That Environmental Blog

‘Time To Wake Up’: Why One Senator Was Brave Enough To ‘Politicize’ The Oklahoma Tornado (video)

Sat, 25 May 2013 17:20:27 -0400

‘Time To Wake Up’: Why One Senator Was Brave Enough To ‘Politicize’ The Oklahoma Tornado (video):

Standing before a poster of the earth with the words “TIME TO WAKE UP” in bold lettering, SenatorSheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered a speech yesterday that he must have known would get under conservatives’ skins. Shortly after the devastating tornado first touched down in Oklahoma, and before the first images of the destruction began to emerge, the senator spent 15 minutes on the Senate floor tearing into Republicans for their rejection of climate science. When a tornado like this one hits Oklahoma, Whitehouse explained, it doesn’t just affect the people who live there–it affects all of us.

“We are stuck in this together,” he said. “When cyclones tear up Oklahoma and hurricanes swamp Alabama and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, the rest of the country, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage that your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas. It hits Rhode Island with floods and storms. It hits Oregon with acidified seas, it hits Montana with dying forests. So, like it or not, we’re in this together.”

Whitehouse said he longed for a “Republican Party that has returned to its senses and is strong and a worthy adversary in a strong America that has done right by its people and the world.” He added, “I don’t want a Republican Party disgraced, that let its extremists run off the cliff, and an America suffering from grave economic and environmental and diplomatic damage because we failed, because we didn’t wake up and do our duty to our people, and because we didn’t lead the world. I do not want that future. But that’s where we’re headed. So I will keep reaching out and calling out, ever hopeful that you will wake up before it is too late.”

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Sat, 25 May 2013 12:40:38 -0400

perscientiamlibertas: Bifacial points recovered from Blombos...

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:20:33 -0400

perscientiamlibertas:

Bifacial points recovered from Blombos Cave, South Africa. The tools were manufactured in the Middle Stone Age and are made of silcrete and finished by pressure flaking. scale bar = 5 cm. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Middle Stone Age Innovation Linked to Rapid Climate Change

A newly published study presents the most convincing evidence so far that abrupt climate change was instrumental in the development human evolution.

Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, was conducted by a team of scientists from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Barcelona.

The scientists studied a marine sediment core off the coast of South Africa and reconstructed terrestrial climate variability over the last 100,000 years.

Dr Martin Ziegler, Cardiff University School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: “We found that South Africa experienced rapid climate transitions toward wetter conditions at times when the Northern Hemisphere experienced extremely cold conditions.”

These large Northern Hemisphere cooling events have previously been linked to a change in the Atlantic Ocean circulation that led to a reduced transport of warm water to the high latitudes in the North. In response to this Northern Hemisphere cooling, large parts of the sub-Saharan Africa experienced very dry conditions.

“Our new data however, contrasts with sub-Saharan Africa and demonstrates that the South African climate responded in the opposite direction, with increasing rainfall, that can be associated with a globally occurring southward shift of the tropical monsoon belt.”

Continue reading

Further reading:

Humans were already recycling 13,000 years ago

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Fri, 24 May 2013 12:40:34 -0400

lessthanawake: Just stick this portable outlet on your window...

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:20:35 -0400

lessthanawake:

Just stick this portable outlet on your window to start using solar power

“We have seen a lot of solar chargers in our day. And among all of them, this is the first one we’ve seen that we will definitely run out and buy as soon as it’s made available in the U.S. It’s a portable socket that gets its power from the sun rather than the grid. You plug into a window instead of into the wall. It’s easy.

That was the whole point, according to the designers, Kyohu Song and Boa Oh: “We tried to design a portable socket, so that users can use it intuitively without special training,” they write.

It is really simple. The portable socket attaches to a window like a leech to human skin. On its underside, it has solar panels.

The solar panels suck energy from the sun. The charger converts that energy into electricity. You plug in to the charger.

Even better, the charger stores that energy. After five to eight hours of charging, the socket provides 10 hours of use. You can pop it off the window, stick it in your bag, and use it to charge up your phone with solar energy, even if you’re sitting in a dark room.”

Alaskan villages try climigration in the face of climate change

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:43:16 -0400

Alaskan villages try climigration in the face of climate change:

When a town turns to a perpetual disaster area, it might be time to move it.

rhamphotheca: Help Our Turtle Friends!!!

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:20:28 -0400

rhamphotheca:

Help Our Turtle Friends!!!

The Immense Journey: Climate Change and Tornadoes

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:11:06 -0400

The Immense Journey: Climate Change and Tornadoes:

robertseshelman:

Andrew Freedman at Climate Central writes about what, if any, connection there might be between human-caused climate change and more frequent, severe tornadoes of the type that devastated Moore, Oklahoma.

You can find his clearly written survey of current scientific understanding here.

The New York Times offers an account of the atmospheric conditions that caused the tornado and explores the potential links to climate change.

The short answer, says Freedman, is:

Tornado data does not reveal any clear trends in tornado occurrence or deaths that would suggest a clear tie to global warming, at least not yet.

Atmospheric instability and wind shear are key conditions for the formation of tornadoes. A warming climate is expected to increase instability in the atmosphere and is projected to decrease wind shear.

Freedman says:

A fact sheet from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on tornadoes and climate change describes the counteracting trends of decreasing shear and increasing instability in a warming world as a “tug of war.”

… which provides abundant research opportunity. So expect more published science on this topic soon.

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Wed, 22 May 2013 13:05:00 -0400

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Sat, 18 May 2013 12:40:30 -0400

smartercities: A House Powered by Exercise | FastCompany The...

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:20:21 -0400

smartercities:

A House Powered by Exercise | FastCompany

The JF-Kit House by the Spanish design firm Elii is an experiment in “domestic fitness,” rendering “the image of a possible future where citizens produce part of their domestic energy requirements with their own physical activities.

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Fri, 17 May 2013 12:40:33 -0400

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Thu, 16 May 2013 17:20:34 -0400

officialteamgreen: Myths will kill you. Stop asking where we...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:40:17 -0400

officialteamgreen:

Myths will kill you. Stop asking where we get ours, start asking why you are trying to get so much?

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Wed, 15 May 2013 22:58:01 -0400

"One day, when he was filming the trucks that transported animals to slaughter, his gaze encountered..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:12:48 -0400

“One day, when he was filming the trucks that transported animals to slaughter, his gaze encountered that of a pig. “Our eyes locked together. And it was like he was asking, why are you doing this to me? And I kept thinking, I don’t know. I don’t know why we do these things to you. I started asking, is the slaughterhouse the problem, or is who is getting killed in the slaughterhouse the problem? Because if it were Jews who were getting killed, people would be screaming bloody murder. If dogs and cats were being treated this way, most people would be screaming bloody murder. But if it’s cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys − that’s okay. That’s the way it’s meant to be. Well, it’s not okay. It’s a horrible, vicious world that humans made.””

- Gary Yourofsky (via hippiehearts)

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Wed, 15 May 2013 16:24:35 -0400

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Wed, 15 May 2013 13:36:29 -0400

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Wed, 15 May 2013 10:48:29 -0400

5 Upcycled Buildings That Will Blow Your Mind

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:12:30 -0400

5 Upcycled Buildings That Will Blow Your Mind