August 2012 Fourth Warmest on Record

Global Land Temperature:  Second Warmest August on Record

Average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces was the 4th highest on record for August, at 61.22°F (16.22°C) or 1.12°F (0.62°C) above the 20^th century average, NOAA reported.

• August 2012 was the 36^th consecutive August and 330^th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20^th century average.
• Global land temperature was 58.52°F, which tied with 2001 and 2011 as the second warmest August on record, behind 1998.
• Temperature for global land and ocean surfaces for June–August tied with 2005 as the third highest on record for this period at 61.25°F (16.24°C), or 1.15°F (0.64°C), above the 20^th century average.

Related Links

• U.S. Climate: Warmest YTD on Record Posted  September 11, 2012

GLOBAL WARNING

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!

Disaster Calendar – 11 July 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,344 Days Left

[July 11, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,344 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Disaster Calendar – 10 July 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,345 Days Left

[July 10, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,345 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Disaster Calendar – 9 July 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,346 Days Left

[July 9, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,346 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Disaster Calendar – 8 July 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,347 Days Left

[July 8, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,347 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Disaster Calendar – 7 July 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,348 Days Left

[July 7, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,348 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

As of end-June 2012, the CASF Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN), an index for calculating the human impact on the planetary life support systems, stood at an astoundingly high level of 285. In other words, the anthropogenic impact on the living environment has now exceeded 2.85 times the planet’s diminishing carrying capacity. 

“According to HIoN projections, our cities and population centers could become almost entirely unsustainable by as early as 2015.”

Related Links

• Index of Human Impact on Nature

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Disaster Calendar – 6 July 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,349 Days Left

[July 6, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,349 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Arctic Sea Ice: Likely Record-Low Volume

Arctic Sea Ice Down to Second-Lowest Extent; Likely Record-Low Volume – NSIDC

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) says despite cooler temperatures and ice-favoring conditions, long-term decline of Arctic ice cover is continuing.

As previously reported, Arctic sea ice extent for 2008 melt season as measured by satellite was the second-lowest level since 1979, reaching the lowest point on September 14, 2008. Average sea ice extent over the month of September, a standard measure in the scientific study of Arctic sea ice, was 4.67 million square kilometers. The record monthly low was 4.28 million square kilometers set in September 2007.

The 2008 observation strongly reinforces the thirty-year downward trend in Arctic ice extent, NSIDC said. The 2008 low was 34% below the long-term September average for the 1979 to 2000 period and only 9% greater than the 2007 record low. The 2008 low was so far below the average, it forced the negative trend in September extent downward to –11.7 % per decade (from 10.7 %).

A comparison of ice age in September 2007 (left) and September 2008 (right) shows the increase in thin first-year ice (red) and the decline in thick multi-year ice (orange and yellow). White indicates areas of ice below ~50 percent, for which ice age cannot be determined. AVHRR, SMMR SSM/I, and IABP buoy data.
—From National Snow and Ice Data Center courtesy C. Fowler, J. Maslanik, and S. Drobot, University of Colorado at Boulder – High-resolution image

“The trend of decline in the Arctic continues, despite this year’s slightly greater extent of sea ice. The Arctic is more vulnerable than ever.” —NSIDC Lead Scientist Ted Scambos

Related Links:

• Arctic ice cover second-lowest on record
• NSIDC Arctic ice extent animation

.

350 or 450ppm? Neither, Actually!

Submitted by Dione, CASF Member

What would the future be like for my daughter?

Don’t know much about history
Don’t know much biology
Don’t know much about science books
Don’t know much about the French I took
But I do know that I love her
…
What a wonderful world this would be

Don’t know much about geography
Don’t know much trigonometry
Don’t know much about algebra
Don’t know what a slide rule is for
But I know that one and one is two

What a wonderful world this would be

[From a Herman’s Hermits song, Wonderful World, lyrics by Cooke/Alpert/Adler. Lyrics may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!]

Creating A Sustainable Future (CASF) received an emotional email from a young mother, “Kay,” who wishes to remain anonymous. Kay has a 6-year-old daughter and lives with her family in NW United States. Kay says she is not high on science, “in all probability the Herman’s Hermits famous song, ‘don’t know much about history, biology, science books, geography, trigonometry, algebra, and slide rule’ was written about me!”

She says her knowledge of climatology is even poorer than her French(!) “But I do know that I love my daughter and husband and ‘what a wonderful world this would be’ if we could rein in the greenhouse gases, and reverse the global warming.”

“I have read a number of articles about CO2 pollution in the atmosphere including a few written by the famed NASA scientist, Dr J. Hansen … but he is a government scientist …”

She wants to know the safe level of CO2 in the atmosphere and asks which of the 350, 450, or higher levels of CO2 pollution would be a “safe” level, and whether our reply could be put simply so that a “layperson” could understand the answer.

