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Extreme Weather Report From Home: The Thong Will Drop
People across half of the US just experienced unprecedented cold, snow and ice brought in by a record setting winter storm. Climate deniers have been wondering, we thought it's gonna be warm with global warming, so why is it so cold? The climate scientists on the other hand have been pointing out that as the Arctic warms we’ll experience more frequent and severe intensity winter storms with colder temperatures and more snow—all due to human–made climate change.
I wanted to share a short report from my home town, Santa Fe in New Mexico, where temperatures have not only been extreme this past year, but record setting on both ends of the spectrum.
Last summer Santa Fe broke the high temperature record for both June (100 degree F) and July (100 degree F). While I was reasonably cool inside an old adobe house where I live, such high temperatures are no good news for plants and animals of our region. Between 2001 and 2005 sustained drought combined with high temperatures killed off 90% of mature piñons in northern New Mexico—our state tree. This continuing heat is killing newly planted trees as well, redefining the idea of reforestation in the 21st century. Last summer I wrote about the massive global forest deaths caused by climate change.
If you live in Boston or New York, you might be thinking (if you can afford it) of taking a vacation to New Mexico to warm up. But you’ll be surprised to know that on Wednesday Santa Fe broke the minimum temperature record for February with a minus 15 degrees F. Add to that 25 miles per hour wind that brought the wind–chill down to minus 40 degrees F. This is my way of saying it’s too cold for New Mexico.
I was fine inside the adobe home, but what about the plants and animals of our region? If asked that question, climate deniers will respond: all animals and plants will adapt to changes in the climate. That is like saying to a homeless person, too bad its 40 below outside, you’ll just have to adapt. If no one takes care of her, she will die from hypothermia. The same is true with plants and animals—many of them are unable to adapt to extreme and rapid changes in weather. They go extinct and they are going extinct. Our planet is currently experiencing the greatest human–made loss of biodiversity—primarily due to climate change and habitat loss.
Have you ever heard of a cactus getting frostbite? With extreme cold, a cholla cactus in Santa Fe can turn from bright summer green to deep red. It’s a visual spectacle for sure, but it also gives us a pause to wonder what happens to all other plants and animals of the desert Southwest with such extreme cold weather? I don’t have an answer and I surmise no one does at this point.
Wednesday was also significant for a different reason—Representative Fred Upton (R–Michigan), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a draft legislation that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act.
So far the US hasn’t taken any significant step toward reducing atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. In his State of the Union address, President Obama avoided the use of such unpleasant phrases as “climate change” or “global warming.” He instead focused on the positive by talking about clean energy. The absolute bare minimum US can do right now is limit toxic emissions from some of the worst polluters through the EPA Clean Air Act.
For sometime now in the international climate negotiations, the US has been looking like a great emperor wearing only a thong and going around with a big whip to set a global moral order. If Upton succeeds, the thong will drop.
Subhankar Banerjee's photographs can be seen this spring in a solo exhibition Where I Live I Hope To Know at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth (May 14-August 28, 2011) and in a group exhibition Earth Now: American Photographers and the Environment at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe (April 8-August 28, 2011).
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Show Allwith changes in climate patterns, great migrations are in the offing. with movements of the people looking for livable climates and natural resources, wars, big and small, will follow.
Sad, but true. Surviving animals will most likely be slaughtered for food as crops fail. Another feedback loop.
We tend to think of migration as winged, 2 or 4 footed yet prior to this the infinitely complex, sub-visual environment migration at the microbial level moves well ahead in both space and time.
The perception of invasions of, for instance, pine beetles in northern forests, is subjected to the skewed perception born of the western separation from nature. We perceive the manifestation but are virtually utterly ignorant of ongoing dynamics. We are inseparable and in constant interaction. We actively deny and destroy societies that sustain this knowledge. The west calls them 'primitive'. This appellation should be adjusted to 'primary' and treated as such.
