tingilinde

plastic

An illustrated piece in the Guardian on the problems with plastic.

 

 

on bringing back grasslands of the southeast

Native grasslands in many regions of the county are greatly diminished and the situation in the Southeast is critical,  There are projects aimed at restoration.

 

graphical temperature change

A variety of temperate change graphics have been offered to illustrate global warming over the past hundred years or so.  Here'a a nice one that breaks down by region.

a tip of the hat to Bjarne

 

clear cutting and biomass

Biomass is used in Europe and Japan as a "carbon neutral" fuel.  There are issues with that -  clear cutting of large trees is taking place and many climate experts believe wood burning is far from carbon neutral.  Many countries are less green than the current accounting scheme suggests.

 

when glaciers melt

An abandoned ski resort in Bolivia.

a tip of the hat to Sukie

 

coal continues to drop

It's down to 21.55% of generating capacity, which is now below renewable capacity.  

There are caveats.  This is capacity rather than real production.  Also the drop of coal has largely been displaced by natural gas which, all things being equal, is better than coal, but still bad.  And leaks during mining transport and use can greatly increase the greenhouse gas contribution from natural gas.  The Trump administration has largely halted work on monitoring these leaks. And there's the issue of China which has been accelerating it's coal use in recent years.

Seeing coal use drop in the US is important, but it's a small part of the total picture.

 

 

reality

This is from the Northwest coast of Greenland on the 14^th of June.  A Danish team racing to retrieve some expensive monitoring kit on the ice.  In this area they usually don’t have to worry, but the heat is extreme with very thin ice. Note the hills are snow-free.  The water runoff from the melt on the ice and on the land has formed a shallow lake on top of the already thin ice. (via a friend at the Woods Hole Oceanagrpahic Institute who noted it is being passed around with some horror.)

embarrassing plastic bags

Some of these may not be attractive to shoppers.

 

 

one of the four horsemen

The Tropical Trump and his minions are making despoiling the Amazon much easier.

 

california oil

Los Angeles was once quite a sight.