I have a triple play of Climate Change articles for you this morning!
First, I love this project:
WHO’S THAT PERSON BEHIND THE LAB COAT?
When you hear “climate science” what do you picture? Charts, graphs, melting icebergs, or rising sea levels?
Most of us forget there are people behind all the climate data going into today’s news headlines. Regular people are working hard, every day, studying climate change and exploring solutions in order to improve the future we’re leaving our children.
For these scientists, it’s not about the numbers in studies and charts. It’s about what these numbers mean for the planet and the people who live there. Which is why we think it’s long past time to humanize climate science. So let’s get to know the faces behind the facts.
Jump!
Next up, looks like we’re gonna get a double El Nino:
Welcome to the ‘Double El Niño’ – and more extreme weather
We’re about to experience a “double El Niño” – a rare weather phenomenon that climatologists had warned about several months ago.
That means two consecutive years of the concentration of warm water in the Pacific Ocean that brings West Coast storms, quiet hurricane seasons in the Atlantic and busy ones in the Pacific. The danger is that this could mean more than a few months of odd weather, but instead usher in a new phase of climate change. Last year was the warmest year on record; 2015 looks set to be even warmer.
“One way of thinking about global warming from the human influences is that it’s not just a gradual increase, but perhaps it’s more like a staircase, and we’re about to go up an extra step to a new level,” says climate scientist Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Finally, what an awesome idea to put into play:
Solar Streets: New Roadways May Ditch Asphalt for Energy-Generating Sunshine Collectors
As a kid in the 1960s, before most people had even heard of solar power, Scott Brusaw imagined “electric roads.” Almost five decades and two government-funded prototypes later, the electrical engineer from Ohio is on his way to raising $1 million to start producing solar panels for our streets and highways. Not to power the light, mind you-to function as streets and highways. Soon you may be driving on solar panels that power the buildings you’re passing by.
“We can use [photovoltaic panels] to create roads, parking lots, tarmacs-anything under the sun,” Brusaw says. “All of the current asphalt and concrete currently soaking up the sun can be covered with our technology to turn that sunlight into clean, renewable electricity.”
So how you doin’? 😀
1 comments
It’s still too cold but we get a teaser of warmth for a couple of days starting tomorrow.
Just reading some of the reports from Médecins Sans Frontières on the devastation the Cyclone Pam caused on the island nation of Vanuatu. The Pacific is experiencing stronger and larger storms in the last decade, all due to the waters becoming warmer.
This is serious concern about the Great Barrier Reef which is starting to die. This would have terrible environmental consequences for the eastern coast of Australia.