‘Like the flip of a switch, it’s gone’: has the ecosystem of the UK’s largest lake collapsed?
Lough Neagh’s flies were seen as a nuisance. Now their sudden disappearance is a startling omen for a lake that supplies 40% of Northern Ireland’s water
How global warming is reshaping winter life in Canada
The impacts of this mild winter were felt across the country and touched all aspects of winter culture. From melting ice castles at Québec’s winter carnival, to a dismal lack of snow at many Western Canada ski resorts, seemingly no part of Canada was unaffected. But the change that will likely be felt most keenly by many Canadians is the loss of a reliable outdoor skating season.
https://theconversation.com/how-global-warming-is-reshaping-winter-life-in-canada-222329
It’s the middle of winter, and more than 100 wildfires are still smouldering [Canada]
There are still 92 active fires in British Columbia and another 54 in Alberta — holdovers from last year — according to the latest figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Others are also active in the Northwest Territories, experts said.
Fires that simmer below the surface in winter are sometimes called “zombie fires” or “overwintering fires.”
Often, they are visible to the naked eye only by small plumes of smoke that billow into the winter sky.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/wildfires-zombie-fires-canada-bc-alberta-1.7119851
*Florida man shakes fist at ocean* Don’t make me extend my axis!
The North Atlantic sea surface temperature is now up to an unbelievable 4.34 standard deviations above the recent 1991-2020 baseline climatology. Relative to that, the current anomaly is a 1-in-142,000-year event!
https://twitter.com/BMcNoldy/status/1759960696127975637
Through February 21, #Miami has STILL not had a sub-52° temperature this season. That has never happened before in the city’s recorded history. 🥵
https://twitter.com/BMcNoldy/status/1760292689806061903
Portland [Maine] experiences driest February since 1987 as rainfall hits record low
California battered by mudslides and flooding during three-day storm
The storm triggered several landslides throughout the state
Much of California was on flood watch on Monday and Tuesday as some regions approach ten inches of total rainfall while bracing for floods and landslides. Road blockages, landslides and toppled trees have already been reported in and around Los Angeles. Many parts of California are already saturated from the heavy rain after a storm earlier this month caused hundreds of landslides so far.
Costa Rica Issues Travel Warning With Heatwave And Extreme UV Rays Expected
Experts in Costa Rica have warned residents and visitors to take precautions against an impending heatwave expected to hit the country over the next couple of months. According to a recent statement from the National Meteorological Institute (IMN), Costa Rica will experience elevated temperatures and intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation between March and April.
Relentless record heat in Central America
The Nicaraguan capital Managua rose to 37.2 ,a new record heat for February, beating the 37.1 set in 1998.
176 countries have broken monthly records (from 1 to thousands each) heat so far this month, almost all the world.
https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1759752338624184562
Climate shelters and shipping in water: Barcelona looks for ‘exceptional solutions’ to drought
Critics say unusual solutions doesn’t solve long-term water management problems.
Catalonia is experiencing one of the worst droughts in living memory. At no point in the last century have water shortages been so severe.
The reservoirs that supply most of the region, including Barcelona, are at an all-time low – less than 16 per cent of capacity.
Spain isn’t the only country suffering as southern Europe’s water supplies run low.
Around 17 per cent of EU territory is now facing serious drought conditions, according to the European Drought Observatory’s latest update.
Tunisian wheat farmer Hasan Chetoui is seeking inspiration from the deep past as he tries to adapt to drought caused by climate change, sowing old wheat varieties that he hopes will produce crops throughout the year.
Chetoui does not believe his experiment with alternative types of wheat is likely to work everywhere, but he thinks it may help him cope after years of scant rains and heatwaves that destroyed much of his crop last year.
Amid Heat and Hot Temperatures, Nigerian Farmers Face Climate Crisis
Nigerian farmers face climate change crisis, with heat and hot temperatures wreaking havoc on crop yields and agricultural sustainability. From extreme heatwaves to less rainfall, farmers are resorting to innovative measures to protect their harvests.
Iraq’s Looming Crisis: Battling Water Pollution Amidst Drought and Dams
At the core of this unfolding disaster lies an outdated and overburdened sewage network, struggling to cope with the demands of a growing population. Water treatment facilities, where they exist, teeter on the brink of collapse, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of contaminants. This predicament is compounded by a lack of rigorous regulatory oversight, allowing pollution to fester visibly. In Iraq, a country where clean drinking water is a scarce commodity for half its population, the stakes could not be higher.
