But will they keep the pubs open ?

From the we report you decide file

"We cannot know precisely how the disaster will unfold, but the southern megacities in Africa, the sub-continental states and Asia will be the first to go under, taking with them a substantial proportion of our species,"

No hyperbole here.

FROM-Irish Independent

Ireland will be a 'lifeboat' for people fleeing climate chaos

By Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent


IT MIGHT sound like the script for a terrifying Hollywood end-of-the-world blockbuster.

Ireland will act like a lifeboat for people fleeing drought, rising seas and destructive weather in decades to come, a leading climate change expert has warned.

NUI Maynooth professor Brendan Gleeson predicted that world temperatures would rise by three or four degrees, leaving only a few currently cool 'lifeboat' regions habitable.

In a speech last night he said Ireland, one of his 'lifeboats', could not refuse to engage with the climate crisis as crippled countries would see us as a safe haven.

Prof Gleeson, one of the world's leading urban oceanographers, also forecast that his native Australia may become a place to leave rather than a destination for Irish migrants.

"Australia, the desiccated continent, is already witness to record droughts, soaring average temperatures and plummeting catchments for the cities," he said.

"It may be a place to leave, not arrive, a place to be childless, not fertile -- a withering society."

The professor said that unlike Australia, Ireland was on his "lifeboat register".

"For this reason alone Ireland must consider and cannot refuse to engage the climate crisis."

He added that recent weather and seismic and nuclear events were a window into the future.

Dangers

"Cities, including in Ireland, can be reconceived as escape rafts during the painful journey to a new climate regime," he said.

Prof Gleeson, who joined NUI Maynooth from Griffith University, Australia, was speaking at Maynooth on the dangers of climate change.

In 'An Urban World at Risk', the first in a series of professorial lectures at the university, the oceanographer outlined what he called "the climate emergency".

"We cannot know precisely how the disaster will unfold, but the southern megacities in Africa, the sub-continental states and Asia will be the first to go under, taking with them a substantial proportion of our species," he said.

"This will generate enormous migratory shifts, as displaced and stressed populations flee the sea level rise and wildly destructive weather.

"Where are the lifeboats? They are surely the cities, the few cities, in which most of our population resides.

"This applies to Ireland. We might hope to make them resilient and worthwhile, even for a scarifying climate.

"Of all the threats that have faced capitalist modernity in the past 400 years, none has possessed the lethal potency of climate change."

The scientist predicted: "The next world will be very much hotter and drier -- but with whirling under- and counter-currents.

"It will be much less conducive to human existence.

"It will be a world dominated by a global climate shift that we cannot yet describe fully, but which is inevitable and approaching fast."

- Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

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FROM-Asia One

Global warming may increase water-borne diseases

WASHINGTON - Climate change could increase exposure to water-borne diseases originating in oceans, lakes and coastal ecosystems, and the impact could be felt within 10 years, US scientists told a conference here Saturday.

Several studies have shown that shifts brought about by climate change make ocean and freshwater environments more susceptible to toxic algae blooms and allow harmful microbes and bacteria to proliferate, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

In one study, NOAA scientists modeled future ocean and weather patterns to predict the effect on blooms of Alexandrium catenella, or the toxic "red tide," which can accumulate in shellfish and cause symptoms, including paralysis, and can sometimes be deadly to humans who eat the contaminated seafood.

"Our projections indicate that by the end of the 21st century, blooms may begin up to two months earlier in the year and persist for one month later compared to the present-day time period of July to October," said Stephanie Moore, one of the scientists who worked on the study.

But the impact could be felt well before the end of this century -- as early as 2040, she said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"Changes in the harmful algal bloom season appear to be imminent. We expect a significant increase in Puget Sound (off the coast of Washington state where the study was conducted) and similar at-risk environments within 30 years, possibly by the next decade," said Moore.

