Blog About the Weather

Globalwarming may cause famine because it will harm crops and their reaction to climate, but it seems alternative energy may have similar impact.

C|Net reports that use of things like beans to make alternative energy will drive up the costs of these staples. Awareness is needed that the food we use for energy can be used to energize both the bodies of PEOPLE and the bodies of MACHINES, like furnaces and cars and cell phone towers.

Awareness of globalwarming in 2007 must include awareness of globalwarming’s impact on food production — both via climate change, and via redistribution of food resources to power the expensive and exotic toys of the haves, while have-nots starve quietly.

In today’s most exciting cow-related globalwarming awareness news, the California Dairy Industry is facing the challenge of reducing globalwarming emissions.

California farm families are now looking at carbon-credit trading. No mention was made of cow farts (or dinosaur farts).

Oh, wait, it was hidden:

Michael McCormick, policy director for the California Climate Action Registry Protocol, outlined the development of a voluntary protocol to support the installation of methane digesters. The proposed protocol encompasses direct emissions reductions related to manure management.

Globalwarming awareness2007 has a new mantra: ‘manure management for methane reduction.’

Dairy farms may be impacted long-term by globalwarming; awareness suggests that milk production may decrease as global temperatures rise. Agriculture allegedly accounts for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.

I wonder if there are flex fuel/hybrid farm equipment, or if milking machines might be able to be powered by wind generators?

We get QUESTIONS!

Dear Globalwarming Awareness2007: I read today that meetings make us dumber. To fight globalwarming, many people have meetings, suggest communal living, and carpool in flex-fuel vehicles. Could all of these actions make us dumber, and less scientifically able to fight globalwarming? –signed, clueless in the carpool lane

Dear Clueless in the Carpool Lane:

Meetings making us dumber may explain a lot. However, arguably, starving because globalwarming harms agriculture and the food chain probably isn’t a great way to add to our smarts.

Cows gathering together is almost undoubtedly a bad idea: mass cow farts!

Developing nations, which tend to have big populations, would be bad if they started emitting the average carbon output of an American — Americans are energy hogs.

We would recommend only carpooling with smart people.

For those of you who take your political and scientific views of globalwarming and climate change from game show hosts, Pat Sajak says globalwarming is bogus.

Vanna’s getting older. Does Pat really want to live on a planet with her still wearing skimpy evening gowns? Globalwarming awareness2007 is all about keeping the global climate in check so that agriculture and fashion stays sane. There’s already a major clothing company advertising skanky hoochie wear with the slogan ‘globalwarming ready!’ Do we need to encourage people to wear bad clothing? Can’t we keep naturists in their little niches instead of having them prance about for all to see? Do we really need to see dudes with droopy nutsacks on our streets? Do we need to see Pat Sajak’s droopy nutsack?

We think not!

Coverage of the issues facing winemakers worldwide as globalwarming harms their crops and damages wine quality is getting big-time coverage from USA Today, aka the McPaper of the McMasses.

Italian experts are sounding a warning on behalf of globalwarming awareness2007: continued climate change will turn Scandinavia into a vintner’s paradise.

Some vintners are downplaying risks, though, fearing that alarmism will hurt the current market for their product.

Meanwhile, olive trees are also feeling the effects of globalwarming. Globalwarming awareness2007 must fight to keep bread, olive oil, and wine production high and of high quality. Globalwarming impacts our way of life, the food we eat, and the happiness we feel at Italian restaurants.

More: USA Today coverage of globalwarming and wine

Catholic Online today offers timely commentary on the past and future role of persons of faith in fighting globalwarming and raising awareness in 2007 and beyond. The article is in response to the recent UN report on globalwarming, as well as the words and actions of globalwarming dissenters.

The article cites numerous popes, from Pius XII to John Paul II, on the subject of global climate change, globalwarming, and the need for stewardship of the earth and its bounty.

Catholic Online states the following about the impact of globalwarming, and the need for 2007 awareness:

Together these gas emissions have raised air and ocean temperatures worldwide and amount to catastrophes in the making. They are already melting the arctic sea ice and adjoining ice sheets, leaving puzzled polar bears stranded on ice floes. Rises in sea levels may sweep away the homes of people living on seacoast plains, scientists warn, and heat waves are expected to disrupt agriculture.

The articleurges persons of faith to take heed of the danger and be aware of globalwarming in 2007. Recommendations include using less energy through various means, including air-drying dishes, driving smaller vehicles and hybrid autos, and even sharing rides via car pools.

Articles like this show that persons of faith are increasingly linking globalwarming awareness2007 to their religion and their holy doctrine. This is a great sign for the future of the globalwarming awareness movement.

