Weather/Climate

Face The Nation Faces The Reality Of a Warmer World

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Is the mainstream media waking up to the reality of climate catastrophe just as our climate jumps the shark? Earlier this week on CBS’s Face The Nation, Climate Central’s Chief Climatologist Heidi Cullen, American Meteorological Society President Marshall Shepherd, WFOR-TV’s Chief Meteorologist David Bernard, and TIME Magazine’s Jeffrey Kluger discussed recent extreme weather events, the upcoming hurricane season, and the role of climate change in recent disruptive events. This is the best discussion of the science, and reality, of climate change that I’ve seen on a mainstream news channel. Here’s a few excerpts:

Dr. Cullen: “…But when it comes to things like heat waves, when it comes to things like heavy rainstorms, drought, wild fires, we know that the atmosphere is on steroids… We live in a country that has always seen extreme weather, but we are moving in the direction that we are going to see more and more of certain of these extremes, and as  we’ve heard before that stuff is really expensive…The statistics, the likelihood, of seeing certain kind of extreme increases just by the virtue of the fact that the planet is warmer, and also when it comes to storms there is more moisture in the atmosphere, those storms can rain down more heavily. And there are more people in harm’s way… It basically increases our vulnerability across the board.”

Bob Schieffer: “Are we doing something here on earth to cause the weather to change, or is it a cycle that we go through?”

Dr. Sheperd “This is a question I often get Bob. Of course, it’s amazing to me when somebody comes up to me and says Dr Sheperd the climate change is natural. Of course it is,  I should send my degree back to Florida State University if I didn’t know that. But what’s most important about that is on top of this natural variability that Heidi mentioned we now have a steroid [effect]. Think of a basketball player…a Basketball net 10 feet high. Think of it this way, climate change is actually adding about a foot to the basketball floor so that more people can dunk the basketball. There’s just more amplification, that warmer and more moist climate is amplifying the weather systems that we see…the scary news is that we’re talking about an additional 3 to 10 to 14 degrees in some models in the next 100 years.”

[youtube=http://youtu.be/27l0VFnbPb4]

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Wondering how to respond to this very real threat to our children’s future? Visit my Action Not Apathy page, or check out these links:

Citizens Climate Lobby

Transition Network

Post Carbon Institute

Welcome To The New Normal: FrankenWeather

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Close-up of Hurricane Sandy off cost of VA and MD yesterday, courtesy of NOAA

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The pictures and videos coming out of New York and New Jersey are a vivid reminder that Mother Nature always bats last; human technology, civilization, and hubris crumbles  in the face of her power. Reports are that 17 people are dead, and 7 million are without power on the U.S East Coast.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwFYFEpEuv0]

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Arianna Huffington wrote: “Two presidential candidates decided not to speak about climate change, and now they are seeing the climate speak to them.”

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Cartoon: David Fitzsimmons

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Mindy Lubber, President of Ceres, wrote in response to the question “What is climate silence costing us?”:

Let’s hope the forecasts are wrong and the hurricane loses its punch, but after a summer of record drought, temperatures and destructive wildfires, Hurricane Sandy should be treated less like an anomaly and more like the new normal.

Whether or not the presidential candidates want to talk about it, climate change is driving severe weather to new extremes—with costly results. Last year, U.S. property/casualty insurers paid out more than $32 billion in losses after facing a string of pronounced droughts, wildfires, flooding and other climate-influenced weather events.

These losses hurt taxpayers too. As insurers adapt to the changing climate, they are cutting off coverage in riskier areas, leaving state governments, the federal government and the American public to pick up the slack. Since 1990, total government exposure to losses in hurricane-ravaged states has grown more than 15-fold, up to $885 billion in 2011.

Many insurers have pulled out of Florida and the Gulf Coast, but they can’t entirely escape extreme weather. Now big storms and other extreme weather are hitting northern New England, the Midwest and other supposedly safer regions. For example, some of the biggest damages caused by Hurricane Irene last year were in Vermont and New Hampshire – states accustomed to snow, not hurricanes.

Of course hurricanes are only part of the problem. In other parts of the country, the biggest losses have come from devastating drought and wildfires. This summer’s drought resulted in about $5 billion of losses for private insurers, but – through the federal crop insurance program – the government and American taxpayers will pay far more.