The Kashmir region [India] and parts of Jammu witnessed an unprecedented surge in temperatures during January 2024, marking it as the warmest January in recorded history.
These alarming temperature spikes have raised concerns about the long-term impact on the region’s ecology, agriculture, and overall climate patterns. The unusual warmth challenges the region’s resilience to climate change, urging authorities and communities to adopt sustainable practices
https://www.knskashmir.com/kashmir-witnesses-warmest-ever-january–breaks-all-records-184400
The Atlantic Ocean currents are getting very unstable and are close to a tipping point of no return. That is what a new study shows, with the ocean currents nearing a critical point, likely induced by the increased fresh water from the melting ice and the effects of changing ocean currents already being felt.
Near record wind speeds resulted in multiple international flights over the weekend exceeding 800 miles per hour — far faster than the 500 mph to 600 mph speeds at which commercial flights usually travel.
The impact of a changing climate is causing stronger winds within the jet stream, a narrow band of wind that flows west to east, experts say. While that can help give a tailwind to aircraft flying east, there are also downsides, such as more turbulence — and stronger headwinds for flights heading west.
“Depending on what direction you’re going, having a great tail wind is nice,” Shem Malmquist, a professor of aeronautics at Florida Tech University and a Boeing 777 captain, told CBS MoneyWatch. He noted that he recently flew on an international flight that hit 822 miles per hour, also thanks to the jet stream.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flights-over-800-mph-high-winds-early-arrival/
You can read the previous “Climate” thread here. I’ll be back on tomorrow with an “Economy” thread.
If you found value in this content, please help me continue this work by becoming a patron of my work via Patreon. And if you are already a subscriber or have donated – thank you! It is an enormous help as the cost-of-living crisis ratchets up here in the UK.
I’ve been marveling at the amount of damage the recent big snowfall did here in Juneau. And yes, believe it or not there are still a few much diminished and much, MUCH dirtier icebergs out there.
Now an unbelievable amount of gravel is emerging from the melting snow. Between the gravel, the incredible amounts of salt on the roads, and the non-stop exertions of the diesel-belching heavy machinery, I’m starting to notice the massive amount of damage that has been done to our most basic infrastructure.
Asphalt so cratered with potholes it looks like a moonscape. Every cement sidewalk and retaining wall for miles has been so heavily pitted by salt and gravel it looks like it could crumble at any moment. Cement curbs of every description have been ripped to shreds, some of them thrown into a heap where the snowplows smashed into them.
Total devastation everywhere you look, but NOT caused by the snow. It was all caused by humans desperate to drive their death machines anywhere they want, anytime they want.
What happens when the city cannot afford to repair that ass hattery anymore? It all just crumbles to dust?
I appreciate your on-the-ground reporting, Jerry. That’s really something. Yes, I’m sure it will all crumble to dust. The only question is when.
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/california/massive-landslide-on-coastal-bluff-leaves-ocs-dana-point-mansion-on-edge-of-cliff/3435493/
I am waiting to see how long the dams will last before they bust and break
Dams – yeah, that will be something. As for these mansions, ““At this point, the City has deemed that no additional action is necessary, and out of an abundance of caution has recommended that the property owner contract for a professional engineering assessment of the property,” the statement said.” LOLOL! I can’t wait to see them fall into the sea. Shouldn’t be long.
Pentagon Documents Show U.S. Intentionally Used Sanctions to Destroy Iraq’s Water Supply.
“Thomas J. Nagy, author of the cover story “The Secret Behind the Sanctions: How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq’s Water Supply,” says the documents demonstrate that “the United States knew it had the capacity to devastate the water treatment system of Iraq. It knew what the consequences would be: increased outbreaks of disease and high rates of child mortality. And it was more concerned about the public relations nightmare for Washington than the actual nightmare that the sanctions created for innocent Iraqis.”
Nagy cites a January 22, 1991, Defense Intelligence Agency document entitled “Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities,” which states: “Iraq will suffer increasing shortages of purified water because of the lack of required chemicals and desalination membranes. Incidences of disease, including possible epidemics, will become probable unless the population were careful to boil water.” That document adds that “it probably will take at least six months (to June 1991) before the system is fully degraded.”
https://progressive.org/latest/pentagon-documents-show-u.s.-intentionally-used-sanctions-destroy-iraq-s-water-supply./
According to empire’s spokes lady (?) Madeleine Albright it was totally ‘worth it’.
Albright – another psychopath. They rise to the top, don’t they? That is quite a story, Scanlon. Amerika has long ago turned 180 degrees from its hopeful beginning.
Albright is not my favourite person.
