Beyond Record Hot – “Shocking and Strange”

[Binkie The Clown]

Beyond Record Hot – “Shocking and Strange”

Major media continue to pick up`on our current global temp spike.
Scientists struggling to describe strange new landscape.

Seth Borenstein, Associated Press:

Earth got so hot last month that federal scientists struggled to find words, describing temperatures as “astronomical,” ”staggering” and “strange.” They warned that the climate may have moved into a new and hotter neighborhood.

This was not just another of the drumbeat of 10 straight broken monthly global heat records, triggered by a super El Nino and man-made global warming. February 2016 obliterated old marks by such a margin that it was the most above-normal month since meteorologists started keeping track in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Much more at the link.

We may have turned the corner and stepped into a nightmare from which there is no going back.

[Jackie Wilson Said]

1. This is why I find our current political process and situation so funny.

We are literally burning to death, slowly, and half of our country wont even acknowledge it is happening.

The other half cant risk talking about it very much in fear of upsetting the massively ignorant half.

I wish there was a way to watch this from afar, those of us who are not in denial.

[villager]

2. It's really "Titanic Underground" here -- bitter fights over deck-chair arrangements.... nt

[Javaman]

7. but not to worry, there is a nice quintet set up to play music while we sink.

all very civilized, you know.

[Kip Humphrey]

8. I prefer a circle.

call it, "Disaster in the Round"

[robbob]

6. Come to Canada!

so far global warming has meant shorter, warmer winters and chaotic swings in the fall and spring. Plant a pineapple tree and pull up a lawn chair; we can watch the rest of the world burn from here!

....and; free health care! (Which we are going to need for the ever rising incidents of skin cancer...)

[yardwork]

13. That's a good way to describe it.

[Surya Gayatri]

33. "...literally burning to death, slowly."

[n2doc]

3. Tipping point has been passed n/t

[felix_numinous]

4. 1% is fiddling while Earth burns

We stand at a crossroads, I hope enough people take the Earth friendly direction.

[Moostache]

21. We are all going to be bitterly disappointed...

The fact is there simply do not appear to be enough cognizant, self-aware and compassionate people on the planet to combat the anesthetized zombie horde that consume the 1%'s version of "news" and "facts" and are willing to ignore reality and pretend there is no problem at all. 99% of us have no meaningful "net worth" in the big picture...but >>than half of that 99% do not care or cannot be bothered enough to engage in pressuring the 1% to stop the policies that are killing the planet's ability to support life on our scale.

Humanity is en route to killing off all aquatic and land-based life bigger than a cockroach within the next century. The predictions of the most dire consequences being at the end of the century? How many articles have published in the last 9 months admitting that all previous estimates were WAAAAAYYY too conservative and the measure impacts are FAR greater than projected? Better start bracing for real impact and social upheaval by the end of the DECADE...

Syria and ISIS and the European refugee crisis are all partially linked to drought and climate change and the coming emergency is going to make that currently intractable international issue seem utterly quaint by comparison. Water access and resources wars are on the horizon...and our American response to this? Trump or Clinton. A tyrant in waiting or a weather vane from Wall Street.

Abandon all hope, ye who live here...

[Delphinus]

36. Sadly,

too true.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. THIS:

[FreshStart1]

5. uh oh

yikes

[Uncle Joe]

9. Bernie has tied it all together.

Thanks for the thread, Binkie The Clown.

[jalan48]

10. What does Wall Street say?

[AllyCat]

11. Found a tick on me in Wisconsin early this week

I'm planting my garden already.

[wouldsman]

19. I know the plural of anecdote is not evidence,

However, that being said, I live just over the border in MN. I spend an inordinately large amount of time in the woods following hounds. Have been doing it for over 20 years. I have never ever seen the gravel roads heave this early. I have never hear Sand Hill Cranes this early. I have never witnessed the lakes and swamps opening up this early. Streams that have frozen over EVERY winter over the last 20 years did not freeze over this last year. My friends maple syrup operation is already in shutdown mode- they may get lucky and get a few more days sap- but otherwise they are a month ahead of schedule.
Happy gardening AllyCat. I am going out to the yard now to work. I will have my Koi pond open by April 9 and expect water temps to be at 60 by then.

[Duppers]

23. We've never seen chigger populations this bad

here in Virginia. Being eaten up... our neighbors are also spraying for them.

Higher and higher temps will be bringing more and more hell.

[blondie58]

12. Very frightening indeed.

And so many of our leaders think it is a hoax.
I worry about my two daughters and my grandchildren.
Scary stuff. I am glad that we live in Colorado where we don't have rising tides.

[airplaneman]

14. This is starting to fill the definition of runaway global warming. n/t.

[zentrum]

15. Here we go. Into...

…the GOP, creationist, Koch, completely avoidable, nightmare.

[airplaneman]

16. Here is a graphic

[link:|

[Lorien]

30. Terrifying. nt

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

17. Yeah, we stepped in it alright... n/t

[Richard D]

18. Why this isn't seen as the only real issue of our time . . .

. . . I don't understand.

[NoMoreRepugs]

20. one word - Conservatives

[deutsey]

22. Puzzles me, too

The only thing I can think is that, beyond the general dumbing down that has occurred over the past few decades, it's the ideology of capitalism that's blinding so many to what's happening.

Way too many people only see the world in terms of quarterly profits and grabbing more and more material goods than they can ever possibly use. It's like we're in a casino that's beginning to go up in flames and everyone's too fixated on how many chips are stacked on the table and the spinning roulette wheel to care.

