Thread: Any doubts about Climate Change?

and lovely it was too. Hopefully it will keep warming up, all the ice melts and turns to water, food will be abundant. might be a tad annoying though cutting the lawn at Christmas like they were in England 400 years ago... cos it was rather hot then as well.

Wooo hoooo.

Microwaves 'could be as bad for the environment as millions of cars'

By agency reporter
JANUARY 20, 2018



Microwave usage across the EU alone emits as much carbon dioxide as nearly seven million cars according to a new study by the University of Manchester.
Researchers at the University have carried out the first ever comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of microwaves, considering their whole life cycle, from ‘cradle to grave’.
The study found:

• Microwaves emit 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in the EU. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 6.8 million cars.
• Microwaves across the EU consume an estimated 9.4 terawatts per hour (TWh) of electricity every year. This is equivalent to the annual electricity generated by three large gas power plants.
• Efforts to reduce consumption should focus on improving consumer awareness and behaviour to use appliances more efficiently

Microwaves account for the largest percentage of sales of all type of ovens in the European Union (EU), with numbers set to reach nearly 135 million by 2020. Despite this, the scale of their impacts on the environment was not known until now.
The study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the impacts of microwaves, taking into account their manufacture, use and end-of-life waste management. Altogether, the research team investigated 12 different environmental factors, including climate change, depletion of natural resources and ecological toxicity. They found, for example, that the microwaves used across the EU emit 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. This is equivalent to the annual emission of 6.8 million cars.
The research shows that the main environmental ‘hotspots’ are materials used to manufacture the microwaves, the manufacturing process and end-of-life waste management. For example, the manufacturing process alone contributes more than 20 per cent to depletion of natural resources and to climate change.
However, it is electricity consumption by microwaves that has the biggest impact on the environment, taking into account its whole life cycle, from production of fuels to generation of electricity. In total, microwaves across the EU consume an estimated 9.4 terawatts per hour (TWh) of electricity every year. This is equivalent to the annual electricity generation by three large gas power plants.
The study found that, on average, an individual microwave uses 573 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity over its lifetime of eight years. That is equivalent to the electricity consumed by a 7 watt LED light bulb, left on continuously for almost nine years. This is despite the fact that microwaves spend more than 90 per cent of their lifetime being idle, in the stand-by mode.
The study’s authors suggest that efforts to reduce consumption should focus on improving consumer awareness and behaviour to use appliances more efficiently. For example, electricity consumption by microwaves can be reduced by adjusting the time of cooking to the type of food.
Waste is another major problem. Due to their relative low cost and ease of manufacture, consumers are throwing more electrical and electronic (EE) equipment away than ever before, including microwaves.
In 2005, across the EU, 184,000 tonnes of EE waste was generated from discarded microwaves. By 2025 this is estimated to rise to 195,000 tonnes, or 16 million individual units being sent for disposal.
Dr Alejandro Gallego-Schmid, from the School of Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science, explains: "Rapid technological developments and falling prices are driving the purchase of electrical and electronic appliances in Europe.
"‘Consumers now tend to buy new appliances before the existing ones reach the end of their useful life as electronic goods have become fashionable and ‘status’ items.
"As a result, discarded electrical equipment, such as microwaves, is one of the fastest growing waste streams worldwide."
Another major contributing factor to the waste is a reduced lifespan of microwaves. It is now nearly seven years shorter than it was almost 20 years ago. Research shows that a microwave’s life cycle has decreased from around 10 to 15 years in the late 90s to between six to eight years today.
Dr Gallego-Schmid added, "Given that microwaves account for the largest percentage of sales of all type of ovens in the EU, it is increasingly important to start addressing their impact on resource use and end-of-life waste."
The study also shows that existing regulation will not be sufficient to reduce the environmental impacts of microwaves. It recommends that it will be necessary to develop specific regulations for these devices targeting their design. This will help to reduce the amount of resources used to make microwaves and waste generated at the end of their lifetime.

Ekklesia | Microwaves 'could be as bad for the environment as millions of cars'

2017 – all the record numbers

State of the climate: how the world warmed in 2017

The climate data for 2017 is now in. In this article, Carbon Brief explains why last year proved to be so remarkable across the oceans, atmosphere, cryosphere and surface temperature of the planet.