The situation indicates to me a profound call for humility, restraint and intensive study in order to contribute to healthy balances rather consistently delusional demands that the natural world serve as septic pit, inexhaustible subject of extractive rape, perpetually deferred stewardship by the abstract argument of material accumulation known as globalized capitalism.
I live in the Gila Wilderness area of New Mexico. This is about 300 miles south of Santa Fe. On January 1st, I awoke to a temperature of 22º below. The next day, it was 7º and felt down right balmy. Another aspect of these drastic temps is that during a 24 hour period, we have been known to swing as much as 50º from morning temp to evening temp. This can't be good.
Last year, during January, we flooded. Not an extreme flood, but my pasture was under water for a month.
I'm already thinking of migrating, but I fear, in time, climate failure will only catch up with me.
My little anecdotal observations from the Triad are of NC are; we had the most days at 90 degrees F or above EVER last summer, followed by the coldest December EVER. Literally one extreme to the other.
We're in the same neck of the woods, Tom. From the Triad here as well.
I live in the south-central mountains of NM, where the storm of which Banerjee spoke was most intense. We had 2 days with -25 F minimum and 24" of snow. Albuquerque shut down. Hundreds of miles of freeway and highways shut down. Most unusual for NM.
This storm did not make the media because of the (milder) storm in the nor-east US. Our storm only affected around 700,000 people, but the nor-east storm affected 100 million, hence the focus.
But this is just weather, not climate.
"all due to human–made climate change."
Renaming it "Climate change" was the best marketing decision ever. That way it covers everything from heat waves to cold snaps, hurricanes and floods. "Global warming" was kinda boxing yourself in.
The term "climate change" has been used for years for the likely effects of global warming. It's one of the unending flood of denial myths that it was a "marketing" decision because scientific results were ambiguous.
It *was*, however, proposed as a PR ploy by Frank Luntz of the Bush administration in 2003.
I quote, "It’s time for us to start talking about “climate change” instead of global warming and “conservation” instead of preservation.1) “Climate change” is less frightening than “global warming”. As one focus group participant noted, climate change “sounds like you’re going from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale.” While global warming has catastrophic connotations attached to it, climate change suggests a more controllable and less emotional challenge."
http://tinyurl.com/4z84y2r
What it is: pollution-driven climate destabilization.
We have definitely entered the transition phase during which extremes of all kinds (temperature, precipitation, aridity) will become increasingly apparent. This is not going to go smoothly.
What is always missing from these discussions is even a hint at the fact that this mote of dust floating about in the universe cannot sustain the human population it is presently burdened with. A worldwide Easter Island experiment is taking place. All the evidence is available.
One child per family, worldwide, for several generations.
What is also missing from these discussions is that a socially created hierarchical institution of domination (capitalism and the competitive market place) is devouring the world's resources in the name of 'progress' and 'growth'. It is interesting to take notice of how the 'over population' discourse never talks about the ideas of over-consumption and zero consumption growth. Why? To discuss these possibilities and to possibly implement them would be to destroy the capitalist economy. Can't go there, can we? Also, notice how the imagages that surround the over-population discourse always seem to focus on the poor brown skinned foreigners who have 13 children, but consume next to nothing compared to the American family of 4. They never seem to show that there are too many Americans driving around in SUVs and devouring 1/4 of the world's resources, and producing 1/4 of the world's pollution and waste. I guess there can't be too many middle class Americans in the world... just too many of 'the other people'.
The other problem I have with population control is WHO is going to enforce and be in charge of the controlling?
Furthermore, American capitalism wiped out 40 million or so bison, polluted every waterway, devastated huge sections of forests, desiccated millions of acres of soil, killed and displaced many millions of Native Americans long before the population reached 100 million people. American Capitalism is now off-shoring its forms of ecocide to other nations.
It is not solely a problem of overpopulation... but also the social arrangements we choose to live by. The problem of the inhabitants of Easter Island was that they didn't know how to live in balance with their habitat. For whatever their reasons they choose to exploit and destroy their habitat - the very thing that gives support for human life.