Hi, Kay – thanks for visiting our blog and email!

The CASF members believe even the lower atmospheric CO2 levels of 350ppm CO2 are unsafe! Here are the reasons why. Our findings put as simply as we could:

1. Our climate models show that when the atmospheric CO2 levels leaped over the 330ppmv “threshold” in the mid 1970s it triggered a positive feedback loop, which is now impacting the climate. [The atmospheric CO2 inventory has risen by about 17 percent since then.]
2. The “acid test,” if you’ll excuse the pun, of the accuracy of our models lies in the future, namely how much worse the environmental impacts will be in the 2008-2010 period. If the impacts of CO2 pollution worsened significantly, by a factor of 20% or more, by 2010 (we have a system for quantifying the adverse effects, see Index of Human Impact on Nature for an introduction), as we expect them to do so, then we know our models are accurate.
3. The catch? By 2010 it would be too late to do anything to slow down the runaway positive feedback system [other than say a prayer for the dead!]
4. While the preindustrial levels of 260-270ppm were [and they probably still would be ] “safe,” the longer term environmental impacts of CO2 at levels of about 290-300ppm, even if those levels were achievable [assume some miraculous means were introduced to wipe the slate clean,] in the current climatic state are uncertain!
5. Based on the above, we recommend an immediate shift to zero-emissions, the benefits of which, although by no means immediate, would far outweigh the ultimate cost of playing Russian roulette with climate change.

We hope the above helps. Feel free to visit us anytime!

Best wishes
Dione, FEWW Moderators and rest of CASF Team

Related Links:

• Greenland Ice Melt Faster Than IPCC Estimates
• Only Zero Emissions Would Avert Dangerous Warming
• Stern Report: “a great toxic dump of doublespeak in truly Orwellian fashion”
• UN Hypocrisy: Kick the CO2 Habit!
• The myth of keeping CO2 under 450ppm

• World CO2 Emissions
• Carbon Footprint of Your Dollar

dione

The Climate Change Crusades

Are YOU a Climate Change Crusader?
How Do YOU Fight Climate Change?
Should YOU Crusade Against the Climate Change, or just STOP heating the globe?

A Shrinking World Series

Make No Mistake: Nature Always Has the Last Word!

Midwest Flood Update:

A dam near the Wisconsin Dells resort area broke on Monday, causing mudslides that swept away homes, as torrential rains caused more flooding across the U.S. Midwest.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency in 30 counties in the south of the state. In Iowa, where 33 counties were flooded, and Indiana, where flooding forced hundreds of people to evacuate homes in the central and western parts of the state, similar declarations have been made. Parts of Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota have been affected by flooding.

“This is an area that’s been bombarded with rain over the weekend, anywhere from 5 to 10 inches, and you’re dealing with saturated soils. So any rain that falls becomes run-off,” the National Weather Service’s Pat Slattery said.

OUCH! Too Close to the bank! Like the Kubeniks and the Pekars (see image caption), rivers are “living” creatures; they need room to complete their cycle of life!

The homes of the Kubeniks (R) and the Pekars are damaged after a dam broke at man-made Lake Delton, Wisconsin June 9 2008. REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice.

“Flood damage estimated in the tens of millions of dollars were being added to recent storm damage in Iowa, including a tornado that flattened the town of Parkersburg two weeks ago.” Reuters reported.

In Iowa:

• The water treatment plant in Mason City was swamped by the Winnebago River.
• Three of four bridges in the town of Charles City were swept away by flooding of the Cedar River.
• The town of New Hartford was evacuated.

Corn and soybean fields were submerged under the floodwater in Midwestern states. Iowa and Illinois account for about 35% of U.S. corn and soybeans, usually the world’s largest harvests of those crops. However, the prospects of a bumper crop year were further eroded, following a wet spring that had already delayed planting. (Source)

Related Video:

• Home washed away in floods [like a matchbox!]

Related Links:

• US Tornado Brief
• UN Hypocrisy: Kick the CO2 Habit!
• Will California turn to desert by 2011?

• Italy: Submerged in Floodwaters, Sinking in Garbage

• Failing Ecosystems
• State of the World
• Future Scenarios
• First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
  
• Nuking Earth for Lifestyle

• Giga Trends
• World Problems: The Root Cause Matrix
• Tipping Point
• Topsoil
• Drying Aquifers, Sinking Cities

• The Economy
• Energy
• Food Security
• Future in the Making: A Shrinking World

• Flood Puts City in Iowa ‘at God’s Mercy’ Iowa, June 12, 2008
  

The World’s one harvest from starvation!