A number of records for the Earth’s climate were set in 2017:

· It was the warmest year on record for ocean heat content, which increased markedly between 2016 and 2017.
· It was the second or third warmest year on record for surface temperature – depending on the dataset used – and the warmest year without the influence of an El Niño event.
· It saw record lows in sea ice extent and volume in the Arctic both at the beginning and end of the year, though the minimum extent reached in September was only the eighth lowest on record.
· It also saw record-low Antarctic sea ice for much of the year, though scientists are still working to determine the role of human activity in the region’s sea ice changes.

Warmest year on record in the oceans

More than 90% of the heat trapped by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations ends up going into the Earth’s oceans. While surface temperatures fluctuate a bit from year to year due to natural variability, ocean heat content increases much more smoothly and is, in many ways, a more reliable indicator of the warming of the Earth, albeit one with a shorter historical record.

2017 set a clear record for the highest ocean heat content since records began in 1958, according to the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAP-CAS), which maintains an up-to-date ocean heat content database.

top five years on record in terms of ocean heat: https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-ever-recorded

1) 2017: 19.19 × 1022 J
2) 2015: 17.68 × 1022 J
3) 2016: 17.18 × 1022 J
4) 2014: 16.74 × 1022 J
5) 2013: 16.08 × 1022 J

Warmest surface temperatures without an El Niño

Global surface temperatures in 2017 were the second or third warmest on record since 1850, when global temperatures can first be calculated with reasonable accuracy. Unlike the other warmest years – 2015 and 2016 – there was no El Niño event in 2017 (or in late 2016) contributing to increased temperatures this year (and mild El Niño conditions in early 2017 were offset by mild La Niña conditions during the later part of the year).

Near-record warmth in satellite records

In addition to surface measurements over the world’s land and oceans, satellite microwave sounding units have been providing estimates of global lower atmospheric temperatures since 1979. These measurements, while subject to some large uncertainties, also show 2017 as a near-record warm year.

The record produced by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) shows 2017 as the second warmest year after 2016 (El Niño year), while the record from the University of Alabama, Huntsville (UAH) shows it as the third warmest after 2016 and 1998 (El Niño years).

Low sea ice at both poles

In addition to near-record temperatures, 2017 also saw record-low sea ice during parts of the year, both in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Antarctic and Arctic sea ice extent is combined to estimate global sea ice extent in the figure below.

The figure below shows the range of individual models forecasts between 1970 and 2020 with grey shading, with the average projection across all the models shown in black. Individual observational temperature records are represented by coloured lines.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of...warmed-in-2017

Thing is with this Landreth bloke he used to post daily saying Clinton 99% chance of winning, welcome to president Clinton with his daily graphs and statistics. But not once did he acknowledge he got it wrong and not just got it a little bit wrong but a whole years of wasted posting was shown to be total bullshit. And also when anyone replied to his posts he'd never respond as in he's a total shill.

And now he's doing the same on global warming/climate change. He posts up any nonsense but when challenged is incapable of any debate. Just daily MSM fed crap.

Originally Posted by buriramboy

Thing is with this Landreth bloke he used to post daily saying Clinton 99% chance of winning, welcome to president Clinton with his daily graphs and statistics. But not once did he acknowledge he got it wrong and not just got it a little bit wrong but a whole years of wasted posting was shown to be total bullshit. And also when anyone replied to his posts he'd never respond as in he's a total shill.

And now he's doing the same on global warming/climate change. He posts up any nonsense but when challenged is incapable of any debate. Just daily MSM fed crap.

I haven't seen you offer any serious debate in this thread.

And Clinton won the popular vote exactly as most pollsters predicted, so your little red herring is off the mark.

Go ahead, let's hear why global warming is some kind of myth.

Originally Posted by buriramboy

Just daily MSM fed crap.

Cherchez les Russians...

Climate change hits the poorest hardest

Research shows that rising temperatures pose a greater risk of illness and death, as Hong Tsang reports from Hong Kong.