To be sure, I agree that over-population needs to be addressed. But, I think it is much more important to address the exploitative nature of our consumptive lifestyle. And, hopefully, within this redress people will see that our exploitative way of life needs to change, and also that part of living in balance with our ecosystems will require a sane form of birth control where the women are able to make their own choices, rather than some form of imposition from above.
There are way too many people on this planet now, so not sure how all of the new ones who will be born in the years & decades ahead will be fed, housed, employed, etc. Considering the miserable conditions that so many live in now, I would surmise that those new ones, as well as many of the existing ones, won't live very well at all. However, Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, knows how to thin out herds that have become too large to be supported by the environments they live in. Whether by climate change, wars, disease, or something no one has even considered, the world population will dramatically fall eventually. A lot of folks who are alive & prosperous today will die in pain & squalor, and they won't even see it coming .....
Apologies to those put off by me carrying a comment I posted in the *Amazon* article, over to here. Just working the extra exposure. It speaks volumes to those who believe the way most of us believe.
>>And I have to re-post this link (yet again):
http://vimeo.com/1709110 <<
I did watch this video. It is simplistic and right to the point. But again, falling on way too many deaf ears ! Here is a link I will offer. I am sure I got it originally from someone here, but still good to pass around.
"How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic" http://www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics/
Oh, and on another note, if anyone is interested, Zeitgeist *Moving Forward*, the latest installment was released to the internet on Jan 25th. It is amazing and scary all in the same breath. Personally, I would advance past the first quarter to around 49 minutes 35 seconds to *Welcome to the machine* section. The first can be revisited but may risk losing interest as it is lots of behavioral speak and would IMO get people to tune out or not finish.
We are all so caught up in life to lift an eyebrow of care toward our future. We are on a life raft made of cheese and will eat to survive until the life raft is gone and then we will realize we should have placed future drowning somewhere in our priorities.
Make it forever and ever, amen.
...the thong will drop...
Not sure the metaphor works, but it does attract readers.
The drought allowed the pine bark beetle to kill the trees, trees had no defensive sap.
Worse yet New Mexico's heating source Natural Gas has been turned off by the West Texas Natural Gas suppliers to many New Mexico cities, many people have NO HEAT in sub zero F temperatures.
New Mexico recently elected a Texan oil and gas puppet governor and currently there is a battle raging in the New Mexico Legislature attempting to prevent the oil and gas Texans from destroying New Mexico Air and Water as they pillage New Mexico natural gas and oil.
This is ala Enron's shutting down powerplants in order to raise electricity prices in California.
The Texans say there is a shortage of Natural Gas, but this three days of extreme cold followed a week of extreme warm weather, should have been a backlog of supplies.
the author of this piece is unwittingly feeding the denialists.
First of all, there was nothing unprecedented about this latest winter storm - particularly with regard to temperatures. Blizzards like this are atandard fixture for the midwest every few years. Perhaps this one was in the top 5 for snowfall intensity and wind, but temperatures would get much colder during these types of storms in the past.
Secondly, the storm also had an very strong warm quardrant that nobody is talking about. Much of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio to the SE of the storm center, saw extremely rapid rise in temperatures (from 30F to 47F in jsut a couple hours, rain, strong wind, and some of the fastest melting snow I've ever seen.
It was the scale that made the last storm unusual. It was snowing from Texas to International Falls to the east coast all from the same storm system concurrently.
Actually, it was mostly freezing rain or plain rain along and south of a line from Cleveland to Boston, only in northernmost New England did it fall as all snow, and then, not very much, as the storm has largely dissipated from Toronto eastward.
Ice storms are the worst, beautiful, but destructive. Be careful on that scooter.
The truth be told, I rarely ride from December into March. Too cold, and even if there isn't ice or snow on the road, there is always road-salt residue or a wet briny surface which can be slippery enough for a 2-wheel vehicle with rudimentary suspension.
