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Page added on July 5, 2016
Climate, Energy, Economy: Pick Two
We used to have this saying that if someone asks you to do a job good, fast and cheap, you’d say: pick two. You can have it good and cheap, but then it won’t be fast, etc. As our New Zealand correspondent Dr. Nelson Lebo III explains below, when it comes to our societies we face a similar issue with our climate, energy and the economy.
Not the exact same, but similar, just a bit more complicated. You can’t have your climate nice and ‘moderate’, your energy cheap and clean, and your economy humming along just fine all at the same time. You need to make choices. That’s easy to understand.
Where it gets harder is here: if you pick energy and economy as your focus, the climate suffers (for climate you can equally read ‘the planet’, or ‘the ecosystem’). Focus on climate and energy, and the economy plunges. So far so ‘good’.
But when you emphasize climate and economy, you get stuck. There is no way the two can be ‘saved’ with our present use of fossil fuels, and our highly complex economic systems cannot run on renewables (for one thing, the EROEI is not nearly good enough).
It therefore looks like focusing on climate and economy is a dead end. It’s either/or. Something will have to give, and moreover, many things already have. Better be ahead of the game if you don’t want to be surprised by these things. Be resilient.
But this is Nelson’s piece, not mine. The core of his argument is worth remembering:
“Everything that is not resilient to high energy prices and extreme weather events will become economically unviable…
…and approach worthlessness. On the other hand,…
Investments of time, energy, and money in resilience will become more economically valuable…”
Here’s Nelson:
Nelson Lebo: There appear to be increasing levels of anxiety among environmental activists around the world and in my own community in New Zealand. After all, temperature records are being set at a pace equal only to that of Stephen Curry and LeBron James in the NBA Finals. A recent Google news headline said it all: “May is the 8th consecutive month to break global temperature records.”
In other words, October of last year set a record for the highest recorded global monthly temperature, and then it was bettered by November, which was bettered by December, January, and on through May. The hot streak is like that of Lance Armstrong’s Tour De France dominance, but we all know how that turned out in the end.
Making history – like the Irish rugby side in South Africa recently – is usually a time to celebrate. Setting a world record would normally mean jubilation – not so when it comes to climate.
Responses to temperature records range from sorrow, despair, anger, and even fury. Anyone with children or grandchildren (and even the childless) who believes in peer review and an overwhelming scientific consensus has every right to feel these emotions. So why do I feel only resignation?
We are so far down the track at this point that we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Remember the warnings 30 years ago that we needed 30 years to make the transition to a low carbon economy or else there would be dire consequences? Well, in case you weren’t paying attention, it didn’t happen.
While these warnings were being issued by scientists much of the world doubled down – Trump-like – on Ford Rangers, Toyota Tacomas, and other sport utility vehicles. The same appears to be happening now, with the added element that we are experiencing the dire consequences as scientists issue even more warnings and drivers buy even more ‘light trucks’. Forget Paris, the writing was on the wall at Copenhagen.
The bottom line is that most people will (and currently do) experience climate change as a quality of life issue, and quality of life is related to a certain extent to disposable income. Acting or not acting proactively or reactively on climate change is expensive and gets more expensive every day.
If the international community ever takes collective action on climate change it will make individuals poorer because the cost of energy will rise significantly. If the international community fails to act, individuals will be made poorer because of the devastating effects of extreme weather events – like last year’s historic floods where I live as well as in northern England, etc – shown to be on the increase over the last 40 years in hundreds of peer-reviewed papers with verifiable data.
And here is the worst part: most economies around the world rely on some combination of moderate climate and cheap fossil fuels. For example, our local economy is heavily dependent on agriculture and tourism, making it exceptionally vulnerable to both acting AND not acting on climate change.
Drought hurts rural economies and extreme winds and rainfall can cost millions in crop damage as well as repairs to fencing, tracks and roads. As a result, both farmers and ratepayers have fewer dollars in their pockets to spend on new shoes, a night out, or a family trip. This is alongside living in a degraded environment post-disaster. The net result is a negative impact on quality of life: damned if we don’t.
