Browsing All posts tagged under »science«

“human-caused climate change is real, serious, and immediate” – Scientists

September 21, 2016

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An Open Letter Regarding Climate Change From Concerned Members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Human-caused climate change is not a belief, a hoax, or a conspiracy. It is a physical reality. Fossil fuels powered the Industrial Revolution. But the burning of oil, coal, and gas also caused most of the historical increase in […]

Trans Mountain Pipeline Hearing Fraudulent, Charges Former Hydro CEO

November 4, 2014

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Former BC Hydro executive withdraws from Trans Mountain Pipeline hearing in disgust. The following is an open letter from Marc Elieson, former CEO of BC Hydro, formally withdrawing from the National Energy Board hearings on the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Dear Ms. Young: The Intervenor, Marc Eliesen, wishes to withdraw from the […]

Will the Climate Deniers Finally Discover El Niño?

July 22, 2014

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An El Niño event could seriously damage the denier narrative, unless… Remember 1998?  That was a very good year, as Old Blue Eyes might have said.  It could well be the best, most important year ever if you are a climate change denier.  In 1998 world-wide surface temperatures got so high that it took at least […]

Climate Change and the Superstorm

December 8, 2013

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What is a hurricane?  It is a tremendous pot of energy, of whirling wind and rain.  It gathers the energy over water, and expends it in wind, lightning and sometimes destruction.  I’m going to try to give an explanation of the processes and specific conditions involved in building such a storm. First, let’s talk about […]

Climate Change Since the Industrial Revolution

November 24, 2013

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Father Theo goes to climate school 7 Weather changes day-to-day, year-to-year, but beneath this noisy everyday record, climatologists have discovered clear trends in our modern climate.  Temperatures have risen about 0.6o C in the last 50 years, and almost 1o in the past century.  Most of the detected warming has occurred over land and in […]

The Ice Ages, Part 2

November 13, 2013

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Father Theo goes to climate school 6. Continued from parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and particularly 5. According to what scientists now believe, the Ice Ages, which have come and gone for the last million years or so, were caused by the coupling of Milankovitch cycles with certain natural feedback loops.  The Milankovitch cycles couldn’t […]

The Ice Ages, Part 1: Milankovitch Cycles

October 23, 2013

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Father Theo goes to climate school 5. Continued from parts 1, 2, 3 and 4. Your house is on fire.  Down the block, the police have stopped a gentleman with matches in his pocket and a can of petrol suspended from his arm.  “Houses have burned down before,” he says. Of course they have.  That’s […]

System Dynamics and Climate Change

October 17, 2013

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Father Theo goes to climate school 4. Continued from part 1, part 2 and part 3. Today we talk about stocks, flows and feedbacks.  These are terms used in systems dynamics, which in its details can be complicated stuff but like many complicated things is built around a number of quite common-sense ideas.  In an […]

Fumbling the Climate Change Story – Again

October 9, 2013

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A short while ago the latest IPCC report came out.  This is edition 5, building on four previous ones.  More than 2000 scientists were involved in compiling it.  About 9200 peer-reviewed studies were considered, which together represent more than 2 million gigs of numerical data.  This is major stuff.  Okay, the politicos may have influenced […]

Energy Flows, Bathtubs and Climate

September 27, 2013

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Father Theo Goes to Climate School 2 Climate is all about energy flow.  Energy flows into Earth’s climate system from the Sun, warms the air, water and soil, then escapes again into space.  Conditions on Earth affect the flow.  They can either facilitate or slow the escape of energy into space, which has consequences to […]