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Tag: greenhouse gases

Published on Leave a comment on The Erasing Of Climate Science

Going forward, will we even know what is going on in the atmosphere regarding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases? Will there be any data collected and scientific evidence regarding climate change? As you may have heard, all climate change research and knowledge is being eliminated and erased. The words climate change and greenhouse gases  are not to be spoken or written according to the US government.

But even so, what is shocking to scientists is that 4 prestigious observatories operated by the US for decades, and which were instrumental in documenting the increase in greenhouse gases, are to be closed down by the US government. The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii has been measuring CO2 levels in the air for over 65 years!

And yup, it has been documenting the steady increase, year after year, of CO2. Due to burning of oil, gas, and coal. In 65 years CO2 levels have increased from 316 ppm to more than 430 parts per million. This is a huge increase!

An article in The Conversation explains why carbon dioxide is so important - how it's needed for a habitable Earth, but too much carbon dioxide is bad.

"The reason carbon dioxide is so important is that this molecule has special properties. Its ability to trap heat alongside other greenhouse gases means Earth isn’t a frozen rock. If there were no greenhouse gases, Earth would have an average temperature of -18°C, rather than the balmy 14°C under which human civilisation emerged.

The greenhouse effect is essential to life. But if there are too many gases, the planet becomes dangerously hot. That’s what’s happening now – a very sharp increase in gases exceptionally good at trapping heat even at low concentrations."

From NY Times: After 7 Decades of Measurements From a Peak in Hawaii, Trump’s Budget Would End Them

More than 11,100 feet above sea level, surrounded by nothing but black rocks, white clouds and blue sky, the Mauna Loa Observatory is in a Goldilocks spot for studying the atmosphere.

The air that swirls around the isolated outpost located on a Hawaiian volcano is a mix from all over the Northern Hemisphere. That makes it one of the best places to measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is indispensable to scientists around the world. ...continue reading "The Erasing Of Climate Science"

Published on Leave a comment on This Year Will Be The Hottest On Record

It shouldn't be a surprise that 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record. In fact, the years 2015 to 2024 will be the warmest ten years on record globally. North America had its warmest October on record

The World Meteorological Association also pointed that "the loss of ice from glaciers, sea-level rise, and ocean heating are accelerating". Of course, it's climate change from our addiction to oil, gas, and plastics (which are made from petrochemicals).

Yet, governments are in denial or not willing to take the necessary steps to reduce our reliance on petrochemicals. We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not just talk about or ignore the problem. It appears the mantra of many governments is: Burn Baby, Burn!

From World Meteorological Association: 2024 is on track to be hottest year on record as warming temporarily hits 1.5°C

 The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

...continue reading "This Year Will Be The Hottest On Record"

Published on Leave a comment on Factories Underreport Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions by factory Credit: Wikipedia

It turns out that many companies are really, really underreporting the amount of  planet warming gases (greenhouse gas emissions) that they release into the air. These pollutants (carbon dioxide and other gases) are causing the world to have increasingly higher temperatures. Uh-oh...

This underreporting has been exposed by Climate Trace - a project to measure at the source (of the pollution) the true levels of carbon dioxide and other global heating gases. Climate Trace released a report this week showing that oil and gas facilities around the world are emitting greenhouse gas emissions about three times higher than their producers claim. (Are you surprised that the big companies are lying?? Hah!)

In fact, half of the 50 largest sources of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane) in the world were oil and gas fields and production facilities.

Climate Trace (a non-profit group of academic scientists, environmental groups, technology companies) used evidence from satellites, remote sensors and other sources, and artificial intelligence to track who is polluting and how much throughout the world.

It's a big deal that finally there is monitoring of big polluters rather than we (including governments) taking them at their word. Will this finally result in serious action taken to reduce the amount of air pollutants being released by big companies? Hopefully.

Two  good articles. 1) From NY Times: Who’s Driving Climate Change? New Data Catalogs 72,000 Polluters and Counting

A nonprofit backed by Al Gore and other big environmental donors says it can track emissions down to individual power plants, oil fields and cargo ships.

Upstream from Shanghai along the Yangtze River, a sprawling factory complex in eastern China is churning out tens of millions of tons of steel a year — and immense quantities of planet-warming gases.
...continue reading "Factories Underreport Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions"