8th August - Today's News

Vanishing Bolivian glacier ends highest ski run - interestingly the glacier described as being 18,000 years old. A similar age to Kilimanjaro's glaciers. Suggesting both formed after the termination of the last Glacial, quite possibly as a consequence of increased winter precipitation ( you need lots of snow - not cold - to make a glacier). Furthermore we read that

Climate change has also led to extended dry seasons and condensed periods of heavy rain in the region. Every month this year, precipitation in La Paz has been below historic averages, recorded from 1961 to 1990, except for February, when downpours set off mudslides that left 60 families homeless, Trujillo said.

Global Warming? Or Precipitation Pattern Change? The latter, of course, partly a consequence of AGW but also caused by other human activities, notably deforestation. Interesting.

Hurricane Felicia waning on its way to Hawaii

Taiwan shuts markets, offices as typhoon approaches

Philippine floods kill 12, including 3 Europeans

BC to burn 'until the snow comes'

Record rains dowse western Montana

And the latest stating the bleedin' obvious news story: Geoengineering to mitigate global warming may cause other environmental harm. It's worth noting that one suggestion is to spray sulphur particles into the atmosphere to replicate on a more permanent scale the sort of cooling somethimes caused by major volcanic eruptions. Of course, we used to pump such pollutants into the atmosphere from our factories until we discovered 'acid rain' and took action to cut sulphur emissions. Coincidentally this action took place around the time temperatures started to take off in the 1980s .....

I'm pleased to see the article concludes:

...on the planetary scale, most ecologists are skeptical of climate engineering.

"Playing with the Earth's climate is a dangerous game with unclear rules," says Jackson. "We need more direct ways to tackle global warming, including energy efficiency, reduced consumption, and investment in renewable energy sources."

Couldn't agree more. And that applies whether or not CO2 emissions are really responsible for any significant/damaging warming.

Environmentalist and IPCC sceptic Bjorn Lomborg says armada could halt global warming. Meanwhile, environmental and IPCC sceptic Andy Mayhew says inventing the 'off' switch could halt global warming .......

It does seem utterly daft - and very human - that we're considering spending so much money playing games with the environment to combat a problem caused by conspicuous consumption , wealth (and, ironically, the simultaneous desire for cheap products) and disregard for the environment. The easiest solution is to stop wasting energy and use the money we save to spend a bit more on locally produced goods, whilst encourgaing developing nations to produce food for themselves and in a manner which does not cause further environmental degregation. And after all, what use is money to an Indonesian farmer whose family has just been killed by floods and landslides that resulted from his destruction of the rainforest in order to grow palm oil to sell to the west .... ?