This shift of exposure from private insurers to governments and taxpayers is a troubling trend, and it’s all the more reason why the insurance industry, policymakers and the winner of the presidential race need to come together in tackling the enormous threat from escalating extreme weather and climate-driven risks.

For more discussion on what the cost of climate silence, and inaction is, go to National Journal’s Energy Experts page. Except for the right-wing ideologue from the George C. Marshall Institute, all of the columns on that page are worth a read.

If you want more food for thought, or ideas for action, here’s Paul Gilding discussing The Great Disruption that is coming upon us. You can also go to my Action not Apathy page for inspiration.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZT6YpCsapg]

Meteorologist At A Loss For Expletives To Describe What Hurricane Sandy Could Do

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“If you think mitigated climate change is expensive, try unmitigated climate change.”

Dr. Richard Gammon

80 feet of boardwalk floating free at Atlantic and New Hampshire Ave. Source: Twitter

The “Frankenstorm” combination of Hurricane Sandy, super-storm conditions, and climate change is starting to pummel the North American East Coast as I write this. The Weather Channel’s Bryan Norcross said: “This is a beyond-strange situation. It’s unprecedented and bizarre.”  It’s almost as if the voices of climate scientists who have been raising the alarm about increasingly severe and chaotic weather for decades has been drowned out; almost like the special interests who have the most to lose in the switch to clean energy, with deep pockets and unrestricted political access, have been spending hundreds of millions to dollars to ensure that the message of climate science does not get out. Peter Sinclair over at ClimateCrocks.com refers to Hurricane Sandy as a “teachable moment” and reminds us that we have to get used to them. These are the key takeaways he suggests from this teachable moment:

Climate Change is changing the weather. The last several years have been marked by a series of extreme weather events that fit the characteristics of a changing climate

A warmer atmosphere provides more energy for storms

A warmer atmosphere holds more water, and that can make storms more destructive

Storm surges are now riding on top of elevated sea levels, amplifying flooding along coastal areas

Right now, Sea surface temps along the Northeast US coast are about 5 F above average, which is likely to keep the  storm powered up and load extra moisture, fueling heavy rains. September had the second highest global sea surface temps on record

In the Northeast US, sea levels are rising up to 4 x faster than the global average, making this area more vulnerable now, and in the future

Multiple high tides may help drive flooding fueled by a triple climate-whammy: storm surge from a storm kept alive due to elevated SSTs, sea level rise driven by global warming, and extra heavy rains due to the additional available moisture

Meanwhile, north of the border, Canada is also bracing for the impacts of the Frankenstorm. But last week another natural disaster closed the TransCanada Hwy in northern Ontario:

Source: OPP

October 26, 2012: Flooding Forces Wawa To Declare State Of Emergency:

It was such a heavy downpour that if you were driving down the street you wouldn’t see in front of your vehicle,” [Wawa Mayor] Linda Nowicki said. “It was raining that heavily.”

…At this stage, with the two bridges that failed, we’re looking at a $4 to $5 million bill to replace those. And when you add the fact that the other roads that were supposed to be used to get into town are washed out, we will need money to help fix those.”

The damage to some roads connecting Wawa and surrounding areas is extensive.

“One road, I’m told, there’s a 30 foot crater in it. That’s 30 feet deep,” she said. 

Source: OPP

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Our thoughts should be with those people who are going to suffer the worst effects of Hurricane Sandy in the next few days, but let’s also spare some thought for future generations who are going to be suffering more frequent, and worse, weather calamities and food shortages because of the “frankenclimate” our generation’s inaction on this issue will create.

Source: Doug Grandt

More links:

Reuters.com: Tracking Storm Sandy Live

Teachable Moments: Get Used To ‘Em

Kevin Trenberth: Hurricane Sandy Mixes Super-Storm Conditions With Climate Change

Arctic Sends Clear Message: Act Now To Reduce Carbon Dioxide Pollution

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There’s not much good news to write about today, as a bubble of cold air from the Arctic moves into central North America. Brace yourself for some record-breaking cold if you (like me) live in that region. But that’s not the worst of it by a long shot; unfortunately this could mean that warmer southern air will make its way to the Arctic, further accelerating record ice melts this year. As Bill McKibbon explained in The Arctic Ice Crisis published yesterday in Rolling Stone:

There’s no place on Earth that’s changing faster – and no place where that change matters more – than Greenland. Late last month, NASA reported that ice all across the vast glacial interior of the world’s largest island was melting – a “freak event” that hadn’t occurred for at least 150 years. The alarming discovery briefly focused the media’s attention on a place that rarely makes headlines. RAPID ICE MELT BAFFLES SCIENTISTS, The Wall Street Journal declared.

