Earth ChangesS


Hourglass

Lovelock sez: Saving the planet from climate change is 'beyond our ability'

Sarah Knapton
The Telegraph
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:11 UTC
James Lovelock
© AFP/Getty/Nasa James Lovelock, who first detected CFCs in the atmosphere and proposed the Gaia hypotheses
The scientist and inventor James Lovelock claims we should stop trying to save the planet from global warming and instead retreat to climate controlled cities

Saving the planet from climate change is 'beyond our ability' and we should stop wasting time trying to tackle global warming, a leading scientist has claimed.

James Lovelock, who first detected CFCs in the atmosphere and proposed the Gaia hypotheses, claims society should retreat to 'climate-controlled cities' and give up on large expanses of land which will become uninhabitable.

Lovelock, who has just published his latest book A Rough Ride To The Future, claims we should be 'strengthening our defences and making a sustainable retreat.'

"We're reaching an age in history where you can no longer predict the future with any hope of success.

"We should give up vainglorious attempts to save the world.
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Fish

Recently filmed giant oarfish washes up dead on Mexican beach

Paul Cockerton
Daily Mirror
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 13:03 UTC
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Rare: The giant Oarfish
The elusive 15ft oarfish was spotted swimming in shallow waters in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico

A giant underwater creature which inspired stories of sea monsters has been filmed by a tourist - but sadly came to a fishy end.

The elusive 15ft oarfish was spotted swimming in shallow waters in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

Tour guides from Un-Cruise Adventures, who organised the expedition, were thrilled to get up close to the mysterious creature.

However, after briefly delighting onlookers with its appearance, the oarfish beached itself on nearby Isla San Francisco and died.

Lia Stamatiou, expedition leader for Un-Cruise Adventures said: "I learned about the oarfish as one of those fish you study but never see.

"Seeing it swim up to us on the beach I was completely stunned.

Comment: See also: Rare footage shows two live oarfish swimming near the shore

Giant deepwater oarfish washing up on California shores: Harbingers of death!

Second rare oarfish washes up in Southern California

18-foot oarfish caught by Catalina marine science instructor in California

Something amiss deep down? Bizarre-looking oarfish washes ashore on Cabo San Lucas beach

Appearance of "Earthquake fish" spook Japanese

Rare "King of Herrings" Found off Swedish Coast

England: Monster of deep washes up on beach

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Attention

Heavy ice likely to have crushed 9 blue whales to death off Newfoundland

Nick Logan
globalnews.ca
Wed, 09 Apr 2014 11:46 UTC
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© Dept. of Fisheries and OceansBlue whale carcasses were spotted on the ice on southwest coast of Newfoundland.

Warning: Disturbing images. Blue whale carcasses were spotted on the ice off the southwest coast of Newfoundland, while a sperm whale carcass washed up on the southeast coast.

Several endangered blue whales have been found dead in ice off Newfoundland - probably crushed to death by ice, says the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

DFO said the carcasses of blue whales were spotted last month, stuck in thick ice off of the southwest coast of the island.

Dr. Jack Lawson, a researcher with DFO, told Global News he and a colleague spotted nine dead whales while flying over the ice, about 40 nautical miles west of Cape Anguille. He said they were around 20 metres long - the "length of two school buses."
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Cloud Lightning

Powerful cyclone Ita approaches Australia's northeast coast

Stephen Bell
The Wall Street Journal
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 03:52 UTC
Cyclone Ita track
Cyclone Ita bears down on northeast Australia.
A powerful hurricane bore down on Australia's northeast coast Thursday, threatening tourism towns, low-lying communities and crops such as sugar cane.

Officials warned that Tropical Cyclone Ita was the most powerful storm to threaten Queensland state in three years. The cyclone - as hurricanes are often known in this part of the world - is expected to batter the coast with destructive winds and damaging flooding by the time it makes landfall late Friday.
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Ice Cube

US largest steel mill stands idle due to ice coverage on Lake Superior

James Nye
Daily Mail
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 06:19 UTC
Gary works steel mill idle
© APFrozen: U.S. Coast Guard a convoy of Great Lakes cargo ships line up to follow an icebreaker on the St. Marys River, which links Lakes Superior and Huron. U.S. Steel said Monday, April 7, 2014 that its largest mill in Gary, Indiana, is on limited production because of a lack of raw materials

U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews kept up their battle on Monday to clear pathways for vessels hauling vital raw materials on the ice-clogged Great Lakes, where a shipping logjam forced a weeklong shutdown of the nation's largest steel factory.

Traffic remained largely at a crawl after a winter that produced some of the heaviest ice on record across the five inland seas, where more than half the surface area remained solid this week.

Icebreaking ships slogging across Lake Superior were still encountering ice layers 2 feet to 3 feet thick. In some areas, wind and wave action created walls of ice up to 14 feet high.

United States Steel Corp.'s plant in Gary, Indiana, had resumed limited operations after receiving a shipment over the weekend of iron ore from a company mill near Detroit, which was sending one additional load, spokeswoman Courtney Boone said.