It was the flu that made Jordan Lee, 10, miss an important final-term exam. The night of Nov 12 was a nightmare. When Lee's temperature hit 40 C and stayed there, he was admitted to Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong and remained there until the fever abated.


The boy is always ill. His mother, who would only give her name as Ms Tao, quickly realized that after she and Jordan moved into a cramped, poorly ventilated apartment in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, five years ago. Lee has been in poor health ever since.


Mother and son fear summer most. They sweltered in the heat for years, before caving in and turning on the air conditioning, despite the extra expense, in the hope it would keep Lee healthy.


A study by Emily Chan Yingyang, assistant dean and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Medicine, discovered that when the ambient temperature rises above 28.5 C, the risk of being hospitalized with a respiratory ailment increases. For children age 15 and younger, the risk increases by an average of 19.5 percent for each 1 degree rise in temperature, while for people ages 15 to 59, the figure is 8.2 percent.


Chan was the first physician to investigate illnesses caused by rising temperatures in Hong Kong. When she checked the city's hospitalization data for 1998 to 2006, she made a connection between daily mean temperatures and mortality: When the daily mean temperature rose 1 degree above 28.2 C, the overall mortality rate on the same day rose by 1.8 percent.


"That proved that every rise of 1 degree over 28.2 C can be perilous to human health," she said.


The problem is getting worse, as illustrated by weather records for the past two decades.


Between June and August, the temperature climbed above 28.2 C on 68 days. In 2007, the city saw 61 days above the threshold, while in 1997 the number was 42, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.


"Climate change has driven ambient temperatures to a level that could debilitate human health, with our children suffering the most. The research bears it out," Chan said.



Rising temperatures


Last year, temperatures of 28 C or higher were recorded on 41 nights, the highest number in the city's recorded history. Moreover, during the afternoon of Aug 22－the day before Typhoon Hato struck－the temperature rocketed to 36.6 C, a record high.


The temperature in Hong Kong has risen by 0.15 C every decade since 1987. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are sharply curbed, the city's annual mean temperature is expected to rise by about 1.5 C to 3 C by 2060, and by 3 C to 6 C by 2100.


A study by 24 international academic institutions and organizations found that the greater frequency of heat waves and their longer durations exposed an additional 125 million people worldwide to greater health risks between 2000 and 2016.


It also found that people under prolonged exposure to high temperatures were more prone to heat stress, heatstroke, and aggravated cardiovascular and renal conditions. Moreover, the poor are at greatest risk.


Lee, at the lower end of the social scale, may not know the statistics, but he knows he was sick last summer, when he was hospitalized with summer flu for several nights.


"I have never seen hotter days than during last summer," he said. "I always found myself lying on the bed, heaving, sweating, unable to sleep, dizzy and very uncomfortable."


Chan's research discovered an overall 4.5 percent rise in hospital admissions from 1998 to 2009 when the daily mean temperature rose 1 degree above the 28.5 C threshold.


"Wealthier families can afford air-conditioning, but poor families can't," she said.



Under the weather


A better way of understanding the effect of hot weather on humans was provided by Richard Fielding, professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong.


He said the "wet-bulb" temperature is a useful way of assessing the dangers of extreme heat on the human body. As the name implies, a wet-bulb temperature involves wrapping a wet cloth around a thermometer bulb. That means the reading takes account of the moisture in the air, which gives a more accurate index of the heat effect on the human body.


Fielding said the core body temperature is about 37 C, but the temperature on the surface of the skin is usually about 35 C.


A wet-bulb temperature of 35 C is as much as the human body can stand. Any higher, and it is impossible for the body to cool itself through the evaporation of sweat. Heat becomes trapped inside the body and the internal temperature climbs.


As the body absorbs more heat from the surrounding environment than it is capable of dissipating, hyperthermia sets in, followed by heat cramps, exhaustion and, sometimes, lethal heatstroke. For that reason the wet-bulb temperature of 35 C is sometimes referred to as the "survivability threshold".


"If someone reaches a wetbulb temperature of 35 C and can't cool down, they will die of heat stress after six hours, even if they drink a lot of water," Fielding said.