In fact, scientists weren’t baffled at all – a paper published just weeks before had predicted that an abrupt, islandwide melt was imminent. The rapid loss of ice is only the latest in a chain of events that have upended conventional understanding of how the Earth’s “cryosphere” – its frozen places – behave. Taken together, the events offer new insight into how fast the world’s seas are likely to rise as a result of global warming – and hence, the fate of major cities like New York and Miami and Mumbai. Click here to read the full article in Rolling Stone.

Greenland: July 8 (left) July 12 (right) 2012 source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Under the heading of “cautious optimism” comes the news that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are at a 20-year low. This is credited, in large part, because of the boom in fracking to access natural gas reserves:

In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.

Many of the world’s leading climate scientists didn’t see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for “cautious optimism” about potential ways to deal with climate change. He said it demonstrates that “ultimately people follow their wallets” on global warming. Click here to read full article.

Fracking extracts its own price on the environment and human health (just ask those folks in Montana whose tap water now can be lit on fire), so it seems like a dubious savior. And methane’s heat-trapping properties are exponentially higher than CO2’s, although it dissipates from the atmosphere much more quickly. So can we really count on natural gas to get us out of the fix we’re in?

On that note of caution, I’m moving into my weekend. I’m spending some time tomorrow at a local NDP riding association’s AGM, talking about climate change generally, and carbon fee and dividend specifically. Wish me luck, as I am neither an economist nor a politician!

Links:

The Arctic Ice Crisis: Greenland’s Glaciers Are Melting Far Faster Than Scientists Expected

Large Temperature Contrast and an Update On Long Range

Arctic News: Opening The Doorways To Doom

Rains Come Too Late To Revive Drought-Stricken US Crops

U.S. Carbon Emissions: 2012 Emissions At 20-year Low

Dr. Jeff Masters: Comparing the 2012 Drought To the Dustbowl Droughts of the 1930s

Olympics 2012 & The Global Goodwill To Address The Serious Threat Of Climate Change

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It’s day 11 of the summer olympics in London. While I have the utmost respect – indeed, awe – for the women and men who are willing to sacrifice countless hours to hone their bodies and their skills to compete internationally, I do have concerns about the whole olympic process. In the end, the olympics caters to the 1% much more than the 99%. It is immoral to spend $15 billion of taxpayer’s money for extravagant displays and performances during the olympic ceremonies and on all the new infrastructure required, for very little proven economic returns, especially at a time when people around the world are suffering terribly from government-imposed austerity measures after the mismanagement of the global economic system by Wall Street 1% (See “Do Olympics Cost Too Much For Host Cities?”)

Blogger Andy James weighed in on the irony of the media coverage of the Olympics at the same time of an ominous – and unprecedented – glacier melt in Greenland:

...We can muster global goodwill, monetary resources and media coverage for 2 weeks of sport (I like sport!), yet relatively nothing for the Reality of climate change\global warming, which is far more important than our present concerns about the recession and more remotely, terrorism. Remember how hyper we were about Terrorism under George W…but illogically not so now! The continued effects of global warming and climate change will inevitably lead to even more economic hard times and terrorism, as large numbers of people are displaced and food production devastated by floods, drought, storms, water shortage and rising sea levels…all of which are already happening. When people are displaced, they will head for “greener pastures”, as is already happening in Europe, the USA, Australia, Canada etc. Remember how many people fled to Italy when Libya fell!
George W, Bush and his neo-Cons successfully torpedoed the Environmental and Global warming movement by the crude but effective strategy of replacing US regulatory agency heads with corporate lobbyists (against regulation) and in the media, equating the anti-global warming opinion with the pro-global warming group as a 50\50 situation. In fact, the scientific community was 80-90% in favour of the reality of global warming and subsequent events, the latest of which is the July 2012 Greenland glacier melt … together with the USA’s present drought and probably corn harvest burn out, last year’s unprecedented extreme climate damage, the fact in the last 17 years of global temperatures, 16 were the highest on record…Read the full post on AndyJames.ca

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX2KyF0p-xU&feature=player_embedded]

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More links:

Society Can No Longer Afford To Ignore Climate Change

Climate, Evolution, and the Human Spirit

Extreme Weather Costing U.S. Billions – When Does The Climate Change Lightbulb Go On?

