Where There's Fire, There's Smoke

So far this year, fires have destroyed hundreds of homes and tens of thousands of acres in California. Thanks to the state’s four-years-and-counting drought, those flames are spreading fast and far. But what travels even faster are the billows of smoke from those fires—which means a fire’s impact extends far beyond its perimeter.

According to the feds, an average human can breathe in about 35 micrograms of 2.5µm particulates over 24 hours before health problems set in. The state’s air quality board monitors those levels statewide, and some of the highest—currently between 10 and 34 micrograms per day—are registering hundreds of miles away from the huge Valley, Butte, and Rough fires.

Beyond the fire season, California might get some much needed rain from this year’s strong El Niño. Then again, it might not. Either way, Californians probably won’t be breathing easy for a long time.

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/californias-fire-problem-becoming-smoke-problem/

Liberal Pope Shakes Up Climate Change Debate

To Congress, to the U.S. clergy and laity, to the U.N., to 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, even to non-believers, Pope Francis's message was clear: Climate change is a moral problem and everyone's responsibility. He called on world leaders to set aside partisan and ideological interests in the name of "a higher degree of wisdom."

"The ecological crisis, and the large-scale destruction of biodiversity, can threaten the very existence of the human species," Francis said. The pope’s visit comes at a delicate time in climate negotiations. UN envoys are in the final steps toward a landmark global agreement, with almost 200 nations, to start reining in fossil fuel emissions. Final talks are set for December in Paris.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-25/china-just-took-away-our-biggest-excuse-on-climate-change

False Equivalence from AP

Statement released by AP:

Scientists who consider themselves real skeptics—who debunk mysticism, ESP and other pseudoscience, such as those who are part of the Center for Skeptical Inquiry—complain that non-scientists who reject mainstream climate science have usurped the phrase skeptic. They say they aren’t skeptics because “proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.” That group prefers the phrase “climate change deniers” for those who reject accepted global warming data and theory. But those who reject climate science say the phrase denier has the pejorative ring of Holocaust denier so The Associated Press prefers climate change doubter or someone who rejects mainstream science.

Okay, let’s not forget this.

More than 90% of peer-reviewed scientific literature supports the view that, as a result of humans burning fossil fuels, a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is changing the earth’s climate.

If you ask me, calling someone who denies the validity of sound scientific evidence a denier is an accurate label. Saying that it relates to the Holocaust is completely absurd. This is clearly a false equivalence and reeks of neutrality bias. The facts have a well known liberal bias. And this strikes me as a highly political move from AP.

Resources to learn more about this below:

https://youtu.be/Plm6muYeV9w

http://news.sciencemag.org/scientific-community/2015/09/associated-press-no-more-climate-skeptics-or-deniers

Sea Levels WILL Rise by 15 ft

WHATEVER we do now, the seas will rise at least 5 meters. Most of Florida and many other low-lying areas and cities around the world are doomed to go under. If that weren’t bad enough, without drastic cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions – more drastic than any being discussed ahead of the critical climate meeting in Paris later this year – a rise of over 20 meters will soon be unavoidable.

After speaking to the researchers behind a series of recent studies, New Scientist has made the first calculations of what their findings mean for how much sea level rise is already unavoidable, or soon will be.

Much uncertainty still surrounds the pace of future rises, with estimates for a 5-metre rise ranging from a couple of centuries to much sooner and more drastic.

This isn’t just some conspiracy theory as some right wingers would have you believe, this is coming from NEW SCIENTIST!!!!

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630253-300-latest-numbers-show-at-least-5-metres-sea-level-rise-locked-in/?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC

Strange Clouds Over Costa Rica

To the delight of many, a stunning rainbow-like formation peered out from behind the clouds over Costa Rica on Tuesday. The formation was spotted in the sky over several Costa Rican cities, including the capital of San Jose, ABC reported. The striking colors are caused by a rare weather phenomenon called "cloud iridescence." A mix of light, water droplets and ice particles cause the light to refract and create the phenomenon.

This is certainly not severe weather but it is definitely unusual. It makes you wonder if we will see more strange weather events as climate change progresses.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/09/18/costa-rica-cloud-formation-rainbow-iridescence/72393422/

Reservoirs Running Dry in Cali

Residents of Lassen County, California, are baffled after an artificial lake dried up, seemingly overnight, leaving thousands of dead fish across 5,800 acres of mud.

People were fishing at Mountain Meadows Reservoir, also known as Walker Lake, on Sept. 12, Eddy Bauer, who has lived near the lake his whole life, told local news station. By the next day, he said, the lake was totally dry.

