The halos we think are magnificent are not the kind that comes in a box - think Halo 3 - but the ring of light that can be seen encircling and extending outwards from the sun or moon. The halo is created ( I love this word) when the sun or moonlight is refracted when passing through ice crystals. There are two types -a 22 degree halo which is created via randomly falling ice crystals and 46 degree halo which is a refraction of light through hexagonal column-type ice crystals. And, all that by chance, mind you…..NOT!

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Without any fanfare it’s no longer global warming, well not as often anyway, but climate change. No matter. Real estate assets in California are said to be at risk to extreme weather events, sea level rise, wild fires and such, to the tune of $2.5 trillion.

A group of researchers in UC Berkeley are the first to quantify the costs of the globe’s warming. The final number depends on whether the nation commits to slashing greenhouse gas emissions says the report. How the whole nation will affect California, the report doesn’t say, but mentions that “Our report makes clear the most expensive thing we can do about climate change is nothing.”

The group is now “busy planning a comprehensive ‘Climate Adaptation Strategy’ to commit the state to concrete prevention measures, according to the paper.” Six task forces will be formed, biodiversity and habitat, infrastructure, oceans and coastal resources, public health, water, forestry and agriculture, and each will have an adaptation strategy.

California’s goal is to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 15% from today’s levels. And, they want me to pay for it. My bet is when they find out what doesn’t work, these fellows will leave the state and let those of us who remain foot the bill. Save the Puffins!

Image courtesy of Kevin

Not Evil Just Wrong Documentary is pledging to do to Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truth what Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 did for George W Bush.

You all can yell at me later, but I totally believe in free speech, open and honest discussion. Watch out as I attempt to take a leap into the Prop 8 arena here. When Prop 8 passed, immediately the pro-gay marriage group started protesting and demonstrating and such. Had Prop 8 not passed and the Right started their demonstrations and law suits, “Foul! Sore Losers! Shut up and Go home!” would have been the rants.

When Moore came out with 9/11 to hit on Bush, the left ate it up.

So, how will the Left take it when the non-global warming alarmists say their piece? Anybody care to weigh in?

What others are saying:

NOT EVIL JUST WRONG Doc Seeks to Debunk Inconvenient Truth

Global Warming Hysteria ‘Not Evil Just Wrong’

If the Earth had a personality of its own, if Mother Nature were a real entity … we would be able to see the results of when she gets mad. Really really mad!

The Dasongshu Village of Xishelu Township in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China’s Yunnan Province was cut in half by a landslide. From the pics I can count 20+ other landslides in the area, but without a village at the bottom.

Some 40 people were killed and the area was isolated by the landslides and mud-flows. Helicopters had to fly in relief materials. So far, 43 are missing, 10 are injured, 60,800 people have been evacuated and 1.27 million people have been affected.

A more pertinent question - do we really want to know what happens when Mother Nature gets really really mad? If we don’t start taking better care of our planet, we are too sure to find out. And something tells me, we really really don’t want to know.

Source: Sina

Whenever there is a scientific theory or even an assumption, the most obvious effect of it, is the appearance of the skeptics. It is such people who have always maintained that the humans as a race were over-reacting to the phenomenon of ‘global warming’ and that it was just a natural cycle of the Earth that was causing climate changes.

But scientists have now proved beyond any doubt that the climate change at the poles is indeed because of human activities and our impact on the planet.

Using four computer models and data from dozens of weather stations sited around both the North and South Poles, the scientists were able to prove that the climatic change at the poles is so great that there is no way any natural model of climate change will account for such steep increase in polar temperatures.

The polar ice has been melting at a rate that is far higher than normal and in the last two years we have seen for the first time ever, that the Arctic Circle and North Pole kind of melts into an Island. The temperature even in Antarctica have been on the rise and while the Ozone depletion helped reverse the heating effect for a while, it’s now replenished and will increase the temperatures even further.

While there has been no doubt in the minds of many that human activity was indeed destroying the poles, this now proves the theory beyond doubt. The melting sea ice in the Arctic and the increasing temperatures in the Antarctic are all further proof of how much we need to cut down on pollution before we get sniffed out due to our own over-indulgence.

Images by 1, 2

Prince Charles is in Tokyo urging the world to fight climate change saying that,

“Given the current turbulence in the international financial system and the immediate and damaging effect it is having on the whole world, the credit crunch is rightly a preoccupation of vast significance and importance.

But we take our eye off the ‘climate crunch’ at our peril.”

The Prince thinks that the earth’s temps could rise by more than 6C by 2100, citing UN scientists. He didn’t mention, however, that the scientists aren’t sure what the temps will be next week. Elephants could fall out of airplanes, too.

I think the climate is changing. I think that we ought to be responsible stewards of Earth. I also think that there isn’t a whole lot we can do to change the weather cycles.

It’s kind of like giving $700 billion to Neel Kashkari and expecting him to change the tide of the world’s economies. That didn’t work either.

Image courtesy of petecarr

Corals at the Great Barrier Reef are soaking up carbon dioxide at new levels say researchers. As a result, the corals may (operative word) be accelerating bleaching and some might (operative word) be destroyed by 2050.

I say operative word because the actual effect is not known and the ultimate outcome is still very much everyone’s best guess. Could, maybe, might, perhaps… When the scientists say will, have been proven to, and did, I’ll listen.

Indeed, I’ll say it yet again - Let’s be good stewards of our Planet. Let’s treat Earth as if it is the only home we will ever have. Let’s be responsible. Let’s be thrifty. But, not because the climate is changing. That’s what the climate does.