On the other hand, tourism relies on inexpensive jet fuel and petrol to get the sightseers and thrill seekers to and around the world with enough dollars left over to slosh around local economies. Think about all of the service sector jobs that rely on tourism that in turn depend entirely on a continuous supply of cheap fuel. (This is not to mention peak oil and the lack of finance available to fund any long and expensive transition to an alternative energy world.) I’m told 70% of US jobs are in the service sector, most of which rely on inexpensive commuting and/or a highly mobile customer base.
Any significant approach to curbing carbon emissions in the short term will result in drastic increases to energy prices. The higher the cost of a trip from A to Z the less likely it is to be made. As a result, business owners and ratepayers at Z will have fewer dollars in their pockets to spend on new shoes, a night out, or a family vacation of their own. The net result is a negative impact on their quality of life: damned if we do.
I suppose it deserves repeating: most OECD economies and the quality of life they bring rely on both moderate climate and cheap fossil fuels, but these are mutually exclusive. Furthermore, regardless of emissions decisions made by the international community, we are already on track for decades of temperature records and extreme weather events that will cost billions if not trillions of dollars.
The response in many parts of the world has been to protest. That’s cool, but you can’t protest a drought – the drought does not care. You can’t protest a flood – the flood does not care. And even if the protests are successful at influencing government policies – which I hope long-term they are – we are still on track for decades of climatic volatility and the massive price tags for clean up and repair.
Go ahead and protest, people, but you better get your house in order at the same time, and that means build resilience in every way, shape and form.
Resilience is the name of the game, and I was impressed with Kyrie Irving’s post NBA game seven remarks that the Cleveland Cavaliers demonstrated great resilience as a team.
As I wrote here at TAE over a year ago, Resilience Is The New Black. If you don’t get it you’re not paying attention.
This article received a wide range of responses from those with incomplete understandings of the situation as well as those in denial – both positions dangerous for their owners as well as friends and neighbours.
The double bind we find ourselves in by failing to address the issue three decades ago is a challenge to put it mildly. Smart communities recognize challenges and respond accordingly. The best response is to develop resilience in the following areas: ecological, equity, energy and economic.
The first two of these I call the “Pope Index” because Francis has identified climate change and wealth inequality as the greatest challenges facing humanity. Applying the Pope Index to decision making is easy – simply ask yourself if decisions made in your community aggravate climate change and wealth inequality or alleviate them.
For the next two – energy and economics – I take more of a Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight (credit, Thom Hartmann) perspective that I think is embraced by many practicing permaculturists. Ancient sunlight (fossil fuels) is on its way out and if we do not use some to build resilient infrastructure on our properties and in our communities it will all be burned by NASCAR, which in my opinion would be a shame.
As time passes, everything that is not resilient to high energy prices and extreme weather events will become economically unviable and approach worthlessness.
On the other hand, investments of time, energy, and money in resilience will become more economically valuable as the years pass.
Additionally, the knowledge, skills and experience gained while developing resilience are the ultimate in ‘job security’ for an increasingly volatile future.
If you know it and can do it and can teach it you’ll be sweet. If not, get onto it before it’s too late.
31 Comments on "Climate, Energy, Economy: Pick Two"
ghung on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 3:52 pm
“Ancient sunlight (fossil fuels) is on its way out and if we do not use some to build resilient infrastructure on our properties and in our communities it will all be burned by NASCAR, which in my opinion would be a shame.”
Funny that. I was returning home Saturday with a load of mulch in my Ranger (which the author disses further up) and got stuck behind a parade of race cars on trailers headed for the local dirt track. I remember thinking that at least I was burning fuel for a better purpose. I’ll continue to leverage fossil fuels when necessary, in ways I hope make sense – any sense at all.
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 4:01 pm
“As time passes, everything that is not resilient to high energy prices and extreme weather events will become economically unviable and approach worthlessness.”
Sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that’s because it’s what I have been saying (and providing evidence) for over two years.
