The Environment - Page 31 - Politics and Economics

In a news report that could easily be the plot of a cult horror movie, an anthrax outbreak has swept the remote Yamalo-Nenets district of western Siberia, killing 1,500 reindeer since Sunday. According to NBC News, authorities think the outbreak began when some zombie anthrax thawed out of an infected reindeer corpse and woke up.

It’s been an exceptionally hot summer in Siberia, with temperatures in some provinces soaring up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit above average. The extreme heat has triggered a seemingly endless rash of freak weather, natural disasters, and signs of ecological malaise, including enormous wildfires, record flooding, and natural moon bounces that might be explosive.

But above all else, this week’s anthrax outbreak—the first to hit the region since 1941—signals that global warming is transforming Siberia’s lonely wilderness into a feverish nightmarescape. Thirteen members of the nomadic Nenet community have been hospitalized this week, while more than 60 others have been temporarily relocated to avoid contracting the bacterially-transmitted disease that is, again, believed to have blossomed to life out of a sodden corpse.

Meanwhile, the Nenet community’s reindeer are dying in droves. According to NBC News, people stopped vaccinating reindeer against anthrax about a decade ago, after the region had gone half a century with no outbreaks. Authorities are now scrambling to rectify that, but it’s likely that more of the animals will die in the coming days.

07-29-2016 , 11:32 PM

#752

microbet

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I had no idea what a natural moon bounce was, so I found your article and - woah

http://gizmodo.com/this-bouncy-siber...r-p-1784033816

07-31-2016 , 07:38 PM

#753

Loki

binary duo

Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 12,772

Quote:

"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have engineered a potentially game-changing solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy," reports Next Big Future.

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/07...-co2-into.html

Interesting if true!

08-01-2016 , 10:28 AM

#754

Loki

binary duo

Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 12,772

Quote:

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago say the fuel from carbon dioxide can remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, and provides a sustainable type of fuel that is as cheap as a gallon of gas.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/201...m-a-solar-leaf

Looks like this might be a thing after all

08-01-2016 , 02:17 PM

#755

microbet

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That is cool, but something like it (artificial photosynthesis) has been an occasional story for decades. The move from laboratory to product is not easy or fast.

I like technology on the horizon, but sometimes waiting for some breakthrough is successfully sold as a way of avoiding action now.

08-02-2016 , 08:18 AM

#756

heehaww

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 5,081

Slashdot:

Quote:

Two members of the Global Warming Policy Foundation academic advisory board have each lost 1,000 British Pound betting that 2015 would not be warmer than 2008. The Guardian reports... 2015 was a record-breaking hot year, about 0.32C hotter than 2008...The winner of the bet, economist Chris Hope, also discussed the possibility of implementing climate betting markets

Pleeeease start such a betting market in the US...

08-16-2016 , 10:24 AM

#757

miajag

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Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 17,328

thisisfine.jpg

08-23-2016 , 02:03 AM

#758

microbet

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Energy storage - sending a heavy train up a hill and letting it roll back

I just heard on the radio that something like this is being built now in Utah. Below is from a pilot project - I'm not sure if it's the same company. The company claims it's more efficient than pumped storage hydro facilities, which are 70-87% efficient.

http://www.aresnorthamerica.com/

08-23-2016 , 03:34 AM

#759

O.A.F.K.1.1

Ted Patrick

Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 27,952

Quote:

Originally Posted by microbet

Im not an engineer, but with tidal power everyone seems to concentrate on underwater blades of some kind and I never see mention of the fact that the tide can basically lift a practically infinite amount of weight several feet.

Put massive oil tanker in high tidal basin against a wharf/jetty, let tide lift it several metres, at high tide lock it into a device that can convert the potential energy of that weight falling to the low tide water height.

Reliable 24/7 energy.

08-23-2016 , 03:53 AM

#760

microbet

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Quote:

Originally Posted by O.A.F.K.1.1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azura_(wave_power_device)

Waves go up and down a few times every minute instead of twice a day.

But, physically I think it's just much easier to build a dam and turbine for the tides on a large scale than the kind of mechanism that goes up and down. Also, I think equipment needs a lot of care and service when exposed to sea water.

08-23-2016 , 04:06 AM

#761

O.A.F.K.1.1

Ted Patrick

Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 27,952

I live near one of the biggest tidal basins in the world, the severn river/estuary, building a damn across it basically impossible.

Tons of tidal capturing ideas have been mooted but never seem to come off and pilot schemes never seem to be that successful.

08-23-2016 , 04:41 AM

#762

Kukraprout

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Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 11,231

Quote:

Originally Posted by O.A.F.K.1.1

Put massive oil tanker in high tidal basin against a wharf/jetty, let tide lift it several metres, at high tide lock it into a device that can convert the potential energy of that weight falling to the low tide water height.

Reliable 24/7 energy.

Intriguing idea so I did a quick calculation: for a 500,000 tons boat with two 10m tides per day, I get about 1.15MW of available power. You can get that with a wind turbine. And having a mechanism capable of holding a massive boat in place in any weather and converting its movement to power doesnt sound cheap or easy.

Though there are a lot of freaky designs being tried to get energy from tides or waves so maybe something like that already exists.

08-27-2016 , 01:57 PM

#763

microbet

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I'm sure everyone heard about this:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...rk-off-hawaii/

Obama creates a national monument twice the size of Texas in the ocean around Hawaii. The is an expansion of an area that was protected by GWB. Considering the threat to fish and coral and just the diversity and unique species in this area, hopefully this will serve as an oasis for the oceans.