In 2015, a severe heat wave with a wet-bulb temperature at 50 C swept India and Pakistan. More than 3,500 people died in regions where there was no air conditioning and no relief from the heat.


Hong Kong has yet to see days with a wet-bulb temperature higher than 35 C, but the trend toward rising temperatures gives cause for concern. According to the city's observatory, if greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, the number of extremely hot and humid days, with wet-bulb temperatures of 28.2 C or higher, is expected to hit 96 per year by the end of the century.

MORE Climate change hits the poorest hardest - Chinadaily.com.cn




More nonsense from the MSM.

But she is not the president.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

But she is not the president.

Yes, bit of a fucking shame really. Instead we have this fat orange turd who, given the chance, has no compunction about taking healthcare away from the poor and elderly to line his fucking pockets.

More of Antarctica's Totten Glacier found to be floating, posing rising sea level threat

By Cameron Gooley
Updated about an hour ago


More of one of Antarctica's largest and most important glaciers is floating on top of the ocean than previously thought, researchers say, which could have a significant impact on the rise of global sea levels.

The new research from the Australian Antarctic Program has found the Totten Glacier, located in the southern continent's east, could be affected more by warming ocean temperatures because more of the glacier is directly in contact with the ocean, and much less is sitting on rock than originally thought.

Glaciologist Dr Ben Galton-Fenzi said the new research had caused a dramatic change in thinking.

"The Totten is actually one of the most important glaciers in Antarctica, and you might even argue the world, because it drains a region of the Antarctic ice sheet that could lead to several metres of potential sea level [rise] in the future", he said.

"The amount of ice sitting behind the Totten is comparable to that which is contained within the whole West Antarctic ice sheet."

Dr Galton-Fenzi's team of researchers included scientists from Australia and overseas, with Professor Paul Winberry joining from Central Washington University in the United States.

Professor Winberry said the new information was obtained by using seismic technology.

"We use seismic methods. They're very similar to how the oil companies might explore for oil underneath the earth," he said.

"So we try to generate soundwaves, they go down, and we hear echoes coming from big discontinuities inside the Earth."

These methods allow researchers to determine how thick the ice is, as well as how thick the ocean column is underneath the ice.

Antarctic researchers estimate the glacier itself holds enough ice to raise global ocean levels by around three metres if it were melted in its entirety.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] estimates of future sea levels by 2100 suggests that there's going to be about a metre of sea level [rise] through thermal expansion of the oceans, that's atmospheric heat going into the oceans causing them to warm where they expand," Dr Galton-Fenzi said.

"But also there's a contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet — and the Greenland ice sheets actually — so as they melt that ice mass flows into the oceans and causes a further increase in sea levels.

"...then that's an incredibly high number, and it's a region that we really need to understand how soon its going to change to warming climate and how soon its going to cause sea levels to rise."

Dr Galton-Fenzi says it was too early to understand what the consequences of these findings would be, but he said that any increase in ocean temperature meant that the glacier would likely be affected.

The researchers flew down to Casey Station in Antarctica in early December last year, and spent about eight weeks on the southern continent while investigating the glacier.
Despite the seriousness of the research, Professor Winberry said Antarctica was not a bad place to spend Summer.

"[It was] brilliant ... most days there was a high above freezing!" he said.

More of Antarctica's Totten Glacier found to be floating, posing rising sea level threat - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

From the normally mild summer climes of Ireland, Scotland and Canada to the scorching Middle East, numerous locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest weather ever recorded over the past week.
Large areas of heat pressure or heat domes scattered around the hemisphere led to the sweltering temperatures. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports the heat is to blame for at least 33 deaths in southern Quebec, mostly in and near Montreal, which endured record high temperatures.
In Northern Siberia, along the coast of the Arctic Ocean – where weather observations are scarce – model analyses showed temperatures soaring 40 degrees above normal on July 5, to over 90 degrees. “It is absolutely incredible and really one of the most intense heat events I’ve ever seen for so far north,” wrote meteorologist Nick Humphrey, who offers more detail on this extraordinary high-latitude hot spell on his blog.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.4db2575be2b8

Ottawa: More than 30 people have died during a heatwave in Canada.


