Climate change is already having "pervasive, wide-ranging" effects on "nearly every aspect of our society," a task force representing more than 20 federal agencies reported Tuesday.Seriously? I love how the author says "it's definitive." If the Bush White House had gotten all the same groups together 8 years ago to say that Islamic terrorism was the greatest threat ever faced by every Federal Agency, would that have been "definitive" too? (In fact, exactly this happened, as every department made a pitch for why they needed new security funds).
"These impacts will influence how and where we live and work as well as our cultures, health and environment," the report states. "It is therefore imperative to take action now to adapt to a changing climate."
Indeed, climate change has begun to affect the ability of government agencies to fulfill their missions, reports the White House Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force.
The group is led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It is made up of representatives from more than 20 federal agencies, departments and offices, including the Department of Commerce, the National Intelligence Council, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Pentagon. That's diverse - and it's definitive.
Earth Changes
If one wonders why the climate alarmist movement is suffering from a credibility problem, one only needs to read this:
Here is just one more indication that despite what some would like you to believe, the Medieval Warm Period was not a regional "non event".
From a University of Arizona press release,
Giant Sequoias Yield Longest Fire History from Tree Rings
California's western Sierra Nevada had more frequent fires between 800 and 1300 than at any time in the past 3,000 years, according to a new study led by Thomas W. Swetnam, director of UA's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.
© Unknown
Giant Sequoias Yield Longest Fire History from Tree Rings
California's western Sierra Nevada had more frequent fires between 800 and 1300 than at any time in the past 3,000 years, according to a new study led by Thomas W. Swetnam, director of UA's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.
© Zachary Pullen, Penthouse.
It was good to be Al Gore in the last part of the last decade. In the year 2000 he was the world's biggest loser. By 2009 he was one of the world's biggest winners after becoming the master of disaster. Flummoxed by his non-invention of the internet and his non-election as president of the United States, Gore found a winning hand in predicting the end of the world. In the process, he received an Oscar for his film An Inconvenient Truth, the Nobel Peace Prize, and millions of dollars through his interests in companies that dealt in "carbon credits." Gore became more of a "Comeback Kid" than Bill Clinton ever was. For most of 2009, it was still good to be King Al. But late in the year, Al Gore's beloved internet betrayed him.
On November 17, 2009, someone, somewhere, copied some 4,000 emails and documents from a password-protected server at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) in England and put them up on a free and open server in Russia for all the world to read. Whoever made these documents available was an unknown soldier of the truth. Taking the handle of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act), he or she stated, "We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it. This is a limited time offer, download now."
African elephants remain at risk from poacher
Their sheer size and strength have made them among the most celebrated of endangered species, yet they have all been betrayed - by vested interests at a UN meeting on wildlife protection.
Proposals to ban trade in bluefin tuna and polar bears were overwhelmingly rejected yesterday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), meeting in Doha, Qatar.
A plan for a 20-year ban on ivory sales, to protect African elephants, is also likely to fail in the coming days - partly because Britain and other members of the EU are refusing to support it. Delegates are instead expected to approve a weak compromise, which would encourage poaching by allowing the sale of ivory being stored by several African nations.
Port-au-Prince - One of the heaviest rainfalls since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless camps Friday, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.
The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.
There were no reports of deaths in the camp, a town-size maze of blue, orange and silver tarps located behind the country club used by the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne as a forward-operating base.
But the deluge terrified families who just two months ago survived the collapse of their homes in the magnitude-7 earthquake and are now struggling to make do in tent-and-tarp camps that officials have repeatedly said must be relocated.
The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.
There were no reports of deaths in the camp, a town-size maze of blue, orange and silver tarps located behind the country club used by the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne as a forward-operating base.
But the deluge terrified families who just two months ago survived the collapse of their homes in the magnitude-7 earthquake and are now struggling to make do in tent-and-tarp camps that officials have repeatedly said must be relocated.
© Algalita Marine Research Foundation
A shark carcass on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, where plastic particles outnumber sand grains until you dig down about a foot.
A shark carcass on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, where plastic particles outnumber sand grains until you dig down about a foot.
The world's biggest rubbish dump keeps growing. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - or the Pacific Trash Vortex - is a floating monument to our culture of waste, the final resting place of every forgotten carrier bag, every discarded bottle and every piece of packaging blown away in the wind. Opinions about the exact size of this great, soupy mix vary, but some claim it has doubled over the past decade, making it now six times the size of the UK.
Dr Simon Boxall, a physical oceanographer at the National Oceanography Center at the University of Southampton, goes even further:
"It's the size of North America. But although the patch itself is extremely large, it's only one very clear representation of the much bigger worldwide problem."
An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale shook Southland tonight.
GNS Science said the quake happened at 7.28pm, 360km southwest of Invercargill at a depth of 33km. It was felt in Riverton.
GNS Science said the quake happened at 7.28pm, 360km southwest of Invercargill at a depth of 33km. It was felt in Riverton.
A 5-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan Thursday, said the local weather bureau.
The quake occurred at 5:01 p.m. about 26.3 km southeast of Suao in the northeastern Ilan county, with its epicenter 31.5 km underground, according to the bureau.
The tremor was felt in Taipei.
The quake occurred at 5:01 p.m. about 26.3 km southeast of Suao in the northeastern Ilan county, with its epicenter 31.5 km underground, according to the bureau.
The tremor was felt in Taipei.
© Joannenova
The most mysterious period is from 1958 to 1978, when a steep 0.3C decline was initially recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. Years later, this was reduced so far it became a mild warming against the detailed corroborating Raobcore evidence. Raobcore measurements are balloon readings. How accurate are they? They started in 1958, twenty years before satellite temperature records (which are renowned for their accuracy). Put the two methods side-by-side, and they tie together neatly, telling us that both of them are accurate, reliable tools.
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Earthquake Location
Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 09:14:07 UTC
Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 09:14:07 PM at epicenter
Location:
23.352°S, 177.195°W
Depth:
168.3 km (104.6 miles)
Distances:
315 km (195 miles) SW of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga
335 km (210 miles) SSE of Ndoi Island, Fiji
620 km (385 miles) SSW of Neiafu, Tonga
1680 km (1050 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
Comment: The growing problem of trashing the world's oceans with toxic rubbish is clearly defined in the following article:
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage pit that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage pit that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.
Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said yesterday: Dr Eriksen said: Additional articles about the ocean being the 'Biggest Dump in the World':
What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
Pacific Ocean garbage patch worries researchers
Plastic trash vortex menaces Pacific sealife: study
Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too