A newer maxi-size electric scooter has a generous fairing and windshield, better suspension, and electric outlet for heated gloves is on the way. So, I may be able to do much more winter riding next year.
Definitely think about a heated jacket liner. I ride a scooter too and I got me one a couple of years ago. Rode the scooter at 27F, no ice on the ground tho. Nice and balmy inside the jacket.
To get much winter scooter commuting in, I need to be able to ride most mornings at an average temperature of 15-20F. And we usually get little nusiance downwind lake-effect snows every 2 to 4 days or so, just enough so the streets are wet with hyper-salty meltwater spray and slush - not the thing I want getting into the works of an electric scooter.
The usual caution: one storm does not a climate change trend make.
However, this illustrates the true nature of scientific inquiry. Usually one case triggers people to gather anecdotal evidence of a trend. Then researchers look for the trend. Then the theoreticians try to explain what's happening. So really, journalists are often at the forefront of scientific research.
"The thong will drop"
Mr. Subhankar should realize that in US-English, the correct term is "sandal" or "flip-flop". "Thong" to most USAns refers to an extremely skimpy woman's bikini-bottom.
Nope, the author meant bikini bottom or more precisely a Speedo. He would have said "empress" for bikini bottom.
It's an old journalistic trick - go for sexualized sensationalism. It sells. I've seen some pretty silly sensational headlines in my day so I won't particularly knock it.
Considering that it is a modification of the phrase "the shoe will drop", I assume he meant a thong-sandal - something associated with warm weather wear. Maybe I'm stereotyping, but I have trouble imagining an Indian artist using such sexualized imagery.
"For sometime now in the international climate negotiations, the US has been looking like a great emperor wearing only a thong and going around with a big whip to set a global moral order"
One sandal? I think it's a play on the "emperor has no clothes" theme. I agree it is a bizarre image.
OK, I stand corrected, I overlooked that sentence somehow.
You are correct...apparently the writer has not been informed that due to the popularity of the underwear the shoes are now called "flip flops"...
"Thong" in the Queens English (on which I presume he was raised) means flip-flop/sandal/etc.
Remember folks, its not "always about America".
"Remember folks, its not "always about America"."
Nonsense. We Are The World! USA!USA!USA! etc...
thing, thing a thong
thing it loud
thing it thtrong...
oh dear.... the pressure is getting to me....
thong thung blue...
Come on guys,Is the image of Uncle Sam in Butt floss not enough? You need to pun us to death? lol. By the way Sabo Cat I ride my K75 all year long and hope to go Ice racing soon. peace
Friends of mine deny that the global warming has anything to do with humankind's wasteful use of the world's various resources and attribute global warming to just another natural phenomenom. Sorry, folks, it's not.
It may be that the warming is just another natural climatic fluctuation. The professionals do not think so, but it may be so. But why exacerbate the warming by emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which can only increase the rate of warming?
We know that CO2 is a greenhouse gas. If the CO2 we are emitting is not contributing to the warming, what is it doing?
Natural climatic fluctuations don't happen nearly as rapidly and what is happening now:
http://climateprogress.org/2011/01/27/science-temperatures-atlantic-water-arctic-unprecedented-2000-years-linked-to-arctic-amplification-of-global-warming/
But, recall tht the same people who are now saying, it chnging, but its natural, wer the same people who were saying, 10 years ago, "there is no proof it is changing".
sheepherder,
There are natural warming and cooling periods driven by nature but what climatologists term "global warming" or the new term "climate change" has nothing to do with that and is indeed now the driving force of global temperatures. Scientists have known about this for decades but, just like the topics of fresh water or deforestation, taking the steps necessary to preserve our natural environment would mean that we would have to rein in our industrial activity and stop exploiting the planet for short term gain. The truth is, very few are really willing to do that as it would necessitate a dramatic curtailing of the current modern lifestyle that most people in the developed world enjoy.
