It was raining mud in Texas this week... this is what happens when a duster collides with torrential rains. (I was here, pounding keys, so I hardly knew it was raining.) [Link]
The 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is out, and even the Bush Administration acknowledges global warming (though it's less sure they're ready to do anything about it). The report is hardly depicting the worst case, as Alex notes:
...while we're heartened by the media's generally good reporting on the severity and unanimity of the IPCC's conclusions, we're a bit disappointed that more reporters haven't picked up on the fact that the IPCC's conclusions are baselines, conservative findings they were sure they could scientifically defend (and in some cases, even less bold than that) and (as Gil wrote yesterday), many serious scientists believe that the most accurate climate models suggest we can expect to see much more dramatic effects, much more quickly, particularly as regards how quickly the seas will rise. Worse, there has been little acknowledgment that some of the major wildcards, like the possible release of massive amounts of methane from melting permafrost, or a huge change in the climate functions of the ocean due to acidification leads to (as Andy Revkin puts it) "a more than a 1-in-10 chance of much greater warming, a risk that many experts say is far too high to ignore."Alex likes to think of climate change as a challenge ("we have an opportunity for adventure and possibility now") and I try to go there, too, and feel some relief that the reality is finally sinking in. A next step here in Texas might be to Stop the Coal Rush, i.e. let our legislators (many of whom were brewed in the same pot as Bush) know that we're serious about climate change. ("The purpose of this event is to ask Texas State Legislators to intervene on the unfair permitting process and stop the permits for 18 dirty coal-fired power plants proposed in Texas. We want clean and safe energy solutions for Texas!")
Snow in Austin
Snow in Central Texas is rare as hen's teeth, but flakes are falling today, even as I type. Everybody's staying home — it doesn't take much snow to make a snow day here. Our driving's questionable most of the time anyhow, but a thin layer of ice on the road is absolutely lethal... so any hint of icy conditions, and schools and businesses start shutting down. [Link]
It's hot, and it's gonna get hotter. Instead of debating cause and nature, we should be planning for scorched earth scenarios. The world's not ready for environmental upheaval.
Relevant note: the argument that current climate change is some kind of natural cycle and not a result of the massive spew of industrial and automotive exhausts, even if valid, doesn't mean it's okay to keep spewing.
Duster
A massive wall of dust blew across the Arizona Valley Tuesday. "The wall of dust, which stretched from Apache Junction to Avondale, preceded a storm that dropped a quarter-inch of much needed rain in Tucson. The rainfall was a record for the date." One of these blew through my hometown when I was a teen, followed by a storm that turned the sky a dusty black color and spawned three tornadoes. Quite a show. Loud, too. In West Texas, they called it a duster.