Health authorities in the Canadian province of Quebec said 33 people have died from heat-related complications in the last few days.

Eighteen of those deaths have come in Montreal, where humid temperatures climbed past 43 degrees Celsius.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-a...ALhdy28zsr6qiq

Some depressing reading on the likelihood of minimising climate change from both an economic and practical standpoint....

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...62e3d7dc3e593b

Pretty grim indeed and to think that there are still idiots out there claiming it is not happening.

I would think the time for producing graphs etc is long gone and we moved on to how we are going to actually make a difference. It seems obvious to me that it will take a collective effort by all countries. The time for excusing over pollution by developing countries is long gone.I read an article on Chinese factories still using R11 as a foam blowing agent. R11 is not only a greenhouse gas but a serious ozone depleting gas that was the first of the chloroflourocarbons to be phased out in many western countries before the turn of the century. Its continued use will delay the repair of the hole in the ozone layer. The fact that it is still manufactured when there are known alternatives used for years in the west, shows how little one of the worlds biggest current polluters is taking global warming with all its rhetoric. Many developing countries are still using global warming gases that are no longer used in many western countries.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Impossible as the orange cheeto is in the oval office. This effort will need to be a completely unified one to work and sadly I do not see that kind of commitment from the countries. I hate to say it but this will become the new reality and people will die. When action comes it will be too little too late.

Reads as though you are saying it is impossible only because Trump is the president,are you saying all the rest of the countries of the world can’t come together and work toward a solution,or maybe you just had to try and get a jab at Trump.

Wasn't it during W's presidency that his "scientists" had "proven" the climate change is a bulshit? Then everybody (in USA) happy...

Originally Posted by RPETER65

are you saying all the rest of the countries of the world can’t come together and work toward a solution

Why do you care? You are a science denier who is guilty of posting tons of fake news on this thread trying and failing to push your science denial. With regards to Drumpf he is an idiot and a pathological liar and it has been proven time and time again.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Why do you care? You are a science denier who is guilty of posting tons of fake news on this thread trying and failing to push your science denial. With regards to Drumpf he is an idiot and a pathological liar and it has been proven time and time again.

I have never denied the climate is changing,but regards to what you actually posted it seems to me if the rest of the world cared to take on the challenge they could proceed with or without Trump,so you can shove your hate where the sun doesn’t shine.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

I have never denied the climate is changing,but regards to what you actually posted it seems to me if the rest of the world cared to take on the challenge they could proceed with or without Trump,so you can shove your hate where the sun doesn’t shine.

The rest of the world (and many US states) ARE taking on the challenge, you senile old twat.

Which means the rest of the world are going to be the leaders in renewables technology and the US will end up with yet another trade imbalance.

Fucking trumpanzees, haven't got a clue, have they?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The rest of the world (and many US states) ARE taking on the challenge, you senile old twat.

Which means the rest of the world are going to be the leaders in renewables technology and the US will end up with yet another trade imbalance.

Fucking trumpanzees, haven't got a clue, have they?

Drawing a long bow there Harry. A lot of the digital technology will still come out of the USA. B.O.T. will be the least of the U.S.As problems as far as extreme weather change goes.

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

Drawing a long bow there Harry. A lot of the digital technology will still come out of the USA.

It won't if it hasn't got the funding.

I wonder if we've actually already reached the tipping point?

TOKYO: Japan logged its highest-ever temperature of 41.1 C on Monday as a deadly heat wave continued to grip wide areas of the country, claiming more than 70 lives and sending tens of thousands of people to hospitals over the last two weeks.


The extreme heat left 77 people dead and sent more than 30,000 to hospitals across the nation from July 9 to 22, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and a Kyodo News tally.

The extraordinary heat prompted the Japan Meteorological Agency to hold an unusual news conference, saying, "This heat is a threat to life. We recognise it as a natural disaster."

The agency warned the public to take preventive measures against heatstroke, as scorching temperatures are expected to continue for two more weeks.

The mercury hit the record high in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo at 2:16 p.m., eclipsing the previous record of 41.0 C marked in August 2013 in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, in western Japan, while Tokyo also logged its all-time high of 40.8 C in the city of Ome, according to the agency.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1508750/