Techno industrial civilization cannot afford AGW.
Plantagenet on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 4:08 pm
Its pretty clear TPTB are choosing energy and the economy over the climate.
Energy production continues to grow to the point that the world has been in an oil glut. While some claim the glut is over, US oil production is rising again and oil prices dropped 5% today.
Similarly, the FED and other state banks have been printing money like crazy to boost the economy.
Its only when you get to climate that no action is being taken. The 20 year effort to draft a binging climate treaty to reduce CO2 emission has been abandoned, and replaced with the shame of the Paris Accord that put no limits on fossil fuel use or CO2 emissions.
Cheers!
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 4:09 pm
Record heat and abnormal flooding as Siberia gets freak weather
http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/news/n0690-record-heat-and-abnormal-flooding-as-siberia-gets-freak-weather/
Lots of Russian propaganda here with the pictures of happy white folks playing in the sun and flood waters. We do the same thing in the white west, but any time it’s a brown people country they always show picture that depict them as suffering in the heat (3rd world have not’s) while white folks frolic on the beach (nothing to worry about-won’t affect us). The pattern is obvious.
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 4:12 pm
Real Global Temperature Trend, p25 – Paleoclimate experts to the rescue! Closer to 1-2 degrees Celsius in pipeline from long-term climate inertia
“Just to have this straight again – what mankind is doing is literally disturbing Geology. Shown here is the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary and the Holocene-Anthropocene boundary, both expressed as a jump in CO2 (top) – and a jump in temperatures (bottom). The point of this article: if we create a miracle on Earth and somehow we manage to keep the CO2 concentration at that black dot (where it says ‘today’) – then (in the long run) we’ll still have another 1 to 2 degrees Celsius temperature rise. As the authors of this Nature publication point out, reality can only be worse – judging by the set of emissions/concentration scenarios – which are all higher than today’s levels.”
http://www.bitsofscience.org/real-global-temperature-trend-paleoclimate-experts-degrees-pipeline-climate-inertia-7160/
penury on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 5:15 pm
I know that this is not a forum to discuss political matters, so I will not
discuss I will only state the facts as i see them. There is a site called MarketTicker.com that I read. Today I believe the title of the piece says it all, the rule of law died today in the U.S, His postulates are from now on everyone can plead the FBI approved Hillary defence: “She did not commit a crime,because she was ignorant of the law.” I think every criminal in the U.S. can prove that they are more ignorant than Hillary and therefore cannot commit crimes. Ask the FBI Director,
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 5:16 pm
Another expensive AGW jacked event.
https://weather.com/news/weather/news/china-pakistan-heavy-rain-floods
“The rain collapsed more than 40,000 houses and forced the evacuation of nearly 1.5 million people in 11 regions, mostly along the Yangtze River and its distributaries, China.org.cn reports, and nearly 600,000 people are in urgent need of basic living assistance.
The rain has also destroyed more than 700,000 acres of crops, the Xinhua news agency repoorts. Floods and landslides are also affecting telecommunication and electricity facilities, halting or delaying traffic in some regions. The ministry estimated total economic losses of $5.73 billion.”
https://weather.com/news/weather/news/china-pakistan-heavy-rain-floods
I know it’s AGW jacked because there is at least 7% more moisture in the atmosphere due to AGW and that percentage will increase as the warming does. Any claims that you can’t link a specific flood or fire or heatwave or almost any weather event to AGW is a red herring. You can’t link every heart attack to obesity, but the risks and number of heart attacks go up as weight does even though their are some skinny people who die of heart attacks too. It’s rationalizing. The humans were warned decades ago that the severity and frequency of these events would increase if they did not change their ways. It’s all coming to pass and then some. I read an insurance industry estimate for the China flood for 8 billion. The rescue efforts themselves are extremely expensive as, at least in rich countries, no expense is spared. What happens when there are budget cuts or money runs out? Big Gov will not be around forever.
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 5:22 pm
pen, her last name is Clinton, so it depends on what the meaning of the word “crime” is is.