Frankly, it's fucking depressing. I don't even care anymore for myself, but I feel more and more despair for my children's future (they're all in their teens).

[Duppers]

24. Same here.

Beyond sad.

[Lorien]

29. Greed and denial

if they weren't in denial their endless greed could not continue. I'm 50 and I seriously doubt that I'll live to see 70. I think that many younger people see the writing on the wall and are literally fighting for their lives (and ours) with Bernie's campaign. They deserve to have a chance to at least reach late middle age, don't they? Will we give them that chance?

[GliderGuider]

38. To acknowledge its severity would require the admission that the only way to address it

is to stop doing what we're doing. As in, stop making money, "building the future", growing, developing and making sure our kids have a better life than we do.

All that will have to come to an end if we really want to deal with it.

Because nobody wants that to come to an end, we won't deal with it in any effective way. So it's pointless and even psychologically dangerous to acknowledge the fix we're in.

[AxionExcel]

26. And the Repubes remain in total denial

sucking up to corporate polluters.

[Fairgo]

27. Count on it

We have decided to wait until we see the cascade before we act. The cascade has begun.

[Lorien]

28. We have only one chance to slow this down

As Bernie has said; our most pressing issue is climate change, and that isn't even on the DLC/ DNC's radar. The science and evidence is clear: if we don't take fairly drastic steps immediately, rising global temperatures will very swiftly (within the next decade or two) lead to massive floods, droughts, global military conflict, a refugee crisis unlike any the world has ever seen, lost coastal communities, stronger storms, global famine, and ultimately ecological collapse which will in turn cause atmospheric collapse (not enough oxygen to sustain life). Ocean flora provides 65% of our oxygen, rain forests the other 35%. We're destroying the latter for cattle feed and pasture and palm oil plantations at a completely unsustainable rate. The former is being destroyed by rising sea temperatures, pollution and biodiversity loss. Our economy won't be much of an issue when there isn't enough oxygen to fill our lungs or those of any other species on the planet.


Meanwhile, Hillary had spent much of her time as Secretary of State pushing Fracking on Nations that didn't want it. Why become a champion of fracking-which is contributing to climate change-instead of championing clean renewable energy tech as Bernie does? After all, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, and Saudi Arabia all plan to be off fossil fuels in 5-6 years, and Burlington Vermont has already made the switch. Simple: the fossil fuel barons want to keep us hooked until they can have their next "control the world must have" commodity, and that will be FRESH WATER. Michael Burry knows this: http://www.bustle.com/articles/133631-what-is-michael-burry-doing-today-the-big-short-character-is-still-weary-of-the-financial. How do you make fresh water scarce during a time when glaciers are melting at a record pace? Frack the shit out of the planet! Fracking uses vast amounts of fresh water and poisons what it does use to such a degree that it will never be usable again for much of anything. Fracking turns the remaining water on earth into The New Oil. What did George W. Bush do as soon as he left office? He bought a vast lake of fresh water in Patagonia. Why is Flint still saddled with toxic water? Because the establishment wants to see how the whole thing plays out before they try the experiment on a Grand Scale.

ISIS, the stock market, Iran, and so many others issues that are made out to be "of greatest concern" don't hold a candle to climate change in terms of urgency. Bernie is the right candidate at the right time. Hillary is a one way ticket to swift global extinctions.

[Binkie The Clown]

31. And when one region after another becomes uninhabitable the deniers will all say:

"Nobody could have seen something like this coming."

or

"Why didn't somebody warn us this was happening?"

One way or another, as they are collapsing from heat stroke, with their last breath they will mutter "it's all Obama's fault." What I really don't understand is how most of us have become so disconnected from the reality of Earth's life support system and how truly fragile it is.

[DhhD]

32. City water utility prices are rising very fast. Like 10% each year now in Texas. Even affluent

areas are realizing that lawn watering is coming to a stop in the very near future. La Nina will return by 2017-18, which means a national trend in severe tornadoes in Spring followed by drought California over to Texas.

Example city:
http://www.colleyville.com/news/Latest_News/article851.html


Citizens in Colleyville had a meeting in February about the rising rates. No report has been issued on the findings.

[NickB79]

35. Lawns in general need to come to a stop.

I'm 5 years into converting my property into a mix of vegetable gardens, an orchard, a 1/2-acre patch of native trees and shrubs, and a 1/2 acre of prairie restoration. I'll keep 1/5 acre of lawn over the septic field, and a little in the front yard to please my wife.

[truebrit71]

39. ^^^This^^^ I wish my HOA would realize this...

I would love to turn my back yard into something useful instead of just a fucking lawn.

[Hydra]

34. We needed to do something massive about this in 2008

And even then it had been put off for too long.

I think we will not step back from the edge because it's going to take completely trashing our economic systems and remaking our social systems at the very least. Change like that is hard when people are benefiting from the current system or simply think they are.

[hatrack]

37. "Shocking"? In what possible sense could this be considered "shocking"?

Dump enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the planet's atmosphere for centuries, and really kick out the jams over the course of just a couple of decades, and guess what? The atmosphere's capacity to absorb heat energy substantially increases.

The bare-bones science of this took shape well over 100 years ago, and we've been on notice (more or less officially) that we have a problem for nearly 30 years. We were warned, amply and repeatedly.

The only "shocking" development has been the degree to which science underestimated the speed of change. And even there, if you were familiar with the fundamental conservatism of the scientific process, you wouldn't be shocked in the least.