[V.Narayan]

September this year was 0.05 degrees centigrade warmer than September last year - this figure is for the globe as a whole. This is astounding given that September 2019 was the hottest September since temperatures have been recorded {at a worldwide level about 120 years}. A warming rate of 0.05 degrees may sound small to the likes of climate change deniers {Trump, anyone!}. But if taken linearly it means an increase of 1.0 degrees centigrade in just 20 years. These things do not move linearly but it is indicative. The Paris Agreement on climate change aims to hold overall temperature increase globally to below 2 degrees centigrade and to hold it there. But this rate of acceleration means that limit will be breached decades earlier than hoped. There is disagreement on how much today's temperature is above pre-Industrial levels. The worst case estimate is we are already 1.30 degrees centigrade up.

[PGA]

September 2020 has been a terrible month for us vegetable farmers in North India. Early potato varieties have failed to germinate, 30% of cauliflower has buttoned and the only 50% of bell peppers have survived. Expect much higher vege prices around the festival season.

Tracking local weather over September, max temp was up 4-5 degC, min was up 2-3 degC and humidity was consistently above 90%. Only crop that benefitted was paddy.

[Cessna182]

There is a new netflix documentary titled Life on our planet narrated by Sir David Attenborough. It is a wonderful watch and also introduces the viewer to the various effects of climate change.

Personally, every time I read about the Amazon deforestation in Brazil to produce chicken and beef, the extreme fishing tactics used by global conglomerates and the increasing thirst for very resource intensive products like Avocado etc., I feel more and more hopeless about any meaningful action happening on the ground. The consumer demand trends don't indicate that people want to, or can afford to, pay more for their food and energy, so governments will continue to downplay this threat till it explodes.

There's another documentary on coral reefs on Netflix, I really liked that one too. The shocking statistic was that 30 percent of corals have been bleached in the last few decades. When corals die, the ocean food chain and nutrient cycle collapses. Most of the world's carbon emissions are soaked up by the oceans, not the forests. Hence, their deteriorating health bodes ill for everyone.

[DaiusPitar]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

.

I want to appreciate your bringing this topic up in our forum. Please keep this up, your effort in pulling out the facts is much appreciated.

I for one believe the only way to move past matters of climate change acceptance or denial is by spreading the facts and reducing our own footprint wherever feasible; it’s live, happening and we as a species have been responsible for it.

My first view was formed by Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. That had a seminal impact in creating awareness although on shaky scientific facts. The evidences in climate change have piled up manifold since.

Still the state of affairs is reflected by the responses to your posts even in a very dynamic and aware forum like ours.

Another area, on reducing our footprint. This could stretch from the mundane like reducing plastics in our daily life for we can never do away with them, to getting aware of how peripheral developments in industry can have long range impacts.

Beyond replacing plastic bags, it’s about reducing consumption or increasing utilisation if outright replacement is not feasible of all products plastics. My daughters showed me this Hasan Minhaj show on Fast Fashion in season 5 of the Patriot Act. They used that for a school project and then started challenging me on using bamboo toothbrushes to stop purchasing drinks from in plastic bottles

On the latter, how many of us really know about why the brouhaha over Unleaded Fuel and how pernicious its effects by the shenanigans behind it, a la Big Tobacco
Google Ethyl Corporation

Somebody mentioned CFCs.

In the same breadth, google Thomas Midgley Jr. He was a one man army responsible for both of them above, unenviable distinction of being single handedly responsible for climate change disasters.

I will stop with my Saturday morning ramble there lest it distract attention from the admirable thought behind this thread

[V.Narayan]

14 Million Tonnes Of Microplastics On Sea Floor: Study

The quantity of the tiny pollutants was 25 times greater than previous localised studies had shown, the agency said, calling it the first global estimate of sea-floor microplastics.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/14-m...-study-2306287

The world's sea floor is littered with an estimated 14 million tonnes of microplastics, broken down from the masses of rubbish entering the oceans every year, according to Australia's national science agency. The quantity of the tiny pollutants was 25 times greater than previous localised studies had shown, the agency said, calling it the first global estimate of sea-floor microplastics.

Researchers at the agency, known as CSIRO, used a robotic submarine to collect samples from sites up to 3,000 metres (9,850 feet) deep.

"Our research found that the deep ocean is a sink for microplastics," principal research scientist Denise Hardesty said. "We were surprised to observe high microplastic loads in such a remote location." "Plastic pollution that ends up in the ocean deteriorates and breaks down, ending up as microplastics," study lead Justine Barrett said.

Plastic takes hundreds of years to deteriorate completely. Micro-plastics deserve a full post by themselves. I'd do it but I get the impression most members of Team BHP are not interested. Micro plastics measured in diameter at the one-hundredth of a millimetre scale are getting stuck in side our bodies - in our intestines, our lungs, etc. Same for our animals. It is seeping into our water supply. We are busy creating our own slow motion armageddon or prahlaya

Originally Posted by DaiusPitar

I want to appreciate your bringing this topic up in our forum. Please keep this up, your effort in pulling out the facts is much appreciated.

