CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING

[Stanley]

I heard a report on R4 about this ship David. 'Windwings' is yet another iteration of technology for utilising the power of the wind to help drive large ships. The pitfall has always been damage to the systems in bad weather. I suggest that before anyone starts jumping up and down with glee they should wait and see how it turns out.
At the moment I would relegate this to the 'clutching straws department'.

[PanBiker]

They have been manufacturing some racing yachts with sails like that for years. I'm sure I have seen pictures, can't be bothered to look though.

Its a bit like the advert on TV for the big all electric SUV, shows it belting up a rough mountain road with a tag line of "freedom" or some other such superlative. I'm certain that there won't be a public charge point up there for when it runs out of juice.

[Stanley]

The manufacturers need us to buy the new electric vehicles but in terms of governmental policy I am sure that the hidden agenda is to put vehicle owning and operation outside the means of the masses. Nobody has made this clear because the consequences are so severe.
I note that very few commentators are talking about 'tipping points' now. I assume that's because we have passed them..... We live in interesting times.

[PanBiker]

I think this belongs in here as its linked I reckon as the jet stream is skewed. Coupled with a bit of sods law!

I cleaned the car yesterday ready for our trip to Wales. I did it with a wash and wax so hopefully it will be relatively easy to shift the reasonable portion of the Sahara Desert that it has inherited overnight.

[Big Kev]

I think this belongs in here as its linked I reckon as the jet stream is skewed. Coupled with a bit of sods law!

I cleaned the car yesterday ready for our trip to Wales. I did it with a wash and wax so hopefully it will be relatively easy to shift the reasonable portion of the Sahara Desert that it has inherited overnight.

Washed mine off this morning too, couldn't see out of the windows
Be gentle with it, it's very abrasive.

[PanBiker]

Well, did mine with the normal hose (various spray options). Looked OK when wet, still cover though dry. Looks like I will have to get the jet washer out again tomorrow.

[Stanley]

I noticed that dust on my wheelie bins...... Didn't bother washing them though......

[Tizer]

We got it in Taunton too. A fairly regular event but this was probably the most dense covering we've ever had. Looking on the bright side the dust load carried west from the Sahara usually spreads fertiliser on the western Atlantic Ocean and the Amazon area and has been doing so on the geological time scale. It's rich in phosphorus because the Sahara once had a giant lake that dried out. Vox.com

[PanBiker]

No further covering last night so I got the jet washer out for the car. Gave it a rinse with clean water first then loaded the machine with car wash and wax as it has a detergent feature. Switched the lance to low pressure to engage the detergent tank. Coated it all over then sponged it down. Cleared the detergent tank by giving the car another coat of detergent then washed it off with clean water. Finally looks a lot better.

Just have to fill it with extortionately priced petrol now, £1.50 + a LITRE! When I started motoring it was 33 pence a GALLON. Couldn't fit a quids worth in a motorbike tank.

[Stanley]

I think I heard someone from the Met Office saying that this spell of Indian Summer is the longest ever recorded in September.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the unprecedented shrinkage of the sea ice round Antarctica.
The sea-ice surrounding Antarctica is well below any previous recorded winter level, satellite data shows, a worrying new benchmark for a region that once seemed resistant to global warming. "It's so far outside anything we've seen, it's almost mind-blowing," says Walter Meier, who monitors sea-ice with the National Snow and Ice Data Center. An unstable Antarctica could have far-reaching consequences, polar experts warn. Antarctica's huge ice expanse regulates the planet's temperature, as the white surface reflects the Sun's energy back into the atmosphere and also cools the water beneath and near it. Without its ice cooling the planet, Antarctica could transform from Earth's refrigerator to a radiator, experts say. The ice that floats on the Antarctic Ocean's surface now measures less than 17 million sq km - that is 1.5 million sq km of sea-ice less than the September average, and well below previous winter record lows. That's an area of missing ice about five times the size of the British Isles.
The scientists are afraid that some sort of trigger point has been passed.
How much more evidence do we need to stifle the political trend we are seeing now in the UK? Do the politicians not read the news?

[Tizer]

Sunak's announcement that he's considering weakening all the plans for reaching net zero by 2050 came as a shock to me and I'm surprised there isn't more about it in the news media. We're at another Brexit-type moment. It's a crazy idea and, like Brexit, it's just to satisfy the Tory right wing bully dogs and the right wing newspapers and their readers (and owners). Not only will it endanger our chances of coping with climate change it will cause mayhem in the economy (it's a Liz truss moment too) because it undermines everything our industry and technologists have been doing to met the original plan and it send out a message to the world that `You can all sit back and carry on as usual, there's no hurry, forget what we agreed at all those meetings in recent years'. We're at a watershed - will Sunak step off the cliff or realise the danger in time to step back?

[Stanley]

Very much the general comments I have heard elsewhere this morning.
I've posted a video for you Peter in 'May I recommend'. About the floods in Dawlish.

[Tizer]

Thanks for that. Sunak is due to make an announcement on his climate policy at 16.30 this afternoon. Let's hope there might be a U-turn!