As I wrote on another thread about climate change. Most people don't even know where the term global warming comes from. The term originated in 1975 from a scientific paper written by geochemist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. Also note that he used both terms in the paper, its just that the media latched onto the term "global warming".
"Climate Change: Are we on the Brink of a Pronounced Global warming"
August 8, 1975
WS Broecker
Abstract.
"If man-made dust is unimportant as a major cause of climatic change, then a strong case can be made that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide. By analogy with similar events in the past, the natural climatic cooling which, since 1940, has more than compensated for the carbon dioxide effect, will soon bottom out. Once this happens, the exponential rise in the atmospheric carbon dioxide content will tend to become a significant factor and by early in the next century will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years."
Link to full paper (PDF format): http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/files/2009/10/broeckerglobalwarming75.pdf
Personally, I think that the best that can now be hoped for is to mitigate the worst of the damage caused by climate change. We have done far too little and now it is almost too late to stop due to the inherent physical feedback loops that are outside of human control.
~ looking like a great emperor wearing only a thong and going around with a big whip ~
weird...this was my plan for the weekend...
This article could also have been entitled, "Thong of the Thouth".
The Toreador's Thong?
This beautiful state of NM; it saddens me to walk along the bosque of the Rio Grande everyday and see one more majestic cottonwood tree lose a giant limb or to have fallen over completely. Even the "invasive" russian olive trees are dying along the river forest. The water turtles are gone. The flocks of geese and sandhill cranes are dwindling. Even the sagebrush is spindley and dry.
Speaking of dropping thongs: http://bit.ly/gJ7oDE
Dead coral reefs in the world's oceans, giant dead zones in the world's oceans, bizarre jelly fish blooms that indicate there is no dissolved oxygen in large parts of the world's oceans... the Amazon jungle is dying...
It's all natural - there have been mass extinctions in past - don't worry -- it's all good.
And oh yeah - God has your back - it's all moon beams and butter cups - sunshine everywhere.
Writing here from Fairbanks Alaska....this has been a mild winter here in Fairbanks (100 miles or so from the arctic circle)
We had predictions of a very cold winter but it hasn't materialized. Usually we will have several cold snaps of
-40 Farenheit throughout the winter but this year there has been only one. Beyond that the old timers tell me -50 and -60 were regularities at one time and it has only hit -60 once in the six years I have lived here.
Something I have noticed since I moved here is that our seasons have been getting less and less extreme (fairbanks is known for being hot in the summer and very very cold in the winter) while the lower 48 is getting more and more extreme each year. It's high time we start doing something to mitigate the effects of climate change as I think it's probably too late to stop it.
Call it what you want ...the icecaps are melting and this releases the polar jet stream to migrate south.
The jet stream hits more moisture in the middle latitudes. This moisture may be due to warmer oceans. It may be El Nino or La Nina. Cold jet stream + more moisture = more blizzards and snow in the middle latitudes.
Whatever you call it - it provoked massive fires in the grain belts of Russia. It forced the Russians to withhold grain from the global markets, exacerbating food inflation.
Food inflation and food insecurity is a prime motivator of political unrest. First Tunisia, second Egypt, next???
Maybe Yemen, Maybe Jordan ....
Turkey has turned off the water in Iraq. Pakistan and India are facing a massive onion shortage - the staple of the poor in south Asia.
Call it what you want ... For what it's worth ...some thing's happening here.
After reading the last few posts regarding food shortages and water control issues I remind all that are interested in Eurasion geo-politics to watch for moves to control major river drainages and thier sources. Specifically, the central Eurasion mountains and their rivers. The Caucasus and Himalayas.
Ever noticed that for the past thirty years, we've been hearing we have less than ten years to save the planet? Global Warming and Climate Change is a hoax. It was created to make certain people capitalists, at the expense of you and me, by virtue of hysteria upon the American People and the Global Market.