Monday, July 2, 2012

Air Quality, Climate Change, Will Become Higher Priorities On This Blog

Just an fyi to regular readers that I'm going to be paying more attention to air and climate issues on this blog along with environmental and political matters often covered here - - sprawl, transit and water.

My decision to refocus some of the blog's space was prompted by a deficit in information in air and climate matters by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at the very time more information should be disseminated.

I'm in no way suggesting any one person or grassroots group or coalition could replace what the DNR could be doing, but with your help, I think we can aggregate, analyze and distribute some interesting and important items.

Where the DNR has dropped the ball:

Being satisfied hosting a dearth of climate change information.

Ending early warnings about the buildup of air pollution.

Readers and groups should feel to send material my way and I will do my best to post,  comment or send it on via Twitter or Facebook, for example.

The blog's email is jer45y@gmail.com

16 comments:

AlGore is Right!! Right!!! Right!!!! said...

Yes! finally it is time to concentrate on the greatest issue of our time! Catastrophic climate change caused by CO2 and the burning of FOSSIL fuels! Expose those lying liars as the lying liars that they are! I see many people pretending to be scientists now refuting what we and AlGore know to be true! Expose their lies! Lies bought and paid for by corporate criminals! Lies like this!!!:
http://notrickszone.com/2012/06/29/meteorologist-dr-wolfgang-thune-calls-potsdam-institutes-science-pure-voodoo-magic-for-spreading-fear-among-the-public/
and this!:
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/9035/SPECIAL-REPORT-More-Than-1000-International-Scientists-Dissent-Over-ManMade-Global-Warming-Claims--Challenge-UN-IPCC--Gore
The guru of climate change and The Gaia theory has even been bought off!!:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/46209
Expose these frauds as the frauds they are!!
Tell us AlGore is right!!
We need to know that AlGore is right!!
AlGore is right!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think this is a good use of space, James.

Personally, I don't know how much stock I place in the green house gas theory. But I do believe climate change is real and strongly influenced by man.

Here's my personal conspiracy theory: For every gallon of gas burned, regardless of MPG, you release roughly 85,000 btu's of heat into the atmosphere. That's equivalent turning your furnace on and opening all the windows in your home for 1 hour. Add to that all the heat energy produced by every watt of electricity. 1 watt is 3.41 BTU's of heat. Watching TV, being on your computer, running your refrigerator or cooking a meal all adds heat to the environment.
Forget "carbon footprint". Call it "Hot footprint".

James Rowen said...

To Anon 10:14 - - Thanks for the data.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Rowen,

These are laudable and worthy topics to be discussed. I applaud your interest and desire to draw attention to these issues. I'm already looking forward to not only how you'll discuss global warming. I'm looking forward to how you'll take global warming issues and connect them with Wisconsin's local and regional issues, from water and water use to the politics of water sheds to global warming's impact on Wisconsin agriculture to how changes in our year round average temperatures will affect Wisconsin's economy, including our much praised Winter sports. As these 90 plus degree days stretch on and on, and our rainless days increase, these issues have to be talked about. I don't know if the discussion will have a huge impact on those who already think global warming is some kind of leftist conspiracy to bilk corporations. But it has to be talked about.

I want to tout a couple of sources I use for information on global warming.

First, i simply love Peter Sinclair's "Climate Denial Crock of the Week." Peter Sinclair produces some outstanding short but entertaining and informative videos on his YouTube account, Greenman3610: http://www.youtube.com/user/greenman3610. The videos range in length from about 5 minutes up to 15 minutes. I highly recommend them.

Yale Climate Forum is another great resource on global warming issues : http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/. They also have a YouTube account with some well-made videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/yaleclimateforum.

And if anyone wants a more scholarly, hard science based discussion of global warming issues, I highly recommend Real Climate:http://www.realclimate.org/. Scientists doing and discussing science.

Anonymous said...

Those who doubt that the climate is changing in an unprecedented and disastrous way due to human activity are the greatest danger to humanity today. The greatest service that can be offered to the planet at this time is to eliminate, by whatever means possible, the arguments which do not support climate change theory. Too many people are obsessed with playing intellectual games of proving things to a degree demanded by the scientific method rather than just accepting that the theory is true and changing our actions on the assumption that it is true.

Similar to Pascal’s wager, which states it is better to believe in the existence of God, since there is no adverse effects of doing so, It is better to believe and act under the assumption that we are disrupting the natural balance of the earth by our activities since we should strive to reduce our presence in the natural world whether it affects the climate or not.

The greatest threat to the universe is people, and the opportunity that a good heatwave offers to emphasis that fact should not be missed. Thank you for your efforts to guide the public in the proper direction.

Reagan's Disciple said...

It is very hot today.

However, the record temperature for this date is 98^ in 1911.

We better find out how many BTUs of heat were being produced by cars, televisions and refrigerators back then for "man" to cause such a heat wave.

Anonymous said...

RD, you're engaging in cherry picking. It ought to be beneath you, but then you've shown again and again that you're willing to stoop to the level of a middle schooler here.

Reagan's Disciple said...

@ anon 10:50,

I'm sorry for you, but it is your side who is "cherry picking."