08-27-2016 , 02:04 PM

#764

microbet

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Climate bill is not going to hurt the economy.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...nap-story.html

This is on a study done by the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto. I don't know why the headline talks about dampening anything when the conclusion of the study was "The total impacts on the economy range from negligible from very slightly positive”.

08-27-2016 , 03:32 PM

#765

Csaba

veteran

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3,131

Quote:

Originally Posted by miajag

thisisfine.jpg

NASA's data is corrupted apparently:

Jesus wept.

08-27-2016 , 04:14 PM

#766

Trolly McTrollson

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DGAF Obama strikes again, creates the world's largest nature preserve:

Quote:

Yesterday President Obama announced the expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in western Hawaii by more than 442,778 miles, quadrupling its size and creating the largest marine preserve on earth.

The president will announce the new designation on Wednesday in Hawaii at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress. The idea for the expansion was originally floated over the summer by Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, at the urging of a group of influential native Hawaiians.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...-preserve.html

08-27-2016 , 04:24 PM

#767

microbet

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But what is DGAF Obama going to do for slow ponies?

09-11-2016 , 07:16 PM

#768

microbet

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Quote:

Originally Posted by microbet

You really say that looking at charts like that? I mean, do you see what direction things are going? Do you think the sun is not abundant?

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/10/...ts-record-low/

The new record low price for solar is under 4 cents per kwh for a utility scale project. And this is not something that has flattened out. The next record will be under 3 cents and then probably under 2 cents before it flattens and that will be in just the next few years.

Bump this. Under 4 cents last January? Under 3 cents per kwh in September.

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/08/18...C2%A2-per-kwh/

09-19-2016 , 08:12 AM

#769

BaseMetal2

adept

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 1,060

I recently watched this youtube vid and learnt quite a lot about sea level. I didn't realise that the mass of the ice-sheet over Greenland had some much mass that it was pulling the local sea level up due to it's huge gravity, I knew the weight would push the earth's crust down and so as it losses weight it lifts but the loss of mass, hence lower gravitational attraction, also has a similar effect.

I just thought some of you may be interested, here is the link.
"Taking the Fingerprints of Global Sea Level Rise" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD3-XCJATTU

09-27-2016 , 09:28 PM

#770

einbert

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GOP still doesn't believe in climate change:

09-27-2016 , 10:33 PM

#771

microbet

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Quote:

In June, the Guardian published the findings of its analysis of annual tax filings made to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service by the Donor’s Trust and Donor’s Capital Fund (DT and DCF, together known as the "Dark Money ATM" of the conservative movement). The Guardian found that these funds — which cannot be traced to individuals — directed around $125 million over three years to groups "spreading disinformation about climate science and committed to wrecking Barack Obama’s climate change plan."

In a separate analysis, DeSmog, a website focusing on global warming misinformation campaigns, examined tax records to reveal that between 2005 and 2012, DT and DCF, both of which share an address in Virginia, received $479 million of dark money from individuals or groups that do not have to declare their donations. Moreover, a Greenpeace analysis found that between 2002 and 2013, DCF gave $16 million to the Heartland Institute, which hosts regular conferences for climate deniers and once likened people who believed in climate change science to mass murderers.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/...me-republicans

But, yeah, the influence of money here is in the big fat grant money for scientists.

Also, the word "still" might not be correct.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012601630.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by George W. Bush

I recognize that the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem.

09-27-2016 , 10:41 PM

#772

suzzer99

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 99,986

Over 400 ppm CO2 at Mauna Loa - meaning we may never see it dip below that in our lifetimes. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/c...-400-ppm-20351

09-27-2016 , 10:43 PM

#773

einbert

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Yeah, they have a complicated and strange relationship with the facts. Here are a few other current takes from the GOP:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...a033a?mpy6tj4i

Quote:

HP: Is it the campaign’s belief that climate change is a hoax?

SESSIONS: Well, I’m going to tell you what I believe.

HP: But you’re here on the campaign’s behalf.

SESSIONS: I believe that we don’t need to be spending, making the taxpayers pay, much more money for their electricity from solar cells.

HP: But is it the campaign’s position that climate change is a hoax?

SESSIONS: No. I don’t think it is a hoax. What I say is climate change, the explanation the scientists gave for climate change, made some sense: that CO2 could be a greenhouse effect in causing the temperature to increase. However, 15 to 18 years have gone by and we haven’t seen anything like the predictions come true that they predicted.

Quote:

PURDUE: I understand that. Right now, it is not proven. There are controversies about that. There are experts on both sides that will take opposing views on that. And for us to take the entire direction of our country and sacrifice our economy and put millions of people out of work because of something that they, the Democrats, are perpetrating, I find really irresponsible.

Quote:

CONWAY: What he has said is, he believes [climate change] is naturally occurring and is not all man-made. I’ve heard him say that. He’s also said that there are passionate views on both sides of the issue.

It seems like the next phase is "climate change is real but it would be incredibly irresponsible of us to actually deal with it. lol libruls"

09-27-2016 , 11:06 PM

#774

Shifty86

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 3,007

How are you guys finding your transition off fossil fuels? I'm assuming since your so concerned about man made climate change your doing your part. Or do you just like to spout nonsense on message boards?

09-27-2016 , 11:18 PM

#775

microbet

Solar Powered

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 57,075

I'm not perfect, but I'm not doing too badly.

I did start a solar installation company in 2007 specifically to do my part. I've been part of I think over 1000 installations - or getting there anyway.

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