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It’s been an exhausting and extreme year weather-wise across the U.S., as this pointed out in this Reuters article, Weather Disasters Keep Costing the U.S. Billions This Year. And yet, there is still resistance across that country and my own, furiously propped up by wealthy fossil fuel interests, to the scientific evidence pointing out people’s contribution, through our unrestrained burning of fossil fuels, to a warmer global atmosphere. A warmer atmosphere results in global climate instability, more extremes such as the floods, droughts, and wildfires that much of North America has been experiencing in 2011. Which just goes to show, as Saul Bellows, writer, and Nobel laureate (1915-2005) said:

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”

All but about 100 acres of the 6,000 acre Bastrop State Park in Bastrop, Texas has been blackened by a wildfire. This video shot by Texas Parks and Wildlife on September 5 shows just how fast the fire moved through:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXvtzPJ7CdM]

Nearly 100,000 people were ordered to flee the rising Susquehanna River on Thursday as the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee dumped more rain across the Northeast, socking areas still recovering from Hurricane Irene and closing major highways at the morning rush. At Binghamton, N.Y., the wide river broke a flood record and flowed over retaining walls downtown:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI_BypPFeAc&NR=1]

Storms Sweep Through NEW YORK CITY August 19, 2011:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2YPbOkDcxg&feature=related]

More links:

Get involved in spreading the word! Moving Planet 350.org

“People Who Believe In Climate Change Should Have Their Heads Examined”

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I’m off canoeing in beautiful Canadian Shield country again this week, so while I’m on holiday I will be reposting articles from the 350orbust archives. This article was first published in July 2010.

An acquaintance I recently bumped into told me, loudly and emphatically, that “people who believe in climate change should have their heads examined”.  He went on:

“We’ve just had the coldest Florida winter ever, and we’ve had two cold summers here in northern Ontario. Anybody who thinks global warming is happening is out to lunch.”

When I pointed out to him that “weather weirding” is exactly what climate scientists have been saying would happen if we continued to warm up the atmosphere with our burning of fossil fuels, he dismissed it out of hand.

So what is it that makes intelligent, other-wise responsible people dismiss out-of-hand the predictions of over 97% of scientists who study this for a living? If nine out of ten pilots told you a plane you were about to board was going to crash, would you get on anyway? I think not! Yet this is our planet, our only home, that we are talking about changing irreversibly because we won’t listen to the experts!

Is it because we can’t see the carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane gas in the air that we can dismiss these emissions as being insignificant? It is true, that based on our experience for the last 200 years since the beginning of the industrial revolution and our love affair with burning carbon began, we have gotten away without significant global consequences. Only when the air or water pollution in specific locations becomes a problem do we sit up and pay attention, at least if it’s close to us. However, tell the people in Chernobyl or the Love Canal that because you can’t see something it isn’t significant and can be dismissed!

Now, this acquaintance has two daughters, just like I do, and I know he loves them just as much as I do mine. If only he – a pilot and businessman with no scientific training – would take the time to consider what their futures are going to be like if he is wrong and the scientists are right. The crazy thing is, humanity is up to this challenge. We are innovative, intelligent creatures who unfortunately have let the destructive side of our nature run rampant with the environment recently. But it doesn’t have to be this way – we don’t have to be this way. The solutions are myriad, and are not the same for every community, or country. But they are achievable – if we start before we reach the tipping point. As Kelly Blyn wrote recently on 350.org:

The truth is, there is no silver bullet to stopping the climate crisis, no single technological solution that can fix everything at once. We don’t just need solar power, or wind power, or efficiency. We need all of these things and more. What we need, in a word, is diversity.

For example:

Germany’s energy could be 100 % renewable by 2050

Cool roofs save money, save energy, cut pollution, and directly reduce global warming

New Mexico Village uses sun-power to help fight fires

How the world can (and will) stabilize at 350 to 450 ppm: The full global warming solution

Still not convinced that this issue is important? Maybe this will change your mind:

How hot is it? Masters reports that 9 countries smashed all-time temperature records, “making 2010 the year with the most national extreme heat records.”

