Sat, 08 Mar 2008

Spanish Wine . . .

I heard an interesting story in the Climate Connections series on NPR today about a benefit of global warming. Actually, not a benefit, I guess, but a group which is taking advantage of the fact of global warming to benefit themselves.

Spanish wine makers are taking to the hills to benefit from the types of weather which global warming is generating on the continent. They have been doing climate studies and have found that things are heating up and when it rains, the rainfall is more agressive.

It's interesting that this group is no complaining about global warming. They aren't really doing anything about global warming. Rather, they have determined the effects and are adapting their wine growing to the fact of global warming. It shows the adaptions which will have to be made by our society to adapt to the effects of global warming even if we can get our part of it under control.

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Too Much Success?

The Union of Concerned Scientists recently sent out this alert:

The growing presence of recycled paper has led many people to believe that all paper is now made from recycled materials. This unfortunate misconception has actually decreased demand for recycled paper, causing manufacturers to produce less. As a result, more than 90 percent of printing and writing paper still comes from virgin tree fiber.

OOPS! We have to keep up the pressure on manufacturers to help the environment. We also have a responsibility to read the labels and insist on products which contain a large percentage of recycled material.

And speaking of recycled material . . . I think we need to purchase products which are packaged in a minimum of material and that that material be recycled. Every little bit helps and we have the power through our purchases to send a message to businesses that helping the environment is good for their business.

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Saving God's Creation

Last night, while I was upstairs with my kids, I got a revelation from them. They had a box with SGC on the cover. I asked them what it was and they said, "Saving God's Creation". It was for money to go for preventing global warming.

I had never thought of conservation and global warming in those terms. But, they are right. We are obligated to God to maintain the home he has given us -- and we're doing a pretty CRAPPY job!

I'm going to explore this approach to our responsibilities in a section of the website. I hope to explore not just our obligations as Christians, but similar obligations in other major religions. And, oh, by the way. If you don't believe in a creator, that's OK, too. YOU have an obligation to future generations just as we do to leave this planet in better shape than you found it.

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Follow the Money . . .

I have put up this Global Warming blog and wiki and have been noticing the Google Ads which have appeared on the pages. As I have stated in the blog before, anyone who makes money on this type of issue is suspicious to me. Therefore, one of the first things I ask myself when evaluating a proposition on Global Warming is "what is their interest?"

• how much money do they hope to make from their position?
• how much is their ability to make money influencing their position?
• have they only taken a position because of the amount of money they hope to make from that position?

With this type of issue, we also have to ask ourselves about those who claim to make money to fight global warming -- either to prevent it or prove that it really doesn't exist. In this case, we need to ask, is the money really going to something beneficial or is this just some sort of scam to make money from a tragedy. It's unfortunate, but that is what must be done.

The Internet makes this task difficult. It's very easy and relatively inexpensive to set up a professional web site for such purposes. It's also relatively easy to hide your affiliations and actual thoughts behind a web site. One has to be cautious before accepting an opinion and especially when deciding to send money to a particular site.

But, back to following the money. I really think we need to look at all sides in the light of what they might earn from the debate. I wish there was some way to tell exactly who was backing some sites to be able to weight the validity of their arguments. I attempt to do so by looking at what is one the site and by looking at what others are saying about the site. I really want to find out what the real information is.

OK, in the spirit of full disclosure, let me say that I am convinced, as a private citizen, that global warming is real and inevitable. I also believe that human activity is directly responsible for the upsurge over the last century and that, if we don't do something to mitigate it in the near future, our children will live in a very different world. I also intend to do as much as I can, again as a private citizen, to help in this effort.

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Seeing the Light

This weekend we took a step to doing our part for global warming. We went through the house and replaced every incandescent light that we could with compact fluorescent bulbs. The kids helped and felt good about doing their part for global warming. Now we wait and see what our electricity usage looks like (more on that later).

According to the Energy Star site, these bulbs use about 2/3 less energy that the equivalent bulbs. This should mean that we use less electricity, save money, and help the environment. But we need to also be aware and do some other things:

• Turn off lights when we leave the room
• Use task lighting rather than the big overhead lights wheneve possible
• Unplug games and other electronic gadgets which have standby modes

It's just a small thing in the grand picture, but it's our part. And we are raising energy-aware kids for the future. Perhaps when they take over, they will have the attitude that energy is something to be used wisely to help save their environment. After all, we don't want Sacramento to be beachfront property due to global warming!