“Forgotten scandal: How the U.S. prevented U.N. action on Rwandan genocide, under Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright.”
https://www.salon.com/2016/05/16/forgotten_scandal_how_the_u_s_prevented_u_n_action_on_rwandan_genocide_under_bill_clinton_and_madeleine_albright/
Some food for thought, courtesy of Aurelien.
A Postcard From The Far Side of Despair.
Or, a meditation on bloody-mindedness for Ash Wednesday.
“Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of years, or you are a member of the Inner Party of the Professional and Managerial Caste (PMC), you will be familiar with the atmosphere of doom and gloom that increasingly permeates the lives of ordinary people these days. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before: a sour, disillusioned, almost nihilistic attitude, that extends well beyond anger with our broken political class. In my observation, in several countries, people have mostly just given up. They are beyond anger, and most of all beyond hope. There is no belief in even the possibility of a turn for the better, and a pervasive sense that we are near the end, and that things are falling apart now quite quickly. As I’ve suggested on a number of occasions, this decline goes beyond just government, to encompass the private sector, the media, education, and just about anything else that requires a bit of organisation and a dash of competence. So as somebody put it to me this week: “everything is shit and nothing works.”
“But I really feel sorry for the generations born after, say, 1975, whose entire conscious life has been spent in a world where things just get worse all the time, and nobody expects that to change.”
“But it is not my purpose here to add to the litany of complaint or the groundswell of anger. Both seem to me to be pointless, no matter the strength of the endorphin rush they may produce for a few seconds.”
“So, no hope then? Do we all fall into a state of despair and give up? Do we adopt the popular motto of these days: if at first you don’t succeed, give up, and find someone to blame? The rest of this essay is about that question, and I argue that we need to cultivate a way of living without hope, but also without despair, and that this is not, in fact, an impossible paradox.”
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/a-postcard-from-the-far-side-of-despair
Thought provoking essay. Thanks.
Thin gruel. More selfie-helpy substack sermonizing that goes nowhere. The “Ash Wednesday” angle is a dead giveaway that there’s some platitudinous anti-nihilism to come.
The lesson from World War II for civilians is not that everyone belonged to the Resistance, but that murderous nationalist fascism was a genuine project of all elements of society across Europe. The same goes for the US today, whose historic beginnings were far from “hopeful,” but were based on genocide, class rule, slavery, male supremacy, and other forms of bullshit anti-humanism.
Try as you might Martin, you have not yet converted anyone to join you in your bitter cult of misery – It’s unlikely since at this point everyone scrolls past your tiresome comments as if they weren’t even there. Once they’ve read one of your comments, they’ve read them all.
https://old.reddit.com/r/misery/
Where’s the “respect,” Doc?
Actually, humans are starting to do a much better job understanding their world – witness this amazing piece, far superior to the bullshit hopium one you drummed up.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/23/on-the-shame-of-living-through-times-of-genocide/
You can’t just cover your ears and pretend to not know what is going on outside your fossil fuel bubble.
I know you speak for all readers of C & E, including Kali and the host, but there’s nothing “bitter” or “cult”-ish about realizing how much of our lives have been on a fossil fuel gravy train that is heading off a cliff. (No graphic for that, Kali?) Why not enjoy the ride, but maybe with a little intellectual honesty?
Not a train but I these are fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRSHzenjiNA
Well stated
Here’s what I liked, Martin:
“In the absence of hope, we have to choose between despair and action, but action in the genuinely useful sense, not the performative one. We have to look around and see what we can do, and do it. I am personally convinced that the major political and economic structures of the West are past saving. To that degree, there is no point in “fighting” against something which is already falling apart. We need to look rather into our own lives, to resist what we can resist, to undermine what we can undermine, but most of all to create what we can create. Acting in ways not demanded by current neoliberal ideology, acting with kindness, understanding, and genuine tolerance, are a form of resistance in themselves. Giving money to a homeless person is an act of resistance in a way that writing a political blog isn’t.”
As I am currently housing a formerly homeless woman until she can get back on her feet, it resonated. I don’t have any hope regarding our trajectory, obviously, however, I don’t despair either because I have my understanding of how it all came to be. I certainly am frequently gobsmacked by the particulars, but am not despairing. No endless rants forthcoming from me. TR can do that 😉
“It’s just happened. Like the flip of a switch, it’s gone.”
Sudden seems to get this species attention. One of a deeper 1000 cuts?
How about a positive note? I’ve been wrong! We aren’t in for an unpleasant future. 😉
a little jingle for the end times. Pucker up and whistle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-q9xeOgG4