From the BBC live feed on the topic...
Lord Deben, the former chair of the Committee on Climate Change which advises the government, called the expected relaxing of pledges "stupid" and "so ridiculous"....It would be "extremely damaging" because "who would believe government pledges on climate change in future?"

Conservative peer Zac Goldsmith - who quit as environment minister in June - has called for a general election following reports that the government is about to delay some of its 2030 net zero targets. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Lord Goldsmith wrote that he had received "hundreds of messages from Conservative friends telling me me this move by the PM vindicates my decision to noisily resign". "We need an election. Now," he concludes.

Even Boris Johnson!...We've just heard from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson who says "we cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country". He adds that it is crucial that businesses have confidence in the government's net zero policy. Without specifically criticising the anticipated delay, Johnson makes the argument for environmental policies, saying the "green industrial revolution is already generating huge numbers of high quality jobs and helping to drive growth".

[Tripps]

I'd say the fact that Lord Deben (John Selwyn Gummer from Stockport as was), Lord Zac Goldsmith, and finally Boris Johnson, (remember him?) are opposed to the action that Rishi Sunak is about to take, is a fair endorsement, verging on proof positive, that he is doing the right thing.

[Stanley]

I know what you mean David but in this case they could all be right. Not the referees I would have chosen either......

[Whyperion]

Sunak really has only changed the timeframe ambition at the "retail" level. Embedded in the legislation / regulations remain the things like new build housing having the heat pump/recovery systems and solar in them, this makes sense to design it in from the start, and can / should be done in all commercial new build our British residences are difficult to convert , our office blocks maybe it is achievable. We dont have the massive industrial processes inside the UK driving significant CO2 amount - and things like cement production should achieve reductions through means coming in place anyway - and the countries we are buying in products from are making small changes , the rate needs to step up but the aims have not been abandoned and I think should be achieved. Would be interesting to see the figures for the end of 2023/2024 (March) compared with previous year.

Switching out Lead Acid Batteries for Lithium Iron Phosphate in a narrowboat / barge build and operation (for doubling effective power storage) some folk reckon that this kind of battery works best in the 80percent to 20percent charge range. Lifespan of the batteries - probably 14 years though be prepared to change the odd cell inside one as that can fail - the main failure point to me is the inbuild charge / discharge control circuit).

[Tizer]

We watched a Chris Packham TV programme on climate change. He'd written to individual members of the government asking them to be interviewed by him on the subject of climate change. Not a single one of them agreed to the interview. In the end they sent him The Rt Hon the Lord Lilley. He's been an advisor to various oil and coal companies and, not surprisingly, thinks we're all mistaken about climate change. When Packham raised the issue of wildfires and floods he claimed there was no evidence that they are caused by climate change. This is a favourite ploy of the climate deniers. They create the claim themselves then deny it. I don't claim that they are caused by climate change; but I do claim that they are made worse and more frequent by climate change. And I don't need any climate research studies to back it up. It's just simple physics. As the air gets warmer stuff ignites more easily and is more likely to continue burning and spreading. As the air gets warmer it holds more water and therefore we experience heavier rain storms and more floods. Basic physics. Lilley should spend some time discussing the subject with schoolchildren!

[Stanley]

I often wonder nowadays, with so much evide4nce available, how climate change deniers have the gall to continue to give us their views. It's like being a chicken in the oven and denying there is any danger of being cooked as the temperature slowly rises. So far so good seems to be the watchword. I have news for them, the evidence against them is accelerating every day. Take tomorrow for example, even in Barlick, one of the coldest places in England, we are forecast to have 19C tomorrow and this in mid October. The common thing about recent announcements by researchers on markers of climate change, like sea ice, is their surprise at the recant speed of change.
I am reminded of the first words spoken in the talkies when Al Jolson opened the Jazz Singer.... "You ain't seen nothing yet!"

[Stanley]

The EU climate change body Copernicus has announced that 2023 will almost certainly be the warmest on record.
(LINK)

[Tizer]

I missed this story back in May...
`Climate crisis deniers target scientists for vicious abuse on Musk’s Twitter: Abusive, often violent tweets denying the climate emergency have become a barrage since Elon Musk acquired the platform, say UK experts' Guardian
Particularly disturbing is this last sentence: One in eight female scientists who reported abuse had been threatened with sexual violence.

[Stanley]

It's when the deniers start to use abuse like that that you really know you have got them worried. Animals get more vicious and dangerous when they are afraid.

[Stanley]

See THIS Washington Post article on climate change. Time to start worrying?
The planet marked an ominous milestone Friday: The first day global warmth crossed a threshold, if only briefly, that climate scientists have warned could have calamitous consequences. Preliminary data show global temperatures averaged more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above a historic norm, from a time before humans started consuming fossil fuels and emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases.
Add to this the fact that Margaret has just sent me the forecast for Perth for this week, the whole week is going to be at 40C or very close to that. I have just told her that would put my lights out!

[Tizer]

Time to start worrying?

A couple of decades too late, I fear.

[Stanley]