Photos Reveal Receding Himalaya Glaciers

The New Normal? Average Global Temperatures Continue to Rise

And, because the town I live in has a thriving tourism industry based on hunting and fishing, here’s a new link I’ve found, Target Global Warming, for and by hunters and anglers confronting climate change.

For a more examples of how climate change is changing the world here and now, go to Father Theo’s recent blog posting, Climate Change Notebook, July 2010.

We can do this – let’s join together and build a better future for all our children. I’ll quote from 350.org again:

Looking over the list of campaigns above, it becomes clear: there actually is one silver bullet to solving the climate crisis, and it’s not solar power.  It’s people power.

We can’t do this without you. Let’s keep building this movement.


Take Action to become a fossil fuel abolitionist:

  • Join or start a Citizens Climate Lobby group in your community
  • Participate in the global day of action on Sept 24 to demand solutions to the climate crisis and accelerate the move away from fossil fuels
  • Become part of the Transition Network, which supports community-led responses to climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy, building resilience and happiness.



Huge Sand Storm Causes Power Outages, Closes Airport in Phoenix

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Some incredible footage from a huge sandstorm that blanketed Phoenix Arizona yesterday. One local resident said:

I have been in Arizona for 20 years and have never seen a storm this size. Once the dust reached us it was as dark as the middle of a moonless night.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lay5xKSStqA]

Get ready for more and more extreme weather, folks, as our atmosphere continues to heat up thanks to our addiction to fossil fuels. As Chief Oren Lyons said when addressing the UN’s Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues back in 2007:

There is no mercy in nature; nature has none. It has only law, only rule. You don’t abide the rule, you suffer the result.

Want to hear more about the connection between extreme weather and climate change?  Check out these links:

Jeff Master’s Weather Underground: 2010 – 2011: The Earth’s Most Extreme Weather Since 1816?

Climate Progress: West Texas Sees Worst Drought Since Dust Bowl

An Introduction to Global Warming Impacts: Hell and High Water

Or have you had enough information, and are ready to move from “Well-Informed Futility Syndrome” to action, to protect your future, along with your children’s and grandchildren’s?  Moving from Futility Syndrome to action not only means your children have a chance at a better life, it also does wonders for your mental health!  I’m speaking as one who suffered from this syndrome until I was inspired by 350.org to take a stand back in October of 2009.  Check out these links, and/or contact me at 350orbust@gmail.com for practical ways to work on the most pressing issue of our times:

350.org: Moving Planet, Sept 24, 2011

A Rising Movement: 2010 Year in Review, 350.org

Citizens Climate Lobby (Canada)

Citizens Climate Lobby

An invitation to take action, and possibly engage in civil disobedience to demonstrate against the Keystone XL Pipeline project, was recently issued by leading North American activists, including Bill McKibbon, David Suzuki, Danny Glover, Naomi Klein, Dr. James Hansen, Maude Barlow, Tom Goldtooth, and others:

The short version is we want you to consider doing something hard: coming to Washington in the hottest and stickiest weeks of the summer and engaging in civil disobedience that will quite possibly get you arrested.

Click here to the read the full invitation and to respond.

Extreme Weather Events: Brought To Us By Big Oil & Gas

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Happy Canada Day! What a week it’s been on the climate/weather front. Here in northwestern Ontario we’ve been experiencing a lovely June, although firefighters say it’s the driest summer in five years (which means they’ll have a busy summer). As I write this early in the morning, the sky is blue, the temperature is hovering around 25 degrees Celcius (that’s 77 degrees Fahrenheit for my American neighbours), and Mark is already out on the lake fishing with my brother and 11 year-old nephew. There are wildfires fires burning in our region but none very close.

However, life is not so idyllic in other parts of the world, even parts not far from us. Floods have made much of Manitoba and Saskatchewan farm land unseedable this year – 1 in 10 Saskatchewan farmers are not putting in a crop, and 3 million acres of Manitoba farmland won’t be planted. Meanwhile, the entire state of Texas has been declared a natural disaster because of drought and wildfires.