Thursday’s US House of Representatives Science Committee meeting degenerated into massive silliness when several House Republicans decided to take their time on CSPAN to make completely ridiculous statements to downplay the risk of globalwarming and mock those whose awareness of the problem have resulted in the UN Report on Globalwarming, as well as these Congressional hearings on the danger of climate change.

Proving that breathing Wisconsin’s legendary ‘dairy air’ may have touched his wits, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) asked one scientist the following doozy:

Does (it) mean to stop this increase in methane we’ve got to put catalytic converters on the backs of cows?

Meanwhile, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) proved a dissenting voice against that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Ms. Pelosi is a noted friend of the globalwarming awareness movement, and since taking the post of Speaker of the House in 2007 has made it an important cause. However, Rep. Rohrbacher questioned if globalwarming might be cyclical:

“We don’t know what the other cycles were caused by in the past,” he said. “It could be dinosaur flatulence. Who knows?”

As these Republicans blame cow farts and dinosaur toots for the globalwarming of today, many others are increasingly aware of the problems caused by human use of such things as oil — which is in fact a byproduct of dead dinosaurs. Friends of globalwarming must continue to pepper their Congressional delegations with their concerns about global climate change, and encourage US investment in new energy technologies.

Iowa, a state with great potential to use wind, manure, and ethanol in response to energy needs, still breeds another type: the globalwarming skeptic. Despite massive communities of activist students at universities who are raising globalwarming awareness, and many scholars and scientists har at work here in 2007 to find globalwarming answers, skeptics still exist, as shown in the Des Moines Register.

In an Op-Ed letter, a Des Moines man touts the cause of Big Oil, proclaiming:

Believing that people are the primary contributors to CO2 in the atmosphere is silly. Compared to the CO2 and other gases produced naturally by volcanoes, both on land and under water, and from the surfaces of the oceans, man’s contribution is miniscule.

Throughout his letter, he proclaims oil as an answer:

It’s obvious an ample and dependable supply of oil is the answer. It’s cheaper, more efficient and plentiful.

Seeking cheap answers to energy needs is both short-sighted, and shows ignorance to the cause of globalwarming awareness2007. Even if we make use of cheap answers, their supplies are finite. The ingenuity of scientists researching globalwarming and alternative energy is infinite! While this guy from Des Moines may want to drill in Alaska and harm the wild habitat of fuzzy polar bears and frolicking caribou, many oppose such action. The Inuit people claim that globalwarming is a violation of their human rights. Even in Iowa, globalwarming may hurt important cash crops and the livelihoods of Iowans.

Thought processes like those displayed by this individual — who may or may not be a minority voice — is but one reason why Americans have such low stature in the world globalwarming awareness community. We must think beyond our pocketbooks, our SUVs, and our Wal-Marts and think of the good of humanity and our animal friends. The well-being of all is at the heart of globalwarming awareness2007.

Link: Des Moines Register: More oil is the obvious answer

Following Friday’s release of the landmark 2007 report from the United Nations on globalwarming, many papers have been providing awareness-raising coverage of the climate change issue.

Today’s LA Times weighs in with an article that illustrates a major factor in globalwarming awareness: That even with drastic lifestyle and behavior changes from world citizens, there is enough carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere that the impact of globalwarming is likely to last for centuries.

Globalwarming results when the atmosphere is unable to absorb all of the greenhouse gas emissions caused on the planetary surface. A fossil fuel emissions expert cited in the LA Times article estimates that all motor vehicle use in the United States probably represents 7.3% of all global emissions. In fact, if every country on Earth returned to Stone Age technology levels, save China and the United States, globalwarming would continue due to those two nations’ emissions levels.

The article also raises something known by many in the globalwarming awareness community: Some actions, such as buying hybrid vehicles, is an illusory contribution to emission reduction. While driving such vehicles does reduce emissions, even if every vehicle in the US were replaced with such vehicles, overall reduction would be in the single-digit percentages. Bicycling, walking, and public transit are all more effective reducers of globalwarming emissions.

However, even knowing this, it is important to take such steps, and for outspoken advocates to continue to rally political and economic forces to reduce emissions and take further steps towards creating livable communities based on energy-efficient principles. 2007 must be the year for globalwarming awareness!

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune today published an article called God is Great, God is Green. The article discusses how people of many faiths are increasingly concerned about globalwarming.

