Danny Baza Blas

Exposure + Vulnerability + Climate Change = diverse Disasters on rise:Nature graph http://t.co/zimOk4VN30 pic.twitter.com/NSzwcCqxl4 — Michael Oppenheimer (@ClimateOpp) June 18, 2015

California's drought is not predicted to be unique for the future because of climate warming. The current drought we Californians are experiencing may not be the last for the near future and beyond. According to climate scientists, climate change and warming may exacerbate future droughts, and these droughts may even be worse. In a New York Times article published today , this drought may be the worse in over a thousand years. Today California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a mandatory water emergency, meaning everybody in the state will have to cut water use by 25%. Climate change has caused the temperatures to increase in this region of the U.S. The water for Southern California comes from the snow pack atop the Sierra Nevada mountains. Because of the higher temperatures, rains did not change to snows, which accumulates in the mountains and in the Spring turns into rivers and reservoirs when the snows melt. Unless something rather unusual occurs--like a whole bunch of rain...

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Len Hering, the new executive director at the California Center for Sustainable Energy. — Nelvin C. Cepeda http://goo.gl/Cd2upq Climate change and its side effects will lead to conflicts , which the U.S. military will have to fight predicts Len Hering. "Sea level is rising, population is exploding, climates are changing, environments are being affected, and the potential for a secure and prosperous 21st century is at risk" If the world's oceans rise to predicted level of three or four feet, and a strong storm hits the Philippines, 12 million homeless refugees will result, according to the retired Navy Rear Admiral.

Rising sea levels are predicted Source:  http://goo.gl/XM4Sjt The UN panel in charge of aligning all the climate sciences to develop the best ways to move forward in a warmer earth  predicted "food shortages, refugee crises, the flooding of major cities and entire island nations, mass extinction of plants and animals, and a climate so drastically altered it might become dangerous for people to work or play outside during the hottest times of the year" These predictions are aimed at preparing state and local governments for the consequences of global warming. Some states, like New York, are buying up private property along the coast because regular Superstorms (i.e. Sandy 2012 ) will destroy homes for years to come. According to the vast majority of climate scientists, an average warming of the earth by a mere s ix degrees can have catastrophic effects . The article is here .

Polar bear on ice from zmescience.com I received an email from SIO climate researcher James Swift on the latest science on human-caused global warming. Here's the latest evidence (and the level of support amongst scientists): 1. It's warming. (Unequivocal.) 2. It's us.  (At 95% confidence level that human activities are dominant cause of warming. This is not controversial scientifically any longer.) 3. It has not stopped. (Evidence denying this is cherry-picked. Long term trends are strong.) 4. The heat is mainly in the sea. (Unequivocal.) 5. Sea level is rising. (Unequivocal.) 6. Ice is shrinking. (Unequivocal.) 7. CO2 is making the ocean more acidic.  (Unequivocal.) 8. CO2 in the air is up 40% since the 1800s.  (Unequivocal.) 9. It is now the highest in 800,000 years.  (Very high confidence but not yet unequivocal?) 10. Cumulative emissions set the warming. 11. Reducing emissions limits the warming. 12. Effects of climate change ...

1. Humans are not responsible for climate; it has happened before. 2. Temperatures increases CO2; CO2 does not increase temperatures 3. The Sun has been getting hotter 4. Scientists measure only in hot places 5. The Earth is actually cooling 6. Earth is not warming as fast 7. Antarctica has more ice than ever before

High amounts of methane being released in the Arctic Researchers have discovered a higher than expected release of methane , a very powerful greenhouse gas, which, like carbon dioxide, is associated with a warming planet and climate change, in the Arctic. The I nternational Arctic Research Center said warmer ocean waters are accelerating ice melt, which have trapped the gas that was created when organic materials like plants and animals decompose. Read more about it here .

Carteret Islands is located in the South Pacific, northeast of Papua New Guinea. The inhabitants of these islands are fighting sea-level rise, which is a losing battle. They are expected to lose their island home to the sea by 2015. In this short film, the people are searching for a place to relocate. Sea-level rise is one of the consequences of human-caused global warming. YouTube video here

Two Scripps researchers discuss UN Climate-Change Report, saying there is no question that changes in the climate are occurring. Is it anthropogenic or natural? Listen to the radio report. from KPBS: http://kpbs.us/1bSMKoI

As reported previously on this blog, Arctic sea ice rebounded this summer. About half of the sea ice survived the summer melt. Last summer's sea ice hit a record low. The rebound did not seem to surprise some scientist because two record lows in a row have yet to be recorded since Arctic sea ice levels have been tracked. During my visit to the Arctic (Aug. - Sept. 2013), on-board the USCGC Healy, many observers commented on the relative abundance of polar bear sightings . This news of a sea ice rebound would also be welcome to the native Inupiaq peoples of Alaska, since subsistence hunting of whales is a continuing cultural practice. More on the Arctic sea ice rebound here .

Report's cover (NOAA & NDCC) Weather and climate are words with different meanings. Weather refers to what's happening in the atmosphere in the short term. Climate refers to long-term weather trends. In the year 2012, many people who were living in different places experienced extreme weather events. The record-hot American summer of 2012, according to a new peer-reviewed NOAA report , has links to human-induced climate change. In the USA Today , Wendy Koch wrote: "July 2012-like heat is now four times as likely to strike the Midwest and Northeast as it was in pre-industrial America when less carbon dioxide warmed the atmosphere, according to a Stanford University study. Last year's heat wave, which peaked in July — the warmest month on record for the contiguous USA — exacerbated the nation's drought, ruined crops and contributed to more than 100 deaths" The report states that effects from "natural weather and climate fluctuations...

Could a rapidly warming Arctic create crazy storms? (Fox41 Blog) In an article written by Stephanie Paige Ogburn in Scientific American , a question was poised: Does a warming Arctic affect mid-latitude weather? Sandy-like events are receiving a lot of media attention, and many are wondering if there is a link to climate change. "R apid warming in the Arctic is changing the way the jet stream behaves. Since the jet stream is a driving force behind weather over the temperate part of the Earth, also known as the mid-latitudes, many people would be affected by this switch." Jennifer Francis , a climate scientist at Rutgers, has been working on this hypothesis that a warming Arctic has a link to crazy weather events. Though she admits the signal is somewhat weak at this point, the body of evidence is gathering. "Arctic sea ice extent continues to plunge below average each summer. Measurements have shown that the winds that blow west to east and drive the jet ...