, sunlight, precipitation, air pressure, and how long the days were had no significant effect on positive moods, contrary to conventional wisdom.

By Janet Larsen

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2008/Update76.htm

Standing before the United Nations General Assembly in October 1987, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives, made an appeal representing “an endangered nation.” That year for the first time, “unusual high waves” in the Indian Ocean inundated a quarter of the urban area on the capital island of Male’, flooded farms, and washed away reclaimed land. Gayoom cited scientific evidence that human activities were releasing greenhouse gases that warm the planet, ultimately raising global sea level as glaciers melt and warmer water expands. The trouble extended beyond small islands; studies showed that rising seas would wreak havoc on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Netherlands, and the river deltas of Egypt and Bangladesh.

Fast-forward through two decades of swelling seas and more powerful storms and the call has moved from the need to study global warming to the necessity of dramatic action to stabilize climate. With small island nations in peril, these days President Gayoom evokes the vision of a United Nations where “name plates are gone; seats are empty.” He does not speak alone: this fall, some 50 countries, including a number of small island nations along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union, are planning to put a resolution before the U.N. General Assembly requesting that the U.N. Security Council address “the threat posed by climate change to international peace and security.” As Ambassador Stuart Beck of Palau has asked, “Would any nation facing an invading army not do the same?”

I’m really looking forward to summer, and not just because I’m the warm-weather type. This past winter’s snow and cold — and yes, we’ve had some unseasonably cool weather even in Florida, where I live — has filled the global warming deniers with more hot air than you’ll find in Bill O’Reilly’s sauna, and it’s time for the silliness to end.

There’s so much glee and gloating in the deniers’ headlines: “Central Plank of Global Warming Alarmism Discredited” (referring to MIT researcher Kerry Emanuel’s recent finding that climate change might not result in more and stronger hurricanes), “Uncommon Cold is an Antidote to Warming Fears” (it’s been cold this winter, hasn’t it?), “Global Warming Gets the Cold Freeze” (ditto). Yup, a budget crunch for snow-removal in Chicago and cold iguanas falling from trees in Florida sure proves all those hundreds of silly IPCC scientists wrong.

Detroit tops the list of most miserable cities in the U.S., according to a new compilation by Forbes. The conclusions are based on traffic, Superfund-site data, crime, weather, income tax rates and unemployment. The list also includes Stockton, California; Flint, Michigan; New York City; and Philadelphia.

Photo courtesy of Gyre via Wikimedia Commons.

Thunderstorms and tornados have been pounding the southeast USA over the past 12 hours. I woke this morning and found my aunt fretting over her television. She told me that my hometown was ducking for cover because a rotating storm cell was coming in fast; the Weather Channel mentioned Chattanooga by name. At 7am, I knew that most of my family was still asleep. I called home and gave them a heads-up.

Growing up in the southeast we were very familiar with summer thunderheads and tornado drills. At school we practiced ducking for cover in cinderblock hallways and were vaguely aware of the language of dangerous weather. Tornado warnings meant nothing at all; tornado watches were almost as distracting at school; air raid sirens were rare but frightening. Almost everyone had a distant “cousin” who had seen a real tornado.

The first snows in memory drifted softly through the eastern part of Baghdad this Friday, falling on Shiite as well as Sunni houses. For these hours of snowfall, no violence was reported and no mortar shells flew. Baghdad was blanketed in a wintry peace.

An NBC local journalist reported hearing the delight in his niece’s voice as she woke him up to look at the view. He writes, “It was much more beautiful than can be described; a scene I have not seen before in my lifetime in Baghdad. … I thanked God for granting Iraqis the chance to watch the snow falling and I prayed that God will bring peace, happiness, success, and love in each white pure piece of snow.”

The current conditions Australia, my birthplace and home, are facing at the moment do not make it one of the “Greatest Living Condition” contenders of the world. Various levels of water restrictions ranging from level 3 to 5 make life very difficult. However, that is nothing compared to the problems being faced by our farmers. Crop failures and livestock loss are adding up to millions and millions worth of dollars lost.

As I said, it’s [...]

You may not be aware, but it won’t surprise you to learn that the United Nations has its own university. They have more than a dozen campuses around the world, all with the motto "Advancing knowledge for human security, peace, and development."

And, for five Asian nations, they are initiating a new course focused and designed around preparing for bigger floods.

Experts from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal and Sri Lanka will head to the

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