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:07 pm
Flooding: the problem that will not go away
A report by MPs says the government is failing those in flood-prone areas in a number of ways
“During last December and January, floods in the northern half of the UK cost insurance companies £1.3bn. Bridges and roads were destroyed, hundreds of homes and businesses were inundated, and many of these are still recovering. The government reacted by reversing earlier decisions to cut spending on flood defences and then hoped the problem would go away; but this is wishful thinking.
The House of Commons environment audit committee that looked into the problem says the government is failing those in flood-prone areas in a number of ways. Apart from lack of any strategic thinking, ministers are failing to provide funds to maintain even existing flood barriers, leaving communities that think they are protected with an unacceptable risk.
The committee points out that with climate change there will be more extreme weather in the UK, with more frequent and deeper floods, yet ministers are making no preparation for this.”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/jul/04/flooding-problem-not-go-away-weatherwatch
onlooker on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:18 pm
“Its pretty clear TPTB are choosing energy and the economy over the climate.”
I would say Its pretty clear that most humans and societies are choosing Economy over other considerations. In a different way one can frame as humans living in the present oblivious and uncaring of the future
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:26 pm
Summer of Fire: Climate Change Driving Wildfires
In the latest story in our “Summer of Fire” series about the state of the West’s forests, we look at the role of temperature in increasing the number of large fires, the amount of area burned and the length of the fire season.
https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/07/05/summer-of-fire-climate-change-driving-wildfires#.V3wEUnvYhu8.twitter
JuanP on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:26 pm
Ghung “Funny that. I was returning home Saturday with a load of mulch in my Ranger …”
Funny that! I have been bringing loads of top soil to one of the community gardens in a borrowed trailer hitched to my SUV these past few weeks and will soon do that for the other garden, too. Two cubic yards at a time. Its a lot of work but I have a lot of help and at $15 the cubic yard for good organic soil I couldn’t pass it up.
The soil in our gardens’ raised beds is mostly sand and infested with Root Knot Nematodes which can’t be totally erradicated organically unless you replace the soil completely.
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:34 pm
Fahrenheit 85.9 Near Arctic Ocean
This is just nuts.
Shores — Extreme Heatwave Settles in Over North-Central Siberia, Canada’s Northern Tier
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/07/05/fahrenheit-85-9-near-arctic-ocean-shores-extreme-heatwave-settles-in-over-north-central-siberia-canadas-northern-tier/
JuanP on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:36 pm
Ghung, I submitted the comment before finishing by mistake. I also loaded 30 2cuft mulch bags from Home Depot in the back of my SUV on June 15.
That is the official end of the gardening season down here and we donated the mulch to keep the weeds in the common areas under control during the Summer. A once a year tradition.
The official gardening season starts again on September 15. Only a small group of hardcore volunteers that manage the gardens grows food through the Summer and helps with the maintenance. My wife and I do most of the work on our these months and reap most of the harvest, including the fruit from our tropical trees. The heat and humidity are unbearable for most of the members.
JuanP on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 6:48 pm
Wow, Ap! That Arctic maximum temperature forecast map only has freezing temperatures over the Greenland land mass. All the rest of the Arctic is melting, including 100% of the Arctic Ocean. That is impressive. I find what is going on in the Arctic absolutely fascinating and I really appreciate the links you provide on the subject. Thanks!
eugene on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 7:29 pm
My money is on we won’t make a choice which, of course, is a choice. I, often, find my self thinking of lemmings. It doesn’t appear to me humans are, in the end, any smarter than the other animals. Clever bastards though.
dooma on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 7:34 pm
With the imminent closure of 3 large brown coal-fired power stations on the table in my area. If it happens, people who live in the towns around the stations are going to learn the true meaning of transition.
There will be 3000 direct jobs lost in an area that already has a higher than the national average unemployment rate.
In other words, the closures, if carried out, it will turn three towns with a combined population of 125,000 into ghost towns.
