Just found out I'm on kid taxi duty tomorrow. No phone bank for me. Maybe I can talk my 7yo into going to the rally at 6, though. (Sorry for abusing the forum/Disqus)
My better half and I drove through Santa Rosa last October less than 6 hours before the fires began. We stayed with a friend in Lake County, where another fire began that very night, sparked by the same high winds that downed power lines for the Santa Rosa fire.
We then headed north to Redding/Lassen, and doubled back to SF a few days later.
By the time we returned, you literally couldn't see 200 yards for the smoke from the Sonoma/Napa fires. Unless you were right by the ocean on the west side of the city, every breath was chock-full of the flavor of singed California. Horrible to breathe, to see, to experience, and it just got worse and worse and worse.
The total (and this is by necessity a moving target) output of non-carbon based electric generation worldwide is 17-19%. This includes solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric and the always mysterious other.
Increasing the output from photovoltaic solar is rapidly becoming a much more cost effective process. PV panels are now achieving efficiency ratings of over 50% meaning that fewer panels and less covered capacity is required. One study has found that worldwide electric generation would require coverage of 191,800 square miles. In case you were curious, that's about the land area of Spain.
So the short answer is yes, additional solar and wind generation will help in reducing overall emissions but it's going to take a lot more.
All this. I decided as a teen, just past puberty, that I would never have children. I knew in my bones that there would not be a planet fit for them to live on, and behaved accordingly. I did not know that my will would be so strong that neither of my sisters would have kids either, but that's what happened.
Harvey was not the only indicator, although that was a tough one. Frankenstorm Sandy SHOULD have been a wake-up call for the entire east coast. We should be engineering a solution to protect our little island group of NYC (yes, The Bronx is on the mainland, but the rest of the city is islands). If The Netherlands can do it, so can we. Will we?
Yep. "Catastrophic" literally means that anyone in the path of that fire WILL die. If you try to stay and defend your home, you WILL die. If you are caught and can't leave, you WILL die. At "Catastrophic" there is no "might".
If ever you have the choice to Leave or Stay And Defend; LEAVE. This is from a 3rd generation firefighter. There is nothing - NOTHING - in your house worth dying for. Get your family, get your pets and RUN. And do it well before the flames get close; by the time you see them, it's too late. That's how a lot of people died in Greece. They had no warning to evacuate, and by the time they realised the fire was upon them, it was too late. My family's "trigger point" to evacuate is when the power goes out.
Fuck fire. Fuck bushfires. Fuck climate change. Fuck Trump and the goddamn politicians of every stripe, in every country, that put "economic growth" above the survival of the goddamn planet.
The heat/humidity here has been relentless. It’s supposed to get drier in the next few days and temps a bit lower. Don’t know if that will help the firefighters, but I hope so. They deserve that kindness.
Was sent a picture a year or two ago of the street below the side of my parents' house. The ground built up so much hydraulic pressure from cloudbursts that 2 huge (40x20) sheets of asphalt floated free of the rest of the roadbed and settled on top of the rest of the street.
Just found out I'm on kid taxi duty tomorrow. No phone bank for me. Maybe I can talk my 7yo into going to the rally at 6, though. (Sorry for abusing the forum/Disqus)
My better half and I drove through Santa Rosa last October less than 6 hours before the fires began. We stayed with a friend in Lake County, where another fire began that very night, sparked by the same high winds that downed power lines for the Santa Rosa fire.
We then headed north to Redding/Lassen, and doubled back to SF a few days later.
By the time we returned, you literally couldn't see 200 yards for the smoke from the Sonoma/Napa fires. Unless you were right by the ocean on the west side of the city, every breath was chock-full of the flavor of singed California. Horrible to breathe, to see, to experience, and it just got worse and worse and worse.
One teated cows require an awful lot of tugging for very little milk.
The total (and this is by necessity a moving target) output of non-carbon based electric generation worldwide is 17-19%. This includes solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric and the always mysterious other.
Increasing the output from photovoltaic solar is rapidly becoming a much more cost effective process. PV panels are now achieving efficiency ratings of over 50% meaning that fewer panels and less covered capacity is required. One study has found that worldwide electric generation would require coverage of 191,800 square miles. In case you were curious, that's about the land area of Spain.
So the short answer is yes, additional solar and wind generation will help in reducing overall emissions but it's going to take a lot more.
All this. I decided as a teen, just past puberty, that I would never have children. I knew in my bones that there would not be a planet fit for them to live on, and behaved accordingly. I did not know that my will would be so strong that neither of my sisters would have kids either, but that's what happened.
Harvey was not the only indicator, although that was a tough one. Frankenstorm Sandy SHOULD have been a wake-up call for the entire east coast. We should be engineering a solution to protect our little island group of NYC (yes, The Bronx is on the mainland, but the rest of the city is islands). If The Netherlands can do it, so can we. Will we?
The did!
It's the red planet
I was in the Irish Midlands last week. It's as dry as a bone. My wife's farming relatives can't remember it ever being so dry.
My climate-change denying MEP (UKIP, obvsly), firmly declared that the sea is NOT becoming more acidic; it is simply less alkaline than it used to be.
Yep. "Catastrophic" literally means that anyone in the path of that fire WILL die. If you try to stay and defend your home, you WILL die. If you are caught and can't leave, you WILL die. At "Catastrophic" there is no "might".
If ever you have the choice to Leave or Stay And Defend; LEAVE. This is from a 3rd generation firefighter. There is nothing - NOTHING - in your house worth dying for. Get your family, get your pets and RUN. And do it well before the flames get close; by the time you see them, it's too late. That's how a lot of people died in Greece. They had no warning to evacuate, and by the time they realised the fire was upon them, it was too late. My family's "trigger point" to evacuate is when the power goes out.
Fuck fire. Fuck bushfires. Fuck climate change. Fuck Trump and the goddamn politicians of every stripe, in every country, that put "economic growth" above the survival of the goddamn planet.
Ah yes, Vogon poetry: 'Ode to a lump of green putty I found under my armpit one midsummer morning'...
The heat/humidity here has been relentless. It’s supposed to get drier in the next few days and temps a bit lower. Don’t know if that will help the firefighters, but I hope so. They deserve that kindness.
"Earning" them (the rich white Trump base) the right to die last - and alone.
If it's not on Faux, he hasn't seen it.
Was sent a picture a year or two ago of the street below the side of my parents' house. The ground built up so much hydraulic pressure from cloudbursts that 2 huge (40x20) sheets of asphalt floated free of the rest of the roadbed and settled on top of the rest of the street.
Me too, but they are already going. I seethe with rage at republicans when i see a half dead lilac bush. They will take everything we love.