While many articles present the rising tide of globalwarming awareness in 2007 among the religious as new, this article goes further into history and recalls prior eras — most particularly, the 1960s, when people of faith, and not merely outspoken advocates, reacted to the disturbing messages in Silent Spring, the landmark environmental piece by Rachel Carson. However, the article does not mention the tradition within the Roman Catholic Church of encouraging stewardship of God’s creation, which includes the Earth and all of the species created by God and named by Adam.

While the article skips this, it does create rising awareness of a new environmental movement among the religious. Globalwarming in 2007 and beyond is undoubtedly going to create human and animal suffering due to climate change and agricultural issues. Care for creation is an act of worship, and looking at the resources of the planet as worth harnessing appropriately and using wisely is also in keeping with doctrines of faith held by Judeo-Christians and Muslims — not just Wiccans, pagans, and other adherents of more nature-driven religious thought.

The more groups who can work together for globalwarming awareness2007, the greater the chances of such bodies as the US government taking action to slow environmental change and preserve our planet!

The Associated Press, via Yahoo News, reports that private advocacy groups have found evidence of political pressure on government agencies to downplay awareness of globalwarming.

Further details of their findings are expected to be presented on January 30, 2007, to Congress.

As hearings on climate change begin, globalwarming statements by both Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and perennial Republican hopeful John McCain are expected. Each is expected to back increased globalwarming awareness, including mandatory greenhouse gas emission reductions, and each is involved in sponsoring 2007 legislation designed to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Government agencies accused by advocates of tampering with globalwarming reports include the White House Council on Environmental Quality, NASA and the EPA.

These accusations are in stark contrast to recent UN action related to globalwarming, including the 2007 release of new scientific findings on climate change.

Globalwarming advocates are well advised to maintain awareness of these 2007 hearings, and to write their congressional delegations to endorse support of important globalwarming measures.

The New Zealand Herald reports that 13% of Americans have never heard of globalwarming.

The result comes in a 2007 survey done by AC Nielsen in 46 countries to gauge global awareness of the globalwarming problem. US respondents to the survey were not only least aware of globalwarming, but also the least concerned about globalwarming’s impact on the planet. (Latin Americans were most concerned, possibly because they are particularly at risk of increased hurricane activity or loss of critical cash crops due to weather pattern change.)

Around the world, 57% of survey respondents called globalwarming “a very serious problem,” and another 34% considered it a “serious problem.” Only 42% of respondents in the United States thought globalwarming “a very serious problem.”

Surveys like this show that globalwarming awareness must be increased in the United States, which is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in 2007. As the most serious contributor to the problem,the US mustact to limit globalwarming and protect our planet and our economy.

A study to be released next week by the United Nations is getting attention as it declares that globalwarming is already happening now, in 2007, and it is getting worse.

News outlets are raising awareness that the study will contain much new, scientific data on globalwarming. It is expected that the report will cover globalwarming’s impact on polar icecaps, sea currents, and weather patterns.

Future chapters of the report to be released later in 2007 may contain information to raise awareness of how globalwarming impacting human health, food production, and non-human species survival as climate change destroys habitats and cultivation environments.

Globalwarming advocates are looking forward to the release of the initial report on February 2, and subsequent chapters to follow in 2007. We all hope that the data will help convince globalwarming skeptics to take action!

Also this weekend, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback announced his candidacy for US President in 2008. As far as his awareness of globalwarming issues in 2007, his Senate site and his voting record are not always in accord:

• Sam claims that energy, agricultural, and the environment are all important issues in Kansas, and while he doesn’t state this directly, each has a relationship to globalwarming.
• Sam speaks of progress made in limiting greenhouse gases, which are clearly a factor in globalwarming.

However, contrary voices exist to Sam’s official and sanitized-for-our-protection Senate site:

• The Anti-Sam Blog points out that one of Sam’s largest campaign funding sources is a notorious polluter/cause of globalwarming
• Sam voted to confirm Gale Norton as Interior Secretary.
• Voted AGAINST including oil and gas refinery smokestacks in anti-mercury regulations in 2005.
• Brownback’s highest score in the last 7 years from the League of Conservation Voters is 29%, due to approving drilling in ANWR and rejecting various environmental programs!
Clearly, Senator Brownback has low awareness of globalwarming issues or, to date in 2007, just doesn’t care about globalwarming’s impact on our nation, our economy, and our planet. Certainly, Kansas is safe from super-hurricanes, and a refugee surge to the state could easily triple its population and change its economy. Voters who care about globalwarming awareness would be best advised to raise his awareness!

More people have awareness of globalwarming’s 2007 threat. Winemakers around the world fear that 2007 is set to be the warmest year on record. Will 2007 wines be impacted? Awareness of this fact may be impossible for some years due to fermentation times on top grapes!