Drought, food insecurity and Climate Change

Residents of the Great Plains over the last year or so have experienced storms reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Experts say the new storms have been brought on by a combination of historic drought, a dwindling Ogallala Aquifer underground water supply, climate change and government farm programs.

• ...the Ogallala aquifer is drying up after years of drawing out more water than was replenished. The water may run out in 25 years or less in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and southwest Kansas, although in other areas it has 50 to 200 years left, according to the Geological Survey.
• 60 percent of lower 48 states now in drought
• Grain prices soar as drought impact deepens
• The average annual temperature in Lubbock has increased by one full degree over the last decade, according to National Weather Service data, and the average amount of rainfall has fallen during summer months by about .50 inch over the decade

Storms on US Plains stir memories of the 'Dust Bowl'

Up with Chris Hayes again

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Up with Chris Hayes

Planetary catastrophe is inevitable without geoengineering to cool the Arctic

An assessment by AMEG Could the world be in imminent danger and nobody is telling?

The Arctic is in meltdown. Uniquely and fearlessly AMEG has studied key non-linear trends in the Earth-human System and reached the stunning conclusion that the planet stands at the edge of abrupt and catastrophic climate change as a result of an unprecedented rate of change in the Arctic. This contrasts sharply with the linear prognostications of the models on which governments rely. Unlike the conventional view that climate change will impact gradually over many decades, AMEG acknowledges the impact is now, therefore requiring action now to prevent the situation spiraling out of control.

Arctic Methane Emergency Group

Vicki Arroyo: Let's prepare for our new climate

Zeitgeist

New research suggests that West Antarctica has warmed much more than scientists have thought over the last half century, an ominous finding given that the huge ice sheet there may be vulnerable to long-term collapse, with potentially drastic effects on sea level.

A paper released Sunday by the journal Nature Geoscience found that the temperature at a research station in the middle of West Antarctica has warmed by 4.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1958. That is roughly twice as much as scientists previously thought and three times the overall rate of global warming, making central West Antarctica one of the fastest-warming regions on earth.

“The surprises keep coming,” said Andrew J. Monaghan, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., who took part in the study. “When you see this type of warming, I think it’s alarming.”

...

Much of the warming discovered in the new paper happened in the 1980s, around the same time the planet was beginning to warm briskly. More recently, Dr. Bromwich said, the weather in West Antarctica seems to have become somewhat erratic. In the summer of 2005, the interior of West Antarctica warmed enough for the ice to undergo several days of surface melting.

Dr. Bromwich is worried that this could eventually become routine, perhaps accelerating the decay of the West Antarctic ice sheet, but the warming is not fast enough for that to happen right away. “We’re talking decades into the future, I think,” Dr. Bromwich said.

West Antarctica Warming Faster Than Thought, Study Finds

Every single prediction has underestimated the effects altering our atmosphere will have.

Be prepared to take care of yourselves and your family in the decades to come. The sheer magnitude of resouces that will need to be brought to bear to fix the atmosphere, and the changes in lifestyle it will require of all of us is mind boggling. There will be nothing left over to rescue us from simple disasters.

Climate Change Is Killing the Economy: Here’s What Can Be Done to Stop It

 

Tipping Points in Earth Climate System (2012 Arctic Methane Special)

HT prokaryotes at Climate Progress

Be Prepared

Climate: Arctic Thermostat Blows Up (audio)

It is happening so fast it's hard to fathom. Events will take place next year, or a decade from now, that will leave millions to fend for themselves for weeks (or more)... but they will happen.

Be prepared.

Discovery Channel - Global Warming, What You Need To Know, with Tom Brokaw

"Incredibly Disappointed": Civil Groups Decry Weak COP18 Deal amid Deadly Proof of Climate Change

If civilization survives, the history books will condemn such actions and lack of actions as crimes against humanity.

The real deal folks

An increasingly disruptive climate and a bankrupt nation could be the legacy we leave our children. According to projections presented to the U.S. Congress by Tufts University economist Frank Ackerman, inaction will cost our nation more than 1 percent of GDP by 2025 - more than $200 billion a year. And costs will skyrocket from there to an estimated $1.8 trillion a year by 2100.
 

Read more here: Obama wants to understand climate change? Listen to us and Sandy, too


2012 Is The Hottest, Most Extreme Year In U.S. History


This is the real deal folks. If you live in a vulnerable area, you might want to consider stockpiling food and water and not count on FEMA or your county's equivalent to come save you.

Severe Weather Information and Brochures:

OMG II

OMG

Climate: On the Road to Extinction?

Why I started this blog?

I had an epiphany that the global economy can't handle climate change unless we really change our priorities, including the demand for growth. Since our economic system depends on growth we are going to have to develop brand new things that help our life support system instead of destroy it. The things we leave behind, like fossil fuels... well there are going to be some painful adjustments required of all of us, but it is truely do or die.

Now the main stream media is starting to get the picture:

If the United States has entered an era in which mega-storms, perhaps related to climate change, are becoming the “new normal,” it will create new spending pressures at a time when federal revenues every year are falling roughly $1 trillion short of outlays. If you factor in a growing population and development in coastal areas, then storm damage is likely to become even more expensive over time.

Catastrophic storms’ costs put cloud over federal budgets