we are the man of sun.

rhamphotheca:

Andean Tropical Glaciers Going Fast, May Soon Be Gone
by Paul Brown, Climate News Network
The glaciers of the tropical Andes have shrunk by between 30 and 50 percent in 30 years and many will soon disappear altogether, cutting off the summer water supply for millions of people, according to scientists studying the region’s climate.
Their findings are particularly significant because glaciers in the tropics, 99 percent of which are in the Andes, are regarded as among the most sensitive indicators of climate change on the planet, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In the Andes glaciers contribute to irrigation, hydroelectricity generation, and water supply. For example, 15 percent of the water consumed in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, comes from glaciers, a figure that doubles in the summer. The region, with 3.5 million people, is heavily dependent on melt water for its survival (and see our story of 25 January, Andean glaciers show record melting)…
(read more: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/andes-tropical-glaciers-are-going-fast-may-soon-be-gone-15844)
(photo: Edubucher | wikipedia)

Shrinking and disappearing glaciers in a world already in dire need of water resources and reallocation is something often overlooked and it’s one of the biggest effects of climate change and it’s happening NOW.Side note: The country we are droning and radicalizing, Yemen, is often cited as the first country that will run out of water. Meanwhile, former Nestle CEO says that he doesn’t view water as a public right saying that: “The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” [Source.]People don’t realize the future we have in store.CEO culture is killing us all.

Andean Tropical Glaciers Going Fast, May Soon Be Gone

by Paul Brown, Climate News Network

The glaciers of the tropical Andes have shrunk by between 30 and 50 percent in 30 years and many will soon disappear altogether, cutting off the summer water supply for millions of people, according to scientists studying the region’s climate.

Their findings are particularly significant because glaciers in the tropics, 99 percent of which are in the Andes, are regarded as among the most sensitive indicators of climate change on the planet, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In the Andes glaciers contribute to irrigation, hydroelectricity generation, and water supply. For example, 15 percent of the water consumed in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, comes from glaciers, a figure that doubles in the summer. The region, with 3.5 million people, is heavily dependent on melt water for its survival (and see our story of 25 January, Andean glaciers show record melting)…

(read more: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/andes-tropical-glaciers-are-going-fast-may-soon-be-gone-15844)

(photo: Edubucher | wikipedia)

Shrinking and disappearing glaciers in a world already in dire need of water resources and reallocation is something often overlooked and it’s one of the biggest effects of climate change and it’s happening NOW.

Side note: The country we are droning and radicalizing, Yemen, is often cited as the first country that will run out of water. Meanwhile, former Nestle CEO says that he doesn’t view water as a public right saying that: “The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” [Source.]

People don’t realize the future we have in store.
CEO culture is killing us all.

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We are ignoring our existential crisis.

There’s no “market” (I’ll never not parenthetical the word market.) solution for climate change. Oh, and our way of life is unsustainable.

Somehow, I still don’t feel hopeless and I’m certainly not tired.

Fuck love; make revolution.

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Leaders in civic society must also place a political and social price on the dishonest distribution of false information about this existential crisis by cynical global warming deniers, many of whom know better but are trying to preserve destructive yet highly profitable business models by sowing confusion, false doubt, and political discord to delay the recognition of reality and to prevent the congealing of a consensus.

Al Gore, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change (2013)

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The Victim Liked It

by Derrick Jensen, ORION mag (Feb/March 2013)

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No one will care in 30 years, I guarantee you, what the deficit was in 2013. Quick pop quiz: what was the deficit in 1953? or 1923? or, heck, 1883? The correct answer is ‘you don’t know’ because it doesn’t matter. What does matter are the molecules in the air, much, much more than numbers on a balance sheet. …Washington will never make climate a priority until the Left makes it a priority.

Chris Hayes, during his stirring ‘Story of the Week’ from February 17, 2013

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rhamphotheca:

Study Finds That Ice Sheet Loss at Both Poles Is Increasing

by JPL staff

An international team of experts supported by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has combined data from multiple satellites and aircraft to produce the most comprehensive and accurate assessment to date of ice sheet losses in Greenland and Antarctica and their contributions to sea level rise.

In a landmark study published Thursday in the journal Science, 47 researchers from 26 laboratories report the combined rate of melting for the ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica has increased during the last 20 years. Together, these ice sheets are losing more than three times as much ice each year (equivalent to sea level rise of 0.04 in or 0.95 mm) as they were in the 1990s (equivalent to 0.01 in or 0.27 mm). About two-thirds of the loss is coming from Greenland, with the rest from Antarctica.

This rate of ice sheet losses falls within the range reported in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The spread of estimates in the 2007 IPCC report was so broad, however, it was not clear whether Antarctica was growing or shrinking. The new estimates, which are more than twice as accurate because of the inclusion of more satellite data, confirm both Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice…

(read more: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

(photo: Disko Bay, Greenland, by Ian Joughin, Univ. of Washington)

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Supreme Court Case: Mass v. EPA (2007)

The ruling of the Supreme Court case of Mass v. EPA (2007) seems to give the POTUS power to issue an executive order in regards to regulating greenhouse gases; in fact, the EPA choosing not to regulate certain greenhouse gases seems to be undermining the Clean Air Act’s intent and rules.

The CAA “requires regulations to protect the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health.”

EDIT: I just saw that MY MAIN MAN Chris Hayes addressed this very thing tonight: Hayes, and Rachel Maddow, on Obama’s call for action on climate change.

This needs to be remembered and brought to the surface. We need to act now and we don’t need new legislation to start.

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Water shortages, already severe, will further aggravate both food and health challenges. Food riots erupted in scattered parts of the world during 2008 and 2009, anticipating a future norm when shortages mount and prices skyrocket. (Worldwide food prices had already increased by 80 percent between 2005 and 2008, a hint of deeper trends at work.) These challenges mount with the emergence of food as a major commodity within the global casino economy, Wall Street banks and investment firms seek billions in profits while scarcity and hunger afflict tens of millions of people. This situation is exacerbated by the growth of meat-based agriculture and the fast-food economy, especially in the industrialized societies, as some 80 percent of grains are currently fed to livestock while meat production as a whole devours three times more soil, water, and fossil fuels than cost-effective plant-based food systems. (In the U.S. nearly 60 percent of all farmland is devoted to beef production, which also consumes roughly half of all water for human purposes.) The expansion of large-scale, centralized agribusiness, a source of vast waste and pollution - when added to the repercussions of global warming - could itself push the crisis far beyond what has been projected.

Carl Boggs, Ecology and Revolution: Global Crises and the Political Challenges (2012)

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current:

Sierra Club approves civil disobedience in response to Keystone

President Barack Obama has pledged to make climate change a top priority for the next four years, and environmental groups are putting pressure on the president to back up his words with actions. The Sierra Club has approved an action in civil disobedience for the first time in the group’s history.

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thepeoplesrecord:

97% of Greenland’s surface ice sheet thawed in July. Seriously: 97%. How much more ice needs to melt before we get serious about climate change?

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