The world has apparently been around for 1,000,000s of years according to the atheists. Earth has been through many ice ages and warming cycles, yet you people who believe in man made global warming choose only 10-15 years to try and make a valid statistical point. That is no less cherry picking than my example. I'm glad I was able to help you understand your flawed logic on this non-issue.

Boxer said...

Anonymous 1, 2, 3: Meet Rayguns, the self-claimed "Voice of Reason" on this blog. I think you grant him too much credit, for accusing him of operating at the middle school level. He is childish, no argument there, but at a more elementary level, in my opinion. He clings to what is easy to believe and what he wants to believe, and cherry picks the 'facts' to fit his beliefs. His latest dig at "atheists" (who are the ONLY people who acknowledge the age of Earth to be in the millions of years old, and not five thousand years old) is a little confusing. Is he saying that he believes the Earth to be 5000 years old? Or is he getting in a cheap dig at atheists? (I think most atheists wouldn't care what Rayguns thinks of them.)
One other thing about our pal Rayguns: he is right, always right and in case you might think he's wrong, see Rule #1. No matter what the facts are. When confronted with facts, he changes the subject or mysteriously "goes out of town" for a bit.
Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

" Earth has been through many ice ages and warming cycles"

And those warming and cooling cycles have been studied at great length.

Google "Milankovich Cycle."

"yet you people who believe in man made global warming choose only 10-15 years to try and make a valid statistical point. "

Wrong. Studies of the greenhouse effect began over 100 years ago, and they encompass every feasible datapoint for earth temperatures, including proxies for paleontological data.

Amazing what you'll learn if you actually read how the science is done.

Anonymous said...

RD,

I agree that weather patterns are up and down with time. But, since 1911 man has added more BTU's to the atmosphere than we can fathom as a numerical calculation.

The question becomes; Has man upset the natural cycles by introducing unnatural and man made occurrences?

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear it, Jim. RD may not have to stay indoors on these ozone days, but I do. So I have been tallying the increasing numbers of ozone days for years. We have a problem.

Yes, RD, we all are well aware of the cycles, and you need to also learn about the 17-year Great Lakes cycles. But for thousands of years, the First People and then the French and then the British and then -- late to the land here -- the first Americans into Wisconsin did not spew industrial pollutants into the air and the water. They did not even have cryptosporidium outbreaks owing to bad agricultural practices. They did not asphalt massive swaths of the land that have been a factor in urban flooding here, near the lake.

We have added those factors into the ecological equation, for good -- certainly, a disciple of Reagan would not deny boons of business? -- but also for ill. Don't be as dumb as your hero who gave us the ridiculous line about redwoods. He had dementia. Your excuse?

RD said...

Weren't there glaciers covering Wisconsin at one time?

What caused the earth to warm so dramatically back then? If you guys were around you would have undoubtedly blamed the Clovis people and their cooking fires.


@Boxer - First, you fit the liberal mold perfectly. Make some comments about people who hold contrary opinions and how unintelligent they must be... Then try to make people think that nobody can be as smart or as enlightened as yourself. I guess I didn't realize how insecure you were about your own intelligence, or perhaps lack thereof.

Secondly, atheists have eternity to deal with, so there is no reason or point for me to take a dig at them. I was simply playing by your sides rules as they are generally on the left of the political spectrum and believe the earth to be 1,000,000s of years old.

...now if I could only think of a way to make money off of this global warming hype.(Kind of like Al Gore did!)

Anonymous said...

"Weren't there glaciers covering Wisconsin at one time?

What caused the earth to warm so dramatically back then? "

RD, do you really have to parade your ignorance like that?

Here's a hint: the warming was not dramatic. It was paced by the Milankovich Cycle.

The warming we're seeing now, that's dramatic.

Seriously, get a clue.

"Milankovich Cycle."

Google it.

Come back when you can tell the difference between the solstices and the apehelion and perihelion, and why that is relevant to climate cycles.



"If you guys were around you would have undoubtedly blamed the Clovis people and their cooking fires."

Well, we're around now, and unlike you, we actually understand what's going on.

Boxer said...

Rayguns, if you believe that the earth is only 5000 years old (and you're entitled to hold whatever opinion you want), you don't get to then cite glaciers as proof there isn't man-made climate change: the glacial period was roughly 10,000 years ago.

BTW: Labeling your ideas childish is not the same as calling you unintelligent. You made that connection, not me.

I guess you're right about my lack of intelligence: I'm not intelligent enough to be certain that what I think happened on Earth millions of years ago, and ten- and five-thousand years ago is the right thing, when people with advanced scientific degrees who have studied geology, climatology, archaeology, biology, and other ologies say differently. I'm certainly not intelligent enough to say where atheists or any other persons will spend eternity or how. You're the intelligent one who knows all of that, the Voice of Reason on this blog, right?

I do tend to go with the guys who spend summers on their knees brushing dirt off of fossils.

Here's an idea for you, if you want to make money off of global warming: invent, or invest in alternative energy or another green technology. A man of your intelligence ought to be able to do that.

Boxer said...

Here is the perfect description of Rayguns' philosophy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3BUuqgsTWA&feature=related