In another study, NOAA scientists found that desert dust that is deposited into the oceans from the atmosphere could also lead to increases of harmful bacteria in seawater and seafood.

Researchers from the University of Georgia found that adding desert dust, which contains iron, to seawater significantly stimulated the growth of Vibrios, a group of ocean bacteria that can cause gastroenteritis and infectious diseases in humans.

"It is possible this additional input of iron, along with rising sea surface temperatures, will affect these bacterial populations and may help to explain both current and future increases in human illnesses from exposure to contaminated seafood and seawater," the researchers said.

"Within 24 hours of mixing weathered desert dust from Morocco with seawater samples, we saw a huge growth in Vibrios, including one strain that could cause eye, ear and open wound infections, and another strain that could cause cholera," said Erin Lipp, who worked on the study.

The amount of iron-containing dust that is deposited in the sea has increased over the last 30 years and is expected to continue to rise, based on precipitation trends in western Africa which are causing desertification.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee warned that an increase in severe rainstorms could cause more sewage overflows, which would release disease-causing bacteria, viruses and protozoa into drinking water and onto beaches.

The researchers in this study used climate models to show that spring rains are expected to increase in the next 50 years, and with that increase, ageing sewer systems are more likely to overflow because the ground is frozen and rainwater can't be absorbed.

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FROM-Reuters

Floods linked to manmade climate change: studies

...The British study used several thousand computers to simulate the weather in 2000 across England and Wales, where October and November were the wettest since records began in 1766, before the industrial revolution.

The models ran simulations with and without the effects of man-made greenhouse gases on climate change.

The study was striking in trying to attribute man-made climate change to a particular event, given all the complex, chaotic events that contribute to a given storm....

Read and weep here

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FROM-Calorie Lab

Global Warming May Affect Fish We Eat

The declining of sea ice in the Arctic has many implications, but the most recent research published in the journal Nature Geoscience finds that this decrease may also affect Arctic sea life, including some of the fish we eat. The Arctic is particularly vulnerable to the impact of mercury emissions from industrial activities because oxidized mercury can deposit easily on snow and ice. When the ice melts, anaerobic organisms in the water convert this to methylmercury which then accumulates in the fatty tissues of cold water fish. Overconsumption of this compound can cause central nervous system damage, particularly in unborn babies and young infants. For this reason, pregnant women and children are discouraged from eating certain fish including swordfish, king mackerel, and shark.

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FROM-The Independent

Fish threatened by global warming to be moved north

Scores of radical measures planned to help us and our wildlife cope with climate change

Fish from the Lake District will be moved to cooler waters in Scotland under radical plans – which will be unveiled this week – aimed at coping with climate change.

The first seven of more than 100 reports by government agencies and utility companies will set out how Britain needs to change to cope with hotter summers and wetter winters. They will highlight the risks – and potential costs – of more landslides, buckled railway lines, crumbling water pipes and rising sea levels threatening lighthouses around the coast. Officials say the studies are needed because levels of carbon emissions mean climate change over the next four decades is unavoidable.

The dangers to wildlife have triggered the most extreme solutions: the Environment Agency is poised to catch and transfer thousands of vendace and schelly, both freshwater white fish, from the lakes of Cumbria to Scottish lochs.

Scientists warn higher temperatures and lower rainfall in summer will lead to lower river flows and rising water temperatures. As a result, oxygen levels will fall. "It may be necessary to rescue fish or oxygenate the water to help them survive," the Environment Agency's report will warn. "We may also need to reintroduce species to re-colonise stretches where fish have died."

Where climate change could lead to the permanent loss of a habitat, some species will need to be relocated. Coldwater and migratory fish, including salmon and trout, are particularly vulnerable because changes in water temperature lead to higher mortality rates and changes to the timing of their migrations. A decline in eel populations over the last 30 years could also be attributed in part to climate change.

The Environment Agency is planning to plant more trees on river banks to increase shade and reduce water temperatures and to adapt flood defence, hydro-power and water pumping schemes to allow fish to pass through....

Read and weep


yes they have lost their minds and are living in a make believe world

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FROM-Yahoo

8,000 Turtle Doves Die in Italy: Linked to Global Warming?

Julia Bodeeb

Weird mass animal deaths are occurring all over the world. Birds and fish are suddenly dying in huge numbers. It is both creepy and alarming that a definitive cause of all the animal deaths has not yet been identified. Could global warming somehow be linked to these incidents? It is believed to be causing abnormal weather patterns all over the world.

About 8,000 turtle doves have died in Faenza, Italy, notes the Daily Mail. The birds had a blue stain on their beaks at the time of death. This is typically from loss of oxygen or poisoning. Is this incident unique or could it have a common cause to other mass bird deaths around the world?

Numerous species of birds and fish have had mass deaths lately. The extreme cold temperature may have something to do with these strange incidents. As temperatures linger in freezing ranges in some parts of the world, more sudden deaths of birds and fish may occur.

If winter temperatures stay very low in future years, will ongoing animal kill off continue to occur? It may take scientists decades to figure out how global warming is impacting the environment, animals and humans.

Melanie Driscoll, Director of Bird Conservation at Audobon, told the Guardian "Far more concerning in the long term are the myriad other threats birds face from widespread habitat destruction and global climate change."

For now odd animal kill offs have occurred in various parts of the United States and also in Sweden, England and Italy. There are many theories about what might be killing the animals. Ideas of the causes of death include ideas that they could be dead due to earthquake tremors, shock from loud noises, or due to the end of the world coming. Other possible causes include poisonings or terrorism activists killing birds with chemicals to test out attacks on humans.

ill there ever be a final answer on what is causing the animal deaths? Perhaps not, science is very mysterious. It often it takes a long time for patterns of events to emerge.If changing climates can be linked to animal deaths will it change the way Americans live? Will people stop driving huge SUVs that put a lot of toxins in the air that contribute to global warming? Will they care more about funding research about global warming? Let's hope the government someday has more clean air regulations and works to protect the environment more vigorously.

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FROM-Internal Medicine News


AS VEGAS – Some of the effects of climate change are beginning to appear in dermatologists’ offices, and there may be more to come.

Expanded geographic ranges of tick and parasite vectors due to climate change already are pushing infectious diseases into unfamiliar territory, Dr. Sigfrid A. Muller said at a dermatology seminar sponsored by Skin Disease Education Foundation (SDEF).

Lyme disease has spread well into Canada, and leishmaniasis is moving north from Mexico into Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Ohio. Reports of Chagas disease are increasing in the United States and Central and South America. Peru and Ecuador are seeing more Carrion’s disease, he said.

Extreme heat, drought, and wide-scale fires, storms, and flooding, as well as other manifestations of climate change, will alter the incidence and severity of allergies, atopic dermatitis, and asthma, added Dr. Muller, a dermatologist in Las Vegas and chair of the International Society of Dermatology’s Climate Change Task Force. The society, in 2009, declared climate change to be the defining dermatologic issue of the 21st century..............

Read it and weep

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I guess Shimon Wdowinski did not get the memo that there is no scientific proof that so called climate change causes more and stronger hurricanes. Regardless the scientific community has become like the Kevin Bacon and six degrees of separation game. Any idea or hypothesis that is within six connect the dots of global warming is worthy of attribution to, media coverage of and most importantly research funding for the climate change narrative.


FROM-SF Chronicle

Did climate change cause Haiti quake?

At the American Geophysical Union meeting late last month, University of Miami geologist Shimon Wdowinski argued that the devastating earthquake a year ago may have been caused by a combination of deforestation and hurricanes (H/T Treehugger). Climate change is spurring more, stronger hurricanes, which are fueled by warm ocean waters.



It works like this: Deforestation leaves hillsides vulnerable to erosion, which hurricanes deliver in spades. Haiti's hills have waned to a degree, says Wdowinski, that it could affect the stability of the Earth's crust.


The 2010 disaster stemmed from a vertical slippage, not the horizontal movements that most of the region's quakes entail, supporting the hypothesis that the movement was triggered by an imbalance created when eroded land mass was moved from the mountainous epicenter to the Leogane Delta.
Previous earthquakes in Taiwan have followed major storms in mountainous regions.
Just how bad is deforestation in Haiti? In some places 98 percent of the original forest is gone.

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From 1994 t0 1999?  Too warm at night? They are throwing everything they can out there to give the narrative meat, but it is nothing more than a cup of rice.

FROM-Borneo Post


Global warming takes its toll on rice production — Association chief

SIBU: Global warming has caused a deceleration in rice production in many regions in Asia.

This is the finding of a recent large scale study.

Chairman of Sibu Rice Wholesalers’ Association (SRWA) Yeo Keng Teck,

in stating this yesterday, said it was feared that the situation would deteriorate, thus aggravating poverty and starvation in Asia.

“According to an analysis done by American economists and scientists from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the Philippines International Rice Research Institute from 1994 to 1999, the main cause of retardation in rice production is the rise in temperature during the night,” he said.

He was speaking during the SRWA annual general meeting held at the local Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry premises here.

Yeo said the research was done in 227 swamp padi fields in six countries — China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

He said the report suggested that there would be an increase in rice production if the day time temperature increased, subjected to certain range of temperature change.

However, he said the effect in day time could probably be off-set if the night time temperature rose higher.

“In other words, with the rising of daily average temperature, night time would become warmer, thus resulting in the decline of rice production.

“The research also discovered that the many major rice production areas in Asia had encountered a drop of 10 to 20 per cent due to the rising temperature in the past 25 years.

“If the global warming situation worsens, rice production could decrease further.

“On the other hand, in October last year, there were a series of heavy downpour and floods that affected 24 provinces in Thailand. About 700,000 acres of agricultural land were affected, the majority of which were padi fields,” he said.

He asked rice wholesalers to have a better understanding of the international scenario pertaining to rice and padi, adding that this was imperative to do their business well.

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FROM-Time

The Northeast Blizzard: One More Sign of Global Warming

It's become as much a winter tradition as eggnog at Christmas and champagne on New Year's Eve — the first major snowstorm of the year bringing out the climate-change skeptics. And the bona fide blizzard that has frozen much of the Northeast just a few days after winter officially began definitely qualifies as major. But while piles of snow blocking your driveway hardly conjure images of a dangerously warming world, it doesn't mean that climate change is a myth. The World Meteorological Organization recently reported that 2010 is almost certainly going to be one of the three warmest years on record, while 2001 to 2010 is already the hottest decade in recorded history. Indeed, according to some scientists, all of these events may actually be connected.

One theory is that a warmer Arctic may actually lead to colder and snowier winters in the northern mid-latitudes. Even as countries like Britain — suffering through the coldest December on record — deal with low temperatures and unusual snow, the Arctic has kept on warming, with Greenland and Arctic Canada experiencing the hottest year on record. Temperatures in that region have been 5.4°F to 7.2°F (3°C to 4°C) above normal in 2010. As a result, the Arctic sea-ice cover has continued to shrink; this September, the minimum summer sea-ice extent was more than 770,000 sq. mi. (2 million sq km) below the long-term average, and the third-smallest on record. Snow may be piling up in midtown Manhattan, but the Arctic is continuing its long-term meltdown....


Read it and Weep

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FROM-The Independent

Expect more extreme winters thanks to global warming, say scientists


By Steve Connor, Science Editor


Scientists have established a link between the cold, snowy winters in Britain and melting sea ice in the Arctic and have warned that long periods of freezing weather are likely to become more frequent in years to come.

An analysis of the ice-free regions of the Arctic Ocean has found that the higher temperatures there caused by global warming, which have melted the sea ice in the summer months, have paradoxically increased the chances of colder winters in Britain and the rest of northern Europe.

The findings are being assessed by British climate scientists, who have been asked by ministers for advice on whether the past two cold winters are part of a wider pattern of climate change that will cause further damaging disruption to the nation's creaking transport infrastructure...

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FROM-SummitDaily.com



Climate change a possible culprit in elevated Snake River zinc levels
Study: Earlier snow-melt ups acid rock drainage


By Janice Kurbjun

Climate change is suspected as the primary culprit of rising concentrations of zinc in the Snake River, according to a recent study from the University of Colorado.

Higher levels of zinc can affect stream ecology, including harming the survivability of microbes, algae, invertebrates and fish.

The study indicates there's a four-fold increase in dissolved zinc in the Snake River over the last 30 years during the lowest water flow months, said Caitlin Crouch, a master's degree student at CU-Boulder. She said her study focuses on climate change relating to water quality, which is different than most studies focusing on water quantity in the West.

The area's geology has naturally high mineral levels, so it's normal that a phenomenon known as acid rock drainage occurs — to a certain extent. What's unnatural is the amount of water running through the soils with snow melting early, presumably an effect of higher temperatures associated with climate change, said Jim Shaw, a Blue River Watershed Group director and the organization's treasurer. Nearby abandoned mines may also be enhancing the amount of acid rock drainage.

Nearly 2,000 miles of waterways in Colorado are affected by acid rock drainage, said Diane McKnight, who co-authored the study.

“Spring runoff is happening longer,” Shaw said, which means the water runs slowly into the ground instead of along its surface in one spring melt. It passes over mineralized rocks, leeching the minerals into the streamflow as it moves.

Crouch said the earlier snowmelt also means drier streambeds in September and October, which could increase metal concentrations. It's a smaller scale of what was observed during the 2002 drought, in which prolonged dry conditions allowed the harmful chemical reactions to occur in areas where water once was, and will be again.

read and weep

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FROM-Tehran Times

Melting Arctic ice heralds new polar hybrids: Pizzlies and more

An odd-looking white bear with patches of brown fur was shot by hunters in 2006 and found to be a cross between a polar bear and a grizzly bear.

Apparently, grizzlies were moving north into polar bear territory. Since then, several hybrid animals have appeared in and around the Arctic, including narwhal-beluga whales and mixed porpoises.

The culprit may be melting Arctic sea ice, which is causing barriers that once separated marine mammals to disappear, while the warming planet is making habitats once too cold for some animals just right.

The resulting hybrid creatures are threatening the survival of rare polar animals, according to a comment published Wednesday (Dec. 15) in the journal Nature.

A team led by ecologist Brendan Kelly of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory counted 34 possible hybridizations between distinct populations or species of Arctic marine mammals, many of which are endangered or threatened.

The “The greatest concern is species that are already imperiled,” said Kelly, first author of the Nature comment. “Interbreeding might be the final straw.”

When hunters encountered a hybrid of a polar bear and a grizzly in 2006, Kelly's colleagues remarked that the incident was just a fluke. But as Kelly delved into the issue, he found more evidence of similar anomalies.

In 2009, a cross between a bowhead and a right whale was spotted in the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Russia. And a museum specimen in Alaska attests to breeding between spotted seals (Phoca largha) and ribbon seals (Histriophoca fasciata), which belong to different genera, a scientific classification of organisms that is broader than the species level.

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FROM-Jerusalem Post


'Global warming will make Mediterranean less salty'

The Mediterranean Sea will not become more salty due to the growth of desalination plants that leave salt residue behind, according to an Italian expert who participated in a decade-long census of world marine life. Instead, said Prof. Roberto Danovaro of the Polytechnic University of Marché, the melting of Arctic glaciers due to global warming will make the Mediterranean and oceans less saline....

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