While it may be comforting to repeat the mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change,   we should also remember the words of Aldous Huxley, “facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” Scientists have been warning us for decades that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events is increasing as the atmosphere warms, and that this trend will only get worse as our greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

As Oklahoma and Texas swelter under record heat and drought, climate idiot Senator James Inhofe cancelled his appearance at the Heartland Denier conference due to being “under the weather”.  Climate Progress writes:

You may recall last year that Senator Inhofe’s grandchildren built an igloo to mock a killer snow storm, calling it ‘Al Gore’s New Home’.  Of course, extreme precipitation is precisely what we expect from human-caused global warming, but the story still got a lot of play in the media.

What’s more ironic is that the Senate’s leading climate denier bailed on the annual Heartland climate science denial conference this morning — saying “I am under the weather” (!) — just as his home state is being slammed by a record-smashing heatwave and a drought more severe than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Yes, I know, it’s just coincidence, not a karmic backlash.  But then again climate science projects a permanent dust bowl for the Southwest if we keep listening to Inhofe.  It also projects that by century’s end, the state will be above 90°F for 135 days a year! Click here to read the full article.

But not all politicians share Inhofe’s anti-science bias. In Scotland this week, the government set a target of 100% renewable energy by 2020 (oh, Canada, you are so far behind in vision and leadership on this issue!). Go to “2020 Route Map For Renewable Energy in Scotland” to read more.

Meanwhile, showing that leadership on this issue must come from the grassroots, physicians in Prince Edward Island give their premier a petition signed by almost 200 island doctors asking for action on climate change. Click here for more.

Digital innovator Google also weighed in on the green energy economy this week. In a new report Google  says that without a private and public focus on innovation in renewables, storage, and electric vehicles, the cost of delaying the clean energy economy could be in the trillions of dollars to the U.S. economy. Go to Grist.org for a summary, with links to the Google analysis.

What are we waiting for? A new study outlines that the global temperature has been warmer than the 20th century average every month for more than 25 years. Read more at the Washington Post.   It’s time, folks, to “just do it”:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zavTd31qxho]

More links:

350.org

Citizens Climate Lobby U.S.

Citizens Climate Lobby (Canada)

Moving Planet – Manitoba: A Day To Move Beyond Fossil Fuels

Deadly Tornado In Massachusetts Pulls Water From River, And Other Friday Links

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It’s a rainy Friday in northwestern Ontario as we head into a weekend which will include, for our family, watching the second hockey game of the Stanley Cup finals between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins. I know, today is significant because it’s the day that Stephen Harper’s government makes it first Speech from the Throne, but I’m not that interested in following what the feds are doing these days. I expect no innovative or creative ideas to come out of that quarter for the next four years (except for new kinds of divisive politics or fear-mongering).  Under Harper, Canada will be moving backwards. To stop this momentum, it will be up to the majority of Canadians to take a strong stand on what is important to them. Yes, Canadians have a reputation for being “nice”, but if we don’t take a firm, even loud/aggressive stand, we will get the (regressive) government that we deserve.

Whether the Canadian and U.S. federal governments recognize that human-forced climate change is real and is happening right now, the laws of physics and thermodynamics continue to demonstrate the reality of what we have wrought with our fossil-fuel loving ways.  Here’s some Friday links to ponder this weekend, including more extreme weather events, this time two tornadoes in Massachusetts that killed at least 4 people, flipped cars, and collapsed buildings. Dramatic footage of a twister sucking water from the Colorado River hundreds of feet into the air is now posted on YouTube:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25giqLidqug]

Deadly Massachusetts Tornadoes Flip Homes, Cars

A Potpourri of Other Interesting Links:

Climate Scientists Revealed: Tracking The Warming Planet: The Union of Concerned Scientists is currently leading a campaign to elevate the voices of climate scientists and educate the public about the overwhelming scientific evidence for human-caused global warming.  In this series, UCS partners with Grist magazine to “showcase and celebrate the researchers behind the news, the climatologists who are helping to save the planet—and your ass!”

Long Term Life Tips: Top 5 Regrets People Make on Their Deathbed:   Palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware shares what she has learned from the people she was worked with over many years.  The most surprising regret is that people wish that they had let themselves be happier:

Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

Here’s a cute video of a brand-new cyclist who hasn’t yet forgotten to experience happiness:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8&feature=player_embedded]

Have a great weekend everyone, and don’t forget to “be happy of yourself”!