I honestly believe that this is just all talk. I mean how else is the power industry going to replace over 6000 megawatts of power in an area of weak sunlight and wind?
Also, there is no politician with the balls to take such action as they know it will be political suicide. We are stuck with leaders who are more worried about re-election than AGW.
marmico on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 9:56 pm
Speaking of oil I had my ass punish fisted today and I ran out of veg oil.
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 11:36 pm
marmi, was it Hellboy?
Apneaman on Tue, 5th Jul 2016 11:48 pm
dooma, when it comes to coal it’s just the economics. Once the economy degrades to a certain point you will see regulation being ignored altogether. It won’t happen all at once – one or two roll backs at a time. The conservatards are very up front about it and if enough people are hungry and/or they have the power the rollbacks will happen. Already started in Brazil officially.
Coal Isn’t Dying Because There’s a War on It
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-17/coal-isn-t-dying-because-there-s-a-war-on-it
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 1:54 am
AGW jacked fire near cancer capital under control….again. What’s that like the 3rd time they said that. Wait til you see the final bill for that monster. Don’t forget the lost cancer production and wages.
Fort McMurray wildfire under control thanks to firefighting efforts, rain
“A massive wildfire that destroyed parts of Fort McMurray two months ago is under control.”
“The size of the fire is just under 5,900 square kilometres.
The blaze spread into the oilsands capital on May 3 and forced more than 80,000 people from their homes.
It destroyed about 2,400 homes and other buildings – roughly one-tenth of the city.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-under-control-thanks-to-firefighting-efforts-rain/article30755816/
Canada is so huge with it’s 33 million cancer monkeys living within 100 clicks of the Can/US border that there is no way they can fight these new longer and more intense fires. Already nearing the point where protecting towns, infrastructure and industry will be all they can afford. How’s that going by the way? It’s become one big cancer externality. That’s the future for the entire species, rich and poor alike – you’re all going to be externalized, so enjoy your dopamine while you can. The entire herd will be culled by the cancer.
dooma on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 3:35 am
Ap,They have tried the idea of selling brown coal, but it was not financially viable. A Japanese company set up a pilot plant in the 80’s to convert Brown coal to oil. It died in the arse as well.
What gets me is that all but one station use natural gas as pre-ignition in their boilers. It would not be much harder to convert the plants to run entirely on nat gas.
I guess the fact that the nearby gas fields being in decline mean that they would rather use it in the extensive network of home heating.
Davy on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 6:52 am
Pick two works initially when there is systematic time, resources, and conditions to work with. This period could be the adjustment and mitigation period but instead now is the denial and dismissal period of the status quo. When you have wiggle room you don’t have it painfully bad yet. When you have it painfully bad you have very little wiggle room. We appear to be in this period now when we could leverage a huge productive global economy to outfit an “ark” of life support. Instead we are maintaining the status quo in every way possible per the unwritten mandates of our economic system.
There is an essence of self-advancement present at all levels in our social narrative which is now basically global political capitalism. We are driven to consume and grow. In this respect one can understand the denial and dismissal. Adjustment and mitigation means sacrifice and a systematic condition of less. This can be sold on global participants if it involves a “more with less” efficiency and innovation concept. Greens and browns alike can buy into this. Chinese or Americans can buy into this. There is no political divide on political capitalism when the pie is growing. When the pie is shrinking is when conditions become very difficult economically because the balance of cooperative competition soon becomes skewed towards pure competition. Pure competition is war cold or hot. The global economy must have balanced cooperative competition to survive.
The denial and mitigation phase where we have the options of picking two is dated and probably dated much more quickly than we are prepared to accept. The issues of convergence and the negative reinforcement issues are systematically different then exponential growth we are used to. We are entering a time of nonlinear reactivity of converging problems. Oil is approaching an uneconomic state. The economy is in deflation and physical decay. The climate is abruptly changing to a new normal with a blue Arctic situation. Looking at these alone we find we may have more time per our conditioned exponential experiences but if we look at them converging we see the non-linear condition of mixing and reinforcement.