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Global Warming -- Scary Stuff

I'm looking at a Discovery Channel program on global warming and it is scary! It makes me want to learn more. As I do so, I'm sure I'll want to record it here.

I have created a wiki page as a place to put resources and notes about things that I have found. I hope we will be able to reverse the trend we have started. Look for more here as I work to refine my thoughts.

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Global Warming, Money, and the Internet

It's really too bad that people make money on the Internet. In the pursuit of money, a large number of sites have sprung up around the subject of Global Warming. It makes it difficult to tell just what the agenda of some sites is and how to evaluate the information they they supply.

The Internet has always been a buyer beware sort of place. The kind of place where anonymity and the relatively low cost of publication, makes it easy for someone to express a bogus opinion. And now, with the possibility of making money, it is likely that more people are going to do just that. The sheer volume of pages on the subject makes evaluation a major effort. Put "global warming" into Google and in 0.15 seconds you get about 5,010,000 for "global warming" with Safesearch on. (I wonder what would happen if I turned Safesearch off?) Who can plow through 5 million hits? Who would want to? How do you wade through the mass of statements and make any sense of anything, let alone something as complex as global warming?

This makes it difficult for the common man, like me, to make sense of it all. For example, what do you do when a site says that a piece of work is published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. I'm not even certain that there is a Royal Sweedish Academy of sciences, let alone what to make of something they publish. (OK, so maybe I do know about the Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien. After all, they act as Nobel selection committee in science. But, you get my point.)

One has to spend a great deal of time determining who is in back of every effort and what the author of the website is getting out of their involvement. This is information which is needed to make an informed decision about their point-of-view. After all, one guy in his garage in Danville can look as impressive on the Internet as an entire Royal Swedish Academy with very little effort and investment.

posted 19:05 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Sun, 25 Mar 2007

Warmest Winter on Record

Science Daily is reporting that this winter is the warmest on record:

NOAA reports that February's combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the sixth warmest on record, but a strong El Niño in January helped push the winter to its highest value since records began in 1880.

This report makes me stop and think about a couple of things:

• Is something like a global temperature meaningful?
• Is the strong El Niño caused by global warming or just some natural phenomenon which needs to be discounted.

I am convinced that global warming is real and that human activity is a major contributor to it. But this type of thing makes me understand how difficult a subject it is to discuss and how skeptics can see natural patterns and conspiracies in the discussion. It makes me understand how careful scientists must be when discussing global warming and its consequences to make sure that those who oppose the concept can't claim that they are overstating the situation.

When we think globally about weather and climate, things get complex. There are places in the world where drought is occurring and other places where precipitation is above normal. There are places where it is warmer than average while other places experience colder than normal weather. Violent weather may be on the upturn, but it's difficult to determine the cause.

When we think about averages and climate differences, significant differences can be very minor -- a fraction of a degree. There is plenty of room for different interpretations of the data.

I think caution and a conservative approach to any data like this is the best approach. Interpreting data with the most conservative bent will allow little room for opponents to present a different interpretation or attack the interpreters as liberal wacko's.

posted 15:29 [/globalwarming] permanent link

Fri, 02 Mar 2007

U.N. Head Warns on Climate Change

Reference article

The head of the United Nations, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, has spoken out about climate change. I'm especially interested in his comments about climate change's relationship to war. From the BBC article:

Speaking to schoolchildren at a UN conference in New York, Mr Ban said his generation had been "somewhat careless" with the planet but that he was hopeful that that was changing.

"The majority of the United Nations' work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict," he said.

"But the danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming."

[highlighting is mine]

I think it's important to note that of the crises expected to affect the world, he is comparing war with climate change in its impact on our world. We went on to state . . . in future years, the upheaval caused by environmental changes such as droughts and coastal flooding was likely to drive conflicts. Here, he is stating that climate change could actually cause armed conflict because of its effect on people. I can see this. If you have water and I don't I might want to take it so that my people will live.

He urged the U.S. which produces fully one quarter of the world's greenhouse gasses to take the lead in reducing their output. Are you listening George?

posted 08:55 [/globalwarming] permanent link