I for one believe the only way to move past matters of climate change acceptance or denial is by spreading the facts and reducing our own footprint wherever feasible; it’s live, happening and we as a species have been responsible for it.

Thank you.

Still the state of affairs is reflected by the responses to your posts even in a very dynamic and aware forum like ours.

You can say that again. Some posture for the sake of sounding different. "Because I can post my view counts even if I am drowning in ignorance"- an affliction across all of social media.

[nvldvr]

A potential solution to the imminent water crisis that may threaten our socities as we know them now, in the not too distant future.

Shallow wells being dug in Bangalore.

BBC News - The Indian megacity digging a million wells
http://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...-million-wells

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Micro-plastics deserve a full post by themselves. I'd do it but I get the impression most members of Team BHP are not interested.

Society is busy holding a mirror up to its surface - we have interest in IPL or RC/SSR - instead of introspecting. On the whole, people are more interested in having their PoV heard, than learning (possible mea culpa).

[DigitalOne]

I was reading an unrelated article when I came across below fact.

Gives a lot of hope and optimism, that things are getting a lot better than what is being projected.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the US currently has the cleanest air on record.

Over the past few decades, air quality - a measure of six major pollutants - has improved significantly in the US.

From 1970 to 2019, the overall level of these pollutants fell by 77%, according to the EPA. And this trend has largely continued into President Trump's administration with a 7% fall between 2017 and 2019.

Source: BBC

[PGA]

Delhi Records Coldest October In 58 Years, Says Weather Department

https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/delh...rtment-2318589

Hope nobody gets it wrong that climate has self corrected. Since dry westerly winds have blown non stop through the Oct, pests of dry season are in full flow on the crops, something we had seen only in the month of May-jun.

[V.Narayan]

Tasmania, a State in Australia, goes 100% green in production of electricity

https://www.wionews.com/world/this-a...-energy-349230

Tasmania, powered exclusively by hydro & wind power generation is now a100% green state where electricity generation goes.

In the meantime solar power generation in India is now at about 4% of the total electricity produced - bar graph below.

And installed capacity of wind generation in India touched 37,700 MW, a doubling of capacity since 2011. While thermal is with us for at least one generation the proportion of green electricity will get steadily better with each year.

[Sreesh1009]

Just a thought, with the recent lockdown, we've all noticed how much our environment had changed. I found a lot of birds flocking to the trees next to my house, clearer skies, fresh air and close to zilch noise. It also helped reduce the muddle in the mind.

Do you guys think something like a Lockdown should happen every year for a month? (I know that some people depend on a daily wage, could something be worked out for people like that?)

[Gannu_1]

Just wondering! Chennai has been really cool during the last few winters. I’ve never switched on the fan during December-January. And it is really really hot during the summers. Going forward, is this trend going to continue? Like the winters getting chillier and summers getting hotter. And is this attributed to climate change?

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Just wondering! Chennai has been really cool during the last few winters. I’ve never switched on the fan during December-January. And it is really really hot during the summers. Going forward, is this trend going to continue? Like the winters getting chillier and summers getting hotter. And is this attributed to climate change?

On the contrary, in Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad I have seen a gradual increase in temperatures - whether it is summers or winters.

I stayed in Chennai from 1999-2003 period and December January had always been like that - if you were not exposed directly to sun, you could manage with no fan.


By the way, is anyone else also surprised that this December and January so far have been the warmest! The reason is the disruption in the usual wind pattern (that used to blow from North/Central India to the western coast) is reversed. Warm and humid winds from Arabian Sea are changing the meaning of Winters. Also there is a marked increase in frequency of the depressions in Arabian sea from past few years.

[PGA]

Reviving an old thread to put in spotlight a clear and present looming danger.

Credits: passionate meteorologists at https://twitter.com/LiveWxIndia?t=HJ...U7MGvW4iA&s=09


Mean Monthly Maximum temperature in some major cities of North #India plains and Western #Himalayas and there Departure from Normal in #March.
Most Stations had monthly Anomaly above +2.0°c.
#Shimla & #Dharamshala had Highest anomaly of +7.2°c and +7.1°c respectively.
#Heatwave https://t.co/ha02hdYLbw

7 degree anomaly for hills is huge, and I wish I could raise another issue that is those non stop drives 24*7 and 365 days into the Himalayas

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by PGA

Reviving an old thread to put in spotlight a clear and present looming danger.

Mean Monthly Maximum temperature in some major cities of North #India plains and Western #Himalayas and there Departure from Normal in #March.
Most Stations had monthly Anomaly above +2.0°c.
#Shimla & #Dharamshala had Highest anomaly of +7.2°c and +7.1°c respectively.

7 degree anomaly for hills is huge, and I wish I could raise another issue that is those non stop drives 24*7 and 365 days into the Himalayas

Thank you for sharing. I read yesterday that both the Arctic and the Antarctic are facing temperatures way above historical normal at this time. Today it might be Ukraine but tomorrow our clashes will be over water and disruptions driven by climate change. Our current controversies over religion, clothing, democracy vs dictatorship, East vs West will seem puny in face of climate change.