We can use pick two the other way in this respect. As we approach abrupt climate change and oil becomes increasingly uneconomic the economy is approaching minimum operational levels of velocities of production, distribution, and fiat value. Oil is feeling this condition with the economy decaying and in deflation causing economic dislocation which knocks on to shrinking reserves and industrial size. Climate change kicks in by reducing the economic variable to oil which reinforces oil’s decline. Oil must live in a healthy climate. Oil with its sister fossil fuels are being acknowledged as causing climate change which is making economic decisions more complicated by efforts to mitigate climate change. Climate change will be affected by an economy and oil sector decay and decline. We will have less economic resources to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change and the efforts to manage mitigation will be reduced because of declining wealth.
It is the approach that causes the pick two to change to all three. We have a very short time to leverage globalism to make a difference. This difference in any case is small but there is plenty we could do if transition became a focus. Much of what is coming we will just have to live with and unfortunately die with. There will be no future of prosperity as we have now. Once this “pick two” period is gone we will be getting the worst of all three at the same time. It is the degree and duration of a collapsing ecosystem that affects a species survivability. We are approaching a time where it is not only about adapting and mitigating it will also be about panic of basic survival. Panic is a stampede of the herd and we are a global herd.
Once the food chain is disrupted by a combination of all three then is when we will see a die off begin and swiftly spread. This spreading will occur because our food chain is global now. To get it back towards a local will take a die off and an economic reset to a local based living arrangement. The wiggle room involved with this event is human lives, loss of complexity, and destroyed infrastructure both natural and human.
I place a decadal time frame on this process but the upper limit is the extreme period because we are now entering the nonlinear phase of change. Since the status quo at all levels is in dismissal and denial with a system unable to shift from more to less you as an individual have to take it upon yourself to go through this process of less. You do have an option to opt out but then you are putting yourself in the same track as the status quo of globalism. You can choose to live “life large” and or try to just maintain what you have. Not everyone is in a position to adapt and mitigate personally. Not all locals have the right stuff for this huge undertaking. If you do and don’t then you are a fool if you think things will turn out ok. Don’t think you can have your cake and eat it. You may also have come to terms with a coming death of sorts. You have decided to just do the best you can now and enjoy life while you can. This is a valid response.
I have chosen to change and try to teach other about this change. I have come to terms with death because I know it will be luck that matters for me in the end. My prepping will buy me some time maybe more but it will not buy me security. There is no security for anyone anymore. I respect those who opt out. I accept societies’ narrative of self-deception because this is all it can do. When you are in a catch 22 or a trap without exit you play mind games. What else is there to do? Mind games keep you going where if you dwell on a fatal reality you cannot live now or you just commit suicide. We have a condition of pick two as individuals now but it is quickly going into a period of all three where you have no options but to react to a rapidly changing period of destructive change.
JuanP on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 7:39 am
Davy, I think it’s too late to even pick one. Can we stop and revert Climate Change? Can we peacefully transition to a renewable energy world? Can we prevent the bubble economy from collapsing? IMO, it is decades too late to do any of these things even if we picked only one. These ideas are pipe dreams at this time. Half a century ago we could have done all three if we weren’t what we are, but we can’t change human nature and now it is way too late.
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 8:13 am
China floods kill 130, deals $5bn in crop damage
http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/china-floods-kill-130-deals-5bn-crop-damage
Davy on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 8:47 am
Yea, Juan, we realize it is too late that is why preppers like us are so engaged and focused. People can call us defeatist because of this attitude but they fail to see the explosion of motivation and activity that comes from acceptance with a reality based direction.
We are the new age soldier warriors of change. Laugh at what I just said but an honest rational prepper that knows we have very little time to do so much becomes like a special forces military personnel. It takes focus, skill developement, and mental hardening. We have accepted defeat of the status quo by nature. We are now with nature and going forth on her behalf. What does that mean? It means simply embracing reality and per your reality doing what is reality based.