Two ships were scheduled to arrive Tuesday with ore from mines in northern Minnesota following a two-week voyage across Lake Superior, which ordinarily would take three days.

Other companies were hoping their supplies would be adequate to avoid significant disruptions.

'Nobody's stockpile situation is very good,' said Glen Nekvasil, a spokesman for the Lake Carriers' Association, which represents companies that operate 57 U.S.-flagged freighters on the Great Lakes. 'It's still very slow sledding.'
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Arrow Down

Bananageddon: Deadly fungus decimates global banana crop

Cahal Milmo
The Independent
Fri, 04 Apr 2014 21:01 UTC
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© Independent
Disease spreads from Asia to Africa and may already have jumped to crucial plantations in Latin America

Scientists have warned that the world's banana crop, worth £26 billion and a crucial part of the diet of more than 400 million people, is facing "disaster" from virulent diseases immune to pesticides or other forms of control.

Alarm at the most potent threat - a fungus known as Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4) - has risen dramatically after it was announced in recent weeks that it has jumped from South-east Asia, where it has already devastated export crops, to Mozambique and Jordan.

A United Nations agency told The Independent that the spread of TR4 represents an "expanded threat to global banana production". Experts said there is a risk that the fungus, for which there is currently no effective treatment, has also already made the leap to the world's most important banana growing areas in Latin America, where the disease threatens to destroy vast plantations of the Cavendish variety. The variety accounts for 95 per cent of the bananas shipped to export markets including the United Kingdom, in a trade worth £5.4bn.
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Cloud Grey

Huge strange cloud engulfs Alicante beach in Spain

Sarah Gordon
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 09 Apr 2014 14:45 UTC
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Unusual phenomenon: The huge cloud which rolled into the city of Alicante form the sea caused concern among some locals at first

A huge cloud was filmed engulfing the main beach in Alicante, causing concern among locals and holidaymakers and prompting debate as to its cause.

The huge white mass is seen rolling across the sands of Albufereta beach, obscuring everything in its path - despite an otherwise cloudless sky.

Some speculated that the cloud was smoke from a fire, while others compared the apocalyptic scenes to the smoke cloud left behind when thousands of firecrackers are set off for the Las Fallas festival in neighboring Valencia.
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Arrow Down

Dead birds falling from the sky in Oklahoma, experts say 'no cause for concern.' Right!

Barbara Schneider
examiner.com
Sat, 05 Apr 2014 13:04 UTC
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© blogs.sfweekly.com
Dead birds fall from the sky in Oklahoma and experts say 'no cause for concern.' If you believe that then . . . Dead birds falling from the sky is NOT normal.

On Apr 3, dead birds fell from the sky in Norman, Oklahoma. Even though state wildlife officials say "there's no cause for concern," residents are alarmed, and with good reason. Dead birds falling from the sky is not an everyday occurrence anywhere, let alone in Oklahoma, with its loud booms, rumbling, and shaking.

On Thursday, Becki Miller, a homeowner near Highway 9 and Interstate 35, heard a thump and saw that a dead bird had fallen to the ground. During the next 24 hours, at least a dozen more birds dropped "dead from the skies" into her yard. Also, according to The Oklahoman, a TV station reported another 20 birds were found the same day within a square mile of Miller's home.

Dead birds aside for a moment, there are good reasons why Oklahomans should be alarmed about the unusual happenings in their state.

Comment: Not mentioned above is blast from overhead exploding space rocks as an explanation for both the bird deaths and the associated loud booms. See also: Radar Dopppler images confirm overhead 'turbulence' cause of 2011 mass bird death case in Beebe, Arkansas

Over 30 birds fall dead from the sky in Norman, Oklahoma

Mystery boom rattles homes in Duncan, Oklahoma

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Arrow Down

Large sinkhole opens up in Grayson Valley, Alabama

Sebastian Posey
cbs42.com
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 09:45 UTC
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The flood-waters have receded, leaving behind a big mess in some places, including a big sinkhole in one neighborhood.

A sinkhole opened up on Pine Tree Lane just off of Brewster Road in the Grayson Valley area of Birmingham. Police say the hole is about 6 feet deep.

Traffic has been blocked off so if you drive in that area you'll need to find another way around. The worry is that the water coming out from under the road will soon make the whole street collapse.

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Red Flag

Pittsburgh's Mount Washington landslide halts trains, Duquesne Incline; restaurant closed as precaution

Molly Born and Jon Schmitz
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 11:37 UTC
Pittsburgh landslide
© Darrell Sapp / Post-GazetteCleanup continued Tuesday on the Mount Washington hillside after a landslide.
A football-field-sized swath tore loose from the face of Mount Washington early Tuesday morning, sending a torrent of mud and trees across railroad tracks along West Carson Street and briefly closing the Duquesne Incline.

Pittsburgh officials also ordered a precautionary closure of LeMont restaurant above the slide zone, but an engineer said a visual inspection found no signs of instability around that structure.
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