Doug Carlson, with the state Department of Water Resources, said he fears drought will create similar situations throughout the state. “The reservoirs are all continuing to be far below normal,” Carlson told CBS Sacramento. “We are reliant upon rainfall to fill those lakes, of course, and until we get more rain, we’re not likely to see any appreciable increase in the reservoir levels,” Carlson said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-lake-dries-up-overnight-fish_5605af0ce4b0af3706dc4f9b

Megascale Desalination

It is the world’s largest modern seawater desalination plant, providing 20 percent of the water consumed by the country’s households. Built for the Israeli government by Israel Desalination Enterprises, or IDE Technologies, at a cost of around $500 million, it uses a conventional desalination technology called reverse osmosis (RO). Thanks to a series of engineering and materials advances, however, it produces clean water from the sea cheaply and at a scale never before achieved.

Worldwide, some 700 million people don’t have access to enough clean water. In 10 years the number is expected to explode to 1.8 billion. In many places, squeezing fresh water from the ocean might be the only viable way to increase the supply.

The new plant in Israel, called Sorek, was finished in late 2013 but is just now ramping up to its full capacity; it will produce 627,000 cubic meters of water daily, providing evidence that such large desalination facilities are practical. Indeed, desalinated seawater is now a mainstay of the Israeli water supply.

With news breaking daily on the severity of the California super drought proven technology has emerged that can solve the worlds water problems. Coastal population centers now have the ability to rely on themselves for water, making the crisis in California much less scary.

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/534996/megascale-desalination/

Diesel Out of Thin Air

Making diesel out of thin air sounds like something from science fiction. But small companies in Germany and Canada are doing precisely this - capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) and finding ways to sell it. The Canadian company Carbon Engineering has just built a pilot plant to suck one to two tons of carbon dioxide from the air daily, turning it into 500 liters of diesel. The process requires electricity, but if the start-ups use renewable electricity they can produce diesel that is carbon neutral. In other words, burning it in your car only returns to the atmosphere the CO2 removed in the first place.

The concentration of CO2 in the air reached 400 parts per million in 2012-2013 - the highest since scientific measurements began. And the year July 2014-June 2015 was the warmest on record, says the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This technology using new innovations of modern science as well as some basic chemistry has the potential to recycle fossil fuels. This recycling can be used to halt the process of pumping new fuel from the Earth and putting more CO2 into the atmosphere.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34064072

Good News for the Solar Industry

It’s called "Radiative Cooling." And it sounds much like the old saying, “I’m rubber, you’re glue, heat bounces of me and sticks to you.” Every time you stroll outside you emit energy into the universe: Heat from the top of your head radiates into space as infrared light.

Now three Stanford engineers have developed a technology that improves on solar panel performance by exploiting this basic phenomenon. Their invention shunts away the heat generated by a solar cell under sunlight and cools it in a way that allows it to convert more photons into electricity.

"Solar arrays must face the sun to function, even though that heat is detrimental to efficiency," Fan said. "Our thermal overlay allows sunlight to pass through, preserving or even enhancing sunlight absorption, but it also cools the cell by radiating the heat out and improving the cell efficiency."

This new technology released on September 21^st of 2015 has very clear benefits in the fight against climate change. If this tech can be integrated into real gains in efficiency solar cells will become an even more cost effective way to produce power. This will potentially make it easier for industrialized nations and the global community to make the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/september/thermal-overlay-solar-092115.html

Climate Proof Infrastructure Saves Chile

Only 13 people die in an earthquake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale – the world’s strongest earthquake to date this year – while far weaker earthquakes in Haiti and, more recently, Nepal, killed tens of thousands.

In the most recent earthquake, a new system of warnings was used to alert the population. Within minutes of the quake, downtown Coquimbo and its coastal areas were rocked by loud sirens. A convoy of ambulances, firefighters and police sought to accelerate the evacuation, as officers convinced reluctant homeowners to head for the hills. Mobile phones were targeted with a series of tsunami warning messages, urging residents to abandon the coastal areas.

Mandatory building codes and a prepared government evacuation plan helped save thousands of people from certain death. As severe weather ramps up due to climate change bulletproof infrastructure will become essential for heavily populated areas. Chile a country along the western coast of South America has invested heavily in infrastructure and it seems to be paying off. Its unique location is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis and is the location of the largest earthquake ever recorded.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/25/how-chile-survive-earthquake-virtually-unscathed