I can’t tell you what to do in your individual local but I can tell you how to do it in a general way. There is now no time for global civilization to transition. Now it is all about the individual and his local. This idea of the local is shrinking all the time as civilization compresses in a collapse of local support. What now might be a reasonable local for support will not be in one year. We are falling down an energy and complexity gradient. The future is to the humble who practice the sobriety of living with less.
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Jul 2016 10:25 pm
Rapid Bombification — Super Typhoon Nepartak Barrels Toward Taiwan, Takes Aim at Already Flooded China
“This new world of hotter ocean surfaces, more extensive hot waters, and deeper extending warm waters all provide more storm intensifying fuel for powerful typhoons and hurricanes.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/07/06/rapid-bombification-super-typhoon-nepartak-barrels-toward-taiwan-takes-aim-at-already-flooded-china/
Davy on Thu, 7th Jul 2016 6:17 am
“Those Summer Nights Are No Longer a Refuge From Extreme Heat”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-07/those-summer-nights-are-no-longer-a-refuge-from-extreme-heat
“It’s going to be so hot in Texas and across the southern Great Plains that when the sun goes down, the temperature won’t. Overnight lows will remain above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius) in Houston during the next week and will hover in the high 70s in Dallas and Tulsa, Oklahoma, the National Weather Service said. This extends recent trends: Across the U.S. in the past week, there were 230 overnight heat records and only 38 daytime highs, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville, North Carolina.”
“It is not good,” said Jerry Meehl, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Heatwaves and high overnight temperatures are a bellwether for how hot the Earth is getting: As average temperatures rise, so do those overnight lows. The nighttime heat is boosting demand for electricity at a time when power traders are typically ignoring the market amid a drop-off in use. Consumption across Texas was projected by the state grid operator to peak at 66,730 megawatts on Wednesday, nearly 2,000 megawatts above the forecast for a day earlier.”
Apneaman on Thu, 7th Jul 2016 4:38 pm
June swoon: US breaks another monthly temperature record
Average temperature of 71.8F is 3.3F above 20th-century average for the month and comes amid a string of climate- and weather-related calamities
“The US experienced its warmest ever June last month, with a scorching summer set to compound a string of climate-related disasters that have already claimed dozens of lives and cost billions of dollars in damage this year.
Worldwide, heat records have been broken for 13 months in a row, an unprecedented streak of warmth that has stunned climate scientists and heightened concerns over the future livability of parts of the planet.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/07/us-june-hottest-temperature-record-climate-disasters
Apneaman on Thu, 7th Jul 2016 4:57 pm
The latest damage estimate from Alberta forest fires: $3.6 billion
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-latest-damage-estimate-from-alberta-forest-fires-3-6-billion/
This is just the insurance industry end – the provincial and federal taxpayer also has a big chunk to pay.
Only 3 years ago there was another very expensive AGW jacked event in Alberta.
Province boosts cost of Alberta floods to $6 billion
“The price tag for the worst natural disaster in Alberta history keeps getting higher, with the province’s finance minister now pegging the cost at $6 billion.
Last month, the government estimated the total cost of the June flooding that swept through southern Alberta at more than $5 billion.
But Doug Horner said Tuesday the province is upping its estimate mainly due to the new figures coming from the Insurance Bureau of Canada, which said this week that insured costs are $1.7 billion and growing, making the flood the costliest insured natural disaster in Canadian history.
In an interview from Toronto, Horner cautioned that the $6-billion estimate could still move up or down, and was far from definitive.
“Oh, hell no,” said the finance minister when asked if the figure was official.”
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Province+boosts+cost+Alberta+floods+billion/8952392/story.html
These are just two of the the bigger and most costly in the last decade. Considering that the population of Alberta is a whopping 4.1 million people how long can this go on before it breaks the bank? Suicidal cancer monkeys indeed.
Apneaman on Thu, 7th Jul 2016 5:00 pm
DEATH VALLEY HEAT HIT A NEW RECORD IN JUNE
http://m.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/death-valley-heat-hit-new-record-june